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Which painter, along with Georges Braque, founded the style cubism in the early 20th century? | Pablo Picasso: 20th Century Painter and Founder of Cubism
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Pablo Picasso: 20th Century Painter and Founder of Cubism
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Pablo Picasso—born Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Clito Ruiz y Picasso—is quite possibly the most famous artist that has ever lived, both during his own life and now decades after.
Not only was Picasso a tremendously prolific painter and a leading artist of the 20th century, he also co-created Cubism , an art movement that altered art history forever.
Born in 1881, Picasso was considered an artistic prodigy as a child. His father was an art professor, so he received instruction while very young—the above drawing of a sculpture was done in 1893 when he was twelve.
His classical training was finished early on, and before the age of 20 Picasso had already begun to shift his style away from traditional realism.
But Picasso didn’t immediately begin painting in that fragmented, Cubist style we all know him for; he had two distinct periods from 1901 to around 1906—his Blue Period and his Rose Period.
During his blue period, Picasso painted with primarily cold blues tinged with green, often depicting prostitutes or beggars.
Picasso’s blue period ended when he began to introduce warmer colors into his paintings, especially pinks and soft reds.
A common motif throughout his rose period was clowns and circus performers. Picasso would often place these strangely somber figures in empty landscapes, as seen in this painting.
His rose period was shorter than the blue period that preceded it, and Picasso soon began experimenting with other painting styles.
By about 1910, Picasso had come up with something very new to the art world—Cubism. He wasn’t the sole creator of the cubist style; Georges Braque had as much, if not more, to do with Cubism than Picasso did. Picasso just became more and more famous until finally the words Cubism and modern art began to make us think of him first and foremost.
Picasso made these fractured, disjointed paintings by “analyzing” an object or scene from every angle, and then painting a single composition that combines each viewpoint. This early style of Cubism is actually called Analytic Cubism.
Picasso went on to make collage-style works too, cutting out paper shapes and combining them on canvas. It was a natural extension of his Cubist painting style, eventually leading to many sculptural works as well.
And unlike many artists, Picasso lived long enough to reap the rewards of his fame. His place in history was already assured by the 1920’s, and over the next fifty years as he continued to paint, sculpt, and create, his name truly became synonymous with modern art in the 20th century.
Pablo Picasso died at the age of 92 in 1973.
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What relation is author Kingsley Amis to author Martin Amis? | Georges Braque on ArtStack - art online
Early life[ edit ]
Georges Braque was born on 13 May 1882 in Argenteuil , Val-d'Oise . He grew up in Le Havre and trained to be a house painter and decorator like his father and grandfather. However, he also studied artistic painting during evenings at the École des Beaux-Arts , in Le Havre, from about 1897 to 1899. In Paris, he apprenticed with a decorator and was awarded his certificate in 1902. The next year, he attended the Académie Humbert, also in Paris, and painted there until 1904. It was here that he met Marie Laurencin and Francis Picabia . [1]
Fauvism[ edit ]
Georges Braque, 1906, L'Olivier près de l'Estaque (The Olive tree near l'Estaque). At least four versions of this scene were painted by Braque, one of which was stolen from the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris during the month of May, 2010. [2]
Georges Braque, 1907-08, The Viaduct at L'Estaque (Le Viaduc de l'Estaque), oil on canvas, 65.1 x 80.6 cm, Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Georges Braque, 1908, Maisons et arbre ( Houses at l'Estaque ), oil on canvas, 40.5 x 32.5 cm, Lille Métropole Museum of Modern, Contemporary and Outsider Art
Georges Braque, 1908, Le Viaduc de L'Estaque (Viaduct at L'Estaque), oil on canvas, 73 x 60 cm, Tel Aviv Museum of Art
Georges Braque, 1908, Baigneuse (Le Grand Nu, Large Nude), oil on canvas, 140 × 100 cm, Musée National d'Art Moderne , Centre Pompidou , Paris
Braque's earliest works were impressionistic , but after seeing the work exhibited by the artistic group known as the " Fauves " (Beasts) in 1905, he adopted a Fauvist style. The Fauves, a group that included Henri Matisse and André Derain among others, used brilliant colors to represent emotional response. Braque worked most closely with the artists Raoul Dufy and Othon Friesz , who shared Braque's hometown of Le Havre, to develop a somewhat more subdued Fauvist style. In 1906, Braque traveled with Friesz to L'Estaque , to Antwerp , and home to Le Havre to paint. [1]
In May 1907, he successfully exhibited works of the Fauve style in the Salon des Indépendants . The same year, Braque's style began a slow evolution as he became influenced by Paul Cézanne who had died in 1906 and whose works were exhibited in Paris for the first time in a large-scale, museum-like retrospective in September 1907. The 1907 Cézanne retrospective at the Salon d'Automne greatly affected the avant-garde artists of Paris, resulting in the advent of Cubism.
Cubism[ edit ]
Georges Braque, late 1909, Still Life with Metronome (Still Life with Mandola and Metronome), oil on canvas, 81 x 54.1 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art . Gift from the Leonard A. Lauder Cubist Collection
Georges Braque, 1909-10, La guitare (Mandora, La Mandore), oil on canvas, 71.1 x 55.9 cm, Tate Modern , London
Georges Braque, 1910, Violin and Candlestick, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Braque's paintings of 1908–1913 reflected his new interest in geometry and simultaneous perspective . He conducted an intense study of the effects of light and perspective and the technical means that painters use to represent these effects, seeming to question the most standard of artistic conventions. In his village scenes, for example, Braque frequently reduced an architectural structure to a geometric form approximating a cube, yet rendered its shading so that it looked both flat and three-dimensional by fragmenting the image. He showed this in the painting Houses at l'Estaque .
Beginning in 1909, Braque began to work closely with Pablo Picasso who had been developing a similar proto-Cubist style of painting. At the time, Pablo Picasso was influenced by Gauguin , Cézanne, African masks and Iberian sculpture while Braque was interested mainly in developing Cézanne's ideas of multiple perspectives. “A comparison of the works of Picasso and Braque during 1908 reveals that the effect of his encounter with Picasso was more to accelerate and intensify Braque’s exploration of Cézanne’s ideas, rather than to divert his thinking in any essential way.” [3] Braque’s essential subject is the ordinary objects he has known practically forever. Picasso celebrates animation, while Braque celebrates contemplation. [4] Thus, the invention of Cubism was a joint effort between Picasso and Braque, then residents of Montmartre , Paris. These artists were the style's main innovators. After meeting in October or November 1907, [5] Braque and Picasso, in particular, began working on the development of Cubism in 1908. Both artists produced paintings of monochromatic color and complex patterns of faceted form, now termed Analytic Cubism .
A decisive time of its development occurred during the summer of 1911, [6] when Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso painted side by side in Céret in the French Pyrenees, each artist producing paintings that are difficult—sometimes virtually impossible—to distinguish from those of the other. In 1912, they began to experiment with collage and Braque invented the papier collé technique. [7]
French art critic Louis Vauxcelles used the terms "bizarre cubiques" in 1908 after seeing a picture by Braque. He described it as 'full of little cubes'. The term 'Cubism', first pronounced in 1911 with reference to artists exhibiting at the Salon des Indépendants , quickly gained wide use but Picasso and Braque did not adopt it initially. Art historian Ernst Gombrich described Cubism as "the most radical attempt to stamp out ambiguity and to enforce one reading of the picture—that of a man-made construction, a colored canvas." [8] The Cubist style spread quickly throughout Paris and then Europe.
The two artists' productive collaboration continued and they worked closely together until the beginning of World War I in 1914, when Braque enlisted with the French Army. In May 1915, Braque received a severe head injury in battle at Carency and suffered temporary blindness. [9] He was trepanned , and required a long period of recuperation.
The things that Picasso and I said to one another during those years will never be said again, and even if they were, no one would understand them anymore. It was like being roped together on a mountain.
Later work[ edit ]
Braque resumed painting in late 1916. Working alone, he began to moderate the harsh abstraction of cubism. He developed a more personal style characterized by brilliant color, textured surfaces, and—after his relocation to the Normandy seacoast—the reappearance of the human figure. He painted many still life subjects during this time, maintaining his emphasis on structure. One example of this is his 1943 work Blue Guitar, which hangs in the Allen Memorial Art Museum . [12] During his recovery he became a close friend of the cubist artist Juan Gris .
He continued to work during the remainder of his life, producing a considerable number of paintings, graphics, and sculptures. Braque, along with Matisse, is credited for introducing Pablo Picasso to Fernand Mourlot , and most of the lithographs and book illustrations he himself created during the 1940s and '50s were produced at the Mourlot Studios . In 1962 Braque worked with master printmaker Aldo Crommelynck to create his series of etchings and aquatints titled L’Ordre des Oiseaux (The Order of Birds), [13] which was accompanied by the poet Saint-John Perse 's text. [14]
Braque died on 31 August 1963 in Paris. He is buried in the cemetery of the Church of St. Valery in Varengeville-sur-Mer , Normandy whose windows he designed. Braque's work is in most major museums throughout the world.
Style[ edit ]
Braque believed that an artist experienced beauty "… in terms of volume, of line, of mass, of weight, and through that beauty [he] interpret[s] [his] subjective impression...” [15] He described "objects shattered into fragments… [as] a way of getting closest to the object…Fragmentation helped me to establish space and movement in space”. [16] He adopted a monochromatic and neutral color palette in the belief that such a palette would emphasize the subject matter.
Although Braque began his career painting landscapes, during 1908 he, alongside Picasso, discovered the advantages of painting still lifes instead. Braque explained that he “… began to concentrate on still-lifes, because in the still-life you have a tactile, I might almost say a manual space… This answered to the hankering I have always had to touch things and not merely see them… In tactile space you measure the distance separating you from the object, whereas in visual space you measure the distance separating things from each other. This is what led me, long ago, from landscape to still-life” [17] A still life was also more accessible, in relation to perspective , than landscape, and permitted the artist to see the multiple perspectives of the object. Braque's early interest in still lifes revived during the 1930s.
During the period between the wars, Braque exhibited a freer style of Cubism, intensifying his color use and a looser rendering of objects. However, he still remained committed to the cubist method of simultaneous perspective and fragmentation. In contrast to Picasso, who continuously reinvented his style of painting, producing both representational and cubist images, and incorporating surrealist ideas into his work, Braque continued in the Cubist style, producing luminous, other-worldly still life and figure compositions. By the time of his death in 1963, he was regarded as one of the elder statesmen of the School of Paris , and of modern art .
2010 theft[ edit ]
On 20 May 2010, the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris reported the overnight theft of five paintings from its collection. The paintings taken were Le pigeon aux petits pois (The Pigeon with the Peas) by Pablo Picasso , La Pastorale by Henri Matisse , L'Olivier Près de l'Estaque (Olive Tree near Estaque) by Georges Braque, La Femme à l'Éventail ( fr ) (Woman with a Fan) by Amedeo Modigliani and Nature Morte aux Chandeliers (Still Life with Chandeliers) by Fernand Léger and were valued at €100 million ( $123 million USD). [18] [19] A window had been smashed and CCTV footage showed a masked man taking the paintings. [18] Authorities believe the thief acted alone. [20] The man carefully removed the paintings from their frames, which he left behind. [21]
Gallery[ edit ]
Georges Braque, 1908, Plate and Fruit Dish, oil on canvas, 46 x 55 cm, private collection
Georges Braque, 1908–09, Fruit Dish, oil on canvas, 54 x 65 cm, Moderna Museet , Stockholm
Georges Braque, 1909, Port en Normandie (Little Harbor in Normandy), 81.1 x 80.5 cm, The Art Institute of Chicago
Georges Braque, 1909, La Roche-Guyon, le château (The Castle at Roche-Guyon), oil on canvas, 80 x 59.5 cm, Moderna Museet , Stockholm
Georges Braque, 1909–10, Pitcher and Violin, oil on canvas, 116.8 x 73.2 cm, Kunstmuseum Basel
Georges Braque, 1910, Femme tenant une Mandoline, 92 x 73 cm, Bavarian State Painting Collections
Georges Braque, 1910, Portrait of a Woman, Female Figure (Torso Ženy), oil on canvas, 91 x 61 cm, private collection
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What was Michelangelo's first name? | Michelangelo - Name Meaning, What does Michelangelo mean?
What does Michelangelo mean?
Michelangelo
[ mi chelan-ge-lo] as a boys' name. Combined form of Michael (Hebrew) "who is like God?" and Angelo (Greek) "messenger". Use, mostly Italian, probably refers to Michelangelo Buonarroti, the great Italian Renaissance sculptor-artist.
Associated with: greek , messenger (prophet), great , renaissance (medieval).
Variations
1 different relation via Michael: Michaelangelo .
Creative forms:
Michelangelo Augustus (M.A.), ..
How popular is Michelangelo?
Michelangelo is an uncommon given name for men and an equally unique surname for both adults and children. (2000 U.S. Census)
Michelangelo entered the list in 2014 and reached its peak position of #1910 in the U.S. in 2015. (Top Baby Names, 2015)
Which version is better?
with similar and related boy names. Michael (#9 from current records), Angelo (#298) and Michaelangelo are the prominent alternative forms of Michelangelo (#1910 from current records). These forms of Michelangelo were at the apex of their popularity 65 years ago (usage of 4.2%) and have become significantly less popular since (usage 0.8%, down 80.3%), with the form Michael falling out of fashion. Angelo is the most contemporarily stylish name for newborns in this list.
| Michelangelo |
Which author, who is most remembered for writing another series of books, wrote the children's story Chitty Chitty Bang Bang? | Michelangelo - Facts & Summary - HISTORY.com
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Michelangelo: Early Life and Training
Michelangelo Buonarroti (Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni) was born on March 6, 1475, in Caprese, Italy. His father worked for the Florentine government, and shortly after his birth his family returned to Florence, the city Michelangelo would always consider his true home.
Did You Know?
Michelangelo received the commission to paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling as a consolation prize of sorts when Pope Julius II temporarily scaled back plans for a massive sculpted memorial to himself that Michelangelo was to complete.
Florence during the Renaissance period was a vibrant arts center, an opportune locale for Michelangelo’s innate talents to develop and flourish. His mother died when he was 6, and initially his father initially did not approve of his son’s interest in art as a career. At 13, Michelangelo was apprenticed to painter Domenico Ghirlandaio, particularly known for his murals. A year later, his talent drew the attention of Florence’s leading citizen and art patron, Lorenzo de’ Medici, who enjoyed the intellectual stimulation of being surrounded by the city’s most literate, poetic and talented men. He extended an invitation to Michelangelo to reside in a room of his palatial home.
Michelangelo learned from and was inspired by the scholars and writers in Lorenzo’s intellectual circle, and his later work would forever be informed by what he learned about philosophy and politics in those years. While staying in the Medici home, he also refined his technique under the tutelage of Bertoldo di Giovanni, keeper of Lorenzo’s collection of ancient Roman sculptures and a noted sculptor himself. Although Michelangelo expressed his genius in many media, he would always consider himself a sculptor first.
Michelangelo: The Pieta and David
Michelangelo was working in Rome by 1498, when he received a career-making commission from the visiting French cardinal Jean Bilhères de Lagraulas, envoy of King Charles VIII to the pope. The cardinal wanted to create a substantial statue depicting a draped Virgin Mary with her dead son resting in her arms—a Pietà—to grace his own future tomb. Michelangelo’s delicate 69-inch-tall masterpiece featuring two intricate figures carved from one block of marble continues to draw legions of visitors to St. Peter’s Basilica more than 500 years after it’s completion.
Michelangelo returned to Florence and in 1501 was contracted to create, again from marble, a huge male figure to enhance the city’s famous Duomo, officially the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. He chose to depict the young David from the Old Testament, heroic, energetic, powerful and spiritual, and literally larger than life at 17 feet tall. The sculpture, considered by scholars to be nearly technically perfect, remains in Florence at the Galleria dell’Accademia, where it is a world-renowned symbol of the city and its artistic heritage.
Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel Ceiling
In 1505, Pope Julius II commissioned Michelangelo to sculpt him a grand tomb with 40 life-size statues, and the artist began work. But the pope’s priorities shifted away from the project as he became embroiled in military disputes and his funds became scarce, and a displeased Michelangelo left Rome (although he continued to work on the tomb, off and on, for decades).
However, in 1508, Julius called Michelangelo back to Rome for a less expensive, but still ambitious painting project: to depict the 12 apostles on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, a most sacred part of the Vatican where new popes are elected and inaugurated.
Instead, over the course of the four-year project, Michelangelo painted 12 figures—seven prophets and five sibyls (female prophets of myth)—around the border of the ceiling, and filled the central space with scenes from Genesis. Critics suggest that the way Michelangelo depicts the prophet Ezekiel—as strong yet stressed, determined yet unsure—is symbolic of Michelangelo’s sensitivity to the intrinsic complexity of the human condition. The most famous Sistine Chapel ceiling painting is the emotion-infused The Creation of Adam, in which God and Adam outstretch their hands to one another.
Michelangelo: Architecture, Poetry, Morality
Michelangelo continued to sculpt and paint until his death, although he increasingly worked on architectural projects as he aged: His work from 1520 to 1527 on the interior of the Medici Chapel in Florence included wall designs, windows and cornices that were unusual in their design as well as proportions and introduced startling variations on classical forms. Michelangelo also designed the iconic dome of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome (although its completion came after his death). Among his other masterpieces are Moses (sculpture, completed 1515); The Last Judgment (painting, completed 1534); and Day, Night, Dawn and Dusk (sculptures, all completed by 1533).
From the 1530s on, Michelangelo wrote poems; about 300 survive. Many incorporate the philosophy of Neo-Platonism–that a human soul, powered by love and ecstasy, can reunite with an almighty God—ideas that had been the subject of intense discussion while he was an adolescent living in Lorenzo de’ Medici’s household.
After he left Florence permanently in 1534 for Rome, Michelangelo also wrote many lyrical letters to his family members who remained there. The theme of many was his strong attachment to various young men, especially aristocrat Tommaso Cavalieri. Scholars debate whether this was more an expression of homosexuality or a bittersweet longing by the unmarried, childless, aging Michelangelo for a father-son relationship.
Michelangelo died after a short illness in 1564 at 88, surviving far past the usual life expectancy of the era. A pietà he had begun sculpting in the late 1540s, intended for his own tomb, remained unfinished but is on display at the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, in Florence—not very far from where Michelangelo is buried, at the Basilica di Santa Croce.
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In which year was Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte first published? | Wuthering Heights - Wikisource, the free online library
Wuthering Heights
sister projects : Wikipedia article , data item .
Wuthering Heights is a novel by Emily Brontë , written between October 1845 and June 1846, and published in 1847 under the pseudonym "Ellis Bell." It was her first and only published novel: she died aged 30 the following year. The decision to publish came after the success of her sister Charlotte 's novel, Jane Eyre . After Emily's death, Charlotte edited the manuscript of Wuthering Heights, and arranged for the edited version to be published as a posthumous second edition in 1850.
Wuthering Heights is the eponymous farmhouse on the Yorkshire moors where the story unfolds. Its core theme is the enduring love between the heroine, Catherine Earnshaw, and her father's adopted son, Heathcliff, and how it eventually destroys their lives and the lives of those around them. Although Wuthering Heights is now widely regarded as a classic of English literature, it received mixed reviews when first published, and was considered controversial because its depiction of mental and physical cruelty was so unusually stark, and it challenged strict Victorian ideals of the day, including religious hypocrisy, morality, social classes and gender inequality.
| one thousand eight hundred and forty seven |
On arriving in New York, which writer famously said... I have nothing to declare but my genius? | Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte · OverDrive: eBooks, audiobooks and videos for libraries
Classic Literature Fiction
Wuthering Heights, first published in 1847, the year before the author's death at the age of thirty, endures today as perhaps the most powerful and intensely original novel in the English language. "Only Emily Brontë," V.S. Pritchett said about the author and her contemporaries, "exposes her imagination to the dark spirit." And Virginia Woolf wrote, "It is as if she could tear up all that we know human beings by, and fill these unrecognisable transparencies with such a gust of life that they transcend reality. Hers, then, is the rarest of all powers. She could free life from its dependence on facts, with few touches indicate the spirit of a face so that it needs no body; by speaking of the moor make the wind blow and the thunder roar."
This Modern Library edition contains a biographical note and preface by the author's sister Charlotte Brontë, and an Introduction by Diane Johnson.
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Which astonaut said the famous line... One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind? | Did Neil Armstrong really say, 'That's one small step for a man'? - LA Times
Did Neil Armstrong really say, 'That's one small step for a man'?
Karen Kaplan
Neil Armstrong ’s most famous line – “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” uttered after becoming the first person to set foot on the moon – contained one small error that became one giant annoyance to the NASA astronaut.
As Armstrong himself pointed out many times, the sentence is meaningful only if he says, “That’s one small step for a man.” He insisted that’s what he said on July 20, 1969 – otherwise, there’s no distinction between a single individual and all of humanity.
"I think that reasonable people will realize that I didn't intentionally make an inane statement and that certainly the 'a' was intended, because that's the only way the statement makes any sense," Armstrong told biographer James Hansen, according to "Moonshot," a terrific book about Apollo 11 by Brian Floca.
PHOTOS: Amazing images from space
Experts have scrutinized the audio file of Armstrong’s historic transmission, searching for evidence of the missing “a.” Those efforts “have yielded mixed opinions,” according to a research team that weighs in on the controversy this week.
A team led by Laura Dilley , an assistant professor in the department of communicative sciences and disorders at Michigan State University , has taken a new approach to analyzing this historic sentence. The team studied the way that folks in Ohio pronounce the word “for” and the phrase “for a.”
In central Ohio, where Armstrong was raised, speakers have a tendency to blend the two words together. And previous studies of Armstrong’s own speech “have established well that if the word 'a' was spoken, it was very short and was fully blended acoustically with the preceding word,” Dilley said in this story by Michigan State University Today. Coming out of Armstrong’s mouth, the phrase “for a” would have sounded like “frrr(uh),” according to the story.
So Dilley and her colleagues turned to recordings of 40 people raised in Columbus, Ohio, about 90 miles southeast of Armstrong’s native Wapakoneta. The recordings, part of the Buckeye Speech Corpus , included 191 cases of the phrase “for a.”
It turned out that the length of the “r” sound was much the same when Ohioans said “for” and “for a” – a finding that seems to confirm Armstrong’s version of events.
"We've bolstered Neil Armstrong's side of the story," Dilley told MSU Today. "We feel we've partially vindicated him. But we'll most likely never know for sure exactly what he said based on the acoustic information."
However, Dilley also noted that regardless of what Armstrong actually said, people are still more likely to hear the sentence without the crucial “a.”
The research team will present the results Friday morning at the International Congress on Acoustics meeting in Montreal. The study was funded by the National Science Foundation.
| Neil Armstrong |
Which actor/director said in 1989... I don't go around saying: Hello, did you know I'm the new Olivier? | Neil Armstrong's 'small step for man' might be a misquote, study says - CNN.com
Neil Armstrong's 'small step for man' might be a misquote, study says
By Josh Levs, CNN
Updated 7:16 AM ET, Wed June 5, 2013
Chat with us in Facebook Messenger. Find out what's happening in the world as it unfolds.
JUST WATCHED
Neil Armstrong's famous quote analyzed 01:58
Story highlights
Armstrong was heard around the world calling the first moon walk a "small step for man"
He contended he had said "a man"
Numerous studies have been carried out
A new study of speech patterns near his hometown found he may have said "for a"
When astronaut Neil Armstrong uttered what became one of the best-known -- and most debated -- quotes in all of history, he actually might have said it exactly the way he meant to, not the way people heard it.
After Armstrong lowered his left foot from the landing craft to the surface of the moon, people watching around the world heard him call it "one small step for man."
Both he and NASA initially insisted that he said "one small step for a man," and now a new and novel study on the much-analyzed quote backs him up.
Researchers from Michigan State University and Ohio State University have "bolstered Neil Armstrong's side of the story," said Laura Dilley, an MSU assistant professor of communicative sciences and disorders.
After becoming the first person to step on the moon in 1969, Armstrong said what was heard as: "That's one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind."
Photos: Armstrong: First man on the moon
Photos: Armstrong: First man on the moon
Armstrong: First man on the moon – Astronaut Neil Armstrong, commander of Apollo 11 Lunar Landing Mission, with his family on August 26, 1963.
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Armstrong: First man on the moon – Neil Armstrong at the NASA Training Center on September 1, 1963.
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Armstrong: First man on the moon – Commander Neil Armstrong, right, and pilot David R. Scott prepare for the launch of Gemini 8 on March 16, 1966. In orbit, Armstrong had to bring the capsule under control when it began to spin out of control after docking with an unmanned target vehicle, and the mission was aborted.
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Armstrong: First man on the moon – Armstrong poses for a portrait in July 1969.
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Commander of Apollo 11 Lunar Landing Mission. – Armstrong leads crew mates Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin and Michael Collins out of the space center on the Apollo 11 space mission to the moon.
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Armstrong: First man on the moon – Apollo 11, the first manned lunar landing mission, was launched on July 16, 1969, with astronauts Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and Michael Collins on board. Armstrong and Aldrin became the first and second men to walk on the moon, on July 20, 1969.
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Armstrong: First man on the moon – Astronaut Neil Armstrong is seen in the reflection of Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin's helmet during the pair's historic walk on the surface of the moon on July 20, 1969.
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Armstrong: First man on the moon – Armstrong and Aldrin spent roughly two hours on the moon's surface. The photos of the moonwalk were taken by Armstrong.
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Armstrong: First man on the moon – Neil Armstrong (whose footprint is shown on the moon's surface) had to override the Eagle lunar module's autopilot in order to prevent the craft from landing on the slope of a crater.
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Armstrong: First man on the moon – The Saturn V rocket carrying the crew of Apollo 11 takes off from Pad A, Launch Complex 39 at the Kennedy Space Center.
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Commander of Apollo 11 Lunar Landing Mission. – Armstrong presents a pair of pizzas in his kitchen in Houston, Texas, on March 1, 1969.
