Instant Classics: Mana Poly All-Stars and Riddim + Blues

“This is the fusion,” toasts the Mana Poly All-Stars’ Nela Otuafi on the catchy intro track from their sophomore album, Riddim + Blues…

“A collaboration of two cultures- where the West Indies and the South Pacific bring island music to the forefront.”

Image courtesy mpallstars.com

And a fine collaboration it is.  To describe MPA’s music as simply reggae, island, or R&B would do it a disservice.

“It’s fusion reggae,” MPA’s manager, Jillana AhLoe explained to me in the parking lot of Salt Lake City’s Club Vegas two weeks ago.  I had called Nela for a follow up to my first piece about him and, he invited me out to meet all the guys and Jillana.  They wouldn’t be playing until nearly midnight, so we walked outside for an impromptu interview.

Previously, my only exposure to Nela was his ground-breaking album, Return with Honour, with Pau Hana, a group he started in college.  After our first interview, he sent me copy of Riddim + Blues, confident I’d like it just as much.  I’m pleased to report that it is exactly as Nela described it—an “instant classic.”

For those of you who loved Pau Hana but may be new to MPA (and there are a few of you, judging by the hits I’ve been getting to my previous post and the search terms bringing you here), let me introduce MPA’s sound and style from the reference frame of Pau Hana.

Common to both groups are Nela’s lead vocals, his mid-song “chatting,” and a certain best-of-all-worlds sound.  Both groups also share reggae undertones.  But whereas Pau Hana was Jawaian (reggae plus Hawaiian), MPA is reggae plus R&B.  The depth and richness of Pau Hana has continued to MPA, but it’s more mature and refined.

It’s also more vocally diverse, thanks to the rest of the ensemble.  When Nela and pal Kalani Hafoka started MPA in 1999, they set out to recruit the best of the best—a cast of all-stars, if you will.

“Kalani loves R&B.  He’s a soul guy,” Nela said, pointing at each of his fellow band members standing with us.  “Tema’s an old school R&B guy.  Vaea’s a roots guy.  Ese’s a hip-hop guy.  James is a rock guy.  I’m a dancehall guy.  We all have our own styles that we bring to the table.”

The band’s name is a construct that describes exactly who they are.

“We wanted a name that was common in all Polynesian languages and ‘mana’ is that word,” Nela explained.  Mana means power or great spirit.  “The problem is that there is already a group out there called “Mana”, so to separate ourselves we added the ‘Poly All-Stars’ because we all came from different groups.”

While all of them were born in the U.S., each MPA member has an island heritage, and a few of them have been back to visit their homelands.  They credit their island roots with their knack for music.  Keyboardist/vocalist Setema Gali laid it out:

“Polynesians, when we go to church, we break out into three or four part harmonies.  We definitely have a gift for music.  Most Polynesians can pick up any instrument, can harmonize anything.  So the islands show through in our music.”

[I might mention here that music isn't Setema's only talent.  He was an all-conference defensive end for Brigham Young University and has a Super Bowl ring from his career with the New England Patriots.]

“We sing the melody, everybody picks their part—boom!” added Nela.  Those rich harmonies are no better showcased than on Riddim + Blues track “Guarantee,” a tune about solidifying love.

Listen to an impromptu parking lot version of “Guarantee” that I recorded at the interview.  The audio quality isn’t great but it’s good stuff.

In fact, whether it’s devotion (Good Love), the practical side of marriage (Give U Love), or romantic pining (One Step Behind), most tracks on Riddim + Blues are odes to love.  The sultry vocals of MPA’s only female MPA member, Luisa Hafoka, complement the male harmonies in fine fashion.

“Gunshots”, a story about the tragedy of two gang incidents, is another landmark track.  The song won the award for social action song of the year at the IMA’s.  The album itself won reggae album of the year at the Hawaiian Music Awards.  Their debut album, S. Pacifik Musik has won awards as well.

Overall, Riddim + Blues fuses smooth R&B vocals with prominent reggae rhythms.  The Polynesian connection to reggae music, Nela explained, is natural because of its universal vibe.  Nela has been adopting elements of reggae since Pau Hana, incorporating intro toasts and chat interludes.

Image courtesy Mana Poly All-Stars

Nela’s “chattin’” is what drew me to Pau Hana originally.  It’s like rap, but with partial melody.  It’s raw, yet highly structured.  Nela does it masterfully in pure island chant style.  Some MPA chats incorporate harmony from the others—like a song within a song.  I’m going to officially request that their next album include a track that consists entirely of chat.

