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How Michael Jackson Made 'Bad'
The story of how the landmark album, which just turned 25 and will soon be re-released in a three-disc set, was forged by the "Wacko Jacko" backlash against the pop star
At the height of his fame, Michael Jackson disappeared.
In 1984, he seemed to be everywhere: on MTV and in Pepsi commercials, at the Grammys and the White House, on Rolling Stone and Time magazine, and all across the United States on the Victory Tour. The next year, however, besides a brief appearance in "We Are the World," he was nowhere to be seen. "The year 1985," wrote Gerri Hirshey for Rolling Stone, "has been a black hole for Michael watchers, who witnessed the most spectacular disappearing act since Halley's comet headed for the far side of the solar system in 1910." It was a strategic move from a performer who understood the power of anticipation and mystique. 1986 was much the same. Jackson was said to be a recluse "in hiding" and made few public appearances.
In his absence came a flood of fantastical stories about shrines, hyperbaric chambers, and Elephant Man's bones. Most of these were harmless (and actually amused Jackson), but there was a darker side to the media backlash. Jackson had become the most powerful African American in the history of the entertainment industry. Not only had he built an empire through his own record-shattering albums, videos and performances, he had resurrected the fortunes of CBS/Epic Records, surged life into MTV, and set the bar for live entertainment. He also smartly retained full ownership of his master recordings and with the help of his attorney, John Branca, actively acquired publishing rights, including songs by Sly and the Family Stone, Ray Charles, and of course, the crown jewel of popular music: the ATV/Beatles catalog.
It is no coincidence that this was the precise moment when the tide began to shift. From industry heavyweights and media alike, there was now suspicion, resentment, and jealousy. It was clear Jackson was not merely a naive man-child (as he was often presented), or a song-and-dance man who knew and accepted his place as a static, submissive "entertainer." He was outwitting some of the most powerful figures in the industry. He was growing artistically and financially. And he was beginning to learn how to wield his considerable power and cultural influence for more social and political ends.
"He will not swiftly be forgiven for having turned so many tables," wrote James Baldwin in 1985, "for he damn sure grabbed the brass ring, and the man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo has nothing on Michael. All that noise is about America, as the dishonest custodian of black life and wealth; the blacks, especially males, in America; and the burning, buried American guilt; and sex and sexual roles and sexual panic; money, success and despair..."
The backlash, then, was not merely about Jackson's perceived eccentricities. It was also about power, money, and more subtle forms of institutional and cultural dominance. In the decades preceding Jackson, as James Brown put it, black recording artists were all-too-often "in the show, but not in show business." Now Jackson was a financial force to be reckoned with. His status, however, also turned him into an enormous target.
The term "Jacko," then, didn't arise out of a vacuum, and certainly wasn't meant as a term of endearment. In the ensuing years, it would be used by the tabloid and mainstream media alike with a contempt that left no doubt about its intent. Even for those with no knowledge of its racist roots and connotations, it was obviously used to "otherize," humiliate and demean its target. Like Ralph Ellison's "Battle Royal" scene in Invisible Man, it was a process by which to reduce Michael Jackson the human being and artist, to "Jacko" the minstrelized spectacle for avaricious amusement. (It is significant to note that, while the term was used widely by the white media, it was rarely, if ever used by black journalists.)
This was the ominous undercurrent beginning to swirl around Jackson and it had an impact on both his own psyche and that of the public (particularly in the U.S.). The tension between control and liberation or escape percolates throughout the Bad album and its accompanying music videos.
In the short film for "Leave Me Alone," for example, Jackson keenly conveys the carnivalesque reality of his life as an objectified entertainer. Inspired in part by Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels, a larger-than-life Jackson is literally trapped in an amusement park attraction as dogs in corporate suits pound pegs in the ground to keep him in place. Later in the video he sings out of newspapers, dollar bills, and within reenactments of tabloid stories. It is a shrewdly self-aware (and socially aware) examination of entrapment, exploitation, and double consciousness in the postmodern age.
Story continues below.
Part of Jackson's "disappearance," then, also had to do with the realities of his life. He could no longer walk freely anywhere in the world without being mobbed, scrutinized, and dissected.
His retreat was in his art. From 1985 to 1987, away from the public eye, he was writing and recording prolifically. The Bad sessions would ultimately generate more than 60 songs in various states of completion. At one point he considered releasing it as a triple-disc album.
Jackson called his home studio at Hayvenhurst "the Laboratory." This is where the magic was created with a small group of musicians and engineers, including Matt Forger, John Barnes, Chris Currell, and Bill Bottrell (often referred to as the "B-Team"). It has now become the stuff of legend that Jackson wrote "100 million" on his bathroom mirror, the number of albums he expected Bad to sell. The figure was more than double the number of what Thriller had sold to that point. Such was the scope of Jackson's ambition.
However, it wasn't just commercial success he was after. Jackson wanted to innovate. He told collaborators he wanted to create sounds the ear had never heard. Exciting new synthesizers were coming on the scene at the time, including the Fairlight CMI and the Synclavier PSMT. "It really opened up another realm of creativity," recalls recording engineer Matt Forger. "The Fairlight had this light pen that could draw a waveform on the screen and allow you to modify the shape of it. The Synclavier was just an extension of that. Very often we would end up combining two synthesizer elements together to create a unique character. You could do that within the Synclavier, but you also had the ability in a very fine increment to adjust the attack of each sound character. And by doing that you could really tailor the sound. We were doing a lot of sampling and creating new sound characters and then creating a combination of sample sounds mixed with FM synthesis."
Jackson was fascinated with these new technologies and constantly on the lookout for fresh sounds. The opening sound character for "Dirty Diana," for example, was created by Denny Jaeger, a Synclavier expert and designer from the Bay Area. When Jackson heard about Jaeger and his library of new sound characters and soundscapes, he reached out and enlisted him for Bad. Jaeger's sounds ultimately appeared on both "Dirty Diana" and "Smooth Criminal." "Michael was always searching for something new," Forger says. "How much stuff could we invent ourselves or research and find? There was a whole lot of that going on. That was what the Laboratory was about."
Story continues below.
What makes the Bad album so timeless, however, is the way Jackson was able to compliment this technological innovation with more organic, soulful qualities. In "The Way You Make Me Feel," for example, the relentless steel-shuffling motion of the beat is juxtaposed with all kinds of natural, improvisational qualities that give the song its charm: the vocal ad libs, the finger snapping, the blues harmonies, the percussive grunts and gasps, the exclamations. Recording engineer Bruce Swedien speaks of how he left all of Jackson's vocal habits in as part of the "overall sonic picture." He didn't want to make the song "antiseptically clean" because it would lose its visceral effect.
In so many ways, Bad was Jackson's coming-of-age as an artist. Quincy Jones challenged him at the outset to write all the material and Jackson responded, writing nine of the 11 tracks that made the album and dozens more that were left off. "Study the greats," he wrote in one note to himself, "and become greater." He spoke of the "anatomy" of music, of dissecting its parts. He was also reading a great deal, including the work of Joseph Campbell. He wanted to understand what symbolism, myths, and motifs resonated over time and why.
By the time he brought demos to Westlake Studio to work on with Quincy Jones and Bruce Swedien (the A-Team), most of the key elements of the songs were in place. Now it was a matter of details: small-brush coloring, polishing, augmenting, and to Jackson's chagrin, paring down. Assistant engineer Russ Ragsdale estimates that more than 800 multi-track tapes were made to create Bad, an extraordinary number. Synth stacks filled the tracking room, where Jackson often worked with synth programer John Barnes. Vocals were rerecorded until Jackson felt satisfied. Jackson, Quincy Jones and Bruce Swedien continued to tweak and debate decisions until the final minute before the deadline.
Just as much attention went into the short films. In his notes following the Bad video, Jackson indicated that he still wasn't completely satisfied with the choreography. The moves had to be so internalized that there was no thinking whatsoever. He had to dissolve into the steps and the music until it became pure feeling.
Many people still don't realize the input Jackson had on every detail of his work, from choreography to lighting to costumes to story. While rehearsing for the short film for "Smooth Criminal," Jackson eloquently explained to director Colin Chivers and choreographer Vincent Paterson the tension and release he hoped to achieve in the bridge. "That's why we build it to a mountain and we bring it back down," he instructed. "Then at the top [mouths sounds effect] with the high strings. Something to just ride the emotion that we didn't put into it [mouths sound effect]. Just a horn or something, you know... To ride the feeling of it... I want the music to represent the way we feel... It's gotta dictate our emotion, our moods. We're expressing the way everybody feels. It's rebellion. You know what I mean? We're letting out what we always wanted to say to the world. Passion and anger and fire!"
Twenty-five years later, the results speak for themselves. Videos like "Bad" and "Smooth Criminal" are among the finest the medium has to offer. Songs like "Man in the Mirror," "The Way You Make Me Feel," "Dirty Diana," and "Another Part of Me" remain staples in Jackson's vast catalog. Hearing the remastered album, included in the three-CD Bad25 set out September 18, is a reminder of its singular personality and pleasure. Listen to the propulsive bass lines, the layers of rhythm, the vocal experimentation, the cinematic narratives, the signature exclamations and invented vocabulary, the sheer vitality and joy. This is pop at its most dynamic, and it stands, along with the best work of Prince, as one of the best albums of the 1980s.
Bad is a portrait of the artist in peak form—bold, creative and confident. Now as then, "the whole world has to answer."


