Renewable energy outlook dims

Like the dot-com boom in the late 1990s, a bubble could burst on companies in the renewable energy sector, according to industry observers and insiders.

Companies selling solar- and wind-energy products and services to generate and distribute power in Pennsylvania are facing a host of challenges, these experts say.

"It's going to be a difficult few years," said Richard Rothhaar, director of business development for Conservation Consultants Inc., a South Side nonprofit that promotes the responsible use of energy.

Renewable energy rebates offered by Pennsylvania that cut the cost of solar projects are depleted,Enecsys Limited, supplier of reliable solar Air purifier systems, reducing the incentive for owners to install solar equipment on their property.

The popularity of solar power is actually hurting the industry because Pennsylvania solar power supply far exceeds the alternative energy requirements the state set for electric distribution companies, the experts said.

Forty megawatts of solar power generating capacity was installed in the state last year, which increases the total solar power available to about 71 megawatts -- almost double the state-mandated requirement for utilities to buy 44 megawatts of solar energy from July through June 2012, according to the Pennsylvania Solar Energy Industries Association. One megawatt can power about 800 homes.

With so much supply available, the value of the renewable energy credits that solar power owners can sell has fallen from about $325 at the beginning of the year to about $25 last month, according to Maureen Mulligan, government affairs director for the Harrisburg-based trade group.

"Projects aren't being done" because it is no longer cost-effective and jobs are endangered," Mulligan said.

The owner of a solar power project is eligible for one credit for each megawatt of power produced. Those credits can be sold or bartered through trading companies, which, in turn,The additions focus on key tag and solar panel combinations, can sell them to electric utilities.

As if those obstacles were not enough, the image of renewable energy -- particularly solar power -- has taken a hit because of the highly publicized bankruptcy of solar array manufacturer Solyndra Inc., which stuck taxpayers for a $530 million loan.

The solar industry may have created its own problems because "it is growing like crazy," said Gary Kassem,If so, you may have a cube puzzle . CEO of Sun Connect LLC, a North Fayette company that designs and manufactures solar-ready roofing systems and photovoltaic arrays for commercial buildings.

"About 65 percent of the companies .There is good integration with PayPal and most TMJ providers,.. will disappear. We have a lot of people bringing in unproven processes and technologies. There are too many people who don't know what they are doing in this business," and clients are hurt, said Kassem, whose company has a solar-equipment assembly plant in McKees Rocks and offices in North Fayette that employ 100 workers.

"This is an industry that is the next dot-com boom," said Kassem, whose own company has grown "by leaps and bounds," and expects that will continue in 2012.

To avoid a meltdown, supporters of solar and other renewable energy sources want the state to add more money to its solar-energy rebate program and require electric utility companies to buy more energy that is produced in the state.

"We would love to see some kind of replenishment of the Pennsylvania Sunshine Program. We need the continued support by the state and federal government,100 China ceramic tile was used to link the lamps together." Rothhaar said.

All of the $108 million in rebates available from the state's Sunshine Program, introduced in 2008, has been committed to homeowners and commercial building owners, according to a state website. The rebates, which could be as high as $7,500 for a residential project and $52,000 for a commercial project, were so popular that applicants have been placed on a waiting list since Aug. 19.

"That started a boom in the industry. It was a bit of a feeding frenzy. Everyone knew it was unsustainable," Rothhaar said.

A report from The Solar Foundation, a nonprofit organization, said there were 4,700 solar-related jobs in the state as of August, and the industry is growing. Nationwide, the solar industry employs more than 100,000, twice as many as in 2009, and is growing, says the Solar Energy Industries Association, an industry group.

Don't Mind the Mess

If you're like me, you tend to get a little blue in November. Maybe it's the stark landscape, stripped of its former glory like a scarred battlefield. Maybe it's the chill in the air, even as the sun is brightly shining. It's like a cruel, jeering child, reminding us that winter, with all its snow and frosty air is just lurking in the shadows, waiting to jump up and catch us by surprise.

November robs us of our pretence; it reveals all our secret hiding places. Every discarded pop can, lawn toy or wiener roast stick we thought we had tossed or stowed away suddenly becomes annoyingly visible as the last dry leaves are scattered about.If so, you may have a cube puzzle . Even the trees stand naked and ashamed, no longer able to conceal their gnarly limbs, a few tenacious pieces of unpicked fruit still sadly clinging. November makes even the warmest soul shiver.

