Every city throughout the United States has been impacted by the recent economic recession. The combined forces of the credit crisis and the foreclosure crisis led to plummeting home prices in every region of the country. The ripples were felt from San Francisco condos to homes for sale. However, some metropolitan areas were able to avoid the worst of the turmoil and are now emerging from the mess faster than the rest of the country.
The recovery is swiftest in those areas that didn’t have as much of a housing price run up to begin with, either because the economy in those areas has stayed healthy or the economy has been limited for decades and residents have adapted or left. The top recovering areas also had lower rates of sub-prime and negative amortization loans financed in the years leading up to and during the crash.
In December of 2009, Forbes Magazine released a list of the number of loans that were foreclosed upon in the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the United States. Forbes then calculated the percentage of loans that were descending into further delinquency versus those that were improving.
For example, the number of foreclosed homes in Austin was examined to see which loans continued towards the path of complete default versus those which inched their way back towards normalcy. The lower the rate of deterioration was for a given area, the higher their corresponding ranking with regard to recovery.
Here are the cities that fared best by that measurement and are recovering the most quickly:
1. Harrisburg-Carlisle, Pa. 2. Austin-Round Rock, Texas 3. Ogden-Clearfield, Utah 4. Buffalo, NY 5. Knoxville, Tennessee
Source: Forbes, Francesca Levy (12/09/2009)
The Pennsylvania region of Harrisburg, and the Austin area of Texas were rated the best, followed by Ogden, Utah and Buffalo, NY. The homes seem to be recovering quite well as that region came in fifth in the study.
Top 5 Recovering Real Estate Markets in the U.S., 7 out of 10 [based on 512 votes]
The company specializing on development of space tourism, Virgin Galactic, has presented the conceptual plane for short travel into a terrestrial orbit.
The Space Tour Transport
Transport is called SpaceShipTwo, under plans flight should begin mass flights in space in 2011 year. SpaceShipTwo can transport six passengers, the trip will last 2,5 hours. Representatives of eight hundred mass-media, the future astronauts, VIP-Persons have gathered for vehicle presentations.
Sir Richard Branson and Burt Rutan have held press conference, governors Bill Richardson and Arnold Schwarzenegger in the same place have acted. The ship has appeared before public in beams of bright light, accompanied by visually-musical show.
Iraq celebrated on Wednesday the return of hundreds of historical artefacts, from an ancient Assyrian statue to a 20th century presidential tea set, which were looted, lost or loaned abroad over recent decades.Recovered artefacts are seen at the National Museum of Iraq in Baghdad, Iraq July 8, 2015 [Credit: Reuters/Khalid al-Mousily]
The recovery of the 800 items from museums, universities and auction houses in the United States, Italy and Jordan marks a small victory for Iraqi authorities struggling to protect their heritage from theft and destruction by Islamic State fighters.
The hardline Islamist militants have taken over some of the world's richest archaeological sites in northern Iraq, home to Assyrian cities dating back 2,700 years and the Graeco-Roman era desert complex of Hatra.
Videos released by Islamic State show several sites bulldozed, blown up or battered with sledgehammers. Officials say priceless antiquities have also been stolen to help fund the militants' self-declared caliphate in Iraq and Syria.
Recovered artefacts are seen at the National Museum of Iraq in Baghdad, Iraq July 8, 2015 [Credit: Reuters/Khalid al-Mousily]
Wednesday's collection of returned items, put on show at Baghdad's national museum, was modest compared to the suspected scale of the ongoing theft and destruction.
It included dozens of metal spearheads which officials said dated back to Iraq's Sumerian era between 4,000 and 2,000 B.C., tiny vases, pottery seals and fragments with cuneiform writing.
Some had been identified when they came up for sale at auction houses. Others were recovered from long-term loans to universities abroad, officials said.
Recovered artefacts are seen at the National Museum of Iraq in Baghdad, Iraq July 8, 2015 [Credit: Reuters/Khalid al-Mousily]
The collection included nearly 200 items that went missing from Iraq's presidential palaces in the turmoil which followed the U.S.-led invasion to overthrow Saddam Hussein, they said.
Alongside the white china tea set - each item marked with an eagle to represent the Iraqi republic - was a large ceremonial sword, silver cutlery and two rifles.
Government ministers attending a ceremony to mark their return called for greater international help to protect Iraq's antiquities, saying the scale of the threat was unprecedented.
Recovered artefacts are seen at the National Museum of Iraq in Baghdad, Iraq July 8, 2015 [Credit: Reuters/Khalid al-Mousily]
Islamic State, which rejects all but its own narrow interpretation of early Sunni Islam as heresy, has destroyed ancient temples, shrines, churches, manuscripts, statues and carvings in territory it has seized. Officials say it has also looted widely, selling artefacts to fund its rule.
"We are not dealing with smugglers but a group that calls itself a state, carries weapons and trades in antiquities," Tourism and Antiquities Minister Adel Shirshab said. "The world must pay attention to the new danger".
More than three months after Islamic State fighters released video footage of them smashing statues and carvings at Mosul museum and the ancient sites of Hatra, Nimrud and Nineveh, Shirshab told Reuters it was hard to assess the damage.
Recovered artefacts are seen at the National Museum of Iraq in Baghdad, Iraq July 8, 2015 [Credit: Reuters/Khalid al-Mousily]
"The region is under terrorist control. We don't have precise, detailed information...The situation is fluid and unclear.
Shirshab said that footage showing destruction at the sites was deliberately put out to obscure Islamic State fighters' real aim. "Many of these antiquities were stolen to fund this terrorist group," he said.
The Islamic State released photos showing the destruction of six priceless artifacts from the ancient city of Palmyra. The photos show jihadis taking a sledgehammer and smashing the historic treasures, including one dating from the second century.
Jihadis took sledgehammers to the relics, smashed them to pieces and then lashed the man who allegedly smuggled the artifacts in a public square full of onlookers, the Islamic State announced Thursday [Screenshots from Islamic State propaganda video]
Jihadis took sledgehammers to the relics, smashed them to pieces and then lashed the man who allegedly smuggled the artifacts in a public square full of onlookers, they announced on social media Thursday.
One-fifth of Iraq's approximately 10,000 world-renowned cultural heritage sites are under the Islamic State's control and most have been heavily looted, Irina Bokova, the head of the U.N. cultural agency UNESCO, warned experts in London Thursday. Some Syrian sites have been so badly ransacked that experts say they no longer have historical or archaeological value.
The statues were discovered and deemed icons under ISIS's radical interpretation of Shariah law [Screenshots from Islamic State propaganda video]
"Violent extremists don't destroy [heritage] as a collateral damage, they target systematically monuments and sites to strike societies at their core," Bokova said Wednesday.
The 2,000-year-old Allat God statue, which depicts a lion catching a deer between its feet, is believed to have been destroyed Saturday. "ISIS terrorists have destroyed one of the most important unearthed statues in Syria in terms of quality and weight...it was discovered in 1977 and dates back to the second century A.D.," Ma'moun Abdul-Karim, director of museums and antiquities, told Syrian state-run news agency SANA Thursday.
The Lion of Al Lat statue at the Temple of Allat in Palmyra [Credit: Alamy]
It's "the most serious crime they have committed against Palmyra's heritage," he added to the AFP.
The militants have also planted improvised explosive devices (IEDs) around the ruins of the ancient city. The explosives appear placed according to a pattern that indicates they are set to optimize the "filmed destruction," says Michael Danti, co-director of the Syrian Heritage Initiative at the American Schools of Oriental Research, a group monitoring cultural damage in Syria and Iraq.
"The deliberate destruction, what we are seeing today in Iraq and Syria, has reached unprecedented levels in contemporary history," said Bokova.
