RCOG Release: Imaging Mother And Child Worldwide

�The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) will host an evening lecture by award-winning lensman and film maker Nancy Durrell McKenna on 4 September. The event is organised by the Royal Photographic Society and is share of their International Awards.


Ms McKenna was awarded the Combined Royal Colleges Medal in 2007. This Medal was established 50 years agone by the Royal Photographic Society in collaboration with the Royal College of Physicians of London, The Royal College of Surgeons of England and the Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists. It is awarded annually for an outstanding contribution to picture taking and/or its application in the robert William Service of medicine and operating room.


Professor Ralph Jacobson, Chairman of The Royal Photographic Society Awards Committee said "Her work brings capital credit to all those involved in the award and visually articulates at the highest level the problems of women's health in the developing earth".


Titled Images for Life, Ms McKenna will hash out her mould as a photographer documenting pregnancy and birth in developing countries. Her images have been used as a hefty medium to convey the plight of women living in countries where access to basic obstetric care is poor, often leading to unneeded morbidity and death. Her photojournalism has covered maternal mortality in countries such as Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Pakistan and Thailand.


Ms McKenna aforementioned "Having worked on the themes of women's sex, birth and reproductive health through photography for the past xXV years, it is a great honour to bear this work recognised by the Royal Colleges.


"It is the power of the image to 'tell a story' and counselor for change that is the drive force behind the photographs I get hold of. One woman dies every minute, somewhere in the world, due to the complications of pregnancy and childbirth. This is a tragedy and one that is preventable.


"If my photographs high spot the need to invest more in women's health - peculiarly in developing countries - then I am victimisation my creativeness to the best of my power."


Dr Anthony Falconer, Vice President of the RCOG International Office said "Here in the West, we live in an affluent society and sometimes the very thought of parental suffering in other countries is abstract.


"In the UK thither is a comprehensive nerve tract of upkeep to reinforcement a woman during her pregnancy, birth and in the postnatal period. In some countries however, women do not have access to the services which we take for granted.


"These photographs are poignant, rousing emotions which wrangle fail to convey. They are beautiful and remind us of the symbolic imagery of mother and child which has a long tradition dating back to primitive times."

Notes


Images for Life will take places at the RCOG on Thursday 4 September 2008. To opinion a locating map with directions to the RCOG, please tick here.


Entry is free of charge up and to book your place, please contact Jo Macdonald, Awards Manager Royal Photographic Society on jo@rps.org or call: +44 (0) 1225 325721.


The programme for the evening is:

18.30 - Drinks reception

19.30 - Lecture by Nancy Durrell McKenna followed by questions

21.00 - Close

Royal Photographic Society International Awards

For more information about the RPS awards, please visit http://www.rps.org/annual-awards

RCOG International Office

The RCOG International Office was established in November 2006 and currently has projects in India, Kenya, Kurdistan, Nigeria, Philippines, Somaliland, Sri Lanka and Yemen.


The aims and objectives of the RCOG IO are:


- to draw on the expertise and feel of the RCOG and its spheric network to make an effective part to improving sexual and reproductive healthcare worldwide. In particular to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality and morbidity by increasing knowingness of parental health at global, regional and national levels to politicians, professionals and the public


- to focus on capacity development through training, exchange programmes, provision of guidelines and setting standards that ar relevant to the local situation. For example, the delivery of our Life Saving Skills Manual and Course with a focus on exigency obstetric concern for use of goods and services by midwives, clinical officers, medical assistants and doctors working in resource-poor settings


- to work with governments and international organisations at policy degree to make long term "buy-in" to improving tone of caution and education including regular monitoring and evaluation


- to develop and apply new knowledge collected through enquiry, which meets local needs and straight informs policy


- to work in partnership with other UK and international agencies


For more than information about RCOG outside initiatives, please click here.

About Nancy Durrell McKenna and SafeHands for Mothers


Nancy Durrell McKenna founded the charity SafeHands for Mothers in 2003, dedicated to reducing maternal and infant mortality globally, and with a grant from the Band Aid Trust produced a preparation film, The Big Push, aimed at improving skills and awareness in prenatal and postnatal care.