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Churn Dash Baby Quilt
Inspired by Sash and Dash from Designers Dolores Smith and Sarah Maxwell of Homestead Hearth
Quiltmaker: Laura Boehnke
- 6--9x22" pieces (fat eighths) assorted solids in pink, blue, and green (blocks)
- 12--8x10" pieces assorted small to large prints in pink, orange, yellow, green, and blue (blocks)
- 1 yard blue floral (sashing, binding)
- 1/8 yard multicolor small floral (sashing)
- 1/4 yard pink tone-on-tone (inner border)
- 2/3 yard multicolor large floral (outer border)
- 2-3/4 yards backing fabric
- 49x59" batting
Finished quilt: 42-3/4x53"
Finished block: 8-3/4" square
Quantities are for 44/45"-wide, 100% cotton fabrics.
Measurements include 1/4" seam allowances. Sew with right sides together unless otherwise stated.
Cut Fabrics
Cut pieces in the following order.
From assorted solids, cut 12 matching sets of:
- 2--4-3/8" squares
- 5--2-1/4" squares
From assorted small and large prints, cut 12 matching sets of:
- 2--4-3/8" squares
- 4--2-1/4" squares
From blue floral, cut:
- 5--2-1/2x42" binding strips
- 31--2x9-1/4" sashing rectangles
From multicolor small floral, cut:
- 20--2" sashing squares
From pink tone-on-tone, cut:
- 4--1-1/2x42" strips for inner border
From multicolor large floral, cut:
- 5--4-1/2x42" strips for outer border
Assemble Blocks
1. For one block, gather a set of matching solid pieces (two 4-3/8" squares and five 2-1/4" squares) and a set of matching small or large print pieces (two 4-3/8" squares and four 2-1/4" squares).
2. Use a pencil to mark a diagonal line on wrong side of each solid 4-3/8" square.
3. Layer each marked solid square atop a small or large print 4-3/8" square. Sew each pair together with two seams, stitching 1/4" on each side of drawn line (Diagram 1).
4. Cut a pair apart on drawn line to make two triangle units (Diagram 1). Open triangle units and press seams toward print to make two triangle-squares. Each triangle-square should be 4" square including seam allowances. Repeat with remaining pair to make four matching triangle-squares total.
5. Sew together a solid 2-1/4" square and a small or large print 2-1/4" square to make a rectangle unit (Diagram 2). Press seam toward print. The rectangle unit should be 2-1/4x4" including seam allowances. Repeat to make four rectangle units total.
6. Referring to Diagram 3, lay out triangle-squares, rectangle units, and remaining solid 2-1/4" square in three rows. Sew together pieces in each row. Press seams toward rectangle units. Join rows to make a Churn Dash block. Press seams in one direction. The block should be 9-1/4" square including seam allowances.
7. Repeat steps 1–6 to make 12 Churn Dash blocks total.
Assemble Quilt Top
1. Referring to Quilt Assembly Diagram, lay out blocks, blue floral sashing rectangles, and multicolor small floral sashing squares in rows. Sew together pieces in each row. Press seams toward sashing rectangles. Join rows to make quilt center. Press seams toward sashing rows. The quilt center should be 32-3/4x43" including seam allowances.
2. Cut and piece pink tone-on-tone 1-1/2x42" strips to make:
- 2--1-1/2x43" inner border strips
- 2--1-1/2x34-3/4" inner border strips
3. Sew long inner border strips to long edges of quilt center. Add short inner border strips to remaining edges. Press all seams toward inner border.
4. Cut and piece multicolor large floral 4-1/2x42" strips to make:
- 2--4-1/2x45" outer border strips
- 2--4-1/2x42-3/4" outer border strips
5. Sew long outer border strips to long edges of quilt center. Add short outer border strips to remaining edges to complete quilt top. Press all seams toward outer border.
Finish Quilt
1. Layer quilt top, batting, and backing; baste. Quilt as desired.
2. Bind with blue floral binding strips.

subset: commoncrawl


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Women Against Gun Control
(especially Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton)
" Women do NOT Support Gun Control!"
"Women Do NOT Want to be Victims!"
Join Women Against Gun Control,
"Ladies of High Caliber"
The 2nd Amendment IS the Equal Rights Amendment!
Women Have Taken Away Our Guns.
Women Must Get Them Back!
It's not ladylike to take things that don't belong to you.
Our guns and our gun rights are ours.
You can't have them!
Teach politicians some manners.
Join Women Against Gun Control.
It's free.
Just take the WAGC pledge and print out a WAGC membership card for your wallet.(Click here for membership card and pledge.)
Men are also welcome to join, too.
(Unlike most women's rights organizations, we don't hate men. We like men!)
About WAGC: Nineteen years ago I was in a serious car crash. A thin white divider sheet separated the hospital room that I was sharing with a man who had been intentionally shot in the neck with a 9mm handgun. We both survived.: Click here for more information:


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Our Neurodiagnostic department offers diagnostic and therapeutic services to people of all ages with disorders of the nervous system as well as other conditions. Board-certified neurologists interpret diagnostic studies as well as perform diagnostic and therapeutic procedures utilizing state-of-the-art computerized equipment. The use of portable equipment allows testing in any patient-care area of the hospital.
Our therapeutic procedures include chemodenervation using Botox for: extremities and/or trunk muscle conditions, including dystonia, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis and facial nerve and cervical spinal conditions.
We also offer services in 5 clinical areas:
- Ocular
- Electroencephalograms – lab and ambulatory
- Electromyograms and Nerve Conduction testing
- Chemodenervation using Botox
- Evoked Potentials
- Neuro-vascular, Carotid Ultrasound and Transcranial Doppler


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Since initially posting my synopsis of the French film Venus Noire (Black Venus), back in March (along with the YouTube embedded video), I have taken some time to reevaluate my position on the film. After re-watching the entire movie in its entirety and reading several biographies of the real Saartje Baartman, upon whose life the film was based, I've come to the conclusion that the movie does not do her or the life she lived any meaningful justice. At the time of writing the 1st synopsis, I must confess I'd only watched the first half of the nearly 3-hour movie, which, although taking certain liberties with historical record, did not have the same effect of detachment that the 2nd half of the film did.
Originally I'd opined that "director Abdellalif Kechiche's film doesn't hold back in its brutal depiction of even the most humiliating and heart wrenching moments in [Saartje's] life… but this was her life, and it could be said that choosing not to include these scenes in all their brutal honesty would be a disservice to her historical legacy." There is something inherently wrong with this statement, however, in that it takes for granted that the motive behind including these graphic scenes was specifically to invoke empathy from the movie's audience, which now I'm not so certain was the case. The most sexually explicit scenes were so excruciatingly long and graphic that they were better-suited for some sort of fetish pornography film instead of a movie based on historical events. While normally I would vehemently defend the inclusion of such explicit scenes if it's for the purpose of creating a realistic reenactment of history, it's difficult to see what all this added to the overall narrative of the film. I don't believe in sugarcoating history, especially when it comes to the very real and intense suffering that the young Sarah Baartman endured at the hands of those who sought only to humiliate and exploit her. But several scenes in particular succeeded in completely detaching the audience from any emotional investment they might have had in watching this film and were clearly added only for shock value. It's similar to the ways in which pornography is intended to turn people on and (for lack of a better phrase) "get them off" without feeling any sense of emotional attachment to the actors in the film. There are excruciatingly long scenes in which the 'Hottentot Venus' is shown getting fucked by a dildo by multiple people as well as scenes where Parisian female prostitutes are shown getting penetrated by some random unattractive male customers. Perhaps this could be more easily justified if there were some real concrete evidence of the more explicit scenes having happened in real life, or if these scenes were used as a vehicle to reflect the pain and humiliation Sarah Baartman must have so often felt inside. But this didn't happen, and the audience was left waiting for the moral point of this horrific story to be somehow driven home.
Saartje's life was humiliating enough without having to include extra theatrics for shock value. Contrary to what numerous reports have claimed, there simply isn't enough evidence to support as a matter of fact that Saartje took up prostitution as a profession to support herself near the end of her life. Although possible, it shouldn't have been the focal point around which the entire last hour of the movie centered. Nor has it ever been confirmed that the disease Saartje died from was in any way sexually-related. There is a common misconception that it is a historically proven fact that Saartje died from syphilis, but this speculation has a lot more to do with racist stereotyping than being based on any objective available data.
The straw that really kind of broke the camel's back with me and this film, however, might seem a bit trivial to some, but is of great significance when viewed in proper historical context. In quite a number of scenes in the movie, the very first in which she appears being one of them, Saartje's performances in front of groups of uncultivated European crowds begin with her literally being shackled inside a cage. While Saartje was certainly not a free woman in any real sense, inclusion of physical shackles visible to the eye was a fabrication on the director's part. In the book, African Queen: the real life of the Hottentot Venus, author Rachel Holmes dates this popular misconception back to a negative review of the 'Hottentot Venus' Act that appeared in an issue dated November, 1810 of the popular UK publication The Sporting Magazine. The writer who penned the review showed great sympathy toward Saartje and recoiled on account of what he saw as her forced submission, viewing the 'Venus' Act in terms of the dominant racial order of the time – Saartje's white manager as master and she his subordinate slave. In Britain of 1810 where this review was first published, although slavery was still the practice of the British Empire, British people largely saw themselves as being above toleration of slavery on their own soil (in other words, 'slavery is terrible and has no place in civilized society, but we're willing to allow it to happen outside of our borders and in our names if it can further enrich us'). Bearing this in mind the Sporting Magazine writer decried the ways in which Saartje was "shewn like a caged beast." (Holmes, page 49.) Note the word "like." Holmes continues, "Although many women have appeared both before and since on leashes, chained, or in cages, both literally enslaved and enslaved for popular entertainment, Saartje was not one of them." Therefore the movie's use of the cage was an addition that wasn't even necessary to the overall demonstration that Saartje found herself the constant victim of white colonialist oppression. The cage in which Saartje performed was not so easily visible; it didn't have to be.
In closing, I want to end this passage with an excerpt from Holmes's book (page 41) which perfectly describes the reality of the historical period in which Sarah Baartman entered into Europe, never to return to the land of her birth:
She arrived toward the end of the era when sentimental primitivism held sway, and at the beginning of the rise of the new pseudoscience of ethnology, in which human beings became living specimens. Ethnology went hand in white cotton glove and khaki pith-helmet with imperialism, the economic exploitation of Africa, and the emergence of scientific racism. Saartje's time in London coincided with a new era of European imperialist expansion into the African interior, feminized by its would-be British colonizers as a continent ripe for conquest. Dovetailing with this was the fact that African otherness, with its implications of the alien and strange, had an appeal long exploited by theatrical and popular entertainments. The Hottentot Venus arose in London as the very apotheosis of Europe's invented Africa, the dark continent of feminized impenetrability and crude potency.