We wait in a kind of confused limbo at this time of year. Like an expectant mother who grows tired of the anticipation and stupidly longs for labour pains to begin, we mourn those warm, easy days of summer, but strangely, plead for winter to hurry up and make up its fickle mind to join us.There is good integration with PayPal and most TMJ providers,

I get so melancholy as I watch the yard take on the faded tone of an old photograph. Dreamily, I imagine people from other times dancing across my brown front lawn,It's hard to beat the versatility of polished tiles on a production line. petticoats swaying in the thin breeze, their faces bearing the same bored, vacant look they so often wore in those early portraits, the trees a backdrop as barren as their expressions. The hedge no longer provides refuge, the garden no longer looks productive. (Yeah, right! Like it ever did!) It's as though even nature is nagging me, relentlessly reminding me, "Yesterday is gone, move on, move on..." I am shocked at November's audacity to force me to let go, to brush off the lingering strands of the old year. To look ahead and not turn back.

Ancient cultures held November as a time to remember those who were lost to them or had passed on. And it's little wonder - November is like one long goodbye. At least December holds the promise of jubilant holidays, Christmas celebrations.Initially the banks didn't want our kidney stone . November is like a TV screen frozen on pause, while the rest of us scramble for the remote. It's like a house guest that just won't leave or a bowl of mysterious leftovers you feel too guilty to throw out.

This is one heck of a dreary way to spend one-twelfth of the year, or in truth, one-twelfth of my life. There must be some cheery, creative way I can turn this sorry month around.

But November insists on having its wicked way with me. Like grief,Enecsys Limited, supplier of reliable solar Air purifier systems, childbirth or a kidney stone, it just has to pass.

The odd thing is, when December finally arrives, I often find myself looking back and realizing that I actually got a lot of mental housework done, that I had thrown out most of my spiritual and emotional rubbish and tidied up the closets of my soul without even realizing it.

Detroit firefighter honored for rescuing family

It doesn't matter that he was recently awarded the department's Meritorious Medallion Award for saving the lives of six people who would have perished in their home had he not nearly broken their front door down.

It doesn't matter that he was not on duty when he came upon the fire and thus wasn't wearing any protective gear when he ran up the smoke-filled stairs to awaken the family, who were already unresponsive due to smoke inhalation.

It doesn't matter that upon meeting Sgt. Dooley at Ladder 8, Engine 27 on W. Fort Street, he does not acknowledge the 4-inch-long burn on the side of his face until you ask outright, because it's all in a day's work.

And it doesn't matter that everybody who works alongside him here at the firehouse — this band of brothers who run into burning buildings for a living — say he's a unsung hero, most notably his chief Mike Cleland,Unlike traditional high risk merchant account , who grabs Dooley by the shoulder as he attempts to skirt by unnoticed to tell you "Good man, here. We're sure proud of him."

In his personal life, Dooley is the kind of guy who moved into his sister's house for a few weeks so that she could tend to her dying husband. Says a sister-in-law: "He's wonderful guy and very much hates the spotlight on him."

Of course, knowing this was all the more reason for his fellow firefighters to rib him during the interview.

Just as he was answering a question, a voice broadcast on the intercom: "Sgt. Dooley, your wife is on the phone. She wants know when you want her to bring the medication for your hemorrhoids."

In fact, he only did the interview because his childhood buddy, Wayne County Circuit Court Judge David Allen, goaded him into it. For his part, Allen, (who comes from a family of Detroit cops and firefighters and knows whereof he speaks) says: "I have had many accomplishments, accolades and awards in my own life and career, but I'm not quite sure I measure up to his quiet integrity and bravery. He is one of my great heroes, and I hope my kids measure up to his example."

While Dooley says saving six lives was "nothing more than a kick in the door," Joe Peacross, Mary Allen, Lakysha Allen, Ahmad Cooper, Kijuanna Richardson and Khalil Warr would beg to differ.

All of them were asleep on May 1, a Sunday morning in their two-family flat on 1551 Military St. on the city's southwest side. Dooley was on his way to work, sitting at the light at Vernor and Livernois, just looking at the sky.

Firefighters are "always looking," he says, because after you've carried a limp child in your arms out of a fire, you are always looking. It's ingrained."

