The original line-up included singer Helno, Jo Roz (piano), Stéfane Mellino (guitar), Jean-Marie Paulus (bass), Gaby (drums), Matthias Canavese (accordion), Michel Ochowiak (trumpet), Abraham Sirinix (trombone), and Iza Mellino (backing vocals).
The original members were a group of friends, many of whom had not played their instruments before forming the band. The group’s name translates as green negresses; and arose from abuse hurled at the members at one of the group’s first concerts.
Several members left the band after Helno’s death, but Les Négresses Vertes continued around the nucleus of Mellino, Canavese, Ochowiak, and Paulus. In 1995, the band released the album Zig-Zague, followed by the live album Green Bus. By the 2000s Trabendo, the group’s style had shifted to a dub-oriented lounge style.
You can catch up with Les Négresses Vertes in the links below:
Medwyn Goodall began composing original songs as a teen, earning local notoriety with his band Trax; in the years to follow, he learned to play a vast range of instruments, including mandolin, piano, drums, harp, flute, glockenspiel, panpipes, vibraphone, and synthesizer, and cut his first album at age 26.
Medwyn Goodall is a prolific recorder, having recorded over 75 albums. He also topped the UK music charts twice and sold over three million albums. His first album was Emergence (1987), published by New World Music. His early albums were published also by Oreade Music. He also started MG Music in 2003. This is a record label which specializes in New Age music.
Many of Goodall’s recent releases have been under the alias Midori. He explains that he chose this alias so he “could record projects that were more ethnic, eastern, or produced for the healing arts” without confusing fans of his other music. However, there are also other musical artists using or known by the name Midori (such as the jazz-punk combo Midori and the Japanese violinist Midori Goto).
One of Goodall’s tracks, “Free Spirit” from his album Meditation & Visualization (2001) features the same Spectrasonics “Distorted Reality” sample featured in the “Summer Forest” music in the video game Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage!, as composed by Stewart Copeland.
You can catch up with Medwyn Goodall and learn more about his music by visiting his website: https://medwyngoodall.com/
Raye Montague, a brilliant African American woman and an American naval engineer, was credited with creating the first computer-generated rough draft of a U.S. naval ship design. She further distinguished herself as the Navy’s first Program Manager of Ships (PMS-309) for Naval Sea Systems Command’s Information Systems Improvement Program.
Despite facing the blind eye of racism and sexism like many other people of color, not only did she shatter glass ceilings—she broke straight through them. While dealing with overwhelming roadblocks, she succeeded in the U.S. Navy civilian workforce and later became an internationally-known, registered professional engineer.
Ms. Montague was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, on Jan. 21, 1935. Her desire to study engineering started at the age of seven, when she visited a museum with her grandfather and saw captured German ships.
Even though she wanted to study in engineering, colleges in Arkansas would not allow African Americans or anyone of color to pursue the degree at the time. Although she decided to major in business, in the back of her mind, she always remembered something her mother told her: “You can do anything you want to do and be anything you want to be.” She sought out to do just that.
Ms. Montague began her career as a digital computer system operator in 1956 at the David Taylor Model Basin. During her 30-years of service, she focused on making the job she loved better, and leaders recognized it. As a result of her achievements she soared from a GS-3 to a GS-15. She quickly became known for her engineering skills and her top secret weapon: her photographic memory.
Ms. Montague revolutionized the way Navy ships and submarines were designed by computers, becoming best known for her work during the time of the Vietnam War, when President Richard Nixon gave the Navy two months to come up with a ship design.
Although Ms. Montague’s supervisor only gave her one month to draft the specifications, she gladly took on the task and produced a design in only 18 hours and 26 minutes (at the time, it typically took division workforces or groups somewhere around two years to deliver a design for a ship).
The design Raye Montague came up with went on to become the lead ship of the Oliver Hazard Perry class of guided-missile frigates—USS Oliver Hazard Perry (FFG 7). The Oliver Hazard Perry frigates replaced WWII’s destroyers and complemented 1960s Knox-class frigates.
Raye Montague received many honors throughout her career.