Author: Barbara Boland | Source: Washington Examiner [July 02, 2015]
Though the Chinese government promulgated the "Great Wall of Protection Ordinance" in 2006, the world famous ancient stone fortification is still disappearing at a tremendous speed, especially the parts in forsaken mountain areas.Sections of China's Great Wall are disappearing at a tremendous rate [Credit: Xinhua]
According to research by the China Great Wall Society, it is not optimistic about the protection of the Great Wall. For example, only 8.2 percent of the Great Wall built in the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) is in good condition presently.
Moreover, in the report released by the Chinese State Administration of Cultural Heritage in 2012, less than 10 percent of the Ming Great Wall is preserved adequately, 20 percent is moderately preserved, and almost 30 percent has disappeared.
The World Monument Fund based in New York announced in 2003 that the Great Wall was among the 100 most endangered historic sites.
Bad weather is one of the main causes of damage to the Great Wall. Dong Yaohui, the deputy of the China Great Wall Society, said that most parts of the masonry structure of the Great Wall are in Beijing and Hebei province. Though they are more stable than the sun-dried mud brick Great Wall, in the rainy seasons during July and August, they can be easily broken by storms.
Local data shows that in the summer of 2012, 36 meters of the Dajing Gate part of the Great Wall in Zhangjiakou, a city in northwestern Hebei province, was damaged by storms; the Shanhai Pass part in Qinhuangdao, a city in northeast part of Hebei province, leaked badly; while some fighting towers of the Wulonggou portionin Laiyuan, a city in western Hebei province, totally collapsed.
A tourist hikes on the wild Great Wall in Hebei province [Credit: Xinhua]
Even in the dry seasons, because of lack of protection, the Great Wall in the mountain areas in Hebei province was eroded by mountain springs or even plants. In Funing County, a county in Qinhuangdao, if you slightly touch the wall of the watchtowers, you will find soil peeling off. There are also trees growing in the cracks of the Great Wall.
People living around or travelling to the Great Wall which has not been developed into tourist attractions are also damaging the wall. According to Zhang Heshan, a Great Wall protector in Funing County, more travelers have been exploring the wild Great Wall in recent years. The frequent trampling has led to damage, causing the bricks to loosen, and even walls to collapse. However, there were not enough protectors to patrol around these areas, and not enough money to restore the damage.
Journalists from the Beijing Times also found that people in some villages of Lulong County, in the west part of Qinhuangdao, lived in the houses built with ancient blue and grey bricks. They told the journalists that these bricks were removed from the Great Wall nearby.
Some villagers even sold the Great Wall bricks with carved characters. An unnamed villager in Dongfeng Village told the Beijing Times journalist that the market price of these bricks is 40 to 50 yuan ($6.4 to $8.05) a piece, or even as low as 30 yuan ($4.83). The villagers collect such bricks from the Great Wall without a second thought.
Accordign to Dong Yaohui, it is difficult for the government to fully protect the Great Wall. "In Funing County, there are only 9 people in the department of cultural relics, but they have to go on a 142.5 km tour of inspection. It’s definitely impossible to take good care of the Great Wall by themselves," Dong said.
Workers repair the Banchangyu part of the Great Wall [Credit: Xinhua]
Dong also stressed that the counties along the Great Wall are relatively poor. Most of the counties surrounding the Great Wall in Zhangjiakou are national assigned poverty counties. Local governments cannot afford to repair and protect the Great Wall, or only invest in the parts which bring in revenue from tourism.
To some people, developing tourism is an effective way to protect the Great Wall. Xu Guohua, the head of Banchangyu Great Wall Development Company, said that the destruction from the villagers has stopped after development. Meanwhile, tourists know which part of the Great Wall is endangered.
"You have to admit that the development of the wild Great Wall brings rules and regulations to both the villagers and travelers. In recent years, the protection of the Great Wall in our scenic spot became much better than the undeveloped parts in our county," said Xu.
However, many point out that it is impossible to develop the whole Great Wall into tourism sites. And the development may bring more visitors to the endangered Great Wall, but not all the tourism development companies are committed to protecting the Great Wall. Instead, some of them only focus on the income from tickets, regardless of the intrinsic value of the Great Wall.
How to protect the disappearing Great Wall? Obviously, it is an important test for Chinese society. Just like what Dong Yaohui said in an recent article, "the Great Wall belongs to everybody of China. The duty of protection of the Great Wall not only belongs to the government, but also to the common people. The most urgent goal for us is to arouse the enthusiasm of the public to protect the Great Wall. "
Islamic State militants have destroyed two historic mausoleums in Palmyra, Syria's top antiquities official said Wednesday, raising fears that the extremists could next target the town's famed Roman ruins.This undated photo released on June 22, 2015, by a militant website, which has been verified and is consistent with other AP reporting, shows the tomb of Mohammad Bin Ali before being blown up by Islamic State militants, in the historic central town of Palmyra, Syria. A Syrian official says the Islamic State group has destroyed two mausoleums in the historic central town of Palmyra. Maamoun Abdulkarim, the head of the Antiquities and Museums Department in Damascus, tells The Associated Press that one of the tombs belongs to Mohammad Bin Ali, a descendant of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad’s cousin Imam Ali [Credit: The website of Islamic State militants via AP]
Maamoun Abdulkarim, the head of the government's Antiquities and Museums Department, told The Associated Press that the extremists destroyed the grave of Mohammad Bin Ali, a descendant of Imam Ali, cousin of Islam's Prophet Muhammad and a deeply revered Shiite saint. The grave was just north of Palmyra.
The second tomb is close to the city's famed Roman-era archaeological site and was the final resting place of a Sufi scholar, Nizar Abu Bahaa Eddine, who lived in Palmyra some 500 years ago.
The militants of the Islamic State group are Sunnis who follow a radical interpretation of Islam that views visiting tombs and religious shrines as tantamount to idol worshipping. They view Shiites as heretics and the followers of Islam's mystical Sufi orders as deviants.
In this undated photo released on June 22, 2015, by a militant website, which has been verified and is consistent with other AP reporting, two of Islamic State militants stand on the wreckage of one of two mausoleums after blowing it up, in the historic central town of Palmyra, Syria. A Syrian official says the Islamic State group has destroyed two mausoleums in the historic central town of Palmyra. Maamoun Abdulkarim, the head of the Antiquities and Museums Department in Damascus, tells The Associated Press that one of the tombs belongs to Mohammad Bin Ali, a descendant of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad’s cousin Imam Ali [Credit: The website of Islamic State militants via AP]
Since the Islamic State group captured Palmyra last month, there have been fears that the extremists, who have destroyed famed archaeological sites in Iraq, would demolish Palmyra's sprawling Roman-era ruins, which were once one of the most popular tourist sites in the Middle East.
Earlier this week, Abdulkarim said he had received "unofficial news" from Palmyra that the militants intended to blow up the town's main historic site and that he had contacted tribal chiefs in the area to try to dissuade the militants. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it had received information that Islamic State militants have mined the site. The report could not be independently verified.
Palmyra's UNESCO world heritage site is famous for its 2,000-year-old Roman colonnades, other ruins and priceless artifacts. Before Syria's conflict began in 2011, tens of thousands of tourists visited the remote desert outpost, a cherished landmark referred to by Syrians as the "Bride of the Desert."
Syrian authorities say they moved hundreds of priceless artifacts to Damascus ahead of the IS takeover last month, but the fate of those ruins too large to move is now in the hands of the extremists. Islamic State militants have already looted and vandalized a museum in the Iraqi city of Mosul and have massively damaged the ancient cities of Hatra and Ninevah - both UNESCO world heritage sites.
