Exibição: 23/05/2017

E.K.Yap, the MPA & MPAS multi-award winning photographer, has created many iconic masterpieces and photographed covers & campaigns for influential publications & luxury brands. His projects include Patek Philippe, Breguet, Chopard, Bvlgari, Cartier, Chanel & Franck Muller to name a few.

With his wide-ranging experience in art as a creative director in the advertising & publishing industry, he consistently achieves the best results with his precision skill, specialising in luxury projects particularly jewellery, timepiece, product, interior, portrait & fashion.

PHILOSOPHY

“I'm passionate in capturing more than just a beautiful image, I like to craft an inspiring masterpiece with soul & meaning”

AWARD

Advertising/Advertorial/ Editorial - MPA Far East

Architecture/ Cityscape/ Interior - MPA Far East

Illustrative & Creative - MPA Far East

Fashion - MPA Far East

Still Life - MPA Far East

Best Cover - MPAS

PROJECT

A. Lange & Söhne/ Audemars Piguet/ Azimuth/ Aston Martin/ ABN Ambro/ Arium Collection/ Arcatel/ Anlene/ Aqua Culture/ Adidas/ Aries Gold/ Bvlgari/ Breguet/ Bottega Veneta/ Boucheron/ Blancpain/ Breitling/ Baker Furniture/ BBDO/ Borobudur/ Bonhams/ Berggren Jewellery/ Cartier/ Chanel/ Chopard/ CitiGold/ Carat Club/ CapitaLand/ CLIO/ CEL Development/ Coty/ Confetti by Mui/ Canon/ Dolce & Gabbana/ Distillery/ D Editors/ Dell/ Franck Muller/ Flower Diamonds/ Fujitsu/ Fuchsia Lane/ Farm Best/ Ferrari/ Girard-Perregaux/ Genting/ Green Chapter/ Gucci/ Geyer/ Harry Winston/ Hassell Studio/ Hilton Hotel/ Heeton/ Hublot/ Hassell Studio/ HDB/ Hermès/ I.D.Department/ IWC/ Image Bank/ ICI Duluxe/ Inoue Japan/ Jobstreet/ Jaeger-LeCoultre/ Johnny Walker/ JOID/ Kwanpen/ Krieit Associate/ KrisShop/ KFC/ K-Suites/ Louis Moinet/ Levi’s/ Lalique/ Luminox/ Lloyd’s Asia/ Ladurée/ Lush Radio/ Louis Vuitton/ Leonard Drake/ Livita/ Lifelink/ Manolo Blahnik/ Montblanc/ Mediacorp/ MCL Land/ Mirinda/ Marc Anthony/ Maxis Mobile/ Novetel Hotel/ NTU/ National Geographic/ Omega/ Patek Philippe/ Piaget/ Philips/ Playboy/ Prada/ Pepsi/ Pure Earth/ Richard Mille/ Rolex/ Roger Dubuis/ Resort World Sentosa/ Richemont/ Reebonz/ SkysShop/ Singland/ Splendor/ Sarcar/ Sinn/ Shangri-La Hotel/ SIA/ Shelton/ Sally Hansen/ Skin Science/ StarAsia/ Skin79/ Sally Hansen/ Sports Toto/ Spritzer/ 7-Up/ The Mill/ Tag Heuer/ Tiffany/ Transware/ The Hour Glass/ Tudor/ TV3/ Universal Studio/ Ulysse Nardin/ UOI/ UOB/ Vihari Jewels/ Vacheron Constantin/ Van Cleef & Arpels/ Wild Rice/ Zenith

EDITORIAL

August Man/ Affluent/August Women/ Appetite/ Adore/ Awesome/ Business Time/ Baccarat/ Business Craft/ Crown/ CitaBella/ Esquire/ ELLE/ Fiori/ Golf Vacations/ Harper’s Bazaar/ Inspire Travel/ Jewels & Time/ Jewellery Craft/ L’Official/ Luxury Guide/ Luxury Insider/ Luxx Jewellery/ Legacy of Singapore/ Men’s Folio/ Man Stuff/ OASiS/ Prestige/ Prestige Lifestyle/ Pen Craft/ PC World/ PC Magazine/ Robb Report/ RWS Invites/ Solitaire/ Style/ Tatler/ Tatler Wedding/ Tatler Home/ Time Craft/ TiCTalk/ World of Watches

Anna Maria Horner's Multi-tasker Tote pattern and her Garden Party fabric.

