The Global Education & Training Market analysis study was conducted in five stages, including secondary research, primary research, expert advice on subject matter, quality control and final review.

Market data is analyzed and forecast using statistical and coherent models of the market. Market shares and key developments were also taken into account during coverage. Certain data models include Vendor Positioning Grid, Market Timeline Analysis, Market Summary, and Guide, Business Positioning Grid, Company Market Share Analysis, Measurement Requirements, Top to Bottom Analysis, and Vendor Share Analysis, among others.

ReportsnReports have recently added a report titled Education & Training Market Report to our extensive database of reports. Our team of experts has curated the report by considering industry-relevant information related to the leading vendors, distributors, and service providers to collect industry-focused insights. We offer to customize our report according to the requirements of our clients.

Download a FREE PDF Sample of this Report athttps://www.reportsnreports.com/contacts/requestsample.aspx?name=2982617

Major players in the global Education & Training Market include:

Career Education Corporation (CEC), Desire2Learn, Abu Dhabi Vocational Education and Training Institute, Osiris Educational, New Horizons Computer Learning Centers, ITT Educational Services, New Oriental Education & Technology Group, Interaction Associates, NIIT, Kaplan, Creative Education, Apollo Education Group, Benesse Corporation, QA, Global Training Solutions, Computer Generated Solutions

Education & Training Market Regional Analysis:

United States, Europe (Germany, UK, France, Italy, Spain, Russia, Poland), China, Japan, India, Southeast Asia (Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam), Central and South America (Brazil, Mexico, Colombia), Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Egypt, South Africa, Nigeria), Other Regions

Major Types Covered Technical Non-technical

Major Applications Covered Student Education Corporate Training Others

The research report, titled Education & Training Market, mainly includes a detailed segmentation of this sector, which is expected to generate massive returns by the end of the forecast period, thus showing an appreciable rate of growth over the coming years on an annual basis. The research study also looks specifically at the need for Education & Training Market.

Recent Industry Trend:

The report contains the profiles of various prominent players in the Global Education & Training Market. Different strategies implemented by these vendors have been analyzed and studied in order to gain a competitive edge, create unique product portfolios and increase their market share. The study also sheds light on major global industry vendors. Such essential vendors consist of both new and well-known players. In addition, the business report contains important data relating to the launch of new products on the market, specific licenses, domestic scenarios and the strategies of the organization implemented on the market.

Do You Have Any Query or Specific Requirement? Ask to Our Industry Expert athttps://www.reportsnreports.com/contacts/discount.aspx?name=2982617

Scope of the Report:

By pursuing the Demand of Systems for Education & Training Market. This study should be very helpful to the readers through the depth. The aspects and descriptions are represented in the Education & Training Market by maps, bar graphs, pie diagrams, and other visual representations. study. This intensifies the pictures portrayal and also helps improve the Education & Training Markets data.

The report mainly studies the size, recent trends and development status of the Education & Training Market, as well as investment opportunities, government policy, market dynamics (drivers, restraints, opportunities), supply chain and competitive landscape. Technological innovation and advancement will further optimize the performance of the product, making it more widely used in downstream applications. Moreover, Porters Five Forces Analysis (potential entrants, suppliers, substitutes, buyers, industry competitors) provides crucial information for knowing the Education & Training Market.

The content of the study subjects includes a total of 13 chapters:

Chapter 1:Provides an overview of Education & Training Market market, containing global revenue, global production, sales, and CAGR. The forecast and analysis of Education & Training Market market by type, application, and region are also presented in this chapter.

Chapter 2:Is about the market landscape and major players. It provides a competitive situation and market concentration status along with the basic information of these players.

Chapter 3:Provides a full-scale analysis of major players in the Education & Training Market industry. The basic information, as well as the profiles, applications, and specifications of products market performance along with Business Overview, are offered.

Chapter 4:Gives a worldwide view of Education & Training Market market. It includes production, market share revenue, price, and the growth rate by type.

Chapter 5:Focuses on the application of Education & Training Market, by analyzing the consumption and its growth rate of each application.

Chapter 6:Is about production, consumption, export, and import of Education & Training Market in each region.

Chapter 7:Pays attention to the production, revenue, price and gross margin of Education & Training Market in markets of different regions. The analysis of production, revenue, price and gross margin of the global market is covered in this part.

Get an Access to Single User License OR Corporate User License athttps://www.reportsnreports.com/purchase.aspx?name=2982617

Chapter 8:Concentrates on manufacturing analysis, including key raw material analysis, cost structure analysis, and process analysis, making up a comprehensive analysis of manufacturing cost.

Chapter 9:Introduces the industrial chain of Education & Training Market. Industrial chain analysis, raw material sources, and downstream buyers are analyzed in this chapter.

Chapter 10:Provides clear insights into market dynamics.

Chapter 11:Prospects the whole Education & Training Market market, including the global production and revenue forecast, regional forecast. It also foresees the Education & Training Market market by type and application.

Chapter 12:Concludes the research findings and refines all the highlights of the study.

Chapter 13:Introduces the research methodology and sources of research data for your understanding.

And more

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Education & Training Market By Regions, Type and Application with Sales and Revenue Analysis Report and Forecast to (2015-2027) - 3rd Watch News

Q4 2019 SI-BONE Inc Earnings Call

Mar 10, 2020 (Thomson StreetEvents) -- Edited Transcript of SI-BONE Inc earnings conference call or presentation Monday, March 9, 2020 at 8:30:00pm GMT

TEXT version of Transcript

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Corporate Participants

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* Jeffrey W. Dunn

SI-BONE, Inc. - Chairman, President & CEO

* Laura A. Francis

SI-BONE, Inc. - CFO & COO

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Conference Call Participants

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* Craig William Bijou

Cantor Fitzgerald & Co., Research Division - Research Analyst

* David Joshua Saxon

Needham & Company, LLC, Research Division - Associate

* David Louis Turkaly

JMP Securities LLC, Research Division - MD and Senior Research Analyst

* David Ryan Lewis

Morgan Stanley, Research Division - MD

* Kaila Paige Krum

SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Inc., Research Division - Research Analyst

* Kyle William Rose

Canaccord Genuity Corp., Research Division - Senior Analyst

* Carrie Mendivil

Gilmartin Group LLC - Principal

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Presentation

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Operator [1]

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Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the SI-BONE Q4 and Full Year 2019 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded.

I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Carrie Mendivil, Investor Relations. Thank you.

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Carrie Mendivil, Gilmartin Group LLC - Principal [2]

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Story continues

Thank you all for participating in today's call. Joining me today are Jeff Dunn, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Laura Francis, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer of SI-BONE.

Earlier today, SI-BONE released financial results for the quarter and full year ended December 31, 2019. A copy of the press release is available on the company's website.

Before we begin, I'd like to remind you that management will make statements during this call that include forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws, which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any statements contained in this call that relate to expectations or predictions of future events, results or performance are forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements, including without limitation our examination of operating funds -- of operating trends and our future financial expectations, which includes expectations for hiring, active surgeons, new products, reimbursement decisions and guidance for revenue, are based upon our current estimates and various assumptions. These statements involve material risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or events to materially differ from those anticipated or implied by these forward-looking statements. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on these statements.

For a list and description of the risks and uncertainties associated with our business, please refer to the Risk Factors section of our most recent quarterly report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 12, 2019.

SI-BONE disclaims any intention or obligation, except as required by law, to update or revise any financial projections or forward-looking statements, whether because of new information, future events or otherwise. This conference call contains time-sensitive information and is accurate only as of the live broadcast today, March 9, 2020.

And with that, I'll turn the call over to Jeff.