Queen Elizabeth led celebrations on Monday to mark 800 years since the sealing of the Magna Carta, one of the world's most significant historical documents and credited with paving the way for modern freedoms and human rights.King John of England was forced to affix his Great Seal to Magna Carta at Runnymede 800 years ago this week [Credit: British Library]
On June 15, 1215, in fields by the banks of the River Thames at Runnymede to the west of London, England's King John agreed to the demands of his rebelling barons and accepted the Magna Carta, Latin for "Great Charter", which for the first time placed the monarch under the rule of law.
In the centuries since, it has taken on huge global significance, becoming the basis for the U.S. Bill of Rights, the U.S. Declaration of Independence and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Three of its 63 clauses still remain on Britain's statute book.
"What happened in these meadows eight centuries ago is as relevant today as it was then. And that relevance extends far beyond Britain," British Prime Minister David Cameron said.
He said the document had changed the world, inspiring people from the founding fathers of the United States and Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi to Nelson Mandela in South Africa.
"Its remaining copies may be faded, but its principles shine as brightly as ever," Cameron told the ceremony attended by the queen, other royals and global figures including U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch.
Magna Carta came into being during a period of great political upheaval in England with conflict between King John, his nobles and the English church.
It was essentially a peace deal to address the problems of the day and was annulled by the pope shortly afterwards. But updated versions, which included two original clauses regarded as pivotal in establishing the rule of law, were re-released regularly by or on behalf of succeeding monarchs.
The clauses read: "No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land.
"To no one will we sell, to no one deny or delay right or justice."
Originals Exist
Four original copies of the document, written on a single sheet of parchment about the size of A3 paper, still exist.
At Monday's ceremony, a new art installation was unveiled and the American Bar Association's Magna Carta Memorial, which was erected at the site in 1957, was re-dedicated.
U.S. Attorney General Lynch said the charter was a bedrock to free societies globally, while Cameron also used the anniversary as a political opportunity to underpin his plan to overhaul human rights laws and reduce the influence of Europe.
However, John Dyson, chairman of the Magna Carta Trust, said King John and the barons would have been bemused that the document would garner such interest hundreds of years later.
"They would surely have been astonished that over time Magna Carta came to be regarded as one of the most important constitutional documents in our history," he said.
"They would not have believed that barons' lists of demands would become a symbol of democracy, justice, human rights and perhaps above all, the rule of law for the whole world. But that is exactly what has happened."
Author: Stefan Wermuth | Source: Reuters [June 15, 2015]
An exquisitely sculpted ancient bust of a woman from Palmyra, Syria, is returned to view for the first time since 2006 at the Smithsonian's Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Named "Haliphat," it will be accompanied by images of 18th-century engravings and 19th-century photographs of ancient Palmyra selected from the Freer|Sackler Libraries and Archives. A newly created 3-D scan of the bust will also be released for viewing and download at a later date as part of the Smithsonian X 3D Collection.Funerary Bust from Palmyra, Syria, 231 BC [Credit: Smithsonian's Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery]
Palmyra, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is one of the most important archaeological sites in the Near East, and one of the best preserved city-states in the world.
"In the face of current tragic upheavals in Iraq and Syria, every stone, arch and carved relief plays a greater historical and cultural role than it has in the past," said Julian Raby, the Dame Jillian Sackler Director of the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and Freer Gallery of Art. "Like the relief of Haliphat, each stone can remind a people of its past, and fashion identity both individually and collectively."
Once lush, wealthy and cosmopolitan, Palmyra ("the city of palms") was an oasis in the desert at the hub of trade between the Mediterranean, Mesopotamia, ancient Iran and Southeast Asia. Two millennia ago, its inhabitants constructed monumental colonnades, temples, a theater and elaborate tomb complexes, a significant amount of which survives today.
Dating from 231 AD, the limestone funerary relief sculpture depicts an elegant, bejeweled figure with both Roman and Aramaic artistic influences, reinforcing Palmyra's status between the Eastern and Western worlds.
The accompanying photographs were taken 1867-1876 by prolific photographer Fèlix Bonfils and provide the most complete visual record of Palmyra from the 19th century.
The engraving images are from Robert Woods' 1753 The Ruins of Palmyra, a publication that inspired the popular neoclassical architecture style in Britain and North America. Its image of an "Eagle Decorating an Ancient Roman Temple" was the model for the image on the seal of the United States, and its depictions of Palmyra's coffered ceilings shaped the ceiling of the north entrance of the Freer Gallery of Art.
The display will be on view indefinitely.
Source: Smithsonian's Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery [June 09, 2015]
Archaeologists around the world feared for the spectacular ruins in Palmyra, Syria, after Islamic State militants took over the city and brutalized its population last week. The group had already looted and bulldozed another World Heritage Site, the city of Hatra in northern Iraq. However, after a preliminary examination of the latest satellite images from Palmyra, Michael Danti, the academic director of the Syrian Heritage Initiative at the American Schools of Oriental Research in Boston, reported that he saw no new damage to the stunning crossroads of Roman, Greek, and Persian cultures, whose ruins include the Roman emperor Diocletian’s camp.Roman funerary temple in Palmyra, dating to the 3rd century CE [Credit: Robert Preston Photography/Alamy]
The Islamic State group has released a video showing that these ruins are still intact. And in an interview released yesterday, the head of the group's military forces in Palmyra, Abu Laith al-Saoudi, stated that they would preserve the ruins—perhaps because some buildings lack religious connotations or worship—but destroy the site’s statues, which the group believes are religious idols.
Recent satellite images reveal no new damage, confirmed Einar Bjorgo, the manager of UNOSAT, a U.N. satellite imaging project. But he and Danti cautioned that a more in-depth comparison with older satellite images and eyewitness accounts are needed for confirmation. UNOSAT’s more complete analysis is expected to be released Friday
Palmyra, a crossroads of trade between Europe and Asia for thousands of years, “was the quintessential romantic archaeological site out in the desert,” Danti says. Famous buildings include a medieval Islamic citadel, the Temple of Bel, and barracks and temples where Roman soldiers lived and worshipped. Danti reports that sources in Palmyra told him that most of the artifacts held in the Palmyra museum were removed before the Islamic State group arrived. What might remain are the large statues and bas-reliefs that were affixed to the museum’s walls, he said.
Some damage was reported at Palmyra long before the group took over. Combat injured the ruins, and Assad regime forces bulldozed earthen berms and created other fortifications in the ancient city. Satellite evidence also showed that ancient tomb entrances had been dug out and reopened. As Syria’s civil war dragged on, artifacts from Palmyra had been showing up on the illegal antiquities market, Danti says.
Although attacks on World Heritage Sites may get most of the attention, Danti points out that the Islamic State group has put much of its effort into destroying less well known places. “The majority of the damage has been to religious heritage that is being used by people on a daily basis,” he says. “What they are doing is tearing away the fabric of community’s cultural identity in a concerted, very overt form of cultural cleansing.” In Nineveh province, Iraq, where Danti has worked for much of the past 20 years, the group has destroyed more than 190 heritage sites, including churches, mosques, and schools. He estimates that 90% of those sites were connected with the day-to-day religious life of the local people. The Islamic State group recognizes “the power of heritage to essentially resist their message,” Danti says. “People turn to heritage all over the world as a way to define themselves … so [the group] tries to wipe that out.”
As a step toward curbing demand for these looted artifacts, a bill, H.R. 1493, has been introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives, which would ban importing Syrian antiquities to the United States. “It’s vital that minority religious sites continue to have a place to be,” says Katharyn Hanson, a specialist in protecting cultural heritage at the University of Pennsylvania, who testified in the bill’s favor. “If they’re all erased, there isn’t even going to be a place to lay flowers.”