Thanks friends for your visit and comments.

Vienna Concert House (2006)

The Wiener Konzerthaus was opened in 1913. It is on the 3rd Viennese district road (Lothringerstraße) at the edge of the Inner City between Schwarzenberg Square and City Park .

Architectural History

Ludwig Baumann planned Olympion Art Show 1908, the main building Concert Hall, detail

1890 for a planned house music festivals should be considered as multi-purpose building to address a broader public than the just 200 meters away traditional Viennese Musikverein. The design by architect Ludwig Baumann for a Olympion contained several concert halls except an ice rink and a Bicycleclub. In addition, an open-air arena should offer 40,000 visitors. The skating rink and its adjacent buildings were realized in 1899 by Baumann plans, the Art Nouveau ensemble but fell in 1960 to a construction of the InterContinental Hotels Group to the victim. The Vienna Ice Skating Club is located on the then reduced by about a third place today. The popular freestyle wrestling at the Haymarket took place here.

Organised by Gustav Klimt and his friends art exhibition Vienna 1908 was held in a temporary exhibition building on the undeveloped site of the later concert hall. The Wiener Konzerthaus was finally built 1911-1913 by the Europe-wide Viennese theater architects Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer Younger (Office Fellner & Helmer ) in collaboration with Ludwig Baumann.

The theme of the concert hall was:

A facility for the care of fine music, a collection of artistic aspirations, a home for music and a house for Vienna.

On 19 October 1913 the Concert Hall in the presence of Emperor Franz Joseph I with a gala concert of the Vienna Concert Society was opened (now the Vienna Symphony Orchestra ). Richard Strauss composed this be Festive Prelude Op 61. Was combined with this modern work Beethoven's 9th Symphony - the juxtaposition of tradition and modernity should be so much in the first concert of the house.

The disintegration of Austria-Hungary brought tremendous social upheaval and financial crises - and thus flexibility and versatility was also necessary for lack of money. In addition to classical repertoire, there were in the 1920s and 1930s, important world premieres (including Arnold Schoenberg and Erich Wolfgang Korngold ), concerts with jazz and pop songs, speeches from science to spiritualism and poetry readings (including Karl Kraus ). Dance and ballroom events, some large conferences and world championships for boxing and fencing completed the program.

After the annexation of Austria to the German Reich in 1938, the program for impoverished "non- degenerate entertainment operation ", to many artists remained only the emigration.

After 1945, the concert hall also had the secondary task , " prop up " the bruised Austrian self-confidence in a musical way. In addition to the standard repertoire of classical and romantic and the Viennese Waltz , there were still premieres (eg Schoenberg's oratorio The Jacob's Ladder 1961) and international jazz and pop concerts. From May 1946 spaces for recording studios and administration at the German and in Vienna living music producer Gerhard Mendelson were rented, who is considered one of the most important pop producers in Austria in the postwar period.

After several modifications that changed the original Art Nouveau decoration slightly , the house was restored from 1972 to 1975 to the only slightly altered original plans. From 1998 to 2001 the house was renovated by architect Hans Puchhammer and expanded to include a new concert hall (New Hall) .

From 1989 to 2002 the Vienna Kathreintanz also took place in the concert hall .

Building

Saw the concert at the House of Lorraine Street (Lothringerstraße), the Schwarzenbergplatz

The floor plan approximately 70 x 40 meters large concert hall with the main entrance at the Lothringerstraße and other inputs in the Lisztstraße includes Haymarket (Heumarkt) since the opening three concert halls:

Large hall with 1865 seats

Mozart Hall with 704 seats

Schubert Hall with 366 seats

The new hall (with 400 seats) was not established until the general renovation of 1998 to 2002. The new hall was renamed at the start of the 2009/2010 season in Berio-Saal.

On the home front, the right and left of the entrance, is the inscription

Honor your German Masters, then you are storing good spirits.

Here is a quote from the final chorus for the opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg by Richard Wagner.

In all rooms the same time can take place, since they do not affect each other acoustically different concerts.