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FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP, N.J. – New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency (HMFA) Executive Director Anthony L. Marchetta joined elected state and local officials and community leaders to celebrate the grand opening of Voorhees Station, a 76-unit newly constructed apartment community with approximately 9,000 square feet of commercial space in Franklin Township, Somerset County. The HMFA, an affiliate of the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA), awarded the project federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) that generated approximately $12.9 million in private equity.
"We are pleased that Voorhees Station will provide housing opportunities for New Jersey's hard-working families," said DCA Commissioner Richard E. Constable, III, who also serves as Chairman of the HMFA. "The HMFA's LIHTC Program is yet another tool that developers can take advantage of to increase the supply of affordable housing around the state."
Voorhees Station, which cost approximately $19 million to develop, will not only provide affordable housing opportunities for New Jersey families, but will continue to have a positive economic impact on the Somerset County community. HMFA estimates that the project generated approximately $30.2 million in one-time economic output and created approximately 181 full-time jobs during construction. Now completed, the project will continue to add value to the community by providing more than $3.3 million in ongoing economic output and approximately 19 full-time jobs annually. Additional funding sources for the Voorhees Station development included a permanent and construction loan from PNC and construction and permanent funding from the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York, and Township of Franklin Affordable Housing Trust Funds.
As the designated redeveloper of Franklin Township's Churchill Millstone Redevelopment area, the opening of Voorhees Station will signify RPM Development Group's third development in this redevelopment zone. Voorhees Station consists of two newly-constructed, four-story contemporary buildings with 74 rental apartments, a duplex home, totaling 76 units, approximately 9,000 square feet of retail space along the busy thoroughfare of Route 27, and a 1,600 square foot community room. Inside the neomodern exterior, the buildings feature 12 one-bedroom units, 45 two-bedroom units, and 19 three-bedroom units. The apartments feature spacious layouts, high-efficiency stainless steel appliances, and parking for tenants is creatively tucked under the buildings and is available on the surface level. Voorhees Station has achieved LEED-Platinum certification, the highest level of green building awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council, in addition to being in compliance with the EPA Energy-Star 3.0 Program.
Residents of the complex also have access to various social services, activities, and classes, including book clubs, fitness and yoga classes, financial counseling, computer training, and other services that cater to the needs and interests of the residents, including those with special needs in the community room.
"This mixed-use residential and retail space truly represents HMFA's mission of providing safe, decent, and affordable housing with great access to quality schools, public transportation, jobs and shops in Somerset County," said HMFA Executive Director Marchetta. "Projects like this not only address the changing economy and land use patterns, but also serve as a catalyst for advancing economic development and encouraging further redevelopment in our New Jersey municipalities."
Eighty percent of the project units are affordable, with eight units available to households with incomes at or below 30% of the Area Median Income (AMI). Five of these units are reserved for individuals with special needs with a preference for formerly homeless or disabled veterans. Of the remaining units, 37 units are at or below 50% AMI, 15 units at or below 60% AMI, and one unit is reserved for the superintendent. Twenty percent of the project units are market-rate, at or below 80% AMI.
Annually, states are allocated Low Income Housing Tax Credits by the federal government on a per-capita basis. HMFA, as the administrator of the federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program in New Jersey, allocates approximately $20 million in 9% credits annually, which generates over $180 million in equity for the development of affordable housing in the state. RPM Development was awarded the very competitive 9% tax credits from the 2012 family cycle. The tax credits provided more than 67% of the funding for the development of Voorhees Station.
For more information on HMFA programs, please visit www.njhousing.gov.


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We introduce our Machined BRUTE grille for the 2016-2017 GMC Sierra SLT/SLE 1500.
The precision laser cut frame extends to Inch and a half around each of the real bolts to give it a unique, studded look. This 3/16" precision laser cut aluminum frame has a mill cut chamfer at about 1/8". Giving the Brute frame a truly unique machined look.
Our machined finish has been created and finished by Ablaze to achieve a one of a kind product for your truck. This finish was also designed to match black and machined aftermarket wheels.
This grille comes in our signature black/machined finish:
Main frame and steel mesh are powdercoated in a high gloss black, After main frame is machined, we add a high gloss clear powdercoat, to prevent the aluminum from oxidizing and to maintain the the rich color of the mill-cut chamferinner edge.This finish has been created and finished by Ablaze to achieve a one of a kind product for your truck. This finish was also designed to match black and machined aftermarket wheels. Grille is then assembled using polished stainless steel bolts.
Installation: We have designed simple and easy installation. The stainless bolts that are used to achieve the unique characteristics of this grille are also used to install directly onto the original holes from where the OEM grille shell is removed from.
Quality/Finish: We strive to conserve quality on our finished products! Don't worry about your grille discoloring/fading, rusting, peeling, flaking, or any of the typical misdemeanors...WE HAVE YOU COVERED!! We have our own powder coating shop in house, therefore we guarantee the finish! For custom finish or color match, contact us!
Additional Info
Additional Info
|Type of Grille
|Select Year, 2016, 2017
|Country of Manufacture
|United States
|Use config


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Things I Learned at Early Voting Today
Early voting started Monday in Texas and runs through next week. Have you voted yet, or are you waiting until November 6th?
I voted earlier today and I thought I'd pass along some of the things either I learned for the first time, or that were reaffirmed to me.
1. Voting early does not mean you will avoid a long line at the polling place. My line stretched out the door and onto the sidewalk, but I was finished in about thirty minutes.
2. You can take the kids. I had three of them. And I saw another mom with two kids and a stroller, so I didn't feel too bad. All of the kids were good, and the funny faces gave the others in line something to look at to pass the time.
3. Election officials appreciate kids. When I got to the front of the line, handed over my ID, and mentioned I brought the family, the election administrator smiled and said, "That's good! They're learning." Indeed.
4. Don't forget your ID. You don't need the voter registration card necessarily, but if you don't have it you do need your Driver's License.
5. Make sure you're in the right county. You don't have to be in the right precinct during early voting, but you do have to be in the right county. Someone at our location was turned away because they weren't in the right county.
6. Election results are not immediately available. Right after I cast my ballot my four-year old said, "So who won?" Perhaps I haven't taught her as much as the election officials think I have.
7. It feels good to vote. Yes, there are millions of voters in Texas and millions more in the US, but without each of us telling the world how we feel, there would be no point. So go vote!


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|Allegro CL version 9.0
Unrevised from 8.2 to 9.0.
8.2 version
When the top-level read-eval-print loop reads an EOF (end of file,
simulated by Control-D on some systems), the action of Allegro CL
depends on the value of this variable. If
*exit-on-eof* is
t, Lisp will exit. If it is
nil (which is the default), the user will be asked if
he really wants to exit Lisp. If it is a positive integer, Lisp will
exit after exactly that number of consecutive EOFs. Any value other
nil or a positive integer is equivalent
to the value
t. EOF calls exit with no arguments.
This variable is not available in Lisp images built with a minimal
top level, that is built with the
include-tpl argument to build-lisp-image specified
nil. See
Minimal top levels in
building-images.htm for information on minimal top
See top-level.htm for more information on the top level and top-level commands.
Copyright (c) 1998-2019, Franz Inc. Oakland, CA., USA. All rights reserved.
This page was not revised from the 8.2 page.
Created 2012.5.30.
|Allegro CL version 9.0
Unrevised from 8.2 to 9.0.
8.2 version