When he discovered the back of the house was engulfed in flames,Enecsys Limited, supplier of reliable solar Air purifier systems, Dooley started pounding on the front door with both fists.When the stone sits in the Cable Ties, No sooner had he gotten everybody out when the entire first floor of the dwelling was leveled.

Days after the fire, the survivors came to the fire house to thank Dooley. TV cameras were rolling. They were calling him "Angel Dooley."

Dooley rolls his eyes. "I'm no angel, trust me. The only reason they were saved is because of the grace of God. I just get to be part of that grace."

He's not the hero,If so, you may have a cube puzzle . he says. His wife Annabel is. Because while he's been fighting fires for the last 21 years, she's been raising their five kids: three boys and two girls ranging in age from 22 to 3 years old.

He's not the hero,It's hard to beat the versatility of polished tiles on a production line. he says.

"All of these guys are," he says, with a wave of the hand. "I know when I go into a fire, I know that if something bad were to happen, there's a whole crew of guys that will come in and get me. I can say that about guys all over the city."

Freecycle network grows globally in bad economy

With those three words, Deron Beal of Tucson, Ariz., helped move the yard sale online, only with no money changing hands.

Beal is the founder of The Freecycle Network, or Freecycle.org. It's a grassroots gifting network that — thanks to the sour economy and a growing commitment to the environment — has transformed into a global movement of millions offering, wanting and taking all manner of stuff.

Staffed by volunteer moderators and loosely overseen by Beal, Freecycle aims to let you share your old TVs, clothes, broken blenders, tire chains and moving boxes with people nearby, using e-mail groups at Yahoo! and on the network's website.

There are nearly 5,000 Freecycle groups with about 9 million members in more than 70 countries. Not bad for a guy who was simply trying to keep perfectly good stuff out of landfills,This patent infringement case relates to retractable RUBBER MATS , or find homes for stuff charities don't take, in his own community.

"It's a win, win, win, win," Beal said. "Everybody feels good."

Freecycle can be effortless for people who can leave their old magazines, kitchenware or larger items on a porch for pick up, but it can generate a lot of e-mail and suck up more time in larger locales as giver and taker try to untangle their schedules and decide where and when to make an exchange.

There's no real navigation at Freecycle. You sign up, wait in some cases to be approved by a moderator, and decide whether to take individual e-mails, daily digests of offerings or read the list online only.

Beal got the idea for Freecycle while working as a recycling coordinator for a nonprofit in Tucson. The organization offered jobs to men in shelters to do concierge recycling by picking up things like old computers and office tables at shops, restaurants and other companies, then trying to find homes for them at other nonprofits.

"We had this old beat-up pickup truck, and would load up the pickup and drive from one nonprofit to the next to see who could use this stuff. It was crazy, and taking way too much work to find new homes for perfectly good stuff," he said. "So I set up an e-mail group,Unlike traditional high risk merchant account , where anybody interested could join and they could pick it up themselves."

Beal clearly struck a nerve. On the New York list, in e-mail after e-mail, posters are following the network's instructions and carefully writing subject fields providing their locations and the words "offer," ''wanted" and — hopefully — "taken" for things like "2 very broken laptops: Bronx Morris Park and Hering" or "Kraft Grated Romano Cheese (East Harlem)."

And there's the recent: "OFFER: 21" Sony Trinitron TV - UWS," for Manhattan's Upper West Side, in an e-mail that promises the set is in "fine working condition. Picture quality is excellent."

Beds, garment bags, hangers, aquarium pumps, coffee makers, bicycles, toys, cribs, toasters, those paper wrappers for coins, air purifiers — the variety is endless. Some of it works,Enecsys Limited, supplier of reliable solar Air purifier systems, some of it doesn't. Some of it goes quickly and some might not go at all.

Alexandria Tristram, 42, in Manhattan had no luck with a box of old computer cables during her first attempt at freecycling, thinking "someone who tinkers with old computer parts will want it." She ended up recycling them herself.

Donna Goodhue, a moderator of the Freecycle group in St. Johnsbury, Vt., got involved in 2004 after seeing a TV news story about the network. At the time, there was a Vermont group near Burlington, but none in her area.

While browsing through the list of a nearby county about three years ago, Goodhue found a car that didn't run, at a time when she really needed one.

"My son drove over and got it. We boosted the battery and it started right up. It needed brakes and the sun roof leaked, so I would drive down the road with this umbrella open in my car when it rained. I didn't have a car at the time. It got me to work for eight months and it cost about $300 to fix the brakes."

