Athens, GA rockers Widespread Panic has announced special guests for their New Year’s Eve show this year. The group will play a three-night run in Nashville, TN, with a special performance at the Ryman Auditorium on the first night, followed by shows at the Bridgestone Arena on the 30th and 31st.On the 31st, Panic will be joined by the Love Sponge String Quartet, the MegaBlasters horn section, and Gospel/R&B singers the McCrary Sisters. The MegaBlasters are no strangers to the Panic scene, as they, along with their own Randall Bramblett, have joined the band many times over the years.Tickets for the NYE performance can be purchased here, while additional information on the full three-night run can be found on the band’s website.Widespread Panic w/ Megablasters “Happy” (Rolling Stones) – Charlotte, NC 12/31/2014:[via Jambands] read more
Dave Matthews Band has welcomed an impressive mix of guest performers to jam with them during their 2018 fall area tour thus far. Warren Haynes, Jon Faddis, James Casey, and Eric Krasno have all been welcomed to the stage to play alongside Matthews and his group since the tour began in late November. DMB continued that trend during the first of two shows in their original hometown of Charlottesville, Virginia on Friday, where they welcomed the show’s support act, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, to join them for a mid-set performance of “That Girl Is You” from their new studio album, 2018’s Come Tomorrow.The Friday night concert at Charlottesville’s John Paul Jones Arena began with a pair of tunes from 2002’s Busted Stuff, with “Big Eyed Fish” transitioning smoothly into “Bartender”. They continued with another older fan-favorite in “Satellite” before turning to one of their newer tunes, “Samurai Cop (Oh Joy Begin)”. “#41”, “Again and Again”, and “Everyday” all came next before the band charged into a cover of Aerosmith‘s 1975 anthem, “Sweet Emotion”, which has become a recurring setlist staple throughout much of the fall tour.Dave Matthews Band – “Sweet Emotion” (Aerosmith cover) – 12/14/2018[Video: DMB4041]The band’s mid-set collaboration alongside the Preservation Hall Jazz Band came 10 songs into the show. Their performance of the newer song started with plenty of fresh energy thanks to the unapologetic tone and presence of NOLA outfit’s horns. The song took plenty of time to open up and develop, with the members of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band playing away on their trombones, trumpets, and saxophones while a smiling Matthews strummed along on with his acoustic guitar. You can watch a video of the Preservation Hall sit-in below:Dave Matthews Band with Preservation Hall Jazz Band – “That Girl Is You” – 12/14/18[Video: Brandon Gorall]The second half of the show saw the band continue with performances of “Louisiana Bayou”, their go-to cover of Peter Gabriel‘s “Sledgehammer”, “Don’t Drink The Water”, and “So Right”. The set came to an end following performances of “Why I Am”, “You & Me”, “Dancing Nancies”, and “Grey Street”. They would return for a two-song encore of “Christmas Song”, which recently made its way back into the setlist after a four-year break, and their cover of Bob Dylan‘s “All Along the Watchtower”, which included a verse from Led Zeppelin‘s “Stairway To Heaven”. The tour will come to a close with a second performance at the John Paul Jones Arena on Saturday night. Dave Matthews Band will look to pick up where they left off starting with a run of European concert dates next spring. Tickets to the band’s upcoming performances can be found on the official DMB website.Setlist: Dave Matthews Band | John Paul Jones Arena | Charlottesville, VA | 12/14/2018Set: Big Eyed Fish > Bartender, Satellite, Samurai Cop (Oh Joy Begin), #41, Again and Again, Everyday, Sweet Emotion (Aerosmith cover), Minarets, That Girl Is You*, Louisiana Bayou, Sledgehammer (Peter Gabriel cover), Don’t Drink the Water, So Right, Why I Am, You & Me, Dancing Nancies, Grey StreetEncore: Christmas Song, All Along the Watchtower** (Bob Dylan cover)* with Preservation Hall Jazz Band** with “Stairway To Heaven” verse read more