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Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Contact: Suzanne Calvin 214.443.1014 Or Megan Meister 214.443.1071
firstname.lastname@example.com firstname.lastname@example.com
DALLAS, FEBRUARY 12, 2013 — The Dallas Opera is proud to announce a return to four mainstage productions for the company's bold and dazzling 2013-2014 Season in the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center.
The 57th International Season, "BY LOVE TRANSFORMED" consists of works spanning three centuries—each of which challenged the musical or dramatic conventions of their day.
The new season will commence the evening of Friday, October 25, 2013 at 8:00 p.m. (please note new time for the Linda and Mitch Hart Season Opening Night Performance in conjunction with the Dallas Opera's FIRST NIGHT) and continue through the final curtain calls on Sunday, April 13, 2014.
The 2013-2014 Season will include two much-loved classics, in addition to the Dallas premiere of an important twentieth-century work for the opera stage. This Dallas Opera season will also include the regional premiere—and, worldwide, only the fourth set of performances—of a thought-provoking new twenty-first century opera. Among the upcoming season highlights are two major American debuts; however, every TDO performance will feature internationally renowned singers, conductors, and other artists of the top rank.
Each TDO production will feature the outstanding talents of the Dallas Opera Orchestra and Dallas Opera Chorus, led by some of the finest conductors at work in the world today.
As always, these masterpieces will be performed in their original languages, with English translations projected above the stage at every performance.
The Margot and Bill Winspear Opera house is located in the heart of the Arts District at 2403 Flora St., Dallas TX 75201.
In the wake of a five-opera season in 2011-2012 (four mainstage, plus one chamber opera), the Dallas Opera made a conscientious choice to temporarily reduce the company's season to three mainstage productions and a series of vibrant public appearances, events, concerts and recitals featuring the likes of Pulitzer Prize-winning American composers Dominick Argento and Jennifer Higdon, MIT composer/inventor Tod Machover, conductor Evan Rogister, German conductor Sebastian Lang-Lessing, mezzo-soprano Susan Graham (star of the Dallas Opera's Spring Gala on March 9th, in addition to her TDO debut in THE ASPERN PAPERS), Sicilian tenor Marcello Giordani and The Dallas Opera Orchestra.
This season also features two public performances of Lee Hoiby's "Bon Appétit!" starring mezzo-soprano Susan Nicely as the one-and-only Julia Child, as well as several performances of two children's classics, Georges Bizet's Dr. Miracle and an operatic version of Jack and the Beanstalk (with music by Sir Arthur Sullivan).
"As part of my commitment to this company and the people of Dallas and North Texas," explains Dallas Opera General Director and CEO Keith Cerny, "I am determined to lead the Dallas Opera in an artistically vibrant yet fiscally responsible way.
"The board and I believed, quite strongly," Cerny adds, "that it was incumbent upon us to address, head-on, the effects of a recessionary economy and reduce the season for a single year. This move was designed to demonstrate our commitment to realistic and financially responsible planning, in order to return the company to the firm financial footing necessary to pursue a host of incredibly exciting and adventurous future projects, including the upcoming world premieres of composer Joby Talbot's first opera, EVEREST, in the 2014-2015 Season (with a libretto by Gene Scheer) and Jake Heggie and Terrence McNally's GREAT SCOTT.
"Now, we've paid our dues," says Mr. Cerny, "without any loss of artistic quality. And it's time to grow the season again while working to achieve sensational new heights of artistry, innovation, imagination and design."
2013-2014 Dallas Opera Season
CARMEN by Georges Bizet
October 25, 27(m), 30, Nov. 2, 8 & 10(m), 2013
DEATH AND THE POWERS by Tod Machover
February 12, 14, 15 & 16(m), 2014
DIE TOTE STADT by Erich Wolfgang Korngold
March 21, 23(m), 26, 29 and April 6(m), 2014
THE BARBER OF SEVILLE by Gioachino Rossini
March 28, 30(m), April 2, 5, 11 & 13(m), 2014
The benefits of becoming a Dallas Opera subscriber include priority seating, lost ticket replacement, invitations to special events and dramatic savings over the price of single tickets. The company has also added several FREE incentives for loyal season subscribers ranging from comp tickets for upcoming Family Performances to an exclusive patron appreciation "Cabaret Recital" (details to be announced at a later time).
Renewal packets for season subscribers are being mailed to patrons March 10th; however, Dallas Opera Season Subscribers are eligible to renew their seats for the 2013-2014 Season, beginning today, February 12, 2013, and an email with renewal instructions and options will be sent this afternoon.
New Dallas Opera patrons can purchase their subscriptions for the 2013-2014 Season as of June 1, 2013. Subscriptions for all four productions can be purchased for as little as $76 (with seats up to $960).
Single tickets are expected to go on sale to the general public next August. All single tickets for individual performances are subject to availability. Tickets may be purchased at the door – throughout the 2013-2014 Season – or in advance by calling 214.443.1000. Subscriptions and single tickets will also be available for purchase online throughout the season at www.dallasopera.org.
For more information, consult the friendly staff in the Dallas Opera Ticket Services Office at 214-443-1000 or visit us online at www.dallasopera.org.
The 2013-2014 "By Love Transformed" Season officially opens on the evening of Friday, October 25th at 8:00 PM—The Linda and Mitch Hart Season Opening Night Performance—with our first CARMEN in the critically acclaimed acoustic of the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House.
She's the woman no man can resist and, as performed by renowned French mezzo-soprano Clémentine Margaine in her American debut, who would want to say "non"? Hailed as "Best Newcomer" in the 2011 French Classical Music Awards, Margaine will have her hands full with two head-turning, heart-melting Don Josés: tenors Brandon Jovanovich, who last captivated us as Pinkerton, and Bruno Ribeiro (making his company debut).
This truly phenomenal cast, from Mary Dunleavy in the role of Micaëla to Dwayne Croft as Escamillo the Toreador, will bring on the sizzle—as well as the steak! Featuring classic Jean-Pierre Ponnelle scenery from the San Francisco Opera, this production conducted by Maestro Emmanuel Villaume will make all the other good/bad girls of opera seem tame, if not lame, in comparison.
Georges Bizet's colorful, sensual and passionate nineteenth-century masterpiece will be staged by veteran American director Bliss Hebert, who last directed our critically acclaimed 2012 production of La traviata, the notable U.S. debut of Greek soprano Myrtò Paptanasiu, our "Maria Callas Debut Artist of the Year."
American tenor Brandon Jovanovich will sing the role of Don José on Oct. 25, 27, and 30, while TDO newcomer, Portuguese tenor Bruno Ribeiro will portray the obsessed lover on Nov. 2, 8 and 10, 2013.
This outstanding international cast includes soprano Danielle Pastin in her company debut as Frasquita; mezzo Audrey Babcock in her Dallas Opera debut as Mercédès; bass Kyle Albertson (another company debut) as Zuniga; baritone Stephen LaBrie as the smuggler, La Dancaire; tenor Victor Ryan Robertson as Remendado and baritone John David Boehr in his TDO debut as Moralès.
Mr. Jovanovich, who enthralled Dallas audiences in our 2010 production of Madame Butterfly (described by Huffington Post's Rodney Punt as the definitive Pinkerton of our time), has been dazzling critics recently in the title role of Wagner's Lohengrin. San Francisco Chronicle Classical Music Critic Joshua Kosman wrote: "Jovanovich combined sweet-toned lyricism and ardent heroism in just the proportions required for this tricky role. His singing was thrillingly pure and tireless, his stage presence simultaneously tender and aloof."
Portuguese tenor Bruno Ribeiro, on the other hand, "gives rich voice to soulful pleadings" and has been praised for allowing "vulnerability to color his expressive tenor" (examiner.com).
Soprano Mary Dunleavy "melds outstanding acting ability with a flexible and gorgeous voice" (William Thomas Walker, cvnc.org), characteristics on display in her tour de force portrayal of all four love interests in the Dallas Opera's 2005 production of Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann, earning rave reviews and that season's "Maria Callas Debut Artist of the Year Award."
Bass-baritone Dwayne Croft swept Dallas Opera goers off their feet as Marcello in our 2009 production of La bohème. A singer praised by The Classical Review for his "musical intelligence" and an onstage presence that is both "dashing and ardent."
Soprano Danielle Pastin impressed reviewer James O. Welsch with her "stunning lyrical beauty and tone." And Catherine Reese Newton of The St. Louis Tribune praised mezzo-soprano Audrey Babcock as "a vocal and dramatic knockout." Bass Kyle Albertson, on the other hand, was applauded by ConcertoNet for his "splendid interpretation" of the role of Henry Kissinger in Long Beach Opera's production of Nixon in China; while baritone Steven LaBrie caught the ear of The Opera Critic "with his rich yet flexible voice, good looks and charismatic personality" and tenor Victor Ryan Robertson "made a fine impression" on Opera News. Baritone John David Boehr earned the praise of Michael Anthony of MinnPost.com for his "welcome energy and adroit singing" at Minnesota Opera.
As for Maestro Villaume, Lawrence A. Johnson recently wrote that "he displayed his considerable bona fides in French repertoire once again, conducting a performance that conveyed the melodic richness of Bizet's music with elegance, delicacy and dramatic point as needed."
Costume design is by Werner Iverke in his company debut, with lighting design by Thomas C. Hase.
The Dallas Opera Chorus will be prepared by Chorus Master Alexander Rom and the children's chorus by Children's Chorus Master Melinda Cotten.
Performances will continue on October 27(m), 30, November 2, 8 & 10(m), 2013 in the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House, selected by Southern Living as the best new venue for opera. All evening performances besides the Opening Night of the Season will begin promptly at 7:30 PM. Sunday matinees begin at 2:00 PM.
A free, pre-performance lecture ("The Joy and Ronald Mankoff Pre-Opera Talks") will be conducted one hour prior to curtain at most performances. The Dallas Opera Guild also hosts "Opera Insights," a lively panel discussion featuring artists, directors and designers, on the Sunday afternoon prior to opening. For more details, visit dallasopera.org.
The second production of the Dallas Opera's "By Love Transformed" Season, opening on Wednesday, February 12, 2014 at 7:30 p.m., is composer Tod Machover and librettist Robert Pinsky's mind-bending DEATH AND THE POWERS.
Science Fiction and poignant family drama combine in one of the most stunning new operas of the 21st century, coming to the stage of the Winspear Opera House in a production directed by Diane Paulus, designed by Alex McDowell (Steven Spielberg's Minority Report, Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, David Fincher's Fight Club), conducted by contemporary music specialist, Maestra Nicole Paiement (TDO's 2012 production of Peter Maxwell Davies' The Lighthouse), and featuring spectacular cutting-edge technology designed by the MIT Media Lab.
This visually spectacular robot pageant tells the story of a terminally ill billionaire, sung by baritone Robert Orth, who downloads his consciousness into "the System" and proceeds to use all his powers to persuade his loved ones to join him there.
Without bodies, without the possibility of touch, sex, suffering, and death—are we still genuinely human? Explore these existential questions and much more in a piece Variety described as "playful, lyrical and…mesmerizing."
This Dallas Opera production of DEATH AND THE POWERS will be supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and a host of new initiatives, in partnership with the Perot Museum of Nature and Science. These include a special exhibit in the Texas Instruments Engineering and Innovation Hall; jointly developed lectures, demonstrations and workshops; website integration; and collaborative educational materials incorporating both music and technology—an initiative announced this afternoon by Nicole Small, CEO of the Perot Museum of Nature and Science, at Cowboys Stadium:
"Death and the Powers is an opera that is a unique combination of technology, innovation and musical artistry … a wonderful blend of science and art … and it wholeheartedly supports the Perot Museum's mission 'to inspire minds through nature and science,'" said Small. "It also demonstrates that science and engineering can be thrilling and genuinely 'cool.' Mr. Machover's work represents the ideal opportunity for the Opera and the Perot Museum to forge an unexpected and exciting collaboration."
And I'm so pleased," Ms. Small added, "that Dallas Opera General Director and CEO Keith Cerny understands—as we do—that life and learning have no set limits and can ultimately take many forms."
DEATH AND THE POWERS is a dynamic one-act opera created in 2010 by composer Tod Machover, Professor of Music and Media at the MIT Media Lab (Cambridge, Massachusetts) and American poet laureate Robert Pinsky, the librettist. The work was commissioned by the Monaco-based Association Futurum, to promote futuristic projects combining the arts and sciences, and originally presented at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo where it earned rave reviews as a "grand, rich, deeply serious new opera" (Andrew Porter, Opera), also praised as "envelope-pushing, thought-provoking and brilliantly executed" (Lawrence A. Johnson, Chicago Classical Review).
Working with members of the MIT Media Lab, Machover produced "a challenging opera that questioned how far the human race can push technological development toward immortality." The action centers on a terminally ill billionaire who downloads his consciousness into an artificial construct and then attempts to persuade his loved ones to join him there. Critic Stephen J. Mudge of Opera News added: "Any worry that the opera might be taking itself too seriously is answered by Pinsky's witty and at times lighthearted libretto, which treats the situation with respect but levity."
Jeremy Eichler of The Boston Globe wrote that the sci-fi opera, subsequently performed in Boston and Chicago, "sets its gaze on subjects both ancient and ultra-modern. In the former camp is the question of whether the soul, or something beyond the body, can live after our death. In the latter camp is the question of the deeper meanings of our infatuation with technology — the way we experience our lives increasingly through its prism…That trailblazing technology is itself put to the service of exploring these points is one of the work's many ironies that cumulatively leave you with plenty to think about after the robots have powered down for the night."
The Chicago Tribune gave the new work four stars: "Death and the Powers is a must-see for anybody who cares about the exciting new techno-driven direction music theater is taking in the early 21st century."
"Programming this important and genre-stretching work by Tod Machover underscores the Dallas Opera's unwavering commitment to significantly broadening our programming, both by presenting 20th and 21st century works as well as lesser-known works deserving a permanent place in our repertoire," explains Dallas Opera General Director and CEO Keith Cerny.
"This major regional premiere will allow us to reach out to those North Texans who are excited by the prospect of experiencing a work that overlays contemporary technology on traditional operatic practice. Especially when it marries the Dallas Opera's reputation for exceptional artistry and vivid imagination with the twenty-first century technologies the state-of-the-art Winspear Opera House can provide."
Tod Machover has been called "America's most wired composer" by the Los Angeles Times. He is widely recognized as one of the most significant and innovative composers of his generation, and is also celebrated for inventing new technology for music, including Hyperinstruments. Mr. Machover is the Muriel R. Cooper Professor of Music and Media at the MIT Media Lab (Cambridge, MA) – where he has worked since the Lab was founded in 1985 – and is Director of the its Hyperinstruments and "Opera of the Future" groups. Since 2006, Machover has also been Visiting Professor of Composition at the Royal Academy of Music in London.
Tod Machover's music has been acclaimed for breaking traditional artistic and cultural boundaries, offering a unique and innovative synthesis of acoustic and electronic sound, of symphony orchestras and interactive computers, and of operatic arias and rock songs. Wrote Ray Kurzwell of The New York Times: "Tod Machover is the only person I am aware of who contributes on a world-class level to both the technology of music creation and to music itself. Even within these two distinct areas, Tod's contributions are remarkably diverse, and of exquisite quality."
The Dallas Opera has twice brought Mr. Machover to Dallas to discuss his wide-ranging, cutting-edge work in public forums hosted by D Magazine's Arts Editor Peter Simek and most recently with Art&Seek Producer/Reporter Jerome Weeks (KERA) as part of TDO's "Composing Conversations" Series.