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Jeffrey W. Dunn, SI-BONE, Inc. - Chairman, President & CEO [3]

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Thanks, Carrie. Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us. I'm pleased to welcome you to SI-BONE's earnings call to review our fourth quarter and full year 2019 results. Our progress in 2019 was marked by strong commercial execution that drove accelerating revenue growth. Revenue for the fourth quarter was $19.8 million, up 27% compared to the fourth quarter of 2018. We ended the year with $67.3 million in sales, up 22% compared to 2018. We have now exceeded over 45,000 procedures performed by more than 2,000 surgeons worldwide. We are well positioned for the future and continue to expect our revenue for full year 2020 to be in the range of $80 million to $82 million, reflecting 19% to 22% growth over 2019.

As we enter 2020, we expect the progress and the investments we made during 2019 to pay dividends throughout this year. Starting with our sales force, we finished the fourth quarter with 56 reps in our U.S. direct sales organization. Of those 56 reps, 45 are mature reps who have been with the company for over 12 months. During 2019, our direct sales reps had an average run rate of over $1.3 million, and for our mature reps, that figure was over $1.6 million.

Our direct reps are further supported by clinical support specialists, or CSSs, who assist in case coverage. At the end of the fourth quarter, we had 51 CSSs. Looking ahead to 2020, we are focused on increasing the productivity of our U.S. sales force and incrementally hiring both U.S. direct sales reps and CSSs as needed. We expect to end the year with around 66 sales reps as we add approximately 10 direct sales reps to large and underpenetrated territories over the course of 2020. We also plan to further increase the number of CSSs, adding an equal number of new specialists throughout the year to support smaller and rapidly growing territories. This will bring our number of CSSs to 61 by the end of 2020. To support these expansion efforts, we have increased our number of U.S. regions from 10 to 12 by promoting 2 of our top direct sales rep leaders to regional sales directors.

At the core of our commercial strategy is our focus on driving iFuse procedure volumes. During the fourth quarter, our medical affairs team remained focused on training, educating and supporting surgeons. We ended the year with 539 active surgeons in the United States, which is defined as a surgeon who has performed at least one procedure in the last 3 months. While our team was focused on growing our base of active surgeons, they also were involved in increased utilization within existing active accounts. Over the course of the year, we saw our average number of cases per U.S. active surgeon increase from 3.3 in the fourth quarter of 2018 to 3.7 in the fourth quarter of 2019. In 2020, we will work to continue expanding our base of active surgeons while further penetrating existing accounts. By the end of 2020, we expect to increase the number of active surgeons in the U.S. to 625.

There are 3 ongoing initiatives we are implementing that will help us grow our active surgeon base: first, to train new providers; second, to reactivate inactive surgeons; and finally, to continue to grow KOL support for iFuse. Our vision is that eventually, every ortho and neurosurgeon will include the SI joint in their differential diagnosis of lower back pain. Our goal is for those surgeons to incorporate iFuse into his or her practice for patients suffering from SI joint dysfunction or degeneration or refer them to an iFuse-trained surgeon.

On to reimbursement, we made significant progress throughout 2019. Following the publication of the 5-year follow-up results, Cigna established positive coverage for MIS SI joint Fusion in December 2019. The new policy specifies that coverage will be exclusive for FDA-cleared implants that are placed across the SI joint and intended to promote bone fusion. Cigna is the fourth largest commercial health plan in the United States, with 14.6 million members, opening a significant opportunity to treat these patients with iFuse.

In December 2019, Anthem published a policy update on MIS SI joint Fusion. Anthem now covers the procedure but only in the case of pelvic girdle trauma. While we do not consider this a full-fledged positive coverage policy, it is a step in the right direction. We will continue to work with Anthem ahead of their next review in September.

During the fourth quarter, we also received positive news on the surgeon payment front. In the final physician payment rule released on November 1, 2019, CMS increased the CPT code's national average overall surgeon payment by 27% to $915 from $720. The Medicare fee schedule was updated to reflect this new amount effective January 1, 2020. Many private payers set their payment amounts with reference to the Medicare payment typically 10% to 33% higher than the Medicare payment for a procedure. We expect the process of updating commercial payer fee schedules and physician practice contracts to take some time, so the full effect of the payment increase may not be felt immediately. Collectively, we expect these reimbursement and payer wins from 2019 to support the expansion of iFuse in 2020.

Turning now to our international sales opportunities. We returned to positive international revenue growth in the second half of the year and ended the fourth quarter with 12% growth. Following sales force turnover in 2019, our German team ramped toward greater productivity over the course of the year. We also saw strong growth coming from the U.K. and our newer branch in France during the fourth quarter.

Additionally, we continue to make progress expanding our portfolio of comprehensive sacropelvic solutions. In December

2019, we were formally notified of the CE Mark certification in Europe for Bedrock. With these regulatory reviews complete, we launched iFuse Bedrock in Europe last month. Similar to our launch in the U.S., we are focused on gaining support from key opinion leaders at academic centers and creating a halo effect for our core SI joint fusion business.

We also launched iFuse Bone in the U.S. in December 2019. iFuse Bone is an enabling triangular technology for surgeons who are interested implant -- in implanting bone in conjunction with an iFuse procedure.

We are also working to increase awareness with patients of sacroiliac joint issues as the leading cause of chronic lower back pain -- or a leading cost, excuse me. A survey of 1,000 women in 2019 revealed that 8 in 10 are unaware of these issues after pregnancy. On Wednesday, February 26, orthopedic surgeon Dr. Michael Moghimi and SI joint -- Buddy Jamie were featured on the Emmy Award-winning daytime television talk show The Doctors. The Doctors show covers a variety of health and medical topics and has an audience of over 1.5 million people watching nationwide every day. Jamie and Dr. Moghimi discussed how the iFuse procedure enabled Jamie to return to an active lifestyle after over a decade of postpartum pain due to sacroiliac joint dysfunction, frustration and misdiagnosis.

Finally, before turning the call over to Laura, I would like to welcome Jeri Hilleman to our Board of Directors, serving as a director as well as the Chair of our Audit Committee. Her extensive experience as a public company CFO provides deep experience across public company leadership, capital raises and business development.

With now -- with that, I will now turn the call over to Laura Francis, our Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer, to provide more detail on our financial results and our 2020 outlook.

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Laura A. Francis, SI-BONE, Inc. - CFO & COO [4]

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Thanks, Jeff. For the fourth quarter of 2019, revenue increased 27% to $19.8 million compared to $15.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2018. The increase in revenue during the fourth quarter was primarily driven by higher case volumes. U.S. revenue increased 28% to $18.5 million, while international revenue increased 12% to $1.3 million compared to the corresponding prior year periods.

Gross margin for the fourth quarter 2019 was 90% compared to 91% in the fourth quarter 2018. Operating expenses increased 42% to $26.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2019 compared to $18.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2018. Our operating loss for the fourth quarter of 2019 was $8.5 million compared to $4.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2018. Net loss was $9.1 million or $0.36 per diluted share for the fourth quarter 2019 as compared to $5.3 million or $0.26 per diluted share in the fourth quarter 2018.

For the full year 2019, revenue increased 22% to $67.3 million compared to $55.4 million in 2018. U.S. revenue increased 23% to $61.8 million, while international revenue increased 4% to $5.5 million compared to 2018. The increase in U.S. revenue was primarily driven by higher case volumes. The lower growth rate for international sales was primarily due to softness in our German subsidiary in the first half of the year. Gross margin for 2019 was 90% compared to 91% in 2018. The change in gross margin was due to an increase in personnel and operations to support the growth of the business. This is in line with our expectations for gross margin to trend toward the mid- to high 80% range over the next couple of years.

Operating expenses increased 54% to $96.5 million for 2019 compared to $62.5 million in 2018. The increase in operating expense was primarily driven by increased sales hiring, surgeon training, new public company costs, stock-based compensation and litigation expenses. Regarding litigation, we executed a definitive settlement agreement in January 2020 to settle all disputes related to the advertising fax case we mentioned in our third quarter report. We recognized a loss of $3.2 million in 2019, including $700,000 during the fourth quarter, which reflects the estimable costs the company incurred from settlement of the litigation. The reserve is recorded in our accrued liabilities, and we anticipate payment will occur in the third quarter of 2020. The operating loss was $36 million in 2019 compared to $12 million in 2018. Our net loss was $38.4 million or a loss of $1.55 per diluted share for 2019, as compared to $17.5 million or a loss of $2.20 per diluted share in 2018.

