text:
Everbridge, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVBG – Get Free Report) has been given an average rating of “Reduce” by the ten brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation and nine have given a hold recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $29.00.
Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Raymond James restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Everbridge in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on shares of Everbridge from $28.60 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Everbridge from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Everbridge in a research report on Wednesday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Everbridge from $21.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th.
Insider Buying and Selling
Hedge Funds Weigh In On Everbridge
Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in Everbridge by 140.3% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 841 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 491 shares during the period. State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in Everbridge in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. acquired a new stake in Everbridge in the 4th quarter valued at $45,000. Point72 Middle East FZE acquired a new stake in Everbridge in the 4th quarter valued at $49,000. Finally, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in Everbridge during the 1st quarter worth $90,000. 89.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Everbridge Trading Up 0.2 %
Shares of EVBG opened at $34.90 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $30.43 and its 200-day moving average price is $24.86. Everbridge has a twelve month low of $18.50 and a twelve month high of $35.70. The stock has a market cap of $1.45 billion, a PE ratio of -24.41, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98.
Everbridge (NASDAQ:EVBG – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 26th. The technology company reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.22 by ($0.01). Everbridge had a negative net margin of 10.54% and a positive return on equity of 6.46%. The company had revenue of $115.76 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $114.70 million. On average, equities analysts forecast that Everbridge will post 0.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Everbridge Company Profile
Everbridge, Inc engages in the development of software solutions for critical event management and enterprise safety applications that automate and accelerate an organization’s operational response to critical events. Its SaaS-based CEM platform enables customers to aggregate and assess threat data, locate people at risk and responders able to assist, automate the execution of pre-defined communications processes, and track progress on executing response plans.
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domain: economics


text:
Looking for more ways to discover talented creators & fantastic comics?
Check out these events, websites, & resources!
Have a link to add? Send it to firstname.lastname@example.org
Southern Fandom Resource Guide -- a convention calendar for the Southeastern U.S.
Livingston Parish Comic Con - March 5, 2022 - Denham Springs, LA
Mississippi Anime Festival 2022 - March 12-13, 2022 - Jackson, MS
The Latinx Comic Arts Festival - March 25-26, 2022 - Modesto, CA
Virtual Symposium: Global Comics and the Rise of Modern Manga – March 30, 2022 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM – Ohio State University
CYPHACON - April 1-3, 2022 - Lake Charles, LA
St. Tammany Collectors Con - April 9, 2022 - Mandeville, LA
Capitol City Card Show at Southeast Cards & Comics - May 7, 2022 - Baton Rouge, LA
Comicpalooza - July 15-17, 2022 - Houston, TX
Geek’d Con - August 19-21, 2022 - Shreveport, LA
Louisiana Comic Con - TBA 2022 - Lafayette, LA
Dragon Con - September 1-5, 2022 - Atlanta, GA
Schomberg Center’s Black Comic Book Festival - January 13-15, 2022 - New York, NY
Terrebonne Parish Library Comic Con - Houma, LA
The Black Comics Collective
"Connecting comic creators of color with the communities that crave them." - Founder Deirdre Hollman
"BIC Distro, a partnership formed by 133art, MVmedia, LLC and Hiro! Unlimited, is proud to offer comic book and graphic novel distribution specializing in content produced by independent POC creators. BIC will utilize state of the art distribution and printing service to provide new opportunities for POC independent creators and retail outlets."
"The Cartoonists of Color, Queer Cartoonists, and Disabled Cartoonists databases were created and are maintained by cartoonist MariNaomi as a way to spotlight marginalized comics creators. The databases are used by booksellers, librarians, academics, editors, book publishers, event organizers, readers, and more." - About section of CartoonistsofColor.com
Looking to add your information to one or all of these databases? Each website has a SUBMIT option in the menu.

domain: entertainment


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Bumblebee is the sixth movie in the Transformers franchise but let me start by saying that I am a huge Transformers fan. As a matter of fact back in 1987 when I was six years old I got Metroplex and it was one of the best Christmases I ever had.
It goes without saying that when I heard there was going to be a live-action Transformers movie I was beyond excited and to be honest I loved that first Michael Bay Transformers movie.
How to Stream or Download Bumblebee
You can stream it or you can download Bumblebee once it becomes available on iTunes. To start, click on the Download button located below the review. If you want the movie to be in a specific language, for example in the much sought Tamil or Hindu consult the iTunes listings.
The Film Review
Since then we have had four other movies and I have found most of them a little much. There are too many Transformers crammed in and the running time on some of these movies is nuts. This year though instead of Michael Bay we have Travis Knight directing a Christina Hodson script for a prequel movie that is all about Bumblebee.
Like many things are these days, Bumblebee is set during the 1980s which I am more than cool with. The 80’s setting helps add to the charm and the soundtrack is actually really cool. if you are an old-school Transformers fan like myself.
The opening section of the movie offers a ton of fan service. It all takes place on Cybertron and you get to see characters like Optimus Prime and Soundwave looking just like they did on Saturday mornings back in the ’80s.
During Cybertron’s dying breaths, Bumblebee is sent to Earth to lay low, scout the planet and protect it for us who are living here and also so that the Autobots have a new home. Bumblebee on Earth is “adopted” by a teenager called, Charlie Watson.
Charlie Watson is played by Hailee Steinfeld and she is awesome. I would go as far to say that she is the best human character they have introduced in this whole Transformers franchise. She carries the movie tremendously well and her angst and heartbreak over losing her father is something that you actually care about.
She is trying to find her place in the world just as much as Bumblebee is and the two of them together make a fantastic pair. Her teaching Bumblebee to have fun is one of the highlights of the movie and you can tell that Bumblebee really cares about her, despite noting being able to talk properly. It is the kind of thing that could have come across cheesy, but it really does work and it works incredibly well.
Bumblebee does not have it all his own way as the Decepticons send two scouts to track him down. Sector 7 (the government agency from the first movie) decides to team up with these Decepticons. Helping them in exchange for their technology. It is a totally dumb move and one that as you would expect they come to regret. The other human characters are quite good, John Cena who starts off as what seems like a one-dimensional bad guy has some good character development and you like him by the end of the movie.
The action in Bumblebee is pretty awesome, you could argue it is not as spectacular as some of the other Transformers movies, but I think it is all the better for it. It is more substance over style, not to say that the special effects are not great because they are.
Bumblebee has a much smaller cast and the movie is all the better for it. the majority of the movie is about Bumblebee and Charlie and that is its biggest strength. There are not 20 different Transformers that you struggle to keep up with.
There is not a bloated cast of human characters that you do not care about either. Bumblebee strips things back and as a result is the best movie in the Transformers franchise to date.
The Bottom Line
If you have gotten a bit fatigued over the last five Transformers movies, Bumblebee is still worth checking out. It is a wonderful movie that is full of charm, action, humor and it also has a lot of heart.
It is the movie’s heart that really sets it apart from all the rest and in a way, they could perhaps use this as a way to soft reboot the entire Transformers movie franchise. I really cannot recommend this movie highly enough, it is one of the standout movies of 2018 for me.