This production—only the fourth set of performances, worldwide—will also star soprano Joélle Harvey as Miranda, mezzo-soprano Patricia Risley as Evvy, and British tenor Hal Cazalet in his Dallas Opera debut as Nicholas. Additional cast members include countertenor Frank Kelley ("The United Way"), baritone David Kravitz ("The United Nations") and bass Tom McNichols ("The Administration") in their company debuts.
Robert Orth, "one of the finest singer/actors working in opera today" (Gregory Sullivan Isaacs, Theater Jones) made memorable Dallas Opera appearances as Officer 2/Blazes in our critically acclaimed 2012 production of Peter Maxwell Davies' The Lighthouse and as Stubb in the Dallas Opera world premiere of Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer's Moby-Dick, praised by Heidi Waleson of The Wall Street Journal for giving the opera "a touch of levity."
Joélle Harvey was applauded by The New York Times' Anthony Tommasini for her "bright, agile soprano and winsome presence, while Robert Levine of Classics Today wrote with enthusiasm about her "melting lyricism one moment, merry fireworks the next, and all sung dead-center with feeling."
An earlier performance of DEATH AND THE POWERS prompted Stephen J. Mudge of Opera News to note the "sensual mezzo contribution from Patricia Risley as Evvy," while Chicago Classical Review appreciated Hal Cazalet's "vibrant tenor." Jonathan Levi of The New York Times wrote in his review of DEATH AND THE POWERS: "While the composer plumbs the depths and heights of the male larynx with the oceanic bass of Tom McNichols and the piercing counter tenor of Frank Kelley, the dramatic challenge of singing to walls of flashing lights—even walls beautifully crafted by movie designer Alex McDowell—is enormous."
Maestra Nicole Paiement made an impressive Dallas Opera debut last season with The Lighthouse, prompting Gregory Sullivan Isaacs of Theater Jones to declare "the real star of the production is conductor Nicole Paiement. She conducted the complex score with such feeling and understanding that every one of the myriad of time-signature changes vanishes into a free-flowing score….the orchestra was able to play the difficult and thorny score with musicality because they were secure in the knowledge that she would always be there for them."
Stage director Diane Paulus is the Artistic Director at the American Repertory Theatre at Harvard University. At the A.R.T. her recent work includes The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess, a new production adapted by Pulitzer prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks, and OBIE-winning composer Diedre Murray; and Prometheus Bound, with music composed by Grammy Award-winning "System of a Down" lead singer Serj Tankian. Her other recent theater and opera credits include The Public Theater's Tony-Award winning revival of HAIR on Broadway and London's West End; Kiss Me, Kate (Glimmerglass Opera); and Don Giovanni, Le nozze di Figaro, Turn Of The Screw, Cosi fan tutte, and the Monteverdi trilogy Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria, L'incoronazione di Poppea, and Orfeo at the Chicago Opera Theater. Ms. Paulus is a Professor of the Practice of Theater in Harvard University's English Department and was recently named one of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Boston by Boston Magazine.
Wrote Richard Ouzounian in The Star, "These days, Diane Paulus is truly the Queen of the Night…the woman of the moment when it comes to putting musical magic onstage."
This production will mark Ms. Paulus' Dallas Opera debut.
Production designer Alex McDowell is one of the most innovative and influential designers working in narrative media, with the impact of his ideas extending far beyond his background in cinema. Mr. McDowell advocates an immersive design process that acknowledges the role of design in storytelling. With Death and the Powers, McDowell brings his considerable experience in film design and animatronics to the stage for the first time.
The Winspear stage will represent the home of billionaire Simon Powers, but this room will gradually reveal itself to be a vast, interconnected, intelligent system. To accomplish this affect, McDowell and the "Opera of the Future" team at the MIT Media Lab designed "robotic architecture" that appears to change its shape—undulating, vibrating, pulsating or pounding.
The System, programmed to create sculptural images, moving patterns, and even human-like gestures and expressions, will reveal Simon's fleeting thoughts and memories throughout the performance.
Costume design is by David Woolard in his company debut, lighting design by Don Holder (Moby-Dick) and choreography by Karole Armitage—another TDO debut.
Sung in English, with English language translations projected above the stage, DEATH AND THE POWERS can be experienced at one of three additional performances on February 14, 15, and 16(m), 2014.
The third production of the 2013-2014 "By Love Transformed" Season is another first for the Dallas Opera: the North Texas premiere of German composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold's twentieth-century masterpiece, DIE TOTE STADT ("The Dead City"), which opens in the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House on the evening of Friday, March 21, 2014 at 7:30 p.m.
Before Hitchcock filmed "Vertigo," Korngold created Die tote Stadt, the tale of one man's dark obsession with the woman he loved and lost.
Featuring state-of-the-art projections and composed by a prodigy who evolved into one of the great masters of music for the Golden Age of Cinema ("The Adventures of Robin Hood," "Deception," "The Sea Hawk"), Die tote Stadt features an extraordinary cast that includes tenor Jay Hunter Morris in the role of Paul, fresh from his triumphs as Ahab in the San Francisco Opera revival of Moby-Dick and as Siegfried in the Met's new Ring Cycle; Danish soprano Ann Petersen in her American debut as Marietta; and baritone Morgan Smith, the poignant voice of reason in TDO's world premiere production of Moby-Dick, as Fritz.
Other principal singers include Australian mezzo-soprano Katherine Tier in her TDO debut as Brigitta; baritone Weston Hurt (La bohème) as Frank and tenor Andrew Bidlack (The Lighthouse) as Albert; with Jennifer Chung as Juliette, Angela Turner Wilson as Lucienne, and Danish tenor Jan Lund in his American debut as Victorin.
Jay Hunter Morris has been conquering the opera world, one production at a time. About his performance in the San Francisco revival of Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer's Moby-Dick, Mercury News critic Richard Scheinin wrote: "He sang with a pressurized fury that practically shook the seats of the War Memorial Opera House. Think Old Testament. Think King Lear." As Siegfried in the Metropolitan Opera's new Ring, Morris "found his own way to sing this heldentenor role with a lighter yet athletic and youthful sound. His clarion top notes projected nicely over the orchestra" (Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times).
Singing Isolde, Ann Petersen "is immediately perfection," said Stephen Walsh of TheArtsDesk.com, adding "Hers is a lighter, more lyrical voice than the conventional Wagner soprano, and she floats Isolde's lines as if they were Schubert, lovely and effortless, through with ample power when needed."
Morgan Smith made an indelible impression on Dallas audiences in the world premiere production of Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer's Moby-Dick. Critic Joshua Kosman of The San Francisco Chronicle felt that same depth of humanity in Smith's recent recap of the role: "The real star of the cast was baritone Morgan Smith, whose Starbuck joined vocal splendor, moral authority and deep empathy in a phenomenal combination."
Maestro Sebastian Lang-Lessing, the music director of the San Antonio Symphony, will conduct in this, his Dallas Opera debut. Writing about a concert appearance in Portland, Oregon, critic James McQuillen noted that "under the direction of…Lang-Lessing, who led with sweeping gestures and never missed an opportunity for a fortissimo punch at the close, the orchestra sounded superb."
This production is both staged and designed by director Mikael Melbye, with video projections designed by Wendall Harrington. The duo have earned the applause of critics for their designs of ballets as well as operas, prompting Lisa Jo Sagolla of backstage.com to observe: "Melbye's and Harrington's designs hug the space with gorgeous period video images…making it look like the characters are actually in a setting, as opposed to a stage set." It "also allows the dream-like narrative to jump-cut from ballroom to boudoir," adds Louise Levene of The Telegraph (U.K.) "with a flick of a switch."
Costume design is by Dierdre Clancy (TDO debut); with lighting design by Mark McCullough; choreography by Assistant Director Matthew Ferraro and chorus preparation by Dallas Opera Chorus Master Alexander Rom.
Paul's fierce grip on the memory of his dead wife will be challenged by the equally determined Marietta. Can he let go of his fantasy in order to live again? This production of a too-long-neglected twentieth-century masterpiece will leave you wondering "Where has this opera been all my life?"
DIE TOTE STADT will be sung in the original German with English language translations projected above the stage. Additional performances are planned for March 23(m), 26 and 29, concluding with a final Sunday afternoon matinee on April 6, 2014.
Four additional performances, sung in English with the English language text projected above the stage, will take place on April 14(m), 17, 20 and 28, 2013 in the magnificent Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House.
The Dallas Opera's 2013-2014 Season Finale is Gioachino Rossini's wildest and most popular romp: THE BARBER OF SEVILLE, opening the evening of Friday, March 28, 2014 at 7:30 p.m. in the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center.
Disguises and false identities abound as men—young and old—vie for the hand of the beautiful Rosina in one of the funniest and most frenetic operas ever composed! Rossini's delightful 19th century romp centers on "Figaro, Figaro, Figaro!" a scheming barber and jack-of-all-trades, sung by Dallas Opera favorite Nathan Gunn, who plots with Count Almaviva to release Bartolo's ward from her gilded cage.
The all-star ensemble includes acclaimed mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard as the gorgeous-yet-spunky Rosina, lyric tenor Alek Shrader as the love-struck Almaviva, and commanding Turkish bass Burak Bilgili as Don Basilio in their much-anticipated TDO debuts. It also marks the welcome return of the inimitable Donato DiStefano, a comic genius (La Cenerentola) known from previous Dallas Opera productions of Barber in a role he has mastered for audiences around the world: Dr. Bartolo.
The cast also includes baritone Nathan De'Shon Myers as Fiorello and soprano Jennifer Aylmer in her company debut as Berta.
Maestro Giuliano Carella will conduct.
Baritone Nathan Gunn has delighted Dallas audiences as Guglielmo and Malatesta, as well as introducing Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer's song cycle "A Question of Light" in partnership with the Dallas Museum of Art. Dallas Morning News Classical Music Critic Scott Cantrell, reviewing a recent concert, wrote: "aside from his movie-star looks and wonderfully natural stage presence, he has a rich, creamy voice and unself-conscious expressivity that never flirts with affectation. How many singers can claim all those assets?"
Anthony Tommasini of The New York Times called Mr. Gunn "A born actor (who) sings as if speaking the words."
John W. Freeman of Opera News praised mezzo Isabel Leonard's voice, "secure in coloratura agility, (it) carried its fresh, lucid tone upward on flights into the soprano register, then transitioned smoothly into warmer, more shaded tone in the longer mezzo range, without break or change of character."
Tenor Alek Shrader, making his TDO debut, was earlier teamed with Ms. Leonard in the Metropolitan Opera's 2012 production of The Tempest: "Isabel Leonard sings with lovely fluid sound as Miranda and is well matched by Alek Shrader's sweet, youthful Ferdinand. Their duet, marked by ecstatic high tones and dizzying descents, is a highlight."
Italian Donato DiStefano, one of the most sought-after buffo basses in the world, most recently charmed Dallas audiences in the title role of Don Pasquale, and he rarely fails to steal the show. According to Gregory Sullivan Isaacs of Theater Jones, "Musically, he was unassailable; as an actor, he was believable and funny" in this critically acclaimed production.
Turkish bass Burak Bilgili earned high marks as Zaccaria in Washington National Opera's Nabucco, prompting The Washington Times to observe: "Mr. Bilgili's voice strongly resembles the profound, dark-hued bass voices with which the Russians seem to be uniquely gifted. And it's this dark but clear and authoritative instrument that allows him to command each scene in which he appears."
Meanwhile, soprano Jennifer Aylmer's "coloratura sounds at first as natural and easy as giggling," but she's not to be underestimated. Wrote Sarah Bryan Miller of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "She took charge of the stage whenever she occupied it in a first-rate performance."
THE BARBER OF SEVILLE remains one of opera's best-loved comedies.
From the first notes of one of the world's most famous overtures to the final curtain, your heart will be racing—but not for the exit!
Additional performances of BARBER will take place on Sunday, March 30(m) and April 2, 5, 11 &13, 2014 in the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House. All evening performances begin at 7:30 p.m. (unless otherwise indicated) and matinees have a 2:00 p.m. curtain time.
The Dallas Opera has presented five American premieres, as well as three world premiere works in its illustrious 56-year-history. It also continues to create fresh, new productions of established masterpieces of the genre.
Evening performances during the 2013-2014 Season productions will begin at 7:30 PM, unless otherwise stated (including an 8:00 p.m. curtain for the Linda and Mitch Hart Season Opening Night Performance). All Sunday matinees are slated to begin at 2:00 p.m.
The "Joy and Ronald Mankoff Pre-Opera Talks," a free background lecture for the opera being performed that day, takes place in Nancy B. Hamon Hall located off the Winspear Opera House lobby one hour prior to each performance, except for Opening Night of the Season.
Easy-to-read English translations are projected above the stage during every Dallas Opera performance and special headsets are available at Coat-Check for the hearing impaired.
Season subscriptions for the 2013-2014 Season will range from $76 to $960.
No late seating is permitted once the house doors are closed.
For information about next season, call The Dallas Opera Ticket Services Office at 214-443-1000 or visit us online at www.dallasopera.org.
The Dallas Opera's 2012-2013 "Pursuits of Passion Season"
Is Presented by Texas Instruments Foundation
Ticket Information for the 2012-2013 Dallas Opera Season
All performances are in the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center. Single Tickets for TURANDOT, THE ASPERN PAPERS and remaining family performances are on sale now. Tickets for the mainstage productions start for a new low price of $19! For more information, contact The Dallas Opera Ticket Services Office at 214.443.1000 or visit us online at www.dallasopera.org.
The Dallas Opera celebrates its Fifty-Sixth International Season in the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center in downtown Dallas. Evening performances will begin at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday matinees will begin at 2:00 p.m. English translations will be projected above the stage at every performance. Assistance is available for the hearing impaired.
TURANDOT by Giacomo Puccini
April 5, 7(m), 10, 13, 19 & 21(m), 2013
Puccini's Last Masterpiece—Riddled with Passionate Romance and Unforgettable Music!
An opera in three acts first performed in Milan at La Scala, April 25, 1926
Text by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni, based on Carlo Gozzi's fable, Turandot.
Time: Legendary times
Place: Peking, China
Conductor: Marco Zambelli
Stage Director: Garnett Bruce
Production Design: Allen Charles Klein
Wig & make-up Design: David Zimmerman
Chorus Master: Alexander Rom
Starring: Lise Lindstrom* (Princess Turandot), Antonello Palombi (Calaf), Hei-Kyung Hong (Liu), Christian Van Horn* (Timur), Jonathan Beyer (Ping), Joseph Hu (Pang), Daniel Montenegrio* (Pong), Ryan Kuster* (A Mandarin), Steven Haal (Emperor Altoum).
THE ASPERN PAPERS by Dominick Argento
April 12, 14(m), 17, 20, 28(m), 2013
The Games People Play—Both Young and Old—To Achieve Their Twisted Desires!
An opera in two acts first performed in Dallas, November 19, 1988.
Text by Dominick Argento, based on a Henry James novella.
Time: Legendary
Place: Lake Como, Italy
Conductor: Graeme Jenkins
Stage Director: Tim Albery
Scenic Design: Andrew Lieberman*
Costume Design: Constance Hoffman*
Lighting Design: Thomas Hase
Wig & make-up Design: David Zimmerman
Assistant Director: Michael Mori
Chorus Master: Alexander Rom
Starring: Susan Graham* (Tina), Alexandra Deshorties (Julianna Bordereau), Nathan Gunn (The Lodger), Joseph Kaiser* (Aspern), Dean Peterson (Barelli), Sasha Cooke* (Sonia), Eric Jordan* (A painter), Jennifer Youngs* (Olimpia).
* Dallas Opera Debut
** American Debut
The Dallas Opera is supported, in part, by funds from: City of Dallas, Office of Cultural Affairs; TACA; the Texas Commission on the Arts and The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). American Airlines is the official airline of The Dallas Opera. Lexus is the official vehicle of The Dallas Opera. Advertising support from The Dallas Morning News. A special thanks to Mrs. William W. Winspear and the Elsa von Seggern Foundation for their continuing support.