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Armstrong: First man on the moon – Armstrong said: "I thought we had a 90% chance of getting back safely to Earth on that flight, but only a 50-50 chance of making a successful landing on the first attempt."
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Armstrong: First man on the moon – The astronaut crew of the Apollo 11 mission are pictured in May 1969. Left to right are Neil Armstrong, commander; Michael Collins, command module pilot; and Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin, lunar module pilot.
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Armstrong: First man on the moon – Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins wave to crowds at a parade held in August 1969 celebrating their voyage.
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Armstrong: First man on the moon – A commemorative button from 1969 celebrates the moon landing.
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Armstrong receives the first Congressional Space Medal of Honor from President Jimmy Carter, right, assisted by Capt. Robert Peterson, on October 1, 1978. Armstrong, one of six astronauts to be presented the medal during ceremonies held in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), was awarded for his performance during the Gemini 8 mission and the Apollo 11 mission.
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Armstrong: First man on the moon – President Richard Nixon applauds the Apollo 11 astronauts, who were confined in a quarantine trailer after their flight, on July 25, 1969.
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Armstrong: First man on the moon – Neil Armstrong talks about the space program during an appearance before a U.S. House committee in 1986.
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Armstrong: First man on the moon – Former Apollo astronauts meet with the media at the Apollo/Saturn V Center prior to a 30th anniversary banquet highlighting the contributions of aerospace employees who made the Apollo program possible on July 16, 1999. From left to right: Armstrong; Aldrin; Gene Cernan, who flew on Apollo10 and Apollo 17; and Walt Cunningham, who flew on Apollo 7.
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Armstrong: First man on the moon – Collins, Armstrong and Aldrin are honored on Capitol Hill in July 2009 on the 40th anniversary of their mission.
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Armstrong: First man on the moon – President Barack Obama poses for photographs with Armstrong in the Oval Office at the White House in 2009.
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Armstrong: First man on the moon – Armstrong testifies before the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee about human space flight on Capitol Hill in September 2011.
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| i don't know |
Which politician first said... A week is a long time in politics? | Harold Wilson - Wikiquote
Harold Wilson
Jump to: navigation , search
This Party needs to protect itself against the activities of small groups of inflexible political persuasion, extreme so-called left and in a few cases extreme so-called moderates, having in common only their arrogant dogmatism.
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx , KG, OBE, FRS, PC ( 11 March 1916 – 24 May 1995 ) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1964 to 1970, and again from 1974 to 1976. He had an impressive educational background, becoming an Oxford don at 21 and working as a war time civil servant; he was made a government minister immediately after he was elected to Parliament. As Leader of the Labour Party he moved the party towards a technocratic approach and appeared more in tune with the 'swinging sixties'; however his government was beset by economic difficulties and he was unexpectedly defeated in 1970. His return to office with a tiny majority in the mid-1970s saw a referendum which endorsed British membership of the European Communities. He resigned suddenly in 1976, and in his retirement suffered from Alzheimers' disease.
Contents
Sourced[ edit ]
On 5 September, when the TUC unanimously rejected wage restraint, it was the end of an era, and all the financiers, all the little gnomes in Zürich and other finance centres about whom we keep on hearing, had started to make their dispositions in regard to sterling.
Hansard, House of Commons, 5th series, vol. 560, col. 579.
Speech in the House of Commons (12 November 1956); often quoted as "gnomes of Zürich".
In all our plans for the future, we are re-defining and we are re-stating our Socialism in terms of the scientific revolution. But that revolution cannot become a reality unless we are prepared to make far-reaching changes in economic and social attitudes which permeate our whole system of society. The Britain that is going to be forged in the white heat of this revolution will be no place for restrictive practices or for outdated methods on either side of industry.
Usually quoted as "the white heat of the technological revolution". Speech at Labour Party conference, October 1, 1963. Labour Party Annual Conference Report, 1963, pages 139-140.
Hughie, get your tanks off my lawn.
Statement to trade union leader Hugh Scanlon (c.1969), as quoted in "Lord Scanlon" in The Telegraph (28 January 2004)
The government have only a small majority in the House of Commons. I want to make it quite clear that this will not affect our ability to govern. Having been charged with the duties of Government we intend to carry out those duties.
David Butler, Coalitions in British Politics (Macmillan, London, 1978), p. 99.
Television broadcast, October 1964, after winning the general election .
Smethwick Conservatives can have the satisfaction of having topped the poll, of having sent a Member who, until another election returns him to oblivion, will serve his time here as a Parliamentary leper.
Hansard, House of Commons, 5th series, vol. 701, col. 71.
Speech in the House of Commons, 3 November, 1964. The 1964 general election had seen the defeat of Wilson's Shadow Foreign Secretary Patrick Gordon Walker by Conservative Peter Griffiths after an allegedly racist campaign. Griffiths was indeed defeated at the next election but returned to Parliament in 1979 and served until 1997.
I know I speak for everyone in these islands, all parties, all our people, when I say to Mr. Smith tonight: "Prime Minister, think again".
Broadcast speech calling on the Government of Rhodesia not to declare independence , October 12, 1965. Quoted in The Times, October 13, 1965, p. 8.
It is difficult for us to appreciate the pressures which are put on men I know to be realistic and reasonable, not only in their executive capacity but in the highly organized strike committees in the individual ports by this tightly knit group of politically motivated men who, as the last general election showed, utterly failed to secure acceptance of their views by the British electorate, but who are now determined to exercise back-stage pressures, forcing great hardship on the members of the union and their families, and endangering the security of the industry and the economic welfare of the nation.
Hansard, House of Commons, 5th series, vol. 730, cols. 42-3.
Speech in the House of Commons, June 20, 1966, referring to the organisers of a Seamen's strike. Wilson meant to imply they were Communists. Among the union officials offended by this quote was John Prescott .
We have taken steps which have not been taken by any other democratic government in the world. We are taking steps with regard to prices and wages which no other government, even in wartime, has taken.
The Times, July 30, 1966.
Speech to New York bankers.
He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery.
Speech to the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe, Strasbourg, France (January 23, 1967); reported in The New York Times (January 24, 1967), p. 12.
From now on, the pound abroad is worth 14 per cent or so less in terms of other currencies. That doesn't mean, of course, that the Pound here in Britain, in your pocket or purse or in your bank, has been devalued.
Televised speech,following the devaluation of the Pound Sterling . Usually remembered as "the Pound in your pocket". (November 19, 1967)
May I say, for the benefit of those who have been carried away by the gossip of the last few days, that I know what's going on. [pause] I'm going on, and the Labour government's going on.
"I am going on, your Government is going on—Mr Wilson", The Times, 5 May 1969, p. 1
At a May Day rally in London, 4 May 1969. There had been a series of reports that Wilson's leadership might be challenged.
David Dimbleby : You couldn't - you couldn't set our minds at rest on the vexed question of what the Sunday Times did actually pay you for the book?
Harold Wilson: No, I don't think it's a matter of interest to the BBC or to anybody else.
Dimbleby: But why ..
Wilson: If you're interested in these things, you'd better find out how people buy yachts. Do you ask that question? Did you ask him how he was able to pay for a yacht?
Dimbleby: I haven't interviewed ...
Wilson: Have you asked him that question?
Dimbleby: I haven't interviewed him.
Wilson: Well, has the BBC ever asked that question?
Dimbleby: I don't know ...
Wilson: Well, what's it got to do with you, then?
Dimbleby: I imagine they have ..
Wilson: Why you ask these question, I mean why, if people can afford to buy £25,000 yachts, do the BBC not regard that as a matter for public interest? Why do you insult me with these questions here?
Dimbleby: It's only that it's been a matter of ..
Wilson: All I'm saying, all I'm saying ..
Dimbleby: … public speculation, and I was giving you an opportunity if you wanted to, to say something about it.
Wilson: It was not a matter of speculation, it was just repeating press gossip. You will not put this question to Mr. Heath. When you have got an answer to him, come and put the question to me. And this last question and answer are not to be recorded. Is this question being recorded?
Dimbleby: Well it is, because we're running film.
Wilson: Well, will you cut it out or not? All right, we stop now. No, I'm sorry, I'm really not having this. I'm really not having this. The press may take this view, that they wouldn't put this question to Heath but they put it to me; if the BBC put this question to me, without putting it to Heath, the interview is off, and the whole programme is off. I think it's a ridiculous question to put. Yes, and I mean it cut off, I don't want to read in the Times Diary or miscellany that I asked for it to be cut out. [pause]
Dimbleby: All right, are we still running? Can I ask you this, then, which I mean, I .. let me put this question, I mean if you find this question offensive then ..
Wilson: Coming to ask if your curiosity can be satisfied, I think it's disgraceful. Never had such a question in an interview in my life before.
Dimbleby: I .. [gasps]
Joe Haines (Wilson's Press Secretary): Well, let's stop now, and we can talk about it, shall we?
Dimbleby: No, let's .. well, I mean, we'll keep going, I think, don't you?
Wilson: No, I think we'll have a new piece of film in and start all over again. But if this film is used, or this is leaked, then there's going to be a hell of a row. And this must be ..
Dimbleby: Well, I certainly wouldn't leak it ..
Wilson: You may not leak it but these things do leak. I've never been to Lime Grove without it leaking.
Exchange with BBC interviewer David Dimbleby recorded for a documentary called "Yesterday's Men" broadcast on 16 June 1971. The BBC did agree not to show this portion of the interview, but Wilson's fears of a leak were justified as a transcript was published on page 1 of The Times on June 18, 1971. A fuller transcript appeared in Private Eye during 1972.
Yet people who benefit from all this now viciously defy Westminster, purporting to act as though they were an elected government; people who spend their lives sponging on Westminster and British democracy and then systematically assault democratic methods. Who do these people think they are?
Broadcast on May 25, 1974,referring to the Ulster Workers Council strike. The use of the term "sponging" gave offence in Northern Ireland. Glenn Barr , chairman of the coordinating committee between the Loyalist paramilitaries and the UWC, said he thought of making Wilson an honorary member of the UWC for rallying Protestants behind the strike. [1]
I get a little nauseated, perhaps, when I hear the phrase 'freedom of the press' used as freely as it is, knowing that a large part of our proprietorial press is not free at all.
Hansard, House of Commons, 5th series, vol. 882, col. 1936.
Speech in the House of Commons, 5 December, 1974.
This Party needs to protect itself against the activities of small groups of inflexible political persuasion, extreme so-called left and in a few cases extreme so-called moderates, having in common only their arrogant dogmatism. These groups, equally the multichromatic coalitionist fringe or groups specifically formed to fight other marauding groups, these groups are not what this Party is about. Infestation of this kind thrives only, and can thrive only, in minuscule local parties.
Labour Party Annual Conference Report 1975 pp. 186-7.
Speech to Labour Party conference, September 30, 1975.
| Harold Wilson |
Which Shakespearian character said... A horse, a horse. My kingdom for a horse? | Harold Wilson - Wikiquote
Harold Wilson
Jump to: navigation , search
This Party needs to protect itself against the activities of small groups of inflexible political persuasion, extreme so-called left and in a few cases extreme so-called moderates, having in common only their arrogant dogmatism.
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx , KG, OBE, FRS, PC ( 11 March 1916 – 24 May 1995 ) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1964 to 1970, and again from 1974 to 1976. He had an impressive educational background, becoming an Oxford don at 21 and working as a war time civil servant; he was made a government minister immediately after he was elected to Parliament. As Leader of the Labour Party he moved the party towards a technocratic approach and appeared more in tune with the 'swinging sixties'; however his government was beset by economic difficulties and he was unexpectedly defeated in 1970. His return to office with a tiny majority in the mid-1970s saw a referendum which endorsed British membership of the European Communities. He resigned suddenly in 1976, and in his retirement suffered from Alzheimers' disease.
Contents
Sourced[ edit ]
On 5 September, when the TUC unanimously rejected wage restraint, it was the end of an era, and all the financiers, all the little gnomes in Zürich and other finance centres about whom we keep on hearing, had started to make their dispositions in regard to sterling.
Hansard, House of Commons, 5th series, vol. 560, col. 579.
Speech in the House of Commons (12 November 1956); often quoted as "gnomes of Zürich".
In all our plans for the future, we are re-defining and we are re-stating our Socialism in terms of the scientific revolution. But that revolution cannot become a reality unless we are prepared to make far-reaching changes in economic and social attitudes which permeate our whole system of society. The Britain that is going to be forged in the white heat of this revolution will be no place for restrictive practices or for outdated methods on either side of industry.
Usually quoted as "the white heat of the technological revolution". Speech at Labour Party conference, October 1, 1963. Labour Party Annual Conference Report, 1963, pages 139-140.
Hughie, get your tanks off my lawn.
Statement to trade union leader Hugh Scanlon (c.1969), as quoted in "Lord Scanlon" in The Telegraph (28 January 2004)
The government have only a small majority in the House of Commons. I want to make it quite clear that this will not affect our ability to govern. Having been charged with the duties of Government we intend to carry out those duties.
David Butler, Coalitions in British Politics (Macmillan, London, 1978), p. 99.
Television broadcast, October 1964, after winning the general election .
Smethwick Conservatives can have the satisfaction of having topped the poll, of having sent a Member who, until another election returns him to oblivion, will serve his time here as a Parliamentary leper.
Hansard, House of Commons, 5th series, vol. 701, col. 71.
Speech in the House of Commons, 3 November, 1964. The 1964 general election had seen the defeat of Wilson's Shadow Foreign Secretary Patrick Gordon Walker by Conservative Peter Griffiths after an allegedly racist campaign. Griffiths was indeed defeated at the next election but returned to Parliament in 1979 and served until 1997.
I know I speak for everyone in these islands, all parties, all our people, when I say to Mr. Smith tonight: "Prime Minister, think again".
Broadcast speech calling on the Government of Rhodesia not to declare independence , October 12, 1965. Quoted in The Times, October 13, 1965, p. 8.
It is difficult for us to appreciate the pressures which are put on men I know to be realistic and reasonable, not only in their executive capacity but in the highly organized strike committees in the individual ports by this tightly knit group of politically motivated men who, as the last general election showed, utterly failed to secure acceptance of their views by the British electorate, but who are now determined to exercise back-stage pressures, forcing great hardship on the members of the union and their families, and endangering the security of the industry and the economic welfare of the nation.
Hansard, House of Commons, 5th series, vol. 730, cols. 42-3.
Speech in the House of Commons, June 20, 1966, referring to the organisers of a Seamen's strike. Wilson meant to imply they were Communists. Among the union officials offended by this quote was John Prescott .
We have taken steps which have not been taken by any other democratic government in the world. We are taking steps with regard to prices and wages which no other government, even in wartime, has taken.
The Times, July 30, 1966.
Speech to New York bankers.
He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery.
Speech to the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe, Strasbourg, France (January 23, 1967); reported in The New York Times (January 24, 1967), p. 12.
From now on, the pound abroad is worth 14 per cent or so less in terms of other currencies. That doesn't mean, of course, that the Pound here in Britain, in your pocket or purse or in your bank, has been devalued.
Televised speech,following the devaluation of the Pound Sterling . Usually remembered as "the Pound in your pocket". (November 19, 1967)
May I say, for the benefit of those who have been carried away by the gossip of the last few days, that I know what's going on. [pause] I'm going on, and the Labour government's going on.
"I am going on, your Government is going on—Mr Wilson", The Times, 5 May 1969, p. 1
At a May Day rally in London, 4 May 1969. There had been a series of reports that Wilson's leadership might be challenged.
David Dimbleby : You couldn't - you couldn't set our minds at rest on the vexed question of what the Sunday Times did actually pay you for the book?
Harold Wilson: No, I don't think it's a matter of interest to the BBC or to anybody else.
Dimbleby: But why ..
Wilson: If you're interested in these things, you'd better find out how people buy yachts. Do you ask that question? Did you ask him how he was able to pay for a yacht?
Dimbleby: I haven't interviewed ...
Wilson: Have you asked him that question?
Dimbleby: I haven't interviewed him.
Wilson: Well, has the BBC ever asked that question?
Dimbleby: I don't know ...
Wilson: Well, what's it got to do with you, then?
Dimbleby: I imagine they have ..
Wilson: Why you ask these question, I mean why, if people can afford to buy £25,000 yachts, do the BBC not regard that as a matter for public interest? Why do you insult me with these questions here?
Dimbleby: It's only that it's been a matter of ..
Wilson: All I'm saying, all I'm saying ..
Dimbleby: … public speculation, and I was giving you an opportunity if you wanted to, to say something about it.
Wilson: It was not a matter of speculation, it was just repeating press gossip. You will not put this question to Mr. Heath. When you have got an answer to him, come and put the question to me. And this last question and answer are not to be recorded. Is this question being recorded?
Dimbleby: Well it is, because we're running film.
Wilson: Well, will you cut it out or not? All right, we stop now. No, I'm sorry, I'm really not having this. I'm really not having this. The press may take this view, that they wouldn't put this question to Heath but they put it to me; if the BBC put this question to me, without putting it to Heath, the interview is off, and the whole programme is off. I think it's a ridiculous question to put. Yes, and I mean it cut off, I don't want to read in the Times Diary or miscellany that I asked for it to be cut out. [pause]
Dimbleby: All right, are we still running? Can I ask you this, then, which I mean, I .. let me put this question, I mean if you find this question offensive then ..
Wilson: Coming to ask if your curiosity can be satisfied, I think it's disgraceful. Never had such a question in an interview in my life before.
Dimbleby: I .. [gasps]
Joe Haines (Wilson's Press Secretary): Well, let's stop now, and we can talk about it, shall we?
Dimbleby: No, let's .. well, I mean, we'll keep going, I think, don't you?
Wilson: No, I think we'll have a new piece of film in and start all over again. But if this film is used, or this is leaked, then there's going to be a hell of a row. And this must be ..
Dimbleby: Well, I certainly wouldn't leak it ..
Wilson: You may not leak it but these things do leak. I've never been to Lime Grove without it leaking.
Exchange with BBC interviewer David Dimbleby recorded for a documentary called "Yesterday's Men" broadcast on 16 June 1971. The BBC did agree not to show this portion of the interview, but Wilson's fears of a leak were justified as a transcript was published on page 1 of The Times on June 18, 1971. A fuller transcript appeared in Private Eye during 1972.
Yet people who benefit from all this now viciously defy Westminster, purporting to act as though they were an elected government; people who spend their lives sponging on Westminster and British democracy and then systematically assault democratic methods. Who do these people think they are?
Broadcast on May 25, 1974,referring to the Ulster Workers Council strike. The use of the term "sponging" gave offence in Northern Ireland. Glenn Barr , chairman of the coordinating committee between the Loyalist paramilitaries and the UWC, said he thought of making Wilson an honorary member of the UWC for rallying Protestants behind the strike. [1]
I get a little nauseated, perhaps, when I hear the phrase 'freedom of the press' used as freely as it is, knowing that a large part of our proprietorial press is not free at all.
Hansard, House of Commons, 5th series, vol. 882, col. 1936.
Speech in the House of Commons, 5 December, 1974.
This Party needs to protect itself against the activities of small groups of inflexible political persuasion, extreme so-called left and in a few cases extreme so-called moderates, having in common only their arrogant dogmatism. These groups, equally the multichromatic coalitionist fringe or groups specifically formed to fight other marauding groups, these groups are not what this Party is about. Infestation of this kind thrives only, and can thrive only, in minuscule local parties.
Labour Party Annual Conference Report 1975 pp. 186-7.
Speech to Labour Party conference, September 30, 1975.
| i don't know |
Which actress said... When I'm good I'm very good, but when I'm bad I'm better? | Mae West - Wikiquote
Mae West
Jump to: navigation , search
Why don't you come up sometime and see me?
When I'm good, I'm very good. When I'm bad, I'm better.
When you got the personality, you don't need the nudity.
Goodness had nothing to do with it, dearie.
Response to an exclamation, "Goodness! What lovely diamonds!" in Night After Night (1932). She later used Goodness had nothing to do with it as the title of her autobiography (1953).
Why don't you come up sometime and see me? … Come on up, I'll tell your fortune.
She Done Him Wrong (1933)
Beulah, Peel me a grape.
I'm No Angel (1933)
I only like two kinds of men, domestic and imported.
I'm No Angel (1933)
When I'm good, I'm very good. When I'm bad, I'm better.
I'm No Angel (1933)
Interview in Life magazine (18 April 1969)
It's not the men in your life that matters, it's the life in your men.
I'm No Angel (1933)
Between two evils, I generally like to pick the one I never tried before.
Klondike Annie (1936) Sometimes quoted as: "When choosing between two evils, I always like to try the one I've never tried before."'
A man in the house is worth two in the street.
Belle of the Nineties
When women go wrong, men go right after them.
She Done Him Wrong
One and one is two; two and two is four; and "five will get you ten" if you work it right!
My Little Chickadee
I feel like a million tonight. But one at a time.
Myra Breckinridge
To a young actor: How tall are you without your horse? Six foot, seven inches. Never mind the six feet. Let's talk about the seven inches!
Myra Breckinridge
I'm the kinda girl who works for Paramount by day, and Fox all night
Sextette
To her British lover about to climb in bed with 80-something Mae: She said that she hoped soon to be able to say what Paul Revere said — 'The British are coming'. This was the last one-liner Mae ever uttered on film.
Sextette
When you got the personality, you don't need the nudity.
Quoted in "For Women, Monologues They Haven't Heard" by Susan Pomerance, Dramaline Publications (1985)
Marriage is a fine institution, but I'm not ready for an institution.
#149 in The 2,548 Best Things Anybody Ever Said (2006) by Robert Byrne
Give a man a free hand and he'll run it all over you.
#684 in The 2,548 Best Things Anybody Ever Said (2006) by Robert Byrne
I've been in more laps than a napkin.
#685 in The 2,548 Best Things Anybody Ever Said (2006) by Robert Byrne
She's the kind of girl who climbed the ladder of success wrong by wrong.
#832 in The 2,548 Best Things Anybody Ever Said (2006) by Robert Byrne
I've always had a weakness for foreign affairs.
| Mae West |
Which animated TV character once said... I'm not normally a religious man, but if you're up there, save me, Superman? | Mae West - Biography - IMDb
Biography
Showing all 112 items
Jump to: Overview (5) | Mini Bio (2) | Spouse (1) | Trade Mark (5) | Trivia (48) | Personal Quotes (46) | Salary (5)
Overview (5)
5' (1.52 m)
Mini Bio (2)
Mae West was born in Queens, New York, to "Battling Jack" West and Matilda Doelger. She began her career as a child star in vaudeville, and later went on to write her own plays, including "SEX", for which she was arrested. Though her first movie role was a small part in Night After Night (1932), her scene has become famous. A coat check girl exclaims, "Goodness! What lovely diamonds!", after seeing Mae's jewelry. Mae replies, "Goodness had nothing to do with it". Her next film, in which she starred, came the following year. She Done Him Wrong (1933) was based on her earlier and very popular play, "Diamond Lil". She went on to write and star in seven more films, including My Little Chickadee (1940) with W.C. Fields . Her last movie was Sextette (1978), which also came from a play. She died two years later.
Rampant double entendres.
Trivia (48)
Hollywood's outrageous, self-proclaimed psychic Criswell predicted in 1955 that she would win the 1960 Presidential election, and would fly to the moon in 1965 with him and friend Liberace !.
After two years of denying that she had ever been married, West admitted in a reply to a legal interrogatory in 1937 that she and Frank Wallace had married in 1911. During her divorce trial in 1942, she testified that they had lived together only "several weeks".
According to actor Tony Curtis , her famous walk originated while beginning her career as a stage actress. Special six-inch platforms were attached to her shoes to increase the height of her stage presence. Her walk literally was "one foot at a time."
During World War II, United States Navy and Army pilots and crewmen in the Pacific named their inflatable life vests after her, supposedly because of her well-endowed attributes. The term "Mae West" for a lifejacket continues to this day.
She was with George Raft in both her first ( Night After Night (1932)) and last ( Sextette (1978)) film.
Appears on sleeve of The Beatles "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". West at first declined to be pictured on the cover ("What would I be doing in a lonely hearts club?!"), but reconsidered when the Beatles sent her a handwritten personal request.
Former Beatle Ringo Starr appeared with West in Sextette (1978). He was unpleasantly surprised at first, at all the attention given her on the set (usually reserved for pop stars like The Beatles ), but came to admire West during the shoot, and praised her afterwards.
Is sometimes credited with originating the Shimmy (a once-popular dance).
Was banned from NBC Radio after a guest appearance in 1937 with Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy that was loaded with flirtatious dialogue and double-entendres. She returned to the network as a guest on the "Perry Como Show" in 1949.
She was famous for her morning enemas, which she claimed made her skin like silk and left her "smelling sweet at both ends". On the set of her last film Sextette (1978), co-star Tony Curtis claimed that she was given an enema after being made up, at approximately 11:00 in the morning, as the last step of her preparations before going before the camera.
According to psychic Kenny Kingston , she wrote all her plays while in a trance.
Her films are credited with single-handedly saving failing and debt-ridden Paramount Pictures from bankruptcy in the early 1930s.
Was named #15 Actress on The American Film Institutes 50 Greatest Screen Legends
At one point, her chauffeur was Jerry Orbach (who is best known for playing Detective Lennie Briscoe on all four "Law & Order" television series).
Is portrayed by Ann Jillian in Mae West (1982) and by Gloria Gray in Marlene (2000)
One of the first women to consistently write the movies she starred in.
Playing opposite Ed Wynn in Arthur Hammerstein 's "Sometime," with music by Rudolf Friml , she introduced the shimmy to the Broadway stage in 1918. The dance requires hardly any movement of the feet but continuous movement of the shoulders, torso and pelvis. She had seen the dance at black cafés in Chicago.
Once when she was scheduled to play a theater in New Haven, Conneticut, the theater's management refused to let her go on because her act was too "risqué" and canceled the show. Disappointed, Yale University students rioted and wrecked the theater.