Inside stands in the foyer of the original model created in 1878 by Kaspar von Zumbusch Beethoven Monument, which is situated opposite the Concert Hall at the Beethoven place. At the staircase there is a relief homage to Emperor Franz Joseph (1913 ) by Edmund Hellmer . Furthermore, a bust of Franz Liszt by Max Klinger to mention in 1904.

The complex of the concert hall and the building is part of the K. K Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (now the University of Music and Dramatic Art). Adjoining rooms for academic teaching purposes this part of the building also contains the Academy theater with 521 seats, which is used as a secondary stage of the Burgtheater world premieres among other modern plays.

Great Hall and Organ

The Great Hall has a capacity of 1116 visitors (ground floor) and additional 361 balconies and boxes, and 388 in the gallery. The auditorium is 750 m2 and 170 m2 of the podium. In the 1960s the hall was optimized by Heinrich Keilholz.

The organ was built in 1913 in the Great Hall of the Rieger organ (Rieger-Orgel) (Jägerndorf, Silesia) built. The instrument is located on the end wall of the big room, but has no visible Prospectus. The organ is located behind a grid and is thus hidden from the visitors. The cone-chest-116 instrument has five registers on manual and pedal works and is the largest organ in Austria. The special features of the organ counts, firstly, that the four manual divisions are swellable. In addition, the organ comprises a (swellable ) remote work with separate pedal. Stylistically, the organ is "Alsatian Organ reform " aimed at the so-called ideal of where along the lines of major instruments of Aristide Cavaillé -Coll, the strong voices are divided into two manuals. The tracker action is electro-pneumatic. For the inauguration of the instrument Strauss had the " Festive Prelude " for organ and orchestra composed. In 1982 the instrument was restored.

I Hauptwerk C

Principal 16 '

16 drone '

Principal 8 '

Gedackt 8 '

Flute hollow 8 '

Harmonique Flûte 8 '

Fugara 8 '

Gemshorn 8 '

Dulciana 8 '

Nasatquinte 51/3 '

Octave 4 '

Reed flute 4 '

Viola 4 '

Superoctave 2 '

Noise Quinte II 22 /3 '

Cornet III-V 8 '

Mixture V 22 /3 '

III cymbals 2 '

Trumpet 16 '

Trumpet 8 '

Clarino 4 '

Manual II ( swellable ) C-

Viola 16 '

Quintatön 16 '

Principal 8 '

Bourdon 8 '

Flauto Traverso 8 '

Clara Bella 8 '

Viola da Gamba 8 '

Salicional 8 '

Unda Maris 8 '

Octave 4 '

Octaviante Flûte 4 '

Gemshorn 4 '

Quintatön 4 '

Waldflöte 2 '

Sesquialtera II 22 /3 '

Progress . harm. III - V 22 /3 '

Mixture IV 22/3 '

8 'Clarinet

Krummhorn 8 '

Glockenspiel

tremulant

III . Manual ( swellable ) C-

Lovely - Gedackt 16 '

Violin Principal 8 '

Reed flute 8 '

Still Covered 8 '

Vienna Flute 8 '

Quintatön 8 '

Echo Gamba 8 '

Aeoline 8 '

Vox coelestis 8 '

Octave 4 '

Octaviante Flûte 4 '

Delicate flute 4 '

Aeolsharfe 4 '

Gemsquinte 22/3 '

Flautino 2 '

Third, 13/5 '

Larigotquinte 11/3 '

Seventh 11/7 '

Piccolo 1 '

Harmonia aetherea IV 22/3 '

Basson 16 '

Harmonique Trompette 8 '

Oboe 8 '

Vox Humana 8 '

Harmonique Clairon 4 '

tremulant

IV solo work C

16 drone '

Clarinophon 8 '

Double - Gedackt 8 '

Concert Flute 8 '

Solo Gamba 8 '

Fifth tube 51/3 '

Octave 4 '

Solo Flute 4 '

Quinte 22/3 '

Superoctave 2 '

Wholesale Cornett III - V 22 /3 '

Tuba mirabilis 8 '

Ophicleide 8 '

Harmonique Clairon 4 '

V Fernwerk ( swellable ) C-

Delicately Gedackt 16 '

Horn 8 'Principal

Lovely - Gedackt 8 '

Reed flute 8 '

Viola d' amore 8 '

Vox Angelica 8 '

Gemshorn 4 '

