Music Friday: Seratones Remind You to 'Keep a Diamond in Your Mind'

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you new tunes with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, the Seratones — fronted by gospel-trained powerhouse A.J. Haynes — remind you to "keep a diamond in your mind" in their 2022 release, "Good Day."

The song tells us that if we keep our thoughts pure and full of love — the characteristics of a diamond — then we're well on our way toward making it a good day. Haynes also believes that our society is unnecessarily distracted and stressed out by the internet and social media and that it's healthier to put our phones away, get outdoors and enjoy the simple things in life.

Haynes sings, "Keep a diamond in your mind / Don't you know that you are so divine? / Baby, you were made to shine."

In the song's last line, she emphasizes that "being in love is free."

"Good Day" is the fourth track on the band's third studio album, Love & Algorhythms. The band got a big boost at the end of April when they performed "Good Day" on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. The single currently ranks #23 on the US Billboard Adult Alternative Airplay chart.

The song provides the perfect vehicle for Haynes to showcase her amazing range and booming falsetto. Haynes developed her singing talents at the Brownsville Baptist church, starting at the age of six.

Formed in Shreveport, LA, in 2013, the Seratones quickly became a favorite of the Louisiana club circuit and won the Louisiana Music Prize that same year. Paste Magazine picked the Seratones as one of the "Top 20 new bands of 2015."

The group would go on to earn national fame in 2016 with its debut album, Get Gone. The soul-rock group will be promoting its new album with a tour that will make stops in 13 states and three European countries.

Please check out the video of the Seratones' live performance of "Good Day." It was filmed at Skydeck in Nashville, TN, and featured on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

"Good Day"
Written by A.J. Haynes. Performed by the Seratones.

Good day (good day, good day, good day)

Do you really wanna get better?
Do you really want to be well? (Well, well, well)
Baby, it could be so simple
As turning off your phone
But you can turn me on.
Let’s make it a

Good day (good day, good day, good day)
Rollerskatin on the haters
Glowin up and gettin paper
with me and my family
Good day (good day, good day, good day)
Not going through the motions
Baby, you are my devotion.
Being in Love is free.

Keep a diamond in your mind.
Don’t you know that you are so divine?
Baby, you were made to shine.
You can get it how you like.
I got you, you got me.
We gon’ be alright.
Let’s make it a

Good day (good day, good day, good day)
Rollerskatin on the haters
Glowin up and gettin paper
with me and my family
Good day (good day, good day, good day)
Not going through the motion.
Baby, you are my devotion.
Being in Love is free.

This is the day that Love has made.
Rejoice and be glad in it.
Did you hear what I said, I said--
This is the day that Love has made.
Won’t you rejoice?

Good day (good day, good day, good day)
Rollerskatin on the haters
Glowin up and gettin paper
with me and my family
Good day (good day, good day, good day)
Not going through the motions
Baby, you are my devotion.
Being in Love is free.
(repeat)

Credit: Screen capture via Youtube.com / The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

Cullinan-Sourced, 103-Carat 'Light of Africa Diamond' to Headline Christie's NY Sale

Sourced at the celebrated Cullinan mine in South Africa, the internally flawless, 103.49-carat, emerald-cut gem known as "The Light of Africa Diamond" will headline the New York Magnificent Jewels sale on June 8, as part of Christie’s Luxury Week.

The D-color diamond, which was cut from a 299.3-carat rough stone unearthed in January of 2021, is estimated to fetch between $11 million and $18 million.

In March of 2021, Petra Diamonds announced that it had sold the ultra-pure Type IIa stone to Belgium-based Stargems DMCC for $12.18 million. Stargems’ diamond cutters used state-of-the-art technology to map and cut the rough diamond into a polished gem that the Gemological Institute of America classified as "the pinnacle of the diamond pyramid."

(Type IIa diamonds are colorless and chemically pure with no traces of nitrogen or boron impurities. They account for less than 2% of all natural diamonds.)

The Light of Africa Diamond will be revealed at Christie’s Geneva this Friday, May 6. It will remain on exhibit in Geneva through May 11. The gem will appear at Christie’s Hong Kong from May 22 to 24, before returning to Christie’s New York from June 3 to 7.

Located at the foothills of the Magaliesberg mountain range, 37 km northeast of Pretoria, the 120-year-old Cullinan Mine has been a prolific source of large, high-quality gem diamonds. It is also one of the world’s most important sources of rare, blue diamonds.