For more information about SafeHands for Mothers, please inspect http://www.safehands.org

Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists



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Download Lita Ford

Artist: Lita Ford: mp3 download    Genre(s):  Metal: Heavy Other Rock: Hard-Rock     Discography:      Platinum and Gold Collection    Year: 2004    Tracks: 12      Dangerous Curves    Year: 1991    Tracks: 11      Stiletto    Year: 1990    Tracks: 12      Lita    Year: 1988    Tracks: 9      Dancin' On The Edge    Year: 1984    Tracks: 9      Out For Blood    Year: 1983    Tracks: 10      Black    Year:     Tracks: 12 One of deuce solo stars to spring from the ashes of the '70s all-girl hard rock music banding the Runaways, Lita Ford has long been a more than frustrative, contradictory proposition for critics than former comrade Joan Jett. Ford is subtly libber in her melodic access, displaying guitar heroics on the spirit level of any male metal hero; the mere fact of her existence in the differently testosterone-driven toilsome metal writing style has made her a hero to some, only her theatrical role has much been criticized as calculated to invoke to male adolescent sexual fantasies, simply embodying the measure wild-girl stereotypes of many male metallic element artists' lyrics. When she has the material to back her up, though, Ford is inarguably capable of rocking out sharply and assertively. Henry Ford II was born on September 19, 1958, in London, emigrating to the U.S. as a offspring child. She began playing the guitar at age 11; just five days later, she linked the Kim Fowley-produced Runaways, an all-female design designed to commix the aggression of simple-minded, punkey hard rock with teenage bad-girl sexuality invoke. When the lot dissolved, Ford took voice lessons and embarked on a solo career, encouraging herself through a variety of jobs (gasoline station attender, essence salesperson, fitness instructor, styler, etc.). She released her debut album, Out for Blood, in 1983; it was followed the next year by Dancin' on the Edge. Zilch was heard from Ford for the next four-spot long time; the reexamination to Dancin' on the Edge, coroneted The Bride Wore Black, was abandoned and never released, as Ford switched from Mercury to RCA. By the clip Ford returned, the igniter pop-metal she had long favourite had broken through to mainstream audiences, which set the point for her most successful album, 1988's Lita. Slickly produced by Mike Chapman, the record album featured Ford's number one hit, the number 12 "Kiss Me Deadly"; its followup, a duette with Ozzy Osbourne entitled "Close My Eyes Forever," provided both artists with their first base Top Ten single. Ford notable her newfound success with a union to W.A.S.P. guitar player Chris Holmes, only regrettably, this, like her commercial success, would be transitory. Follow-up efforts wish 1990's Stiletto and 1991's Unsafe Curves failed to check the popcraft of Lita, and Ford launch herself without a label afterward alternative's explosion in the early '90s.

Archontes

   
Artist: Archontes

   Genre(s): 
Metal: Power
   Rock: Hard-Rock
   Metal
   

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Discography:


   
 Book One: The Child of Two Worlds

   Year: 2004   
Tracks: 9


   
 The World Where Shadows Come To Life

   Year: 1999   
Tracks: 8


   
 The World Where Shadowds Come To Life

   Year: 1999   
Tracks: 8


   
 Saga Of Eternity

   Year: 1997   
Tracks: 3

---

 

Dubphonic

   
Artist: Dubphonic

   Genre(s): 
Dance
   

---

Discography:


   
 Back to Mine

   Year:    
Tracks: 1

---

 

LiveDaily Song of the Day: Albert Hammond, Jr. - "GfC"

Today's Song of the Day is by Albert Hammond, Jr. [ tickets ] The featured cut is "GfC," which appears on his forthcoming July release, "Como Te Llama?"

Alison Pill Is an Unconvincing Ugly Girl in ‘Reasons to Be Pretty’