The videos of Islamic State militants destroying ancient artifacts in Iraq's museums and blowing up 3,000-year-old temples are chilling enough, but one of Iraq's top antiquities officials is now saying the destruction is a cover for an even more sinister activity - the systematic looting of Iraq's cultural heritage.People observe ancient artifacts at the Iraqi National Museum after its reopening in the wake of the recent destruction of Assyrian archaeological sites by the Islamic State group in Mosul, as they visit the museum in Baghdad on March 15, 2015 [Credit: AP/Karim Kadim]
In the videos that appeared in April, militants can be seen taking sledge hammers to the iconic winged-bulls of Assyria and sawing apart floral reliefs in the palace of Ashurnasirpal II in Nimrud before the entire site is destroyed with explosives. But according to Qais Hussein Rashid, head of Iraq's State Board for Antiquities and Heritage, that was just the final step in a deeper game.
"According to our sources, the Islamic State started days before destroying this site by digging in this area, mainly the palace," he told The Associated Press from his office next to Iraq's National Museum - itself a target of looting after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein. "We think that they first started digging around these areas to get the artifacts, then they started demolishing them as a cover up."
While there is no firm evidence of the amount of money being made by the Islamic State group from looting antiquities, satellite photos and anecdotal evidence confirm widespread plundering of archaeological sites in areas under IS control.
Nimrud was also the site of one of the greatest discoveries in Iraqi history, stunning golden jewelry from a royal tomb found in 1989, and Rashid is worried that more such tombs lie beneath the site and have been plundered. He estimated the potential income from looting to be in the millions of dollars.
Experts speculate that the large pieces are destroyed with sledgehammers and drills for the benefit of the cameras, while the more portable items like figurines, masks and ancient clay cuneiform tablets are smuggled to dealers in Turkey.
The destroyed old Mosque of The Prophet Jirjis in central Mosul, Iraq, on July 27, 2014 [Credit: AP]
On Wednesday, Egypt, together with the Antiquities Coalition and the Washington-based Middle East Institute will be holding a conference in Cairo entitled "Cultural Property Under Threat" to come up with regional solutions to the plundering and sale of antiquities.
This isn't the first time, of course, that Iraq's antiquities have fallen victim to current events. There was the infamous looting of the museum in 2003 and reports of widespread plundering of archaeological sites in the subsequent years, especially in the south. U.S. investigators at the time said al-Qaida was funding its activities with illicit sales of antiquities.
What appears to be different this time is the sheer scale and systematic nature of the looting, especially in the parts of Syria controlled by the Islamic State group. Satellite photos show some sites so riddled with holes they look like a moonscape.
The G-7's Financial Action Task Force said in a February report that the Islamic State group is making money both by selling artifacts directly - as probably would be the case with material taken from the museums - or by taxing criminal gangs that dig at the sites in their territory. After oil sales, extortion and kidnapping, antiquities sales are believed to be one of the group's main sources of funding.
In February, the United Nations passed a resolution recognizing that the Islamic State group was "generating income from the direct or indirect trade," in stolen artifacts, and added a ban on the illicit sale of Syrian antiquities to the already existing one on Iraqi artifacts passed in 2003.
The face of a woman stares down at visitors in the Hatra ruins, 320 kilometres north of Baghdad, Iraq on July 27, 2005 [Credit: AP/Antonio Castaneda]
While Iraq contains remains from civilizations dating back more than 5,000 years, the hardest hit artifacts have come from the Assyrian empire, which at its height in 700 B.C. stretched from Iran to the Mediterranean and whose ancient core almost exactly covers the area now controlled by the Islamic State group.
The looted artifacts most likely follow the traditional smuggling routes for all sorts of illicit goods into Turkey, according to Lynda Albertson, head of the Association for Research into Crimes Against Art. From there, the most common route is through Bulgaria and the Balkans into Western Europe. Britain and the United States remain the biggest markets for antiquities, though wealthy collectors are emerging in China and the Gulf - especially for Islamic-era artifacts.
International bans make the ultimate sale of illicit antiquities difficult, but not impossible. So far, there have been no reports of major, museum-quality pieces from IS-held territory appearing in auction houses, so the artifacts must be going to either private collectors or they are being hoarded by dealers to be slowly and discretely released onto the market, said Patty Gerstenblith, Director of the Center for Art, Museum and Cultural Heritage Law at DePaul University.
"I do believe that dealers are willing to warehouse items for a long time and that they may be receiving some `financing' to do this from well-heeled collectors or other dealers operating outside of the Middle East," she said. "It is relatively unlikely that a major piece would be plausibly sold on the open market with a story that it was in a private collection for a long period of time."
Mesopotamian sculptures, jewelry and stelae sold legally have commanded stunning sums, up to $1 million in some cases, but the looters would be selling them to dealers for a fraction of that cost - with the profit margin coming from the sheer number of artifacts being sold.
A piece falls off from a curved face on the wall of an ancient building as a militant hammers it in Hatra, a large fortified city recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site, in Iraq on Friday, April 3, 2015 [Credit: AP/ISIS video]
Iraq has sent lists to the International Council of Museums, the U.N. and Interpol detailing all the artifacts that might have been looted from the museum in Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city overrun by IS last June. Harder to stop, however, is the sale of never-before-seen pieces that have been newly dug up and never registered.
There is new legislation going through the U.S. Congress to tighten controls on illicit trafficking of materials from the Middle East, though Albertson contends that the laws are less important than the manpower devoted to enforcing them.
"A new resolution is just another well-intentioned piece of ineffective paper," she said.
The Iraqi government is now rushing to document the remaining sites in the country, especially in the disputed province of Salahuddin, just south of the Islamic State stronghold in Nineweh province. Nineweh itself is home to 1,700 archaeological sites, all under IS control, said Rashid of the antiquities department.
As a number of experts point out, though, most sites in Iraq have not been completely excavated and there are likely more winged bull statues and stelae waiting to be found under the earthen mounds scattered throughout this country - assuming the Islamic State group and its diggers don't find them first.
Author: Paul Schemm | Source: The Associated Press [May 12, 2015]
Last month, terrorist group Islamic State (ISIS) released a video showing militants smashing artefacts in the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud and then blowing up the site. This is the latest in a string of attacks on Iraq’scultural heritage. In February, the group took sledgehammers and pneumatic drills to statues in Mosul Museum.A digital reconstruction in the works of the Lion of Mosul [Credit: Copyright: Project Mosul]
Archaeologist Matthew Vincent has started a technology initiative to counter ISIS’s destruction — and he says his approach could work in other fragile and war torn states too.
Vincent and his colleagues at the Initial Training Network for Digital Cultural Heritage, a programme focusing on the electronic documentation and protection of cultural heritage, have set out to create digital replicas of Mosul Museum’s relics through Project Mosul.
The project’s volunteers primarily use a technique called automatic photogrammetry. This relies on photographs of the destroyed objects, crowdsourced from people who have visited the museum. The team input a series of photos of each object taken from different angles into software that triangulates key points on the object’s surface to create a digital 3-D model. About a dozen pictures are needed to do this.
Vincent and his team have already digitally reconstructed a selection of the lost artefacts — including the ornate gate below.
Metal Riveted Gate by AD&D 4D on Sketchfab “This technique can in no way replace what was destroyed by the Islamic State, but it can help preserve the memory of that heritage,” says Vincent.
Vincent’s current focus is setting up an online museum, but he has also considered 3-D printing. This would enable the production of detailed replicas of the artefacts. The team would need more information to do this, such as data on the original measurements and materials, which is not always available.
Both the digital reconstruction of the artefacts and the prospect of 3-D printing are complicated by ownership issues. There is no clear legislation about who holds the ‘copyright’ to ancient cultural heritage, so deciding who owns it can be difficult.
Vincent says there are two general strands of thought about who owns the rights to ancient artefacts. One says that local authorities should be the custodians, the other sees the objects as having universal ownership.