domain: artistic


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It’s not breaking the eggs that does the lasting harm; it’s the continual walking eggshells. Emotional damage has a way of lingering in the times between resentful, angry, or abusive flare-ups. The empty, dull ache of unhappiness is most accurately measured in the accumulative effect of these small moments of disconnection, isolation, and dread. Take the
The following quiz reveals what it feels like to walk on eggshells day after day. Read it aloud – the objectivity in hearing your own voice say the words – especially your answers -is the first step toward healing.
If you live with a resentful, angry, or abusive partner, you probably have a vague feeling, at least now and then, that you have lost yourself. In your constant efforts to tiptoe around someone else’s moods in the hope of avoiding blow-ups, put-downs, criticism, sighs of disapproval, or cold shoulders, you constantly edit what you say. You second-guess your own judgment, your own ideas, and your own preferences about how to live. You begin to question what you think is right and wrong. Ultimately, your perceptions of reality and your very sense of self change for the worse.
The cold fact is that it’s hard not to lose yourself in the morass of what you should say or what you need to do (to keep things peaceful) and how you’re supposed to be at any given moment. If you have to be one thing one minute and behave a different way in another (depending on your partner’s moods), your confidence and sense of self can seem to disappear. You begin to feel that you cannot reclaim yourself or begin to feel better until he changes and starts treating you better.
The understandable but tragic expectation that you are dependent on him for your emotional well being is the first thing you must change. You must heal and grow, whether or not he changes. Although our inborn sense of fairness and justice tells you that he ought to be the one to make changes, your pain tells you that you need to become the fully alive person you are meant to be. This means that you have to remove the focus from him and put it squarely on you. Happily, that is also the best thing you can do the help him and your relationship. This book will help you reclaim your true sense of self. That is its primary goal. But it will also help change your relationship.
All the tools you need to heal are in these pages. All the tools that he needs to replace resentment, anger, or abusive behavior with compassion are also in these pages. The first part of the book is about reintegrating your deepest values into your everyday sense of self. This will make you feel more valuable, confident, and powerful, regardless of what your partner — or anyone else — says or does. As you read these pages and reconnect to your deepest values, you will naturally, forcefully, and compassionately demand value and respect from your partner. Your compassionate demand for change is likely to be the only thing that will motivate him to once again be the man you married. But whether or not he changes, you must connect with your enormous inner value, resources, and personal power to stop walking on eggshells and to emerge as the richly creative, beautiful whole person you truly are.
The Worst Things
One of the worst things that can happen to your health and happiness is to live with a resentful, angry, or abusive partner. The worst thing you can do to your soul is become a resentful, angry, or abusive partner. And the worst thing you can develop in a love relationship is an identity as a victim, which destroys your personal power and solid sense of self. The cry I hear over and over again from women who walk on eggshells is, “I don’t like the resentful, angry person he’s made me.”
To stop walking on eggshells, you must overcome abusiveness and victim-identity. Your emphasis must be on healing, growth, and empowerment. The true issue at stake is your core value – the most important things about you as a person – not his behavior or your reaction to it. As you reinforce and reconnect with your core value, you are far less likely to be a victim. As you experience the enormous depth of your core value, the last thing you will want to do is identify with being a victim, i.e. with “damage” or with bad things that have happened to you. In your core value you will identify with your inherent strengths, talents, skills, and power as a unique, ever-growing, competent, and compassionate person. You want to outgrow walking on eggshells, not simply survive it, and you do that only by realizing your fullest value as a person.
You Both Walk on Eggshells
If you feel that you are walking on eggshells, you probably do not realize that your partner is, too, though in a different way. He is so reactive to you and so unable to regulate his reactions that he constantly expects you to say or do something that will “push his buttons” and “make” him withdraw or attack. He feels that you are totally in control of his emotions, and all he can do is pout or shout like a defiant child. He feels that you control him.
The Pendulum of Pain
Please do not make the mistake of thinking that you can heal yourself simply by getting in touch with your understandable resentment and anger and leaving your relationship. Most of the women who leave (or nearly leave) out of resentment and anger end up returning out of guilt, shame, and anxiety, when they see how lost their husbands seem without them. They enjoy a brief honeymoon period following the reunion, until the tension returns and the resentment and anger get overwhelming. So they leave again (or withdraw emotionally from their husbands), only to face renewed guilt, shame, and abandonment anxiety, once the resentment and anger subside. Sometimes economic considerations drive women to return to these relationships, but they are not the most compelling factor. Research shows that women with means return to walking-on-eggshells relationships as often as women who are financially dependent. My own mother, like many of my clients, was the sole support of our family, yet she returned to my unemployed, resentful, angry, and abusive father 13 times in my first 11 years of life.
This pattern of leaving (or nearly leaving) out of anger and resentment, only to return out of guilt, shame, and anxiety is a hallmark of walking on eggshells. I call it a pendulum of pain. It has nothing to do with your “indecisiveness” or your personality. It follows from the strengths of your emotions, from your attachment to your husband, which we’ll explore more in the next chapter. Resentment and anger at loved ones always resolve into guilt, shame, and abandonment anxiety. These painful, completely irrational emotions keep you attached to your husband no matter how bad the relationship is – these emotions developed in our brains at a time when to leave the tribe meant certain death on your own, by starvation or saber tooth tiger.
As long as you love someone, the only way to keep resentment and anger from turning to guilt, shame, and anxiety is to stay resentful and angry all the time. It might be safer if you did stay resentful and angry all the time, but that is probably not your nature. When your resentment subsides and your anger is exhausted, the pain of seeing someone you love in distress can become overwhelming and make you return to your now-remorseful, if not helpless, partner. However, if he does not learn to regulate his resentment, anger, or abusive behavior with compassion for himself and for you, the pendulum will swing back and forth, again and again.

domain: psychology


text:
Proclaim your presence like a freight train tearing down the tracks with Air Horns from AutoAnything. Train horns deliver the high-powered sound of a locomotive with a booming explosion of compressed air. Available in an assortment of unique tunes, they provide an audible blast of customization.
Have a Question?
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Send your fellow motorists scrambling for cover by blasting the Trigger Horns Evac Trumpet Train Horn Kit. Loaded with everything you need from trumpet to compressor, these complete air horn kits proclaim your presence with the rumbling roar of a locomotive. Limited Lifetime Warranty.
Hammer the highways with a burning blast of sound by setting off the Trigger Horns Habanero 3-Trumpet High Output Train Horn Kit. From trumpet to compressor, these air horns kits are packed with everything you need to bring the beat of the tracks to your cockpit. 3-year and limited Lifetime Warranties.
Awaken your vehicle’s inner General Lee with the Wolo Dukes of Hazzard Air Horn. Blasting the Dixieland "Dukes of Hazzard" tune at 120 dB-530/680 Hz through five plastic trumpets, this musical car horn is powered by a 12V compressor for an extra loud sound. 90-day warranty.

domain: hobby


One of the highlights for the singers was certainly their participation in the popular television programme of the Hessian Broadcasting Company "Zum Blauen Bock" on 15.02.1964. In addition, a record was made at the Ravenstein recording studio in Frankfurt a. M. on 12 February 1958. The recording of today's Sunday song is from this record. In keeping with today's 1st May, we have chosen the song "Wandern in Mai" for you.
Title: "Hiking in May"
Composition: Hans Weiß
Artist: Youth Quartet of the Gesangverein Sängerkranz


text:
The customary male and female genders were not the only ones known in ancient Egypt; indeed, most premodern, non-Western cultures have "third genders" of some sort. Other genders were recognized and described in the ancient Mediterrranean world, often using categories based on mythological precedents. Hermaphrodites, eunuchs, androgynous and asexual beings were all examples of the kinds of permanent gender categories understood by ancient peoples. Gender categories could also be less permanent or innate: Late Antique Christian writers from Egypt warned of the dangers of male transvestism while ambivalently approving women who disguised themselves as male monks and, through ascetic practice, defeminized their bodies into a transitional gender category between male and female. Evidence for "other" gender categories in the Pharaonic period is predominantly textual and mostly ambiguous or debatable. The coming of Greek and Roman culture brought new gender categories, and the arrival of Christianity introduced still more.
The University of Michigan excavations at the Roman period Egyptian sites of Karanis and Terenouthis uncovered a number of figurines provisionally identified as representations of hermaphrodites. Biologically, hermaphrodites are born with both male and female sexual characteristics; more common are pseudo-hermaphrodites, who are biologically categorized as either male or female but have secondary characteristics of the opposite biological sex. In the ancient world the birth of hermaphrodites and pseudo-hermaphrodites was, like that of other genetic anomalies, considered unlucky. In Graeco-Roman art they were depicted with a female face, full breasts and hips, and male genitals. They occur in both comic and erotic contexts and were frequently used as decorative devices. In Egypt the iconography of hermaphrodites appears to be a Greek import.
Go to image of artifact.