The Cullinan Diamond Mine is responsible for producing six of the world’s largest 50 diamonds based on carat weight. These include the The Legacy of the Cullinan Diamond Mine (#45, 424.89 carats, 2019), an unnamed diamond (#39, 460.2 carats, 2009), Cullinan Heritage (#32, 507 carats, 2009), Centenary (#27, 599 carats, 1986), The Golden Jubilee (#15, 755 carats, 1985) and the granddaddy of them all — the Cullinan Diamond (#1, 3,106 carats, 1905).

The 299.2-carat rough diamond, from which The Light of Africa Diamond was cut, ranks 65 on Wikipedia's Largest Rough Diamonds list.

Another famous gem sourced at the Cullinan mine is “The Blue Moon of Josephine,” which achieved the highest per-carat price for any diamond sold at auction. When the hammer went down at $48.5 million in 2015 at Sotheby’s Geneva, the 12.03-carat, cushion-shaped gem’s per-carat price had topped out at $4.03 million.

Credits: The Light of Africa Diamond image courtesy of Christie's. Rough diamond image courtesy of Petra Diamonds.

Diamond's Amazing Properties to Revolutionize the World of Quantum Computing

Japanese researchers have created an ultra-pure, two-inch-wide diamond wafer that has the storage capacity of 25 billion gigabytes. That's equivalent to the information on one billion Blu-ray Discs or the amount of data distributed by all the world's mobile devices in a single day.

Developed by Adamant Namiki Precision Jewel Co. and Saga University, the "Kenzan Diamond" will make its debut at the International Conference on Compound Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology in Monterey, CA, from May 9 – 12. The wafers will go into production in 2023 and could revolutionize the world of quantum computing.

Conventional computers use processors made from silicon chips, but researchers are now experimenting with diamonds as a superior substitute. A minuscule defect in a diamond crystal — know as a nitrogen-vacancy center — is the key to data storage. But, if there is too much nitrogen, it won't work efficiently.

Adamant Namiki Precision Jewel Co. and Saga University improved its production method to achieve an ultra-pure wafer with no more than three parts per billion of nitrogen, making it ideal for quantum applications.

Previous limitations in production methods allowed for diamond wafers only 4mm square (See the tiny wafer in the lower left of the image, above). These wafers were made by growing crystals on a flat substrate material. They were designed in this size because they were vulnerable to cracking.

The new 55mm wafers are grown on a step-shaped substrate, which spreads the strain horizontally and makes the wafer less susceptible to cracking even though it's much larger.

Beyond being nature's hardest naturally occurring material, diamond also achieves impressive marks when it comes to its chemical, physical and mechanical properties — and that's what's got the scientific community buzzing.

The researchers at Adamant Namiki Precision Jewel Co. and Saga University are already working on a project to double the diameter of the Kenzan Diamond to four inches.

Techradar.com pointed out that at a time when corporations are returning to tape storage to help fend off ransomware attacks, diamond wafers could provide the answer for the high-capacity storage needs of the future.

Credit: Image courtesy of Saga University

Music Friday: Hank Williams Jr. Falls for a Beauty Selling Silver and Turquoise Jewelry

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you classic tunes with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, Hank Williams Jr. tells the story of his 700-mile Southwestern odyssey in a 1975 song called “Clovis, New Mexico.”

Williams recounts how he and his bronc-riding pal, Billy, head out on a very-low-budget adventure that takes them from Bossier City, LA, to Abilene, TX, and finally to Clovis, NM, where Williams is smitten by a black-haired beauty with green eyes — who just happens to be the local purveyor of silver and turquoise jewelry.

He sings, “I needed some strings / Billy wanted a ring / The kind that the Indians made / A voice said hello boys / I’ve got silver and turquoise / And that’s when I saw her face.”

Williams’ trek in an old pickup truck was not scheduled to end up in Clovis, but that's where he falls in love with a gal he calls “Baby.” He describes her as a “born thriller,” who had a talent for writing lines to songs he couldn’t complete.

“Clovis, New Mexico” was the sixth track on the country singer’s critically acclaimed, breakthrough 1975 album, Hank William, Jr. & Friends. Allmusic editor Thom Jurek wrote that Williams’ release was “one of the best country-rock albums ever made and stands with the best of the outlaw recordings of the era.” It was originally released in 1975 and then re-released in 2000.

Critics claim that the album marks a critical period in Williams’ career when his music veers toward country rock and he develops his own style instead of imitating his famous dad, Hank Williams Sr.

Williams is also a talented musician who can play the guitar, bass guitar, upright bass, steel guitar, banjo, dobro, piano, keyboards, harmonica, fiddle and drums. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2020.