In 1972, she was awarded the USN Meritorious Civilian Service Award for outstanding civilian achievements.
In 1978, she became the first female professional engineer to receive the Society of Manufacturing Engineers Achievement Award.
In 1988, she received the National Computer Graphics Association Award for the Advancement of Computer Graphics.
The Naval Sea Systems Command honored Ms. Montague as its own “hidden figure” in 2017.
Raye Montague was inducted into the Arkansas Women’s Hall of Fame in 2018.
She remained active with her sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha, and attended events with her chapter, Beta Pi Omega. Ms. Montague continued to take part in many civic organizations until passing to her final resting place in Little Rock, Arkansas, on Oct. 22, 2018.
Raye Montague demonstrates that women can excel in STEM. She also proves the importance of staying focused on your dreams. Her outstanding career and contributions show that diversity makes the Navy stronger and that your origin is not an indicator of your ability to succeed. Thank you Ms. Montague for standing the Watch.
I’ve been a huge fan of Ryan Farish for years. The fan (@AngelWingsLili) created video below presents Ryan Farish featuring Tiff Lacey on vocals. It’s one of the best pieces of music, in my opinion, that Ryan Farish has ever done.
Ryan Farish launched his music career on the first generation MP3.com. It was at this site where he received 1.8 million downloads of his trademark, electronic/world music. As a result of this momentum, Farish has been noted as a “Download King” by L.A.’s Music Connection Industry Magazine.
In 2004, after many requests as to what genre Ryan Farish considered his music to be, Ryan coined the name “Positive Chillout” to be a reference to his unique brand of uplifting, chillout electronic music.
In November 2006, Ryan published this title, on his owned/operated Live365 internet radio station, “Positive Chillout”, as well as RyanFarish.com and PositiveChillout.com. The Live365 radio station was first created in November 2006 as “Positive Chillout”.
Also in 2006, Ryan Farish gained attention on YouTube when his song, “Pacific Wind”, was featured in a popular video, entitled “Remember Me”, created by a 15-year-old high school student named Lizzie Palmer.
The video, a sentimental montage of soldiers in the Iraq War, was ranked as the 48th most-watched YouTube video of all time as of April 26, 2008. To date, this video has received 32 million views.
Ryan is known for his downtempo electronica, chillout, and uplifting dance music. His sound is a combination of anthemic melodies layered with organic downtempo grooves along with a collection of releases that infuse dance rhythms with uplifting themes. Ryan established his self-owned record label in 2008, RYTONE Entertainment, as a home to his own releases as well as those of other collaborative artists.
Throughout the 2000s and early 2010s, much of Ryan’s works were featured on The Weather Channel’s Local on the 8s segments and theme track to “Storm Stories”.
In 2010, Ryan re-launched the show on DI.FM’s (Digitally Imported) “Chillout Dreams” channel as “Positive Chillout with Ryan Farish”. The new show brought an emphasis on Electronic Chillout Music, which is considered positive and uplifting.
Ryan’s music is featured across YouTube from fan-created videos that have reached beyond 70 million views.
You can learn more and experience Ryan Farish for yourself by visiting his website at https://ryanfarish.com/
Little Ray lyrics:
Hey Sunshine, where did You come from
And You′re all mine, my Miracle from God
I love to have You in my life, like helium
To paint Your smile is my delight
It’s always in my plan
Did You know I count my blessings everyday
I see You
My very own little ray of sunshine
So special, so sweet, and all mine
My very own little ray of sunshine
You chase the clouds away with Your smile
Hey Sunshine, I love to kiss you
When you′re not around sometimes
O how much I miss You
I love to have You in my life, like helium
To paint Your smile is my delight
It’s always in my plan
Did You know I count my blessings everyday
I see You
My very own little ray of sunshine
So special, so sweet, and all mine
My very own little ray of sunshine
You chase the clouds away with Your smile
Q: What do you get when you fail your drivers test 5 times in a row in Montana?