Eldest of three children of John Patrick West, an occasional prizefighter and livery-stable owner, and Matilda Delker Doelger, a one-time corset and fashion model. A baby girl died before Mae was born the after Mae there was another girl and a boy.
During World War II, Miss West's name was applied to various pieces of military equipment and was thus listed in Webster's New International Dictionary, Second Edition. The Royal Air Force named its inflatable lifejackets "Mae Wests", and United States Army soldiers referred to twin-turreted combat tanks also as "Mae Wests".
Was not a smoker or a drinker.
Died apparently of natural causes in the wake of a mild stroke she suffered three months prior that left her speech impaired. Also suffered from diabetes the last 15 years of her life.
She was born Mary Jane West in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn. Mae's father, John Patrick "Jack" West, was a featherweight prizefighter called "Battling Jack" West, and later a stable master; he was of English and Irish descent (his own mother was an Irish immigrant). Mae's mother, Matilda Decker Doelger, was an immigrant from Germany.
Turned down a role in Elvis Presley 's film Roustabout (1964), which eventually went to Barbara Stanwyck .
Was at one point Hollywood's highest paid star.
Surrealist artist Salvador Dalí created one of his most iconic works influenced by her: "Mae West's Lips Sofa" (1937).
The Coca-Cola bottle was said to have been designed with Mae West's figure as inspiration.
There is a photo in fundamentalist preacher Billy Sunday's autobiography (circa 1932) of Billy Sunday and Mae West pouring out a bottle of beer into the river.
Was in consideration for the part of Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard (1950) but Gloria Swanson , who went on to receive a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her performance, was cast instead.
Has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1560 Vine Street in Hollywood, California.
Although critics thought that she and W.C. Fields worked well together on camera, West reputedly did not admire him.
In April 1927, West was convicted of "producing an immoral play", the title of which was Sex. She was sentenced to ten days in jail in New York City, but was given one day off for good behavior.
Critic George Jean Nathan once called her "The Statue of Libido".
When W.C. Fields called her "My little broodmare", she almost hit him.
Guido Deiro claims that West married his father, Guido Deiro , in 1914 under an assumed name, Catherine Mae Belle West, and on the condition of secrecy. West left Deiro in 1916, and "divorced" him on 9 November 1920.
Singer Miss Beverly Arden , sister of Mae West.
The comedy entitled "Sex" she wrote in 1926 revived in NY, off Broadway, Dec. 1999.
Graduated from Brooklyn's Erasmus Hall High School in 1911, as did silent film star Norma Talmadge.
She had a double thyroid. Her doctor wanted her to have one of her thyroids surgically removed, but she refused as the double thyroid was not affecting her health in the slightest.
A "Mae West" is a slang term for type of parachute malfunction called a "lineover" in which the suspension lines divide the main canopy into two sections, lending the appearance of a huge brassiere.
Made her Broadway debut on September 22, 1911, at the New York Folies Bergère, co-owned by Jesse L. Lasky . Twenty-one years later, West signed with Paramount Pictures, which was co-founded by Lasky.
Had a chimpanzee she named Coffee that she gave to her friend Ralph Helfer , renowned animal trainer and Hollywood animal behaviorist who owned the "Africa U.S.A." Exotic Animal Ranch in Soledad Canyon, California.
Her frank, sexual innuendo-laced play "Sex" opened at Daly's 63rd Street Theatre on April 26, 1926. Ironically, that theatre had been built twelve years earlier by two Christian societies - the People's Pulpit and the International Bible Student's Association - that had intended it to be used for the presentation of biblical films and lectures.
Lent her name to life preservers, art, graphs, album covers, statues, table radios, songs, etc.
Is mentioned in Cole Porter's song "Anything Goes" from a musical of the same name.
Her father built a stage for her in the basement of their house in Brooklyn.
Her mother had wanted to be an actress.
Personal Quotes (46)
It's better to be looked over than overlooked.
A hard man is good to find.
Men are my life, diamonds are my career!
When women go wrong, men go right after them!
When caught between two evils I generally pick the one I've never tried before.
When I'm good, I'm very good. But when I'm bad, I'm better.
Marriage is a great institution. I'm not ready for an institution.
It's not the man in your life that counts. It's the life in your man.
Is that a gun in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?
I believe in censorship. After all, I made a fortune out of it.
I only like two kinds of men: Foreign and Domestic.
Too much of a good thing is wonderful.
I'm no model lady. A model's just an imitation of the real thing.
Don't marry a man to reform him. That's what reform schools are for.
It's hard to be funny when you have to be clean.
I wrote the story myself. It's all about a girl who lost her reputation but never missed it.
It ain't sin if you crack a few laws now and then, just so long as you don't break any.
Personality is the glitter that sends your little gleam across the footlights and the orchestra pit into that big black space where the audience is.
Good girls go to heaven. Bad girls go everywhere else.
I used to be Snow White, but I drifted.
Ten men waiting for me at the door? Send one of them home, I'm tired.
On desire: Sex is an emotion in motion....love is what you make it and who you make it with.
I do all my writing in bed; everybody knows I do my best work there.
To err is human, but it feels divine.
Few men know how to kiss well. Fortunately, I've always had time to teach them.
I always save one boyfriend for a rainy day . . . and another in case it doesn't rain.
Why don't you come up sometime and see me? I'm home every evening . . . Come up, and I'll tell your fortune.
I freely chose the kind of life I led because I was convinced that a woman has as much right as a man to live the way she does if she does no actual harm to society.
The man I don't like doesn't exist.
I generally avoid temptation unless I can't resist it.
It isn't what I do, but how I do it. It isn't what I say, but how I say it, and how I look when I do it and say it.
I'm not good and tired, just tired.
Men are easy to get but hard to keep.
[on style] It's all right for a perfect stranger to kiss your hand as long as he's perfect.
[on love] A man's kiss is his signature.
[on growth] He who hesitates is a damn fool.
A dame that knows the ropes isn't likely to get tied up.
[on Marilyn Monroe ] The only gal who came near to me in the sex appeal department was pretty little Marilyn Monroe . All the others had were big boobs.
My advice for those gals who think they have to take their clothes off to be a star is: baby, once you've boned, what's left to create an illusion? Let 'em wonder.I never believed in givin' 'em too much of me.
I'm my own original creation. I concentrate on myself most of the time. That's the only way a person can become a star in the true sense. I never wanted a love that meant surrender of my self-possession. I saw what it did to other people when they loved another person the way I loved myself, and I didn't want that problem. I had to stay in command of my career.
[on her popularity within the gay community] They're crazy about me 'cause I give 'em a chance to play. My character is sexy and with humor and they like to imitate me, the things I say, the way I say 'em, the way I move. It's easy for'em to imitate me 'cause the gestures are exaggerated, flamboyant, sexy, and that's what they want to look like, feel like. And I've stood up for 'em. They're good kids. I don't like the police abusin' 'em, and in New York I told 'em, 'When you're hittin' one of those guys, you're hittin' a woman, 'cause a born homosexual is a female in a male body.
Almost anything goes, anywhere, if it is good and fast and amusing. Risque material is only offensive if badly done, without style and charm. I brought my own sophisticated ideas and style to the vaudeville stage but I had to adjust it to the standard of each theatre, and even to each night's audience.. The theatre manager,if he was a man with experience and knew his business, could usually tell me what the people in town were like, and what the difference in audiences was on other nights.I usually found that one night a week you would get a top society crowd, and another night you'd get mostly working-class people. Other nights there would be family groups - especially on Friday nights when the kids didn't have to go to school the next day. Saturday nights everybody was out for a good time, so audiences were both mixed and terrific.
Between two evils, I always pick the one I never tried before.
Virtue has its own reward, but has no sale at the box office.
I was in the office at Paramount, and they gave me a large book with a lot of photographs of different leading men, and I was sitting at a table or a desk right near the window and the door, and uh, after I looked at a few I kind of glanced out the window and I saw this good-looking guy walk across the street. So, I said, "That's about the best-looking thing in Hollywood: who is he?" So they looked, and they said, "Oh, that's Cary Grant. We haven't used him in a picture as yet, but we made tests of him with some of the starlets." I said, "Well, if this guy can talk, I'll take him." So they called him in, and we met, and he said, "How d'ya do?" and I said, "OK." And they said, "What part?" and I said, "The lead, of course." So he got the lead.
'Beulah peel me a grape'.
Salary (5)
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With which comic would you associate Beryl the Peril and Korky the Cat? | Beryl the Peril : definition of Beryl the Peril and synonyms of Beryl the Peril (English)
Publication history
Creation and concept
Beryl the Peril first appeared in the first issue of The Topper in 1953. She was created to be a female equivalent to The Beano 's Dennis the Menace . Davey Law , her artist and creator, drew inspiration from his daughter, whom would often pull faces during her tantrums. [1] The strips were similar in concept to the Dennis the Menace ones in that she would cause chaos through menacing her neighbours, parents and school teachers. In 1958, Beryl was chosen as one of the few of D.C. Thomson's characters to earn an annual all to herself, consisting solely from reprints in past years.
Retirement of Law and rise in popularity
When Law retired in 1970 her strip was taken over by John Dallas . Her costume changed at some point in the mid 1980s from her red top underneath a black dress to a blue and white striped jumper underneath a red dress. In 1986 she became The Topper's front page star, replacing Tricky Dicky . Her dog Pearl was also introduced shortly before that time, although before that she had a pet turkey called Gobbler. In 1987 Robert Nixon took over, a cartoonist who followed in the steps of noted cartoonist Ken Reid , and her overall look became smoother and fuller. She also appeared far less like Dennis the Menace and seemed far more individual as a character. She remained with the comic when The Topper merged with The Beezer in 1990.
Move to The Dandy
The Beezer and Topper was canceled in 1993, and Beryl joined The Dandy comic. To mark celebration with her joining the comic, Beryl shares the spotlight with Desperate Dan on the 1994 Dandy Annual.
In the 1999 Dandy Annual, Beryl's strip depicted her breaking the fourth wall in talking to her artist. In the strip, she requests to become invisible to which the artist somewhat resentfully obliges. She then gets up to 'Perils' but soon finds that being invisible is far more painful than she initially thought.
Karl Dixon's Revamp
In 1999, the strip was taken over by Ollie Fliptrik artist Karl Dixon as Nixon had to go into semi-retirement due to health problems. A year or two later, Beryl was revamped. She reverted back to her black and red clothes and her hairstyle became much more like that of Dennis the Menace - but her pigtails remained. She regained many of her Dennis influenced traits as well such as the famous "behind the nose" grin and constant scowl. Beryl also attended Dennis the Menace's 50th birthday party, although she was a latecomer so she didn't actually participate in any of the party games or fights prior.
Beryl disappeared for a while after the October 2004 Dandy relaunch. Bar one appearance in December that year, she returned from issue 3302, dated 12 March 2005.
As revealed in The Dandy dated 3 March 2006, Steve Bright had taken over Beryl as artist and she had now reverted back to how she was drawn by David Law , and had gone through another costume change - a baggy green and red t-shirt with baggy black jeans and trainers. However, she disappeared when The Dandy relaunched in August 2007. She later re-appeared for four issues, but as reprints from the Nixon era.
Pass the Peril
In 2010, The Dandy was relaunched, dropping the "Xtreme" from its title and focusing far more on comics. As of yet, Beryl is yet to appear in a strip. However, she has made several cameo appearances. In a segment entitled "What's in Cheryl's hair," a menacing-looking girl with pigtails is seen peeking out. This was labelled Beryl Cole and so is therefore not deemed as an official appearance. However, she did make a return digitally via the social networking site Facebook . She was involved in an artist event called "Pass the Peril" in which four different artists were to draw four different strips based on the character and the website. The first was drawn by Steve Beckett and saw Beryl informing her father that her adventures would now continue via Facebook in which she, very much in character, smashed her father's face with a book. [2] The second, drawn by Andy Fanton , shows Beryl mocking how it is fine to "write on a Wall" on Facebook but is considered deviant in real life, revealing that she has been tagging all over Dandy town. [3] The third was illustrated by Nik Holmes and consisted of Beryl contacting old friends through Facebook and featured cameos of past Dandy and Topper characters such as Tricky Dicky , Mickey the Monkey and Smasher . [4] The final strip was drawn by Nigel Auchterlounie and finished with Beryl deciding to un-Like her father on Facebook. This causes a chain effect in which other famous characters from The Dandy - including Korky the Cat , Desperate Dan and Bananaman - also unfriend her father, much to his dismay. [5]
Beryl made her first appearance in the revamped Dandy comic in a Justin Beaver strip. She, alongside Minnie the Minx and Toots , appeared in the comics title card chasing after Justin. She made yet another appearance in a "Harry and his Hippo" strip, drawn by Andy Fanton. In this strip, she is enjoying the Dandy swimming pool alongside other famous past Dandy characters.
Pass the Peril returned to Facebook mid-2011, this time focusing on Beryl attempting to maker her own film. Also, the character returned in the 2012 Dandy Annual, once again drawn by Karl Dixon.
Beryl returned to the main Dandy in February 2012 as reprints from the mid-80s from The Topper.
Reception and legacy
Beryl could be seen by some as an important female role model; she was certainly not "sugar and spice and all things nice". When the staff of one rape crisis centre decided that they should all use the pseudonym "Beryl Thomson" when dealing with officialdom, one of them wondered later if they had been subconsciously thinking about Beryl the Peril.[ citation needed ] Initially, the character was to be honoured on the Woman's History Trail in Dundee but was rejected at the last minute due to their decision to not include fictional characters.[ citation needed ] She has also caused criticism and controversy as British politicians have deemed her a bad role model for young girls. A familiar criticism was garnered for male counterpart Dennis the Menace. One MP claimed that Beryl should "be given an ASBO rather than a plaque". [1]
Personality traits
Although Beryl is often perceived as a troublemaker similar to Dennis the Menace and Minnie the Minx , her personality changed several times. In the David Law strips, she is quite mischievous but also fun-loving and rather clumsy, whereas she became a more malicious character after John Dallas took over. However, after Robert Nixon took over, she became a much less menacing character, while the stories in the Karl Dixon era largely focused on the relationship between Beryl and her Dad. In the Karl Dixon stories, she shows little respect to her father, often referring to him as 'Beak-Boy' due to his abnormally large nose.
See also
| The Dandy |
How many seconds delay are there between each of Big Ben's strikes? 1, 3 or 5? | Black Bob (comics) | Hey Kids Comics Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia
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Black Bob was the name of a fictional Border Collie from Selkirk in the Scottish Borders. Black Bob originally appeared as a text story in The Dandy in issue 280, dated 25 November 1944. Following this he appeared as a picture strip in The Weekly News in 1946, which continued until 1967. His 'owner' was Andrew Glen, a bearded shepherd. Black Bob follows his owner's nephew who is playing truant and tries to bring him back to school.
Drawn by Jack Prout, the popular sheepdog appeared regularly in The Dandy from his 1944 debut until issue 2122, dated 24 July 1982. Eight Black Bob books were published at infrequent intervals in 1950, 1951, 1953, 1955, 1957, 1959, 1961 and 1965. He returned in the 2013 Dandy Annual drawn by Steve Bright in Prout's style.
Jack Prout was born on 14 December 1900 and joined the Scottish publishing firm of D. C. Thomson as a staff artist on 21 June 1937. He retired on 30 June 1968 although his strips were reprinted in the Dandy until 1982. Shortly before his retirement, Prout acquired a black and white Border Collie. Staff at D. C. Thomson's presented the artist with a spoof "dog licence", allowing the animal to keep the artist as a pet. The document was "signed" with Black Bob's pawprint. Jack Prout died on 27 September 1978.
Black Bob was parodied in a strip in Viz comic entitled " Black Bag , the Faithful Border Bin Liner".
Sources
Information provided by the publisher of The Dandy and the Black Bob books, namely D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd as relayed by Jason Swemmer, Pretoria, South Africa.
Further biographical information provided by the Juvenile Publications department of D C Thomson in a letter to Bob Richardson, Northolt, London, England.
External links
| i don't know |
In a standard pack of playing cards what do the queens hold in their hands? | Courts on playing cards
Courts on playing cards
WebLog
Important note: I believe the images shown here are in the public domain (because playing cards have been around for so long, even in their present form…), so you're free to copy them and use them to whatever purpose you see fit. At least as far as I'm concerned, you're welcome to. However, do not link to the images directly on this server: rather, make your own copy of the file and upload it where you will. I'm saying this because I'm really annoyed with all the people linking to these images on this server from their MySpace profile, avatars on various webforums, etc.
Kings
Spades
Called “David” on the French deck, probably after the biblical character. He holds a scepter in one hand, and a harp is visible below it (confirming the biblical attribution). He faces forward, a little to the left. On the English deck, he holds a sword. He faces forward, a little to the right.
Hearts
Called “Charles” on the French deck, probably after Charles the Great (Charlemagne) — or perhaps after French king Charles VII. He holds a sword. He faces forward, a little to the right. On the English deck, he also holds a sword (above his head), and both his hands are visible. Unlike the other kings, he does not have a mustache. He faces forward, a little to the left.
Diamonds
Called “César” on the French deck, probably after Julius Cæsar. He has no distinguishing attribute, and no visible hands. He faces right, and is seen in profile. On the English deck, he has an axe behind him, and one hand sticking in front of him. He faces left, and is seen in profile.
Clubs
Called “Alexandre” on the French deck, probably after Alexander the Great. He holds a scepter in one hand, with a shield (?) just below it. He faces forward, a little to the right. On the English deck, he holds a sword in his hand, with an imperial orb just beside it (seemingly floating in air). He faces forward, a little to the left.
Queens
Spades
Called “Pallas” on the French deck, possibly after the Greek goddess Athena. She faces left, and is seen in profile. On the English deck, she is the only queen with a scepter. She faces forward, a little to the right.
Hearts
Called “Judith” on the French deck, probably after the biblical character (or perhaps after Judith of Bavaria). She faces forward, a little to the left. On the English deck, she also faces forward, a little to the left (she is not reversed with respect to the French deck).
Diamonds
Called “Rachel” on the French deck, possibly after the biblical character. She faces forward, a little to the right. On the English deck, she faces forward, a little to the left.
Clubs
Called “Argine” on the French deck, an anagram of latin “regina” (“queen”); some have suggested that the name may (also) be related to the Greek Argos. She is the only queen not holding a flower. She faces forward, a little to the right. On the English deck, she does hold a flower like the other queens. She faces forward, a little to the left.
Jacks (knaves)
Spades
Called “Hogier” on the French deck: origin is uncertain, but perhaps after Ogier the Dane from the
Song of Rolland
. He has a feather in his hat. He faces forward, a little to the right. On the English deck, he holds an unidentifiable object (initially a spear). He has a mustache. He faces right, and is seen in profile.
Hearts
Called “Lahire” on the French deck: origin is uncertain, but may refer to Étienne “La Hire” de Vignolles, companion of arms to Joan of Arc. He faces forward, a little to the left, and his face is a little slanted to the left. On the English deck, he also holds a leaf, and has an axe behind his head. He has a mustache. He faces left, and is seen in profile.
Diamonds
Called “Hector” on the French deck, possibly not after the Trojan hero, but perhaps after a companion (brother?) of Lancelot. He faces right, and is seen in profile. On the English deck, he holds a sword. He faces forward, a little to the left.
Clubs
Called “Lancelot” on the French deck, probably after the Arthurian hero. He holds a shield (?) attached to a string. He faces forward, a little to the left. On the English deck, he holds an unreadable object (originally an arrow). There is a feather sticking from his hat. He faces forward, a little to the right.
| Flower |
What was Muhammed Ali's name before he changed it? | EUROPEAN PLAYING CARDS TO 1901
EUROPEAN PLAYING CARDS TO 1901
EUROPEAN PLAYING CARDS TO 1901
REF:
CLICK ON SMALL PICTURE FOR A FULL PAGE OF PICTURES
CNE 4251X
French Suited German Engraved cards c1610 to 1650
with English Hand Tax Stamp
32 cards engraved cards by an unknown artist from a pack of 52 - initials IS or SI. Cards are hand coloured and reflect hunting and animal scenes from the serious to the comic - don't you just love the 10 Spades with the cat fiddling as the mice dance aground at his feet !
Commenting on the cards in the United States Playing Card Companies collection Hargrave says "Of cards with French suit signs in these German lands, there are many. The earliest one we have is a pack of 52 cards, from coper plates and coloured by hand, and most of them bear the monogram of an unknown artist. Besides the suit signs arranged in the usual manner they picture a day's hunting across the field and through the forests of early seventeenth century Germany. The Kings and valets are debonair gentlemen and the Queens gracious little ladies. No other example of these cards are known to exist." She then illustrates four of them and classifies them as "Hunting series, 1610"
Virginia Wayland states in the IPCS Journal Volume XIII, No 1 [ August 1979 ] that these cards must have been seen by John Lenthall as he followed the design in his Forest Cards [ Pack No: XXII ] often reversing the image.
Uniqueness is a word we don't often use but in addition to this decks obvious rarity it also bears an English Hand Tax Stamp of c 1712 a Red Stock in Hand Stamp which would have been applied on importation.
Condition is varied and the high definition scans of the cards reveal all.
CNE1115
c1812 French Suited Piquet Playing Cards from Switzerland - D.V a Lausanne
Full pack 32/32, Piquet Pack, of Playing Cards made in Switzerland c1810. Printed from woodblocks and stenciled coloured. French suited and made by "D V a Lausanne" shown on the Jack of Clubs.[ David Vachet "Cadet", cardmaker in Lausanne before 1850 - our thanks to Walter Haas ].
The c1812 Tax stamp, on the Ace of Hearts, is from Canton Vaud [ CANT.DE /VAUD ] [ thanks to Peter Endebrock http://www.endebrock.de/ ] and the Jack of Hearts shows the symbol of the Vaud Canton "Liberte et Patre"
The cards have plain backs and are in excellent [ 9/10 ] condition.
c1816 Jeu des Drapeaux Playing Cards
This is a piquet deck, 32/32, playing card set of non standard format.
The cards have been cut from sheets and mounted, then bound in Morocco leather.
The cards are from the magnificent collection of Rimington-Wilson which was auctioned in the 1970s, this pack being purchased by Sylvia Mann.
See IPCS article, by Mann, A CHOICE COLLECTION OF PLAYING-CARDS
The hand coloured cards depict four armies, Hearts depict the French; Spades, the English, Scottish and Irish troops; Diamonds the German troops and Clubs the Russian soldiers. The cards are depicted on the banners carried by the soldiers.
The court cards have Queens as female figures on the flags, the Kings shows Generals and their aids and the Jacks portray
single solders from their respective countries.
The Ace cards depict soldiers with cannon(s) all other cards show rows of soldiers in various positions.
Good condition throughout - scans have slight blurring due to difficulty of scanning books.
Insured Postage is free on this item.
CNE813
c1900 Eduard Buttner German Playing Cards - No 23 Piquet Berliner Spielkarten Fabrik 36 Blatt
This deck (36/36 – a piquet deck 7,8,9,10,J,Q,K and Ace) - was made c 1900 - The cards are round cornered without indices - The backs are dark pink on pale pink - The Jack of Club has - Eduard Buttner & Co - Berliner Spielkarten Fabrik on it - The Queens hold flowers - The Jacks hold axe style weapons - The Kings seem to have child representative items in their hands - The Ace of Hearts has - “Deutsches Reich No 4 Dreiszig PF” on it - The cards are in v good condition – lightly used - The corners are gold - They are color lithography printed – surface polished - The box is white on dark pink - and has - “Clubkarte No 23” on it - It is in good condition – slightly dirty - - The top flap is complete but detached from the box - There are no small side flaps
180
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What was the title of the Beatles' first single? | The Story of the Beatles' First Single, 'Love Me Do'
REDDIT
Fox Photos, Getty Images
Not all cultural revolutions take place overnight. Some begin with little fanfare and take a while to gather steam. That’s exactly what happened on Oct. 5, 1962, when the Beatles released their first single, “Love Me Do,” in the U.K.
Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney a few years earlier, “Love Me Do” was one of four songs the Beatles performed during their successful audition for George Martin several months earlier and slated for their debut single. However, Martin was dissatisfied with drummer Pete Best, who was subsequently fired.
His replacement, Ringo Starr , had barely had time to rehearse with the band by the time of their first session on Sept. 4. Martin asked that they re-record the song a week later with studio musician Andy White on drums. Starr played the tambourine. Still, the version with Starr behind the kit was chosen by their label, EMI, as the single, with White’s version used for the U.S. release in the spring of 1964.
Though it hardly ranks as one of their best songs, “Love Me Do” is noted for Lennon’s harmonica part, inspired by Delbert McClinton’s playing on Bruce Channel’s “Hey Baby,” a big hit that summer. It also resulted in an added bonus. With no overdubbing, Lennon’s harmonica playing meant that McCartney had to sing the a capella title line at the end of the verse by himself. Nerves caused McCartney’s voice to shake, which only made the girls scream even more.
“Love Me Do” reached No. 17 on the U.K. charts, an unspectacular but respectable spot for an unknown group from Liverpool. But it was their second single, “Please Please Me,” released in January 1963, that rocketed up the charts and kicked off the phenomenon that became known as Beatlemania.
Beatles Albums Ranked Worst to Best
Image of
| Love Me Do |
Which football team won the F. A. Cup in 1988 as Dave Beasant became the first goalkeeper to save an F. A. Cup final penalty? | 50 Years Ago: EMI Prepares for Release of First Beatles Single – beatle.net
by dvt | posted in: 50 Years Ago , Trivia | 0
In mid-September 1962, EMI scheduled the release of the Beatles first single for October 5. By this time George Martin had determined that a Lennon-McCartney original, “Love Me Do,” would be the group’s debut disc.
Although EMI initially pressed only a few thousand copies of the single for distribution to record stores, the company devoted a full page of its weekly two-page new releases ad to the disc in the September 27, 1962, Record Retailer (shown above). This unprecedented move was most likely done to curry favor with Beatles manager Brian Epstein, who was an important customer of EMI through his NEMS record stores. While EMI was not willing to risk the cost of a large press run on an untested group, the full-page trade magazine ad, complete with pictures of the members of the group, was a way for EMI to demonstrate to Brian its support of the Beatles without incurring additional expenses.