domain: history


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On Sept. 8, the Indiana Supreme Court issued an order amending the Administrative Rules, wherein it adopted most of the proposed changes and added some requirements to Rule 9(G). These amendments take effect Jan. 1, 2015. As the chair of the DTCI Rules Committee, I was tasked with deciphering the proposed changes, which were substantial. The following is an analysis of the amendments that hopefully will help keep attorneys from being sanctioned under the rule.
The changes to Administrative Rule 9(A) through (F) are clerical. Rule 9(G)(1) addresses court records that must be entirely excluded from public access, and the court has not made any substantive change from the current version of 9(G)(1). However, the proposed version omits various examples of records that are confidential and excluded from public access. It is recommended that the 2014 rule book is kept for future reference.
Rule 9(G)(2) deals with individual case records that must be excluded from public access and also tracks the current version of Rule 9(G)(1). This part does specify some of the information that is confidential and adds email addresses and paternity records. Subsection (b) still refers to records excluded by or deemed confidential by Indiana statute or other court rule. Again, the 2014 rules will serve as a starting point for research.
Court administration records that are excluded from public access are now addressed in a pared down 9(G)(3). In fact, it says simply that records excluded under Rule 9(G)(2) or excluded by or deemed confidential by Indiana statute or other court rule must be excluded.
Rule 9(G)(4) reorganizes Rule 9(H)(1) through (3) and mandates that the petitioner follow the notice requirements set forth in Trial Rule 65 and the posting of notices as set forth in Ind. Code § 5-14-2-5.
Pursuant to Rule 9(G)(5)(a), in cases where only a portion of the court record is excluded from public access, the party submitting the confidential records must provide written notice identifying the specific ground upon which the record is excluded. There are forms that have been prepared by the court depending upon the type of record to be excluded, so these should be added to office forms.
Further, the green paper requirements from Trial Rule 5(G)(1) and (2) are set forth in the new Rule 9(G)(5)(b). If the omission or redaction is not necessary to the disposition of the case, then only the public access version (redacted) has to be filed. Ind. Admin. R. 9(G)(5)(b)(ii)(a). Also, as per Rule 9(G)(5)(b)(ii)(b)(i), if the document that is omitted or redacted is from an exhibit, attachment, appendix, transcript, evidentiary designation or similar document, then only that document has to be submitted with a non-public access version with a reference to the location within the public access version to which the redacted or omitted material pertains. If, however, the court record that is omitted or redacted is from a motion, memorandum, brief or similar document containing substantive legal argument, then the entire document must be filed with a non-public access version. Ind. Admin. R. 9(G)(5)(b)(ii)(b)(ii)
The most important section of the new rule is section 6, which deals with waiver, failure to exclude, improper exclusions and sanctions. See Ind. Admin. R. 9(G)(6). Under subsection (a), a person or party affected by the release of the court records can waive the right to have them excluded and can only re-exclude them by following the provisions in Rule 9(G)(4). If a court record that was declared confidential was not excluded from public access, then subsection (b) mandates that the party that submitted the document immediately comply with the requirements to ensure exclusion. Furthermore, only documents that are declared confidential under 9(G)(1), (2) or (3) can be excluded from public access. If they are excluded before the requirements under 9(G)(1), (2) or (3) are satisfied, the document shall be made available for public access seven days after notice to the parties and any person affected by the release, unless those requirements are satisfied thereafter. Ind. Admin. R. 9(G)(6)(c) (the seven days portion was not contained in the proposed version). Rule 9(G)(6)(d) provides, “The failure to comply with any provision of 9(G) can subject counsel or a party to sanctions.”
Rule 9(G)(7) addresses how to obtain access to court records that have been excluded from public access. It contains part of the current version of 9(G)(3) and 9(I), but adds new requirements. Under (a), a court record that is excluded from public access can be made accessible if those affected by the release of the document waive confidentiality intentionally or if a court with jurisdiction over the case finds that the document should not have been excluded from public access; the order was improper or is inappropriate; the document is essential to the resolution of litigation; or the disclosure is appropriate to further the establishment of precedent or the development of the law. Under (b), a party can request that a court record be made accessible. The requirements here are the same as those contained in the current version of 9(I). Finally, Rule 9(H) through (J) is the same as the current version of Rule 9(J) through (L).
In summary, both attorneys and their clients can be subject to sanctions for failing to ensure that court records that are exempt from public access are properly protected. An attorney should know what is confidential and what is excluded from public access. Attorneys and staff should know how to properly file documents with the court under the new rule in order to keep them that way.•
Ms. Oss serves on the board of directors of the DTCI and is a partner in Huelat Mack & Kreppein. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author.