Flute 4 '

Piccolo 2 '

Mixture IV 22/3 '

Shawm 8 '

Vox Humana 8 '

tremulant

C- pedal

Principalbaß 32 '

Principalbaß 16 '

Violon 16 '

Subbass 16 '

Echobaß 16 '

Salicetbaß 16 '

Quintbaß 102/3 '

Octavbass 8 '

Gedacktbaß 8 '

Bass flute 8 '

Cello 8 '

Dulcianbaß 8 '

Octave 4 '

Flauto 4 '

Campana III 102/3 '

Mixture IV 51/3 '

Bombard 32 '

Trombone 16 '

Bassoon 16 '

Trumpet 8 '

Basset 8 '

Clarino 4 '

C- pedal distance

Subbass 16 '

Octavbass 8 '

Pairing :

Normal coupling : II / I, III / I , IV / I , V / I, P / I , III / II , IV / II , V / II, I / II , IV / III , V / P, I / P, II / P III / P IV / P

Superoktavkoppeln : II / I, III / I , IV / I , V / I , III / I , IV / I , III / II , IV / II , IV , V, I / P , IV / P.

Suboktavkoppeln : III / II .

Game Help: Free combinations (5 banks by 1000 = 5000 general memories ), storage rack (roll on, Pair of roller coupling to IV of roller, Manual 16 ' down, Reeds off (as buttons ), the main pedal off, remote pedal off (as flip switches ), Einzelzungenabsteller ), Tutti (push button), principal pedal down, Fernwerk pedal from, sills V in expression pedal II coupled (toggle button), kicks, interact with flip switches (switching I-IV of P, normal couplers II-IV to I, roll off ) Registercrescendo (roller for the organist, coupled with a second roller for the registrant ) .

Program

The concert hall is the main venue of the Vienna Symphony , the Vienna Chamber Orchestra and the Vienna Sound Forum. Since 1913 the Vienna Academy of Music has its permanent home of the Konzerthaus. In separate events at the Wiener Konzerthaus other international orchestras, soloists and chamber ensembles in addition to the Vienna Philharmonic regular guest. In addition, there are also numerous other events organizer at the Konzerthaus. So for example the Bonbon Ball, but also concerts in jazz and world music.

The program of the Vienna Konzerthaus also includes some festivals , such as

the Early Music Festival in January resonances

the Vienna Spring Festival

the International Music Festival

Wien Modern in autumn

Between 2003 and 2006, gave the series with the latest music generator .

From 2008, a year early in the season with a festival held focus " on a particular region or cultural community ". The first event in September 2008, the two-day festival Spot On : Yiddishkeit , in which a cross section is presented by the diversity of Jewish music creation.

de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiener_Konzerthaus

ARCTIC OCEAN - A multi-year ice floe slides down the starboard side of the Coast Guard Cutter Healy Aug. 11, 2009, as the ship heads north into even thicker ice. "You can tell that this is a multi-year ice floe by the light blue melt ponds that have formed on top of the floe," said Pablo Clemente-Colón, chief scientist at the U.S. National Ice Center.

Photo Credit: Patrick Kelley, U.S. Coast Guard

Davis, CA

Multi patterned dress over white bra, nude thong and natural tights.

For more photos and my Project 52 Blog click here and have a look: BMAK Photography Project 52

Affordable multi-family housing consisting of 60-units built with Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs).

Location: Phoenix AZ

Builder: Tofel Construction

Architect: Gorman & Co

Premier SIPs: www.premiersips.com/

Sweden

Un interview avec moi chez Je suis venu(e) vous dire…

Pose MHOH3 #17 - momomuller MHOH3-0410_sit_m_7

At S.I.C49

maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/sick/219/134/28

* No retouch *

Multi patterned dress over white bra, nude thong and natural tights.

I admire this guy :D.

Try taking a piss while holding an umbrella and a handbag.

© All rights reserved

Today I set out to use the Gift My girlfriend bought me for our anniversary (its the table im working on) I wanted to take a picture with some flair and some wow and this is my attempt.

About the shoot

I had my tripod on top of a table ( i was scared for my camera)

Strobist

Alien bee at 1/32 power behind laptop boomed

yn560 behind subject for some rim

Like my Facebook page!!!

on.fb.me/w4LDlk

Shot by Dennis Vu.