EMI prepared approximately 250 promotional copies of the Beatles first single for pre-release distribution to selected media and radio stations. This so-called demonstration record has white labels with black print and a large red A on the Love Me Do side. The arrival of the disc at Brian’s NEMS office should have been a red-letter day for the aspiring manager, but instead Brian exploded in red-faced rage when he noticed that Paul’s last name was misspelled in the songwriters credit as “McArtney.” When he called EMI to complain about the error, he was told that the labels of the commercial copies would have the correct spelling. This failed to calm him down and he curtly replied, “Not the point, journalists and producers and deejays have the wrong name on their copies.” While Brian was understandably upset over the spelling error, the mistake made what was destined to be a highly collectible disc even more desirable.
Not willing to rely entirely on EMI to promote the Beatles, Brian hired a Liverpool native who wrote liner notes for a major record company to prepare a press kit for the Beatles. This individual also wrote record reviews for a Liverpool newspaper. This week’s trivia questions are about this person.
Who did Brian Epstein hire to prepare the first Beatles press kit?
What record company did this person write liner notes for?
What newspaper did this person write record reviews for?
What pen name did he use for his Off The Record column in the newspaper?
| i don't know |
Which song gave Windsor Davies and Don Estelle a number one hit in 1975? | BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Actor Don Estelle buried
Actor Don Estelle buried
Estelle enjoyed both an acting and singing career
It Ain't Half Hot Mum actor Don Estelle has been buried at a ceremony attended by former co-stars, alongside the army helmet he wore in the comedy series.
The diminutive actor and singer died earlier this month after a long illness at the age of 70.
The funeral was held in Estelle's home town of Rochdale, near Manchester.
Mourners at the service included comic Jimmy Cricket, who gave a reading, and former MP Sir Cyril Smith, according to the Daily Mirror.
Estelle, who was just 4ft 9ins (145cm) tall, had asked to be buried with the pith helmet he wore to play the character of gunner Lofty Sugden in the 1970s series It Ain't Half Hot Mum.
The helmet was placed upon the coffin as it was carried into the service by the pall-bearers.
Sir Cyril said: "I was proud to have known him."
Estelle starred in the comedy series, which was set in Burma during World War II, for eight years.
As well as acting, Estelle also had a number one hit song with Whispering Grass, dueting with co-star Windsor Davies, who played the bullying sergeant-major in the show.
Touring
Born in Manchester, Estelle's career started in the choir of Holy Trinity Church in the town of Darwen, Lancashire, where he had been evacuated to during World War II.
He developed his music and comedic talents, touring first in the north of England club circuit, then throughout the UK when he teamed up with Windsor Davies.
He toured New Zealand and Australia repeatedly in the 1990s and continued to appear on stage in the UK.
In late 1999, he started recording a reworking on CD of the classic Laurel and Hardy movie song Trail of the Lonesome Pine, featuring Sir Cyril Smith.
Estelle recently had a cameo appearance in the cult TV comedy The League of Gentlemen.
| Whispering Grass |
Which two-letter word can go after tan and con to produce two new words? | Don Estelle • Biography & Facts
Don Estelle
Don Estelle
Don Estelle (22 May 1933 – 2 August 2003) was a British actor and singer.Born Ronald Edwards in Crumpsall, Manchester, he was brought up in a house on Russell Street, Crumpsall. During World War II, at the age of eight, he was evacuated to Darwen, Lancashire, twenty miles away from his home, to escape the German bombing of the city. It was there he found his voice as a treble at the local Holy Trinity Parish Church (now called St Peter's), and on returning home after the war, he continued singing at St Mary's Church, Crumpsall. He later joined a charity group, the Manchester Kentucky Minstrels, and performed with them the Mario Lanza hit "Granada" in the talent show What Makes a Star? in 1954 at BBC Radio's northern studios in Manchester.Estelle gained experience by singing one song 12 times a week in the show The Backyard Kids at the Hulme Hippodrome in Manchester. He later toured the northern club circuit, where he met the comedy actor Windsor Davies whom he teamed with and toured for four years. In the 1960s, Estelle had cameo roles in Coronation Street and Dad's Army (in the latter he played a Pickfords man in one episode (1969), and an ARP Warden called Gerald in three more (1970)). He eventually landed the role of Gunner "Lofty" Sugden in the 1970s British sitcom, It Ain't Half Hot Mum. The character was given the ironic nickname of "Lofty" because of Estelle's stature (4 ft 9in). He had a powerful tenor voice and as a spin-off from the series, he and co-star Windsor Davies had a Number 1 hit in the UK Singles Chart in 1975 with a semi-comic version of "Whispering Grass". Estelle also acted in the films Not Now, Comrade (1976), A Private Function (1984) and Santa Claus: The Movie (1984). Don and Windsor also released a 14-track LP album called 'Sing Lofty' in 1979.In the first series of The League of Gentlemen, he made brief appearances in two episodes as Little Don, the keeper of the Roundabout Zoo (a zoo on the island of a roundabout).In 2001, he appeared in an episode of Linda Smith 's A Brief History of Timewasting as "Little Don" of the "East End Art Mafia".In his autobiography Sing Lofty: Thoughts Of A Gemini, Estelle was extremely bitter about modern-day entertainment, attacking those who refused to rerun It Ain't Half Hot Mum as "tight-crutched, white-trousered morons". According to his obituary in The Independent, "in recent years Estelle cut a slightly sorry figure, dressed in his "Lofty" outfit, setting out a stall of his tapes and singing to passers-by in shopping centres. Similarly, he played a dirty old man in the promotional video for The Sun Page Three Girl Jo Hicks's single "Yakety Sax" (2001) (The Benny Hill Show theme). One of the stalls he performed at for a time was in the Boston, Lincolnshire branch of Woolworths. He could also be seen performing in Cwmbran town centre in South Wales.Estelle's last years were in Christchurch, New Zealand, where he spent countless hours working with the founder of 10-piece blues band, Blutopia. Says Malcolm Bishop, "Lofty was looking for someone to believe in and bless in their own career and he picked me! He was extremely generous with time and resources." Bishop recalls sitting with Estelle until 4am the night before he returned to the UK, as Estelle gave him invaluable advice.Estelle returned to the UK only weeks before his death. He died in Rochdale Infirmary, on 2 August 2003 and was buried in Rochdale, with the oversized pith helmet he wore as Gunner "Lofty" Sugden. He was survived by his second wife Elizabeth.
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The Italian word for scratched drawings is used commonly in English. What is it? | The Italian word for "scratched drawings" is used commonly in English. What is it? - thinkypedia.com
The Italian word for "scratched drawings" is used commonly in English. What is it?
westsidecity answers:
Not sure but i know that the term graffiti originally referred to the inscriptions, figure drawings, etc found on the walls of ancient ruins, as in the Catacombs of Rome or at Pompeii. So i would say graffiti is a pretty sure bet.
| Graffiti |
Which four letter word can go before beat or fall or after come or melt to produce four new words? | Kids Art Market: Graffiti Stencil Project
Tuesday, August 2, 2016
Graffiti Stencil Project
Lesson Objective: Using Stencils, create a work of art with a message based on Graffiti History.
Key Vocabulary:
Graffiti is writing or drawings that have been scribbled, scratched, or sprayed illicitly on a wall in public place.
Stencil: a thin sheet of cardboard, plastic, or metal with a pattern or letters cut out of it, used to produce the cut design on the surface below by the application of ink or paint through the holes.
Iconography: the visual images and symbols used in a work of art or the interpretation
Symbols are something represented in the work of art—an object, an action, or a pattern
Symbols can be nonrepresentational item such as a color or a line
Materials:
Heavy paper to cut stencils
Cutting board
Focus art: Graffiti
CA Art Standards
1.5 Analyze the material used by a given artist and describe how its use influences the meaning of the work.
2.6 Create a two or three-dimensional work of art that addresses a social issue.
3.4 Discuss the purposes of art in selected contemporary cultures.
4.1 Articulate how personal beliefs, cultural traditions, and current social, economic, and political contexts influence the interpretation of the meaning or message in a work of art.
4.2 Compare the ways in which the meaning of a specific work of art has been affected over time because of changes in interpretation and context.
4.5 Employ the conventions of art criticism in writing and speaking about works of art.
5.2 Create a work of art that communicates a cross-cultural or universal theme taken from literature or history.
Modifications:
English Language Learner: Handout for project, project samples, Power point with visuals, Critique for additional understanding, Demonstration of techniques
Special Needs: Handout for project, project samples, Power point with visuals, Critique for additional understanding, Demonstration of techniques
Accelerated Learner: Expand on skills learned to create a unique project.
Scaffolding adaptations:
Students will revisit art elements from the earlier learning. We will use similar visuals to refresh previous knowledge. Notes on color, scale and artists will be taken throughout discussions for added understanding. Creating sketchbook plans and Constructing final project will be demo started in class using guided instruction.
Direct instruction:
Graffiti is writing or drawings that have been scribbled, scratched, or sprayed illicitly on a wall in public place.
Graffiti ranges from written words to wall paintings, and it has existed since ancient times
Examples date back to Ancient Egypt & Ancient Greece
Both "graffiti" and its singular form "graffito" are from the Italian word graffiato ("scratched").
"Graffiti" in art history: works of art produced by scratching a design into a surface.
Spray Paint and marker pens have become the most commonly used graffiti materials.
In most countries, marking or painting property without the property owner's consent is considered defacement and vandalism, which is a punishable crime.
1981: Fab 5 Freddy's friendship with Debbie Harry influenced Blondie's single "Rapture"
The video featured Jean-Michel Basquiat, and offered the first glimpse of a depiction of elements of graffiti in hip hop culture.
1980’s Keith Haring was another well-known graffiti artist who brought Pop Art and graffiti to the commercial mainstream.
Then we saw the emergence of the new stencil graffiti genre. Some of the first examples were created in 1981
Banksy starts using stencils almost exclusively by 2000
Works of art may not only have subject matter, they may also contain symbols
Stencil: a thin sheet of cardboard, plastic, or metal with a pattern or letters cut out of it, used to produce the cut design on the surface below by the application of ink or paint through the holes.
Iconography: the visual images and symbols used in a work of art or the interpretation
Symbols are something represented in the work of art—an object, an action, or a pattern
Symbols can be nonrepresentational item such as a color or a line
To become a symbol, people have to adopt or accept
The cross is a symbol of Christianity, symbol of suffering
The Sun as the symbol of life and strength
River is the symbol of eternal change/flowing
The eagle on the standard of America symbolizes strength
Emojis as symbols
Over all mostly happy faces
Project Requirements:
Sketchbook: Students will complete a study of their stencils, repetition, overlapping, movement as a drawing.
Their drawing should include a five symbols and a social/cultural message through color and symbols (Iconography)
They will finish their drawing using color.
Submit sketch to Morrison for Final paper
Students must create at least 5 stencils in card stock
Final Project: Using created stencils, student will use overlapping, repetition, pictures and symbols that represent you or your message as an artist.
Using knowledge gained from the year, address several principles of art: Balance, Scale, Rhythm, Unity, Movement, Emphasis, Contrast, Pattern
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What are the first three words in the Bible? | The First Three Words of the Bible: christianity
The First Three Words of the Bible
Bereishit bara Elohim et hashamayim ve'et ha'aretz. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Bereishit (בראשית)in Hebrew means "at the head of." Since the first letter bet (ב) is closed on three sides, and since Hebrew is read right to left, the midrash Bereishit Rabbah 1:10 says that interpretation can only go in the open direction, ie. don't worry about what came before. The three middle letters are the same word as in Rosh Hahanah ("the head the year"), the beginning of the year. Bara (ברא) means "filled" or "fattened." Elohim (אלהים) is a name of God.
Some Christians see even more in these first three words of the Bible. The first letter of the sentence, bet ב, is the first letter of ben (son). The second letter of the sentence, resh ר, is the first letter of ruach (spirit, breath). The third letter of the sentence, alef א, is the first letter of abba (father) and of the third word, Elohim (אלהים). Father, Son, and Spirit, with the third word of the sentence being "God." Also, the name. Elohim אלהים, is a plural form and the first letter, א, in its simplest form consists of three strokes.
| In the Beginning |
How many points would you get for the word Scrabble in a game of Scrabble? | [GR] > The First Word
[GR] > The First Word
The Head of the House
The first word of the Bible, Berashit, is the fountainhead of the biblical revelation and is linked to many pages throughout this site. Berashit is formed from the noun ראשית (Rashith, Beginning) prefixed with the letter ב ( Beyt, House ), which signifies the preposition in, with, or by . This demonstrates the self-reflective holographic nature of the Hebrew language since a House serves as a natural symbol of a place to go in.
The triliteral root of Berashit, ראש (Rosh), is variously translated as first, head, or chief. God used this root when He declared (Isaiah 44.6):
I am the first ראשון (Roshon) and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.
Most people have encountered Rosh in the phrase Rosh HaShanah, the First of the Year. A typical example of its use is found in the verse "and each one was an head of the house ראש בית (Rosh Beyt) of their fathers among the thousands of Israel." Because this phrase is an anagram of Berashith, they both share the same numerical weight :
In the beginning
The Head of the House
Rosh Beyt
This means that the position of Berashith at the head of the biblical house is implicit within itself, it is self-descriptive. And as discussed at length on Spoke 2, Beyt symbolizes the Word , so Rosh Beyt connotes the First Word, which indeed it is.
God the Father
Perhaps the deepest significance of Berashit is found in the primary title of God used throughout the New Testament, God the Father . When the Lord Jesus spoke of God, the title He used most frequently was simply The Father which the Unity Holograph shows to be mathematically integrated with the the two primary Hebrew names of God, YHVH (The LORD, 26 ) and Elohim (God, 86 ). At other times, he used this title in apposition with Ho Theos (God, 354 ), as when He said:
Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.
This title appears frequently in the New Testament with many variations such as God our Father, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, etc.. The exact words written in the verse just quoted are:
God the Father
This is the nominative form with the definite articles. We have therefore a three-fold set:
The Number 913
In the Beginning
The Head of the House
This set reiterates and amplifies the meaning derived from the first word of the Hebrew language, Av:
(Father, Av) =
(Beyt, House )
A similar analysis of the Beyt KeyWord Ben (Son) reveals its meaning as the Posterity of the House . The words Av and Ben unite (sharing a common Beyt/House) to form the Stone representing Jesus Christ in whom "the fulness of the Godhead dwelt bodily" (cf. Colosians 2.9, John 14).
Putting these ideas together yields two fundamentally independent witnesses to the primacy of God the Father:
First Hebrew Word: Father (Av)
= Aleph (The Leader) of Beyt (The House)
First Bible Word: God the Father
= 913 = Rosh Beyt (The Head of the House)
We have two independent witnesses here. The first is based on the symbolic meaning of the first word of the Hebrew language, and the second is based on the numeric weight of an anagram of the first word of the Bible! Returning to the first word, we see an implication of the Father's position as the first Person in the Trinity:
God the Father = 913 = In the Beginning
The numinous ramifications of this identity flood the soul. Though each Person of the Trinity is eternal God and therefore each Person was in the beginning, God the Father has a special dignity as the first Person "from whom are all things" and it is this that resonates so strongly here. As the mathematical signature of God the Father, it identifies Him as the ultimate source of Reality and Scripture. And since
(Av, Father) is the first Hebrew word, it reiterates the linguistic fact that the Father is in the beginning of the language He designed for "the praise of his glory."
This integrates with the broader sense of Av as the origin, source, or foundation of something. The link between God the Father and Creation also coheres with the order within the Godhead. Though the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are each eternal God, and God is One, yet the Father is first in the sense that he begets the Son. And from the Father and the Son proceeds the Holy Spirit. Simple as ABC, or rather, Aleph (Av, Father), Beyt (Ben, Son), Gimel (Gomel, Abundant Giver - The Holy Spirit). All things are from the Father, through the Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit, for "there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him."
Though each divine Person is fully involved in every act of God, and Scripture ascribes each act to each Person, yet there is a special link between God the Father and the idea of creation, as mentioned by Berkoff in his Systematic Theology:
Scripture teaches us to recognize a certain economy in the work of creation and redemption and warrants our speaking of the Father and our creation, of the Son and our redemption, and of the Holy Spirit and a our sanctification.
The veracity of this pattern can not be denied; God used it to established the order of the first three books: Genesis ( Creation ), Exodus ( Redemption ) and Leviticus ( Sanctification ). This sequence is foundational and it regularly recurs in a great variety of settings. Likewise, the infinite mystery of the Triune God will constantly reappear throughout this study, particularly on the first three Spokes which were specially designed to reveal the nature of each Divine Person. Solutions to unanswerable questions about how God can be Three-in-One are neither offered nor considered. The good fruit grows in the rich soil of relationship with God, not speculative knowledge about God. If we can not even explain how people can be people, who but a fool would try explain how God can be God? Yet we can know Him, for He has given us the Bible for that very purpose. And this is enough, for through it we come to know Him Who is "the true God, and eternal life."
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What is the second most common word in written English behind the? | THE MOST COMMON WORDS IN ENGLISH
The 500 Most Commonly Used Words in the English Language
Based on the combined results of British English, American English and Australian English surveys of contemporary sources in English: newspapers, magazines, books, TV, radio and real life conversations - the language as it is written and spoken today.
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Which town had a clock which always told the time never too quickly, never too slowly? | Semi-colons, colons, and dashes - The Writing Center at UNC-Chapel Hill
The Writing Center at UNC-Chapel Hill
Home » Handouts » Semi-colons, colons, and dashes
Semi-colons, colons, and dashes
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What this handout is about
This handout explains the most common uses of three kinds of punctuation: semi-colons (;), colons (:), and dashes (—). After reading the handout, you will be better able to decide when to use these forms of punctuation in your own writing.
Semi-colons
The semi-colon looks like a comma with a period above it, and this can be a good way to remember what it does. A semi-colon creates more separation between thoughts than a comma does but less than a period does. Here are the two most common uses of the semi-colon:
1. To help separate items in a list, when some of those items already contain commas.
Let’s look at an example, as that is the easiest way to understand this use of the semi-colon. Suppose I want to list three items that I bought at the grocery store:
apples
In a sentence, I would separate these items with commas:
I bought apples, grapes, and pears.
Now suppose that the three items I want to list are described in phrases that already contain some commas:
shiny, ripe apples
If I use commas to separate these items, my sentence looks like this:
I bought shiny, ripe apples, small, sweet, juicy grapes, and firm pears.
That middle part is a bit confusing—it doesn’t give the reader many visual cues about how many items are in the list, or about which words should be grouped together. Here is where the semi-colon can help. The commas between items can be “bumped up” a notch and turned into semi-colons, so that readers can easily tell how many items are in the list and which words go together:
I bought shiny, ripe apples; small, sweet, juicy grapes; and firm pears.
2. To join two sentences.
An independent clause is a group of words that can stand on its own (independently)—it is a complete sentence. Semi-colons can be used between two independent clauses. The semi-colon keeps the clauses somewhat separate, like a period would do, so we can easily tell which ideas belong to which clause. But it also suggests that there may be a close relationship between the two clauses—closer than you would expect if there were a period between them. Let’s look at a few examples. Here are a few fine independent clauses, standing on their own as complete sentences:
I went to the grocery store today. I bought a ton of fruit. Apples, grapes, and pears were on sale.
Now—where could semi-colons fit in here? They could be used to join two (but not all three) of the independent clauses together. So either of these pairs of sentences would be okay:
I went to the grocery store today; I bought a ton of fruit. Apples, grapes, and pears were all on sale.
OR
I went to the grocery store today. I bought a ton of fruit; apples, grapes, and pears were all on sale.
I could NOT do this:
I went to the grocery store today; I bought a ton of fruit; apples, grapes, and pears were all on sale.
But why I would want to use a semi-colon here, anyway? One reason might have to do with style: the three short sentences sound kind of choppy or abrupt. A stronger reason might be if I wanted to emphasize a relationship between two of the sentences. If I connect “I bought a ton of fruit” and “Apples, grapes, and pears were all on sale” more closely, readers may realize that the reason why I bought so much fruit is that there was a great sale on it.
Colons
Colons follow independent clauses (clauses that could stand alone as sentences) and can be used to present an explanation, draw attention to something, or join ideas together.
Common uses of colons
1. To announce, introduce, or direct attention to a list, a noun or noun phrase, a quotation, or an example/explanation. You can use a colon to draw attention to many things in your writing. The categories listed below often overlap, so don’t worry too much about whether your intended use of the colon fits one category perfectly.
Lists/series example:
We covered many of the fundamentals in our writing class: grammar, punctuation, style, and voice.
Noun/noun phrase example:
My roommate gave me the things I needed most: companionship and quiet.
Quotation example:
Shakespeare said it best: “To thine own self be true.”
Example/explanation example:
Many graduate students discover that there is a dark side to academia: late nights, high stress, and a crippling addiction to caffeinated beverages.
2. To join sentences. You can use a colon to connect two sentences when the second sentence summarizes, sharpens, or explains the first. Both sentences should be complete, and their content should be very closely related. Note that if you use colons this way too often, it can break up the flow of your writing. So don’t get carried away with your colons!
Example:
Life is like a puzzle: half the fun is in trying to work it out.
3. To express time, in titles, and as part of other writing conventions. Colons appear in several standard or conventional places in writing. Here are a few examples:
With numbers. Colons are used to separate units of time (4:45:00 expresses four hours, forty-five minutes, and zero seconds); ratios (2:1), and Bible verses and chapters (Matthew 2:24).
In bibliography entries. Many citation styles use a colon to separate information in bibliography entries.
Example:
Kurlansky, M. (2002). Salt: A world history. New York, NY: Walker and Co.
With subtitles. Colons are used to separate titles from subtitles.
Example:
Everest: The Last Frontier
After the salutation in a formal business letter. A colon can be used immediately after the greeting in a formal letter (less-formal letters tend to use a comma in this location).
Example:
To Whom it May Concern:
Please accept my application for the position advertised in the News and Observer.
Common colon mistakes
1. Using a colon between a verb and its object or complement
Example (incorrect):
The very best peaches are: those that are grown in the great state of Georgia.
To correct this, simply remove the colon.
2. Using a colon between a preposition and its object
Example (incorrect):
My favorite cake is made of: carrots, flour, butter, eggs, and cream cheese icing.
To correct this, simply remove the colon.
3. Using a colon after “such as,” “including,” “especially,” and similar phrases. This violates the rule that the material preceding the colon must be a complete thought. Look, for example, at the following sentence:
Example (incorrect):
There are many different types of paper, including: college ruled, wide ruled, and plain copy paper.
You can see that “There are many different types of paper, including” is not a complete sentence. The colon should simply be removed.
How to check for mistakes
Ask yourself a question: does the material preceding the colon stand on its own? One way to tell if the colon has been properly used is to look only at the words that come in front of the colon. Do they make a complete thought? If not, you may be using the colon improperly. Check above to see if you have made one of the most common mistakes.
Should you capitalize the first letter after a colon?
Different citation styles (such as MLA, APA, Chicago, and AMA) have slightly different rules regarding whether to capitalize the first letter after a colon. If it is important that you follow one of these styles precisely, be sure to use the appropriate manual to look up the rule.
Here’s our suggestion: generally, the first word following the colon should be lower-cased if the words after the colon form a dependent clause (that is, if they could not stand on their own as a complete sentence). If the following phrase is a complete (independent) clause, you may choose to capitalize it or not. Whichever approach you choose, be sure to be consistent throughout your paper.
Example with an independent clause, showing two different approaches to capitalization:
The commercials had one message: The geeks shall inherit the earth. (correct)
The commercials had one message: the geeks shall inherit the earth. (correct)
Example with a dependent clause (which is not capitalized)
There are three things that I love more than anything else in the world: my family, my friends, and my computer. (correct)
Dashes
The first thing to know when talking about dashes is that they are almost never required by the laws of grammar and punctuation. Overusing dashes can break up the flow of your writing, making it choppy or even difficult to follow, so don’t overdo it.
It’s also important to distinguish between dashes and hyphens. Hyphens are shorter lines (-); they are most often used to show connections between words that are working as a unit (for example, you might see adjectives like “well-intentioned”) or to spell certain words (like “e-mail”).
With that background information in mind, let’s take a look at some ways to put dashes to work in your writing.
1. To set off material for emphasis. Think of dashes as the opposite of parentheses. Where parentheses indicate that the reader should put less emphasis on the enclosed material, dashes indicate that the reader should pay more attention to the material between the dashes. Dashes add drama—parentheses whisper. Dashes can be used for emphasis in several ways:
A single dash can emphasize material at the beginning or end of a sentence.
Example:
After eighty years of dreaming, the elderly man realized it was time to finally revisit the land of his youth—Ireland.
Example:
“The Office”—a harmless television program or a dangerously subversive guide to delinquency in the workplace?
Two dashes can emphasize material in the middle of a sentence. Some style and grammar guides even permit you to write a complete sentence within the dashes.
Example:
Everything I saw in my new neighborhood—from the graceful elm trees to the stately brick buildings—reminded me of my alma mater.
Example (complete sentence):
The students—they were each over the age of eighteen—lined up in the streets to vote for the presidential candidates.
Two dashes can emphasize a modifier. Words or phrases that describe a noun can be set off with dashes if you wish to emphasize them.
Example:
The fairgrounds—cold and wet in the October rain—were deserted.
Example:
Nettie—her chin held high—walked out into the storm.
2. To indicate sentence introductions or conclusions. You can sometimes use a dash to help readers see that certain words are meant as an introduction or conclusion to your sentence.
Example:
Books, paper, pencils—many students lacked even the simplest tools for learning in nineteenth-century America.
Example:
To improve their health, Americans should critically examine the foods that they eat—fast food, fatty fried foods, junk food, and sugary snacks.