Born in Shreveport, La., Williams was given the nickname Bocephus as an infant by his dad, who died tragically in 1953 at the age of 29. (Grand Ole Opry fans may remember that Bochephus was the name of the ventriloquist's dummy that co-starred with comedian Rod Brasfield.)

The 72-year-old is still actively touring, with engagements scheduled in 14 states from the end of May through the middle of August.

We hope you enjoy the audio track of Williams’ performance of “Clovis, New Mexico.” The lyrics are below if you’d like to sing along…

“Clovis, New Mexico”
Written and performed by Hank Williams, Jr.

Well me and Billy
We left Bossier City
Decided that we’d head out west
Been east and south
But it didn’t workout
We were getting’ nowhere fast
Me with my guitar
And him with his saddle
Tryin’ to out do the rest
I sang my heart out
And he rides them broncs now
And that’s what me and Billy do best.

We took interstate 20
‘Til we ran out of money
In a place just past Abilene
So I sang at a honky-tonk
And he broke the bad bronc
And we bought some gas and some beans.

With a whole lot of luck
And an old pickup truck
We made it to New Mexico
We pulled up in Clovis
And I sure didn’t know this
Was as far as I ever would go.

I needed some strings
Billy wanted a ring
The kind that the Indians made
A voice said hello boys
I’ve got silver and turquoise
And that’s when I saw her face.

That’s when I noticed
That girl down in Clovis
A black haired beauty
She set a fire to me
A green eyed lady
In old jeans that were faded
No I didn’t notice
What happened in Clovis
But I called her baby.

I asked her with care
If she’d like to share
An evening with someone like I
I said I ain’t a winner
Just a hard livin’ singer
She smiled and said meet me at nine
We ate tacos and talked
And then we took a walk
In the clean southwestern air
Then we went back to her house
I took my guitar out
And sang of my joy and despair.

She served me her wine
And she helped me write lines
To songs I could not complete
And her eyes seemed to say
Put that guitar away
That’s somethin’ that both of us need.

What a beautiful site
Was her face in the light
And the candles there on the wall
And we reached the height
Of good love on that night
And I hope we never will part.

And I’m glad I noticed
That girl down in Clovis
Daughter of a driller
She’s a born thriller
A green eyed lady
Kinda wild, kinda lazy
I didn’t notice
What happened in Clovis
But I called her baby.
Baby.

Credit: Photo by Andrea Klein, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Jewelry Category to Break Another Sales Record This Mother's Day, Predicts NRF

Mother's Day 2022 jewelry sales are expected to hit $7 billion, making it the fastest-growing and highest-volume gift-giving category for the second year in a row, according to an annual survey released by the National Retail Federation (NRF).

The jewelry sector's record-breaking tally is up from $6.1 billion in 2021 and $5.3 billion in 2020. That's a two-year sales gain of 32%.

Exactly 41% of respondents said they will be buying jewelry for their moms this year. That's a 6 percentage point increase over 2021. Forty-seven percent of men and 35% of women said they will be gifting jewelry this Mother’s Day.

Jewelry purchases and special outings, such as dinner or brunch, are driving this year’s spending increases, according to the survey, which was conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics.

“Jewelry remains a timeless gift selection for Mother’s Day and continues to capture an increasing market share,” said Prosper Vice President of Strategy Phil Rist.

Overall Mother's Day spending is expected to total $31.7 billion this year, up $3.6 billion from a record-setting 2021. The average spend will be $245, which is $25 higher than 2021 and $41 higher than 2020.

Men are expected to budget an average of $308 for their moms, while women are slated to spend $186.

Consumers in the 25-to-34 age range are likely to spend the most on Mother's Day gifts at $346. That group is followed closely by the 35- to 44-year-olds, who are expected to spend $340.

“Consumers are eager to find memorable ways to honor their mothers and other important women in their lives and are willing to spend a little extra on this sentimental holiday,” said NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay.

According to the survey, there is also a notable uptick in the number of shoppers seeking gifts that cannot be wrapped. Gifts of experience, such as concert or sporting event tickets, will be given by 27% of Mother’s Day shoppers, up from 23% last year and the highest since NRF started tracking this category in 2016.

Finding meaningful Mother’s Day gifts remains a top priority for shoppers. The most important factors are finding a gift that is unique or different (46%) and finding a gift that creates a special memory (41%).

The survey of 8,574 consumers was conducted April 1-11, 2022, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.1 percentage points.

Credit: Image by Bigstockphoto.com.