text: Desktop virtualization has a predicted growth curve that leaves much of the PC and IT services industries smiling: Yet none of the technologies or \n\nservice providers promising to offer hosted virtual desktops are ready to step into key roles in enterprise IT infrastructures, according the same \n\nwell-respected analysts who set the server virtualization market on its ear with a similar conclusion last year."Very simply, none of the hosted virtual desktop providers can match the requirements for the enterprise," according to Chris Wolf, infrastructure \n\nanalyst at The Burton Group (purchased recently by Gartner) who presented a critical report (registration required) at last week's Synergy Citrix conference in Las Vegas. Both Citrix and VMware are prepping versions of their products that do satisfy Burton Group's requirements in storage, infrastructure, management, \n\nperformance and other characteristics, and both are fine for department-level deployments, Wolf says. No Shipping VDI Makes the GradeBut no shipping VDI product set is ready right now for large-scale deployments, Wolf says. The report, which Burton presented at the recent Citrix Synergy end-user conference, looked specifically at Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) \n\nproducts from VMware, Citrix, Microsoft and a range of smaller third-party vendors. VDI, though used almost generically to refer to other forms of desktop virtualization, means specifically to run a desktop operating system and all of \n\na users applications on a backend server without allowing other users to share the software or running much, if any, of it on the users own hardware. \n\nBMW Takes a Sharp Turn Toward App VirtualizationOther models stream applications or the operating system from a server to the user's machine and execute there, stream applications in the same \n\nway, or let many users share the same set of OS and applications. Those approaches make up, by far, the largest part of the market, according to research from International Data Corp., which predicts only 10 \n\npercent of enterprise desktop clients deployed this year will be virtual ones of any form. VDI is also more expensive than other formats because of the high requirement for server and network resources. A November, 2008 Forrester \n\nResearch report estimated each VDI user would cost an organization $1,760 for the cost of thin client, server, storage costs and licenses for \n\nvirtualization software, desktop OS and applications. In April, Natalie Lambert, the Forrester analyst who wrote the report and now works for Citrix, estimated that cost had dropped by almost half \n\nbecause more powerful servers could support more users for a lower price tag than during 2008. That trend will continue, according to IDC analyst Ian Song, but the cost of VDI is still several multiples above streaming applications or streaming \n\nOS versions, making the cost prohibitive for most users even if there were no support, security or management complications. Streaming applications, OSes and traditional terminal-services-based applications have been around long enough that the costs and security have \n\nbeen bulletproofed. Not so VDI. "The main issues are in security; neither of the biggest products, Citrix or VMware \u2014 both of which we talked with and tested these criteria \n\nwith \u2014 have a good semblance of role-based access control or scalability of management don't allow for delegated administration," Wolf says. "Citrix especially has been talking recently about customers with tens of thousands of seats, even one sale that will eventually be 140,000 seats. \n\nWe're not saying you can't do that," Wolf says. "There are lots of big installations of shared-services versions. With VDI the management consoles top \n\nout at 5,000 users and you can only set two levels of access. So you'd have stacks of these consoles of 5,000 users each and everyone would have \n\nminimal access as a basic user or would be a super-admin. That just won't scale."Relief By Late Year?Both Citrix and VMware will have updates out by the end of the year that eliminate the 5,000-user limit on management consoles and will make \n\nsecurity and access control far more granular; that they haven't done so to this point shows that even their larger installations are for relatively small pools \n\nof users \u2014 2,000 to 5,000 for the most part, not tens of thousands, Wolf says. Of the two biggest vendors in the comparison, compared, Citrix' XenDesktop 4.0 Platinum came closest to meeting Burton's criteria \u2014 \n\nwhich included the quality of user experience, network, storage and back-end virtual infrastructures, management, security, licensing and other issues. Still, the best it could do was qualify as being "suitable for department-level deployments and SME-class organizations."That's probably the best way to look at VDI anyway, as compared to other ways to deliver IT resources to a desktop virtually, according to Tony \n\nLux, purveyor of technology at Kansas City based regional craft brewer Boulevard Brewing Co., which used Pano Logic virtual desktops to automate its brewhouse.It didn't virtualize the desktops of its office workers, however. "The good thing about virtualizing with something like [zero-client specialist] Pano Logic is that on the brewfloor the computers are generally running \n\none app at a time and it works great," Lux says. "We put one office user on it and took him back off pretty quickly. He told us after the fact that he \n\nneeded to be more mobile and we couldn't support that, or use Windows 7 if we wanted to."Highlights from Burton Group's Head-to-Head comparison\n\nCitrix XenDesktop 4.0 Platinum\nJudgment: "Suitable for departmental-level deployments and for SME-class organizations."\nStrengths:\nFlexible delivery\nSupports multiple virtualization servers\nStrong user-experience feature set\nDiverse endpoint OS support\nStrong WAN performance\nRich supporting ecosystem\n\nWeaknesses:\nSecurity logging and auditing of administrative actions\n3 year support for entire product portfolio\n\nVMware View 4.01 Premier Edition\nJudgment: "Not...an enterprise-class SHVD platform"\nNote: "Upcoming VMware View 4.5 (in beta) release satisfies the required feature shortcomings."\n\t\nWeaknesses:\nRole-based access control or security hardening guidelines\nEnterprise management integration\nNo user application self service\nLow-bandwidth WAN support\nSupports only VMware backend\nManagement console scalability limited\nWin7 Guest OS support\n\t\nStrengths:\nRich integration with VMware vSphere\nSolid but incomplete core feature base\nPC-over-IP performance better than expected\nSimple deployment\nActive directory integration\nEnterprise management\n\nSOURCE: Chris Wolf, Burton Group\n\nFollow everything from CIO.com on Twitter @CIOonline.