3. To mark “bonus phrases.” Phrases that add information or clarify but are not necessary to the meaning of a sentence are ordinarily set off with commas. But when the phrase itself already contains one or more commas, dashes can help readers understand the sentence.
Slightly confusing example with commas:
Even the simplest tasks, washing, dressing, and going to work, were nearly impossible after I broke my leg.
Better example with dashes:
Even the simplest tasks—washing, dressing, and going to work—were nearly impossible after I broke my leg.
4. To break up dialogue. In written dialogue, if a speaker suddenly or abruptly stops speaking, hesitates in speech, or is cut off by another speaker, a dash can indicate the pause or interruption.
Example:
“I—I don’t know what you’re talking about,” denied the politician.
Example:
Mimi began to explain herself, saying, “I was thinking—”
“I don’t care what you were thinking,” Rodolpho interrupted.
We hope that this handout has helped you better understand colons, semi-colons, and dashes! For more information about punctuation, be sure to check out our handout on commas .
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License .
You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout (just click print) and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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What is the largest state in America? | 10 Largest States In The United States - 10 Most Today
10 Largest States In The United States
Lists Of Countries
The following list contains the 10 largest states in the USA, by area
1. Alaska – 1,723,337 km2 (665,384 mi2) – Alaska is by far the largest state in the USA. It’s also the largest state by land area and by water area
Alaska – the largest state in the USA
2. Texas – 695,662 km2 (268,596 mi2) – The Lone Star State is the second largest state, but it’s less than half the size of Alaska
Texas – second largest state in the USA
3. California – 423,967 km2 (163,694 mi2) – The Golden State is the third largest state in the United States
The Golden State is the third largest state in the United States
4. Montana – 380,831 km2 (147,039 mi2) – Montana, nicknamed The Treasure State, is the fourth largest state
Largest States In The United States: Montana is fourth largest
5. New Mexico – 314,917 km2 (121,590 mi2)
New Mexico: 5th largest state
6. Arizona – 295,234 km2 (113,990 mi2) – The Copper State, home to the Grand Canyon, is the 6th largest state
Arizona: 6th largest state
7. Nevada – 286,380 km2 (110,571 mi2) – The Silver State, home to Las Vegas, is the 7th largest state
Nevada: 7th largest state in the United States
8. Colorado – 269,601 km2 (104,093 mi2)
Largest States In The United States: 8th place: Colorado
9. Oregon – 254,799 km2 (98,378 mi2) – The Beaver State is less than 1/6 of Alaska
Largest States In The United States: 9th place: Oregon
10. Wyoming – 253,335 km2 (97,813 mi2) – The Equality State closes our list with almost the same area as Oregon
10th largest state in the United States: Wyoming
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What part of the body is also the name of a punctuation mark? | Top 10 Largest States in United States | Top 1 US
Home » Largest » Top 10 Largest States in United States
Top 10 Largest States in United States
Sunday, August 7th 2011. | Largest
United States is one of the largest countries in the world. Has a total population into three largest in the world. United States has some of the state in some areas. These are the top 10 largest states in United States.
1. Alaska 663,267.26
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States, the United States bought the territory from Russia on March 30, 1867, at a price of $ 7.2 million. Alaska is close to Canada.
2. Texas 268,580.82
Texas
Texas is the second largest state in the United States. Name, based on the Caddo word “Tejas” which means “friend” or “allies”, applied by Spain to the Caddo themselves and their residential areas in East Texas. Texas border with Mexico to the south, New Mexico to the west, to northern Oklahoma, Arkansas, to the northeast, and Louisiana to the east. Texas has an area of 268,820 square miles (696,200 km2) and population growth of 25.1 million inhabitants.
3. California 163,695.57
California
California is located in the West Coast of the United States. This is a U.S. state’s most populous, [6] and third largest by land area (after Alaska and Texas).
4. Montana 147,042.40
Montana
Montana is a country in the Western United States. Having a lot of mountainous terrain. Smaller, “the island ranges” are found in the three central states, with a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the name of the country, from Montana said in Spanish (the mountain).
5. New Mexico 121,589.48
New Mexico
is a country located in the southwestern and western United States. New Mexico is considered one of the Mountain states. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is one of the most sparsely populated states.
6. Arizona 113,998.30
Arizona
Arizona is a state located in the southwestern United States. It is also part of the western United States and western mountains. The capital and largest city is Phoenix.
7. Nevada 110,560.71
Nevada
Nevada is a state located in the west, mountain west, and southwest United States. With an area of 110,561 square miles (286,350 km2) and a population of around 2.7 million, Nevada is the seventh largest country.
8. Colorado 104,093.57
Colorado
Colorado is a state that includes many of the Rocky Mountains and the northeastern part of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains. This is the most widely state to 8 in the United States.
9. Oregon 98,380.64
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. State is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, to southern California, Nevada and Idaho in the southeast to east.
10. Wyoming 97,813.56
Wyoming
is a state in the U.S. Mountain West region. Two-thirds of the western countries are covered mostly by mountains and rangelands of the Rocky Mountains at the foot of the East, while the third east of the country is high-elevation grasslands known as the Highlands. Wyoming is the tenth largest state in U.S.
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In the world of politics, what was broadcast live on British television for the first time on 20th March 1990? | TV History | Archive of American Television
HAL KANTER , Comedy Writer
Television was never one person's vision -- as early as the 1820s, the idea began to germinate. Certainly by 1880, when a speculative article appeared in The Scientific American magazine, the concept of a working television system began to spread on an international scale.
At the dawn of the twentieth century, there were a few American laboratories leading the way: Bell, RCA, and GE. It wasn't until 1927, when 21-year-old Philo T. Farnsworth , beat everyone to the punch by producing the first electronic television picture. This historic breakthrough catapulted him into a decades-long patent battle against major corporations, including RCA and CBS. The battle took its toll on everyone and RCA’s David Sarnoff brilliantly marketed this invention to the public and became known as the father of television -- while Philo T. Farnsworth died in relative obscurity.
Experimental broadcast television began in the early 1930s, transmitting fuzzy images of wrestling, music and dance to a handful of screen. It wasn't until the 1939 World's Fair in New York, where RCA unveiled their new NBC TV studios in Rockefeller Plaza, that network television was introduced. A few months later, William Paley’s CBS began broadcasting from its new TV studios in Grand Central Station.
Now that television worked, how could these networks profit on their investment? Who would create the programming that would sell their TV sets? How would they dominate this new commercial medium, without destroying their hugely profitable radio divisions?
Ready! Sets! Go! (1940s)
“We had a rating of 80, a share of 83.9. Of course I used to say there were only 83 sets, but there weren't.”
MILTON BERLE , host Texaco Star Theatre
Four months after NBC station W2XBS began regular programming in 1939, Red Barber announced the first televised major league baseball game between the Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers. Even though television was still considered a fad, throughout the 1940s, the deep-pocketed television divisions of NBC and CBS -- and soon ABC – cashed in on the tastes of the American public. Networks expanded their reach as key cities built broadcast facilities.
Television showed signs of becoming a commercial success, at least until the US entered World War II . The war interrupted its growth significantly, as personnel shortages forced stations to shut down. Only the DuMont network remained on the air.
It wasn't until 1947 that television’s growth truly exploded. Some of the biggest shows premiered including: The Ed Sullivan Show , Candid Camera, Howdy Doody , Philco Playhouse, and Kukla, Fran & Ollie . Meet the Press began broadcasting out of the nation's capitol to become the longest-running news program ever.
Perhaps the brightest star of the era was Milton Berle , “America’s favorite uncle.” Berle brought his vaudeville sensibilities to NBC’s Texaco Star Theatre and made it an unprecedented success. City water levels dropped during commercials, stores closed early. Television set sales skyrocketed.
As networks raced to provide content for the popular new medium, many radio stars and shows attempted to make the transition to television -- Burns and Allen, The Jack Benny Program, The Shadow, Fred Allen, and Fibber McGee and Molly.
Television News Finds Its Way (1950s)
“None of us had any ax to grind, none of us had any political ambitions. Our only real purpose in life, and in work, was to tell people what we knew to be true.”
DAVID BRINKLEY , News anchor
In 1949, a young girl named Kathy Fiscus fell into a Los Angeles-area well. Television provided continuous local coverage for over 27 hours. The unfolding tragedy proved that live television news coverage could not only inform, but also unite a community.
At the dawn of the 1950s, with over seven million TV sets in circulation, the need to broadcast fresh news images was magnified. The networks had initially offered short newscasts peppered with filmed newsreel footage – but that didn’t last long. Those who had built their careers in radio news ultimately provided television network news expansion. CBS News in particular established a protocol for television reporting - airing stories about topical, political and worldwide events that impacted its viewers. Plus, each night, viewers could see the newsmen they had trusted for years.
One of the biggest national concerns of the decade, along with the Korean War , involved The Cold War and the national fear of communist infiltration. Senator Joseph McCarthy used his “Red scare” tactics to ferret out communism on every level. The networks were not immune to scrutiny – in fact, to keep in good graces with sponsors, they often enforced blacklists within their ranks.
On a Sunday night in 1954, Murrow and his associates put their careers on the line to take on Senator McCarthy. The See It Now broadcast turned the tables on the Senator and acted as a political mallet. The indecency of McCarthy was further exposed when ABC and DuMont aired gavel-to-gavel coverage of the Army-McCarthy hearings in 1955.
There was another bright spot in the development of network news programs. In 1951, NBC programming head Pat Weaver conceived Today as a news and entertainment wake-up show called Rise and Shine. It worked for the ratings. But the events that loomed on the horizon in the 1950s made the show into one of the most important news programs ever produced by that network.
As the decade closed, the television industry was hit again with the quiz show scandals . The $64,000 Question, made its debut in 1955 and within a month had turned television on its ear. The opportunity to see everyday people win enormous cash prizes pushed that show past I Love Lucy and Ed Sullivan to become number one in the ratings. Other quiz and game shows followed the craze. It wasn't until Charles Van Doren won $129,000 on Twenty-One, defeating Herbert Stempel , that the machinations behind quiz shows were exposed. Van Doren was disgraced when it was revealed that he and other contestants were given answers in advance. The scandals caused viewers to question television practices, and it prompted the networks to take responsibility, and ultimately control, of their programming.
Instances like the Blacklist and the quiz show scandals placed the television news divisions in awkward positions – they had the delicate task of exposing their own networks’ dirty laundry. It was through the integrity of the broadcasters that television news survived virtually unscathed and was seen as a trusted, objective source.
Storytellers to a Nation (1950s Entertainment)
“There was gold dust in the air.”
TAD MOSEL , Live Drama Writer
Now that television had proved itself, the linking of both coasts by coaxial cable in 1951 meant that the same programs could be seen simultaneously nationwide. The new challenge was to feed a program-hungry nation. Television devoured more material than radio and motion pictures had ever done, and it was up to writers, performers, producers and directors to keep the ideas coming.
LIVE DRAMA: First as children of the Depression, then as war heroes, they followed their dreams via the GI Bill to attend the colleges of their choice. As students of theatre, they were in the right place at the right time when television was in its infancy. Live drama showrunners like Fred Coe, Worthington Minor and Martin Manulis. Writers like Paddy Chayefsky, Rod Serling, Tad Mosel, Horton Foote, JP Miller and Reginald Rose. Directors like John Frankenheimer, Delbert Mann and Arthur Penn. Actors like Rod Steiger, Paul Newman, Kim Hunter, E.G. Marshall, Jack Lemmon, Angela Lansbury, and James Dean.
We will highlight the live television anthologies and explore the reasons why their era earned the moniker “The Golden Age of Television.” It will explore the challenges of presenting a live production using the emerging technology of television, and explore the influence of business interests on the creative process.
Some of the live drama programs of the era include:
U.S. Steel Hour
COMEDY: Individuals from vastly different backgrounds, family trades, cultural heritages and varying interests came together and figured out how to make television work. They were curious, talented, brilliant, and determined to do something…really funny.
As the decade took hold, the vaudevillian antics of the 1940s television gave way to more sophisticated sketch and variety comedy, and ultimately, sitcoms. NBC’s Your Show of Shows starring Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca, was a prime example of the new variety trend. Plus, due to coaxial cable, unknown comedians from local stations showcased themselves to larger audiences. Philadelphia's favorite comedian Ernie Kovacs’ zany mischief, as well as Chicago-based shows including Stud's Place and Garroway at Large found new audiences.
As film studios relaxed their restrictions on their stars appearing on television, production moved west. With the premiere of CBS’ I Love Lucy and the subsequent rise of Desilu, situation comedies came to the forefront. In fact, on January 19, 1953, history was made as over 44 million Lucy fans tuned in to watch Little Ricky's birth.
Some of the programs of the era include:
Your Show of Shows
FILMED DRAMA: Filmed shows began to replace live programming starting in the mid-1950s. The use of filmed drama increased the scope of expression of television, including many popular police, courtroom, hospital and mystery series. Suddenly the camera could change point of view or leave the studio, close-ups could be shot separately, and new stories could be told with budget as the only restraint. It also made syndication a viable option for independent producers, including the "father of syndication," Fred Ziv.
Early on, Hollywood motion picture studios usually refused to enter television. The tables turned when ABC’s Leonard Goldenson invested $500,000 into the completion of Walt Disney’s cash-strapped Disneyland, in exchange for Disney programming for ABC. In 1954, ABC premiered Davy Crockett , which became a goldmine and proved that television and studio collaborations could work.
In daytime programming, although advertising was gaining momentum, writer Irna Phillips had to personally fund her Guiding Light pilot, because Procter & Gamble claimed that soap operas would never work on TV. They came aboard soon after. Guiding Light recently celebrated its 65th anniversary.
On the darker side, television entertainment divisions did not escape the "Red Scare" and McCarthyism. Government regulators forced CBS to instituted a loyalty oath that it required all employees to sign. The Blacklist permeated all aspects of the industry, and many lives and careers were ruined by it.
Television News Come of Age (1960s News)
“I went to CBS and said, in all those minutes of entertainment, couldn't you find 60 minutes of some kind of newsmagazine?”
DON HEWITT , 60 Minutes Executive Producer
By 1960, one third of all network programs were taped, a third were filmed, and the remaining shows were produced live. One vital example of the continued value of live television was the “Great Debate” between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy . Many believe it changed presidential politics forever – as it handed the presidency to John Kennedy.
Technologically, 1962 was perhaps the watershed year for TV news: the Telstar and Relay satellites were launched. By 1963, those 15-minute news wrap-ups were now half-hour broadcasts featuring satellite images from around the globe.
The field of long-form documentaries hit home in this decade. Many not only received critical acclaim, but also tested the political boundaries, reaching as high as the White House. They include, CBS Reports: Harvest of Shame, NBC’s series entitled White Paper, and The Tunnel, a documentary which showed German students escaping East Germany by tunneling under the Berlin Wall. Producer David Wolper had his first hits, The Race for Space, and The Making of a President. He also introduced the underwater world of Jacques Cousteau to television.
President Kennedy became the first U.S. President to embrace television as he invited cameras into his first press conference and allowed Jackie Kennedy to host a televised White House tour. But it was Kennedy's assassination, on November 22, 1963, that demonstrated the power of television, as all networks suspended entertainment programming for four days to cover the tragedy.
Other significant images were the 1963 televised footage of Civil Rights demonstrators being attacked by police dogs and fire hoses. This disturbing footage helped to validate the existence of the Civil Rights movement for the American public. The Civil Rights Act was signed into law the following year.
Considering the tumultuous events of the decade, trusted newsmen became a requirement for each of the networks as the acclaimed team of Huntley-Brinkley began reporting on NBC; Walter Cronkite began his reign as the anchor of the CBS Evening News ; and in 1968, the landmark newsmagazine, 60 Minutes debuted.
In 1964, President Johnson addressed the television cameras for eight minutes. He told the American people that he had ordered an air strike against North Vietnamese bases in the Gulf of Tonkin. This signaled the beginning of the Vietnam War . It was not until 1968, when Walter Cronkite broadcast a negative report on the Vietnam War, that the consensus of America's involvement in the war changed. Television was the window through which the public saw their sons and daughters returning home in body bags. Cronkite’s criticism forced President Johnson to state that if he had lost Cronkite, he had lost the entire country. Johnson declined to run for re-election.
As coverage of the Vietnam War intensified, there was a bright spot in the news -- the Apollo 7 flight made the first televised transmission from space. Nine months later, in 1969, a worldwide audience witnessed Apollo 11's moon landing . As the words “…one small step for man” echoed through the airwaves, the world reveled in the moment.
Sports on television made huge strides during the early 1960s. The landmark Wide World of Sports debuted on ABC, conceived by Roone Arledge. Also during this period, the instant replay became a standard in sports broadcasting. Plus, ABC's major coverage of the 1964 Winter Olympics proved to networks and sponsors that the once-lackluster Games could produce significant revenue. By 1967, sports broadcasting joined the big leagues -- CBS and NBC agreed to simulcast Super Bowl One in color.
As news events unfolded daily, technology advancements continued to prove that large corporations were in for the long haul. In 1965, COMSAT became the first commercial communications satellite. The same year, Sony introduced the VCR to the public.
Also, at the beginning of the decade, FCC Chairman Newton Minow made headlines after he delivered a speech calling television a “vast wasteland.” Soon thereafter, because of his direct efforts, public television was born, as New York's Channel 13 was sold to educational broadcasters. By 1967, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting was established -- public television was here to stay.
“Mr. Ed, Dr. Kildare will see you in Room 222” (1960s Entertainment)
“Short hair, long hair, dove, hawk or right wing, left wing. Everything was extreme and we went to the other side, which was not being represented in network television, or any television.”
TOM SMOTHERS , performer
Now that television was no longer a seat-of-the-pants experiment, many more decisions were based in board rooms, rather than writers’ rooms. After the quiz show scandals of the late 1950s, television networks took production out of the hands of sponsors and became proactive in programming.
As television news broadcast the stories of the evolving Civil Rights movement, many racial barriers were broken in television entertainment. With a few exceptions including Amos 'n Andy and Beulah, television would continue to feature white Americans until the 1960s. Ossie Davis made an appearance on The Defenders and a black woman became one of June Taylor’s dancers for Jackie Gleason. Later in the decade, Julia would become one of the first programs to feature a progressive African-American title character – and I Spy would pair Bill Cosby with Robert Culp in starring roles.
The 1960s premiered some of the major series considered classic television today. It was also the decade that westerns and urban sitcoms flourished.
Some of the programs of the era include:
Another format that capitalized on American culture was the talk show. Prime examples include: The Mike Douglas Show , The Phil Donahue Show , The 700 Club , and The Dick Cavett Show .
Children’s television underwent its own revolution with the premieres of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood and Sesame Street on PBS. These groundbreaking programs would hit their strides in the 1970s and become educational staples for years to come.
In animation produced for television, Hanna-Barbera introduced Scooby-Doo Where Are You? and the prime-time series, The Flintstones. Meanwhile, Jay Ward produced the irreverent Rocky and Bullwinkle. And probably one of the strangest productions to come out of 1960s kids’ television was Sid and Marty Krofft’s H.R. Pufnstuf, a surreal live-action puppet show.
Throughout the 1960s, game shows truly blossomed after the dark days of the late 1950s including Password , Match Game , Let's Make a Deal , Jeopardy , The Dating Game , The Newlywed Game , Hollywood Squares , and more.
Soaps continued their rise to the domination of daytime with new entries including Another World and Days of our Lives.
As the tumultuous decade came to a close, television audiences had been barraged with everything from hard-hitting dramas to flights of fantasy and camp.
In Watergate's Wake (1970s News)
“Nixon made that speech saying ‘I want you to know that your president is not a crook.’ When it was over, there was Cronkite saying, ‘Dan, what do you think of his saying that?’ I said, ‘I don’t know, except the evidence indicates he is one, right?’ The White House called Paley and told him they didn’t like that ‘instant analysis.’”
DANIEL SCHORR, CBS news correspondent/commentator
By the early 1970s, a Roper poll found that the majority of Americans relied more on television than on newspapers for their news. The U.S. government also understood television to be a powerful tool. In fact, the 1970s became the decade where television news felt the true weight of government intervention, as embattled networks gallantly fought to preserve their independence.
The decade began with the government decision that cigarettes would never be on television again. The congressional ban on radio and television cigarette advertising caused broadcasters to lose $220 million in revenue annually.
A documentary detailing the Defense Department's use of the media to gain public support, The Selling of the Pentagon, brought CBS President Frank Stanton’s lifelong stand on First Amendment rights to the forefront. The House committee asked for outtakes of the documentary, but CBS refused -- and won.
When President Richard Nixon made his historic trip to China, television cameras accompanied him. It was the first time America saw for themselves, through the eyes of a news camera, life under Maoism.
Throughout his career, Nixon had a love-hate relationship with television; during his presidency, it became his undoing. It may have begun when CBS Evening News devoted an unprecedented 14 minutes to recap the breaking Watergate scandal. Certainly by 1973, as the events led up to the Senate Watergate Hearings, which the networks rotated over 300 hours of coverage, it was clearly the endgame. After the House committee hearings called for impeachment, Nixon appeared on television to resign his presidency.
Sports arrived in primetime as NBC aired the first ever World Series night game. Tragically, ABC's coverage of the summer 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Germany turned grim as Palestinians held Israeli athletes hostage. Broadcaster Jim McKay covered the terrifying events live – even as the hostages were killed.
In 1979, another hostage crisis hit the airwaves, this time, Americans in Iran. ABC's nightly coverage, America Held Hostage was renamed and became the basis of Nightline, anchored by Ted Koppel.
In 1976, Barbara Walters made history by becoming television's first woman co-anchor as she joined Harry Reasoner on The ABC Evening News. Two years later, the newsmagazine 20/20 was launched on ABC.
PBS joined ranks with serious television journalism when it premiered The Robert MacNeil Report on public television. It was later renamed The MacNeil-Lehrer Report, when newsman Jim Lehrer joined the program.
Morning newsmagazine programs continued to sprout up. Originally entitled, A.M. America, Good Morning America, with hosts David Hartman and Nancy Dussault was launched to good ratings. And, the soft spoken, thoughtful newsman Charles Kuralt began his duties of hosting Sunday Morning, on CBS.
Other televised historic moments include:
1972 Olympic Games
President Nixon's trip to China
The Selling of the Pentagon hearings
Three Mile Island accident
The Watergate Scandal
From Bradys to Bunkers (1970s Entertainment)
“We saw All in the Family, and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, because this thing was, compared to the crap that we were canceling, really setting new boundaries. And, to Bob Wood’s credit he said ‘I love the show, we’ve got to put this on the air. This is good for television and it’s good for the nation.’”
FRED SILVERMAN , CBS executive
One of biggest programming gambles in television history occurred in the early 1970s, as CBS cancelled The Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres and other "rural shows" the network considered unsophisticated. The gamble paid off as replacement programs including The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Bob Newhart Show, The Odd Couple and All in the Family garnered high ratings and critical acclaim.
The 1970s could also be labeled, "The Decade of Norman Lear." Lear and his partner, Bud Yorkin, used situation comedy to encourage American society to see itself reflected in characters like Archie Bunker, Fred Sanford, and Maude Findlay. The shows covered new territory previously feared by the networks. Maude examined women's rights and abortion. Good Times explored poverty in America’s ghettos. One Day at a Time made heroes out of single moms.
There was a passing of the baton as some shows were retired. On continuously since 1948, The Ed Sullivan Show was cancelled in 1971. By 1975, Saturday Night Live premiered on NBC and became the new generation’s showcase for popular performers.
Some of the programs of the era include:
Wheel of Fortune
The 1970s also ushered in a spate of offbeat “reality” shows like The Gong Show and Real People. Wheel of Fortune , created by Merv Griffin also began its long run. Daytime's All My Children and Ryan's Hope premiered and became afternoon rituals for millions.
Dramatically, the 1970s launched America's love affair with the miniseries – with Rich Man, Poor Man being the first. In 1977, Roots , a monumental miniseries, traced the history of an African-American family on nine consecutive evenings. It broke viewing records and racial barriers.
Dramatic series featuring quirky detectives in gritty settings lead the pack during this decade. Plus, contrary to hip cultural trends, family programs like Little House on the Prairie and The Waltons garnered respectable audiences.
In the movies-made-for-television category, a young director named Steven Spielberg drove his first big hit to the television screen, with the TV movie, Duel.
And, as cable continued to snake its way around the country, cable networks began to deliver. Home Box Office became the first pay cable network to go on the air. Billboard businessman Ted Turner made his first big move and introduced the WTBS Superstation to the masses. Cable networks Showtime, ESPN, and Nickelodeon debuted as well. Perhaps this would be the end of the “Big Three” networks’ domination. Stay tuned.
Some of the drama programs of the era include:
The Waltons
The Rise of CNN to the Fall of the Berlin Wall (1980s News)
“I knew that our biggest challenge would be, other than to make a good news product, to get the cable systems to carry it. And I thought if we used the name Cable in there -- Cable News Network -- how could a cable system not be carrying the Cable News Network?”
TED TURNER , CNN founder
At the dawn of the 1980s, Ted Turner risked everything to build on the success of his Superstation. Ignoring the skeptics, he launched Cable News Network (CNN). Two years later, CNN Headline News premiered. By 1987, CNN was the only network providing live coverage of what turned out to be the tragic NASA Challenger space shuttle launch. It was moments like these that proved that CNN was making its mark as a leading news source. Also, at a huge risk to his fledgling operation, Turner sued the Reagan administration and the big networks, for access to the White House pool. CNN won and earned the respect of the industry.
Even with the proliferation of entertainment viewing choices, television continued to present world and national news events for a collective audience. Breaking transatlantic barriers, as well as television viewing records, over 750 million people watched live as Great Britain's Prince Charles wed Lady Diana.
When President Ronald Reagan was hit by an assassin’s bullet, television vividly brought the news to the American public. The images of the failed attempt aired on the networks for years and helped make wounded White House Press Secretary James Brady a national hero and a symbol for gun control advocacy.
The decade also marked changes for veteran newsmen. David Brinkley began hosting duties for ABC with This Week with David Brinkley. The “most trusted man in America,” Walter Cronkite, retired as CBS news anchor and passed the baton to Dan Rather.