Photo: WireImage
If Alison Pill is supposed to be the ugly girl in Neil LaBute's new play, reasons to be pretty, is there really any reason for the rest of us to even try? When director Terry Kinney sent her the script, she told us at last night's opening-night party, "I read it and I went, Oh, thanks a lot, Terry. Great, I'm the ugly chick." That wasn't the first time that a role made her a little self-conscious about her looks, though; Pill told us that on the set of Dan in Real Life, the makeup artist put Whitestrips on her teeth without a word. "I thought it was normal until I asked the rest of the cast, and they said, 'No, I have no idea what you're talking about.' It was horrifying. I just kept thinking, Oh well, I guess my teeth are horrible to look at. Eventually I did it on my own at home." Now, in her role as the so-called ugly girl, Pill says she's been receiving not only great reviews — including a flat-out rave in this morning's Times — but lots of people coming up to her and reassuring her that she is, in fact, very pretty. "It goes to the heart of everyone's insecurities, including my own, and they're easy lines to say because Neil has written a girl who has the same questions that every woman has of how they're perceived by the outside world," she said. "So I mean, I didn't actually say to [Kinney], 'So you think I'm ugly?' I just kind of avoided that question." —Nina Mandell

Pop review: The Charlatans / Academy, Sheffield

The Charlatans have survived innumerable changes in their 20-year history, and singer Tim Burgess's haircut is as drastic as any of them. Wearing a skintight black suit, his latest barnet looks like a cross between a black Beatle bowl cut and a Louise Brooks 1920s bob. "Is it a hat?" one baffled lady ponders, and the bizarre black creation does indeed resemble a beret made of hair.

The barnet is even more incongruous, given the band's latest musical shift. After recent years steeped in classic rock, they've finally given into Burgess's teenage New Order obsession, which informs the new album, You Cross My Path. Initially given away as a free download, it may be their best effort and the band seem justifiably proud, shunning their greatest hits in favour of the exhilarating, dark-edged pop of Mis-takes and melancholy anthem This Is the End. However, gradually the two-hour set reflects the spectrum of their career: a psychedelic Sproston Green, an urgent Weirdo, a rousing One to Another, a jagged, edgy How High, and an awkward Judas, from Burgess's curious falsetto period.

Although the now LA-based Burgess looks like an impostor in his own band, it's almost beautiful to watch him as - arms flapping around - the 41-year-old commands the crowd like an orchestral conductor. During a glorious double whammy of headrushing recent single Oh! Vanity and classic The Only One I Know, it is all too much for one girl, who rushes the stage and is rewarded with a dance with Burgess. For a few moments, they remain deep in conversation. Maybe she is asking, "Where did you get that haircut?"!

· At Hyde Park, London, on June 28 (details: www.hydeparkcalling.co.uk).


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Lees adds star quality to drama school

Veteran Kiwi actor Nathaniel Lees, who has starred in The Matrix movies, Sione's Wedding and has appeared regularly on television, is now teaching star-struck drama students in Wellington.

Ashlee Simpson, Bittersweet World

Ashlee Simpson's third album Bittersweet World is the product of more than a year in the studio and collaboration with some heavyweight producers including the omnipresent Timbaland and Chad Hugo of The Neptunes.

Previously known more for headlines – the infamous Saturday Night Live lip-synching fiasco and relationship with Fallout Boy rocker Pete Wentz – than her music, Ashlee's latest project deserves recognition as a credible threat to the work of Britney, Pink and Avril.

Personally speaking, Ashlee's matured since albums one and two, which nevertheless both went multi-platinum and hit the US number one spot. Indeed, she recently married Wentz in an Alice In Wonderland themed ceremony, and is rumoured to be expecting their first child.

Musically she has now come to terms with her market, and has even learned to celebrate it, lyrically proclaiming herself a mischievous "Sunday school girl" and "Little Miss Perfect". The aim was to make a party record of fun songs, and she's certainly achieved that, though the result is a relatively immature product.

The album's collaborators add gravitas. Timbaland stays mostly behind the scenes but pops up on the funky, Missy Elliott-esque Murder. Santogold's Santi White co-wrote Outta My Head alongside Kenna, while Plain White T's singer Tom Higgenson duets with Simpson on single choice, Little Miss Obsessive. This pop-rock power ballad is the album's standout success and deserves to take Ashlee to the forefront of female pop.

No Time For Tears is a stylish lament and the album's one ballad, Never Dream Alone, is perfectly produced to tug at your heartstrings. Yet even on this vocally-focused track, Ashlee's lung power fails to dazzle.

On strong songs she's reminiscent of Britney and Kelly Clarkson, but too often she relies on talk-singing and shouty choruses. She can obviously hold a tune – she is the youngest person ever to play lead role Roxie in Chicago - it's just a shame she never really tests herself. This album will deservedly shunt her into the spotlight, but time will tell whether Ashlee can come through with the vocal power to match her true potential.


