Latest news with #Busby
Business Journals
14-07-2025
- Business
- Business Journals
$8.275M custom waterfront estate hits the market in Tierra Verde — setting a new standard for modern coastal luxury
Tampa Bay luxury real estate agent John LaRocca proudly announces the launch of a truly one-of-a-kind modern waterfront estate, now offered at $8.275 million. Located at 105 9th Street East in Tierra Verde, this custom, newly built property redefines what it means to live the coastal lifestyle by blending timeless design with today's most advanced construction standards. Completed in 2022, the four-bedroom, four full and two half-bath estate offers over 5,500 square feet of heated living space and more than 10,700 square feet under roof, including expansive covered outdoor areas and an air-conditioned garage gym. The first-level garage can accommodate up to 10 cars, an incredible bonus for any car enthusiast looking for ample storage and showcase potential. expand Courtesy photo Engineered for long-lasting ownership, the home features concrete block construction on the ground level, extensive pilings, hurricane-impact windows and doors, a standing seam metal roof, spray foam insulation, and a full-house generator, all meeting the latest coastal codes. Inside, the property showcases wide-plank European oak wood floors, Porcelanosa premium tile, Cambria quartz countertops, and a chef's kitchen outfitted with Sub-Zero and Wolf smart appliances, dual islands, custom Busby cabinetry, and designer finishes throughout. Outdoor living rivals a private resort with multiple lanais and decks, a Pebbletec pool with dual spas, Shawgrass turf, triple built-in umbrellas, and a fully equipped dock with lifts for boats and watercraft, all designed for ultimate waterfront living. expand Courtesy photo 'Our market continues to attract buyers who expect modern coastal luxury but also demand peace of mind and resilience,' says John LaRocca, the property's listing agent and a top producer recognized by Newsweek and the Tampa Bay Business Journal. 'Homes like this raise the bar in our coastal market. When you combine thoughtful engineering, hurricane-ready construction, and custom design, you're giving discerning buyers the long-term value and lifestyle they expect.' This modern Tierra Verde residence is offered fully furnished and available for private showings by appointment only. For more information or to arrange a tour, please contact: John LaRocca | Future Home Realty Inc, 813-990-7488, John@
Miami Herald
09-07-2025
- General
- Miami Herald
Metal detectorist finds two Roman swords — then ancient settlement uncovered
From the first coin discovered in an ancient hoard to the first stone of a medieval wall, many major archaeological discoveries stem from one initial find. In the United Kingdom, a recent catalyst of discovery came in the form of two centuries-old weapons discovered by a metal detectorist. Glenn Manning was only on his second metal detecting search ever when his machine pinged on two Roman-era swords in the spring of 2023 in Willersey, according to a July 4 news release from Historic England and an interview with The Guardian. The swords were donated to the Corinium Museum, and X-rays were later taken of the weapons to see past the degradation, according to Historic England. The swords still had traces of their scabbards, or cases, but had been severely damaged over time, officials said. 'The X-rays clearly show that the swords were constructed differently: one has evidence of decorative pattern welding running down the (center), whereas the other sword is plain,' Historic England said. 'The pattern-welded sword would have been more expensive to produce and therefore higher status.' The swords themselves were a significant find, but their discovery sparked interest in searching the area for any other Roman items, officials said. Instead, archaeologists found an entire settlement. At least three, and possibly more, Iron Age ring ditches reaching about 60 feet across were unearthed, as well as a large rectangular enclosure, according to Historic England. Archaeologists also found 'possible evidence of a Roman villa, which may also have a pair of flanking wings, one at either end of a central range,' according to the release. Roman building materials like ceramic roofing tiles, box flue tiles and painted plaster were also found at the site, archaeologists said. Finding the swords, and therefore the settlement, was like the 'stars aligning,' Cotswold Archaeology project officer Peter Busby, told The Guardian. Busby said the swords had been damaged by farm machinery and likely would have been destroyed if they weren't identified during the metal detecting search. 'It was phenomenally lucky,' Busby told the outlet. 'The swords were within half an inch, no more than an inch, of oblivion.' The swords are believed to be 'spatha' or long swords used by horse-riding Romans in the second and third centuries and date to about the same time as the suspected villa, according to Historic England. The swords may have been intentionally buried in the courtyard or garden near the villa to protect them from being stolen by the Saxons who were moving through the region, officials told The Guardian. Along with the Roman items, archaeologists also uncovered an older Iron Age burial with an iron arm band and a horse skull in a nearby pit, as well as an arm and hand found in a different trench, according to Historic England. The human remains were dated to between 800 and 100 B.C., according to The Guardian. A final report is still to come from archaeologists, and more work is needed to confirm the Roman villa and understand why it might have been built at an Iron Age site, officials said. 'I am very proud of how much our team of volunteers, professional archaeologists and metal detectorists achieved in 15 days, despite the heavy January rain,' Busby said in the release. 'We turned a ploughed field, the swords and geophysical anomalies into the story of a settlement spanning hundreds of years — the first stage in telling the history of these fields and their cavalry swords.' Willersey is in south-central England, about a 95-mile drive northwest from London.