Cash and marketable securities were $93.1 million as of December 31, 2019. In the first quarter of 2020, SI-BONE completed a follow-on offering, raising net proceeds of $63.4 million after deducting the underwriting discounts and commissions.

Turning to our outlook for 2020. As Jeff mentioned, we expect revenue to be in the range of $80 million to $82 million, representing growth of 19% to 22% over full year 2019. We expect U.S. growth to be between 20% and 23% during 2020. We also expect our international growth in 2020 to continue improving.

Regarding the coronavirus, we are carefully monitoring the situation. To date, we have seen an impact to our procedures in Northern Italy, which represents less than 1% of our sales. Of course, it's hard to say how the procedures will be affected if the disease becomes more widespread. Also, we have no suppliers in China and are not experiencing supply issues at this time.

I'll now turn the call back over to Jeff for closing comments.

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Jeffrey W. Dunn, SI-BONE, Inc. - Chairman, President & CEO [5]

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Thank you, Laura. 2019 was a transformational year for SI-BONE. We made significant investments that will add to the continued growth in 2020. Looking ahead in 2020, we are focused on continued commercial execution in the U.S. and overseas, ramping up training and educational efforts and furthering our efforts on the reimbursement front. We are well positioned for growth and look forward to what is ahead. I want to thank the SI-BONE team for their enthusiasm and hard work. We look forward to updating you on our progress.

With that, we will now open it up to questions. Operator?

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Questions and Answers

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Operator [1]

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(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from the line of David Turkaly from JMP Securities.

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David Louis Turkaly, JMP Securities LLC, Research Division - MD and Senior Research Analyst [2]

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Great. I know you mentioned Cigna and Anthem on the call. I was wondering, Jeff, if you might just give us an update on some of the other payers and where they stand and when you think you might hear from them.

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Jeffrey W. Dunn, SI-BONE, Inc. - Chairman, President & CEO [3]

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Yes. So as I think you know, David, Aetna had posted -- and did last year at the same time, had a date of January 9 to post an updated policy. Last year, they actually were late and posted on March 15. So our expectation, and we've heard this sort of indirectly as well, is that sometime mid-month this month, we should see an Aetna update.

As to Anthem, that's still scheduled for the fall. And as you know, they've started to cover some cases under the new policy, but we don't expect anything to change in a significant way until potentially the September time frame.

And I think, as I mentioned before, there's 112 payers that now cover, and there's 12 commercial payers, including the ones we've just talked about that do not cover. So there's a spattering of others that are still being worked on around the country.

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David Louis Turkaly, JMP Securities LLC, Research Division - MD and Senior Research Analyst [4]

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Got it. And then the 3.3 to 3.7 per active surgeon update is great. I think it's a little above what we'd look for. But I guess just your thoughts on -- now that you've been at this for a while, should we expect that to continue? Could that improve? I guess, what your thoughts are, sort of, as you look at 2020, do you think that continues to rise?

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Jeffrey W. Dunn, SI-BONE, Inc. - Chairman, President & CEO [5]

See more here:
Edited Transcript of SIBN.OQ earnings conference call or presentation 9-Mar-20 8:30pm GMT - Yahoo Finance

VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / March 9, 2020 / Commerce Resources Corp. (TSXV:CCE)(FSE:D7H0) (the "Company" or "Commerce") is pleased to announce a collaboration with CanmetMINING focused on beneficiation test work for the Ashram Rare Earth and Fluorspar Deposit. The primary objective of CanmetMINING's work on the Ashram Deposit is to identify a key approach to further enhance beneficiation performance by exploring and testing a range of potentially applicable process methods at varying test conditions. These methods are expected to include flotation, gravity separation, magnetic separation, and ore sorting, in addition to several other physical separation approaches.

Preliminary flotation results by CanmetMINING have been very encouraging with similar results (<25% mass pull and >80% recovery) to the base case flowsheet achieved while using a modified reagent scheme and test conditions that provide a cost advantage. These results continue to illustrate the versatility and optimization potential of the Ashram Deposit's flowsheet. Flotation test work is continuing, including further reagent screening, mixed collector studies, and preliminary locked cycle and reverse conditioning tests. Test programs for gravity separation and ore sorting are also being advanced through CanmetMINING.

In addition to these test programs, the Company is pleased to announce that a joint abstract by the Company and CanmetMINING titled "Mineral Processing Flowsheet Options for the Ashram Rare Earth and Fluorspar Deposit" has been accepted for presentation at the 2020 Conference of Metallurgists (COM2020) to be held August 24th to 27th in Toronto, ON. The abstract will also be expanded upon in a paper to be presented at the show.

The funding for the test work is provided by Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) through CanmetMINING's 6-year rare earth element ("REE") and chromite program, (announced in January 2015), focused on developing new extraction technologies, addressing Canadian regulations, and improving the knowledge of Canadian deposits (www.reechromite.ca). The Company's contribution to the collaboration is a supply of REE mineralized material from the Ashram Deposit, in which several tonnes remain readily available from a bulk sample completed in 2012.

The Ashram Deposit outcrops at surface, allowing for cost-effective collection of material for test work. As such, the Company is actively engaging with various research and academic institutions to support the advancement of the REE industry in Canada, and in Quebec specifically.

NI 43-101 Disclosure

Darren L. Smith, M.Sc., P.Geo., Dahrouge Geological Consulting Ltd., a Permit holder with the Ordre des Gologues du Qubec and Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, supervised the preparation of the technical information in this news release.

About Commerce Resources Corp.

Commerce Resources Corp. is an exploration and development company with a particular focus on deposits of rare metals and rare earth elements. The Company is focused on the development of its Ashram Rare Earth Element Deposit in Quebec and the Upper Fir Tantalum-Niobium Deposit in British Columbia.

For more information, please visit the corporate website at http://www.commerceresources.com or email info@commerceresources.com.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

COMMERCE RESOURCES CORP.

"Chris Grove" Chris Grove President and Director Tel: 604.484.2700 Email: cgrove@commerceresources.com Web: http://www.commerceresources.com

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking information which is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Forward looking statements in this press release include that CanmetMINING's work on the Ashram Deposit will identify a key approach to further enhance beneficiation performance. These forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information. Risks that could change or prevent these statements from coming to fruition include that CanmetMINING's work may not be successful; changing costs for mining and processing; increased capital costs; the timing and content of upcoming work programs; geological interpretations based on drilling that may change with more detailed information; potential process methods and mineral recoveries assumption based on limited test work and by comparison to what are considered analogous deposits that with further test work may not be comparable; testing of our process may not prove successful and even it tests are successful, the economic and other outcomes may not be as expected; the availability of labour, equipment and markets for the products produced; and despite the current expected viability of the project, conditions changing such that the minerals on our property cannot be economically mined, or that the required permits to build and operate the envisaged mine can be obtained. The forward-looking information contained herein is given as of the date hereof and the Company assumes no responsibility to update or revise such information to reflect new events or circumstances, except as required by law.

SOURCE: Commerce Resources Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/579537/Commerce-Resources-Corp-Announces-Metallurgical-Collaboration-with-CanmetMINING-for-the-Ashram-Deposit-Quebec

Read the rest here:

Commerce Resources Corp. Announces Metallurgical Collaboration with CanmetMINING for the Ashram Deposit, Quebec - Benzinga

by Sukumaran C.V.

