Worldtravel

The best stories are hidden between the lines of David Froman’s eyewitness account of the infamous Whiskey Rebellion in the late 18th century in southwestern Pennsylvania.

Told in his memoirs, “Sim Greene and Tom the Tinker’s Men,” the tales contain wonderful tidbits about the lives of the pioneers who settled the Monongahela River valley. This was before steel was king there, and the region’s forests were unspoiled, tradesmen on the water faced killer pirates downriver on the Ohio and the faithful gathered at tent revivals to worship the Lord.

The author penned the book in a flowery prose, beginning with his following a group over the Allegheny Mountains in 1788 so he could establish the first schoolhouse in Elizabeth, the only town between Brownsville and Pittsburgh that had an established a system of streets at the time.

“Away it stretched until in the misty distance it seemed to merge with some clouds lying low along the western horizon,” he wrote about his first glimpses of the rolling green hills of America’s early wild west. “Long we stood on this farthest rampart of the great Appalachian chain feasting our eyes and feeling the thrilling power of the landscape.”

His party reached its destination from Philadelphia, having witnessed the migration of pack squirrels, averted a mountain lion attack and survived a fast-sweeping forest fire by hugging close to a small stream. He obviously had a fascination for the main character, Sim Greene, a colorful hunter, trapper and Revolutionary War hero who seemed to play a minor role in the infamous whiskey tax revolt.

While Froman admitted the rebellion of President George Washington’s tax on Monongahela rye whiskey to pay down debt from the American Revolutionary War was dead wrong, his book leads one to believe he kept his opinions to himself while it took place because he was a good friend of the rebels. Had he been brave enough to speak out against the movement when it was in full force, the anarchists would have surely tarred and feathered him rather than permit him to tag along to their meetings and demonstrations. They had drawn a bitter line between their ranks and those who supported the new government.

While historians have long argued over whether Tom the Tinker was an individual or represented the group of protestors, Froman identifies him with certainty as John Hollcroft of the Finleyville area. The farmer sneaked under the cover of night to destroy the whiskey stills of those who submitted to the tax, or posted warnings about how he planned to retaliate against the tax collectors.

After the tax fight was quelled, the men of Elizabeth built from a wood a marvelous schooner capable of carrying 250 tons of local goods down the Mon to New Orleans. Of course the ship, the Monongahela Farmer, was christened with a bottle of local rye whiskey and it completed its maiden voyage.

Froman wrote the book on his deathbed, and requested it to be published 50 years after his death so not to embarrass the farmers who fought the tax or any of their immediate heirs.

In the end, he resurrected the legacy of a friend – Harold Harden - who fled Elizabeth under the threat of arrest by U.S. marshals for his alleged participation in a tax riot. A rumor followed Harden’s escape that he had joined up with the pirates who hid out in a place called Cave-in-Rock that contained the many skulls of their victims. But, Froman eventually reported that the pirate was actually his friend’s the long-lost twin.

That tale left me wondering about whether this book, while it was interesting, should have been classified as nonfiction.

Well, good news for Belgian beer lovers.

The Beer Connoisseur website is now live at:

http://www.beerconnoisseur.com/

This is a new website, where I will be blogging weekly about Belgian beer.

Beer Connoisseur plans to go live as a magazine late this year.
It will be quarterly.

Look for lots of articles about Belgian breweries, cafes, beers, and
beer-related things!!

My introductory article is at

http://www.beerconnoisseur.com/Discover_Belgium

I hope you enjoy!

Cheers,

Chuck

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy -All Rights Reserved
Now ensconced in sunny and hot London, I’ve reflected on the past 2 weeks spent photographing in Morocco during the Gnawa Festival Photo Expedition, and two key words immediately jump to mind: frustrating and sublime.

Here’s the frustrating bit: people photography in the large cities of Morocco is to say the least, extremely difficult. Moroccans are generally reticent to pose under any circumstances, and photographing them on the sly (say in a marketplace) can lead to some unpleasant confrontations. I recall that we were photographing fishermen off-loading their catch in the post of Essaouira, and hearing one of them, clearly irritated by our presence, asking his colleagues if we thought them to be monkeys in a zoo. Other Morrocans would agree to pose provided they were paid, then adopted the dreaded “frozen look”. Some noticed our cameras, and immediately covered their faces whether we pointed our cameras in their direction or not. Street photography needed ingenuity and a self-starting approach, since photographing in a group didn’t work.

I exerted much efforts to engage people and show respect, but despite my fluency in Arabic (somewhat different for the local idiom), I wasn’t terribly successful in persuading them to be photographed. However, I did manage to establish moments of genuine kinship, such as with the owner of Africa Music in Essaouira who spoke at length about Gnawa music, but it did not translate into being open to photography. It will be included however in my planned multimedia piece on the Gnawa.

The other frustrating issue is that in impoverished Morocco, and because its high unemployment rate amongst its youth, there’s a sense that tourists ought to pay for every little service, whether needed or not. I found this to be particularly true in Marrakech and Ouazazate, but less so in Essaouira. For instance, the self-appointed guides at the Ait Benhaddou Kasbah in Ouarzazate are spectacularly venal, and some even threatening. It’s a shame since the site is UNESCO-listed, and ought to be supervised instead of being left to a bunch of hooligans.