domain: law


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the traveler's resource guide to festivals & filmsa FestivalTravelNetwork.com site part of Insider Media llc.
With a raft of accolades in her resume, American actress/playwright/professor Anna Deavere Smith produces work that highlights the plight of the underclass, the unvoiced and those overlooked by entitled society. In her most recent one-woman production — “Notes From The Field” which opened November 2nd at Second Stage’s Tony Kiser Theatre (305 West 43rd Street, NY, NY) — the 66 year-old creator continues her fascination with what’s been called “documentary theater.”
Through a set of passionately expressed portraits — based on actual news events and her own interviews — “Notes From The Field” crosses generations and poignantly renders complex issues of race, disenfranchisement, mass incarceration and discrimination as something in our faces; it’s not just to be viewed through the gauze of electronic media.
Though these people aren’t necessarily making statements through their words, this veteran actress brilliantly brings to audiences these voices asking questions and, in some ways, demanding responses.
Interspersed with video footage, comic-book illustration back drops and Marcus Shelby’s on-stage cello riffing providing a robust yet subtle jazz-inflected lament, completes the effect of there’s much more going on her than just one person on stage.
Somehow, just by changing her garb, vocal tonality or regional accent, Deavere Smith creates 17 unique portraits — with the help of director Leonard Foglia — that constantly question the powers that be.
Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Deavere Smith got an Acting M.F.A. from San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theater. After that, she went on to create numerous productions (Fires in the Mirror; Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992; House Arrest; Let Me Down Easy; The Arizona Project), win a plethora of awards (a MacArthur Fellowship; the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show; a Matrix Award; The Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize and a National Humanities Medal from President Barack Obama, among others) and has been nominated for the Drama Pulitzer and two Tonys.
She’s been an artist-in-residence at the Center for American Progress, and has taught at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts as well as at NYU’s School of Law. From 1990 to 2000, she was a drama professor at Stanford University and had taught at Carnegie Mellon U.
But this theatrical chameleon has not only made the stage her home; she has also done television (The West Wing, The Practice and Nurse Jackie) and film (Philadelphia, Dave, The American President, Rent, and Rachel Getting Married) as well.
In February 2014, “Anna Deavere Smith: A Young Arts Masterclass” was part of the HBO Masterclass documentary series. And Smith has published two books: “Talk to Me: Travels in Media and Politics" and “Letters to a Young Artist: Straight-up Advice on Making a Life in the Arts – For Actors, Performers, Writers, and Artists of Every Kind.”
In advance of her current show, she conducted this exclusive one-on-one shortly before previews began.
Q: How did you get all these interviews down and select the characters who ranged from Congressman John Lewis to inmate Denise Dobson.
ADS: The job of selecting characters is always hard. I did over 250 interviews to get them… It’s a process of trying a… I hate to call them characters, I like to call them portraits. I think of them as real people. Making an assemblage of them, bringing them into rehearsal, hearing from the dramaturge, hearing from the director, hearing from other people around and then going home and writing a different play and then bringing that one into rehearsal until I find out who’s going to work together. Because these fragments of things… are people speaking in their real life.
Q: Where does the journalism end and the creation begin; how did you draw the line between one versus the other?
ADS: I don’t really think of the things as “versus” in a way. [The author] Studs Terkel was a mentor of mine and his book [structured with interviews], “Working,” had a huge effect on me. It also became a Broadway show a long time ago as you know.
I always had been attracted to documentaries. I think there is something in truth that you can’t make it up, and I believe people, when they express themselves, are making a kind of art. That’s one of the ways I pick who ends up on stage, people who are doing something really artistic just by nature by the way they move and express themselves.
Q: What were your conversations like with the great civil rights advocate and congressman John Lewis?
ADS: I went to see John Lewis because I had heard he had gone back to Montgomery and the Police Chief made an apology to him for the things that had happened during the Civil Rights movement and had offered him his badge. So as soon as I heard that I went rushing over to his office and he was kind enough to meet with me and a tape recorder and tell me the story.
Q: How did you find the other people? How did you choose them such as NAACP legal counsel Sherrilyn Ifill and Freddie Gray beating videographer Kevin Moore?
ADS: It’s like selling Girl Scout Cookies. You knock on the door and somebody lets you in, and they feel they like you because you’re a nice kid and they say, “The lady across the street likes the mint cookies, why don’t you go sell some to her?” You meet one person and they say you should meet that person or they introduce you to someone and before you know it you went to a town with one lead and you have ten interviews before you leave.
Q: Which character was the hardest to construct or edit and were the male characters harder than the female ones?
ADS: No, it doesn’t have anything to do with that. I think about it as singing songs that people are composing as they talk to me. I wouldn’t say anybody is more challenging than another. Everybody deserves the attention that I and my coaches give them as I try to respect what they said to me.
Q: Do you think creating work like this which provided an alternative to conventional structured drama; have you changed the face of theatre in some way?
ADS: I wouldn’t presume to say [something like that…] You’d have to ask somebody else that, I wouldn’t say that about myself. People say I created a new form of theatre that’s now called “Verbatim Theatre” that I’ve been doing since the late ‘70s.
People do recognize that I’ve contributed something to the field in that regard. But I also… particularly in my teaching for 40 years and my book, Letters to a Young Artist, I hope that one of the things I do is give courage to younger people that try to do this. It’s very, very hard in any field in the arts to make a mark, as they say.
Q: Selma director Ava Duverney’s latest film, a documentary titled The 13th, complements your show. Have you seen it?
ADS: I saw Ava; I went to a screening of the show here in New York, and I was able to see her at the reception. I hope she can come to this show, I know she’s shooting something else right now. I would really like her to see it, I really admire her and her work.
Q: Do you think you can change people with a show like this, maybe they will change the way they vote by having them see your show?
ADS: I don’t think any of us can change anybody, really. All we can do is make ourselves present and hope that maybe something rich happens by the fact that we’re in each other’s company. We all have mini transformations all the time.
Q: Have you invited President Obama to one of these performances?
ADS: The President is well aware of this project. I had been invited to the White House to address a meeting of people doing work on school discipline. But I’m not bothering the President or anyone around him right now, I think they have other things on their minds. But the President knows about the project.
Q: Maybe they need to get some people down to see this before the election.
ADS: Once we get past this election I’ll do that, but otherwise I think they’re presently engaged.
Q: Do you hope that the audiences that sees this will think about who they’re voting for?
ADS: I sure do. It’s a very critical time right now, I’m supporting Secretary Clinton. I stand for a lot of what she stands for. I stand for justice, I stand for kids, I stand for a country where more of us can strive to love one another, I’m for her. Secretary Clinton and President Clinton have seen another one of my works, Twilight Los Angeles, and I’m hope we’re able to get them here too.
Q: How do you manage to avoid getting exhausted since you play so many characters in one intense two-hour+ performance every night?
Q: Cooked or uncooked?
ADS: Both. [I like] kale and collard greens.
With his dark shades and black/white garb on stage, master bassist Robert Miller seems like a cool cat out of a 1950s Hollywood casting of a jazz musician. But he’s much more than that. The 60-ish player is leader of Robert Miller’s Project Grand Slam, a band formed nearly 10 years ago to perform a fusion of rock and jazz that’s both familiar and fresh.
“I am as much a product of rock as I am of jazz,” Miller acknowledged in a recent conversation at the Palm Two in midtown Manhattan. “I love them both equally.”
Over a salad lunch, the New York born and bred Miller outlined his valiant effort not only to keep a sound initially made popular in the late ‘60s/early ‘70s, but advance it using a young generation of musicians not necessarily schooled on the same influences as he was. He draws on a pool of musicians, what he calls, “my international cartel.”
To that, the plucky player with an energy beyond his years added, “All around the world there are trained musicians who have gone to schools like Berklee in Boston. I just send out an email that I need guys — a great saxophonist say — for a certain date and they give recommendations. It always works out in time.”
Introduced to his enduring ensemble of a sometimes revolving door of members (“I have three or four variations”), the band plays an ongoing monthly residency at a Greenwich Village jazz den called The Groove NYC. There he works out new tracks, or unique arrangements for covers of rock classics done with a unique twist.
One such cover performed during their July date was the second single off The Queen’s Carnival, their latest album: a cover of The Kinks’ great rock hit “You Really Got Me,” with guest vocalist Lucy Woodward, is getting attention; Kinks' co founder Dave Davies even lent his support and, “We're still waiting on a reaction from Ray [Davies, the older brother].” [video clip: https://youtu.be/aQ7R83qO2lw]
Miller’s PGS continues to play other NYC venues. In May 2016 the band opened for four-time Grammy Award nominee Boney James at the Bergen Performing Arts Center in New Jersey. In June, the band was the featured performer at the Kirby Center For The Performing Arts in Pennsylvania.
Miller further noted, “Those songs I had played before a rock audience. We played a gig in November at the Gramercy Theater — we opened for Scott Weiland formerly of Stone Temple Pilots a week before he passed. We were one of three other acts — all hard rock bands like Weiland’s. We played before a completely rock audience and it went great. I knew we could play before any audience.”
While bandleader Miller is a high-minded jazz aficionado possessed of chops equal to any living jazz great -- having been trained by the likes of Jimmy Garrison -- his influences range beyond the usual that the jazz genre reflects today. That’s because, like it did with so many young people of his generation, the ‘60s British Invasion had a pivotal impact on his musical education.
And, it provided much of the spark that pushed Miller into playing bass guitar rather than a horn or keyboards. Project Grand Slam has, to quote one critic referring to their latest single, “The Rescue” — “a timeless, youthful passion.”
He laughs, “I became a bass player when I was 16, playing in a rock band formed with friends. We all had acoustic guitars that we were learning to play that we made into electric guitars by taping a microphone from a small reel-to-reel tape recorder onto the guitar.
“We bought Beatles sheet music and I noticed that there was a line on the bottom for the bass clef. I already played the trumpet so I knew the treble clef while my buddies were struggling to learn it. So I volunteered to learn the bass. And my entire musical career evolved from that!”
In those days, from high school during the ’60s on, Miller played in or fronted bands mostly under his name. Four bassists — Paul McCartney, Cream’s Jack Bruce, BS&T’s Jim Fielder, and Vanilla Fudge’s Tim Bogert — were crucial inspirations. In the ‘70s he became a fixture in the Boston music scene as a founding member of the jazz fusion band Sagov, playing with acclaimed musicians such as Sonny Stitt, Jaki Byard, and Anton Fig.
In the 1990s, The Robert Miller Group was formed. The band’s first CD, Child’s Play (1994), featured several of self-penned compositions and included guest musicians Fig, Randy Brecker, Jon Lucien, Al Foster, Tim Reis and Tony “Thunder” Smith. The band played the Telluride Jazz Festival, the San Bernadino Jazz Festival, the NYC Downtown Jazz Festival and many well known clubs including The Blue Note and Birdland.
Along the way, he learned the music business, both the legal and label managing aspects, as well as musically, which lent him the confidence to soldier on releasing four other albums on his own terms before this latest one. The band also had a featured role in the hit NBC-TV series Lipstick Jungle starring Brooke Shields, with five of the bandʼs tunes on the soundtrack.
As Miller noted, “The core group of musicians that I work with are still the ones who did this album — and all but one will be there on August 16th when the band officially celebrates the release of The Queenʼs Carnival (Sony/RED).” The new album — which is officially out on the 19th — features nine original tunes written by Miller including the premiere single “The Rescue.” Mostly instrumental, it is textured and diverse, applying influences from Latin to Celtic and everything in between, while staying true to the PGS sound.
The record is a bit more rock while the live show demonstrated more jazz inflections. Explained Miller, “The sax player you saw was the most jazz-oriented one I have had in the group. The other guy — my main guy — plays with effects and pedals. I don’t want people to know he’s playing the sax. I love sounds that make it so indistinguishable — it works great with the band.”
He added, “On the record I have three songs I call my Arena songs; the first track, “Beyond Forever,” is really a tribute to my favorite group, Return To Forever and [its leader] Chick Corea’s a major influence. I love all these guys [identified with fusion such as Miles Davis] but I do not set out reproduce what they do. I combine influences.