“I feel the correct way to resolve these situations is to always work with the local authorities,” Vincent says. But he adds that there seems to be a sentiment coming from those in Iraq that Iraqi heritage should be accessible to the world. “As such, there seems to be a positive attitude towards this effort.”
Vincent now hopes to extend the endeavour to digitally restore objects destroyed not just at Mosul, but also at Nimrud and the UNESCO world heritage site of Hatra, an ancient fortified city in northern Iraq.
“We are working on expanding our tools to handle other sites,” Vincent says. “Really any site around the world that has been destroyed in conflict would be ideal for this platform.”
He adds that the preliminary work on the ‘digital museum’ of replicas from the Mosul Museum should be freely available to the public soon.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office on Tuesday made public the largest antiquities seizure in American history and asked a judge to grant it custody of a startling 2,622 artifacts recovered from storage rooms affiliated with an imprisoned Madison Avenue art dealer.The recovered artifacts are from India and other places in southern Asia. Prosecutors said the dealer had cached the items in an assortment of hideaways in Manhattan and Queens [Credit: Michael Kirby Smith/The New York Times]
The artifacts, valued by the authorities at $107.6 million, were described in papers filed in State Supreme Court in Manhattan as having been looted from India and other places in southern Asia and smuggled into the United States by the dealer, Subhash Kapoor.
In their complaint, prosecutors said Mr. Kapoor, 65, had cached the items in an assortment of hideaways in Manhattan and Queens. They were confiscated during raids that began in 2012 and continued through last year.
The seized items included bronze and stone statues of Hindu deities, many of them ancient masterworks worth several million dollars each.
The authorities said their goal in gaining custody of the items was to set in motion the return of the stolen objects to India and their other countries of origin. Officials also hope to prosecute Mr. Kapoor, an American citizen, in the United States. Currently he is awaiting trial in India on charges of plundering archaeological sites and conspiring with black market traders to send illicit artifacts overseas. American officials are planning to extradite him after his case is settled.
Mr. Kapoor, whose defunct gallery, Art of the Past, sold hundreds of objects to prominent American museums and collectors, has denied any wrongdoing.
Federal agents recovered looted artifacts from public storage rooms in Queens in March. The rooms were affiliated with an imprisoned Madison Avenue art dealer [Credit: Michael Kirby Smith/The New York Times]
“At the present time we are at a distinct disadvantage because Mr. Kapoor is in an Indian jail and all the facts in this matter are known by him,” said Kenneth J. Kaplan, a lawyer for Mr. Kapoor. Manhattan prosecutors declined to comment on the case.
Since an initial raid on Mr. Kapoor’s gallery by Homeland Security Investigations agents in 2012, three of his associates have agreed to criminal penalties in exchange for cooperating with investigators, according to officials and lawyers. The case, which now extends to four continents and is being pursued in conjunction with Indian officials, has been named Operation Hidden Idol.
Mr. Kapoor’s office manager, Aaron M. Freedman, 43, of Princeton, N.J., pleaded guilty in 2013 to six counts of criminal possession of stolen property valued at $35 million and, according to his lawyer, helped officials track down some of Mr. Kapoor’s hidden storage locations.
In addition, Mr. Kapoor’s sister, Sushma Sareen, a 61-year-old Queens resident, pleaded guilty in November to a misdemeanor charge of obstructing justice and was sentenced to conditional release. In 2013, she had been charged with receiving and possessing several million dollars’ worth of ancient bronze statues, which remain missing. She is also cooperating, according to investigators.
Federal authorities have identified 18 American museums as owning a total of 500 items sold or donated by Mr. Kapoor. Several museums have recently turned in objects judged to be illicit, while others have said they are satisfied that their Kapoor items were legally acquired.
Author: Tom Mashberg | Source: The New York Times [April 14, 2015]
In case you haven’t realised by now, yes, it’s my first blogversary. It seems insane to think I started this unusual blog on this day a whole year ago. Alas, 286 posts later, here I am still ranting and raving about anything semi-movie related. Over the past few weeks, when my brain has gone for a wander mid-conversation, I’ve pondered about what to write/do on my blogversary. I tend to get uncomfortable when it comes to celebrating my own birthday so I figure there is no harm in celebrating this one properly. That is, I have caught and trained 13 marsupials and shaved this web address into their fur. I intend to release them at the entrance to the nearest shopping centre and let their frenzied rampage be its own kind of celebration/marketing ploy. My plan does not go into effect until 2100 hours. In the meantime, I thought I would share some personal reflections about this blog.
Surprisingly, I’ve kept to my original mission statement and avoided any posts about the exploits of my personal life. Except for the post about my friend who broke her vagina because, well, that was simply too good NOT to share.
Originally I was inspired to start this by the brilliance of good friend Rickis’ much wittier and substantial blog. That has not changed, however, the pool of writers who now inspire and entertain me has grown to include the likes of Siamese Saffron, King Of New York Hacks, Fuck You Penguin and Little Bohemian.
A fitting tagline for this site finally occurred to me a few weeks ago in a dream which may or may not have featured Mark Wahlberg.
Within a year some friends have gone and others nearly been lost which makes me appreciate having this outlet to write about things I love, however trivial that may seem to some.
I have maintained this site for a year, which is approximately 11 months and 15 days longer than any relationship I’ve maintained with a member from the opposite sex.
A newspaper journalist by trade, I founded art & architecture as a way to improve my writing and vent all the film thoughts I had going on in my head. After the first few months I began to realise how much I loved writing about movies and started treating this blog as a portfolio of movie related stories. Without revealing too much, a year on this site has helped me take those few important steps closer to my dream career.
Damnit! I did not want to get soppy and here I am preaching about dreams coming true if you work hard enough and blah blah blah.
Thanks to this blog I have met an awesome bunch of like-minded people on the 20 something bloggers network. They were even helpful enough to suggest some ways to celebrate my first blogversary. These included strippers, a vlog (which it turns out is not a vampire-hog like I originally presumed), commemorative post, getting hammered, strippers, give-away’s and strippers. Er, thanks guys.
I have had the opportunity to meet some amazing up and coming filmmakers, actors, producers, special-effects experts and bring their work to you. With an exciting trip on the horizon, I hope to give you some more juicy juice in the next month.
365 days does not change the fact that despite being of indigenous France heritage, I do not appreciate being called `cuz’ or `Maori-a’. Unless it is amongst the select group of friends with whom racist and parental jokes are allowed.
I have broadened my readership from two faithful subscribers to a bunch of peeps from all around the globe. I hope you continue to find something mildly interesting on this site so you keep coming back and sharing your opinions with me.