On the business side, new government regulations created complications as Congress passed the Cable Communication Policy Act of 1984. The Act deregulated much of the cable industry and caused subscriber rates to increase significantly.
The groundbreaking "1984" Macintosh television commercial aired during the Super Bowl, justifying the record-breaking airtime costs of special event television spots. Along with introducing feature film production values to television advertising, it signaled the beginning of the personal computer revolution.
Another major news story of the decade was the Iran-Contra scandal and its subsequent hearings. Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North was a major player in secret transactions relating to the overthrow of the socialist government of Nicaragua while secretly financing the operation by selling arms to Iran. The televised hearings, where North admitted his guilt, made him an unlikely national hero.
News coverage of the protests in Beijing's Tiananmen Square reached around the world and shined a grim light on modern communism. CBS News correspondent Richard Roth was imprisoned because of his reporting. And the television image of a lone man defying an approaching tank remains a symbol of modern anti-government protest.
The decade finished with the worldwide coverage of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Newsman Tom Brokaw reported the momentous occasion live, as the symbol of the Iron Curtain was dismantled, piece by piece. A powerful way to end a decade.
Who Watched J.R.? (1980s Entertainment)
“We benefited from the fact that we were on NBC, which in the early eighties, if you wanted to hide from the FBI you’d go on NBC.”
MICHAEL J. FOX , actor
Based on the significant success of the few cable networks from the 1970s, this decade saw the explosion of the cable industry. Successful cable networks launched during this period included: Black Entertainment Television, Music Television, Home Shopping Network, The Disney Channel, Lifetime Television, The Arts & Entertainment, Discovery Channel, VH1, QVC Network, Telemundo, E! Entertainment Television, Turner Network Television, and The Family Channel.
In the beginning of the decade, new breakthrough sitcoms were scarce. Even an old standard like M*A*S*H aired its final episode in 1983 – garnering 107 million viewers – the largest U.S. audience for a single TV program. Some of the hits from the last decade began to lose their steam, including Taxi and Soap. Drama shows from the late 1970s continued their success into the 1980s.
The 1980s signaled a shift in series themes as well. After years of watching shows that tackled tough issues of the Vietnam War, inflation and women's rights, the public’s interests shifted to escapist themes. One way to deliver that was to peek inside of the lives of the super-rich. Shows such as Dynasty, Dallas, Hotel, and even Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous fed that appetite. Millions of loyal viewers watched as Luke and Laura exchanged vows in a storybook wedding on the daytime soap, General Hospital.
The police drama again became popular with shows such as Hill St. Blues, Magnum P.I., and Simon and Simon.
Some of the drama programs to be featured include:
Wiseguy
The dramas were working, but how about comedy? When Grant Tinker became the chairman of the third-rated NBC, he quickly greenlit Cheers and Family Ties, which slowly rose up the ratings ladder. Plus, it was Tinker's decision to air a groundbreaking Carsey-Werner sitcom called The Cosby Show which catapulted NBC back on top.
The Cosby Show was the keystone of the network's Thursday night "Must See TV" mantra. Audiences became interested in comedies again. The other networks filled their slates with family sitcoms -- nuclear and nontraditional ones. The success of Cosby turned Carsey-Werner Productions into an independent powerhouse. They solidified their ability to deliver hit shows with the blue-collar family comedy Roseanne, which redefined the idea of a functional family.
Some favorite stars made their return to television throughout the decade including, Lee Majors, Bob Newhart, Bill Cosby, Beatrice Arthur, and Tom Bosley. Programs which introduced the talents of individuals who would make their mark in television history included: Tom Selleck in Magnum P.I., Tom Hanks in Bosom Buddies, Michael J. Fox in Family Ties, and Oprah Winfrey as The Oprah Winfrey Show became nationally syndicated from Chicago. Another daytime program The David Letterman Show premiered on NBC, but soon moved to nighttime.
Although regular star-studded variety programs were long-gone, programs that showcased the talents of newer singers and dancers began their runs, including: Solid Gold, Star Search, It's Showtime at the Apollo, and the first annual Soul Train Music Awards.
The variations of the comedy genre continued to evolve towards the end of the decade, including Moonlighting, which introduced the hour-long romantic comedy to the world. Thirtysomething soon followed.
Some of the comedy programs of the era include:
The Wonder Years
In children’s television, the decade may be remembered for introducing us to The Smurfs and Pee Wee's Playhouse.
Toward the end of the decade, The Wonder Years became a nostalgic favorite, and the weekly real-life problems of Roseanne began directly competing with Bill Cosby's family dilemmas. And as the 1980s began to dim, the fledgling Fox network caught a hit with the controversial domestic show, Married…With Children, triggering a wave of irreverant series.
Roseanne vs. O.J. Simpson (1990s through today)
“I got a call from Barry Diller, who was the head of Fox, and he said, I’d like you to do a high school show and I said, ‘Barry, at my age, what the hell do I know about high school?’ And he said, ‘you have two kids idiot.’”
AARON SPELLING , producer, Beverly Hills, 90210
If nothing else, American audiences in the economically booming 1980s had more choices than ever before. Cable expansion continued as The History Channel, Fox News Channel, and TV Land debuted. The upstart networks of Fox and the WB seriously challenged the Big Three. The competition remained intense for quality programs. Networks fought for pieces of the shrinking market share.
In comedy, the wry irony of Seinfeld, a “show about nothing,” and the racy humor of Friends made it abundantly clear that viewers, who grew up with television, would gather to watch young, hip characters work out everyday problems. Family shows subsided -- being single was all the rage. This trend changed the writers' room dramatically -- young writers became “hot,” as networks looked to cash in on the tastes of a new generation.
Whether it was the end of the Reagan era or the end of the Cold War, sitcoms stopped being polite and started getting honest and true. As we reveled in the sarcasm of Roseanne, we enjoyed the humor and wit of shows such as Murphy Brown, Coach, Designing Women, Grace Under Fire, and Home Improvement. Another milestone occurred when both Ellen DeGeneres and her character Ellen Morgan on Ellen came out as a lesbian on national television.
Some of the comedy programs of the era include:
X-Files
Prime examples of living in a postmodern world are clearly illustrated throughout the last decade of the century, and news divisions again took the lead. One key instance came in 1991, when Americans rushed home from work to watch the start of a war against Saddam Hussein. The bombing runs, shown live on CNN, secured that network's foothold in world news coverage. Time magazine and daily newspapers couldn't keep up with the minute-to-minute updates that television coverage provided.
With the proliferation of home video, news coverage took on a new dimension. When amateur video images of Rodney King being beaten by police were transmitted across the globe, it brought the reality of police brutality to light. And, in 1992, when a jury acquitted the officers involved in the beating, amateur videographers again preserved the horrific images of the riots that broke out on the streets of Los Angeles.
Domestically, probably the most televised news story of the decade was the O. J. Simpson story. From the night Simpson’s Bronco raced down Los Angeles freeways, until his acquittal for the murder of his ex-wife, the story played out on television. Although the entire trial was televised, it was the verdict, read live, that initiated a worldwide debate on the fairness of the American justice system.
Even syndicated talk shows reflected a controversial change in American tastes and values. Shows that premiered in the 1990s include: The Jenny Jones Show, Jerry Springer, The Montel Williams Show and The Rosie O'Donnell Show. As the decade and millennium drew to a close, new challenges were on the horizon for everyone. The 21st Century promised new technologies that would change the way America used television.
- Karen L. Herman
| The Budget |
In 1796 Edward Jenner discovered a vacination for what? | UK Politics - BBC News
BBC News
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is to use his first speech in Scotland in 2017 to attack the SNP's budget plans.
20 January 2017
Former NI deputy first minister says ill health is a factor in his decision.
19 January 2017
The prime minister says mainstream politicians must tackle a backlash against globalisation.
19 January 2017
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What is graphology the study of? | Graphology | Define Graphology at Dictionary.com
graphology
noun
1.
the study of handwriting, especially when regarded as an expression of the writer's character, personality, abilities, etc.
2.
Linguistics. the study of systems of writing; grammatology.
Origin of graphology
[graf-uh-loj-ik] /ˌgræf əˈlɒdʒ ɪk/ (Show IPA), graphological, adjective
graphologist, noun
Examples from the Web for graphology
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Criminal Psychology Hans Gross
graphology, for instance, is naturally related to the functional action and to the characteristics of the hand itself.
Pedagogical Anthropology Maria Montessori
In this study, as in that of graphology and chiromancy, a deductive power of mind is required.
British Dictionary definitions for graphology
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the study of handwriting, esp to analyse the writer's character
2.
(linguistics) the study of writing systems
Derived Forms
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for graphology
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n.
"study of handwriting," 1882, from French graphologie, coined 1868 by Abbé Jean-Hippolyte Michon (1806-1881) from comb. form of Greek graphein "to write" (see -graphy ) + logos "a speaking, a dealing with" (see logos ). Especially, "character study based on handwriting" (1886).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Who provided the voice of the princess in the film 'Shrek'? | What is Graphology? | Handwriting Analysis | North Court
What is Graphology?
29May, 2015
Graphology is the study of handwriting, focusing on unique characteristics about a person that can be understood from their writing. It is a combination of art and science said to reveal a person’s psychological profile through the study of form, spacing, and movement.
Though its use is controversial and it is considered by some to be a pseudoscience, handwriting analysis dates back to 3,000 years ago in ancient China.
It was also practiced by the Romans and at various points throughout history, with the oldest known book on handwriting analysis dating to the late 1500s.
A series of books published in the 1830s by Jean-Hippolyte Michon and his follower Jules Crepieux-Jamin are considered to be the foundation of modern graphology.
The theory behind graphology
Graphology is based on the idea that no matter how a person is taught to write, personal traits and characteristics will influence his or her handwriting.
Thus everyone has a unique style, but experts can spot consistent traits through the analysis of more than 300 different aspects of handwriting.
No handwriting sample will contain all of the 300 features, and no single feature says something absolute about a person.
But through looking at a combination of the features present in a person’s writing sample, a graphologist can identify trends and piece together likely personality traits to form a coherent picture of the person.
Handwriting analysis
What exactly are graphologists looking at? Though a trained expert l ooks at hundreds of small variations, a few basic aspects can be explained in this short article.
Slant
If a person writes with no slant, he is generally thought to have an independent personality, while a right slant indicates that a person is communicative. Left slanting prose shows a person who is more reserved.
Pressure
A person who writes with light pressure upon the page is said to be sensitive and empathetic, while a heavy pressure shows a serious nature. Overly heavy pressure can indicate a person who is uptight and defensive.
Size
As you might expect, a person with large handwriting is believed to be more extroverted and outgoing, while a person with smaller than average handwriting tends to be an introverted thinker or academic.
Attempts at scientific proof
Beginning in the mid-twentieth century, studies attempted to confirm the accuracy of graphology to predict personality traits and various aspects of job performance.
In the 1980s, studies concluded that graphologists were unable to predict how test takers would score on the Myers-Briggs or Eysenck Personality Questionnaire by studying handwriting samples.
Other studies in the 1980s and 1990s, including one that evaluated research compiled from over 200 earlier studies, mostly failed to show a correlation between study participants and the analyses of graphologists.
Uses of the technique
Despite the lack of scientific findings to back up claims, many still believe that skilled graphologists can be highly accurate in evaluating a person’s character.
Proponents claim that graphology can shed light on a person’s motivation, feelings, and actions and can quickly provide information useful for analysing behaviour.
Because graphology supposedly allows for a rapid and accurate personality analysis, it is often used in corporate environments. It can be a tool in recruiting the right person for the job or determining good candidates for management.
It can be used for personality profiles and career counselling to help people find a good fit between personality and profession.
According to the British Institute of Graphologists (B.I.G), graphology can even be used in security settings.
A graphologist can evaluate a person’s integrity and honesty. Highly trained specialists can help spot document forgeries and participate in forensic analysis.
Call us on 020 3283 8741 or contact us here to discuss further how we can help you with your personal situation.
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Which sea has shores in Europe, Asia and Africa? | Map of the Mediterranean Sea and Mediterranean Sea Map Size Depth History Information Page
other bodies of water
The Mediterranean Sea was an important route for merchants and travelers during ancient times as it allowed for trade and cultural exchange between emergent peoples of the region.
Several ancient civilizations were located around its shores; thus it has had a major influence on those cultures. It provided routes for trade, colonization and war, and provided food (by fishing and the gathering) for numerous communities throughout the ages.
This inland sea is bordered on the north by Europe, the east by Asia, and in the south by Africa. This 969,100 sq. mile body of water is approximately 2,300 miles in length, and has a maximum depth of 16,896 ft.
The typical Mediterranean climate is hot, with dry summers and mild, rainy winters. Major crops of the region include olives, grapes, oranges, tangerines, and cork.
Major subdivisions include the Adriatic Sea, Aegean Sea, Balearic Sea, Tyrrhenian Sea, Ionian Sea and Ligurian Sea.
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In which year did Karl Marx publish the first volume of Das Kapital? | Mapping Mediterranean migration - BBC News
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In the space of a week, at least 750 migrants are feared to have died crossing the Mediterranean Sea.
Many thousands of others have risked their lives this year, fleeing conflict and instability in Africa and the Middle East, in small, often decrepit vessels in an attempt to reach European territories.
But the number of fatalities has risen dramatically in a matter of months. More than 2,200 lives have been lost since June, the UN refugee agency UNHCR believes.
That is because of the big increase in numbers crossing the Mediterranean. While some 60,000 reached European shores in 2013, so far more than 130,000 have arrived in 2014.
The majority of migrants head for Italy, prompting a crisis that the country's navy, coast guard and beleaguered immigration facilities are struggling to handle.
Last October, 366 people died off the Italian island of Lampedusa when the fishing boat they were travelling in from Libya capsized.
Nearly all the victims were Eritrean. Migrants crossing in the central Mediterranean - from Libya and Tunisia - have until recently come mostly from Eritrea and Somalia, although increasing numbers of Syrians fleeing the country's civil war are also making the journey.
Libya has become a popular starting point for many journeys, with people traffickers exploiting the country's power vacuum and increasing lawlessness.
The relatively short distance to Lampedusa encourages more people to risk the journey.
Migration charities believe that as many as 20,000 people may have died at sea trying to reach Europe in the last two decades.
Malta's prime minister warned after the Lampedusa tragedy that the Mediterranean was in danger of becoming of a "cemetery" for desperate migrants.
'Age-old' issue
Media captionMatthew Price, on board an Italian navy ship, witnesses a rescue unfold
The number of people using the various routes across the Mediterranean has ebbed and flowed.
From 2008-2012, large numbers of migrants crossed between Turkey and Greece via the so-called Eastern Mediterranean route, border management agency Frontex reports.
In response, Greece bolstered border controls with an additional 1,800 police officers.
However, Frontex suggests that the area remains problematic, and points to "uncertainties related to the sustainability of [Greek] efforts, and evidence that migrants are waiting in Turkey for the end of the operation".
Over the last decade, the central Mediterranean route has experienced periodic surges in migrant traffic.
UNHCR figures suggest that some 25,000 people fled to Italy from North Africa in 2005, a number which dwindled to 9,573 in 2009.
In 2011, this figure rocketed back to some 61,000, driven by the conflict in Libya which culminated in the downfall of Col Gaddafi.
Earlier in the decade, the most popular route was from West Africa to Spain, including its North African territories of Ceuta and Melilla, and the Canary Islands, with some 32,000 irregular arrivals in 2006. This figure had dwindled to just 5,443 by 2011.
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What is the Latin name for the constellation that is commonly known as the Great Bear? | Ursa Major
Ursa Major
Clues to the meaning of this celestial feature
Located at the top of the heavens the stars of the two bear-constellations, Ursa Major and Ursa Minor , never set, i.e., they never disappear below the horizon, they are always visible in the night sky, all night, every night, throughout the year. One of these stars, Polaris , the Pole Star in Ursa Minor, appears to stand still making it a good reference point for navigators at sea to identify, while the other stars in these two constellations, called circumpolar stars, revolve around it.
One myth explains why they were positioned so; Zeus (Jupiter) placed Callisto in the sky as the constellation Ursa Major, or 'Great Bear,' and her son, Arcas who was also Zeus' son, as Ursa Minor, as 'Little Bear':
"Hera, Zeus' wife, was not pleased with this arrangement, especially since Callisto was another of her husband's infidelities. She went to her nurse, Tethys , the wife of Oceanus , and beseeched her to punish Callisto and Arcas. Tethys decided to deprive the pair of water, and so the Great Bear and the Little Bear are cursed to circle in the skies, never to dip below the horizon for a refreshing bath or a cool drink" [ 1 ].
The constellations never sink below the horizon, thus they never appear to be going into the water.
The Ursa of Ursa Major is from the Indo-European root * rtko , 'Bear'. Derivatives: arctic (meaning north from Latin arcticus, from Greek arktikos), ursine (bear-like), from Latin ursus, Greek arktos. [Pokorny rktho-s 875. Watkins ]. The names Ursula and Orson, are related.
In the northern branches of the Indo-European languages, the name of the bear was subject to a taboo and there was a proliferation of euphemisms; 'honey-licker', 'honey eater', 'shaggy', etc. The word for bear in Russian is 'medved', and the same in Czech. In Polish, bear is a similar word 'niedzwiedz', and in Old Church Slavonic, bear is 'medvedi'. All of these words mean something like 'honey-eater' and are derived from the common Slavic words 'medu' = 'honey' (PIE *medhu-, from which we also get the English word 'mead', an alcoholic beverage made from fermented honey and water) plus 'ed-' = 'eat' [ 2 ]. Our word bear2 appears to be another taboo term, from Dutch 'bruin', meaning 'the brown one', French 'brun' and 'brunette'. Related to the Norse name Bjorn, and place-names Berlin, Berne.
Our word bear, the animal, comes from the Indo-European root * bher2 , 'Bright, brown.' Derivatives: brown (one meaning of brown was 'shining', and it was often used to describe swords in Old English poetry), bruin (a bear), Bruno (name), brunet, burnet, burnish (meant to make something brown.), from Old French brun, shining, brown, beaver (a semiaquatic rodent noted for felling trees to build dams and partially submerged dens called lodges), Bernard (name, 'bold bear'), bear² (the animal), from Old English bera, bear, from Germanic *ber, 'the brown animal'), berserker, from Old Norse björn, bear, from Germanic *bernuz. [Pokorny 5. bher- 136.]
There might be a relationship between the roots bear1, to tolerate (from * bher1 ), and bear2 (from * bher2 ). Aristotle (according to Olcott, p.348 ) "held that the name (Ursa) was derived from the fact that of all known animals the bear was thought to be the only one that dared to venture into the frozen regions of the north and tempt the solitude and cold". According to Hesiod "Zeus put Callisto among the stars, giving her the name Bear because of the misfortune which had befallen her." The bear was the only animal able to bear the cold. Navigators used the two bear constellations (Ursa Major and Ursa Minor ) to get their bearings on sea. The Little Bear, Ursa Minor has the North Pole, Polaris, the North Star, so by finding it you can find which way is true north. The pointer stars in this constellation Merak and Dubhe , point to Polaris.
Arabs imagined the asterism, the Big Dipper, as a Bier with the three stars in the tail as the mourners following the Bier. Olcott ( p.350 ) says the title "'the Bier' is so similar to the almost universal appellation 'the Bear,' that we might almost suppose that the latter title was a confused rendering of the former."
In the Hindu tradition, the Great Bear (sapta-riksha) is the abode of the seven Rishi; identifying Kratu with the star Dubhe ; Pulaha with Merak ; Pulastya with Phecda ; Atri with Megrez ; Angiras with Alioth ; Vasishtha with Mizar ; Bhrigu with Alkaid . [ 2 ]
Ursa Major represents Callisto (Kallisto) as the Great Bear. Callisto from Greek kalos, or kallos, beautiful, from the Indo-European root *kal-2, 'Beautiful'. Derivatives: Callisto, calomel, kaleidoscope, (these words from Greek kalos, beautiful), calligraphy, Calliope (the Muse of epic poetry), hemercallis (the day-lily),' calisthenics', from Greek kallos, beauty. [Pokorny 2. kal- 524. Watkins ]
Kaleidoscope literally means 'observer of beautiful forms', 'a complex, colorful, and shifting pattern or scene', or, 'a complex set of events or circumstances'. The word might relate to this explanation of how this constellation Ursa Major appears to us as explained by Julius Staal:
"The bear is a quadruped but is able to stand upright on two legs and move about like a human being. Much mythological significance has been ascribed to this similarity between the posture and movement of humans and bears. The daily circumpolar movement of Ursa Major is simple, easy to observe, and can be imagined readily as similar to the shifting movement of a bear changing regularly from quadrupedal to bipedal to quadrupedal posture. As Ursa Major makes its daily transit around the Pole star, it gives the appearance of a bear running on all fours when it is near the lower culmination of its transit. However, a few hours after lowest culmination the quadrangle gradually rises into an upright position, just as a real bear would do as it stands up in its cumbersome way" ( The New Patterns in the Sky , Julius D.W. Staal).
The female bear archetype might represent the 'fallen woman' in society, bears have loud passionate 'love affairs' and then part company leaving the female pregnant and alone. This was the experience of Callisto who was a hunting partner in Artemis' virgin group. After she became pregnant by Zeus Callisto was cast out and turned into a bear (Ursa Major, the Great Bear) for her sexual transgressions against that society's mores. Olcott (p.353) tells of a legend; "this constellation represented a Princess, transformed into a bear on account of her pride in rejecting all suitors. For this her skin was nailed to the sky as a warning to other proud maidens." Female bears stay with their bear lovers for a period of time and studies have found that it is often the female that rejects the male causing him to leave her, also knowing he could harm the cubs.
"Linguists hypothesize that in old common Germanic, the true name of the bear was under a taboo — not to be spoken directly. The exact details of the taboo are not known. Did it apply to hunters who were hunting the bear and did not want to warn it? Or to hunters hunting other animals and did not wanting to rile up the bear and have it steal their prey? Or did it apply to anyone who did not want to summon the bear by its name and perhaps become its prey? Whatever the details, the taboo worked so well that no trace of the original * rtko - word remains in Germanic languages, except as borrowed historically in learned words from Greek or Latin. The Greeks and Romans apparently had a more laid-back relationship with the bear, perhaps because there were relatively few encounters, and preserved the ancient name". http://www.cloudline.org/LinguisticArchaeology.html
Speculating on the word dub: Dabu, was the Babylonian name the Great Bear constellation [ 3 ]. A bear is Hebrew Dobh, the name for this constellation; Phoenician Dub; and Arabian Al Dubb. The English verb 'to dub' means to give another name or nickname, or give a new title or description. Because of the taboo of calling a bear a bear, bears were dubbed with various descriptive titles in European languages.
Helice representing Ursa Major, and Melissa (honey or honey bee), or Cynosura, representing Ursa Minor , were the nurses of the baby Zeus. The Latin name Helice and its Greek cognates seems to have been the most common title for this constellation with both Greeks and Romans. Of the name Helice Allen in Star Names says that in Greece Ursa Major was referred to as Elix (with the h dropped), meaning curved, or spiral (helix), and Elike, Homer's Elikopes, apparently first used for the constellation by Aratos (310 BC – 240 BC). Some, however, derived the name from the curved or twisted position of the chief stars; and others, still more probably, from the city Helice, Kallisto's birthplace in Arcadia [Star Names, see below] (ancient Helike a city on Gulf of Corinth lost in a tidal wave in 373 BC was rediscovered in 2001). The Roman poet Ovid used this title, Helice, in the Fasti, where he wrote of both the Bears, in navigation. Manilius (see below) also called it Helice. The word helix and the Greek name Helice comes from Greek elix, meaning a helix form, or revolving form, from the Indo-European root * wel-3 'To turn, roll'. Derivatives: waltz, welter, whelk¹ (marine snail), whelk, willow (Salix), walk, well¹ (a water hole), wallet, wale (a weal or welt), wallow, vault¹ (an arched structure), voluble, volume, volute, archivolt, circumvolve, convolve, devolve, evolve, evolution (to unroll as one unrolled a scroll), involve, revolve, (these words from Latin volvere, to roll), convolution, devolution, evolution, revolt, revolution, vulva (the external genital organs of the female, including the labia majora, labia minora, clitoris, and vestibule of the vagina), valve, ileus (from Greek eilein), vale¹, valley (a vulva metaphor), Helen (from the Greek name Helen, oldest form Welen), helicon, helix, helicopter, (theses words from Greek helix, spiral object), Mt. Helicon (the legendary abode of the Muses), heliculture (snail farming), helical (spiral shaped), helico- (spiral), helminth (a worm, especially a parasitic roundworm or tapeworm) [Pokorny 7. wel- 1140. Watkins ]
"There the revolving Bear, which the Wain they call" [The shield of Achilles, in Sir John Herschel's rendering: Allen, Star Names ]
"The Bear, revolving, points his golden eye". [Pope rendered the original the Northern Team, and the lines on Orion: Allen, Star Names ]
The bear is a quadruped but is able to stand upright on two legs and walk (from * wel-3 ) like a human being.
Maybe it is because the word Helice is a cognate with the word vulva that made it so taboo to call the bear by its real name?
"The vulva is so called as if it were a folding-door, that is, the door of the belly; either because it receives the semen or because the fetus goes forth from it." [ The Aberdeen Bestiary ]
Hellas in Greece is bordering Arcadia; Arcadia was named after Callisto's son Arcas of Ursa Minor :
“Hellas is so called from king Hellen, the son of Deucalion and Pyrrha; from him the Greeks first took the name Hellenes. This is the same territory as Attica, earlier called 'Acte.' There was a certain Granus, a native of Greece, after whose daughter's name, Attis, Attica was named. It lies in the middle between Macedonia and Achaea, connected to Arcadia on its northern side. This is the true Greece, where the city of Athens was located, the mother of the liberal arts and the nurse of philosophers; there was nothing nobler and more illustrious in all of Greece” [ The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville , 7th century AD, p.290.]`
John F. Blake (Astronomical Myths, 1877, p.63. ) said the word "Ursa is said to be derived from versus, because the constellation is seen to turn about the pole. It has been called the Screw (Greek Elike), or Helix, which has plainly reference to its turning." [The words ursa and versus are not recognized as etymological relatives. Versus comes from I.E. wer2 ]
Perhaps Helen [from * wel-3 above] of Troy, 'the face that launched a thousand ships' [I have not seen her identified with any constellation]. Callisto is from Greek kalos, or kallos, meaning 'beautiful'.