Multi Exposure of flower garden while rotating camera.

By Alex Henderson

Multi-tasking between the basketball games. Wifi access - so I took a pic and uploaded it to #T365 during the warm-ups.

Kompleks Candi Gedongsongo

Memiliki BioEnergy Terbaik di Asia

> Kompleks Candi Gedongsongo

yang terletak di lereng Gunung

Ungaran

Kabupaten Semarang, berada pada ketinggian 1.800 meter

diatas

permukaan laut. Di kawasan

cagar budaya Candi Gedongsongo

yang bersuhu

rata-rata 20 s/d 30 derajat celcius..bahkan bisa lebih dr

ituini ternyata memiliki bio

energi terbaik di Asia.

> Bioenergi di kawasan ini bahkan

lebih baik dari yang berada di

pegunungan Tibet atau

pegunungan lain di Asia. Pernyataan ini muncul

dari seorang pengusaha

sekaligus anggota pernafasan

Daya Putih asal

Australia Dr. Ny Jennet.

> Jennet yang memiliki 12 jaringan usaha di Eropa dan

Australia harus

menyempatkan diri berkeliling

Asia untuk sekedar menghirup

udara yang

bersih. Setelah mencoba menghirup udara bersih di

beberapa pegunungan

di Asia, dia menemukan udara

yang mengandung bioenergi

terbaik, yaitu

di Geongsongo. > Mengapa Jennet harus susah

payah mencari udara bersih

sampai

keliling Asia ? kata dia, bioenergi

yang bersih sangat penting

untuk memberikan kebugaran. Selain

itu, setelah kit amenghirup

bioenergi ini

dapat memberikan kesegaran di

pikiran sehingga memunculkan

ide-ide segar. Hal ini akan sangat

membantu memberkan kemajuan

dan

meningkatkan kualitas hidup.

>

> Nama Gedongsongo > Lokasi komplek Candi

Gedongsongo sangat mudah

dijangkau. Tepatnya

berada pada jarak sekitar 15 km

dari kota Kabupaten Semarang

Jawa Tengah. Dapat dicapai lewat

Kecamatan Ambarawa Kab.

Semarang atau dari

kota Kabupaten Semarang. Dua

jalur tersebut akan bertemu di

satu tempat wisata Bandungan yang

jaraknya tinggal 5 km menuju

Gedongsongo.

> Selain terdapat bangunan

Candi yang berjumlah sembilan

unit, di sekitar lokasi dikelilingi hutan

Pinus milik Perhutani. Candi-candi

tersebut sampai kini belum

diketahui kapan dan siapa

pembuat bangunan

tersebut. Karena di semua bangunan candi tidak terdapat

prasasti apapun.

> Komplek candi ini mulai dikenal

sejak ditemukan oleh Raffles

pada

tahun 1804. Ketika itu komplek candi ini dinamai ''Gedong pitoe''

''rena saat ditemukan terdapat

tujuh komplek bangunan candi.

Sejak

penemuan Raffles, komplek candi

di lereng Gunung Ungaran ini terus

diteliti, baik oleh para arkeolog

dari Belanda pada masa itu

maupun

dari arkeolog Indonesia. Dalam

perjalanan tersebut ternyata ditemukan

komplek bangunan candi yang

berjumlah sembilan unit, maka

selanjutnya

komplek Candi ini dinamai Candi

Gedongsongo. > Nama Gedongsongo berasal dari

bahasa Jawa, dari suku kata

Gedong

berarti rumah dan songo berarti

sembilan. Gedongsongo secara

harafiah diartikan sebagai sembilan rumah

dewa. Karena candi yag terletak

di

ketinggian dianggap sebagai

tempat pemujaan.

> Hanya saja dari sembilan komplek bangunan candi yang

ada di lokasi

tersebut, terdapat lima

bangunan yang masih utuh

bentuk bangunannya.

Sedangkan empat bangunan lainnya tinggal pondasi dan

reruntuhan

bangunannya saja.

>

> Candi Hindu untuk Makam

> Para sejarawan sampai saat ini belum dapat memastikan kapan

candi

itu dibangun dan siapa pendiri

komplek candi Gedongsongo.