Mohamed Omar remembers the first time he emigrated, at 16, from his native Mogadishu, Somalia, to Lahore, Pakistan. The bustling city of 10 million, where Omar’s parents had sent him to attend school during Somalia’s protracted civil war, was the most polluted place he had ever seen.“If you walked outside in the morning, you could see huge clouds of smoke, almost a haze around the city,” said Omar, 39, now an environmental management engineer at Harvard’s Office of Environmental Health, Safety, and Emergency Management (EHSEM). “There were mountains of waste along the roads.”At the time, Omar had no idea he’d end up managing pollution for a living — or that in 2000 he would emigrate to New England, a move that brought its own environmental challenges.“Seeing snow for the first time in 2001 was kind of a shock,” Omar recalled.Yet despite a nomadic early life, Omar took to New England and to the cause of sustainability, a profession that allows him to give back to the place that welcomed him as a young man. That drive to improve his community has helped Omar excel at Harvard, where he recently finished an administrative fellowship.“The principle I always felt was guiding me was ‘God, family, and purpose,’ ” said Omar, a practicing Muslim. “They’ve helped me through the ordeal of moving multiple times across continents.”At Harvard, Omar helps to ensure that the University is following environmental rules and regulations in its 700-plus buildings. He also manages compliance for the Blackstone Power Plant.Inspired by the challenges he encountered in his day job, Omar decided to continue his education part time with his department’s support. Last June, he completed a doctorate in cleaner production and pollution prevention at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, School of Health and Environment.“My background was civil engineering, and I had seen my share of bad designs leading to environmental degradation,” he said. “I felt we always ended up downstream in the process, trying to retrofit designs to make them [pollute] less. There’s a movement to try to go upstream, to design products and processes cleanly.”Meanwhile, he juggled his duties as an appointed commissioner for the Green Building Commission in Lowell, Mass., where he now lives, and his responsibilities as a 2010-11 resident administrative fellow. The yearlong program, sponsored by the Office of the Assistant to the President (OAP), gives outstanding minority employees at Harvard a chance to meet with the University’s senior management and learn about higher-education leadership.The past decade has been transformative for Omar, who arrived in Portland, Maine, in 2000 knowing virtually no one. Armed with an engineering degree but no experience, he worked odd jobs and volunteered with engineering firms for a year before picking up paid work in his profession.“I was fortunate that I came here and was educated,” he said.Still, he said, “trying to assimilate personally and professionally was difficult,” and it only became more so after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. While Omar never felt singled out for his religion or ethnicity (outside of airport security lines, he noted), he found the atmosphere at Harvard refreshing when he started working at EHSEM in 2004.“Harvard has been around for more than 300 years. It’s no stranger to foreigners,” he said. When he pauses for his midday prayers in his cubicle, he added, his co-workers don’t bat an eye.Now that Omar has finished his OAP fellowship and his graduate studies, his life has quieted down a bit. He can spend more time with his two “energetic” daughters, ages 4 and 1, and with his wife, a Somali who originally immigrated to Minneapolis.“It’s a tight-knit community,” he said of his fellow stateside Somalis. “No matter where we are, we tend to stay close together.”Although he hasn’t visited Somalia since 1994, Omar remains active in his native country’s political and civic life. He is an editor-at-large of Sheeko, a London-based quarterly magazine geared toward the international African community.He also founded Bar ama Baro, a scholarship program that connects donors to Somali college students in need, “so they don’t end up in the street being radicalized,” he said.After the wandering of his early years, Omar said, he feels a deep-seated need and appreciation for community.“I was born and raised in the city, but my father and mother were born in the countryside where communal survival was essential,” he said. “I’ve always felt that having a good network is very important.”Now, for Omar, that network is in Lowell and at Harvard.“I call this place home,” he said. read more