In short, Riddim + Blues is a rock-solid record and an instant classic.  MPA’s unique fusion of island music and old school R&B is full of soul-catching beats and lush harmonies.  I’m not a genre guy.  I love good music.  And trust me, MPA is good music.  Will Riddim + Blues replace Return with Honour in my CD changer?  No, because I think by now RwH has seared itself onto my turntable.  But R+B has the next slot over– and it will probably stay there a good while, too.

———-

The Mana Poly All-Stars are:  JAMES RUBI-lead guitar; TANIELA “NELA” OTUAFI-vocals, keyboards; KALANIANAOLE HAFOKA-vocals, guitar, bass; NA’A HAFOKA-rhythm guitar, vocals; SIOSIFA “ESE” TAIESE-drums, vocals; SETEMA GALI, JR.-keyboards, vocals; LUISA HAFOKA-vocals; VAEA TAUTEOLI-Bass.

Check out MPA on their website and on Myspace.  Buy Riddim + Blues here.

 

Weekly Run-Down: Down time, travels, and the Mana Poly All-Stars

Down Time
Yeah, so it’s been quiet here at BonnevilleMariner.com this week. Chalk it up mostly to a dead DSL modem at home. But we’ve also been busy sprucing up the house for showings this weekend and getting ready for a trip to California. Speaking of that…

Travels
The stars aligned and we were able to book a really cheap trip to SoCal.  We flew into San Diego this morning, grabbed a quick seafood lunch on the embarcadero, and headed for Coronado Beach. Coronado is a good family beach 1) because it’s clean and relatively freak-free, and 2) because it slopes very gradually, so it’s quite shallow for quite a distance.

Turns out Little D, who I should probably start referring to as Big D from now on (he’s a good-sized baby), really digs the ocean. He watched each set of waves roll in and just about go nuts with excitement. We dipped his feet in the little waves and let him feel the sand rush out as they receded and he couldn’t get enough.  Great.  I’ve created another landlocked beach bum.

I’ve got a working Internet connection now, but since I’m not here to hang out online, expect posting to be slow until next week.  I’ll probably be doing some twittering though.

Mana Poly All-Stars
In my recent piece on musician extraordinaire Nela Otuafi, I promised a second part this week (or last, I forget).  That will likely come next week.  I called Nela last week for a follow-up interview and he invited me to a gig at a downtown SLC club.  I had prior engagements, but the boys were kind enough to meet me there a few hours early for a group interview.  That will be part of next week’s post.  These guys are the real deal, and they’re good bunch of guys too.  Thanks Nela and crew for taking the time to talk to me.

Well, that about does it for now.  Catch y’all Friday for a special 9-11 post.

 

From Pau Hana 2 Today: Catching up with Nela Otuafi

The following is the first installment in a 2-part profile of musician Nela Otuafi.

Nela Otuafi performs with the Mana Poly All-Stars (courtesy Nela Otuafi)

Every so often I’m privileged to run across a musician with out-of-this world talent, whose work transcends genre and works its way into your soul.

I’ve profiled a few such artists on this website.  If you recall them, you’ll notice they hail from many different points along the musical spectrum.  Today I’d like to add yet another artist to that growing personal pantheon.

Of course you could argue that Nela Otuafi could have been one of the first on the list.  After all, I discovered him over a decade ago on a road trip to California with my little brothers.

Our destination was the Pacific Ocean– any beach would do.  Our means: my newly acquired ‘93 Dodge Spirit.  It’s violet upholstery and snazzy white frame would be a handsome combo on the streets of Las Vegas and LA.  Our Samoan neighbors had given my brother a CD by a Polynesian group called “Pau Hana,” which he popped into my cassette adapter Discman near Mesquite, Nevada.

We didn’t take it out again until we arrived back in Salt Lake City two weeks later.

The album was titled Return with Honour.  The music was a unique fusion of reggae and traditional island music. The instrumentation was brilliant.  Even today, the tracks on that CD are fresh, their melodies timeless.

I listened to the CD again this summer and wondered about this group whose music I loved but who I knew virtually nothing about.  So I did some Googling.  Turns out Pau Hana still tours and releases new music, albeit with none of the original band members.  Eventually I caught up with Mr. Otuafi, the band’s founder and original songwriter.