In the first week of September 2017, I was in Gandhinagar with my JNU friend who is an Assistant Professor at the Central University of Gujarat, Gandhinagar. He picked me up from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, Ahmedabad and while travelling through the city, I noticed a plastic mat was draped as a wall for a long stretch preventing our view beyond it and I asked my friend what was beyond the mat wall. He replied that it is a slum and it was matt-walled in order to prevent its view from the sight of the Japanese PM Shinzo Abe who would arrive in Ahmedabad the next week.

When I visited Sabarmati Ashram and the medieval Sidi Saiyyed mosque, they were getting a facelift and my friend told me that they were beautified because the Japanese PM was scheduled to visit both the mosque and the Ashram.

When I read the news of the wall being built to block MrTrumps sight from a slum area along his route from the airport to Motera Stadium, I WhatsApped my friend and asked about it. He replied that it is the same colony that was hidden by a temporary mat wall in 2017, now being hidden by a permanent wall.

There have always been abstract walls in India, especially since Dr Manmohan Singh started the servile corporate economic policiesunder the sweet name called Liberalisation in 1991between the poor and the rich. But the Ahmedabad wall is the first instance of the abstract metamorphosing into the concrete. India is quite incredibly incredible!

Arent those people, whose presence is now hidden by a permanent wall, Indians? Can a democracy hide the underprivileged people from the sight of the VIPs who come from other democratic nations? Do those who rule the people by garnering these same peoples votes have the right to erect walls to hide their very existence from the President or Prime Minister of another nation? When elections come, wont these people who erect walls to hide the slums go to these slums asking for the votes?

Huge amounts were spent to beautify the cities which MrTrump visited. It is reported that 14,000 litres of water was released into the Yamuna in front of Taj Mahal to enable MrTrump to see the monument in a stench-free atmosphere. Yamuna and all the rivers should be stench-free. But is pumping water into the rivers the way to make them stench-free? Why dont we stop making our rivers sewers? Are only the persons like MrTrump entitled to see Taj Mahal without having inhaled the stench the people of India are forced to inhale everywhere in the so-called Swachh Bharat?

If you can spend huge amounts to pump water into rivers and to beautify the cities for the road-show of VVIPs like Trump and Modi and for useless events like Namaste Trump, why cant you spend anything to provide the slum dwellers with better living conditions? When you spend Rs 700 crores to build the Motera stadium, cant you spend at least Rs 7 crores to ameliorate the pathetic living conditions of the slum dwellers instead of insulting them by building walls to hide their very existence? When you spend Rs 2989 crores to build a Statue of Unity, why dont you spend at least Rs 200 crores to eradicate poverty and illiteracy to make the people really united?

India is the nation of Gandhi, the apostle of nonviolence, who said that I shall work for an India in which the poorest shall feel it is their country, an India in which there shall be no high class and low class of people. Can the walls that are erected to hide the very existence of the poorest help them feel it is their country? When the Father of the Nation sees the walls that have been erected between the rich and the poor in his country for whose freedom he sacrificed his life, he will be more pained than the pain the bullets of Godse inflicted on him. If the Mahatma sees the walls that are erected to hide the existence of the lesser beings of his nation, he will realise that the Swadeshi rulers are more alien than the real alien rulers who were made to quit India in 1947.

The curse of India is that our politicians/rulers, whether they belong to the Left or the Right, praise Gandhi in words and kill him in deeds.

The Ahmedabad wall reminds me of the Turkman Gate massacre during the Emergency (April 18, 1976) as a result of the demolition drive launched by Sanjay Gandhi to cleanse Delhi of its slums. When the residents of the Turkman Gate were asked to leave the colony, they refused and the police opened fire at the protesting residents and they were even run over by bulldozers. Still it is not really known how many people were massacred as the press was not allowed to cover the incident. The government, that was Indira Gandhi and her son, ordered the newspapers not to publish the news about the massacre. And Indians came to know about the massacre through the foreign media!

John Dayal and Ajoy Bose write in their book For Reasons of State: Delhi Under the Emergency: The 16 bulldozers kept on moving. They did not stop that night, nor the next day or night. In fact the bulldozers worked round the clock till April 22, till they had decimated all signs of life as well as death in Turkman Gate.

The rubble was scooped up into trucks and thrown behind the Ring Road every day where buzzards and jackals were seen rummaging through the rubble. Only the stink of stale meat which hung for days together over the thrown rubble remained to tell the story of the life and death struggle of the people of Turkman Gate.

After Indira Gandhi was ousted from power in March 1977, the Janata Party Government appointed the Shah Commission to inquire about the Turkman Gate massacre. The Commission indicted many bureaucrats and Congressmen like Pranab Mukherjee. The report was particularly scathing of Indira Gandhi, her son Sanjay Gandhi, Pranab Mukherjee, Bansi Lal, Kamal Nath and officers belonging to civil services who helped Sanjay Gandhi.

After Indira Gandhi returned to power in January 1980, she tried to destroy every single copy of the Shah Commission report and she virtually succeeded in her mission. And we know how prosperous were the political careers of people like Mukherjee, Bansi Lal and Kamal Nath. (Era Sezhiyan published Shah Commission Report: Lost, and Regained in 2011.)

The Modi era of India seems to be marked by continuous deaths of the citizens on the streets. First it was street lynchings; then people died standing in queues as a result of demonetisation. Then came the CAA and people started to be killed on the streets of UP. Now it has virtually become communal riots in Delhi. India has been scourged by communal riots in British era as a result of their divide and rule policy. The lack of unity among the Indians as a nation resulted in the greatest tragedy in the history of the sub-continentthe Partition of India. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, who was the greatest opponent of Jinnahs two-nation theory and fought the Partition of India tooth and nail until the last moment, said in a statement he issued, as the President of the Indian National Congress, on April 15, 1946: I have considered from every possible point of view the scheme of Pakistan as formulated by the Muslim League. As an Indian I have examined its implications for the future of India as a whole. As a Muslim I have examined its likely effects upon the fortunes of Muslims of India. Considering the scheme in all its aspects I have come to the conclusion that it is harmful not only for India as a whole but for Muslims in particular. And in fact it creates more problems than it solves....Two states confronting one another, offer no solution of the problem of one anothers minorities, but only lead to retribution and reprisals by introducing a system of mutual hostages. (Quoted from his autobiography India Wins Freedom)

We have been witnessing the retribution and reprisals of the system of mutual hostages the Partition of India permanently created in 1947, ever since. Delhi 2020 is its latest manifestation. As long as the religious, sectarian and exclusive politics rule the roost, India will not stop witnessing people dying on the streets.

As the communal tension in India is having a larger historic context, it cant be solved nationally. When an untoward incident happens in India, its repercussions are felt in the villages of Bangladesh (and Pakistan) as described by Taslima Nasrin in her novel Lajja written in the backdrop of the Babri Masjid demolition. The best method to solve the communal hatred the Indian subcontinent chronically experiences ever since the Partition of India is to form a federation of the sibling nationsIndia, Pakistan and Bangladesheach nation committing to the safety of the religious minorities in it. Such a mechanism may help the systematic disintegration of the religious intolerance in each sibling nation and strengthen the secular democracy that is throttled in India today, and has never been allowed to flourish in Pakistan and Bangladesh.

A former JNU student, the author is now working as a senior clerk in the Kerala State Government Service.

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A Nation that Segregates and Kills the Less Privileged - Mainstream

By ANI

NEW DELHI: Congress will flag off a 27-day-long 'Gandhi Sandesh Yatra'on March 12 to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

The march is also being undertaken to commemorate the 90th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi's historic Dandi March, which started on March 12, 1930, and ended on April 6, 1930.

The Yatra will begin from Sabarmati Ashram, Ahmedabad and will be culminating at Dandi in Gujarat on April 6, covering the 386 km route in 27 days.

Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi and party leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi and Congress Chief Ministers will attend the 27-day long padayatra. On the culminating day at Dandi, public meetings will be organized which will be addressed by Sonia, Rahul, all Congress-ruled state Chief Ministers, PCC chiefs and CWC members.