In order to understand what it means to support members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) community, Saint Mary’s College is hosting Ally Week, Laurel Javors, vice president of the Straight and Gay Alliance (SAGA), said. “[Ally Week] is a week to honor the brave allies supporting the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning community,” Javors said. The week will also provide an opportunity for others to come out as an ally and friend of the LGBTQ community, Javors said.Ally Week began Monday and offered free t-shirts and rainbow ribbons. A booth was set up in the Student Center Atrium during lunch and dinner and offered information about what it means to be an ally.“We hope that more students will realize that being an ally does not mean a person is gay. It only means that that person support human rights for every human,” Javors said. “We also hope to combat some of the homophobia on campus, [for example] tearing down signs advertising our events, using the word gay as a synonym for dumb or speaking poorly of our LGBTQ brothers and sisters.”Events will continue throughout the week, Javors said. A discussion will be held Tuesday titled “Catholic Theological Union: Common Ground Dialogue on Homosexuality” in Stapleton Lounge at 8 p.m. During the dialogue, students, faculty and staff are invited to hear a variety of perspectives about homosexuality from members of the Saint Mary’s community.The film “Prayers for Bobby” will be shown Wednesday. The movie will take place in Vander Vennet at 6 p.m. “[The film] is a Lifetime movie based on the true story of a teenage boy who commits suicide after feeling rejection from the religious messages instilled in him by his community and his mother,” Javors said.“In Good Conscience,” a movie about Sr. Jean Gramick, a Catholic sister who is working to gain acceptance and support for the LGBTQ community within the Catholic Church, will be presented at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in Vander Vennet.The week will conclude with rainbow ribbons, information and any extra t-shirts put on display in the Cushwa-Leighton Library.The week is sponsored by SAGA, the Justice Education department, the Center for Spirituality, the Office of Civic and Social Engagement, the Social Work Club and the Africa Faith and Justice Network.Javors said SAGA has worked hard to insure Saint Mary’s College remains a safe place for LGBTQ persons and allies.“It is a place where all are welcome to be themselves and not have to pretend to be something other else in order to appease the status quo,” Javors said. “Just as Christ welcomed those on the fringes of Palestinian society, so do we as members of the Straight and Gay Alliance.”Javors said SAGA has been on campus for several years. The group has hosted a variety of events to provide support and love for the LGBTQ community.“I want to ensure that our heterosexual allies know how much they are needed in the lives of LGBTQ persons. Without them, it would be even harder than it already is for LGBTQ persons to come out,” Javors said. “Our allies provide us with hope, support and love when others in society reject us. This is an opportunity for more students to become allies by learning how simple it is to be an ally. The only two requirements are tolerance and love.” read more
Saint Mary’s President Jan Cervelli sent an email to the student body Thursday addressing diversity and inclusion initiatives on campus. Cervelli said in the email the President’s Council on Inclusivity and Multicultural Diversity (PCIMD) has compiled a list of Community Dialogue Events throughout this academic year. Upcoming events include a tribute to essayist and civil rights activist Audre Lorde, which will take place at 7 p.m. in Vander Vennet Theatre on Wednesday.“I encourage faculty, staff and students to attend at least two of the Community Dialogue events listed here,” she said. Cervelli said in the email the events will foster an understanding environment on campus. “The events on this list are intended to cultivate open, honest and broad dialogue about the collective challenges we face and our accountability to one another,” she said. “The result of PCIMD’s work is to promote understanding of differences, and to create an environment where all feel valued, respected and supported. We must seize opportunities to promote the awareness of common interests and shared goals among faculty, staff and students. We ask for your help and commitment to ensure a culturally inclusive college.”Tags: Conversation Cafe, Diversity, inclusion, PCIMD, President’s Council on Inclusivity and Multicultural Diversity read more