The San Diego native now lives in the Salt Lake City area with his wife and five children.  He is currently part of an eclectic Polynesian ensemble called the Mana Poly All-Stars (website, Myspace), which shares and builds on that unique fusion sound.  Nela graciously agreed to let me interview him for this post:

BONNEVILLE MARINER: Tell me a little about your musical background.

OTUAFI: I come from a really musical family– it’s in my blood.  I went to a school for creative performaing arts and that really helped me nourish my talents.  All Polynesians have a musical ear, but they may not know music philosophy or theory or structure.  School really helped me with that.

BM: How did you get started with Pau Hana?

OTUAFI: I formed Pau Hana in college.  The term pau hana means “after work.”  We’d get together and jam after school.  Then we started doing parties, then bigger and bigger [events] until we started doing concerts.

BM:  Return with Honour isn’t necessarily a religious album, but I detect some definite Christian and LDS tones throughout.

OTUAFI: The whole concept [for the album] was centered on my LDS mission.  That’s where you get the title, Return with Honour.  Three of us were LDS, the others of a different faith.  I had to make sure the others knew that if we’re going to do the CD, I’m going to be leaving on my mission.

BM:  My favorite track on the album is “Nani.”  I guess I must sing it a lot because a few nights ago we woke up in the middle of the night to hear our 2 year old daughter singing it in her sleep.

OTUAFI:  I have 5 kids and it’s really an eye opener to hear my kids singing that. I was in a little room in my house in San Diego when this was written and I never would have imagined so many years later I’d have kids singing the same song.

BM:  The thing about Return with Honour for me is the perfect balance of hip-hop with the island sound.

OTUAFI: Well that was the concept- to blend hip hop with the island sound.  We wanted to have an 808 Drum Kit sound and ukulele.  A lot of credit goes to Tina Antoine, our guitar player, for creating that sound.

BM: Not to spend too much time on “Nani,” but tell me a little about the uke riff on that song.

OTUAFI: Ah, we did that on an 8 track recording device.  So I’d record it and we’d run it down, record and run it down because we only had 8 tracks.  We combined 4 string uke and 6 string uke, we were one of the first groups to do that.  We also were one of the first groups to hook up our Ukes to electric guitar pedals to give it an extra edge.

I’ll cover more of Nela’s musical philosophy, his Tongan heritage, and his current work with the Mana Poly All-Stars in the second part of this profile next week.  In the meantime, take a listen to “Wake Up My Darling” from Return with Honour here.

 

Summer Tunes: Tristan Prettyman’s ‘Madly’

Yeah, it’s been a couple weeks, but I didn’t forget my Summer Tunes series. This week’s offering comes from San Diego-bred singer/songwriter Tristan Prettyman. Enjoy!

more about "Summer Tunes: Tristan Prettyman’s ‘Ma…", posted with vodpod

 

Zee Avi’s debut album a vocal and instrumental masterpiece

Album art courtesy Brushfire Records

Why do I like Zee Avi so much?  Could it be her novelty?  If you’ve listened to her, you know what I mean by that.  Avi’s voice is completely unique.  And not in a calculated or blatant way.  Her sound is a striking mix of Billie Holiday and Norah Jones.  The former was known for tailoring her vocals to sound like a horn.  Indeed, play some Billie Holiday and walk away from the speaker until the words sound muddled.  What you still hear will sound very similar to a trumpet or a sax playing.

Purposefully or not, Avi’s voice shares this characteristic, which may be why the horn accompaniment on her recently released debut album sounds so appropriate.  In fact, one of this album’s pillars is the instrumentation used in these songs, my only previous exposure to which were Avi’s minimalist YouTube videos.

The more I listen to Jack Johnson’s Brushfire artists, the more I conclude that ingenious instrumentation is what sets them apart.  Somebody (or somebody’s) over in Mango Tree has an impeccable knack for mixing instruments and sounds.  I’ve noticed it ever since the Jack’s In Between Dreams.  For the record, whoever tweets for Brushfire told me kudos on Avi’s album go to members of Jack’s and Matt Costa’s bands and Ozomatli.  Somebody’s calling the shots, though, and I’d like to shake their hand.

Of course the real star on this album is Miss Zee Avi, her songs, and the emotion she conveys in her voice.  Avi is one of those artists that make you feel like you know them simply by singing a song.  Each of the albums 12 tracks is a musical delight.

I won’t go track by track, but favorites include “Just You and Me,” “Monte,” and “Honey Bee.”  If you’re a selective music purchaser like I am, I’d buy these tracks online for a nice introduction.  Then, in this case, of course I’d buy the rest.