The very outspoken Corey Taylor from Slipknot and Stone Sour decided that instead of writing an autobiography like everyone else does, he would write something very different. This is what he had to say about this: “I’ve been threatening to write a book for a long time, but since every Tom, Dick and Harry writes an autobiography, I didn’t want to just do that. My approach to writing is the same as my approach to music: I don’t want to do what everybody else is doing.” Our good friend Jim Florentine from VH1 Classic's That Metal Show, conducted an in depth interview with Taylor about his upcoming book "Seven Deadly Sins", his life and of course, his music." The three part interview premieres onCorey Taylor's official siteon July 5th. According to Roadrunner Records: much like the book itself, it’s a riveting and personal discussion, and we’re airing it in three parts so fans don’t miss a word of it. The three parts of the interview will premiere on three Tuesdays in July (July 5, 12, and 19) onCorey Taylor's official site, each at 5pm eastern time. “Seven Deadly Sins” is Taylor’s candid, outrageous manifesto reflecting on the subject and nature of sin. The book will be released July 12 in the U.S and July 14 in the U.K. See a short clip of the interview here:
Related links: Corey Taylor's official site Slipknot Stone Sour
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER Racy Katie: Katie Holmes left a Miami restaurant today in a white crochet top which exposed her black bra She is known to keep her wardrobe on the conservative side with her array of sophisticated dresses and covered-up comfortable casualwear. But in a daring turn, Katie Holmes stepped out today in a white crochet top, which exposed her black bra. The 32-year-old sported the uncharacteristic risqué look as she left a restaurant in Miami. The actress had clearly gone for a relaxed look, paring the vest with some white floaty trousers and embellished sandals. Toting a cup of coffee, she topped off the look with a fedora hat, black wayfarers and a make-up free complexion. Katie has been getting into Miami style with her array of beachwear. On the weekend, Katie showed off her slimmed-down physique in a bikini as she played with five-year-old daughter Suri on Miami beach. Mother and daughter are together at the seaside town in Florida where Tom Cruise, 48, is filming Rock of Ages. Beachy keen: The actress had clearly gone for a relaxed look, paring the risqué vest with some white floaty trousers and embellished sandals Katie wore a red bikini and pink denim shorts while Suri was fully clothed in a multi-coloured dress. The family were also spotted celebrating Father's Day in Miami on Sunday where Katie and Suri were pictured strolling with Cruise and then boarding a boat. The close-knit trio were seen around the marina together in casual weekend wear. Katie carried Suri in her arms, as always, to the luxury yacht which they hopped on for their afternoon cruise. Accessorising: Toting a cup of coffee, she topped off the look with a fedora hat, black wayfarers and a make-up free complexion After they boarded the yacht, named Marquis, Katie and Suri sat on the deck while Cruise kept cool inside as they sailed out to sea. The couple have been the butt of break-up rumours pretty much from as soon as they got together six years ago. But the loved-up twosome showed that their relationship is stronger than ever and were very touchy-feely at an event in Miami Beach later in the weekend. Making waves: On the weekend, Katie showed off her slimmed-down physique in a bikini as she played with five-year-old daughter Suri on Miami beach Katie lovingly grabbed her husband of nearly five years from behind and Cruise reciprocated, resting his hand over hers in a sweet gesture. The couple turned up the Miami heat during a night out with the cast members from Rock of Ages including Julianne Hough and Malin Akerman. They cosied up at Larios Cuban style bongo club and seemed to enjoy their date night in the Sunshine State. Beach babes: Katie keeps close to her daughter Suri as they play in the water Cruise is undergoing an amazing transformation to play long-haired, tattooed rocker Jaxx in the film, which is due for release next year. Also starring Russell Brand, it tells the story of a girl who arrives in Hollywood at the height of the 1980s rock scene. It's a very different role for Cruise, and Katie has given her backing to the career departure for her husband by revealing that he likes to perform at their home. 'Tom is such an amazing performer. Yes, we have music in our house and it’s amazing,' she told Access Hollywood. Casual Cruises: The family celebrate Father's Day in Miami, Florida on a yacht source : dailymail
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER Distraught: A forlorn-looking Johnny Knoxville attends the memorial service for his tragic Jackass co-star Ryan Dunn in West Chester, Philadelphia. Dunn was killed in a high-speed car smash on Monday aged 34 Controversial church plans to picket public funeral later this week Memorial comes as toxicology results reveal Dunn was more than two times over the drink-drive limit Police say there is no suspicion of drug abuse Star had notched up 23 driving convictions - including ten for speeding - before accident Pilferers collect ghoulish mementos from crash scenes and 'plan to sell parts of wreckage on eBay' A private memorial service was held today for Ryan Dunn, who was killed in a high-speed car crash in the early hours of Monday morning. Jackass frontman Johnny Knoxville led the mourners as a private ceremony was held at a funeral home in West Chester in Philadelphia on Wednesday afternoon. Dunn's best friend and fellow Jackass star Bam Margera was also in attendance with his wife Melissa Rothstein and parents April and Phil, who were also close Ryan. Mournful black: Dunn's best friend and Jackass associate Bam Margera and his wife Melissa Rothstein It comes on a painful day for the 34-year-old stuntman's loved ones after toxicology reports confirmed Dunn was more than two times over the drink-drive limit when he crashed in the early hours of Monday morning, killing himself and passenger Zachary Hartwell. Wednesday's memorial was held at the DellaVecchia, Reilly, Smith and Boyd funeral home and comes ahead of a full funeral, which is set to be held later this week. Meanwhile a controversial church from Kansas has released a statement, saying it plans to picket Dunn's funeral. Remembrance: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia stars Glenn Howerton, left, and Rob McElhenney cut a sombre figure In a statement which will no doubt cause fresh anguish for Ryan's loved ones, Westboro Baptist Church proclaimed: 'Ryan Dunn is in hell,' adding: 'WBC will picket any public memorial/funeral held for Dunn, warning all not to make a mock of sin, & to fear & obey God.' Westboro was started by the Rev. Fred Phelps in 1955. The website for the group outlines plans to send parishioners to Philadelphia to protest at the funeral in Philadelphia. Funeral director Joseph DellaVecchia told CNN today that he didn't expect any disturbances at the memorial- but admitted he had heard of Westboro's plans. He told CNN: 'We can’t stop someone from coming to a public funeral, but this is private, and the police have everything under control.' Support: Bam's parents April and Phil Margera, who were very close to Dunn, arrive hand in hand Time to reflect: DellaVecchia, Reilly, Smith and Boyd funeral home in West Chester, Philadelphia, where the memorial was held Dunn was heavily intoxicated at the time of his deadly high speed crash, police revealed yesterday. The star's blood alcohol level was 0.196, more than twice the legal limit in Pennsylvania, which is 0.08, West Goshen Police Chief Michael Carroll confirmed in a statement released today. Mr Carroll added that the toxicology report from the Chester County Coroner's Office indicated there were 'no drugs of abuse detected'. The 34-year-old had been drinking at a bar with friends in the hours before the crash, which also killed his passenger, Zachary Hartwell. He is said to have drank three beers and taken shots before getting behind the wheel shortly after 2am on Monday morning. Over the limit: Ryan Dunn, seen here in a Twitter picture hours before the crash, was twice the legal limit at the time of the crash It has