“The other two songs — “Gorilla" and “Lucky 7” — I actually wrote imagining them being played in Madison Square Garden where you don't usually find jazz musicians there.”
As outlined in Wikipedia, “Jazz fusion — also known as jazz-rock — is a musical genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined aspects of jazz harmony and improvisation with styles such as funk, rock, rhythm and blues and Latin jazz. During this time many jazz musicians began experimenting with electric instruments and amplified sound for the first time, as well as electronic effects and synthesizers. Many of the developments during the late 1960s and early 1970s have since become established elements of jazz fusion musical practice.”
And that pretty well sums up what one gets either listening to the recorded band or seeing them live in one of their permutations. The only question is, “How much of an audience is there for jazz fusion?” There’s alway been a serious jazz audience, but that’s been for classic straightahead jazz.
Says Miller, “I know that it has an audience but it’s not my niche. I didn’t want to go down that path. For a number years, I’ve been considered a contemporary jazz artist but that’s very open designation. So many things go into that [label]. I hate smooth jazz; to me, it’s elevator music.
“And it doesn’t reflect the other aspect of my career — the rock n roll which I played for 20 years like the British Invasion stuff. I took classic rock and tried to reimagine what I grew up with. I looked for a way and went down the middle between rock and jazz. Some have called fusion; there’s no other name I have for it. It has the power and beat of rock but the improvisational complexity of jazz. I’ve looked for the mid ground and in my search for it I’ve come up with Project Grand Slam.”
For Ingersol, music and the arts have always played a big part in her life. Born on July 22, 1990, this Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, native grew up traveling between the US and the UK. Her mother had emigrated from London, England after her parents had met at Oxford University. The 25-year-old singer/songwriter spent her childhood in both countries, which lent a uniqueness to her experience that translates strongly into her music.
At the age of four, Ingersol’s singing debut came about in church choir, and by five years old, she was handling pieces like “Gloria” by Vivaldi and “Bist Du Bie Mir” by Bach. The singer credits choir director Barbara Bruns with promoting her passion for music and performance.
She began playing guitar after a cousin gave her an acoustic that she determinedly plucked at even though it was too big for her to hold correctly. Once her parents bought her a suitably sized electric at 13, Ingersol attended Harcum College’s Summer Music Program where she learned more formally how to play.
The program focused on rock music with counselors/teachers who were music students from Berkley School of Music, NYU, and UARTS, among others. Ingersol went into the program knowing only how to play Green Day’s “Good Riddance,” but by summer’s end, she crunched out power chords and established a confidence in her musical abilities.
While there, Ingersol began songwriting and recorded two original songs for her final project; now one of them, “Apocalypse,” is on her debut album, the self-titled Ingersol. Her experience opened her up to knowing more about her own musical direction.
Three months in Europe visiting Florence, Italy; Paris, France; London, Liverpool, England; and Glasgow, Scotland, during a summer abroad program led her to perform for roommates and “jam” with local musicians — when not in classes.
Then, while earning her Bachelor’s of Fine Arts degree from Susquehanna University (‘13), Ingersol also gained experience regularly playing at local venues and charity concerts.
In her crafting this debut album, she worked extensively with Grammy-nominated producer Alex Salzman, who helped her weave her many musical influences into an intimate, honest, and often profound, songwriting style. And Ingersol completed a video of first single from her debut long player by directed by Erik Palladino.
In addition to her love of music, Ingersol is passionate about painting, sketching, and photography, as well as travel, cooking, family, and animals — especially her family’s pets, currently five cats.
Ingersol’s paintings have been featured as cover art for her alumnus magazine, as well as in several shows.
Ingersol carries her Taylor acoustic guitar (fondly named Babylon) with her everywhere she goes.
And her debut video can be found on her website: www.Ingersolmusic.com
Q: Some of your songs have a dark side. Do you have a dark side?
I: I think that it’s something in everybody. Having a dark side just isn’t pronounced when you meet somebody and that’s why I decided to do music the way I do it. I wanted to keep it honest and have it be accessible to people. I’m a happy person on the outside and the inside as well, but everybody goes through rough and tumble times. It’s important to be able to articulate that.
Q: Which of these songs were inspired by your kitty?
I: He’s my mascot, I just have to make sure I sing to him instead.
Q: Does he get the dark songs or the more up tempo songs?
I: He gets the bright and happy songs because he is just a little ball of love.
Q: Which song is the best for your kitty and why?
I: I think for Pepe it would be "Apocalypse" because "Apocalypse" has that quirky, upbeat, a little bit dark, but uplifting kind of grasp to it. I think Pepe my cat, embodies that. It’s about loving something until death or the apocalypse comes.
Q: So at least you want him to survive to, if not through, the apocalypse. Everyone associates songs with relationships, what song would you associate with a relationship and what were the circumstances?
I: "Love the Way" is pretty close to embodying all those things because it’s a lovey song and feeling love no matter where you are in life or location you are. So having that long distance relationship and how difficult that can be. I could play that song for somebody I was in love with and it hits close to home with a lot of people that I’ve talked to about it.
Q: Are all your songs rooted in relationships?
I: "Chasing Shadows" is the most tumultuous relationship description because as an art major and a fool in the middle of nowhere I was surrounded by not the best sort of people sometimes. So I knew drug addicts and people like that I had never been. I was dating a guy that was into drugs and I didn’t know about that. He ended up choosing drugs over me and that’s how I found out A) he was an addict and B) we were over.
It was supposed to be a slam poem about our relationship. I wrote it with my roommate and then I was saying it out loud to them and they said, “you should write a song.” So I turned it into a song and he said it helped. It really hit close to home for him during all of that.
Q: What can you tell the tale behind other songs? Are all the songs specific to relationships?
I: They’re all specific to relationships in some way, shape, or form. “Sailor” is about my great grandparents. My great grandfather was a flight deck commander for the USS Shangri-La during World War II. He passed away in 1999 and my great grandmother passed away in 2006. So I had most of my life to get to know them very well.
When they died I was going through all this stuff and I found the letters my great grandmother wrote to my great grandfather while he was away in the Pacific. I obviously elaborated a tiny bit for the song, but I decided I wanted to write a song about their love and no matter how far away they were or how hard things they were going through were, they always had each other to come back to.
Q: You might have a whole future album in those letters.
I: I love them. They make me tear up every time I read them.
Q: And any others?
I: My single, “Comfort Comfort,” has a cool story. The whole conflict behind “Comfort Comfort” was in my younger relationships, when you feel comfortable with somebody but you don’t really think you’re in love and it’s that awkward in between phase when you want to spend all your time with them but you can’t understand why. You’re comfortable being around them and that song is about that feeling. I couldn’t figure out a word for it, so I had to write a song about it instead.
Q: How did you meet producer Alex Salzman? Was the musical attraction immediate?
I: We met through my manager Liz when we were looking into recording. I drove up to his studio and played a few songs in his beautiful studio. We got to talking and it was like a lightbulb turned on. His vast knowledge of everything in the industry and our similarities in music appreciation really helped us hit it off. I think I started recording with him a few months later. He put so much into this album.
Alex deserves a lot of recognition for this, because he worked day in and day out. We’d wake up and get to the studio at 10 and be there all night. He worked his butt off and I couldn’t have done it without him. He deserves a lot of kudos for everything he has done. Alex really is incredible. He is talented on so many levels. I have never met someone that talented ever.
Q: How did he finesse the songs?
I: Finesse is the key word because I come up with these crazy ideas like, “How about a glockenspiel” or, “let’s add a dulcimer.” Alex would be like, “Okay, let’s pick one of those.”
If you listen to the songs carefully you can hear a bunch of instruments coming in and out. That’s where Alex really shone through, getting the arrangement together so it made sense. He’s just a genius when it comes to that.
Q: What’s been the most rewarding so far in making record or the first video?
I: Honestly, it’s really hard to pick just one. This whole experience has been a whirlwind. Recording the album was a dream come true. Everything about it [was incredible] from being in a studio every day recording and tweaking things, to meeting the incredible musicians on the album and getting their insight on my work.
The video helped me really put into perspective how big we were going. The video director Erik Palladino really blew me away with his vision and gave me a chance to get on stage and do what I love to do.
Q: You also paint; if you have the option between painting or singing, but for you was it ever really a choice?
I: Art and music go hand in hand. It’s really difficult to say I’d be doing one or the other, it’s as the wind blows and how I’m feeling.
There’s a quote from Leopold Stokowski that I always get wrong, but I’ll see if I can remember it. "A painter paints on canvas, while a musician paints on silence."
It’s that same concept, I always have a craving to fill empty space, whether it’s with beautiful loud obnoxious noises or actual physical paint. It’s just that I want to alter the emptiness.
Q: What was the first song you heard — do you remember it? Is your music rooted in it?
I: I have the lyrics to Sting’s "Fields of Gold" tattooed on my foot. The first time I heard "Fields of Gold" was on a cassette tape in my living room and I fell in love from there, I just needed it. There’s something behind the story of words and Sting is incredible. Sting always hits me right in the feels.
I also really identified with Freddie Mercury growing up, and still do to this day, I know pretty much every Queen lyric. We never watched TV growing up, so I would listen to his voice and imagine him marching around the stage with his microphone. I didn’t even know what he looked like at the time. It was just from how my parents described him.
I also listened to “Smash” by the Offspring a lot as a kid and they have remained a staple throughout my life. They are so energetic and sharp. Their lyrics did wonders for my four year old self.
Q: How old were you?
I: Around three years old. I had been listening to so many types of music my whole life that it’s hard to name one, but I think that was the first conscious moment where I remember listening to a song and saying, “Oh gosh, I love this.”
Q: And what was the very first concert you attended?
I: The first concert I went to was a Pink concert back when she was doing “Missundaztood.” My parents originally said I wasn’t allowed to go because she was risque and I was like 12 years old. But it was for a friend’s birthday party so they agreed to let me go. She was so incredible and cool on stage. I was blown away seeing her perform. I wanted to do that.
Q: Was this before Pink did the circus and acrobatic stuff?
I: This was before that. This was when she had pink hair and it was shorn on one side.
Q: So how do you feel about the statement that women can’t rock?
I: I strongly disagree with that statement, that women can’t rock. There is a certain type of person that has to be a rocker and it might just fall into being more men than women because of the barrier of women not being able to do things.
Through the years women have been able to step forward and really hold their own on the stage when it comes to rock. I know women are generally more emotional than men, so there’s a deeper seed of the lyric of the rock music. If anything women are better at rocking.
Q: There are certain female singer/song writers you didn’t reference in your bio like Tori Amos or Kate Bush. What do you think of them?
I: I definitely know both of them very well. What I struggle with is that I listen to so many different types of music and I get inspiration from all of them. I struggle to pinpoint who my favorite artists are or who my influences are because everybody is an influence. If I listen to a song once it’s in my music repertoire. There are so many amazing women in music history and rock history that I just draw a blank.
Q: How much did you improvise for this record or is it more structured?
I: A lot of it is improvised because of my history of jam bands.
Q: Did you go to Grateful Dead concerts?
I: No [laughs]. In college I had a band and we used to play every single weekend. We’d do concerts, like battle of the bands type stuff to raise money for different organizations and we’d do other fundraisers for fraternities and sororities and for the school in general. We had a lot of fun. Having that as our background made doing improv an integral part of recording, which will also hopefully translate to page. It’s been a while, so I’m really excited for spring to come so I can get back up there.
Q: With a name like Ingersol, there’s some European element in your background; isn’t that Scandinavian?
I: Nordic, somewhere in the North. It’s a family name. My parents met in England, so my mom is definitely from the other side of the pond. My dad’s family is Mayflower family. Pretty old school America. It’s a pretty interesting mix of cultures.
Q: How does that affect your music? Is it rooted in your background?