A: #13 license plates
Though we here in Montana are fairly known for our North Dakota jokes, there are a few made in Montana jokes that we like to tell on occasion as well. These are the kinds of jokes that only a Montanan would understand as it might relate to how our license plates are numbered according to county.
So what’s with the numbers anyway?
I know it’s sort of an odd title for a blog post, but with our Montana history, there’s a bit of significance to it.
Back in the day our Montana counties were numbered according to the population that each county might have had. The higher the county population, the lower the number was for that county, and that number was represented on our license plates.
You could be driving down the road and happen to notice a #4 license plate coming from the opposite direction and know that those folks might be from Missoula county for instance.
Montana counties (tap or click image to enlarge)
Last week I posted a graphic to the Twitters that I’ve had since I’m not exactly sure when and the responses I got from my fellow Montanans were just a series of numbers.
To someone from out-of-state, the comments containing only numbers might appear to be somewhat confusing, but from the Montana perspective, we all knew what these numbers meant.
Suffice it to say that these numbers are sort of a made in Montana form of shorthand for all of the counties one might have lived in over the years. Instead of just writing the county name, we all just used a number. Hence, the title of this blog post.
My wife, being raised in Texas, was unfamiliar with the unique way we numbered our counties in the beginning, but once I let her in on how we did the license plates she got busy and memorized all 56 of them. Now when we drive down the road she’ll occasionally perk up and say things like, Lewis and Clark, or Park, or Powell — She learned the numbers, so she rattles off the counties that she see’s from the on-coming traffic.
I remember back in the day, upon after moving to #2, I had to keep my #4 plates on for at least 6 months until it was time to renew my tabs. Having #4 plates in the #2 county got me the side-eye on a few occasions, but that’s alright — Remember the made in Montana jokes I referenced above? Yeah … there are a few here related to Missoula county as well. We’re all sort of a family here so that makes it all better at the end of the day.
Cody McCracken’s updated version of Montana’s county numbering system (tap or click image to enlarge)
Shortly after I posted my Montana county graphic to Twitter, Cody McCracken (@codymccracken24) came in and posted a graphic of his own of what the county numbers might look like today. It’s an interesting study on how our population in the state has shifted over the years. Even if in the future the state somehow found the money and was given the opportunity to update the county license plate numbering system, I doubt it would ever happen. Prying the #1 from Butte-Silver Bow county’s cold dead hands would sort of be a feat in and of itself, not to mention all of the other counties in the state that will always identify with their own county numbers as a whole and the sticky mess that might be involved if a change were to be suddenly thrust upon them.
Even though updating the the county numbering system for our license plates might not ever be a thing, we are seeing more license plates in the state that don’t have that sort of numbering at all.
Montana license plate (tap or click image to enlarge)
More and more we are seeing license plates having more to do with the interests of Montanans as a whole. Service organization and association license plates are becoming more of a thing here in the state as people license their rigs according to who or what they might support according to their own interests. These license plates make it more difficult to discover which part of the state these folks might from because they don’t have a designated county number associated with them. The fees are a bit higher on these plates, but that hasn’t stopped a great many number of Montanans from purchasing them in an effort to support the cause.
I’ve even gone in on the whole service organization and association license plate deal. We support who or what we support and it’s great that Montana allows us to wear our support right on our own vehicles. Bumper stickers are tacky and at times even creepy, but our Montana license plates are about as sharp as a tack in appearance and do a much better job at getting the point across.
Though I sport a few organization plates on a few of our rigs, I still license our other rigs with #2 and carry on the tradition that we Montanans have become so accustomed to.
Montana fun facts:
Extinct Montana counties:
Edgerton County, Montana Territory 1865, renamed Lewis and Clark County in 1868.
Big Horn County, Montana Territory 1865, renamed Custer County in 1877.
Bighorn County was again created in 1913.
Original Montana counties:
Beaverhead, Big Horn (Custer)*, Chouteau, Deer Lodge, Gallatin, Jefferson, Edgerton (Lewis and Clark)*, Madison, and Missoula.
You might think Montana counties are big now, but I’ll bet it was even a bigger drag renewing your car tabs back in 1865.