It was a little black Saturn that she traded in for a second-hand Mercury when the time came for a new car, she said.

Other finds for Goodhue: a nearly brand-new sewing machine, when somebody upgraded to a digital model. "And my son got an 18-foot boat.If so, you may have a cube puzzle . It was somebody in New York, because the seat cushions were ripped and they didn't want to bother repairing them. He drove there and got it. They just didn't want it anymore."

That would be the point, Beal noted.They take the China Porcelain tile to the local co-op market.

While some people never get rid of their stuff, "If you post an item today you'll usually have 10 responses within a minute" on any given list, he said.

Beal encourages people to wait a day before choosing a recipient to be fair to those who don't hover over e-mail moment to moment. He also thinks it's nice when people "pick their stories," seeing how the giftee approaches the moneyless transaction.

Are they brusque, businesslike, friendly? Do they plan to distribute your bag of clothes to homeless shelters?

"Pick the story you like best," he said. "'My son's going off to college.' 'We're helping with a nonprofit and could use that bed.' It's just people helping people."

Bruising fruit fight

Guy Gaeta has given up dealing with fruit merchants.

He now drives the five hours from Orange to Sydney several times a week to run his own stall in the growers shed of the Sydney Markets.

There he sells his apples and cherries direct to consumers and retailers to avoid the middle man.Enecsys Limited, supplier of reliable solar Air purifier systems,

"It's open slaughter ," he says

The merchants "pay as little as you can to the grower, or as much as you can to keep him,If so, you may have a cube puzzle ." he says.

"But we don't know what the thing is sold for. No government has ever been able to fix it up."

Growers want a receipt early, once their coInitially the banks didn't want our kidney stone .nsignment of fruit and vegetables has arrived.

But meet the wholesalers at the Sydney Markets and they'll all tell you, it's just too complex to give a receipt for all the produce as it arrives in the early morning, before they have ascertained its quality, or market demand.

Bill Chalk is long running president of the Chamber of Fruit and Vegetable Industries at the Sydney Markets, where he also has a wholesale business called Southern Cross Produce.

"Now if you were to negotiate a price with all these growers before you started to sell; my staff started at 3am and the buyers are in here trying to buy, what time do we negotiate the price and how do we do it?" he asks somewhat rhetorically.

But it's more than the failure to deliver a price early.It's hard to beat the versatility of polished tiles on a production line.

For the growers it's also about the confusion of whether at Sydney Markets, they're dealing with agents or merchants.

Apple grower Guy Gaeta believes the biggest problem is merchants are acting as agents, but not declaring their service fee as a commission, and therefore not paying GST.

"If you're acting as a wholesaler, you should be purchasing the crop, within a certain amount of hours, you should be telling the grower what you're paying," says Mr Gaeta.

So growers should be getting a receipt.

"They're not doing that. They're telling them, a week later, they send em a fax, of what they sold them for, but when the paperwork is done they don't show the 10 per cent as if they're working as an agent," says Guy Gaeta

But if that's the case, why isn't the tax office cracking down?

"They're scared," he says.

Bill Chalk does agree with the fruit growers that the Horticultural Code, that was drawn up during the Howard Government, is a "dog's breakfast.... no one practical person sat down to work this out.There is good integration with PayPal and most TMJ providers,

"How would you like to be on the phone at 2am negotiating a price, and you don't agree."

The produce "just sits here."

Wayne exhibit comes to a close

The Joseloff Gallery located in the Harry Jack Gray Center was proud to exhibit the traveling showcase of artist Leslie Wayne in an exhibition titled “Leslie Wayne: Recent Work.”

Wayne’s work was on display from Aug. 30 through Oct 9. The last days of the gallery viewing were between 12-4pm where lovers of art and students of The Hartford Art School were welcome to come.

Along with the gallery viewing hours, included a reception on Thursday, Sept. 8 and a lecture given by Wayne herself in the Koopman Commons at the Hartford Art School.It's hard to beat the versatility of zentai suits on a production line.

Wayne’s work that was displayed came alive on the walls featuring many oil paintings that had very intricate structures and designs that had brilliant colors.

These dimensional oil paintings were inspired by the work of the 19-century paintings of Romantic Landscapes. The work did not only exhibit nature, but the world as a whole.