Noteworthy highlights include the simple guitar melody on “The Story,” a song that is best listened to at night in the mountains, and the horn/vocal duet on “Just You and Me” which illustrates my point about the voice-horn comparison.  The rolling “Darling” would sound equally at home on a road trip or in a club.

You might assume, based on my previous doting, that I’d have no complaints about the album.  You would be wrong.  “Poppy,” Avi’s first original song, and “First of the Gang” are lackluster at best.  And “Kantoi” is downright annoying.  Mind you, these tracks are fine vocally and musically.  They’re just somehow less than the sum of their parts.

I also might have arranged the album differently.  Ordering the slow, emotive “Is This the End” right after the bubbly “Just You and Me” takes the air out of things mid-album.  “Is This the End” would be better appreciated were it the album closer.  A track featuring Jack Johnson in some way would have topped things off very nicely.  Here’s hoping that happens on her next album.

These criticisms considered, Miss Avi has me hooked.  This album is mature beyond its scope and rich beyond its simplicity.  I just ask that after she becomes a mega star, that Avi not forget the little old bloggers like me who had her back from the beginning.  Here’s to the beginning of a beautiful career!

www.zeeavi.com

 

Weekly Run-Down: Zee Avi, Iosepa, and Selling Out

A Note on the new Zee Avi album
I know I promised a review, but these last few weeks couldn’t have been more hectic for me.  I still plan on writing one, but it defininitely won’t be until next week.  Suffice it to say that the new album is excellent.  Whoever called the shots on instrumentation is a genius.  Avi’s voice is sweet and distinct.  Favorite track so far– ‘Just You and Me.’

Iosepa or bust
My family and I attended the annual Iosepa festival last Saturday.  If you’re new to this blog, read more about this Hawaiian ghost town here.  Below are some pics from this year’s festival:

One of this town’s distinguishing characteristics was its pressurized irrigation system, which exploited 5 mountain streams by converging them into cement and wooden aqueducts.  Last year, archaeologist Benjamin Pykles was excavating one of the old lots, he showed me some BLM archaeological papers that mapped out remnants of that aqueduct system.  This year, I attempted to locate one of the ruins but turned back when I decided my family vehicle’s axles and tires were more important than a moment of archaeological elation.  Read all about it in this week’s Transcript Bulletin column, which I’ll post here this weekend.

Selling Out
Yeah, so I haven’t blogged much the last few days, nor have I had much time to read all of your blogs and leave comments.  That’s because the missus and I are frantically preparing to sell our house.

No, I didn’t lose any of my jobs.  It’s just that we looked at the number of children we have vs. the number of bedrooms and square feet in our little starter home and decided it might be wise to take advantage of the buyer’s market.

It was split-second decision, and as heart attack inducing as that is for me, most of our better decisions have happened that way (getting married to each other, having kids, and buying our current house all come to mind).

The down side is that gave us a week to re-landscape our yard, redo our bathroom floor, and try to make the place look like 5 kids really don’t live there.  All amidst family reunions, weddings, school activities, and work.

Of course if we don’t sell our house, we won’t buy the one we’ve made an offer on, which fortunately is just up the street.  Wish us luck.

 

Summer Tunes: Zee Avi’s Bitter Heart

I’ve been excited for singer/songwriter Zee Avi for quite a while now, and her debut album hit U.S. stores yesterday.  I’ve listened to it a few times now and its exactly what I expected.  Good stuff.  Let me just say that this Malaysian artist is set to take America by storm.  I’ll post a review hopefully this weekend or early next week.

For now, please enjoy her new vid for ‘Bitter Heart.’

 

Introducing Stacy Grubb: Songs from a West Virginia wildflower

Singer/songwriter Stacy Gubb’s debut album, Hurricane, is filled with new bluegrass classics.

Photo courtesy Stacy Grubb (www.stacygrubb.com)

Picture this:

You stop for gas during a long drive along a two-lane country highway, it doesn’t really matter which.  It could be SR-69 in north Texas– maybe highway 89 near Fairview, UT, or somewhere in Appalachia.  Somewhere you’ve never been before, or haven’t been to in a really long time.

