About the Artists

Black Diamond thrives on the chemistry and compositions of saxophonists Artie Black and Hunter Diamond. The two musicians met while studying under David Baker and Tom Walsh at Indiana University. A mutual admiration for the collaborative recordings of saxophonists Lee Konitz and Warne Marsh led them to experiment with their own two-tenor palette, and it quickly became apparent that the variance in their tonal and stylistic approaches created a captivating sense of balance. This dynamic has provided them the opportunity to write for the group they lead, Black Diamond, in a way that is both deeply personal and instrumentally uncommon. In Chicago, the band has been featured in residency at Andy's Jazz Club, the Drake Hotel, and the Whistler. Other performances include the 2018 Chicago Jazz Festival, and associations with the Jazz Institute of Chicago, Sounds of the City Workshop, the Anagram Series at Elastic Arts, and the Chicago Jazz Composers Collective. Recently, the band has been on three U.S. tours to Florida, Pennsylvania, and the Pacific-Northwest. As active music educators, the group has collectively been featured as guest clinicians and lecturers of jazz and ethnomusicology at Slippery Rock University (Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania), Whitworth University (Spokane, Washington), Pacific Lutheran University (Tacoma, Washington), and Knox College (Galesburg, Illinois). August 2017 marked the release of Black Diamond's debut recording, Mandala, on Shifting Paradigm Records. Featuring bassist Matt Ulery and drummer Neil Hemphill, the album contains nine original works by the duo. The title is inspired by the Vajrayana Buddhist practice of sand painting. The intent of a mandala is to form a representation of the enlightened mind through intricate patterning of layered grains of colored sand. The music on Mandala represents their grains laid; their mandala composed. Mandala was listed as an editor's pick in Downbeat magazine in August 2017. Black Diamond's second album, Chant (Shifting Paradigm Records), was recorded live at the Whistler in Chicago and released in March 2019 on Shifting Paradigm Records. This recording built on the momentum of Mandala and further crystalized the band's sound. The nature of the live recording leads to a heightened level of energy and collective improvisation. In praise of Chant, the Chicago Reader described Black Diamond's ability "...to affirm the importance of discovering the commonalities between mediums that are bound by creativity and growth." The most recent release from Black Diamond, A Held Space (Woolgathering Records) features Black and Diamond in a series of improvisational duets—the raw material of which was edited and produced to create a compositional collage that represents their longstanding chemistry. Jazz Journal UK wrote that "Black and Diamond's augmenting of their in-the-moment work stops short of straightforward overdubbing and has the effect of deepening their spontaneity and the acute degree to which they are a meeting of musical minds." The band's newest quartet recording is slated for release in early 2023.

Funding

WDCB 90.9 is the official media sponsor of Tuesdays on the Terrace.

Tuesdays on the Terrace is made possible in part by a generous gift from Luminarts Cultural Foundation, supported by Cherilyn Murer.

Atlantic Southern Paving and Sealcoating announces its continued expansion in California with the acquisition of Black Diamond Paving & Concrete.

FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla., June 22, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Atlantic Southern Paving and Sealcoating ("Atlantic Southern," or the "Company"), a premier national commercial paving company headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, FL, announced today that it has acquired Black Diamond Paving & Concrete ("Black Diamond"), headquartered in Hayward, CA with an additional office in Escondido, CA. Black Diamond has earned a stellar reputation in Northern and Southern California, utilizing its unique "Diamond Standard" process.

Atlantic Southern's CEO, Michael J. Curry Jr., stated "We are thrilled to add Black Diamond to the Atlantic Southern team and continue our expansion in California. It's a great business fit with our long-term goals in the region."

This is Atlantic Southern's fourth acquisition this year as it continues to expand into new geographic markets. In addition to this transaction, Atlantic Southern acquired Superior Blacktop Services, C&T Paving and Pavement Exchange Group in April.

In 2019, Atlantic Southern partnered with Harbor Beach Capital, a middle market private equity firm with a proven track record of driving organic and acquisition growth in middle market businesses. The partnership's mission is to continue expanding Atlantic Southern's geographic footprint while also enriching its national service offerings to a growing customer base.