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Obviously not satisfied with the miraculous modern marvel known as the Snuggie, German designer Elisa Strozyk created her own unique blanket—drawing inspiration from a warped tile floor instead of the thrill of perpetrating fashion crimes.
The inspirational parquet wood floor looked like it had come to life again after water damage caused it to bend and buckle. And Elisa wanted to capture the same feeling of a curved wooden surface with her series of wooden textiles including the blanket above.
Like a 3D wireframe model in a computer, the tile is made up of hundreds of wooden triangles and polygons affixed to a fabric backing. The fabric holds the entire piece together, but also helps minimize splinters while using it to keep warm. We really love the idea, because the results are absolutely stunning, and we'll happily trade the threat of bed bugs for the threat of termites any day.
[Elisa Strozyk via FastCo Design]


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(CNN) – President Obama is pulling no punches when it comes to Fox News, declaring the cable news outlet to be "destructive to [America's] long-term growth."
In a more than 8,000-word interview with Rolling Stone Magazine, Obama compared the cable news channel to papers owned by William Randolph Hearst at the turn of the 20th century that unabashedly pushed the media titan's own political views.
"You had folks like Hearst who used their newspapers very intentionally to promote their viewpoints. I think Fox is part of that tradition – it is part of the tradition that has a very clear, undeniable point of view," Obama told the magazine.
Officials in the Obama White House have long made Fox News a punching bag, launching a full blown offensive last year when aides declared the network to be "opinion journalism masquerading as news." Then-White House Communications Director Anita Dunn said the cable outlet "operates almost as either the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party," and top aide Valerie Jarret called Fox "clearly biased."
But the new comments from Obama constitute the president's most direct attack yet on the network owned by business mogul Rupert Murdoch.
Fox News pushes "a point of view that I disagree with. It's a point of view that I think is ultimately destructive for the long-term growth of a country that has a vibrant middle class and is competitive in the world," Obama said.
"But as an economic enterprise, it's been wildly successful. And I suspect that if you ask Mr. Murdoch what his number one concern is, it's that Fox is very successful."
Fox has yet to respond to the president. But during the administration offensive against the network last year, network spokesman Michael Clemente slammed the White House for continuing "to declare war on a news organization instead of focusing on the critical issues that Americans are concerned about."
The Democrats don't know what to do when they don't have all of the mainstream media on their side -
Of course he hates Fox News. Fox News is moderate to conservative. Obama is left moderate to way left liberal. Fox News calls him on every spending program that he doles out with Pelosi and calls him on his lack of experience for his job. Of which he probably has the least experience for a President in recent (life time) history. No one likes a critic, but particularly when they are faster, smarter and can give a solid reason for their position and you can not give one for yours. It's much easier to just say they are evil and racist .... then have nothing t oback those comments up with from your side.
I see. So any news agency that asks hard questions, or doesn't toe the line with the Glorious Leader is "destructive". This is exactly what our founding fathers warned us about, why the 1st Amendment exists. To many media sources are still in love with Mr. Obama, and fail to ask hard hitting questions. Those that do are ignored or ortracized by this administration.
The American people made a huge mistake electing this fool into office, and we have another 2 years before we can make it right.
JFK said "ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country". Fox news is definetly destructive to the growth of this country and the Republicans are derelict in their duties in helping them destroy this country.
So I guess any views that do not complete align with Obama mean they are destructvie to the United States? Really smart move by the president alienate a very large portion of the society.
I watch some of Fox News and I watch CNN regularly. The shows I watch on Fox, "Special Report" and "The O'Reilly Factor" are, although having a conservative slant, really pretty fair. I find CNN to have a somewhat liberal slant although relatively balanced. On the other hand, I find MSNBC for the most part to be a liberal propaganda machine. Only the "Morning Joe" show has anything reasonably approaching balance. The evening shows don't even attempt to have any balance. I fault all of the media for never giving any exposure to centrist views. It is always liberal vs. conservative on television. Perhaps this is one of the reasons there is so much political rancor in this country and it is becoming increasingly unwatchable.
Finally! I have been waiting for someone to point out this basic fact regarding the propaganda machine that is Fox "News". This statement by the President needs to be repeated and defended by the rest of the MSM over and over and over. Quit allowing the lies and politically biased distortions that Fox spews to go unchallenged. The most dangerous threat to our nation is FOX NEWS, in my opinion.
I'm not saying that Fox News is perfectly neutral. It's not and it caters to individuals on the right side of the political spectrum. But Fox News is successful because it counterbalances the left wing news from MSNBC and CNN. Mr. Obama, being an intelligent and savvy individual, knows this and he has no illusions about the neutrality of the mainstream media outlets. So to attack one (the one that he disagrees with) in such an anti-democratic, anti-free speech fashion is alarming and shameful. I would expect this from lower level politicians and officials – but from the President? Wow.
obama calling fox news destructive which is a lie and coming from a deceiver like obama a person can expect remarks from someone that cant handle the truth.HE is the one that is trying to destroy the U.S not fox news and all because the others are afraid to speak out against obama and the democrats. obama has got to get it through his kenya and muslim head that we do have a freedom of speech. 2012 new president.
All power greedy communist thinking and idolizing leaders would say that any opposition is destructive to their agenda!
Are they any worst then those on CNN or MSNBC that seem to wet themselve with just the mention of the President's name? You can't trust any of them to be unbais.
News organizations are biased? Who would have thought? 🙂 News organizations always push their point of view; whining about it doesn't help.
Obama is destructive to America. What a hypocrite. He has done more to divide America then any politician in recent history, after having promised to bring us together. Lies just like transparency. As far as bias ABC, CBS, and NBC have always leaned far left as long as i can remember (40 years). CNN probably the best of the rest as far as cable news other then FOX, but they still lean farther left then FOX leans right. Then you have MSNBC, CNBC, etc etc etc, they are so leftist they would make Mao feel conservative. So there is one station that is not leftist, bit deal. Oh, thats it, its because everyone is getting tired of your leftist drivel and moving over to FOX, so you have no one LEFT watching you. Pretty hard to feel sorry for you.
Is there a media source out there that isn't politically biased?
that is an understatement
What a joke, CNN is more distructive than Fox... you are no news organization just admit it!
Couldn't agree more! Sources of news shouldn't be intentionally biased. That's all there is to it.
lolol...poor Barry....he's failing miserably at everything so all he does anymore is blame anyone and everyone else. The fact is that democrats had a boot-licking national media carrying their water for decades. Then along came Fox News who were honest enough to give both sides of the issues and democrats have no idea how to react so they react the way they always do by third-grade name calling, whining incessantly and by trying to trash those that they oppose. Sorry dems, those tactics don't work anymore. The people are wise to your impotent ways.
Well, let's be honest. the very term "Fox News" is an oxymoron. What bothers me isn't that they represent a certain political view (virtually all news agencies do); what bothers me is that they consider their abortive coverage to be news at all. For facts, it is one of the very worse information sources I have ever seen. That said, fighting with any media company is a certain way to look foolish. They say better to keep your mouth closed, and be thought a fool, than to open it, and prove them right. Too late; our president has been looking nothing but foolish from day one.
What about MSNBC? NYT? NPR? The President fails to mention outlets that spew and support his view of America. The issue is that Fox is very successful at attracting viewers where the progressive outlets are not. I for one think 24 hours news (regardless of perspective) will continue to cause our political discourse to spiral out of control. Where else can Michael Moore or Ann Coulter get a national stage for 30+ minutes? They certainly wouldn't get it in a newspaper or during a 30 minute nightly network news show.
Apparently they are the only ones who hit him where it hurts.
Faux news is a joke, it is completely biased in form of the word. I admit I sometimes watch it, but only for the comical entertainment it produces. They claim they are fair and balanced, I have never seen a more unfair or unbalanced news organization in my life say maybe the North Korean New Bureau. It's not news its propaganda and its goal it to divide this country. Anybody who takes Faux news seriously needs sterilized so they cant contaminate the rest of the world with they're ignorance.
Mr. Clemente got it all wrong. A news channel that is spreading proporganda is a very critical issue. I'm actually upset that the FCC hasn't charged them with misleading news, being overly bias(although every news station is a little bias, fox news just takes it too far) and all while thwy declare themselves as 'fair and balanced'. we all know how evil fox news is, but its worse to know some people actually follow them.
This is our president? Or is he a junk yard dog? MSNBC doesn't have a particular point of view that they are pushing. The man is completely out of his league and our country is bleeding because of ineptness.
White House states the obvious: More at 11.