I: I grew up listening to a lot of classical music where instead of having an A, B, A, B arrangement you have a very complicated arrangement where it stems from emotions. You want to bring people up and take them back down and really throw them around.
And Alex Salzman, my producer, has a really strong background in classical music. With us sitting in the studio together we came up with these wild arrangements where at first we’d be like “this is too wild, too crazy.” And then we sit with it, add a theremin to it, and decide it’s perfect. It was interesting to see everything blend together, our taste in music and stuff like that.
Q: Do you dream of a day when you can bring in a full orchestra for a recording or tour?
I: I hope so. That would be so incredible. There were so many talented musicians that worked on the album and it would be great to get them back again or other talented musicians. The Ingersol Orchestra, let’s get that started, it’d be awesome.
Q: Does your music have a healing force or is it for your own therapy?
I: That’s a tough question because I can only speak for myself. It’s helped me a lot to grow and change and learn about the world and myself. I know my little sister has always loved it and that it helped her grow a little bit, but I don’t know for sure about other people. I think that there’s a level of honesty and surprise in it that helps me at least.
Q: How old is your sister?
I: She’s 18, she just started college.
Q: She keeps you on the youthful tip, right? You’re already over the hill!
I: [laughs] She tries.
Q: It’s not like she suggests that you put a rapper into the mix.
I: No, but she wouldn’t be opposed to it. She’s pretty well rooted in the things I like ’70s rock. She listens to more Led Zeppelin than people my age.
Q: Where do you live now?
I: I live outside Philadelphia right now. Born and raised.
Q: Do you think your music has a suburban quality?
I: Right now we’re technically in the city but I don’t count it as center city. Philadelphia is such a sprawling place. Kind of suburban but a little bit Philadelphia.
Q: Philadelphia is very under appreciated. It has a great Chinatown.
I: I agree, it’s just great.
Q: Do you associate any of your songs with food?
I: I probably need to start doing that.
Q: Do you have songs you recommend for when people are eating?
I: I like the old Kentucky-Fried-Chicken-and-a-Pizza-Hut song. My eating food music is definitely John Coltrane.
Q: Jazz giant John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme is one of the first records I ever owned.
I: It’s so good. I cry every time I listen to it.
Q: It’s an important record. It does all the right things, it makes you aspire to higher planes.
I: It wraps all your emotions into one big ball and pushes it down onto a record plate and you just play it over and over and over and just get wrapped up in it.
Q: Do you think you could live without music or art?
I: I don’t think I could ever live without music. Music is my art, art is just an outlet for it, if that makes any sense.
Q: What made you so disciplined to play music?
I: It was really just my need to make noises. I had been singing for as long as I can remember. Everything I could say I would sing instead. I was never good at taking lessons of any type so I had to teach myself everything.
It was just listening to records or movies and deciding I was gonna play it, then just sitting down and figuring it out. It’s like solving a math equation or something like that. I have to do this. I’m really stubborn.
Q: I could never stand my own singing enough to stick with music. You don’t have to think about that. Sound comes out of you and it sounds right.
I: I’m sure it’s the same as with you and writing. It’s like how you just write something down and it just clicks?
Q: No, it’s complete and utter torture for me!
I: It’s just feeling, really. When I go to speak, sometimes I just feel like I need to sing instead. I was born with this thing inside of me that I just need to make noise and it turned out to be actual music, which is pretty cool.
Q: When did somebody say you should be a musician?
I: When I was a little baby we did singing in school and it made me really happy. My parents have always been so supportive and say, “Oh you’re the best.” But you know when your parents say you’re the best sometimes it doesn’t actually means that, they just love you. That’s what I was worried about. But over the years I figured out I might have something still.
Q: Did you do solos when you did choir?
I: I did duets with my big sister. That was when everyone said, “Oh my gosh, they’re so great.” and we did all the duets after that.
Q: You have a big sister too?
I: I’m one of three girls. My big sister is 28 and the little one is 18.
Q: Are they expecting you to put them to work?
I: I hope so. My little one wants to do a Christmas album with me. She’s so talented.
Q: What would be your ultimate Christmas song?
I: I would love to do “Silent Night.” It’s nice and simple but beautiful.
Kenny Hargrove wants to raise money — fast. A week before his January 21 deadline on IndieGoGo’s crowdfunding platform, he has 80 plus contributors donate approximately $7000 for the pre-production phase of his first feature film project, Snow.
Unlike Kickstarter’s “all or nothing” policy," IndieGoGo lets you keep all the money you raise (minus the 5% platform fee and 3-5% transaction fees) whether you make the funding goal or not if the flexible funding option is chosen. Hargrove’s pressure is that an anonymous British angel backer promised to match $10,000 of the intial $25,000 funding goal, but only if $15,000 is raised. His campaign page is on: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/snow--4#/
The campaign’s press release pitches the film as “Male Filmmaker Crowdfunds to Break Hollywood’s Glass Ceiling for Female Dramas.” The tagline is “Snow: A Woman’s Journey Toward Love and Destiny,” and is compared to Madame Bovary, and Under the Tuscan Sun. “What would you do?” asks Rose, the protagnist when presented with a female’s complex choices, in the campaign’s pitch video on YouTube.
A former financial journalist in Asia and now a screenwriter and playwright living in Los Angeles, Hargrove has had experience writing press releases and marketing that is his advantage. Pre-launch, he had cultivated 10,000 plus followers on Twitter and more recently on Facebook beforehand, retweeting a refined cultural mix of art, indie films, and dance.
Hargrove also networks consistently in Los Angeles film and theater circles, well groomed in his Ivy League style, seen photographed with upcoming actors at industry events. Experts say that only 1% of followers will be core supporters, and that only 10% may donate. A filmmaker would need to have a considerable following or contact list before considering crowdfunding.
The campaign’s launch, with the help of his “campaign ambassador” team of nine females and one male, was announced not only with emailing contacts but maintained in social media. A steady stream of pretty photos of the film’s heroine and classic movie actresses are posted daily, and Hargrove also cleverly links current news involving women to his campaign plea.
He splashily thanks donors by name on his social media, and provides video updates in his personable manner, strolling by a romantic foggy coastline. His Twitter handle is: @peaseblossom7. His Facebook page: www.facebook.com/thesnowmovie
Using IndieGoGo’s self-help platform, he tweaks his campaign’s messaging and perks, upping the levels from hand-written poetry about you from Danish poet, Ulrikka Gernes, to free room and board as an extra or intern in Tuscany. You have to admire Kenny Hargrove’s charming persistence.
Hargrove (right) further elaborates on his campaign for Snow in the following interview.
[All photos in this story by Lindsey Ricker]
Q: What is the meaning of the title Snow?
KH: As I mentioned in today’s campaign update, it’s a metaphor for trying new things, exploring new challenges. I’d never experienced a snowfall until I left California for New Jersey when I went to Princeton. So, it’s about experiencing the new. The protagonist Rose has similarly never had the experience of having a snowflake fall on her.
Q: Do you want to open up and talk about the LGBT affair?
KH: Sure. It’s actually featured in one of the promo videos, the scene with the two women at the pool. I tend to shy away from it because it’s the dominant subplot but it’s really not what the story is about. I’m happy if people see Snow as a love story but it’s really a change your life story. That said, the poetess that the painter Rose falls for does help to move the story along and makes it more of an art film.
Q: Why Is the real life poet so important to this film?
KH: She’s a dear friend and I’m eager to help get the word out globally about her wonderful poems. That said, it’s not really critical which country the poet is from or that she is a poet necessarily. I just thought since Danish actresses had originally asked me to write something for them, why not use the work of my real life Danish poet friend Ulrikka Gernes? I’m really happy she’s a part of the project. She’s very encouraging and an incredible human being.
Q: Is she donating to the film?
KH: Yes. She is donating the use of her work in the actual screenplay. She is donating perks in the form of handwritten poems that will be mailed from Denmark for crowdfunding donors. Through her, her publisher has also donated 25 copies of her latest poetry collection to the campaign as well as a perk. Additionally, she did make a contribution to the crowdfunding campaign, which was a nice surprise. She’s given so much in other ways, it seemed unnecessary. That said, we need every cent that we can get.
Q: Are you the anonymous matching donor?
KH: No. I’m a starving artist. If I had $10,000 extra to donate to the project I’d probably not pursue a crowdfunding campaign. It’s too much work and I would have preferred to have remained a private person.
Q: Have you written the script yet?
KH: Yes. This is my first screenplay and everything I’ve learned about writing as well as directing has gone into it. That’s why it’s so personal. The first draft was completed in 2005. I began to shop it around in 2007 after table readings in New York and Los Angeles and also staging some scenes through my directing workshop but it wasn’t until 2009 that it was really good.
Q: Have you cast the film?
KH: No. Some “name” actors had been verbally attached but as their careers take off they’ve tended to forget about little indie films. That said, the script is out to a few Oscar Nominees at the moment whom I don’t want to mention.
Q: Is the swimming pool promo a sample of what to expect?
KH: Yes and no. There is no swimming pool scene in the movie. However, we shot the promos during the summer at the Hollywood Hills home of the cinematographer so it seemed like a fun thing to do. But, as I mentioned earlier, the relationship with the Danish poetess Oona does help to drive the story.
Q: This is your first crowdfunding campaign. Why was the campaign time extended?
KH: The basic problem is that most people that I want to reach still don’t know about the campaign. I should have contacted several hundred people before the campaign but I’m doing it as I go along on a one-on-one basis. That’s very time consuming. We’re just beginning to move into mass contacting of groups of people.
It’s not really what I prefer but we don’t have time. Hopefully that will speed things up. It does seem to take several days between when I contact someone and when they actually donate so an extension could make sense. Lots of people said that they would donate. Hopefully they will. The question is when and how much.
Q: What do you plan to do concretely with the first round of funding?
KH: This seed money is for the lawyers to draft private placement memoranda and talent attachment letters (formal offers to “name” talent), a casting director to help find “name” talent”, and a line producer to help revise the budget, which hasn’t been updated in 8 years.
Q: What do you think the real cost of the film will be in the end?
KH: The current pie-in-the-sky budget from 2007 is $2.8 million not including salaries of “name” talent. However, it can be revised downward significantly by using the low budget agreements of the various guilds, deferring as much salary as possible, and making use of state-level incentives programs that can easily cut costs by 20% or more. Unless we can attach a “name” actor or two, it would be wise to get the budget down towards $1 million so that investors have some hope of recouping their investment.
Q: What is this SEC stock investment about?
KH: President Obama’s 2012 Jobs Act offers new financing tools for smaller and newer businesses and investors in the form of equity crowdfunding. This is done at least partly online like donation -based crowdfunding but the funds involved are much larger and the process requires SEC scrutiny. Instead of receiving t-shirts and mugs, investors get equity. If a film makes money, they make money.
The part that interests me is Title III, which the SEC just approved October 30. It allows new companies to raise as much as $1 million using as many as 99 investors and relatively minimal documentation. It’s basically a poor man’s version of an initial public offering of stock. While it sounds perfect for indie filmmakers, some lawyers caution about potential lawsuits from less sophisticated smaller investors (who were previously barred from buying securities).
Most film projects don’t get made. Most that do get made lose money. You have to find investors who understand that basic statistic and are still comfortable joining the project for reasons other than return on investment. Hopefully I won’t have to go that route. Hopefully, having higher visibility through the donation-based crowdfunding will attract funds from friendly investors and film production companies in a more private way. I feel that it may be already happening. The universe is now aware of my project and is beginning to push it towards fruition. At least that’s how things have felt over the past few weeks.
If you would like to donate, head over to his IndieGoGo page: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/snow--4#/
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HC looks at the conditions which are required to make an employee medical examination compulsory
Great ideas in the workplace can be stifled due to managers who resist changes to the status quo
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Violence against women is a serious social problem. How can the way we act in the workplace make a difference?
Australia is lagging behind New Zealand when it comes to joining the global shift to utilise social media in recruiting, according to a new survey.
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Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has announced the Coalition Government will replace skilled 457 visas
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domain: news