About Atlantic Southern Paving and Sealcoating

Headquartered in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, Atlantic Southern is a leading, full-service commercial pavement maintenance and parking lot construction services company. Atlantic Southern offers its services throughout all 50 states and Puerto Rico. The Company's services include ADA modification, asphalt paving, asphalt repairs, concrete, crack sealing, drainage, pavement marking, sealcoating, signage, speed bumps, and striping. For more information on Atlantic Southern Paving and Sealcoating, please call 954-581-5805 or visit www.AtlanticSouthernPaving.com

Contact: Amanda Szabolcs, Corporate Development ManagerPhone: (954) 581-5805 Email: amanda@atlanticsouthernpaving.com

SOURCE Atlantic Southern Paving and Sealcoating

Black Diamond Equipment has finally opened its doors in Jackson Hole after working through lengthy town permitting and construction processes.

“It’s good to see it finally come together,” said a customer who stopped in over the rainy Memorial Day weekend.

The store — which has been wrapped for the past year with posters of athletes boot packing and trail running — shares space with Bank of the West, immediately across the street from the downtown post office and Pearl Street Bagels.

While staff won’t be serving bagels, they do have free brews, courtesy of a Keurig machine in the the shop’s coffee nook.

Store manager Vinton “Vinny” Gwinn said that’s an attempt to make the store more homey. And for a brief stint, shop dog Honey called it home, greeting customers with licks and lounging by the climbing wall.

The 4,500-square-foot shop is one of Black Diamond’s largest retail locations in the U.S., second only to its new store in Burlington, Vermont.

In the winter, Gwinn said, he will set up an entire ice climbing section. Skis are stocked year-round. Gwinn is also doing his best to stock the shop with experienced outdoors enthusiasts who know the Tetons and the kinds of adventures customers are looking to try.

Brooks Ordway signed on for the summer before he slides back to Jackson Mountain Resort as a liftie. Jake Calhoun, a Lander native and experienced sport climber, is the store’s associate store manager. Jackson native and freeride skier Erica Bowditch works the front desk.

“It’s nice to have a local presence,” said Gwinn, who was born in Pocatello, Idaho, and said his family split time between there and Teton Valley. Gwinn has a background in accounting but also a passion for adventure. (He skied the east face of Teewinot this winter and he’s hoping to run his first 50K later this year.)

Black Diamond was originally slated to open its Jackson doors before REI, which opened its first Wyoming store in November. Construction delays pushed back that opening date to May. Some buildouts, like a water hookup for the Keurig, are still underway and a proper “grand opening” is being planned for later this summer, Gwinn said, after Jackson Hole Airport reopens.

Rather than running brick and mortar operations, Black Diamond has primarily served as an online concessionaire and as a supplier for larger retail operations like REI. But the Jackson Hole opening, the company’s ninth store in the U.S., is an effort to change that strategy.

In the age of online retail having a physical location is as much about visibility as it is about making money, Devin Gillette, Black Diamond’s director of retail told the News&Guide in October.

“People can come, have coffee, meet people, ask questions and hang out,” Gillette said. “They can find out about the snowpack, discuss the forecast or ask about the best places to hike and climb.”

Black Diamond also honors pro deals in store.

Other outfitters in Jackson said they weren’t concerned about the competition for customers, but rather for staff.

“We already have very serious staffing concerns,” Skinny Skis co-owner Scott O’Brien said. “This is stressing out all the businesses that have been in Jackson for years.” “It’s not so much that it’s another outdoors store, it’s just another store.”

Gwinn said the company is planning to sponsor this year’s Town Pump climbing competition series. They also hope to sponsor local athletes, he said. All donations from the Black Diamond coffee operation will go to the Bridger-Teton Avalanche Center.

Over at Teton Mountaineering, floor manager Charlie Jones said the “explosion of recreation” during the pandemic was a boon to every outfitter, but he was still worried about Black Diamond’s potential effect.

“There was already a worker shortage, and now we feel it way more because of new businesses opening up,” he said.

“We’ll have to see over time what impact it has.”

Coal was king for decades in rural Appalachia. In recent years, however, the switch to natural gas and tough regulations placed on coal and power plant operators has jeopardized the fuel’s future. Coalfield Development, a West Virginia nonprofit dedicated to promoting economic development, is on the forefront in trying to change that, bringing much needed revitalization and economic drivers to the region, with eight projects across the state of West Virginia through the Appalachian Climate Technologies Coalition (ACT Now Coalition), a grant recipient of the national Build Back Better Regional Challenge organized by President Biden and the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA).

Among these projects is Black Diamond, a shuttered coalfield development in Wayne County, in the far west of West Virginia, that will be transformed into a regional hub for solar and renewable energy operations complete with a shipping warehouse, job training center, and dedicated space for growing solar, recycling, and bio-based manufacturers to do business. Leading the design effort on the new facility is WXY architecture + urban design and West Virginia–based Edward Tucker Architects, alongside GAI Consultants and SB Friedman Development Advisors.