emerged that Dunn had notched up 23 driving convictions, including ten for speeding, before his accident, it was revealed yesterday. Dunn, whose Porsche sports car slammed into a tree at 130mph, had also been arrested for drink driving. His driving record was revealed as friends from the Jackass films mourned his death and visited the crash site in Pennsylvania. On Tuesday, Margera was in tears as he stood on the roadside where Dunn and his passenger Hartwell were killed in the early hours of the morning. Wreckage: The charred remains of the Porsche 911 GT3 is towed away as police survey the scene Fresh details: A statements released by the West Goshen Township Police Department revealed details of the the toxicology report Police say Dunn was travelling at around 132mph and 140mph in a 55mph zone when his Porsche 911 flew off the road in West Goshen and burst into flames. It is not known if the pair died from the crash impact or were unable to escape the vehicle as it exploded in a fireball. West Goshen Police Chief Michael Carroll, who was involved in the accident reconstruction, described it as the worst crash he had ever seen. Ghoulish: New footages shows 'treasure hunters' at the scene pilfering bits of the car wreckage Cashing in: Some people told reporters they were planning to sell the mementos on eBay Court records showed that Dunn received at least 23 driving citations in the last 13 years. Ten were for speeding and careless driving and three others were for driving on a suspended licence. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer 90 per cent of the citations ended in guilty pleas. Dunn was drinking with friends in the hours before the fatal crash. Meanwhile it has emerged that 'treasure hunters' are pilfering debris from the car that Dunn crashed. Heartbroken: Bam Margera returns to the spot where his best friend and Jackass co-star lost his life in a horrific car smash in the early hours of Monday morning in Philadelphia Devastation: Dunn's car span off the road, through a guardrail and into the woods A video report by Philadelphia Fox News captured footage of people collecting ghoulish mementos along the stretch of road where the accident happened in the Pennsylvania state. Reporter Chris O'Donnell said that some had told him they were planning to sell the parts on eBay. 'You should have seen these people pilfering away,' an outraged O'Donnell reported back to the studio, while reporting from the scene. O'Donnell added that police had told him taking parts of wreckage from an investigation scene is illegal. Where the night started: Dunn and Hartwell were both at Barnaby's in West Chester hours before the accident Bam Margera Breaks Down After Hearing About Ryan Dunns Death
Ever since the mighty Unearth surfaced in the Heavy Music scene in 1998, they have kept delivering their global audience passionate music full of crushing riffs, and with highly energetic elements of chaos. With their fifth studio album titled "Darkness In the Light" (to be released July 5th in North America via Metal Blade Records), Unearth has proven once again that they sonically have it what it takes to keep flying the Heavy Music flag up high with pride and plenty of adrenaline. Produced by Adam Dutkiewicz from Killswitch Engage and Times of Grace, who has produced their previous three records, and co-produced by guitarist Ken Susi. "Darkness In the Light" possesses Unearth's signature sound and at first glimpse what stands out the most are the vocals that Trevor Phipps laid down on tape. He sounds better than ever. This is what he had to say about the production of the record: "We started writing last summer between tours. Buz and Ken write the riffs, then they bring them to practice and all approve or disapprove. We started writing the record with Derek Kerswill, we figured that it wasn't working out since he was looking for something more Rock N Roll friendly, and this band is looking to go even heavier than the last album. More extreme!" Unearth is considered one of the pioneers of Nu-Metal along with Shadow's Fall and Killswitch Engage, and the three of them together helped to establish the Massachusetts Heavy Music scene! Today they are ready to unleash their beastly new album, and to hit the road. Unearth will be part of these years Rockstar Mayhem Festival, and then they will be heading to Europe. Since Unearth's former drummer Derek Kerswill left the band before the recording of the new album, the band will be joined by drummer Justin Foley from Killswitch Engage, who also recorded the drums on "Darkness In the Light". Here is what Foley had to say about this: “I’m really looking forward to playing with some old friends, and spending a summer full of beers and breakdowns!" We had a chance to interview Unearth's vocalist Trevor Phipps about the present and the future of Unearth. Here is what went down:
Tour Dates: UNEARTH: 07/05/2011 Jakes - Lubbock, TX w/ Turbid North 07/06/2011 Club 101 - El Paso, TX w/ Turbid North 07/08/2011 Hard Rock Café - Las Vegas, NV w/ Turbid North UNEARTH on 2011's Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival w/ Disturbed, Godsmack, Megadeth, Machine Head, In Flames, Trivium, Suicide Silence, All Shall Perish, Straight Line Stitch, Kingdom Of Sorrow, Red Fang: 07/09/2011 San Manuel Amphitheatre - San Bernardino, CA 07/10/2011 Shoreline Amphitheatre - San Francisco, CA 07/11/2011 Hawthorne Theatre - Portland, OR *Off Date w/ Suicide Silence, All Shall Parish 07/12/2011 White River Amphitheater - Seattle, WA 07/13/2011 Idaho Center Amphitheatre - Boise, ID 07/15/2011 Cricket Wireless Pavilion - Phoenix, AZ 07/16/2011 Hard Rock Casino Presents: The Pavilion - Albuquerque, NM 07/17/2011 Comfort Dental Amphitheatre - Denver, CO 07/18/2011 Granada Theater - Lawrence, KS *Off Date w/ Suicide Silence, All Shall Parish , Red Fang 07/19/2011 Verizon Wireless Amphitheater - St. Louis, MO 07/20/2011 Riverbend Music Center - Cincinnati, OH 07/22/2011 Comcast Center - Boston, MA 07/23/2011 Parc Jean Drapeau - Montreal, QC 07/24/2011 The Comcast Theatre - Hartford, CT 07/25/2011 Lost Horizon - Syracuse, NY *Off Date w/ All Shall Parish 07/26/2011 Club Texas - Auburn, ME *Off Date w/ Suicide Silence, All Shall Parish 07/27/2011 P.N.C. Bank Arts Center - Holmdel, NJ 07/29/2011 First Niagara Pavilion - Pittsburgh, PA 07/30/2011 Jiffy Lube Live - Washington, DC 07/31/2011 Susquehanna Bank Center - Camden, NJ 08/02/2011 Verizon Wireless V. Beach Amphitheater - Virginia Beach, VA 08/03/2011 Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion at Walnut Creek - Raleigh, NC 08/04/2011 Peabody's - Cleveland, OH *Off Date w/ Suicide Silence, All Shall Parish 08/05/2011 First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre - Chicago, IL 08/06/2011 DTE Energy Music Theatre - Detroit, MI 08/07/2011 Verizon Wireless Music Center - Indianapolis, IN 08/09/2011 Zoo Amphitheatre - Oklahoma City, OK 08/10/2011 Superpages.com Center - Dallas, TX 08/11/2011 New Daisy Theatre - Memphis, TN *Off Date w/ Suicide Silence, All Shall Parish , Red Fang 08/12/2011 Lakewood Amphitheatre - Atlanta, GA 08/13/2011 1-800-Ask-Gary-Amphitheatre - Tampa, FL 08/14/2011 Cruzan Amphitheater - West Palm Beach, FL UNEARTH on the European Hell On Earth Tour w/ Evergreen Terrace, Bane, Nasty, Casey Jones and Full Blown Chaos: 08/26/2011 F-Haus - Jena, Germany 08/27/2011 Essigfabrik - Köln, Germany 08/28/2011 Vorstin - Hilversum, Netherlands 08/29/2011 Islington O2 Academy, London, UK 08/30/2011 Fleece - Bristol, UK 08/31/2011 White Rabbit - Plymouth, UK 09/01/2011 Moho Live - Manchester, UK 09/02/2011 Derby - Derby Redemption, UK 09/03/2011 Rock im Loch Festival - Lünen, Germany 09/04/2011 Trix Zaal - Antwerpen, Belgium 09/05/2011 Faust - Hannover, Germany 09/06/2011 Markthalle - Hamburg, Germany 09/07/2011 The Rock - Copenhagen, Denmark 09/08/2011 Hot Spot - Kassel, Germany 09/09/2011 Garage - Saarbrücken, Germany 09/10/2011 LKA - Stuttgart, Germany 09/11/2011 Gare de Lion - Wil, Switzerland 09/12/2011 Werk - Munich, Germany 09/13/2011 Explosiv - Graz, Austria 09/14/2011 Statsaal - Spittal an der Drau, Austria 09/15/2011 Abaton - Prague, Czech Republic 09/16/2011 Conne Island - Leipzig, Germany 09/17/2011 SO 36 - Berlin, Germany 09/18/2011 Into The Pit Festival - Vincenza, Italy 09/19/2011 Komma - Wörgl, Austria 09/20/2011 Halle 02 - Heidelberg, Germany Worldwide Release Dates: Darkness In The Light will be released in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Norway July 1, the rest of Europe on July 4, North America, Spain and Italy on July 5, Finland and Hungary on July 6, Australia July 8 and Japan on July 27. Special thanks to Trevor Phipps and Unearth, Earsplit Compound, and Metal Blade Records! Related links: Unearth Unearth's Landing Page for Darkness In the Light Unearth on Facebook Unearth on Twitter Unearth on MySpace Metal Blade Records