Namun

melihat bentuk arsitektur candi, terutama bentuk bingkai kaki

candi,

dapat disimpulkan bangunan

candi ini sejaman dengan komplek

candi

Dieng. Kemungkinan candi ini dibangun sekitar abad VIII M,

pada masa

pemerintahan Dinasti Sanjaya.

Hanya saja siapa nama raja

pendirinya

belum dapat diketahui. > Candi Gedongsongo berlatar

belakang agama hindu, hal ini

dapat

dilihat dari arca-arca yang

menempati relung-relung candi.

Misalnya arca Ciwa Mahadewa, Ciwa

Mahaguru, Ganeca, Dhurga

Nahisasuramardhini,

Nandiswara dan Mahakala.

> Menurut Pakar tentang Candi

Evi Saraswati menyebutkan bangunan candi

di Indonesia dapat dibedakan

menjadi dua tipe. Yaitu candi

Hindu dan

Candi Budha. Ciri umum dari

kedua tipe tersebut terletak pada bentuk

bangunan. Candi Hindu cenderung

ramping, lancip dan tinggi.

Sedangkan

Candi Budha berbentuk bulat dan

besar seperti candi Borobudur. > Dilihat dari fungsinya candi juga

dibedakan menjadi dua fungsi,

yaitu candi sebagai tempat

pemujaan atau ibadah dan candi

yang dipakai

sebagai tempat pemakaman. Sedangkan candi yang berada di

komplek

Gedongsongo ini diperkirakan

merupakan candi untuk

pemakaman. Karena

pada saat ditemukan di sekitar candi banyak terdapat abu.

Sangat

mungkin abu ini merupakan

bekas pembakaran orang yang

meninggal.

Sesuai ajaran Hindu orang yang meninggal biasanya dibakar.

> Bangunan candi yang masih

utuh bentuknya kini tinggal lima

bangunan,

yaitu candi I, II, III, IV dan V. Candi

I terdiri satu bangunan dan masih utuh, candi II terdiri dua

bangunan bangunan induk masih

utuh

dan satunya lagi tidak utuh.

Candi III terdiri dari tiga

bangunan yang semuanya masih utuh. Candi IV

terdapat empat bangunan candi,

tetapi

tinggal satu bangunan candi saja

yang masih utuh. Sedangkan

Candi V tampat bekas-bekas pondasi

candi yang menunjukkan bahwa

di sana dahulu

banyak sekali bangunan candi.

Tetapi sekarang tinggal satu

bangunan candi induk yang masih utuh.

Candi VI, VII, VIII dan IX sekarang

sudah

tidak jelas lagi sisa-sisanya,

karena beberapa reruntuhan

bangunan yang terdapat di sana banyak

yang diamankan. Demikian pula

beberapa

arca juga disimpan oleh Suaka

Peninggalan Sejarah dan

Purbakala Jawa Tengah.

Playing with the multi-exposure function on the Nikon D700

An attractive mixed race family together outside

Staircase of an old building of the Weyrer factory in Innsbruck, Austria

Seen on 'Explore' on February 17, 2008

Worthing, West Sussex

Dawn over the Atlantic yields multi-layered colors of orange, yellow, violet and blue before the sunrises in the east off Singer Island.

Multi-Exposure LUMIX GX8 Merging 4 shots @ ISO 200 F22 (1/6 x 4) = 2/3 sec

I could not resist this.

i was stood on the millenium bridge to take this one loved the colours so thought i would try and capture the reflections

F/8 @ 6 seconds ISO 100 @ 19mm

For more information watch my profile or my blog monpetitviolon.blogspot.com/

Fonte official UKJ FB page :

Californian Rockers Return after 15 Years

Yeah yeah yeah, Ugly Kid Joe has 'previous'...

They have a multi-platinum history.

They had two top 10 singles.

They were all over MTV.

They were all over the international print media.

They were all over radios from Tallahassee to Talinn.

So yeah, Ugly Kid Joe has happy, shiny 'previous' alright, and scores of snot-faced skate-surfer-dudes of the early '90s will forever crack a brew in their man caves and remember some good times...

…and in an era where the garage has been replaced by a laptop and software studios, Ugly Kid Joe are about to kick back onto the international stage and give a whole new legion of hungry miscreant reprobates something to live for.