As you fill up, you look out at the wide open scene.  A bluegrass song is playing over the station’s speaker system.  You don’t consider yourself a huge bluegrass aficionado, per se, but you appreciate good music from any genre.  You can’t believe how the song seems to match the setting perfectly.  And while it has a definite “old-timey” sound, you detect a distinctly fresh tone.  The words sung by the emotive soprano weave a story that– even though your brain is fried from watching yellow lines for hours– hijacks your attention.  By the time your tank is full, you find yourself rummaging through your glove box looking for something to write with.

“If I can jot down a few lyrics,” you think, “I can Google them in quotes later and figure out who this is.”

Let me spare you the research– you’re listening to Stacy Grubb.

Since this site isn’t solely dedicated to music, and I’m sure the five of you who read this blog no doubt have varying musical tastes, this won’t be so much a review as an introduction.

Those of you who know me know that I’m a fairly picky music listener.  I don’t take to artists easily.  But when I do, I’m all in.  Just ask my wife, who I’ve forced to endure hundreds of hours of Jack Johnson (who she doesn’t particularly care for), and U2 (who she hates with a passion).  Fortunately, she and I are in agreement on country artists like Alison Krauss and Sara Evans.

Interestingly, Stacy Grubb’s soprano blends the former’s angelic clarity with the latter’s enveloping richness.  Speaking strictly about vocal dynamic, that’s a decent comparison.

But don’t get me wrong– Miss Grubb’s sound is all her own.  I first heard Stacy a few years ago on a karaoke contest website.  Not sure how I got there, what the place was called, or even which song she was singing.  The website was clunky, and the video submission was homemade and grainy.

But the voice and vibe were unforgettable.

I figured it would be only a matter of time before she recorded an album, and I knew that when she did it would be a good one.  Which is why I was delighted when she released her debut record, Hurricane, last month.

If Stacy’s voice alone isn’t enough to hook you (it is), her knack for songwriting will be.  She penned 9 of the 12 songs on Hurricane, and her lyrics aren’t trite or formulaic or focus group tested with the singular goal of pop radio airplay.

I write newspaper columns and blog posts, not songs. But I’m not unfamiliar with the sometimes grueling, always rewarding process of translating feelings and concepts into words.  So I can appreciate– at least to some degree– the mental effort involved in writing lyrics.  When I listen to an album, I pay as much attention to the lyrics as I do the music.  Tracks like ‘Time Hasn’t Changed Anything’ and ‘I Wonder Where You Are’ are proof enough that even though she’s new to the recording industry, her writing skills are well refined.

This might have something to do with the fact that The West Virgina native is the product of a generations-long bluegrass heritage.  It’s in her blood.  She grew up singing with her father and has spent the better part of the last decade performing with his bluegrass band.  She’s been writing poems and songs as far back as she can remember.

“God gives everybody a special talent and there’s really not a day that passes that I don’t thank Him for making mine music,” Stacy told me in an email.  “I never want it to let me go.  Nearly everything is a song to me.”

Even when she’s writing about fictional people, Stacy says she feels like their story deserves to be told.  And she tells it well.  Take the track, ‘Violet Steele,’ for instance.  From a storytelling standpoint, the narrative about a murderous orphan is about as tight as it gets.

The phrase “murderous orphan” brings me to one of my favorite aspects of bluegrass.  The old stereotype of country music being about losing love and dogs dying is true when it comes to the genre’s roots in ancient Irish folk tunes.  These tunes sometimes have very dark and sometimes very morbid undertones that stem from real life during tough times.  Irish folk tunes and the modern genres that grew from them are arguably the most organic (even if completely un-sugarcoated) take on the human condition.

“It’s the old Irish tunes that really inspire me,” Stacy told me.  “Of course, some of my storylines become fodder for friends and family because they can get so ‘out there,’ but that’s what makes old murder ballads and pub songs so appealing to me.  You listen to these stories and think, ‘Oh my gosh.  Is this true?  Did this really happen to someone?  Who wrote this?  What were they thinking and feeling when they wrote this?  What made them do it?’”

It’s obvious that Stacy is inspired by Alison Krauss and Union Station.  Most tracks on Hurricane would feel right at home on AKUS’ Lonely Runs Both Ways.  In fact, Union Station’s own Ron Block plays banjo on Hurricane, lending some serious cred to this already solid record.

Hurricane’s title track is a reeling, vengeful piece about a love gone bad.  Penned by her father, Alan Johnston, it’s a surefire concert opener.  ‘Baby Dear’ is inspiring (albeit in delightfully morbid fashion).  West Virginia Wildflower, my favorite track here, tells the story of heritage and sacrifice for love.  The song is both intimate and epic, along the lines of Pam Tillis’ ‘River and Highway’– only with a happy ending.  Johnston’s ‘Once Upon a Cross’  is a song of praise and gratitude that wraps the set up nicely.