Scoop
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Scoop
Brisbane Alt-Country/Indie Rock Group Halfway Release Their New Album The Styx
Halfway have been a band for quarter of a century, and across that time they've made eight studio albums, each of which has received a wealth of critical acclaim. From their origins in 2000, Halfway have developed their style and songs into cinematic soundscapes, lush with pedal steel, densely layered guitars, and driving rhythms. Halfway's new album, The Styx, features the return to the fold of band co-founder Chris Dale after a six-year absence, and contributions from guests including Chris Abrahams (The Necks, Midnight Oil) and Adele Pickvance (The Go-Betweens). A concept album of sorts, The Styx is situated in a remote Australian coastal town during the Christmas of 1986 and explores themes of family, isolation, love, and betrayal. " Growing up, my family would spend time at Stanage Bay in Central Queensland, which is a small fishing village situated to the southeast of the Styx River. It was a remote and beautiful place," reflects Busby. He didn't know anything about Greek mythology but saw the beauty and the danger there just the same. On fishing trips with his father and a cast of characters who might have walked out of the pages of a John Steinbeck story, he must have heard a hundred times: 'People drown in here.' Seeds were planted. ' The whole Stanage Bay / Styx River area, and the people there, are a big part of this record. When some of the band and our friends started to inform the songs, I knew I had to set it at the bay,' says Busby. ' It's a place full of beauty and mystery. I had been wanting to base a story there for a long time.' There is nothing mythic about these stories of love, lust, longing, and leaving, which feel as real as an errant fishhook deep into flesh. Brothers George and Lennie are the kind of hard-bitten characters who might be found in stories by Steinbeck or Richard Flanagan, battling the elements and themselves and always with an eye out for the fishing inspectors. Just before daylight, Lennie goes to check the nets. He doesn't return. The recording of the album took on a different form for the band, who recorded themselves in Brisbane before Mark Nevers (Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Lambchop, Calexico, George Jones) shaped the mix of the songs at his South Carolina studio, with Busby alongside him. ' We usually just record live in a room, but this one started quietly. Just my guitar and vocals, layering it track by track, and then recording the drums last. A weird back-to-front album, but it gave us the chance to put the story / songs first rather than concentrate on how the songs would work live.' The sound the band has concocted is one of sweeping beauty and sonic grace, both heartfelt and tragic. Guitar strings and keys wash across the speakers, like the ocean breeze and the river tide. Drawing on the influence of bands such as The Triffids and Phosphorescent, Halfway seamlessly blend alt-country and indie rock sensibilities, providing the songs with a hypnotic and compelling backdrop to these poetic tales from the Australian coastline. The album's first single,' The Palace ', features heart-wrenching pedal steel, courtesy of Noel Fitzpatrick, Elwin Hawtin 's solid backbeat and those chiming, hypnotic guitars (John Willsteed, Chris Dale, John Busby) that Halfway do so well. Vocal melodies duck and weave, hanging in the air with a melancholic grace as Busby delivers his lyrics amid the exquisite and atmospheric alt-country sprawl. Courtesy of an endlessly played cassette of The Queen is Dead, bought at Kmart in Rockhampton, 'The Palace' " pays homage to The Smiths and to dreaming even in the most remote places," says Busby. "It's a song for the outliers and people living in the margins." The second single, ' Matches ', written by Busby and bassist Ben Johnson, creaks and shimmers to life courtesy of its gently sparkling guitars and atmospheric keys. Drums enter the fray as the music swells and expands into an evocative sound akin to the best of Mercury Rev, where musical dreams and memories coexist. " The coals of a fire are neither flame nor ash. 'Matches' sits in the space between ignition and extinction, rooted in uncertainty," says Johnson. " The stories of The Styx inhabit that uncertain ground where nothing is fully on or off, alive or gone. What begins as fire ends as cinders and lingers softly afterward." As in their songs, as in life. Love lost and found, the pain and the hope, the past and the landscape ever-present. Great songwriting often finds a way to make the deeply personal feel universal. Few bands navigate that path as surely as Halfway across their nine timeless albums.