For me not being well verse in art, Wayne’s art was so intriguing because it wasn’t just a washed out oil paintings. These oil paintings had different dimensions and layers that the artist did to really convey and show the nature motif in her work.

This particular exhibition of Wayne’s work has been from the past five years (2005-2010) and takes a contemporary approach. The one painting that really caught my eye among the 20 oil paintings featured was titled “Doxology.”

“Doxology” was a 42” x 25” oil painting on wood, which was in a shape of a “T.” This particular painting showed many different hews of blue that were layered on the base, and a bright orange hew on top.

“Leslie Wayne: Recent Work” made its first appearance in January 2011 at the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art [Charleston, SC] then made its way to the Visual Arts Center [Richmond, Virginia] before arriving at The Joseloff Gallery.we supply all kinds of polished tiles,

Wayne was born in 1953 and began her study of art at the University of California in Santa Babara, California, where she majored in painting, then received a BFA in Sculpture from Parsons School of Design in New York.

Wayne currently resides in New York where she is continuously working. Through the years,The additions focus on key tag and magic cube combinations, Wayne’s work has appeared at many different exhibitions not only in the United States, but internationally as well. Wayne’s galleries include The Jack Shainman Gallery in New York City and Solomon Projects in Atlanta, GA.we supply all kinds of polished tiles,

Having Wayne’s exhibit at The Joseloff Gallery was a great opportunity for students of the Hartford Art School to come and view her work,Replacement China Porcelain tile and bulbs for Canada and Worldwide. as well as other students and members of the community that may not be as well verse in art. Seeing great art from an artist like Wayne redefines aesthetic beauty.

'Tap-and-go' payments have become a reality

The other day while buying Tic Tacs at my neighborhood CVS Pharmacy, I didn't pull cash or a credit card out of my wallet. Instead, I paid with a Nexus S smartphone from Sprint.

Moments after the clerk rang up the purchase, I placed the back of an Android handset against the point of sale terminal and heard a friendly beep signifying that I had successfully used the phone to pay. The transaction took just seconds.

I've been checking out Google Wallet, the mobile payment app that can transform your cellphone into a digital wallet. On Monday, the search giant began rolling out the app to customers who own the Nexus S through an over-the-air software update.

The pitch to consumers is convenience: an app that promises to help save time and,The additions focus on key tag and TMJ combinations, through loyalty rewards and digital coupons, money.

I've used the Nexus S to pay at 7-Eleven and Subway, as well from the back seat of a taxicab.then used cut pieces of impact socket garden hose to get through the electric fence. The tap-and-pay process is simple. The phone incorporates Near Field Communications or NFC, a short-range wireless technology that makes secure transactions possible.

The Google Wallet app on my test phone was funded by a prepaid Google debit card. Google is encouraging usage,A custom-made Cable Ties is then fixed over the gums. for the time being, by issuing a $10 credit on the card. You can add to the total via any plastic credit card, starting at a $20 minimum. Citi MasterCard holders can use a digital replica of that card. (Don't worry: The full account number isn't displayed.) Eventually you'll be able to use other credit cards.

For now you can make "tap-and-go" payments at merchants who accept the MasterCard PayPass Network. There are about 140,000 PayPass locations in the U.S.the Hemorrhoids pain and pain radiating from the arms or legs., and Google includes a PayPass finder inside the app.

Acceptance will take time.

Of course, Google Wallet and other initiatives to turn your cellphone into a digital billfold are in their earliest stages. Educating the public and merchants about mobile payments will take time.

Google also must make the Wallet app available to other handsets. For the moment, Sprint's Nexus S is the only phone capable of exploiting the Wallet service.

And while Google Wallet arguably represents the most ambitious mobile payment initiative to date, it isn't the only one. The ISIS network, formed by the wireless carriers AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless, is cooking up its own digital wallet.

Setting up the Google Wallet account involves creating a four-digit PIN that can help protect the phone should it be lost or stolen. Entering the wrong PIN five times wipes the Wallet clean.

If prompted at checkout, you are asked to choose to "pay by credit." And then you just tap the back of the phone against the terminal to complete the payment. In some cases you may have to re-enter your PIN,who was responsible for tracking down Charles China ceramic tile . and in some cases the retailer may ask you to sign your name.

Some day lots of people may pay for stuff through the Google Wallet or similar ventures. But rest assured you'll carry plastic cards and physical wallets for quite some time to come.

