Trace Adkins: Country's king of the county fair!

 Story and photo's by Ray Tharaldson

Monday night Trace Adkins performed before a sold out crowd at one of America's premiere county fairs in Goshen, Indiana . The crowd rose to their feet early in the show and never sat down again. Trace's new single 'Just Fishin' drew a thundering applause as the video played on giant video screen's in the background. Several songs had never been performed in public before and the fans loved them. Trace Adkins smooth deep voice swooned the crowd for about ninety minutes before ending with a final encore.

Lucky fan, Patty Baker (right) caught Trace Adkin's hat after he'd tossed it into the crowd.

Another fan suffering from a degenerative disease was invited back stage to meet the performer.

Bio:
Trace Adkins has scored 30 Top 40 singles in his legendary career, including his memorable 2005 Top 5 hit, 'Honky Tonk Badonkadonk.' Still, the 49-year old admits that, in spite of his epic success, he is at a loss when determining which of his tunes will be a hit at radio.

"I've been doing this for 15 years now, but I still can't always tell a hit," he admits to Massachusetts newspaper, the Patriot Ledger. "Radio is a very fickle mistress. One day she is hot, one day she is not.

 My first single off this new album is a song called 'Just Fishin',' which I recorded a couple of years ago. It almost ended up on my last album, but it was too close to 'You're Gonna Miss This,' so I held it back. I have ultimate veto power over my singles, but I don't usually fight with the record label over what they want to do. The record label usually knows best."

The Louisiana native sold more than six million albums on Capitol Records, before moving to Show Dog-Universal Music in 2010, where he released his No. 1 CD, 'Cowboy's Back in Town.' Now, with the release of his second album on the label, 'Proud to Be Here,' scheduled for August 2, the former oil-rig worker says the new set of tunes marks a career milestone for him.

"This is my first time in the studio with Mark Wright," Trace says of the heavyweight producer. "He's worked with some of the biggest names in the business, everyone from George Strait to Brooks and Dunn and Reba McEntire. His pedigree as songwriter and record producer is bar none."

'Just Fishin'' is a single he didn't write, but he admits it's one of the most autobiographical songs he has ever recorded. "'Just Fishin'' sounds like it's some redneck thing, but it's a song about a father going fishing with his little girl, and she thinks it's just fishin', but it's about much more than that," Trace tells The Boot. "As a father of daughters, it hit all the right buttons. I've taught all my girls to fish, and it's about the lessons that you learn from teaching your children to fish. It's the time that you spend together doing it. That's what's really important."

The 6'6" star is in the midst of rebuilding his home following a devastating fire last month, all the while keeping up with a summer full of concert dates, including several shows in Ontario, Canada, later this week. Keep track of his schedule here.

For more information and tour dates visit:
 traceadkins.com/

http://www.4hfair.org/

Copy of Magna Carta from 1297 treated at US National Archives to reveal text with UV camera

By BRETT ZONGKER , Associated Press

WASHINGTON - A painstaking conservation effort to remove old patches and repair weak spots in a 714-year-old copy of the Magna Carta has revealed that the full text of that English declaration of human rights remains intact even though some words are faded and illegible to the eye, the National Archives said Tuesday.
A $13.5 million gift from philanthropist David Rubenstein — owner of the handwritten document — is funding the conservation effort as well preparations for an upcoming exhibit.
Thanks to the gift, the largest cash donation to the National Archives, the copy of the Magna Carta eventually will be shown as a forerunner to the freedoms imagined in the U.S. Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights. Plans call for exhibiting it along with documents showing the struggle for rights of African Americans, women, immigrants and others.
The Magna Carta bears the seal of King Edward I and is dated 1297. It is one of 17 known handwritten copies of the text that established a tradition for the rule of law that even kings would honor. It is the only original version in the Americas, while 15 are held by British institutions and one is held by Australia's Parliament.
Ultra-violet photography revealed the previously illegible writing and a fuller picture of the document's good condition, conservators told The Associated Press. Words on the right side of the text had been hidden by water damage at some point in the past.
"It's just sort of a wonderful, magical tool that conservators use to reveal what, just to the naked eye, would seem to be lost forever," said lead conservator Catherine Nicholson. "Even though things look damaged, there's still a residue there that can be confirmed."
Low-angled light also revealed an embossed image of the king seated on his throne as part of the document's seal.
None of the faded ink was replaced during weeks of conservation because the archive abides by a conservative treatment philosophy.
"We consider it part of the history of the document, the fading, we want to leave that there," spokeswoman Susan Cooper explained.
During the treatment process, conservators removed old patches and adhesives and added handmade conservation paper to strengthen the weak spots. The Magna Carta was then humidified, flattened and will lie untouched for at least three months under weights to reach the proper moisture level before being placed in a new case with humidified, inert gas for long-term preservation.
Less than 1 percent of the document's text was illegible because of damage, conservator Terry Boone said. The missing text was not revealed under simple UV light, but only when conservators used a special camera the archives recently purchased.
"We're looking at something written in medieval hand, and it's in Latin," Nicholson said.
The future exhibit could include a ultra-violet image with the full text, as well as interactive elements with a translation to show visitors how it is linked to the rights of the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution.
The first version of the Magna Carta dates to 1215 when King John agreed to have the rights of "all freemen" documented and read throughout the country. It evolved and was reissued several times until 1297 when it was entered into official English law.
Texas billionaire H. Ross Perot first purchased this document from a British family for $1.5 million in 1984 when it was last conserved at a Virginia lab. For 20 years, it was lent to the National Archives and was on public view much of that time.
Then in 2007, Rubenstein bought it for $21.3 million at auction. The billionaire co-founder of The Carlyle Group, a Washington-based private equity firm, said he bought it to prevent it from being taken out of the United States. He returned it to the National Archives in 2008 on a long-term loan.
A new gallery named for Rubenstein is scheduled to open in 2012 with the Magna Carta as a centerpiece.