The objective of the yatra is to recall and recapture the spirit of Gandhi's Dandi March. "We will be re-establishing our resolve to protect and promote the values enshrined in our Constitution and to emulate Gandhiji's thoughts especially those relating to truth, peace, non-violence and social harmony," said the Congress in a statement.

"The Gandhi Sandesh Yatra will give an opportunity of making our younger generation appreciative of the great legacy that we have inherited from the Father of the Nation," it added.

The party has directed each PCC to participate for a day with their contingent of leaders making it an 'All India Participative Programme'.

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Congress to take out 'Gandhi Sandesh Yatra' to mark 90th anniversary of Dandi March - The New Indian Express

A book on the life and times of Ma Anand Sheela, former aide to infamous spiritual guru Osho Rajneesh, will hit the stands by second-half of this year, announced Penguin Random House India on Friday.

Sheela Birnstiel, who goes by the moniker Ma Anand Sheela, got into spotlight after the Netflix documentary series Wild Wild Country. She managed the Rajneeshpuram ashram in Wasco County, Oregon, and was the personal secretary of Osho from 1981-1985.

The biography, titled By My Own Rules, beside laying bare details of Sheela and her role in the rise and fall of the godman Osho empire, attempts to present readers with an "unwaveringly honest view of her life after Osho". "It takes a lot of courage for any publishing house to work with someone with my history-for I am no writer; I am simply narrating my life. I believe that experiences are, at times, mightier than literature," said Sheela on her upcoming book. The 70-year-old, who was alleged to be the primary perpetrator of the 1984 Rajneesh bio-terror attack in Oregon, post the attack fled to Europe as a fugitive accused of arson, wiretapping, attempted murder, and mass poisonings.

Later, she pleaded guilty to attempted murder and assault for her role and was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison and paroled after 39 months. Presently, she runs homes for the disabled and elderly in Switzerland.

"Ma Anand Sheela is unconventional, fearless, strong, and spirited. She has had an adventurous and extraordinary life, and has always lived it on her own terms.

"By My Own Rules is her memoir in which she talks about her life and work in Switzerland, her family, her memories of Bhagwan Rajneesh and what continues to drive her to live her dream even today," said Milee Ashwarya, publisher, Ebury Publishing and Vintage Publishing, Penguin Random House India.

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Book on controversial spiritual guru Ma Anand Sheela to hit stands soon - THE WEEK

Sunil Singhs car was following ours when he called me to find out where we were.

About to reach the ashram, I replied.

Are you in a black car?

Yes, I said.

Im in the car behind you.

Raul and I pulled over and he joined us in our car.

We exchanged pleasantries. He couldnt place me till he saw me. I had visited the ashram a couple of years earlier to do a story about how a certain segment of humanity is the cows biggest enemy. As we entered the ashram now, illuminated by warm sodium lights under the red sky of a dying day, our surroundings had an occult-like quality. I wondered, is this a temple to the cow? For sure, its a retreat or an old-age home for cows. In a state of general excitement, I began explaining to Sunil what science had to say, that cows and dogs, followed by perhaps the horse, were the earliest friends of mankind.

Sunil is a big guy with a stout, solid torso that supports an enormous round, balding head. He looks like he might have been a wrestler, though he has never wrestled. Sunil was barely five years old when he joined Ramesh Baba, the spiritual leader and founder of this ashram, in the late 1980s. Since then, he has been here, working day in and day out, and has risen through the ranks to become, for all practical purposes, the ashrams chief executive officer. He shares some of his management responsibilities with two other influential men deputed by Ramesh Baba.

Sunils face glows in the fading light of the day. His menacing figure belies an affable disposition. Hes a vegetarian and does not consume any mind-altering substances, not even tobacco. He has a certain reputation in the region. People know him, and those who know him revere him. Its the kind of reverence thats laced with more fear than love.

Particularly in the Hindi heartland, with its patriarchal, feudalistic traditions, it is muscle power and grit that keep a set-up like this running. Sunil is capable of defending the ashram; hes not dependent on the police like an ordinary citizen. The local cops treat him like a mafia man who can pull strings in the corridors of power. The chief minister of the day is eager to travel to the ashram to meet him and his guru, Ramesh Baba, who, Sunil informed us, was not well.

******

Sunil, it turned out, was not a diehard fan of Yogi Adityanath. Its not that Yogi Adityanaths cow vigilantism is not effective, he said. Gau-taskari or the smuggling of cows has come down. It is now 70 per cent of what it had been a year ago. But that means there are 30 per cent more cows on the streets in this region. Not that anyone notices it, for cows have always been around. You cant miss them as they eat garbage and plastic bags in the suburban landscape, or stand listlessly in the middle of the road as if their journey had ended just there. The piles of garbage, the snake charmers and the revered cows on the streets of India have, in fact, fascinated visitors since the times of Rudyard Kipling.

Sunil was not happy about the rise in the number of abandoned cows. Theres a limit to how many cows he can accommodate in this ashram. They are abandoned like the widows of Vrindavan, left to fend for themselves when they are past their prime, just when they need to be cared for the most. They are sacred, mother-like, not to be killed for meat, but they are abandoned to starvation and disease. The inherent sacredness of a cow and the treatment it receives is typical of India, a country of glorious contradictions.

Sunil said that farmers are not happy with so many abandoned cows strolling around. They are everywhere, like pests, and they enter farms, trample on the crops and destroy them.

Its a big problem here, he said. Some farmers, mostly Hindu, are then forced to bring in people who are part of the supply chain of the tanneries in the neighbouring areas. Mathuras neighbouring district of Agra is a leather industry hub.

******

Two years ago, Sunil had told me that one or two cows are stolen every day. He carried out a bit of an investigation to learn who the culprits were. They were poor people, mostly Hindus. One of them, caught red-handed, was a Hindu boy in his late teens. He would sell the stolen cows across the border in Rajasthan for their hides. Each dead cow would fetch the locals at least a couple of thousand rupees useful to run the household for a month or two.

This young boy was not handed over to the police. Instead, Sunil asked him, as reparation, to help in the construction of a local temple for a few months. Locals tend to carry out Sunils decree without protest.

Two years later, his version has changed a bit. Both Hindus and Muslims steal cows, he said, more democratic now about the religious identity of those who commit this crime. Though, both Muslims and Hindus commit the crime, they have different roles. Muslims kill the cows and Hindus facilitate the killing. The economic benefits come to Hindus as well because they are the traders, while Muslims do the dirty work. And of course, Hindus dont eat beef. They kill those who eat beef, Sunil laughed. This was not funny.

He made some innovative suggestions that Im sure he will communicate to Yogi Adityanath when he meets him next. One such idea is a subsidy on cow dung. Cow dung has been the main source of fuel for cooking in the Indian hinterland for centuries. Every part of a cow, alive or dead, is useful. Cow urine, for instance, has been found to be beneficial in a host of medical conditions such as diabetes, blood pressure, asthma, psoriasis and many more.

The father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi, was categorical about cow protection. To him, Mother cow was in many ways better than the mother who gave us birth, and therefore, he said, Cow protection is the gift of Hinduism to the world and Hinduism will live so long as there are Hindus to protect the cow. Gandhi had a message which is now relevant for the lumpen cow vigilante groups, who dont protect cows and kill humans. Gandhi had said: I would not kill a human being for the protection of a cow, as I will not kill a cow to save a human life, be it ever so precious. In other words, the life of a cow is as valuable as that of a human being, but this should not lead to bloodshed.

No politician has done anything for the cow, Sunil said in Hindi. They only do lip service, but there is nothing on the ground. Akhilesh Yadav did nothing, neither has Yogi. And then, he added after a long pause, Ab tak (so far).