Sarah Olson | The Observer Suzy Younger of the Saint Joseph Fertility Care Center mans a table showcasing her organization’s resources for students. Younger was participating in Notre Dame Right to Life’s ”You are Loved Week”“We’re intentional in the groups we reach out to for partnerships, but normally we reach out to however many we decide on, and we don’t get a response from all those people,” she said. “Some of that’s just a practical thing though, that’s not always a pointed response. So we have two big program weeks for the year, and the first one’s our fall semester [program] which is ‘Respect Life Week,’ and the second one is this week which is ‘You Are Loved Week.’ We want to create a healthy culture not only within our club, but also between other clubs and for the campus community as a whole.”Junior Matthew Connell, Right to Life’s vice president of communications, said in an email that collaboration with other campus organizations is a key aim of the week.“The purpose of the week is to collaborate with other clubs on campus to promote the good work being done by many different groups in upholding human dignity,” he said. Connell said events were planned around the week’s theme, which is “Created for Love.”“This year’s theme is ‘Created for Love.’ We selected this theme as a reminder to each and every person that they were created to be loved and to love others. Our events were planned to relate to this theme,” Connell said. “A few exciting events…include foster care backpack-making, senior prom at Holy Cross Village, a lecture by renowned sexual ethics speaker Dr. Janet Smith entitled ‘Contraception: Why Not?’, and a Natural Family Planning workshop with local FertilityCare Practitioner Suzy Younger. All are welcome to all of our events.”For Connell, the week is meant to demonstrate that all humans are loved and appreciated.“‘You Are Loved Week’ provides an extremely important reminder to everyone on our campus that they are loved regardless of their circumstances, abilities, successes or failures,” he said. “We are all created for love, both to give it and to receive it, and this week serves as a reminder of this fundamental truth.” Caridi said ‘You are Loved Week’ is meant to be a celebration of life.“You Are Loved Week is an invitation, first and foremost, it’s an invitation to the mission of Right to Life, the mission of our club specifically, but it’s also an invitation to all that the Catholic Church teaches and proclaims, and it’s an invitation to a life of encounter, encounter with one another, encounter with God and encounter with the community that we live in. It’s about living an abundant life and not just going through the motions every day,” she said. Tags: life, love, Notre Dame Right to Life, You are Loved Week Notre Dame’s Right to Life club kicked off its third annual “You are Loved Week” Monday. The week, which will run from April 8th through the 14th, will consist of daily events on-campus, and began with the opening of an apparel tent on South Quad Monday morning. The events continued on Monday evening, with a mass in the Basilica. Notre Dame Right to Life’s vice president of programming, sophomore Talia Caridi, said that multiple different student organizations will be co-sponsoring the events, including PrismND, Engineers Without Borders, Totus Tuus, the Logan Recreation Club and the Student Coalition for Immigration Advocacy, among others. read more
If you’ve been reading this blog, then you’re familiar with our Whiskey Wednesday tradition. If you’re new, here’s the Cliff’s Notes: Every Wednesday night, a bunch of dads descend on our local ski hill for a few hours of skiing and light-hearted camaraderie. Each of us has a flask full of whiskey and we spend most of our time racing and trying to push each other down. The night usually ends with a Chinese Downhill, a tradition borrowed from Hot Dog the Movie, an ‘80s ski flick that serves as our group’s moral compass. Google it if you haven’t seen it. The rules for the international Chinese downhill are simple: There are none. First one to the bottom of the hill wins, regardless of the tactics he/she employs. Thank god for helmets and health insurance. This season, we added a new tradition, where we all do a lap shirtless. We call it, “The Putin.”You could make an argument that we’re all too old to behave this way. It’s an argument my wife feels compelled to make every Thursday morning after the photos from Whiskey Wednesday surface on social media. But here’s my counter argument: Everyone should take one day out of their week to be this immature. Flying down a mountain with no shirt feels crisp. That’s the only