Before I turn to the sublime aspect of the photo-expedition, here are a few other random thoughts. In the grand scheme of things, Ouarzazate was a dud from a photographic standpoint. Unless one is willing to photograph the Kasbahs (there are two of them), nothing else attracted my attention. I’d give Marrakech a passing mark for photography because of its Jemaa el-Fna square, and that’s about it. Again, all this is said based on my sort of travel documentary photography, and is certainly not applicable to other disciplines. The infrastructural component of the expedition went well. Hotels were generally fine, but the Riad Mimouna in Essaouira stands out a certainly being a jewel. Our bus was expertly and safely driven by the jovial Abdel Hakeem, and was extremely comfortable. However, the drive from Marrakech to Ouarzazate was uncomfortable for those who suffered from motion sickness because of the road’s switchbacks.

As for the guides: I didn’t find them particularly good nor flexible enough to earn the description of “fixers”, with the exception of Hassan E’Chater in Essaouira, who displayed occasional flashes of ingenuity. Guides are badly paid in Morocco, so have to rely for income on herding tourists to stores and restaurants.

The sublime aspect of the photo expedition was found in Essaouira, so in the unlikely event that I repeat this trip, it would only take place during the 4-5 days of the Gnawa Festival, and not more. Although it’s still difficult to photograph people in this little town, the medina itself is remarkably photogenic, and since its streets are normally crowded, candid photography is frequently easy. Personally, I found the event to be initially somewhat ill-organized but it got better as the days progressed. Our hotel, Riad Mimouna, was a few steps away from the small Zaouia Sidi Bilal where many of the nightly Gnawa performances were held. Most of my documentary photography and audio recording of the Gnawa was done there. The Zaouia family of caretakers included Rokeyah and her two young nieces Khadija and Ibtisam who, despite their being less than 8 years old, attended the performances well into the wee hours of the night. Khadija greeted some of us with hugs; a display of affection indicative of the Moroccans’ hospitality.

The Gnawa performances at the zaouia were breathtaking. I managed to thwart the administrators efforts, and photographed almost as much as I wanted. Rather bizarrely, photography was allowed at some performances, and prohibited at others. Since the area is quite small, a fast wide angle lens is recommended. Since the Gnawa music is extremely percussive (the qerqabs are really noisy!), I’ve experienced some distortion in my recordings which perhaps I can fix using either Garageband or Audacity. Another great aural experience was the Berber women singers at the La Recontre restaurant near the zaouia.

Gnawa music has a new fan. I bought a few CDs of a couple of Maalems, such as Mahmoud Guinea and Hamid El-Kessari. And fans of grilled sardines will find Essaouira to be the place for them.

Finally, the above photograph was made during a Gnawa performance, when a young local woman suddenly stood and dances to its rhythms. Within a few moments, she had gone into a deep trance by violently throwing her head about. I had seen women going into trances here before, but they were much older and were larger.

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There are now 6.4 million active iPhone users in the U.S. according to media research firm Nielsen, and 98 percent of them have embraced the Apple smartphone’s data features. Nielsen reports that iPhone users in the U.S. totaled 4.3 million in April 2008, and forecasts that the pending release of a $99 8 GB version should negate consumer cost concerns that have limited the overall size of the iPhone audience.

LINK: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8118721.stmThanks for sending this my way, Dave. When are we and our families mealing together?

"I ask who is your Michael Jackson? Are you gonna wait for he or she to die before telling them that they are Great!"~Wyclef Jean

he would dance,even when his frail body could no longer bearthe weight of all our fearsor when we questioned his allegianceunder the spotlight’s unforgiving glarehe would dance[continue there...]

China Mobile is using its new TD-SCDMA network to offer cut-price fixed-line voice services to residential customers.

The mobile giant, which does not have a wireline business, is undercutting China Telecom and Unicom with its new service in Beijing and Shanghai.

Shanghai Mobile charges a monthly base fee of 16 yuan ($2.34) that includes 50 minutes of local call time, TD fixed-wireless phones use 11-digit phone numbers like mobile numbers with a “188″ prefix. For additional use, the carrier charges 0.22 yuan ($0.03) for the first three minutes and 0.11 yuan ($0.02) per minute for extra time. Incoming calls are free of charge.

The phone that looks like a normal wireline phone can be used to send text messages at the cost of 0.10 yuan ($0.01) per message.

Families that sign an 18-month contract and commit to spend at least 88 yuan ($12.88) per month on their wireless phone bills can have the TD fixed-wireless phone free of charge. The phone is not available for sale otherwise.

Beijing Mobile is also selling a TD fixed-wireless phone service, offering 50 minutes of local call time in a monthly base fee of 10 yuan ($1.46) and charges 0.12 yuan ($0.02) per minute for additional use. Subscribers need to pay 20 yuan ($2.93) for the SIM card and can have the first month’s base fee waived.

The monthly base fees for both China Telecom’s and China Unicom’s wireless voice services are higher and do not include any free minutes.

China Telecom, the main fixed-line operator in Shanghai, charges a monthly base fee of 25 yuan while China Unicom charges 21.6 yuan in Beijing. Their standard rate for local calls is 0.22 yuan for the first three minutes and 0.11 yuan for each additional minute.

China Mobile’s TD-SCDMA network, the country’s first 3G network, has struggled to find customers since formally launching early this year.