Stairway To Hell, a 6-song EP which heralds Ugly Kid Joe's return to the world of music after a long time away, contains songs spanning the full repertoire of influences which made Ugly Kid Joe one of the prime soundtracks for young snowboarders, surfers, keggers and characters worldwide. Whether it's “Devil’s Paradise”, with it's hypnotic riffery and hook line, grooving and grinding it's hips seductively, the melodic power-fueled darkness of "No One Survives" or the irrepressibly memorable chug-n-chorus of "I'm Alright" it's clear that Ugly Kid Joe have everything they started with plus fatter chops and a (frankly) superior curve on songwriting.

And realize one VERY important thing about UKJ; they mean every goddam note, every goddam riff and every goddam moment they deliver. Like AC/DC, like Judas Priest, like Alice In Chains, what you see is what you get; it ain't any different in any other way other than the ability to perform-the-fuck out of their material…

The epicenter of it all is Whitfield Crane, those crazy clean beautifully manic mischievous eyes hinting and glinting and dancing with gleeful joy at the mere thought of performing, of letting his inner demon out to wear angel wings and fly around the universe. If that's a mouthful to read, then know that Crane is an eyeful to absorb, a wonderfully cathartic wrecking ball of rock'n'roll energy as it used to be served, on the rocks with no need for tonic. A genuine international itinerant, Crane is the ultimate citizen of the world, and if the bastard had a large enough house, he'd have you ALL over for tea, a jam session and to swap stories of lives both lived and being lived.

Fellow 'Joes and long-time co-conspirators, guitarist Klaus Eichstadt and Dave Fortman (yes, the same Fortman who produced the EP as well as albums by Evanescence, Slipknot and Mudvayne among others), are of like-musical mind and quieter social assembly, allowing them to be the co-architects of UKJ and furthermore, to deliver the riffs necessary. Drummer Shannon Larkin continues where he left off the last time, propelling the band to a thicker, darker side of melody with some heavy, relentless percussion, and Cordell Crockett underpins it all with a rich, warm envelope of fat rock'n'roll bass guitar.

UKJ's stratospheric rise came about soon after their formation in 1989,when childhood friends Crane and Eichstadt decided to peruse the musical path in Santa Barbara, CA. After signing to Mercury Records, The band released the E.P. "As Ugly As They Wanna Be" in October of 1991, which went on to sell over 1,000,000 copies in the U.S. alone becoming the highest selling debut E.P. of all time. In 1992 UKJ released America's Least Wanted which became a double-platinum phenomenon, saw the band tour worldwide supporting legends such as Ozzy Osbourne and Van Halen, and thus perform in arenas and stadiums worldwide such as Wembley. It also spawned the top ten singles "Everything About You" and cover "Cat's In The Cradle" which all cemented UKJ as a flagship rock band who both engaged and entertained without any baggage; theirs was all about having a good, heavy-edged, time. Millions, it seemed, agreed. Two more albums were to come out, 1995's Menace To Sobriety and 1996's Motel California, before UKJ decided to take a hiatus whilst Crane was on a journey through India (he also partakes of the successful Another Animal project alongside Godsmack's Tony Rombola, Robbie Merrill, Larkin and Lee Richards of Dropbox).

At the time they called it a break-up, but looking back it was obviously just young men deciding to go on a hiatus, because when they finally decided that the coffee break was over and it was time to get back to goddam rock'n'roll, Crane, Eichstadt, Fortman, Crockett and Larkin picked up where they'd left off a decade-plus before as though only a couple of weeks had elapsed.

There are naysayers and bullshitters everywhere who might doubt, and want to doubt, that Ugly Kid Joe are both back AND for creative-real.

Ignore them and make up your own mind.

Pick up Stairway To Hell and gorge on the aural pudding for proof.

You'll see (and hear) for yourselves that they're alright, they're OK, and that in 2012, Ugly Kid Joe wouldn't have it any other way than it's been and than it is...

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A very colourful canvas with differing layers on it.

Rose Bowl, Jul 4, 2010. Pasadena, CA.

Sainsbury's multi-tool.

Read my food blog: www.fatandplastered.com/

Diet blog: www.londonfoody.com/

Mongol Rally story! www.teamfiesta.com/

Winter view of the Dodge Park Farmers Market Pavilion, now used as a skating rink.

Sterling Heights, Michigan