Greek kalos, or kallos, is usually translated 'beautiful' in English. Kalos is a common word in the Greek language, but does not appear to have cognates in other languages, except' Old Indian kalyah, 'healthy'. Here is a suggestion that the word is related to health:
'"One word, then, let us take as the representative of Greek feeling — a word very small and not at all picturesque, but enshrining within itself all that is essentially and peculiarly Hellenic — to kallos, 'beauty.' In its origin Curtius connects the word with the Gothic hails ( = hale, 'sound') and from the frequency with which the word itself and the prefix kalli are applied to streams of running water, it is not unreasonable to suppose that in the beginning personal beauty meant simply health'... This meaning holds good for more than one of the kallos family - kallyno, e.g., signifies not only 'adorn' but 'cleanse' '....." [ The makers of Hellas: a critical inquiry into the philosophy and religion of ancient Greece , 1903, djvu 138, p.104'.]
Gothic hails ( = hale, 'sound')' comes from' the Indo-European root *kailo- 'Whole, uninjured, of good omen'. Derivatives: hale¹ (free from infirmity or illness), whole, wholesome, hail² (to salute or greet), wassail (to drink to the health of; toast), health, heal (Middle English helen, from Old English haelan), holy, holiday, hollyhock, (these words from Old English halig, holy, sacred), holly tree (genus Ilex), Hollywood, hallow (to make or set apart as holy), Allhallowmas (all Saints' Day), Halloween (from Old English halgian, to consecrate, bless), Helga, Helge (Old Norse 'Holy One'), Oleg, Olga, from Old Norse Helge (feminine Helga), 'holy'. [Pokorny kai-lo- 520. Watkins ] [Indo-European and Sanskrit /k/ becomes European /h/]
"The first of the signs is Arctos, which, fixed on the pole, rotates with its seven stars revolving around it. Its name is Greek (i.e. arktos, 'bear'), and in Latin it is called the Bear (Ursa). Because it turns like a wagon, we call it the Septentriones (i.e. septem, 'seven' + triones). For triones, strictly speaking, are plowing oxen, so called because they tread (terere) the soil, as if the word were teriones. Their proximity to the pole causes them not to set, because they are on the pole.” [ The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville , 7th century AD, p.104.]
[Isidore sees a link between the words Taurus and Latin terra, earth. The plowing oxen are treading (terere) the earth (not the planet earth?).]
Ursa Major represents the Great Mother Bear, and the adjacent constellation, Ursa Minor , represents her son Arcas. Little bear cubs are born very small, about 500th of the mother's weight (essentially an embryo, not a foetus), and in legend it was believed that it was born as a shapeless lump of flesh which the mother bear (Ursa Major) shapes into its proper form by licking it, and this is said be the origin of the expression 'to lick into shape'; to give proper form to.
“The bear (ursus) is said to be so called because it shapes its offspring in its 'own mouth' (ore suo), as if the word were orsus, for people say that it produces unshaped offspring, and gives birth to some kind of flesh that the mother forms into limbs by licking it. Whence this is said (Petronius, Anthol. Latina, ed. Riese, 690.3): 'Thus with her tongue the bear shapes her offspring when she has borne it'. But prematurity is what causes this kind of offspring; the bear gives birth after at most thirty days, whence it happens that its hurried gestation creates unshaped offspring. Bears have weak heads; their greatest strength is in their forepaws and loins, whence they sometimes stand up erect” [ The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville , 7th century AD, p.252.]
Isidore says that bear (ursus) is from 'own mouth' (ore suo), as if the word were orsus. Latin orsus, 'beginning', is related to ordiri, 'order' [ 4 ], and to the word 'art', from the Indo-European root *ar-, 'To fit together' [ 5 ], and also to the word 'harmony', from Greek harma, a chariot, and this constellation was known as Arthur's Chariot or Wain. The mother bear is essentially an artist, she employs artwork to shape her formless offspring into its proper form by licking it. Celtic words for 'bear' are art or artos (identical to the Greek arct, and arctos).
The astrological influences of the constellation given by Manilius:
"Now when, after completing a revolution round the pole, the Bear (Ursa Major) with muzzle foremost replaces her unceasing steps in her former tracks, never immersed in Ocean but ever turning in a circle, to those born at such a time wild creatures will show no hostile face, and in their dealings with animals these men will find them submissive to their rule. Such a one will be able to control huge lions with a gesture, to fondle wolves, and to play with captive panthers; so far from shunning the powerful bears that are the kin of the constellation, he will train them to human accomplishments and feats foreign to their nature; he will seat himself on the elephant's back and with a goad will direct the movements of a beast which disgraces its massive weight by yielding to tiny jabs; he will dispel the fury of the tiger, training it to become a peaceful animal, whilst all the other beasts which molest the earth with their savageness he will join in friendship to himself; keen-scented whelps he will train..." [here the translator notes that eight pages have been lost] [ Astronomica , Manilius, 1st century AD, book 5, p.357, 359]
"Now where heaven reaches its culmination in the shining Bears, which from the summit of the sky look down on all the stars and know no setting and, shifting their opposed stations about the same high point, set sky and stars in rotation, from there an insubstantial axis runs down through the wintry air and controls the universe, keeping it pivoted at opposite poles: it forms the middle about which the starry sphere revolves and wheels its heavenly flight, but is itself without motion and, drawn straight through the empty spaces of the great sky to the two Bears and through the very globe of the Earth, stands fixed, since the entire atmosphere ever revolves in a circle, and every part of the whole rotates to the place from which it once began, that which is in the middle, about which all moves, so insubstantial that it cannot turn round upon itself or even submit to motion or spin in circular fashion, this men have called the axis, since, motionless itself, it yet sees everything spinning about it. The top of the axis is occupied by constellations well known to hapless mariners, guiding them over the measureless deep in their search for gain. Helice (Ursa Major), the greater, describes the greater arc; it is marked by seven stars which vie with each other under its guidance the ships of Greece set sail to cross the seas. Cynosura [ Ursa Minor ] is small and wheels round in a narrow circle, less in brightness as it is in size, but in the judgment of the Tyrians it excels the larger bear. Carthaginians count it the surer-guide when at sea they make for unseen shores. They are not set face to face: each with its muzzle points at the other's tail and follows one that follows it. Sprawling between them and embracing each the Dragon separates and surrounds them with its glowing stars lest they ever meet or leave their stations." [ Astronomica , Manilius, 1st century AD, book 1, p.27, 29].
© Anne Wright 2008.
from Star Names , 1889, Richard H. Allen
'Twas noon of night, when round the pole
The sullen Bear is seen to roll.
— Thomas Moore's translation of the Odes of Anacreon.
. . . round and round the frozen Pole Glideth the lean white bear.
— Robert Williams Buchanan's Ballad of Judas Iscariot.
Ursa Major, the Greater Bear the Grande Ourse of the French, the Orsa Maggiore of the Italians, and the Grosse Bar of the Germans, always has been the best known of the stellar groups, appearing in every extended reference to the heavens in the legends, parchments, tablets, and stones of remotest times. And Sir George Cornewall Lewis, quoting allusions to it by Aristotle, Strabo, and many other classical writers, thinks, from Homer's line,
Arctos, sole star that never bathes in the ocean wave
(by reason of precession it then was much nearer the pole than it now is), that this was the only portion of the arctic sky that in the poet's time had been reduced to constellation form. This statement, however, refers solely to the Greeks; for even before Homer's day we know that earlier nations had here their own stellar groups; yet we must remember that the Arktos and Amaxa (from ama-axa, ama- "together with", -axa, meaning axle, the axle is Ursa Minor ) of the Iliad and Odyssey consisted of but the seven stars, and that these alone bore those names till Thales formed our Ursa Minor. Later on the figure was enlarged "for the purpose of uranographic completeness," so that Heis now catalogues 227 components visible to his naked eye, although only 140 appeared to Argelander, down to the 6th magnitude.
It is almost the first object to which the attention of beginners in astronomy is called, — a fact owing partly to its circumpolar position for all points above the 41st parallel rendering it always and entirely visible above that latitude, but very largely to its great extent and to the striking conformation of its prominent stars. It is noticeable, too, that all early catalogues commenced with the two Ursine constellations (Ursa Major and Ursa Minor ).
Although the group has many titles and mythical associations, it has almost everywhere been known as a Bear, usually in the feminine, from its legendary origin. All classic writers, from Homer to those in the decline of Roman literature, thus mentioned it, — a universality of consent as to its form which, it has fancifully been said, may have arisen from Aristotle's idea that its prototype was the only creature that dared invade the frozen North. {Page 420} Yet it is remarkable that the Teutonic nations did not know this stellar group under this shape, although the animal was of course familiar to them and made much of in story and worship. With them these stars were the Wagen, our familiar Wain. Aratos wrote in the Phainomena:
Two Bears
Called Wains move round it, either in her place;
Ovid, in the Tristia, Magna minorque ferae; and Propertius included both in his Gemmae Ursae; while Horace, Vergil, and Ovid, again, called them Gelidae Arcti (Glacial Artics). We also meet with Arctoi and Arctoe. The Anglo-Saxon Manual of Astronomy of the 10th century adopted the Greek Arctos, although it adds "which untaught men call Carles-waen"; rare old Ben Jonson, in 1609, in his Epicoene, or the Silent Woman, called Kallisto
a star Mistress Ursula in the heavens;
and La Lande cited Fera major, Filia Ursae, and Ursa cum puerulo, referring to Arcas ( Ursa Minor ).
The well-known, although varied, story of Kallisto, — as old as Hesiod's time, — who was changed to a bear because of Juno's jealousy and transferred to the skies by the regard of Jove, has given rise to much poetical allusion from Hesiod's day till ours, especially among the Latins. In Addison's translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses, where this myth is related, we read that Jove
snatched them [Kallisto (Ursa Major and Arcas ( Ursa Minor )] through the air
In whirlwinds up to heaven and fixed them there;
Where the new constellations nightly rise,
And add a luster to the northern skies;
although the dissatisfied Juno still complained that in this location they proudly roll
In their new orbs and brighten all the pole.
This version of the legend turned Kallisto's son Arcas into Ursa Minor , although he was Bootes ; Matthew Arnold correctly writing of the mother and son in his Merope:
The Gods had pity, made them Stars.
Stars now they sparkle
The guard Arcturus ,
The guard-watched Bear.
{Page 421} Another version substituted her divine mistress Artemis; — also known to the Greeks as Kalliste, the Roman Diana — for the nymph of the celestial transformation; the last Greek word well describing the extreme beauty of this constellation. La Lande, however, referred the title to the Phoenician Kalitsah, or Chalitsa, Safety, as its observation helped to a safe voyage.
Among its names from the old story are Kallisto herself; Lycaonia, Lycaonia Puella, Lycaonia Arctos, from her father, or grandfather, king of the aboriginal race that was known as late as Saint Paul's day, with the distinct dialect alluded to in the Acts of the Apostles, xiv, 11; Dianae Comes and Phoebes Miles are from her companionship in arms with that goddess; and it was one of the
arctos oceani metuentes aequore tingi,
because Tethys, at Juno's instigation, had forbidden Kallisto to enter her watery dominions. Yet Camoes, from a lower latitude, wrote of As Ursas:
We saw the Bears, despite of Juno, lave
Their tardy bodies in the boreal wave.
Ovid's arctos aequoris expertes; immunemque aequoris Arcton, liquidique immunia ponti, and utraque sicca, were from the fact that, being circumpolar, neither of the Bears sets below the ocean horizon. This was a favorite conceit of the poets, and astronomically correct during millenniums before and centuries after Homer's day, although not so in recent times as to the Greater, except in high latitudes. Chaucer reproduced this in his rendering of the De Consolatione Philosophiae by Boetius, whom he styles Boece:
Ne the sterre y-cleped "the Bere," that enclyneth his ravisshinge courses abouten the soverein heighte of the worlde, ne the same sterre Ursa nis never-mo wasshen in the depe westrene see, ne coveiteth nat to deyen his flaumbe in the see of the occian, al-thogh he see other sterres y-plounged in the see;
our Bryant rendering this idea:
The Bear that sees star setting after star
In the blue brine, descends not to the deep.
Poetical titles induced by the legend of Arcas were Virgo Nonacrina and Tegeaea Virgo, from the Arcadian towns Nonacris and Tegea; Erymanthis, perhaps the Erymanthian Boar that Hercules slew, but more probably the Erymanthian Bear (the male of a bear is called a boar); Maenalia Arctos, Maenalis, and Maenalis Ursa, from those mountains; Parrhasis, Parrhasia Virgo, and Parrhasides Stellae, from {Page 422} the tribe, although Pluche went farther back for this to the Phoenician pilots' Parrasis, the Guiding Star, — the Hebrews' Pharashah. Sophocles wrote of it in the Oedipus as Arcadium Sidus, referring to the whole country of Arcadia, the Switzerland of Greece, famous in the classical world for its wild mountain scenery; and very early silver coins of Mantinea showed the Bear as mother of the patron god.
Such has been the myth of this constellation current for at least three millenniums; but Mueller discards it all, and says: "The legend of Kallisto, the beloved of Zeus and mother of Arkas, has nothing to do with the original meaning of the stars. On the contrary, Kallisto was supposed to have been changed into the Arktos or Greater Bear because she was the mother of Arkas, that is to say, of the Arcadian1 or bear race, and her name, or that other son, reminded the Greeks of their long established name of the northern constellation". [1Allen notes at bottom of page: Lucian, in De Astrologia, wrote that "the Arcadians were an ignorant people and despised astronomy"; and Ovid graphically described their great antiquity and primitive mode of life, well justifying their title of the Bear Race, his lines being quaintly translated by Gower: "Therefore they naked run in sign and honour Of hardiness and that old bare-skinned manner." ]
Aratos' version of the legend, from very ancient Naxian tradition, made the two Bears the Cretan nurses of the infant Jupiter, afterwards raised to heaven for their devotion to their charge. From this came the Cretaeae sive Arctoe of Germanicus; but Lewis said: "This fable is inconsistent with the natural history of the island; for the ancients testify that Crete never contained any bears or other noxious animals."
Subsequent story changed the nurses into the Cretan nymphs Helice and Melissa ( Ursa Minor ). Hyginus and Germanicus also used the masculine form Ursus as well as Arctus.
The Hebrew word 'Ash or 'Ayish in the Book of Job, ix, 9, and xxxviii, 32, supposed to refer to the Square in this constellation as a Bier, not a Bear, was translated Arcturus by Saint Jerome in the Vulgate: and this was adopted in the version of 1611 authorized by King James. Hence the popular belief that the Bible mentions our star alpha Bootes ( Arcturus ); but Umbreit had already corrected this to "the Bear and her young," and in the Revision of 1885 the patriarch talks to us of "the Bear with her train," these latter being represented by the three tail stars [the bier was marked by the Plough or Big Dipper stars on the body of the Bear - Merak (beta), Dubhe (alpha), Phecda (gamma) and Megrez (delta). The coffin was followed by "Mourners"; the three big stars on the tail of the Great Bear; epsilon ( Alioth ), zeta ( Mizar ), and eta ( Alkaid ).]. Von Herder strangely rendered the first of these passages "Libra and the Pole Star, the Seven Stars ";
but the second, more correctly, as "the Bear with her young" feeding around the pole; or, by another tradition, the nightly wanderer, a mother of the stars seeking her lost children, — those that no longer are visible. The {Page 423} Breeches Bible has this marginal note to its word Arcturus: "The North Star, with those that are about him."
Hebrew observers called the constellation Dobh; Phoenician, Dub; and Arabian, Al Dubb al Akbar, the Greater Bear, — Dubhelacbar with Bayer and Dub Alacber with Chilmead, — all of these perhaps adopted from Greece. Caesius cited the "Mohammedans'" Dubbe, Dubhe, and Dubon; and Robert Browning, in his Jochanan Hakkadosh, repeated these as Dob.
But whence came the same idea into the minds of our North American Indians? Was it by accident? or is it evidence of a common origin in the far antiquity of Asia ? The conformation of the seven stars in no way resembles the animal, — indeed the contrary; yet they called them Okuari and Paukunawa, words for a "bear," before they were visited by the white men, as is attested by Le Clercq in 1691, by the Reverend Cotton Mather in 1712, by the Jesuit missionary La Fitau in 1724, and by the French traveler Charlevoix in 1744. And Bancroft wrote in his history of our country:
The red men . . . did not divide the heavens, nor even a belt in the heavens, into constellations. It is a curious coincidence, that among the Algonquins of the Atlantic and of the Mississippi, alike among the Narragansetts and the Illinois, the North Star was called the Bear.
In justice, however, to their familiarity with a bear's anatomy, it should be said that the impossible tail of our Ursa was to them either Three Hunters, or a Hunter with his two Dogs, in pursuit of the creature; the star Alcor being the pot in which they would cook her. They thus avoided the incongruousness of the present astronomical ideas of Bruin's make-up, although their cooking-utensil was inadequate. The Housatonic Indians, who roamed over that valley from Pittsfield through Lenox and Stockbridge to Great Barrington, said that this chase of the stellar Bear lasted from the spring till the autumn, when the animal was wounded and its blood plainly seen in the foliage of the forest.
The long tail of the Bear, a queer appendage to a comparatively tailless animal, is thus accounted for by old Thomas Hood in his didactic style:
Scholar,
I marvel why (seeing she hath the form of a bear) her tail should be so long.
Master.
Imagine that Jupiter, fearing to come too nigh unto her teeth, lay hold on her tail, and thereby drew her up into the heaven; so that she of herself being very weighty, and the distance from the earth to the heavens very great, there was great likelihood that her tail must stretch. Other reason know I none.{Page 424} My friend the Reverend Doctor Robert M. Luther of Newark, New Jersey, tells me that a similar story was current with the Pennsylvania Germans of forty years ago. The same "weightie" reason will apply equally well to the Smaller Bear ( Ursa Minor ); indeed the latter's tail is even proportionately longer, although the kink in it takes a different turn. It is probably this association of these Seven Stars with our aborigines that has given them the occasional title of the Seven Little Indians.
Trevisa derived the title thus: "alwey thoo sterres wyndeth and turneth rounde aboute that lyne, that is calde Axis, as a bere aboute the stake. And therefore that cercle is clepid the more bere." Boteler borrowed this for his Hudibras':
And round about the pole does make
A circle like a bear at stake.
The great epic of the Finns, the Kalewala, makes much of this constellation, styling it Otawa and Otawamen, in which Miss Clerke sees likeness to the names used by our aborigines for "the great Teutonic King of beasts." But that people also said that the Bear stars, and especially the pole-star ( Polaris ), were young and beautiful maidens highly skilled in spinning and weaving, — a story originating from a fancied resemblance of their rays of light to a weaver's web.
The Century Dictionary has a theory as to the origin of the idea of a Bear for these seven stars, doubtless from its editor, Professor Whitney, that seems plausible, — at all events, scholarly. It is that their Sanskrit designation, Riksha, signifies, in two different genders, "a Bear," and "a Star," "Bright," or "to shine," — hence a title, the Seven Shiners, — so that it would appear to have come, by some confusion of sound, of the two words among a people not familiar with the animal. Later on Riksha was confounded with the word Rishi, and so connected with the Seven Sages, or Poets, of India [identifying Kratu with the star Dubhe ; Pulaha with Merak ; Pulastya with Phecda ; Atri with Megrez ; Angiras with Alioth ; Vasishtha with Mizar ; Bhrigu with Alkaid . [ 2 ]]; afterwards with the Seven Wise Men of Greece, the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus, the Seven Champions of Christendom, etc.; while the Seven Stars of early authors, as often used for Ursa Major as for the Pleiades, certainly is much more appropriate to the Ursine figure than to the Taurine. Minsheu had "the Seven Starres called Charles Waine in the North," and three centuries earlier Chaucer wrote of "the sterres seven" with manifest reference to this constellation. The Kalewala ( Kalevala ) had the equivalent Seitsen tahtinen; the Portuguese Camoes, Sete Flammas; and the Turks, Yidigher Yilduz.
Hewitt says that these seven stars at first were known in India as Seven Bears, although also as Seven Antelopes, and again as Seven Bulls, the latter merged into one, the Great Spotted Bull, as the Seven Bears also {Page 425} were into Ursa Major, with our Arcturus for their keeper; and he gives their individual titles as Kratu for alpha, Pulaha for beta, Pulastya for gamma, Atri for delta, Angiras for epsilon, and Marici for eta, the six sons of Brahma, who himself was Vashishtha, the star zeta. The Vishnu-Dharma, however, claimed Atri as their ruler; indeed, there seems to be much variance in Sanskrit works as to the identity of these stars and titles.
When the figure of the Bear was extended to its present dimensions, four times as great as Homer's Arktos, we do not know, and, to quote again from Miss Clerke,
we can only conjecture; but there is evidence that it was fairly well established when Aratos wrote his description of the constellations. [He stretched it over Gemini, Cancer, and Leo] Aratos, however, copied Eudoxus, and Eudoxus used observations made — doubtless by Accad or Chaldaean astrologers — above 2000 B.C. We infer, then, that the Babylonian Bear was no other than the modern Ursa Major. . . . Thus, circling the globe from the valley of the Ganges to the great lakes of the New World, we find ourselves confronted with the same sign in the northern skies, the relic of some primeval association of ideas, long since extinct. Extinct even in Homer's time.
And Achilles Tatios distinctly asserted that it was from Chaldaea. But Brown thinks, in regard to the identity of the archaic and modern constellations of this name in that country, that at present there is no real evidence to connect the Kakkabu Dabi (or Dabu, the Babylonian Bear) with the Plough or Wain, still less with Ursa Major; and identifies the latter with the Euphratean Bel-me-Khi-ra, the Confronter of Bel, — Berlin, with Bel himself. A group of seven stars is often shown on the cylinders from Babylonia, Lajard's Culte de Mithra giving many instances of this, although the reference may have been to the Pleiades; while it is Sayce's suggestion that perhaps "the god seven," so frequently mentioned in the inscriptions, is connected with Ursa Major.
Among the adjacent Syrians it was a Wild Boar, and in the stars of the feet of our Bear (now Leo Minor ) the early nomads saw the tracks of their Ghazal (gazelle). Similarly, in the far North, it has been the Sarw of the Lapps, their familiar Reindeer, the Los of the Ostiaks, and the Tukto of the Greenlanders.
Smyth wrote in his Speculum Hartwelliauum: "King Arthur, the renowned hero of the Mabinogion, typified the Great Bear; as his name, — Arth, bear, and Uthyr, wonderful, — implies in the Welsh language; and the constellation, visibly describing a circle in the North Polar regions of the sky, may possibly have been the true origin of the Son of Pendragon's famous Round Table, the earliest institution of a military order of knighthood."
{Page 426} Whatever may be the fact in this speculation, we know that the early English placed King Arthur's home here, and that the people of Great Britain long called it Arthur's Chariot or Wain, which appears in the Lay of the Last Minstrel:
Arthur's slow wain his course doth roll,
In utter darkness, round the pole.
In Ireland it has been King David’s Chariot, from one of that island's early kings; in France, the Great Chariot, and it was seen on Gaulish coins. The Anglo-Norman poet De Thaun of the 12th century had it Charere; and La Lande cited the more modern la Roue, the Wheel. Occasionally it has been called the Car of Bootes.
And this carries us back to another of the earliest titles for our constellation, the Amaxa, Wain or Wagon, — Riccioli's Amaxa, — of the Iliad and Odyssey, that Homer used equally with Arktos, although with the same limitation to the seven stars. Describing the shield made by Hephaistos for Achilles, the poet said, in Sir John Herschel's rendering:
There the revolving Bear, which the Wain they call, was ensculptured,
Circling on high, and in all its course regarding Orion;
Sole of the starry train which refuses to bathe in the Ocean;
which I have quoted, in preference to others more rhythmical, from the interest that we all feel in the translator as an astronomer, although but little known as a poet. Homer repeated this in the 5th book of the Odyssey, where Ulixes, in Bryant's translation, is
Gazing with fixed eye on the Pleiades,
Bootes setting late and the Great Bear,
By others called the Wain, which wheeling round,
Looks ever toward Orion and alone
Dips not into the waters of the deep.
For so Calypso, glorious goddess, bade
That, on his ocean journey, he should keep
That constellation ever on his left;
Ithaca, whither he was bound, lying due east from Calypso's isle, Orgygia. Pope rendered the original the Northern Team, and the lines on Orion:
To which, around the axle of the sky,
The Bear, revolving, points his golden eye.
These passages clearly show the early use of the Wain stars in Greek navigation before Cynosura ( Polaris ) was known to them; as Aratos wrote:
{Page 427}
By it on the deep
Achaians gather where to sail their ships;
Ovid imitating this in the Fasti and Tristia. Orion seems to have been often joined in this use, for Apollonius wrote:
The watchful sailor, to Orion's star
And Helice, turned heedful.
Aratos called the constellation the "Wain-like Bear "; and, alluding to the title Amaxa, asserted that the word was from ama, "together," the Amaxai, thus circling together around the pole; but no philologist accepts this, and it might as well have come from axon, "axle," referring to the axis of the heavens. In fact, Hewitt goes far back of Aratos in his statement that the Sanskrit god Akshivan, the Driver of the Axle (Aksha), was adopted in Greece as Ixion, whose well-known wheel was merely the circling course of this constellation. Anacreon mentioned it as a Chariot as well as a Bear; and Hesychios had it Aganna, an archaic word from agein, "to carry," singularly like, in orthography at least, the Akkadian title for the Wain stars, Aganna, or Akanna, the Lord of Heaven; and Aben Ezra called it Ajala, the Hebrew word for "wagon."