Because there is no sincerity in the way cows are treated, there is a general decline in all spheres of life, Sunil pointed out, particularly the environment. The Yamuna is polluted. The natural systems are contaminated. People are dying early; hepatitis B is on the rise. Something is wrong, he said, sounding impassioned, as if something sinister were about to unfold in the land of Krishna. Modi has not taken the time to do something for the river Yamuna, he said. The real gau-rakshak is not happy. Yogi tries to be the thekedar of Hindus, but has only done lip service. Gau-raksha is only a political gimmick. Sunil was unrelenting in his criticism. Nothing is happening on the ground.

Extracted from the chapter, Mathura: The Real Gau-rakshak, of the book (Westland).

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Cows, cows, everywhere: An extract from Love Jihadis: An Open-minded Journey into the Heart of Western Uttar Pradesh - The Hindu

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New Delhi: Do women play any role in the activities of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)? Does the RSS oppose feminism? Is the RSS in favour of women working outside their homes and entering public life?

These are frequently asked questions about the RSSs ideas about women. But contrary to the common belief that women hardly have a role in its activities, there has been an increased emphasis on their growing role in the organisation over the last two-and-a-half decades.

In fact, the RSS has set up a separate coordination group for women-related activities, called the Mahila Samanvay.

Geetatai Gunde, a former senior functionary of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), an RSS-backed student organisation, has been given the charge of the coordination group.

A whole team of women activists from various RSS-backed organisations, such as the ABVP, the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), the Vishva Hindu Parishad and the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram work with Geetatai of Mahila Samanvay.

Sunil Ambekar, an RSS pracharak and former ABVP organising secretary, elaborates on the changed approach in his recently released book, The RSS Roadmaps for the 21st Century.

The impact of such intensive work (on women-related issues) is felt across the parivar (RSS and its affiliated organisations), he writes. The lawyers body Adhivakta Parishad organises conferences to spread awareness about legal rights of women at the state and national levels. The attendees are both men and women.

Krida Bharati has turned its lens on campaigns for building facilities for women athletes and players. Itihas Sankalan Samiti is working on presenting the history of Indian women and conferences of women historians, Ambekar adds. In 2017, the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh organised a massive march in Delhi with two lakh people, one lakh of the activist force were women. Vigyan Bharati started Shakti, a conclave of women scientists. Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram and Samskar Bharati have many women full-timers.

In 2010, the RSS brass had attended a two-day brainstorming session to formulate the organisations stand on various women-related issues. Then, another important meeting was held in Delhi on 23-24 March 2019, under the aegis of Mahila Samanvay. It was titled Bharatiya Stree Vimarsha (discourse on Indian women).

According to Ambekar, It deliberated chiefly on how the issues and challenges of present times can be resolved on the basis of Hindu thought and the family system. This is an ongoing and constructive dialogue within the Sangh.

Also read:RSS sees larger design in Delhi communal riots, blames changing demographic profile

The RSS rejects the Western framework of feminism. It believes that the feminist movement of the West hasnt worked in India, and what the country requires is the Indian concept of women empowerment.

Ambekar elaborates on this in his book. The Sangh does not believe in the dictates of straitjackets and isms. It is a comprehensive mission of the society to empower women and remove restrictions of purdah, which came about as a result of a long history of invasions, and to raise educational levels and economic ability, he writes.

The Sangh has supported enabling laws and policies. However the moot point is change in social mindsets where each family takes a decision to bring about a qualitative change in the status of women.

According to a senior RSS functionary, this issue is being addressed through a series of activities under two categories Parivar Prabodhan (creating awareness in families) and Mahila Samanvay (coordination with women).

The Sangh is taking up issues such as womens education, empowerment, and their increased role in public life and rejecting evils like dowry, with the families directly, the functionary said.

Our stand is clear women need to be encouraged to go out and work and they should participate more and more in public life. The families should support them and encourage them for such activities, he added.

Also read:M.S. Golwalkar: The man who transformed RSS to a pan-India organisation

Women do have a parallel organisation in the Sangh Parivar the Rashtra Sevika Samiti set up in 1936 by Laxmibai Kelkar.

On the lines of the Sangh, the Samiti also has full-timers known as pracharikas. There are currently around 50 full-time women workers in the Samiti, one third of whom are posted in the Northeast.

The Samiti also runs shakhas (training camps) and other programmes of the Sangh. At present, it has around 4,900 shakhas spread across the country. It also has a footprint in over 20 countries.

The Samitis work has been expanding rapidly, and it has a presence in almost all the sub-divisions in the country. All its posts are held by women; they control its activities.

Both the Sangh and the Samiti work in close coordination to ensure an increased participation of women. In addition, a substantial number of women are working in all the RSS-backed organisations, with several them holding prominent posts and playing leadership roles, said another RSS functionary.

Also read:RSS to initiate debate onrelevance of Mahatma Gandhis legacy in 21st century

The writer is CEO of Indraprastha Vishwa Samvad Kendra, an RSS affiliate, and author of two books on the RSS.

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RSS pushes for greater role of women in public life, rejects feminism of the West - ThePrint

Welcome to March everybody. The temperature is slowly rising and we are coming back from our winter funk. Soon enough, everyone will be outside during the day and enjoying their best life. Here are some of the best events in Moscow this week.

Come down to the 1912 Center this Monday for a night of fun. This drag bingos theme is Broadway. There will be three early bird rounds followed by 10 rounds of bingo. A $5 minimum is asked to attend but you can pay more for additional packs from $10 to $15, which includes early bird rounds and an extra sheet of paper for an additional round and more. Card sales start at 6:30 p.m., early bird rounds start at 7 p.m. and then are followed by regular games. The proceeds will be benefiting Inland Oasis.

Is there a funny story, poem or joke that you are dying to share with people? Humble Burger has the perfect thing for you this Tuesday night. With an open stage and drinks up for purchase, this is the perfect way to unwind after work, school or whatever obligations you have. Engage with the crowd and come for a good laugh. Sign-ups are at 8:45 p.m. and the open mic will start at 9 p.m.

Bitterroot is having a Friday 13th Flash event. Designs start at $50 and the event is for limbs only. Anywhere else will be charged extra. This event only comes around so often and is usually very busy so be there or be square!

Find a new best friend this St. Catricks Day at the Humane Society of the Palouse. Adoptions fees will be half off this Saturday. Cats will be $45 and dogs will be $57.50. In addition to finding a new member to the family, adopting will support Humane Society of the Palouse and their operations.Dont forget to wear green!

End the week with live music at One World Cafe. Beautiful Flaw will be performing an all acoustic show with original music. With live and relaxing music, who wouldnt want to come down and chill at One World Cafe this weekend? Grab a drink and enjoy this live performance.

Emily Pearce can be reached at arg-life@uidaho.edu.

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L.I.F.E. Hacks: some of the best entertainment in Moscow - Argonaut

This week, our music critics have picked everything from Patti Smith to Acid Tongue to Tamino. Follow the links below for ticket links and music clips for all of their picks, and find even more shows on our complete music calendar.

Pup, Screaming Females, The Drew Thomson Foundation Pup will return to Seattle and bring their Toronto bodega lifer punk to the stage, with guest sets from New Jersey indie-rock trio Screaming Females and the Canadian indie-popper Drew Thomson Foundation.