word I can use to describe it. And just like the polar plunge (and petty theft and trying to push your friend off the side of a mountain), it makes you feel alive. On a Wednesday. How many 40-year-old husbands and fathers with mortgages and jobs and adolescent braces to pay for have a blissful moment like that in the middle of the week? A cold snap allowed our local hill, Breckenwolf, to make just enough snow to justify running the lifts and we were able to start the annual Whiskey Wednesday tradition before Christmas, which is an unprecedented treat. We celebrated with a Putin and finished the night with a dinner of Miller High-Lifes (the Champagne of beers) and ham and cheese Hot Pockets at a dive bar half way between the ski hill and our neighborhood. Again, we’re way too old to behave this way, on a Wednesday, but we’re all self-aware enough to realize that’s exactly why we have to do it. read more
As part of the promotion of the first flight of Thomas Cook on the line Manchester – Dubrovnik, in the center of Manchester, a presentation of the tourist offer of Dubrovnik was held, which was attended by about fifty British agents.This tourist event is a joint project of one of the oldest and largest British tour operators Thomas Cook, the CNTB office in the United Kingdom and the Dubrovnik Tourist Board. The reason for this event is the introduction of a new Thomas Cook flight on the Manchester-Dubrovnik route. The director of the Dubrovnik Tourist Board Romana Vlašić presented the British tourist offer to British agents, with special reference to cultural and historical sights, natural beauties, cultural events and excellent air connections between Dubrovnik and Manchester, the Dubrovnik Tourist Board points out and added “The audience also showed a special interest in filming in Dubrovnik, because the Game of Thrones series is very popular in the United Kingdom. It is already known that the British are our most loyal tourists and are traditionally positioned in first place in the top list of tourists who come to Dubrovnik. “The share in the total tourist traffic of Dubrovnik, from the market of the United Kingdom in 2017 was 15,36% in arrivals and 22,10% in overnight stays. In 2017, there were 181562 British tourists in Dubrovnik, who realized 875174 overnight stays, which is a 22% increase in arrivals and 17% more in overnight stays compared to the previous year.Related news: TOMAS SUMMER 2017 SURVEY FOR DUBROVNIK-NERETVA COUNTY PUBLISHED read more
NZ Herald 20 October 2013Beverage manufacturers have a clear message to people worried about caffeine levels in energy drinks: stop your children from drinking them.Submissions closed on Friday for a review of the Food Regulation Standing Committee’s guidelines on foods that have added caffeine.The guidelines apply to New Zealand and Australia.The committee said it was responding to increasing concern that children were being exposed to high levels of caffeine, which could affect their health.In New Zealand, energy drinks can contain 140mg/L to 320mg/L of caffeine, and must be clearly labelled.Labels must state that the product contains caffeine, and is not recommended for children, pregnant or breastfeeding women.But Canada has limited the amount of caffeine allowed in a single standard beverage to 180mg.http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11142913 read more
ELLSWORTH — Five Hancock County high school football players have been chosen to play in the Shrine Lobster Bowl this summer.Ellsworth’s Javon Williams, Bucksport’s Tyson Gray and Carter Tolmasoff and Mount Desert Island’s Gilbert Isaacs and Elijah Joyce were among the 90 players selected Wednesday to participate in this year’s game. The seniors will represent the East in the 30th Lobster Bowl game.Williams had 12 rushing touchdowns and one receiving touchdown at the skill positions in 2018. He also spent time at quarterback throughout his four years at the high school level.Tolmasoff was Little Ten Conference Player of the Year with 1,661 rushing yards and 25 rushing touchdowns for Bucksport. Gray was an All-LTC first-teamer for the Golden Bucks on offense and a second-teamer on defense.This is placeholder textThis is placeholder textFor MDI, Joyce ran for a Big 11 Conference-best 1,560 yards and 19 touchdowns this year. Isaacs was named Big 11 Lineman of the Year and was also nominated for the Frank J. Gaziano Memorial Offensive Lineman Award.This year’s Shrine Lobster Bowl is scheduled to be played July 20 at Thornton Academy in Saco. read more