As we all know, Machine Head is currently working on their seventh studio album and are preparing to embark on the Rockstar Mayhem Festival! After releasing the first cut from their album, "Locust", the Machine Head camp seem to be steering their new album to the right direction both sonically and lyrically. Their new album is set to be released on September 26/27, 2011 via Roadrunner Records and its titled "Unto the Locust". Here is the Official press release: Off on the distant horizon what appears to be a massive cloud can be seen blackening the sky. As it gets closer it becomes obvious that the "cloud" is no cloud at all, but a massive swarm preparing to descend on the shores of Europe and the U.K.. "The Eighth Plague" tour will make land on November 2nd and rip a swath across the landscape with a magnitude heretofore unseen. MACHINE HEAD, in support of their newest crushing release "Unto The Locust" (out September 26/27, 2011) will collide with the land and lay waste to every city in their path. Accompanied by very special guests Bring Me The Horizon as well as DevilDriver and Darkest Hour, "The Eighth Plague" tour promises to be the most exciting, hard-hitting tour in recent memory. "This will no doubt be the heaviest show you're going to see this year" states Machine Head frontman and guitarist Robb Flynn. "A lot of the greatest shows of our last touring cycle were in Europe and the U.K., so the prospect of this lineup combined with these crowds has us extremely stoked to get out there and tear it up! New material, great venues, killer fans... we absolutely cannot wait!" Adds Bring Me The Horizon vocalist Oliver Sykes, "We're proper excited for these dates with Machine Head! We were listening to them before we even started BMTH, so to be going on tour with them is blowin' our minds! These will be our last U.K./Euro dates before we take a break to record our next album as well, so it's gonna be mental! We honestly can't wait." Says DevilDriver vocalist Dez Fafara, "We always love touring in packages that offer a diversity of styles of metal. This is yet another one of those packages. I would like to personally thank Robb Flynn for inviting us to the party. See you in the fucking pit." "We are so excited to announce our upcoming winter European tour with Machine Head, Bring Me the Horizon, and Devildriver" exclaims Darkest Hour vocalist John Henry. "European audiences are true purists when it comes to their love for metal music and great metal concerts, so there's no better place in a world for this tour to go down. It will take us to cities we haven't been to in a decade, as well as a few new ones. Meeting new friends and exploring other cultures has always been something we enjoy as a band, and getting to explore some of these places with this great bill for the first time is both a great privilege and an honor. If you can make it out to one of these shows please do, you won't be let down." After over a year hiatus from touring, busy writing, recording and crafting their newest masterpiece, Machine Head cannot wait to be back in Europe and the U.K. on stage before some of the most diehard fans metal has to offer. A relationship forged with years of relentless touring is about to be reignited. Tickets go on sale June 24th. Give yourself Unto The Locust or be left to wander aimlessly in the aftermath. Tour Dates: - 02-Nov Wed: Norway, Oslo - Sentrum - 03-Nov Thu: Sweden, Stockholm - Aren - 05-Nov Sat: Finland, Tampere - Sorsapuisto-Sali - 06-Nov Sun: Finland, Helsinki - Circus - 08-Nov Tue: Denmark, Copenhagen - KB Halle - 09-Nov Wed: Germany, Hamburg - Grosse Freiheit 36 - 10-Nov Thu: Germany, Dresden - Alter Schlachthof - 12-Nov Sat: Austria, Vienna - Gasomter - 13-Nov Sun: Italy, Milan - Alcatraz - 15-Nov Tue: Spain, Barcelona - Razzmatazz - 16-Nov Wed: Spain, Madrid - Riviera - 17-Nov Thu: Portugal, Lisbon - Coliseum - 18-Nov Fri: Portugal, Oporto - Coliseum - 19-Nov Sat: Spain, Bilbao - Rockitar - 21-Nov Mon: Switzerland, Zurich - Volkshaus - 23-Nov Wed: France, Paris - Zenith - 24-Nov Thu: Germany, Neu-Isenburg - Hugenottenhalle - 25-Nov Fri: Germany, Munich - Tonhalle - 26-Nov Sat: Germany, Ludwigsburg - Arena - 28-Nov Mon: Holland, Eindhoven - Klokgebown - 29-Nov Tue: Belgium, Brussels - Forest - 30-Nov Wed: Germany, Oberhausen - Turbinenhalle - 03-Dec Sat: UK, London - Wembley Arena - 04-Dec Sun: UK, Birmingham - NIA - 05-Dec Mon: UK, Glasgow - SECC - 06-Dec Tue: UK, Manchester - Central Related links: Machine Head Purchase Locust on Amazon Purchase Locust on Itunes
We have had the pleasure of working with The Resurrection Sorrow various times within the last year, and they have always delivered great music for everyone to enjoy. The band is lead by Alex Dementia, who wears the Rock N Roll flag with pride and respect! Today they announced that they will release a digital version of their new EP dubbed "The Scorpion Savior Sessions". Here is the Official press release: The band recorded and the tracks for the new EP over this past Winter. Once again they enlisted hometown NYC engineer Joe Hogan (Nebula, The Atomic Bitchwax), who recorded TRS' 2009 debut album, Hour Of The Wolf, and had the tracks mastered by Fred Kevorkian (Iggy Pop, Willie Nelson). The soulful and explosive tracks on the EP show THE RESURRECTION SORROW progressing in both more dynamic and aggressive directions on their latest material, while solidly showcasing the soulful, doom-influenced metallic crunch the band are popular with their fans for delivering. The release also once again bears cover art by Seldon Hunt (Nachtmystium, Neurosis, Sunn O))), Isis, etc.), who was also responsible for the art on Hour Of The Wolf.
The Scorpion Savior Sessions Track List: 1. Pale Kiss (Endless Storm) 2. Scorpion Savior 3. Burning Halo TRS on this recording was: Alex Dementia - Vox | Alex Coelho - Bass | Louie Gasparro - Drums | Jeff Jardine - Guitar The Scorpion Savior Sessions is a tide-me-over release for fans, while the band solidify info on their upcoming full-length follow-up featuring all-new material, being scheduled for release later in 2011. More info will follow in the coming weeks. Related links: The Resurrection Sorrow The Resurrection Sorrow on Facebook The Resurrection Sorrow on MySpace
What do you get when you put together vocalist Scott Vogel from Terror in the same room with bassist Chris Beattie from Hatebreed, and then add guitarist Matt Henderson, formerly from Agnostic Front and Madball? S.O.S.! Their NEW EP titled "I Owe You Nothing" is out today via Good Fight Music, and its a hard hitting vulgar display of Real American Hardcore! In times when Hardcore music is in the rise, its vital to support a new band full of fire, so make sure you buy the EP because you will not be disappointed. Here is the Official Press Release: I Owe You Nothing, the new EP by hardcore band S.O.S., is available now at a music distributor near you. The EP dropped today with GOOD FIGHT MUSIC.MetalSucks.net is taking part in today’s release by premiering a brand new track cut from the EP, entitled ‘Never a Brother’. “‘Never a Brother’. This is the song that got Matt skanking in the studio,” states vocalist Scott Vogel. “This song has a serious hook. Check it out and enjoy.” You can purchase the EP now at several digital music outlets, such as iTunes. Keep an eye out for the exclusive vinyl coming out through Reaper Records soon. The band recorded the I Owe You Nothing EP this past winter in New York City. At the helm of production was Dean Baltulonis, a producer and engineer who has been involved with some of the genre’s most iconic recordings (Agnostic Front, Madball). S.O.S. is: - Scott Vogel - Vocals (Terror) - Matt Henderson - Guitar (formerly of Agnostic Front and Madball) - Sam Trapkin - Guitar (Trapped Under Ice) - Chris Beattie - Bass (Hatebreed) - Nick Jett - Drums (Terror)
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