Beautiful voice and writing aside, what makes Miss Grubb so appealing is the fact that she’s a normal person– not some silver plated starlet or media-crafted superstar.  She’s a country girl, a young wife and mother with a passion for the music she makes and a healthy respect for its heritage.  Stacy Grubb is Appalachia.  She is bluegrass.

What does the future hold for her?  My guess is that someday you’ll be driving along that same two-lane country highway, singing along to her greatest hits CD.

———-

Check out Stacy Grubb at www.stacygrubb.com, her MySpace page, and her YouTube Channel, where you can watch some of her videos, as well as a “making of” documentary on the new album.

 

Summertime Tunes: Jack Johnson’s ‘Taylor’

Although the month of May tends to be one of the most hectic months of the year for me (end-of-year school programs for the kids, spring cleaning, garden planting, friends and relatives getting married, etc.), it is also arguably my favorite month.

This is probably due to the fact that no time of year was sweeter for me growing up than the last days of school before summer break.  You remember those days, don’t you?  Testing is wrapping up, projects are done and in, most of the serious stuff is over.  It’s around this time of year that the world seems to let out a sigh of relief.  Life in May– even for us hard working, child rearing, mortgage paying adults– seems a little like a Beach Boys tune.

So for those of you who, like me, are stuck in some basement cubicle preparing TPS reports while nature is awakening outside, I’m going to post vids of some of my favorite summer tunes every week.

First up is Mr. Jack Johnson with a song whose vibe screams ’summer’ even though its lyrics are fairly depressing.  That’s Jack’s magic- only he can take lyrics about politics and fish being poisoned and wrap them into a musical package that gives you the uncontrollable urge to go out and buy a surf board.

This is one of Jack’s early music videos, and I love it 1) because Ben Stiller is in it, and 2) because it shows Jack’s humble, extremely shy personality.  Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Taylor:

 

Weekly Run-Down: Sara Watkins, Frantic Peace, and new life for the Enola Gay Hangar

Enjoy bluegrass newgrass music? Check out Sara Watkins.
If you’ve read my music-related posts here, you can probably tell that my musical tastes run the gamut. My shameless worship of U2 aside, I mostly try to steer clear of megastars and big names. I don’t know whether country radio stations are playing Sara Watkins, but if they are I might consider tuning back in.

Country fans may be familiar with a youthful trio by the name of Nickel Creek, who stole the scene in 2000 with stunning acoustics and a fresh take on bluegrass and folk. The band, who preferred the “progressive acoustic” label to “bluegrass”, has been on indefinite hiatus since 2007.

My favorite member of the trio, fiddler and vocalist Sara Watkins, released a self-titled debut album earlier this month. The 14 song set is a delightful journey into the multifaceted world of newgrass. My favorite track is “Long Hot Summer Day”, which proves definitively that when it comes to vocals, delicate does not equal weak. The John Hartford Cover showcases the range and nuance of Watkins’ voice between bluesy, increasingly layered instrumental hooks. If you only buy one track from this album, make it this one.

Other favorites are “Any Old Time” and the instrumental “Freiderick.” If you’ve a hankering for southern roots-laced progressive acoustic—or if you’re simply looking for some fresh new tunes to help you start the summer right—check out my girl Sara Watkins.

For you Mom’s out there: Frantic Peace
My wife and I often joke that our home is a three ring circus. As a rapt witness of the phenomenon that is motherhood, I enjoyed a recent post on one of my daily reads, A Blessed Crazy Life.  “Frantic Peace – In free verse.” provides a breathless look at the utterly frazzled, yet ultimately fulfilling life of a young mother.   Which reminds me, Mothers Day is right around the corner…

‘Endangered’ designation may breathe new life into WWII relic.
I’ve written quite a bit about Wendover, a sleepy casino community on the Utah/Nevada border. It’s main draw for me is the partially intact airfield that was the operational headquarters for “Project Silverplate”, the nuclear mission that ended World War II. Recently I wrote about the deteriorating hangar that housed the B-29 Superfortress bombers that trained for and carried out that mission.

On Tuesday, the “Enola Gay Hangar” was placed on the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s 2009 list of the nation’s most endangered historic places, making it much more likely to recieve funding needed for stabilization and restoration. Excellent.