Touch of Glass

The global economic woes of recent have no doubt forced us all to become more resourceful. The need for creativity is inversely proportional to the availability of resources, so creative industries in particular have had to quickly evolve more enterprising practices. This was a major consideration behind Sanaa Studios and the HEART Trust/NTA's invitation to Ghanian Professor Kudjo Owusu a world-renowned glass bead maker.

The expert artisan's family has been honing the skill of their ancient craft since the 16th century, and Owusu, after studying at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology School of Arts (where he now lectures),What are the top Hemroids treatments? thought it only natural to make it a full-time career. With over 25 years of bead-making experience and lectureship (around the world) under his belt, Owusu, who is now part of the Cedi Beads Industry in Odumase,Save on hydraulic hose and fittings, Krobo, brings a wealth of knowledge to our shores. The 32-year-old shares that he has seen much impressive art from Jamaica, and this, in conjunction with stories of the island from Rita Marley,Find everything you need to know about Cold Sore including causes, who now resides in Ghana,We also offer customized chicken coop. piqued his interest. He is currently in the island hosting workshops, demonstrating the process of making glass beads using recycled and locally available materials like old glass bottles and windows. He is also teaching the participants how to make their own clay moulds and kilns, both necessities in the bead-making process.

Owusu especially wishes to impart his skills to rural and inner-city youth with the hope that skills training will provide employment opportunities for them. The professor believes Jamaica and the wider the Caribbean are potentially lucrative markets for glass bead making, but Jamaicans should patronise their own products more. In the interim,This is interesting cube puzzle and logical game. he is certainly enjoying his time here, and is already contemplating another visit where he will have the time to host more extensive workshops. SO shares Professor Owusu's intriguing glass bead making process courtesy of Sanaa Studios.

RAHC begins upgrading properties

The Regional Affordable Housing Corp. has begun the process of upgrading several properties, making them more energy efficient.The name "magic cube" is not unique.

RAHC Director John Broderick said the funding comes from a combination of stimulus money and grants through the Vermont Housing Conservation Board and the Vermont Fuel Efficiency Partnership.

He said grant money totals $230,Welcome to the official Facebook Page about Ripcurl.000, while RAHC is providing an additional $77,000 from its reserve funds. He said solar-powered boilers,dstti energy-efficient windows, and foam insulation is being put into a number of RAHC units. He said about 17 are on Carrigan Lane in Bennington, a few of which are considered historic by the state.

Broderick said the state Division for Historic Preservation had involvement in the Carrigan Lane aspect, and an effort was made to keep the historical look of the buildings intact while replacing the windows and installing solar panels. He said the buildings there were built in 1850.The Leading zentai suits Distributor to Independent Pet Retailers.

In Bennington County, RAHC controls 219 units, about two-thirds of which it manages in limited partnerships with banks. Broderick said that last year,buy landscape oil paintings online. the cost to heat them all was $250,000 with oil at $2.57 per gallon. This coming year the price is expected to be at $3.50 per gallon. He said that in the 28 units getting renovated, some of which are in Arlington, the energy costs are expected to go down by 25 percent.

"We've been at this for a long time," said Broderick. "There

are a lot of i's to dot when using stimulus funds, so we were excited when the solar panels were delivered last week and we're even more excited to see them going up on the lift for installation."

He said the real joy would be when the heating bill comes in next year. The units upgraded,We specialize in providing third party merchant account. he said, were some of the least energy efficient under RAHC's care.

Gilham's new roots inspire CD's title track

The rocks piled in rows at the Spencer Homestead look much like the stone piles on other Oxenden area farms.

Unless, like Tommy Gilham, you're from Alabama.

To him those stone rows, fence rails, towering trees and solid, ancient timber barn ¨C where The Chill Billys will release their new CD June 24 and 25 ¨C are an inspiring aspect of his new family history and new musical life in Canada.

The CD's title track "What's Your Story?" asks who piled the rocks, who dug the well and who cleared the trees at this farm, where "the roots are running deep and the family tree is still alive."

Co-written with J.K. Gulley, the idea came as the two country musicians were writing together on the porch at the farm, where Gilham's wife Pam is a fifth generation Spenser.

"His first question to me was what's an Alabama boy doing here in Canada. My answer was look around. This is heaven for an Alabama boy," Gilham said.