Apollo 14 astronaut sued over lunar camera

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. government has sued a former NASA astronaut to recover a camera used to explore the moon's surface during the 1971 Apollo 14 mission after seeing it slated for sale in a New York auction.

The lawsuit, filed in Miami federal court on Wednesday, accuses Edgar Mitchell of illegally possessing the camera and attempting to sell it for profit.

In March, NASA learned that the British auction house Bonhams was planning to sell the camera at an upcoming Space History Sale, according to the suit.

The item was labeled "Movie Camera from the Lunar Surface" and billed as one of two cameras from the Apollo 14's lunar module Antares. The lot description said the item came "directly from the collection" of pilot Edgar Mitchell and had a pre-sale estimate of $60,000 to $80,000, the suit said.

Mitchell was a lunar module pilot on Apollo 14, which launched its nine-day mission in 1971 under the command of Alan Shepard. The sixth person to walk on the moon, Mitchell is now retired and runs a website selling his autographed picture.

He has made headlines in the past for his stated belief in the existence of extraterrestrial life.

"All equipment and property used during NASA operations remains the property of NASA unless explicitly released or transferred to another party," the government suit said, adding NASA had no record of the camera being given to Mitchell.

The suit said the government had made repeated requests to Mitchell and his lawyer to return the camera but received no response.

Mitchell's lawyer, Donald Jacobson, said NASA management was aware of and approved Mitchell's ownership of the camera 40 years ago.

"Objects from the lunar trips to the moon were ultimately mounted and then presented to the astronauts as a gift after they had helped NASA on a mission," Jacobson said.

Bonhams said in an emailed statement that the camera had been slated to be auctioned off in May when it learned about the ownership dispute from NASA. The auction house withdrew the camera from sale "pending further discussion between NASA and the consignor," a Bonhams spokesperson said.

The government is asking the court to stop Mitchell from selling the camera to anyone, to order its return and to declare that the United States has "good, clean and exclusive title" to the camera.

(Reporting by Terry Baynes; Editing by Cynthia Johnston)

Glass Plate Negatives

These are approximately 1/8" thick, coated on one side with emulsion made of gelatin and metallic silver.

Photographers began exposing glass plate negatives in their cameras in the 1850s allowing them to produce multiple copies of positive prints rather than single, positive images. The first glass plate negatives were wet collodion negatives. Each piece of glass was coated by the photographer, immediately exposed and processed. This is the method by which pioneer photographers William Henry Jackson and Matthew Brady created powerful images of the western frontier and the Civil War.

Dry-plate glass negatives were first manufactured in the 1880s and some commercial photographers continued to use them until after WW II. These ready-made negatives could be stored before use greatly simplifying photography.

Caring for Glass Plate Negatives
Do you have glass plate negatives in your family archives? These images from times past should be carefully preserved. In addition to caring for them, we suggest you have photographic prints made from them for long term preservation of the images and enjoyment.

Glass plate negatives should be handled and stored with special care. The emulsion side of an exposed negative is a soft layer of gelatin in which a metallic silver image is suspended. While more inherently stable than modern color negatives, black and white glass negatives deteriorate over the years. Unprocessed chemicals in the emulsion, contamination from storage materials, dust, moisture, extreme fluctuations of temperature and relative humidity, mold, mildew and rough handling damage all photographic materials and especially fragile glass plate negatives.

