New England Sun-Times

Candied Yams We eat a lot of sweet potatoes here in the Deep South, and especially in Mississippi and Louisiana, because they are state crops for us, fresh and in abundance, especially in the fall and winter months. They always show up on our holiday tables of course, often in the form of gooey sweet potato casseroles covered in traditional marshmallows or a pecan praline topping , or dripping in a sugary syrup. Even with those dishes appearing on the table, you're also very likely to see a platter of them simply baked . We eat them year round that way! Mama made them, and my mother in law always has them on the table for every major holiday dinner. I eat them very simply - just split and topped with butter mostly, maybe a little sprinkle of cinnamon sugar if I'm feeling adventurous. Some folks make them into mini sweet potato casseroles by mashing the pulp with some butter and spices and topping them with a pecan praline mixture or mini marshmallows befor...

This is the third in a series of posts quoting music supervisors on how they find or discover music to license for movies and tv shows . Music Supervisors Explain How They Find Indie Music For Movies And TV [Part 1] drew on multiple sources while both Music Supervisors On How They Find Indie Music For Movies & TV [Part 2] and this post draw on interviews from LA-based Rollo & Grady's website. Future posts will focus on advertising and video games as well as services designed to help you reach music supervisors. Rollo & Grady are an "online music publication and music supervision, licensing, and production company." You can find out more about submitting music to them on their Music Supervision page. Music Supervisors on How They Find Indie Music Fusion Music Supervision's Chris Mollere has supervised such tv shows as The Vampire Diaries and Pretty Little Liars and such movies as The Box and I Hope They Serv...

Rollo & Grady are an "online music publication and music supervision, licensing, and production company" based in Los Angeles and they've been doing an excellent series of interviews with music supervisors. This post features quotes by music supervisors explaining how they find indie music for placements in tv and movies . It's the second in a series that began with Music Supervisors Explain How They Find Indie Music For Movies And TV .  Part 3 will continue next week with more excellent insider info from Rollo & Grady. I'm also planning on finding out more about music placements in advertising and videogames . For now, you can check out Hisham Dahud's post How To Get Your Music Into Video Games . Rollo & Grady's interviews with Music Supervisors are well worth a read not just to understand how to catch their attention but also to understand the world in which they live and work. Having that context will help ...

After posting about indie music in advertising , I was asked about the process of bringing one's music to the attention of music supervisors and others who can get your music on tv, in films and in commercials. I had already been gathering a series of interviews with music supervisors so it seemed timely to feature some of their comments on how they find music. The following quotes from music supervisors who find music for movies and tv were taken from articles I discovered via the Music Licensing Twitter feed (also the source of the above thumbnail). Another avenue for getting into how music supervisors think and operate is NARIP's collection of Music Supervisor Sessions on YouTube. Please feel free to share additional resources in the comments. Music Supervisors on How They Find Music Andrea von Foerster , who places a great deal of music in movies, says that she has no system but clearly has some habits including checking her in...

Philadelphia Police officers Kevin Robinson(top) and Sean McKnight (bottom) have been charged with the assault of Najee Rivera(right). (Handout photos) The day after Najee Rivera was arrested a year and a half ago, his girlfriend went to North Philadelphia's 25th Police District and saw his bloodied and broken face - his orbital bone fractured, an eye swollen shut, his face sewn up with stitches and staples. Sitting next to him Thursday night, Dina Scannapieco of South Philadelphia said she had asked the dazed, 23-year-old Rivera where he had been arrested. "As soon as I picked him up, we went right over there," Scannapieco said. He was in a hospital gown covered in blood. Eventually the couple made it to the 2700 block of North Sixth Street, where he had been arrested the night before - and where two officers were saying Rivera had thrown one of them into a brick wall. The two, she said, saw where he was arrested. "You seen all his...