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Bahama Islands News, Articles and Information

Blacking Up

Williams and Walker are credited with being the first to throw off some of the conventions of minstrelsy, starting with the familiar plantation settings. They were criticized by the white press for not having a real coon song in their show In Dahomey, and for omitting the cakewalk finale that had become part of the formula of the minstrel show. (In the end, they gave in and restored this popular feature.) They introduced into their plots what Walker called "the native African element." The title of and idea for In Dahomey—black crooks try to persuade an elderly rich black man in Florida to finance a back-to-Africa scheme—came from their experience of meeting Africans in the San Francisco Exposition of 1893, and this encounter has become a highly symbolic moment in African-American cultural history.

Longest match finally ends after six gruelling hours

The third seeds beat Sweden’s Simon Aspelin and Todd Perry of Australia 5-7, 6-3, 6-7, 6-3, 23-21 in a match that had started on Tuesday. The final set lasted 193 minutes.

The previous record for a men’s doubles was five hours and five minutes in 1985, a quarter-final that was completed in a day.

The longest match of all had been a second round men’s singles in 1989 between qualifier Greg Holmes and fellow American Todd Witsken, which lasted five hours and 28 minutes, spread over three days, before Holmes won 14-12 in the fifth set.

Knowles and Nestor will face Bob and Mike Bryan in the semi-finals.

“It would have been tough had we lost,” said Nestor after a tie in which he and his partner saved six match points.

Longest match no laughing matter

At six hours and seven minutes, it shattered the record for the longest match since the tournament began in 1877. The longest previous match was Greg Holmes' 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 14-12 victory over Todd Witsken in five hours and 28 minutes in the second round of singles in 1989 — a match spread over three days.

Perry's match began on Tuesday about 4.30pm, was called off because of poor light at 11-11 in the fifth set, and finished on Wednesday after another 23 games.

Knowles and Nestor saved six match points en route to victory.

TV Lookout: Highlights for the week ahead

According to the two-hour program debuting 6 p.m. Sunday, piracy had its roots in the practice of "privateering," in which nations lusting for New World riches used freelance private sailors instead of navies to counter dominant Spain in the Caribbean.

The lure of wealth tempted some to cross the line into piracy, but it was peace that really swelled the pirate ranks. With thousands of privateers and sailors out of work, the age of outlaw pirates was under way; even women (Anne Bonny and Mary Read, among them) joined in.

Among the more colorful details in the program: Blackbeard intimidated foes by placing burning rope beneath his heat to create a fearsome cloud of smoke; Nassau, Bahamas, became the site of a sort of all-pirate resort; the iconoclastic Black Bart Roberts conducted religious services but hanged an official from a ship yardarm.