The Strokes, Alvvays I recently learned about the 20-year rule used by clothing sellers to determine whether or not they can label an item as vintage. And I think the Strokesat least as they exist in popular imagination as young disaffected indie dudesare rapidly approaching vintage status, thus picking up a new layer of cool. I, for one, wouldnt mind a small resurgence of catchy-garage-meets-pop-meets-70s-swagger. Though the band has gotten distracted with their own side projects over the past few years, they've announced a new album, The New Abnormal. At a Bernie Sanders rally in New Hampshire, no less. I think its high time for zoomers to discover The Modern Age. JASMYNE KEIMIG

Young M.A. Young M.A. burst onto the scene in 2016 with her song OOOUUU. Full of boasts, bravado, and queer desire, the New York rapper seemingly bypassed raps assumed male audience to speak directly to queer/women listeners. And it worked. The song received hundreds of millions of streams, propelling her career forward as one of the few openly gay rappers in hip-hop at the moment. Her most recent record, Herstory in the Making, solidified her talents as a rapper with broad appeal in cuts like She Like Im Like and BIG. Young M.A. is even an accomplished entrepreneur, recently releasing a strap-on starter kityou cant say she doesnt care! JASMYNE KEIMIG

Neal Francis Chicago-based keys-playing musician Neal Francis churns out music thats deeply derivative of the 1970s, a combination of the Band at their rootsy-grooviest, the boogie-woogie side of Dr. John, and Billy Prestons upbeat soulfulness. Francis adds a dash of Chicago blues and R&B to the sonic stew, some wah-wah guitar and claved-out funkiness, and pits his mild, tuneful vocals against it all. It grooves, it rolls, it saunters, it strolls, and it is inherently likable and head-bobbable. His fantastic 2019 outing, Changes, was produced by analog maestro Sergio Rios (Orgone, Monophonics), and Francis lands in town in support. LEILANI POLK

Marc E. Bassy, Gianni & Kyle Yanking heavily from the Weeknd-style section of the R&B canon, Marc E. Bassy crafts airy, slinky club hits ripe for a late-night summer basement party. He honed his sound composing hits for Wiz Khalifa, 2 Chainz, Chris Brown, Allen Stone, and PIA MIA, and he's coming to Seattle on hisPMD Tour with pop-hop duo Gianni & Kyle in tow.

Byron Westbrook, N Chambers In the crowded field of drone-based ambient composers, Los Angeless Byron Westbrook stands as one of the most rigorous and interesting. One long-form piece he did,Threshold Variations, manifested, in his words, an immersive environment in which drones and field recordings wax and wane like aural mirages, inducing sublime dream states. For this gig, Westbrook will perform Surface Variants, an extended composition using analog and digital synths, field recordings, and tape manipulations to examine the concept of the sonic afterimage. The excerpt I heard contains abrupt transitions and episodes ranging from quiet animal sounds to corrugated noise bursts. Seattles N Chambers is returning to the live fray after months of cancer treatments. He remains, as I've been yelling at you for years, one of America's most engrossing synth composers. Hitpanabrite.bandcamp.comfor hours of sonic enlightenment. DAVE SEGAL

Lauren Sanderson Join up-and-coming LA-based hip-hop artistLauren Sanderson on herMidwest Kids Can Make It Big Tour.

Brent Amaker Death Squad, Razor Clam, Smoker Dad Even if Brent Amaker & the Rodeo couldn't hit a note, their shows would be a hit on pageantry alone. The backlit stage, the fog, the men in all black, and Bunny the burlesque dancer are a recipe as rich as a meal made entirely of desserts. The fact is, though, that the sound is amazing; guitarist Tiny Dancer builds perfect melodies, with Jacque's synth and vibes to complement the chugging rhythms built by bassist Cinderella, rhythm guitarist Ben Strehle, and drummer Bryan Crawford (who drums standing up, like Moe Tucker), and Brent's deep bass vocals ring out clear and strong. SEAN JEWELL

Patti Smith The grande dame of arty punk, the sorcerer of the cover song (see: Gloria, So You Want to Be [a Rock n Roll Star], Gimme Shelter, 5-4-3-2-1), a mythologizing poet of the libido and liberation, an eloquent advocate for leftist causes, one of the most highly evolved androgynes ever to subvert gender stereotypes, creator of one of the greatest debut albums in rock history (1975sHorses)Patti Smith is all of these and a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee. But don't hold that against her. The first four Patti LPs are where the most inspirational action is, but she has gems scattered throughout the rest of her work and her voice has aged shockingly well. DAVE SEGAL

Third Eye Blind, Saves the Day Led by Stephan Jenkins, '90s pop-alt rockers Third Eye Blind (or 3EB if you're a real fan) achieved wide success during a bizarre time in the post-grunge music scene. They performed at the 2016 Bumbershoot, and will return to Seattle again for a night of classic singles with Jersey rock bandSaves the Day.

Gill Landry, Thunderstorm Artis Louisiana singer-songwriter Gill Landry, previously of Old Crow Medicine Show, will present a night of musical storytelling, weaving together tales of the South with new American mythology. He'll be joined byThunderstorm Artis, featured on The Voice.

EVAN GIIA, Raffaella EVAN GIIA happens to be a classically trained opera singer, but leans more toward R&B-influenced and electronica-laden dance-pop in her output these days. Join her for a night out on the Hill.

Hased x Depth: La Fleur Swedish house artist La Fleur will take over the Kremwerk basement with local support from FooFou and Black Velveteen.

Dorian Electra, Alice Longyu Gao Dorian Electras early career material included economist pop (like 2010 single I'm in Love with Friedrich Hayek, a celebration of the Austrian economist, and 2011s Roll with the Flow [My Date with Keynes]). And later, a series of catchy, cheeky, yet sexy education songs/videos for womens lifestyle website Refinery29 on the history of feminism, high-heeled shoes, drag, vibrators, and, my personal fave, the clitoris (sample verse: In 3-D / The clit was mapped architecturally / To the world's surprise / It was found to be 10 times its size). Lately, the pop and performance artist with neon hair, a painted-on pencil mustache, and gothic dom-meets-Ren-faire outerwearhas been drawing on their own experiences. They told Bullett Media in 2016 that Mind Body Problem was about femininity as a performancewhen being a woman feels like putting on a costume, and the costume doesnt seem to come off with the clothes. Electras 2019 self-released debut LP, Flamboyant, discussesmasculine archetypes and issues from a gender-fluid perspective, adding a healthy dash of campiness to tunes like glamour-hyped Guyliner and biblical spoof Adam & Steve, the latters YouTube video tagged with an 18-plus age restriction for no discernible reason. (There is no nudity, no inappropriate language, no gratuitous violence Dorian tweeted recently, maybe just offensive because its gay af?). LEILANI POLK

Starlight Collective with Mark Pickerel Local music cohort theStarlight Collective will welcome drummer Ben Smith (Heart), bassist Andy Stoller (Tracy Chapman), guitarist Jeff Fielder, and special guestMark Pickerel (the Screaming Trees).

Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5 Tchaikovskys intense Symphony No. 5 will be performed by the Symphony alongsideFlorence Prices fusion-heavy Second Violin Concerto andProkofievs whimsical First Symphony.

The Gothard Sisters Greta, Willow, and Solana Gothard are Edmonds natives who have brought Celtic music onto the local scene and have won Best New Irish Artist in the Sixth Annual Irish Music Awards. Join the folksy trio for some Eire classics.

Blackbird Blackbird Mikey Maramag emerged as Blackbird Blackbird in summer 2010, more or less at the height of chillwave, when seemingly every emerging producer was dealing in narcotized, hazy beatwork. Since then, the San Francisco-based artists music has evolved in fits and starts. Maramags more recent work sits on the more tasteful end of the EDM spectrum alongside the likes of Flume or Giraffagepitched-down vocal samples, rippling synth arpeggios, drums that more aggressively recall hiphop. It lacks the personality of his early work (hes excised much of the singing and guitar), but makes up for it in energy and production acumen. ANDREW GOSPE

Christeene, Bed Tundee, Sashay, Dyed While I do not usually condone FOMO, I highly suggest you not miss out on this train wreck of a shitshow. While it's always been hard to describe quite what exactly a CHRISTEENE is, I'll go with: Austin-based stank-terror-drag phenomenon in a sweat-matted fright wig and uncomfortably blue contacts. She makes hardcore electronic music/filthy dance pop (check her NSFAnywhere videos online); the raunchy live show sometimes involves a giant cloth vagina, but will most definitely feature her more-than-half-naked backup dancers, T Gravel and C Baby, busting all the choreography. Expect a healthy dose of butt cheeks and take tomorrow off. EMILY NOKES

Noise Complaint ft. Will Clarke Unique beard-haver and Ibiza-seasoned DJ Will Clarke will play an open-to-close set to celebrate his new record label, All We Have Is Now.