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This blend contains beneficial nutrients for epithelium cells and friendly bacteria found in the gut. It is estimated that 80% of the immune system is located in the gut. If it is “leaky” or compromised in any way, every other body system is compromised. The gut is also known as our “second brain,” where it houses over 200 million neurons which directly communicate to the brain via the vagus nerve. 90% of the bodies serotonin is made in the gut- if it is functioning optimally. Maintaining a healthy intestinal ecosystem is essential for optimal well-being.
What about Probiotics?
While fermented foods and probiotics can offer some help, our Gut is already home to thousands of various species of micro-flora that number in the trillions. While their numbers can be greatly reduced by a dose of antibiotics or dietary choices, there are always some survivors. These robust survivors are hard to replicate in a probiotic supplement and are the ones that need our attention. They flourish on various unique fibers known as “Prebiotics. “ GI Rescue is packed with these prebiotics from nurtient-dense whole foods which may support a healthy intestinal lining and probiotic ecosystem.
Is this for daily use or just when you have problems?
GI Rescue is formulated to be therapeutic enough to help assist in the healing of all types of digestive issues. At the same time, taking some every day is the best way to ensure your digestive system will stay in optimal health. When working on a particular issue, one will use a larger dose twice a day. A smaller dose once daily will work very well for people who don’t have any known issues. GI Rescue is formulated for daily tonic use in mind.
What other benefits may it offer?
This formula offers a diversity of possible health benefits. The L-glutamine in the formula is an amino acid which makes up the majority of our muscular system. Since our gut is actually one big muscle, L-glutamine is an essential component of our intestinal health but also great before or after a workout to support energy and muscle recovery. Since our gut is really an extension of our brain, the addition of Lion’s Mane Mushroom supports nerve growth and supplies polysaccharides to fuel our immune system. We have created this formula as a great all around support system and essential functional food since our digestive system is fundamental to our health and well-being.
This blend is rich in soothing demulcents, amino acids, nerve growth factors, soluble fibers, prebiotics, pectin, polysaccharides, active botanical compounds, and whole food nutrients. These nutrients may also support muscle growth, weight loss, brain function, blood sugar, and more.
One 2 Tb.(11g) serving supplies approximately 3.6g of Fermented Non-GMO L-Glutamine manufactured to the highest standards in the USA.