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Zooey Deschanel and M Ward plot US tour

M Ward and actress/singer Zooey Deschanel have announced the dates of a North American tour this summer.

The duo, known as She And Him, are set to kick off their tour in Toronto on July 23.

They'll then play shows in cities including Philadelphia, New York, Nashville and Chicago before wrapping things up at Washington DC's V Fest on August 10.

She And Him are supporting their recent debut album, 'Volume One'.

The tour dates are:

Toronto, ONT Opera House (July 23)
Northampton, MA Academy of Music (24)
Philadelphia, PA Trocadero (25)
New York, NY Terminal 5 (26)
Carrboro, NC Cats Cradle (28)
Atlanta, GA Varsity Playhouse (29)
Nashville, TN Mercy Lounge (30)
Asheville, NC Orange Peel (31)
Newport, RI Newport Folk Festival (August 2)
Chicago, IL Park West (5)
Minneapolis, MN First Avenue (7)
Madison, WI Barrymore (8)
Washington, DC V Fest (10)

--By our Los Angeles staff.
Find out more about NME.




Jun 7, 2008 at Joiners, Southampton -
Jun 8, 2008 at Freebutt, Brighton -
More NME tickets

Neil Aspinall - a story worth telling

The title “The Fifth Beatle” has been conferred on various individuals for
over 40 years. Brian Epstein and George Martin had solid claims to it, Pete
Best and Stuart Sutcliffe, one time band members, also had claims. But Neil
Aspinall, whose name few music fans know and even fewer would have
recognised in the street, had one of the strongest claims of all.

In their heyday in the sixties The Beatles had what their biographer Hunter
Davies called “paid mates”. There were two of them, Neil Aspinall and Mal
Evans, and they acted variously as roadies, assistants, drivers, gofers and,
yes, paid mates. Aspinall went back the furthest. He was at school at the
Liverpool Institute with Paul McCartney and George Harrison. And he survived
the longest, Evans dying in strange circumstances in a police shoot out in
America in 1976.

Aspinall went pretty much everywhere with The Beatles, always just out of
camera shot when pictures were taken, always just away from the platform at
the Fab Four press conferences. In 1961 he even became romantically involved
with the mother of the then Beatles drummer Pete Best and fathered a child
with her, though she was 20 years his senior.

After the band broke up he went back to his first love of accountancy and was
chosen by The Beatles to run their company, Apple. There were two reasons
for this. First, he proved to be a very good accountant. Perhaps as
importantly in the bitter aftermath of The Beatles’ break-up, he was the
only person that all four trusted.

As chief executive of Apple, his financial skills must have surprised even The
Beatles. He helped to multiply their fortunes many times over, with
initiatives such as the successful court case with Apple computers over use
of the name. His cautious protectiveness of the group’s interests did not
always help the fans – the Beatles were late entrants on to the CD market,
for example. But, equally, he never allowed the brand to be compromised
through such things as use of the music for adverts.

I met Aspinall in the 1990s at the time of the release of the Anthology
albums of Beatles’ alternative takes and unreleased tracks. I asked him why
he had never until that point had any visible presence or spoken to the
media. He replied that The Beatles had so much to say, what was the point of
someone like him stepping into the limelight?

Maybe. But, for all the innumerable biographies of the biggest group in
popular music history, this was the one person who knew them since they were
all teenagers and also knew the secrets of their business empire. His would
have been a story worth hearing.

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• If a pop song was a graph, it would look a bit like this (+ photos)

Emily The Strange Headed To The Big Screen

Cult character Emily the Strange is headed to big screen, with a feature film in development that plans to reveal her back story and the origins of her four cats.

The Hollywood Reporter revealed the news after speaking with the president of Dark Horse Entertainment, Mike Richardson, who said, "Emily herself is a very appealing little girl, there's an edge to her. There is something very alluring to her image; people see it and respond to it immediately."

Emily the Strange was designed in the early 1990's by skateboarder Rob Reger, who is still the creative director of the brand, and features on everything from t-shirts, handbags and her own comic book.

The movie concept has no studio backing as yet, and THR reports that there has been no decision on whether the movie will be "live-action, animation or a combination of the two." A decision on the lead actress has yet to be made.