Vancouver Sun
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Vancouver Sun
Vancouver Art Book Fair 2025: from zines to monographs, a celebration of books as art
Vancouver Art Book Fair When: July 4-6 Where: Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre, 181 Roundhouse Mews, Vancouver Info: In a new book, Cathy Busby documents her attempts to connect with her spouse, Garry Neill Kennedy, during their final years together. A Vancouver-based artist, curator and writer with a PhD in communications, Busby has often created art using collections of materials, such as public apologies, corporate slogans, and portraits. Kennedy, who passed away in 2021, was a renowned conceptual artist credited with making the Nova Scotia School of Art and Design an internationally respected institution. They had been doing big wall paintings together for years. To help Kennedy through his dementia, Busby embarked on a project that would recall their artistic collaborations. Get top headlines and gossip from the world of celebrity and entertainment. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sun Spots will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. 'It was about keeping something going, and creating familiarity,' Busby said. 'And about maintaining dignity through the process of his decline.' She began by painting the walls of his room in a care home the same white as their home. Then, when he moved to a new facility, she began a text-painting on the wall of his bathroom that read 'I Wonder,' a phrase that he often repeated. After Kennedy passed away, she began working on what would become I Wonder: Art + Care + Dementia. I Wonder: Art + Care + Dementia is among the books that will be on display at this year's Vancouver Art Book Fair (VABF). The books range from photocopied 'zines to DIY zines to elaborately bound museum catalogues. Along with a chance to peruse and purchase these volumes, visitors can engage directly with the artists, editors, and publishers behind the books. 'I think what's exciting about the fair is that, though the work is grounded in visual art, that extends many places,' said Jonathan Middleton, co-manager of VABF. 'The interests of a large museum and someone photocopying a zine aren't always the same. But there's a lot of crossover there, too.' The fair features over 100 local and international exhibitors. Among these are 29 new participants, including Odd One Out, Hong Kong's first illustration, graphic arts, and printmaking gallery; Now Place, a San Francisco-based art space and independent publisher that empowers emerging artists from the Asian diaspora; and Nothing New Projects, an independent risograph print and publishing studio based in Ottawa. Vancouver-based artists launching new publications include Hazel Meyer, whose A Queer History of Joyce Wieland is a culmination of the author's years-long research into the legacy of the pioneering Canadian artist. 'Content-wise, on one end of the scale you'll find exhibition catalogues or monographs or anthologies of more theoretical writing about art, maybe mixed with illustration,' Middleton said. 'And on the other side of the equation there are artists who are expressing their ideas and personal experiences and politics. The zine movement, for example, has a very long history and connection to activism. And there is a long history of artists using the book as a medium, as they might use canvas or clay or video.' Middleton credits the New York Art Book Fair, which was first held in 2006, with launching 'this global movement.' The Vancouver Art Book Fair, the first of its kind in Canada, launched in 2012 — two years before the closing of Oscar's Art Books, an emporium of visual delights missed by many longtime Vancouverites, including Middleton. 'I was hired there as a student, and my job was to put their entire stock into inventory. There were thousands and thousands of books. That was a very unglorious way to learn about art books.' Busby says that for her, an art book is one in which every aspect of the design and contents add to the final product. 'For example, I thought very seriously about the cover of I Wonder: Art + Care + Dementia. It's a bit of a puzzle. It's a photo of green tape on the wall. You have to get into the book to understand what it is. However, I'm very big on giving clues. I don't want people to look at the work and go, 'What the heck is this?''
TimesLIVE
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- TimesLIVE
UJ confers celebrated writer Margaret Busby with honorary doctorate
The University of Johannesburg (UJ) has conferred an honorary doctorate on Margaret Busby, recognising her trailblazing role as Africa's first black woman publisher and her decades-long contributions to global literature. UJ is the first university on the continent to bestow this honour on Busby, whose extraordinary career has shaped the landscape of pan-African letters, elevated marginalised voices and archived a wealth of intellectual heritage across Africa and its diaspora. After the ceremony, the Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study (JIAS), hosted a celebratory lunch in Busby's honour and brought together leading thinkers, creatives, and cultural stewards. Among the guests were JIAS fellow and former South African ambassador to France and the US Barbara Masekela, ambassador Nozipho January-Bardill, writer and activist Elinor Sisulu, Brand Leadership founder Thebe Ikalafeng, acclaimed author Sue Nyathi, poet and short-story writer Makhosazana Xaba, former South African first lady Zanele Dlamini Mbeki, and broadcaster and producer Brenda Sisane and Kgomotso Matsunyane. Speaking at the event, Prof Victoria Collis-Buthelezi, director of JIAS, reflected on Busby's towering legacy. 'I want to humbly say a few words about Dr Busby and what she means to the world of letters,' Collis-Buthelezi began. 'Had Dr Busby only ever published Daughters of Africa, her 1992 collection of some 200 women from across Africa and its diaspora, she would have done more than enough to be recognised as one of the most significant figures in pan-African letters.' An unparalleled chorus of voices from different genres, centuries and regions came together in that historic anthology. Daughters of Africa was woven together in a tapestry of survival, art and intellectual resistance, from the traditional poetry of anonymous African girls celebrating the customs of girlhood to the rebellious poetry of enslaved poet Phillis Wheatley and Sojourner Truth's well-known rhetorical question Ain't I a Woman? In addition, Busby's collection featured the lyrical reflections of Ellen Kuzwayo and Noni Jabavu, the proto-Afrofuturist fiction of Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins, the scathing character-driven stories of Adelaide Casely-Hayford, and the slave narratives of Mary Prince and Harriet Jacobs.