domain: medical


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Compensation for cut in question
The two municipal councils asked last night how the Financial Secretary will compensate them for income lost due to the rate cut.
Mr Tsang announced a one-off concession of a 50 per cent cut in rates for the July-September quarter.
'Members of the public only have to pay 3.5 quarters' rates instead of four in the 1999-2000 fiscal year,' he said.
The cut will reduce government revenue by $1.8 billion.
Mr Tsang said rates were the taxes with the widest impact on the community and one of the most reliable sources of revenue.
Rating and Valuation Department figures show there are about two million domestic and almost 350,000 commercial and industrial tenants paying rates.
'Within the very tight fiscal constraints I am facing I have tried to find room to further relieve the burden of ratepayers,' he said.
Mr Tsang increased the rates percentage charge from 4.5 per cent to five per cent in the current financial year. It had dropped to 4.5 per cent in the previous budget.
But ratepayers in about 80 per cent of properties will pay less than in the past financial year. Rateable values are calculated on rent levels, which have dropped during the economic downturn.
The Government will conduct a general revaluation of the rateable values of properties every year, instead of every three years.
'This ensures that rateable values will better reflect prevailing market rentals,' Mr Tsang said.
'It will be fairer to ratepayers and will reduce unnecessary disputes between the public and the Rating and Valuation Department.' Spokesmen for the provisional Urban Council and provisional Regional Council urged Mr Tsang to clarify the policy as soon as possible. More than 80 per cent of their income comes from rates.
Mr Tsang admitted the concession would have a significant impact on the municipal councils.
He said special arrangements would be made, but did not elaborate.
The Real Estate Developers Association welcomed the decision to conduct annual revaluation.
But the association criticised the policy to charge rates for about 40,000 empty flats.


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Modi's appeal to the Sikh community comes two days after a blast took place in Punjab's Ludhiana district court complex.
Guru Nanak Jayanti 2020: Taapsee Pannu, Diljit Dosanjh, Sunny Deol, Nimrat Kaur post wishes on social media
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Guru Nanak Jayanti 2019: This year, Gurupurab is even more special as on 12 November (Tuesday) it marks the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev ji, the first of the 10 Sikh gurus.
Thousands of devotees thronged the holiest of Sikh shrines, 'Harmandar Sahib', popularly known as Golden Temple, in Amritsar.