Emma Horton Band Enjoy the lush vocals and jazzy instrumentation of Emma Horton and her band.

Acid Tongue, Monsterwatch, Fronds With two EPs, a couple world tours, and 2017 debut full-length Babies under their belt, the fuzzed-out garagesters of Seattles Acid Tongue are set to drop nine more tabs of psych-pop anthems in their upcoming sophomore melterBullies. In order to substantially flamb their album-release party, Acid Tongue have dynamically rounded up the local punk horrors of Monsterwatch and the dream-pop tranquilizers of Frond to concoct a mind-blending cocktail of stage-warming. Extrapolating from the Follow the Witch and Walk Dont Run singlesand especially the LPs title trackBullies reveals the continued mastery of Guy Keltner and Ian Cunninghams blistering, tastefully-nostalgic-yet-now sound and idiosyncratic wanderings into some overarching commentary on society at large. ZACH FRIMMEL

Palehound, Adult Mom, Emma Lee Toyoda Led by vocalist and guitarist Ellen Kempner, Boston-based trio Palehound make soulful, jangly indie rock. Kempners lyrics are sincere and intimate. On the bedroom-vibing, guitar-driven Room, she croons: She come over / Growing like a clover / In my rooooom. Their most recent release, 2019s Black Friday, is sonically more fleshed out with the addition of synthesizers, drum machines, and reverby old West guitars on songs like Killer. Bedroom-pop project Adult Mom and local favorite Emma Lee Toyoda open. JASMYNE KEIMIG

19th Annual More Music at the Moore More Music features young musicians collaborating and playing in a variety of styles. The program provides them with mentorship by music industry folk, production and promotional support, and a chance to connect with local musicians. Past music directors for this group have included Sheila E., Robert Glasper, Meshell Ndegeocello, Daniel Bernard Roumain, and Michael Shrieve.

Dick Valentine of Electric Six, Guests Dick Valentine of Detroit disco punks Electric Six will come to Seattle for a solo set.

Glass Animals Glass Animals enjoyed their mainstream US alt-rock radio rise with sexy-caressing youth-love singleGooey off 2014s Zaba, which finds lead singer, songwriter, and producer Dave Bayley crooning in his distinctively silky, stealthy, and mysterious vocal about peanut-butter vibes and tipsy-topsy slurs against a beat that has decided tropical percussion and jungle textures. This is a sonic theme theyve returned to over the years, most recently in Your Love (Dj Vu), a catchy single with a skittering, dance-inducing beat and samples that sound like flittering animal cries. The electro-psychedelic pop quartet took a break in mid-2018, as drummer Joe Seaward recovered from an accident that left him with brain damage (he was hit by a truck while riding his bicycle and had to learn to walk, talk, and read again). But theyre back on the road behind that single (with a third LP to come later), and playing dates at some intimate venues. LEILANI POLK

Grace Potter Grace Potter, formerly ofGrace Potter and the Nocturnals, has shared the stage with the likes of the Rolling Stones, Willie Nelson, Robert Plant, the Allman Brothers, and Mavis Staples. Catch her in Seattle on this solo tour stop.

SassyBlack's 'Depression: Antidote' Film Screening & Talkback Catherine Harris-White (aka SassyBlack) will present her new film Depression: Antidote, made in collaboration with Cleo Barnett. Join Harris-White for a Q&A and live musical performance after the film.

Jamestown Revival Texas-bred duo Jamestown Revival will bring their brand ofSouthern country, Americana, and "Western rock" to town on their latest tour.

Mary Gauthier, Jaimee Harris Folk singer-songwriter Mary Gauthier will perform songs from her album co-written with and for wounded veterans. She'll take the stage after an opening set fromJaimee Harris, whom NPR described as "a slightly edgier Emmylou Harris for the younger generation."

Whitey Morgan The time has come to officially conscript the phrase I listen to anything except country to only Tinder pages that you should really, really be swiping left on. Sure, the brod-out pop-inflected variety of the genre has only become more common and more putrid, but that stuff is the Natty Light of music, and theres quality microbrews to be found if you look. Case in point, Flint, Michigans Whitey Morgan, whose punk background and honky-tonk sound give his music the kick of a good IPA. Songs like Aint Gonna Take It Anymore balance humor and self-destructive pathos with aplombthey go down smooth but bite at the end. JOSEPH SCHAFER

Lupe Fiasco Before I actually listened to the lyrics, I thought Kick, Push (the first single off Lupe Fiascos 2006 debut full-length,Food & Liquor) was about climbing and striving to get to the top, then relaxing and coasting as your hard work pays off. In reality, its about skateboarding, a love story between two misfits on wheelsand goddamn is it ever an earworm, built on the sweeping symphonics from Celeste Legaspis 1982 song Bolero Medley, with an added bumpin beat and Lupes raps gliding over the top. Daydreamin is that albums other single, a Grammy winner and an obvious jam that taps Daydream in Blue by I Monster and features Jill Scott belting the chorus. These tracks will be performed amid the entirety of Food & Liquor for the socially conscious rappers Seattle stop. According to press materials, his fans were asking for it and the time finally felt right for a full album presentation, although it feels a bit like creative procrastinationhis not-so-unconscious way of putting off finishing Skulls, the eighth album that hes claimed will herald his retirement. LEILANI POLK

An Evening with the Skerik Band Virtuosic saxophonist Skerik is so simultaneously prolific and left-field that his life's work has been dubbed something new altogether: saxophonics. He'll perform tonight with his band.

PUNK BLACK Seattle Fest Punk scenes are composed of far more diverse crowds than just angry white kids, but the latter demographic tends to get the most mainstream credit for the birth and evolution of the genre. Here to debunk that myth are POC acts Maya Marie, the Black Chevys, Chiiirp, Hostilities, and Dark Smith.

Califone, Windoe If you equate roots music with staid traditionalism, Califone will change your outlook. For the last 22 years, the Chicago collective has been fraying said roots into songs that spring out of folk, blues, and rock, yet they become otherized through guitarist/vocalist Tim Rutilis skewed sensibility. Not too different from that of his old band, Red Red Meat, Califones music is redolent of the urban junkyard, the Alan Lomax archives, the orch-rock ghetto, and morose troubadourism. Rutilis weathered drawl adds a crucial grit and pathos to these alluringly rickety compositions; low-key, hes one of rocks most soulful singers. Califones 12th album,Echo Mine, is another subtle tweak of the unconventional methods that brought them to this poignant point. DAVE SEGAL

Tamino I was drawn to Belgian model, singer, and musician Tamino because his voice reminded me of Thom Yorkehaunting, elegantly emotive, able to reach falsetto heights with seeming ease. The artist otherwise known as Tamino-Amir Moharam Fouad (grandson of renowned Egyptian singer and film star Muharram Fouad) can carry an entire track on the strength of his exquisite vocal, which has a more velvety quality than Yorkes and can hit rather low notes too. His singing is backed by restrained instrumentals with classical ambient-electro embellishments. The beats are often languid but can rise in urgency, and occasionally reflect the influence of his Arabic background. Amir, his full-length debut, is subtle, dark, and mesmerizing. Listen to Habibi and fall in love. LEILANI POLK

Leslie Odom, Jr. Grammy winner Leslie Odom Jr. is an acclaimed singer and dancer who has found mainstream recognition through his star turn as Aaron Burr in the hit Broadway musical Hamilton. He'll come to Seattle for a live performance.

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The 37 Best Music Shows in Seattle This Week: March 9-15, 2020 - TheStranger.com