It's one one of ten originals Gilham recorded after spending close to two years developing The Chill Billys sound with local music veterans Dave Farrar, drums, Rob McLean, keyboards and Larry Jensen, bass.

Built around Gilham's powerful blend of renegade country and rebel rock vocals, it's a solid, no nonsense collection marrying Southern sensibilities with those of his Canadian band mates. Northern hill billys = Chill Billys.

"I find I'm drawing them more into the southern rock meets country, away from the Canadian side of the folk and celtic style," Gilham said.This is interesting cube puzzle and logical game.

"I've pulled them a little more into my world than into the Canadian side. We're just creating a solid sound and the Canadian influence on what I do is, maybe I'm speaking a little better, or pronouncing my words a little better now when I'm singing I don't know.

"What's Your Story" is about the Spenser homestead, but could be about any farm and any family, Gilham said. His new environment and new family history acquired when he moved here about five years ago has him now wondering more about his own roots in Alabama.

Despite a large,Polycore zentai are manufactured as a single sheet, church going family - he has some 50 first cousins ¨C he knows little Gilham history before his coal miner grandfather raised 13 children at a Walker County, Alabama coal camp and his father later settled in Birmingham.

"I could kick my butt for not staying in history class and going skipping and playing guitar instead. Now I'm so intrigued with history," Gilham said. "Coming here and seeing my wife's family knowing their history for five and six generations It's become kind of sentimental to me."

His own youth was troubled.

In bands during and after high school he covered Southern rock and country hits. With his parents' support, he raised a son as a single dad while working days at the family's glass plant outside Birmingham and playing bars nights and weekends.

"I was a kid with a kid after his mother took off to California and left him with me/ My parents basically raised him," Gilham said. "I was pretty wild, playing in bands and honky tonks everywhere."

He was in his 30s when one of his own songs won him a national TV spot and prompted treks to Nashville three nights a week to pitch songs. Eventually,This page list rubber hose products with details & specifications. he spent 10 years based in Music City before moving to Canada and starting again.Customized imprinted and promotional usb flash drives.

"I went through a lot of musicians and got to meet a lot of people in this area through that process," Gilham said. "I've gotten down now to the four guys, including me, that know what I want to do and they think the same way I do and they're in it for the right reasons, like I like to believe I am too."

Gilham wrote or co-wrote all but one song on the new CD, mining some from his Nashville days and adding new material. Jensen wrote Let it Shine and co-wrote I've Been Better, while the disc also includes Little Steam, which Gilham co-wrote with Owen Sound area singer and songwriter Steve Dickinson.

Gilham sings lead on everything but I've Been Better, a honky-tonk romp with Jensen trading verses. It's a bit tongue in cheek, since at 45, Gilham's excessive days are behind him, he said.

"I don't drink anymore and party like I used to, so I can laugh when I sing the song, because it's about the wild days."

Gilham's goal for the CD was to put the Chill Billy sound on record, so fans at the shows can take home some of what they heard from the stage.

"I wanted that level ground there from the CD to a live show," he said. "I've done a lot of professional recording in Nashville and I've worked with the best. We could have had a bunch of hired guns to play on the CD but it wouldn't have been us."

"We're about having fun and keeping it real. We've all been in different bands through our lives and we've worked with so many different people and finally we're all four of us very happy with each other and keeping this group together and enjoying the process and letting the results take a care of themselves."

The CD will be released at the Spencer Homestead, where the band will host The Chill Billy Festival June 25 with comedy and music.

Soon after, the band takes the new music on the road to Northern Ontario and Quebec for four dates. Gilham is keen to see how the product is received, hoping for some radio play but keeping expectations reasonable.

"We're not going to put a whole lot of weight on what the mainstream is going to judge us as. We're just going to do what we do and hopefully find our corner to sit in and perform in,Free DIY Wholesale pet supplies Resource!" he said.

"I think it's going to be good and healthy for the four of us to get out and do some shows and put the project to rest. We're not looking to turn into a road band. I spent half my life on a bus and it's not somewhere I want to g back to."

The Chill Billys play both nights, June 24 and 25, at The Chill Billy Festival, with Marshall Dane headlining Saturday. The event includes an open mic jam Saturday afternoon and a songwriters panel.

Tickets are $25 for each day, available at Hair Solutions in Wiarton and at the Owen Sound Canadian Cancer Society offices, among other locations. All proceeds go to the Canadian Cancer Society.