WXY’s director of urban design, David Vega-Barachowitz shared in a press statement: “The redevelopment plan includes a headquarters for expanding solar companies, recycling and reuse businesses, and bio-based manufacturing. We applaud Coalfield Development’s bold vision for the future of this site as a way to unlock investment in West Virginia and advance the new energy economy.”

Solar Holler, a solar panel manufacturer headquartered on the opposite side of the Mountain State in Shepherdstown will set up some of its operation within the new Black Diamond facility, which will bring new jobs to the area, stimulating further development and promoting renewable energy.

Redevelopment of the contaminated Black Diamond site began with an extensive cleanup effort to remove environmental hazards such as inorganic metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, typically found in coal deposits. Through soil, soil vapor, and groundwater sampling, Coalfield Development and a team of engineers analyzed and cleaned the site to ready it for its next life.

As for the new development itself, it will make use of existing buildings onsite, a series of primarily single-story structures with high ceilings. The buildings outfitted as warehouse spaces can accommodate the steady in-and-out movement of shipment vehicles and serve as expansive storage facilities.

Coalfield Development was the lead applicant on the $63 million grant awarded to the ACT Now Coalition through the Build Back Better program, which distributed $1 billion among local groups to spur economic growth nationwide. The nonprofit will work with West Virginia University and other organizations operating across the state such as WV Community Development Hub and The Nature Conservancy.

The funding Coalfield Development received will be allocated among Black Diamond and seven other projects across West Virginia with similar goals. These projects include repurposing the Huntington Brownfield lot into the RCBI Welding & Robotics Technology Training Center, transforming the Kanawha Manufacturing plant into a mixed-use neighborhood with affordable housing, converting old mines into renewable energy hubs, and increasing the use and installation of solar and renewable energy across the state.

While the Build Back Better plan and funding for the ACT Now Coalition, announced back in September, are positive news and steps designed to propel U.S. economy recovery efforts and to promote sustainability in response to climate change, they come at the heels of a Supreme Court ruling this summer overturning the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s influence on the regulation carbon emissions from power plants. This case originated in West Virginia, where coal producers were angered by the emission caps and regulations put forth by the EPA concerning coal production.

With every round of layoffs, the doldrums of the biotech bear market get ever darker and more depressing. Black Diamond Therapeutics is the latest to cut ties with employees as the company ships off one asset so it can focus on the rest of its so-called “MasterKey” therapies.

The wiped-away drug is BDTX-189, an orally available small-molecule inhibitor that targets mutations of EGFR and HER2 kinases. The drug, already erased from the pipeline page on the company’s website, had been in a Phase I study, but Black Diamond is doing away with the asset because of the “rapid evolution of the treatment landscape in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) harboring either EGFR or HER2 Exon 20 insertion mutations,” the company said Monday morning.

Like many other companies in recent months, Black Diamond will lay off 30% of its workforce, which stood at 88 full-time employees as of March 1. By letting go of about two dozen employees, the company will be able to extend its runway until the third quarter of 2024. At the time of its full-year 2021 results last month, the company had expected to fund itself into 2024. The biotech had $209.8 million on hand as of Dec. 31, 2021.

“We are incredibly grateful to every member of the Black Diamond team who has helped to advance MasterKey therapies for the many patients in need of new therapeutic options as well as to the patients and investigators involved in the clinical trial of BDTX-189,” CEO and co-founder David Epstein said in a press release.

Black Diamond, which Epstein founded alongside fellow Tarceva developer Elizabeth Buck, went public in the early days of 2020 and more than doubled in its first day of trading to $39 a pop. The stock’s $BDTX story looks vastly different today, where it sits below $3 a share, or about 1/14th the value of its Wall Street debut. Black Diamond set the stage for Versant’s Basel-based incubator, becoming its first to exit stealth in late 2018.

The company made the pipeline adjustment to focus on BDTX-1535 and BDTX-4933 and other discovery efforts across its MAP platform. The first one is an inhibitor of EGFR mutations in glioblastoma and in non-small cell lung cancer. The Phase I study kicked off last quarter and an update is slated for sometime next year. Meanwhile, BDTX-4933 is a CNS-penetrant BRAF inhibitor and an IND submission is on tap for the first half of next year, the company said.

The news comes weeks after Brad Bolzon resigned from the board. He was the founding chairman until ex-GSK CEO Bob Ingram took over in autumn 2020.