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Imam Malik was one of the most respected scholars of Fiqh also known as Imam Darul Hijrah. His great grandfather Abi Aamer, who was from Yemen, embraced Islam in 2 AH and migrated to Madinah. He participated in all the battles alongside the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) except the Battle of Badr. Malik was born near Madinah in 93 AH. He received his education in Madinah and contacted about 900 scholars for collecting Hadiths. He acquired a great amount of knowledge from the disciples of the companions of the Prophet (peace be upon him).
He mastered the science of Hadith at the age of 17 and began to issue Fatwa after 70 scholars confirmed his eligibility for the purpose. He collected over 100,000 Hadiths written by his hand.
Imam Abu Hanifa met Imam Malik and recognized his scholarship. Imam Shafie was a disciple of Imam Malik.
Imam Malik was the first to compile an authentic book of Hadith named "Al-Muwatta." It contained 1,720 Hadiths. The book was approved by 70 scholars and thus called Muwatta (The approved). Many commentaries have been written on the book. Imam Shafie, who was one of Malik's students for nine years, said: "Imam Malik is like a star among scholars." Imam Malik memorized the Qur'an in his youth and studied under famous scholars like Hisham ibn Urwah, Ibn Shihab Al-Zuhri and Imam Jafar Al Sadiq, the descendant of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him).
He served and protected the science of Hadith for over 70 years in Madinah and expired at the age of 87. He was so attached to the city of the Holy Prophet that he performed Haj only once and never went outside the city. His jurisprudence was later developed into the Maliki School of Thought, which was promoted in Morocco, Algeria and Spain.
Imam Malik compiled Al-Muwatta in the course of 40 years, having started with 10,000 narrations until he reduced them to their present number. Imam Bukhari said that the most authentic chain of transmission of Hadith is called Silsalat Al Zahabi (golden chain), which has only three links — "Malik from Nafi from Ibn Umar and then from the Holy Prophet" (peace be upon him).
There are 80 narrations with this chain in this book. Imam Shafie regarded Al-Muwatta as the most authentic book on earth after the Holy Qur'an.
Imam Malik was very strong in defending Shariah and did not care for the likings of the ruling class.
Madinah governor during Abbasid Caliphate arrested and flogged him publicly for issuing a Fatwa against ruling Caliph Mansur. When the caliph came to know about it, he dismissed the governor and apologized to Imam Malik. He also sent 3,000 dinars and invited Imam Malik to live in Baghdad but he refused the offer saying that he preferred to live in the city of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him).
Imam Malik also issued a Fatwa against the will of Caliph Haroon Rashid for which he was severely punished. But once, when the caliph came to Madinah he asked him to teach Hadith to his princes. But Imam replied that the wealth of knowledge does not go to the doors of others.
Haroon Rashid was wise enough, he came with his princes to the gathering of Imam Malik and attended his lecture like others.
Haroon Rashid had suggested that Imam Malik's book, Al-Muwatta, should be put in the Holy Kaaba and all Muslims be told to follow it in all matters of jurisprudence. But Imam Malik refused, saying "Refrain from this as the companions of the Prophet (peace be upon him) themselves held opposing views on subsidiary issues."
Imam Malik's daughter Fatima had memorized Al-Muwatta.
Imam Malik fell ill and died on 14th of Rabiul Awwal 179 AH. Emir of Madinah Abdul Aziz Ibn Muhammad Ibn Ibraheem led his funeral prayers. He was buried in Jannatul Baqee.
It is reported that the Holy Prophet had said: "Very soon will people beat the flanks of camels in search of knowledge, and they shall find no one more knowledgeable than the knowledgeable scholar of Madinah" (Sunan Al-Tirmidhi). Scholars consider that the scholar referred to was Malik ibn Anas. (May Allah's peace and blessing be upon them all).
(Arab News / 30 June 2013)
Alfalah Consulting - Kuala Lumpur: www.alfalahconsulting.com
Consultant-Speaker-Motivator: www.ahmad-sanusi-husain.com
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text:
Design submitted by Peter from the UK.
Peter says: Ever since I started submitting designs for the blog I have been trying to think of a nice design based on Armour, Exoskeletons, and Mecha. This design is inspired by those things to achieve an bio-mechanical look. I wanted an industrial feel with a technical detailed look. "Vertebrae" is the result. This one probably isn't for the ladies.


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London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south-east of England, at the head of its 50-mile (80 km) estuary leading to the North Sea, London has been a major settlement for two millennia. Londinium was founded by the Romans. The City of London, London's ancient core − an area of just 1.12 square miles (2.9 km2) and colloquially known as the Square Mile − retains boundaries that closely follow its medieval limits. The City of Westminster is also an Inner London borough holding city status.
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Lyon or Lyons (UK: US: French: [ljɔ̃]; Arpitan: Liyon, pronounced [ʎjɔ̃]; Italian: Lione, pronounced [liˈone]) is the third-largest city and second-largest urban area of France. It is located in the country's east-central part at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, about 470 km (292 mi) south of Paris, 320 km (199 mi) north of Marseille and 56 km (35 mi) northeast of Saint-Étienne. Inhabitants of the city are called Lyonnais. Lyon had a population of 513,275 in 2015. It is the capital of the Metropolis of Lyon and the region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. The Lyon metropolitan area had a population of 2,265,375 in 2014.
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