NEXT: Ashlee Simpson-Wentz: The Dog Ate My Tour

Photo courtesy of Cosmic Debris.

I don't want Charlie's sperm, Denise says

Denise Richards claims an alleged email from her to Charlie Sheen's fiancee Brooke Mueller asking for a sperm donation from him is "not legitimate".

Undying

   
Artist: Undying

   Genre(s): 
Metal: Death,Black
   

---

Discography:


   
 At History's End

   Year: 2003   
Tracks: 8

---

 

Legendary Rock Radio Station 'WNEW' Finds New Life On-Air, Online And On-Demand

The Past Meets The Present When The Formidable WNEW Returns Featuring
Unparalleled 30-Year Archive Of Historic Interviews And Live Performances
By Rock Immortals Presented In A Contemporary Musical Context
Listeners To 'Staff' The Station And Its Website As Hosts And Contributors
Social Networking Component Available Through CBS Corporation's Last.fm;
Site To Host Station's Custom Group And Provide Audience Access To Its Free
On-Demand Music Service

NEW YORK, April 14 -- Today marks a milestone in rock 'n
roll history as celebrated rock station WNEW marks its triumphant return
on-air (102.7 HD 2 in New York) and online (http://www.wnew.com). The legendary
station has been reborn for the passionate rock music fan in the spirit of
WNEW-FM's commitment to exposing the best new artists.

Completely updated to reflect its historical influence on today's
contemporary rock scene, the revolutionary new WNEW.com features recordings
from the dawn of the album era in the late 60s and early 70s through today,
as well as music from the most promising emerging artists yet to be
discovered by the masses. Radiohead, Arcade Fire, Spoon, and Vampire
Weekend will be among those featured along with the likes of REM, Foo
Fighters, The White Stripes, Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd.

In addition, thousands of hours of archival interviews by former WNEW
hosts Scott Muni, Dave Herman, and Richard Neer, among others, with such
artists as John Lennon, The Who, Stevie Wonder and David Bowie will be
integrated hourly throughout the station's on-air and online programming.
Also finding a home on WNEW.com's lineup will be exclusive live
performances from artists who contributed to the station's storied history.

The modernized WNEW.com will also offer the listening audience a
complete interactive and social networking experience through the station's
website (http://www.wnew.com) and CBS Corporation's Last.fm (http://www.last.fm). Using
these two online portals, fans can listen on demand, share feedback about
the former and current station, join dedicated groups, meet fellow WNEW
listeners and become a part of the station's "staff." Staff members will
have the opportunity to program and participate in the presentation of the
station and its website through a series of on-air and online initiatives
including blogs, concert reviews, music forums, and artist profiles.

At the helm of this ambitious project is Norm Winer, CBS RADIO Vice
President of Adult Rock Programming, and, for more than 25 years, the
award-winning Program Director of the landmark WXRT in Chicago. He said,
"As a music fan and radio geek who grew up in Brooklyn listening to the
original WNEW, I'm excited to help recapture the spirit and philosophy of
progressive radio, using tools we never dreamed of back in the early days.
With the foundation of a timeless and totally one-of-a-kind archive, we
will provide rock devotees of all generations the chance to hear incredible
moments from our collective past and enable them to connect the dots to
rock's most compelling artists of the present and future."


Special programming on the influential station will include:
-- Interview With an Icon: showcases classic extended on-air interviews
with rock legends from WNEW-FM;
-- Live From the Archives: vintage performances from rock's most prominent
artists. In addition to the vaults of WNEW-FM, the station will have
access to the recorded treasures of many of CBS RADIO's prominent radio
stations such as WBCN in Boston, and WXRT in Chicago;
-- Emerging and Amazing: the station will regularly debut music from
rising artists and those whose names are not yet known to the listening
audience;

Launched as a free-form progressive rock station on Oct. 31, 1967,
WNEW-FM is considered the first station of its kind in the nation. It
quickly went on to become both an institution and a piece of radio history
for which it is remembered today. The station rocked New York City for
three decades breaking some of the biggest artists of all time, including
David Bowie, Elton John, and The Talking Heads. To many who grew up in the
60s and 70s, WNEW-FM remains to this day the embodiment of the times,
turmoil and tunes of those eras in New York City.