Beginning in 1888, light sensitive emulsions were all put on flexible material or film. Much easier to use and store, film negatives were manufactured in standard size sheets and continuous rolls. Roll film, first manufactured by George Eastman, paved the way for small handheld cameras and the use of photography by the masses.

Camera locates tomb not seen for 1,500 years

Mexico Star 
(IANS)

The tomb of a Mayan dignitary was found in Mexico with the use of a video camera to explore a place no one had entered or seen for the last 1,500 years.

The tomb was found at the Palenque site in Chiapas state by experts from the National Anthropology and History Institute.

Archaeologists explored the site with a video camera, measuring 4x6 cm and weighing a mere 94 grams.

The shots obtained show human figures drawn in black on red-painted walls, as well as vessels along with pieces of jade and shell that were part of the dignitary's burial.

The tomb has up to now hindered entry into the area, which jealously guards the mortal remains of a very eminent figure of that ancient Mayan city, a statement said.

The dignitary lived between 431 and 550 A.D.

Archaeologists said the crypt does not hold a sarcophagus. It is highly probable that bone fragments of the body lie directly upon the floor.

The characteristics of the funeral chamber suggests that the skeletal remains could be those of a sacred ruler.

Rare Billy the Kid photograph sold for $2.3 million

Henry McCarty, a.k.a. Billy the Kid, is pictured in this undated photograph obtained by Reuters on December 16, 2010.

By Keith Coffman

DENVER
(Reuters) - The only authenticated photograph of infamous Wild West gunslinger Billy the Kid was auctioned off to Florida billionaire William Koch for an $2.3 million on Saturday night.

Koch, an energy company executive and well-known collector of art and American West artifacts, placed the winning bid in person before stunned onlookers at Brian Lebel's annual Old West Auction in Denver.

Lebel said at an auction preview that he expected the tintype image to sell for between $300,000 and $400,000.

Koch told Reuters after the auction that he plans to allow some small museums to display the piece, and after that he will "just enjoy" the iconic piece.

"I love the old West," he said. "This is a part of American history."

The metallic photo, taken outside a Fort Sumner, New Mexico, saloon in late 1879 or early 1880, depicts the outlaw gripping the upright barrel of a Winchester carbine, with a Colt 45 pistol strapped to his hip.

The photograph was owned by the descendants of Dan Dedrick, who was given the photo by his cattle rustling partner, Billy the Kid himself.

Born Henry McCarty, but known in New Mexico as William Bonney, the Kid was shot dead at age 22 by lawman Pat Garrett in 1881, months after a jailbreak in which Bonney reportedly killed two deputies.

In the 130 years since his death, Billy the Kid has been depicted, with varying degrees of accuracy, in scores of popular culture movies and books.

Koch's winning bid was actually $2 million, but a $300,000 "buyer's premium" was tacked on, bringing the total selling price to $2.3 million, an auction spokeswoman said.

Brian Lebel said he was pleased that the photo wasn't sold to an overseas buyer.

"I'm happy that it will stay in this country and will be shared with the public," he said.

Koch is one of the sons of Fred C. Koch, founder of Wichita, Kansas-based energy conglomerate Koch Industries, one of the largest private companies in the United States.

(Editing by Steve Gorman and Ellen Wulfhorst)

Alby Falzon elevated into Hall of Fame at the Australian Surf Awards

Alby Falzon, the iconic photographer and filmmaker, has been elevated into the sport’s Hall of Fame at the Australian Surfing Awards. The Australian legend directed several remarkable surf movies.

The "Crystal Voyage" and "Morning of the Earth" are some of his great masterpieces. Growing up in the beachside suburb Maroubra in Sydney, Falzon did not begin surfing until age 14, when the family moved to the New South Wales Central Coast.

Co-founder of the original Aussie counter-culture surf bible, "Tracks", Falzon lives up to his reputation as the spiritual father of the alternative surf lifestyle. Falzon still lives on an eco-friendly farm he bought in the early 1970s near the NSW mid-north coast, where he cares for and feeds injured wildlife, before loading up his boards and driving to the beach for a surf.

And it seems that the "Morning of the Earth" lifestyle he so expertly captured in the early 1970s, is still very much a part of the man today. "Keep surfing, have a good time and have fun. Bless all of you and thank you so much for this", said Alby at the Arts Centre, on the Gold Coast.

The Australian Surfing Awards incorporating the Hall of Fame Inductee were first convened in 1985 by the Australian Surfriders Association (now Surfing Australia) to preserve the history of Australian Surfing and honour its great achievers.

For more information visit the Australian Surfing Hall of Fame at:

http://www.surfingaustralia.com/awards.php