Tag Archives: Laura Werth

Weaver/Werth Band at Vancouver’s Capone Restaurant and Jazz Lounge

A friend of mine, Laura Werth, will be performing at Capones Restaurant and Jazz Lounge this weekend, at 7:30 p.m. April 30 and May 1, 2010. Here’s a description of Laura and the Weaver/Werth Band,

Rob Weaver’s deceptively lazy keyboard stylings along with vocalist Laura Werth’s smoky renditions of original and standard jazz tunes take audiences on a tour that features bebop, swing, Afro-Cuban, jazz rock, funk, and hip hop beats. Weaver and Werth are joined by Rick Kilburn, bass player and music producer, who has provided the driving, downbeat for jazz legends such as Dave Brubeck, Mose Allison, and Flora Purim, as well as local Vancouver legends, Dee Daniels and Kenny Coleman. David Say, saxophone player—tenor, soprano, and baritone—who has accompanied everyone from Michael Bublé to Vancouver Ensemble of Jazz Improvisation to Hard Rubber Orchestra to the Supremes adds his sweet, sexy, and sassy tones. This foursome, together for 15 years, have attracted a revolving cast of stellar musicians including drummer Dan Brubeck who has appeared on BBC jazz programmes, been nominated for a Grammy award, and toured the international jazz circuit for more than two decades with his unique drumming style and odd time-signatures. (More from Werth, Weaver, and the band can be heard on Werth’s Watchin’ the World go by CD.) Coupling cool rhythms to fiery vibes, the Weaver/Werth Band delivers quintessential West Coast jazz.

The band’s configuration does change but Rob and Laura are constants. Reservations are required. (Full disclosure: I wrote the band description.)

Nano definitions, jazz performances, and Visible Verse

Andrew Maynard has a brief discussion on the new ISO standard nano definitions which were released earlier in September. (The technical specification document (ISO/TS 27687:2008) is the one you want to get if you’re interested in these kinds of things. ) I was particularly intrigued by Maynard’s discussion of the classification scheme (I used to work in libraries and classification schemes and, as a consequence, have a great interest in the topic) where he discusses nano-objects and how this category solves a problem with defining nano particles. He also discusses a new report form the ISO (ISO Technical Report 12885) on health and safety practices relevant to nanotechnology. I’d suggest you check out Maynard’s blog at SafeNano.

Laura Werth a Vancouver jazz singer who I’ve mentioned before has a couple of performances next week. On Thursday, October 30th, she’ll be at the “Toast to Mandela” event at the VanCity Theatre (1181 Seymour St., Vancouver), 6 pm, tickets $50. It’s a fundraiser for “Education without Borders”. She’ll also be appearing at Capones Restauarant and Jazz Club (1141 Hamilton St., Vancouver) on Friday, October 31 and Saturday, Nov. 1, 2008. There’s no cover charge. If you want to hear Laura, try her site.

If you’re interested in video poetry, Heather Haley is hosting “Visible Verse” again this year at Pacific Cinematheque (1131 Howe St., Vancouver).  Oops, I had a link here but Cinematheque hasn’t got the 2008 Visible Verse programme and ticket purchasing information on their website yet.

Nano Wiki presentation and more jazz

The 2008 Canada Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences started yesterday at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and I’m presenting at one of the conferences. (Btw, their Congress website is not one of my faves.)

My presentation is called, The Nanotech Mysteries: an initiation into the science and the technology. It’s all about the wiki I’m developing on nanotechnology. I’m discussing some of the ideas behind the project and reviewing a prototype for the project. The presentation is for the Canadian Association of Teachers of Technical Writing (CATTW). Their conference website is here. There’s not a lot to it but they do have a programme there. I’m presenting tomorrow, June 1 in the 1:30 to 3 pm slot. I’m listed last on the speaker list, it looks like it’s going to be a nice day, and it’s the session before afternoon coffee. It just seems that I shouldn’t expect a big audience.

On a jazz note, my friend and her band are performing tonight at Bogarts, 6:30 to 9:30 pm at 1619 West Broadway, Vancouver.

Is the carbon nanotube report bad science? and a jazz moment

I found a rebuttal to that study carbon nanotube could be like asbestos study that’s been published in Nature Nanotechnology. The summaries of the study all said that ‘long’ carbon nanotubes resemble asbestos fibres and, according to this first study, create the same kinds of lesions as asbestos when tested on mice. The rebuttal (found at Small Times), which is based on an interview with the CEO of a company that produces long carbon nanotubes commercially, makes this point: ‘Long’ as defined by the study meant anything over 20 microns and the longest carbon nanotube used in the study was 56 microns. His company, Nanocomp Technologies, produces carbon nanotubes that are millimetre-long. That’s a pretty significant difference in scale which may explain why the CEO described the report as ‘bad science’. The whole thing keeps raising more questions for me i.e. What is the standard length of commercially produced carbon nanotubes? At what point does length have an impact?  For example, is there a different impact or no impact if the length is a millimetre-long rather than 56 microns?

A friend of mine is a jazz singer who’s performing tonight (Friday nights through July 2008) at the Fairview Pub, 898 West Broadway, Vancouver, BC. She’s on from 6-9 pm. For a sample, you can listen to her here.