The Romans expressed the same idea in their Currus; Plaustrum, [The Latin plaustrum, originally a two-wheeled ox-cart, appears in the De Re Rustics of Cato Censorius as plaustrum maius for one with four wheels.] or Plostrum, magnum; with the diminutive Plaustricula, which Capella (alpha Auriga ) turned into Plaustriluca, imitating the "Noctiluca" used by Horace for the moon. Apollinaris Sidonius, the Christian writer of the 6th century, called the constellation Plaustra Parrhasis; and Rycharde Eden wrote it Plastrum, —
al the sterres cauled Plastrum or Charles Wayne, are hydde under the Northe pole to the canibals.
In all these, of course, reference was made to the seven stars only, Bartschius plainly showing this on his chart, where he outlines them, with the title Plaustrum, included within the limits of the much larger Ursa Major.
The Italians have Cataletto, a Bier, and Carro; and the Portuguese Camoes wrote it Carreta. The Danes, Swedes, and Icelanders knew it as Stori Vagn, the Great Wagon, and as Karls Vagn; Karl being Thor, their greatest god, of whom the old Swedish Rhyme Chronicle, describing the statues in the church [It is in this church, or cathedral, that the great Linnaeus lies buried, and over its south porch is sculptured the Hebrew story of the Creation. ] at Upsala, says: {Page 428} "The God Thor was the highest of them; He sat naked as a child, Seven stars in his hand and Charles's Wain."
The Goths similarly called the seven stars Karl Wagen, which has descended to modern Germans as Wagen and Himmel Wagen, the last with the story that it represents the Chariot in which Elijah journeyed to heaven. But in the heathen times of the northern nations it was the Wagon of Odin, Woden, or Wuotan, the father of Thor, and the Irmines Wagen of the Saxons. Grimm cites Herwagen, probably the Horwagen of Bayer and the Hurwagen of Caesius; while a common English name now is the Waggon. The Poles call it Woz Niebeski, the Heavenly Wain. In all these similes the three tail stars of our Bear were the three draught-horses in line. The royal poet King James wrote:
Heir shynes the charlewain, there the Harp gives light,
And heir the Seamans Starres, and there Twinnis bright.
This old and still universally popular title, Charles’s Wain, demands more than mere mention. It has often been derived from the Saxon ceorl, the carle of mediaeval times, our churl, and thus the "peasant's cart "; but this is incorrect, and the New English Dictionary has an exhaustive article on the words, well worthy of repetition here:
Charles’s Wain. Forms; carles-waen, Cherlemaynes-wayne, Charlmons wayn, carle wen-sterre, carwaynesterre, Charel-wayn, Charlewayn, Charle wane, Charles wayne or waine, Charles or Carol's wain(e), Charlemagne or Charles his wane, wain(e), Charle-waine, Charl-maigne Wain, Charles's Wain. [OE. Carles waegn, the wain (amaxa, plaustrum) of Carl (Charles the Great, Charlemagne). The name appears to arise out of the verbal association of the star-name Arcturus with Arturus or Arthur, and the legendary association of Arthur and Charlemagne; so that what was originally the wain of Arcturus or Bootes ('Bootes' golden wain,' Pope) became at length the wain of Carl or Charlemagne. (The guess churl's or carle's wain has been made in ignorance of the history.)]
As the name Arcturus was formerly sometimes applied loosely to the constellation Bootes , and incorrectly to the Great Bear, the name Carlewayne-sterre occurs applied to the star Arcturus (alpha Bootes).
The editor cites from various authors since the year 1000, when he finds Carleswaen, and quotes from Sir John Davies, the philosophical poet of the Elizabethan age:
Those bright starres
Which English Shepheards, Charles his waine, do name;
But more this He is Charles, his waine,
Since Charles her royal wagoner became;
and from John Taylor, "the King's water-poet," of 1630: {Page 429}
Charles his Cart (which we by custome call Charles his wane) is most gloriously stellifide.
The list ends with a quotation from J. F. Blake, of 1876, who even at this late day had King Charles’ Wain. This connection of these Seven Stars with England's kings was due to the courtiers of Charles I and II, who claimed it as in their masters' honor, and elsewhere occurs, William Bas, or Basse, about 1650, having, in Old Tom of Beulam:
Bid Charles make ready his waine;
James Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd, in the Queen's Wake of 1813:
Charles re-yoked his golden wain;
and Tom Hood, of fifty years ago:
looking at that Wain of Charles, the Martyr's.
This is from the Comet, the humorous Astronomical Anecdote of the great Sir William Herschel, whom the poet called the "be-knighted," and further described as
like a Tom of Coventry, sly peeping,
At Dian sleeping;
| Ursa Major |
What is the world's most southerly capital? | Autumn Sky Tour: Polar Constellations
The Polar Constellations
The autumn sky is dominated by the Great Square of Pegasus, four stars that form a huge square in the sky, which you can see if you look almost straight up. See it? The stars are a bit faint, but it's distinctive because it's in a faint portion of the sky. The earth has swung around the sun to the southern face of our galaxy so we are now looking out of the disk of the galaxy towards its south pole. As a result, the region of the Great Square has few nearby bright stars. If you follow a straight line through the two stars on the right side of the square up over the top of the sky and back down, it takes you to the North Star.
We start our tour by turning our attention to the North. Anybody recognize anything? If you're looking for the Big Dipper, it's there, scraping along the northern horizon. You may only be able to see parts of it over the tops of the trees. {Trace out the Big Dipper}.
It's really not a constellation, it's what's called an 'asterism', a highly recognizable part of a constellation. The full constellation is Ursa Major, and is hopelessly lost beneath the horizon at this time of the year.
The Big Dipper is a polar 'constellation' -- one that is very close to the North Pole. If stars are close enough to the pole they never set below the horizon and we can see them all year long. Can anyone spot the Pole Star? How do you find it? That's right, the two stars at the front edge of the cup are pointer stars and point to the North Star, whose actual name is Polaris. Go up from the cup to find Polaris.
Since the earth's north pole points to Polaris and the earth rotates around its poles, all the constellations seem to rotate around Polaris, including the Big Dipper. You can tell time using the Big Dipper -- it serves as a 24-hour clock.
Click on the little clock here
for more information.
Polaris is a part of the constellation Ursa Minor, more commonly known as the Little Dipper. Polaris is at the tip of the handle. {Trace out the Little Dipper.}
Threading his way between the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper is Draco the Dragon. {Trace out Draco.} Draco starts off with two bright yellow eyes (actually one's yellow, one's orange), and then winds around the little dipper with its tail between the two dippers. This is a very cool-looking constellation, a rare one that looks like the monster it is supposed to be, glaring yellow eyes and all. The head of Draco forms a distinct asterism, known as "The Lozenge". Who's got the binoculars? Use them to find Draco's eyes, then go down to find the next star in the Lozenge closest to the eyes -- n (nu) Draconis. Notice anything? That's right, it's a double star, and a very neat one in binoculars, tight together and exactly equal in brightness.
The two most important Polar Constellations to recognize are the Big Dipper and the Big W, and the Big Dipper is so low this time of year that it is now even more important to recognize the Big W. The Big W is Cassiopeia - roughly on the opposite side of Polaris from the Big Dipper {Trace out Cassiopeia}. Well, it's upside down now so it looks more like a big "M". Cassiopeia is a Queen in her chair, and even though this isn't the "official" way to look at her, I envision Cassiopeia's head at the left side of the "W", making the figure like a lounge chair with a foot rest. This is how I learned it as a kid, and it's very useful because you can easily find the North Star by going "Up from the Seat" of Cassiopeia's chair, in similar manner to going "Up from the Cup" of the Big Dipper. Since the Big W is on the opposite side of the North Star, this gives you a way to find Polaris any time of the year, even now when the Dipper likes to hide below the tree line.
Cassiopeia got herself into a lot of trouble, leading to the story of Andromeda and Perseus and involving no less than six constellations in the sky, the most involved in any of the constellation legends. You'll hear more about that story in a moment.
The constellation Cassiopeia lies right smack in the middle of the Milky Way , and is filled with galactic clusters, also called open clusters. These are small groups of stars, maybe a hundred or so, that formed from the same (huge) cloud of gas and dust. They are very often young stars - blue ones which are large and very hot and don't last long.
There are several decent examples in Cassiopeia, like Messier object #52, or "M52", one of many "M" objects named after a catalog published in the late 1700's by the Frenchman Charles Messier. Messier was a comet hunter of great renown who published a catalog of fuzzy things that might be confused with comets. These ended up being some of the most interesting objects in the sky. When you find M52 you are looking at a "young"cluster of about 200 stars -- young means that it is only about 100 million years old. The cluster is 10 light years in diameter and 3000 light years away from us, which is why you need the binoculars to see it.
Another interesting galactic cluster is NGC 663 (NGC stands for New General Catalog -- published in 1888 it's not really that new). This cluster lies about half way between the two stars on the flattened side of the "W", e and d Cassiopeiae. As you sweep the binoculars between the two stars, you will notice that NGC 663 is merely the largest and brightest of several clusters in this region. That may be because it is the closest, at about 3000 light years. The others in that area are 6000 - 8000 light years away. How many clusters can you spot between these two stars? You might be able to see as many as five, with NGC 663 at the center and the other four marking the corners of a diamond around it.
M52 - Note the little box of stars around the cluster
NGC 663 - halfway down the left side of the "W"
While you're scoping around for clusters with the binoculars, you notice anything unusual about the brightest stars of Cassiopeia? They're not all just points of white light, are they? Some are bright yellow, some are orange, almost red, and some are blue! There, the one at the center peak of the W (g Cassiopeiae), that one's blue, then if you go to the bright one down and to the right ( a Cassiopeiae), that one's orange, and the brightest star you see between those two (h Cassiopeiae), that one's yellow. So what do the star colors mean? Why would one star be blue and another red?
Yup, that's right. Different colors show different temperatures. So which star color is the hottest? Just like a flame, blue is the hottest part, yellow is next, red is the coolest. The sun is a yellow star, about 10,000�F at the surface. A red star is about half the sun's surface temperature, whereas a blue star is three to five times as hot as the sun. White stars are somewhere between the yellow ones and blue ones.
Now, all stars are made of pretty much the same stuff -- about 90% hydrogen and the rest is helium with some traces of other stuff. So, why would one star be burning hotter than another? The answer is in the size of the star. The more massive it is, the more pressure there is at the center and therefore the hotter - and for that matter the brighter - the star burns. So blue stars are the biggest and brightest of stars, and red stars are the smallest and dimmest.
So why is red a Cassiopeiae so bright? Hmmm... yeah... well, like with most rules, there are exceptions to the rule, and this rule is no exception. a Cassiopeiae is a star that is literally running out of gas. As a star burns up all the hydrogen at its center, it starts to burn helium (which is the "ash" from the hydrogen burning), which makes it expand, get brighter, and turn red -- it becomes a red giant. This is the time you can get a bright red star, when the star is near the end of its life.
When our sun starts burning out it will expand so big it will swallow up Mercury and Venus and scorch the surface of the earth to a cinder. If you are hoping to see all that happen you will have to wait about 5 billion years.
So there are two reasons a star could be red -- it is massive (and once was yellow, white or even blue) and is now burning out (a red giant), or it never had enough mass to burn any hotter than red (a red dwarf).
Notice that when we graph out the stars showing their temperature (or color) against their brightness, most of them fall along a line -- this line is called the Main Sequence, and the graph is called the "H-R" (for Hertzsprung-Russell) Diagram. Others are not on the main sequence, mostly stars that are either just being born (called "T-Tauri" stars) or stars that are near the end of life.
So the Big Dipper points out the North Star, and the three stars of the handle are pointers as well, but the stars they point to, while important, are below the horizon right now. Wait a minute is that really three stars in the Dipper's handle or is it four? Looky there the middle star seems to have a companion -- the bright star is Mizar and the companion is Alcor. Who can see the companion?
That was used by ancient Greek and Arab armies as an eye test. Some see them as a horse & rider. The Europeans saw the handle of the dipper as the tail of the Great Bear. Since bears don't have tails they danced around it by explaining that when the gods lifted the bear to the sky the tail got stretched out. Pretty lame. The Indians, who knew darn right well that bears don't have tails, saw the three stars of the handle as hunters chasing the great bear (interesting that they also saw a bear). When the constellation Ursa Major sets in the fall, the Indians explained that the hunters catch up with him and shoot him with their arrows, which is why the leaves on the trees turn red. Anyway the three stars are hunters and one of them brought his dog, so Mizar is a hunter and Alcor is his dog. Or another story is that there are three hunters pursuing the bear and one brought a pot to cook the bear in (optimistic). So Mizar is a hunter and Alcor is his pot. Yet another story involves the Pleiades. This is a star cluster in the constellation Taurus (a winter constellation -- we may see them a little later tonight). It is called "the Seven Sisters" and those with very sharp eyes can see seven stars but most people can only see six. So the story is that Mizar is riding off with the Seventh Sister.
| i don't know |
Which actor did Jennifer Anniston marry in July 2000? | Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux Married in Surprise Wedding!
Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux Married in Surprise Wedding!
by Meredith B. Kile 9:35 AM PDT, August 06, 2015
Playing Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux Married in Surprise Wedding!
Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux are married!
ET can confirm the pair tied the knot on Wednesday night at their home in Bel Air, in a secret ceremony disguised as a birthday party for Theroux, who turns 44 on Aug. 10.
The intimate affair was held in front of 70 of their closest friends and family, including Howard Stern, Jason Bateman, Lisa Kudrow, Chelsea Handler, John Krasinski, Emily Blunt, Ellen DeGeneres and more. The couple's backyard was seen decked out for the elaborate party with a bar and beautiful tablescapes. Earlier in the day, a minister and a large cake topped with two Muppet-like characters were photographed entering the house by TMZ .
WATCH: Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux Were the Cutest Couple at the 2015 SAG Awards
Aniston met Theroux in 2011, while vacationing with Friends co-star and real-life pal Courteney Cox and the couple have been together for four years. They announced their engagement in August 2012.
"He's the easiest guy to hang around," Aniston, 46, gushed to The Hollywood Reporter back in January. "He was so completely in his skin. It was the first time I remember being so comfortable [with a romantic interest], like with all my gay friends."
Aniston and Theroux shared the big screen in 2012's Wanderlust, but according to the actress, her new husband is a true Renaissance man.
"He's got a so many different talents, I have a lot to chime in on," Aniston told ET at a January 2015 press junket. "Not only is he a writer, he's also an actor and a director and all of those wonderful things. I make it easy. I just have a one-shot job."
"Not only is he a great actor but he's one of the best comedy writers out there," she marveled to Harper’s Bazaar last November. "And he directs and paints murals. And I just think it's so attractive to be that good at so many things and to have no ego. He's one of the most humble, decent human beings."
WATCH: 9 Celebrity Weddings We're Still Waiting For
The actress also couldn’t help but gush about her man’s physical attributes when Theroux covered Women’s Wear Daily last July.
"He's just so beautiful and handsome to me, and I love that his eyeballs are so beautifully captured because those eyes just knock me out every day," she said. "He just gets better every year. He's just like a lost gem in the sand, and he's just always been there and been brilliant, and now this is just in a different light."
Theroux has also been outspoken about his love for Aniston and how the couple has handled their relationship in the spotlight.
"We're just doing our own thing. We are completely happy, obviously, but we're not on anyone else's timeframe," he told Australia’s TV Week last fall . "I think love in anyone's life creates expansion. And needless to say, it feels really good. So it's only enriched by life."
NEWS: Jennifer Aniston Can't Get Enough of Justin Theroux
Since they first became engaged, publications have speculated constantly about when the pair were tying the knot. Aniston even admitted that the pair couldn’t throw a party without friends wondering if it was secretly a wedding, which have been one of the most talked-about nuptials in Hollywood.
"It's funny actually our friends Sacha [Baron Cohen] and Isla [Fisher] have shown up for four parties, four little gatherings, about a year ago, they would show up in beautiful wedding wear," she said on The Ellen DeGeneres Show last November. "Even like the Fourth of July last year, they showed up and Sacha was in a powder blue suit and Isla was in a little cute dress. And we were like, 'Guys, it’s the Fourth of July, we're in cutoffs and eating hot dogs. We will actually let you know!'"
The actress told InStyle that she and Theroux struggled with the best way to tie the knot under the intense media speculation.
"There's a big discussion in our house right now: Do you just do it and say screw it? Or do you try desperately to get away with [a secret ceremony] where you don't have any fun because you're hiding in a cave somewhere?" she said in January . "If we could do it without all the buzzing and the noise... It can be done. Where there's a will there's a way."
NEWS: Jennifer Aniston: 'I've Had More Fun Post-40 Than I Can Remember'
As for the next step in their relationship, Aniston told THR that she and Theroux would like to start a family of their own, if it’s in the cards for them.
"Who knows if it's going to happen?" she said in January. "It's been a want. We're doing our best."
This is the first marriage for Theroux and the second for Aniston, who was previously wed to Brad Pitt from 2000-2005.
| Brad Pitt |
Which English Cathedral has the highest spire? | Jennifer Aniston Had "Awkward Phase" During 30s, Brad Pitt Marriage - Us Weekly
By Nicole Eggenberger
In a new interview with Parade, Jennifer Aniston says her "awkward phase" in life was in her 30s during her marriage to Brad Pitt. Plus, the Friends alum says she feels "most beautiful" when she's home with fiance Justin Theroux. Credit: Kevin Mazur/WireImage
Um, awkward? In a new interview with Parade , Jennifer Aniston explains why she's happier than she's ever been in life -- even with her 45th birthday approaching in February. The Friends alum says she doesn't miss her 30s at all, which just so happens to be the time in her life when she was married to Brad Pitt . See more pics of Aniston here .
PHOTOS: Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt -- the way they were
"That there's nothing to worry about -- although I don't think I had a care in the world at 25, either. That all started in my 30s, my awkward phase," she explained. "I'm a little bit of a late bloomer! But it doesn't matter to me because it just gets better. They do say youth is wasted on the young, but I feel just as youthful now -- if not more — than I did when I was 25. I'm more in my body; I'm more in my mind. Life is full. Life is wonderful. We're very, very fortunate."
Aniston married Pitt in July 2000 when she was 31 years old. They finalized their divorce nearly five years later in October 2005. One month after, Pitt began dating his Mr. and Mrs. Smith costar Angelina Jolie . The two are now parents to six children and became engaged in April 2012. Aniston, meanwhile, became engaged to her Wanderlust costar, Justin Theroux , back in August 2012.
Justin Theroux and Jennifer Aniston became engaged in August 2012. George Pimentel/Getty Images
PHOTOS: Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's love story
Aniston told Parade that she feels completely comfortable with Theroux. "I feel most beautiful when I'm just at home with Justin Theroux in the morning," she shared. "Or any time of day I'm with him."
Indeed, the We're the Millers star couldn't be any happier with her life and career at the moment.
"My life is so fantastic. I'm so happy," Aniston said. "There are a lot of exciting things that I'm excited about doing. We're about to do a sequel to Horrible Bosses, which is such a fun character for me. And I think I'm going to try at some point next year to direct a full-length feature, which I'm extremely excited about. I'm just so happy and I'm grateful for my fans. I just hope I keep doing work that they love."
| i don't know |
Which 1999 film featured a trio of main characters called Heather, Josh and Michael? | Viral Media [licensed for non-commercial use only] / Blair Witch Project
Description:
The Blair Witch Project is categorized as a low-budget horror film. The film portrays the real time stories of three film students (Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, and Michael C. Williams) who venture off into the Black Hills of Maryland to capture footage of the towns legend, The Blair Witch. While in the Black Hills, the three students go missing and are never found. The video footage is then recovered a year later creating the “lost footage”, which is the film’s premise and theme.
Peak Popularity: Prior to the films release and shortly after.
Date Discovered: 1999
Original Site: The original site has since been removed however, a current similar site exists at www.blairwitch.com
The original BWP sites relied on making the viewer feel that the content was real. Like the original Blair Witch site, the filmmakers also created myspace accounts for the cast of the film to gain credibility for the characters and for the audience appeal.
Genesis:
The development on The Blair Witch Project began in 1998 by two novice filmmakers, Eduardo Sanchez and Daniel Myrick. The film’s script was based on a 68 page outline in hopes to complete the dialogue with improvisations from the cast. Auditions where held to specifically look for actors with exceptional improvisation skills. The completed cast included Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, and Michael C. Williams. The filmmakers focused on several mythological ideas during the developmental stages of the movie. Inspired by near-anagrams, some characters names served to create the mythology behind the film. Referencing the overall mythology of the film through characters, started with naming the Blair Witch, Elly Kedward, which is Edward Kelley, a 16th century mystic and naming the fictional 1940‘s child murder Rustin Parr, as Rasputin. The next step for the film focused on obtaining funding and directional production association, which was produced by Haxan Films. Originally titled, “The Blair Witch Project: The Story of the Black Hills Disappearances” was presented to investors as a documentary based upon short amateur footage coupled with new papers and news footage.
"The media ecology's materiality, the connections and uses made, missed, and implied, form a grounding part of the work. Webcams, their aesthetics, distribution, and their use, by, amoung others, Wolfgang Staehle, are discussed strating from a simple account of their construction. Software and network systems such as those used by these cameras are usually understood to be value-free, simple utilities. Here, their compositional terms are taken up in order to test their affordances and limits" (pg 10 Media Ecologies).
Matthew Fuller
History (Filming Process):
On October 1997, filming began and continued for eight day in Seneca Creek State Park in Maryland and only a few scenes where shot in Burkittsville (6).Unbeknownst to the main cast, the filmmakers planted interviews of the townspeople and actors. Upon filming, the main character, Donhaue, had to go through a crash course of film, as she did not know how to operate or use a camera.The actors were casted because of their improvisational skills in which, the filmmakers pushed to the limits. The filmmakers gave the cast clues to switch locations and improvisational instructions for the day from messages in milk creates with global positioning satellite systems (7). The directors tried to achieve the realism of the myth by rationing the food of the cast, which caused Donahue to suffer excruciating eczema. Attracting to the appeal of realism, a Maryland dentist provided the set with teeth to show the remains of the dead (8). Influencing the realism effect, Producer Gregg Hale's military training was honed in to move the cast in a military fashion by pushing the characters to the limits during the day, harassing the sleepless cast at night, and depriving the cast of food. To the dismay of the cast, 19 hours of solid footage was recorded, however, the film was edited down to 90 minutes (9). The editing of the film took up the most time hold back production more than eight months. Interestingly enough, the filmmakers originally hoped for the film to reach cable networks with no anticipation of a wide release (10). The lucky three filmmakers from University of Central Florida invested an initial $35,000 leading Artisan to purchase the film for 1.1 million and spending a close 25 million to market it (11). By signing a small agreement with the commencement of the films release, the actors received some of profits of the film (12).
The Potential in Viral Marketing (rise to popularity):
The Blair Witch Project is the first released movie to gain success on the Internet based on viral marketing strategies. One of these strategies, included the producers to create multiple websites to assure the credibility of being a real documentary. These websites led to the rise of popularity over the film within the internet community, creating skepticism and debate over the film’s authenticity. Even with the film’s skepticism lingering within the Internet community, the buzz proved worthy for the film, grossing over $160 million in the USA and $248 million worldwide (13) Due to the films low budget cost of $35,000 and the financial benefits resulting from viral marketing, the picture snubbed the record of the highest- profit-to-cost ratio ever for a motion picture placing it in the Guinness Book of Records. (13) It is also noted that for every dollar spent, the film made more than $10,000. (14).
Relevant Viewership:
The Blair Witch Project grossed $248,639,099 worldwide (13)while the film’s final budget was projected to be $500,000 and $750,000 (14).
Rotten Tomatoes shows over 127 reviews of the film, allotting to a surprising total of 85% favorable reviews (15).
The film received four stars from Roger Ebert, calling it "an extraordinarily effective horror film" (16).
www.Filmcritic.com has the film listed as the 50th best movie ending of all time (17).
The Blair Witch Project was given a Global Film Critics Award for Best Screenplay and won the Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award. Conversely, the film was nominated for the 1999 Razzie Award for Worst Picture (18).
In 2008, The Blair Witch Project was named one of the "The 100 best films from 1983 to 2008", ranking it at #99 according to Entertainment Weekly (19).
Listed as one of the "Top 100 Scariest Movies" in 2006, Chicago Film Critics Association ranked the film at #12 (20).
Sequels:
The Blair Witch:Book of Shadows was released on October 27, 2000 basing the sequel on the same premise and theme of the original Blair Witch. The studio planned to release another sequel following the second, but that sequel did not come to fruition. Today, internet buzz reports of a possible third Blair Witch.
Remakes:
It was reported that director Stacy Hopkins and Bob Greensworth was scheduled to start production late in 2009 on the Scottish remake of The Blair Witch. However, no further information on the remake has been released.
Appeal Release (Likely audience/viewership):
Sundance Film Festival held debut of The Blair Witch Project in January of 1999. Soon after the films initial screening, Artisan released The Blair Witch Project on July 30, 1999 following the popularity and publicity from the viral marketing campaign. Artisan executive, Steven Rothenberg is said to be responsible for the distribution and marketing strategy for the film (21). Rothenberg’s marketing tactics created the films immediate popularity with viewers and critics marking The Blair Witch as the third most successful independent film of all time, trailing Paranormal Activity and Mad Max (22). On December 1999 The Blair Witch Project DVD was then released.
Appeal and Audience (Video Analysis):
The film was an overall success from viewers and critics. The obvious horror appeal coupled with the allure of the film’s authenticity through viral marketing strategies targeted a wide audience.
The film’s amateur documentary footage aided to the appeal of the film, allowing the viewer to undergo a “real life experience”. Tension was created through camera techniques, like shaking, to give the audience a sense that the film was captured in real time footage.
The overall hype spurred from the authenticity of film and the film’s websites, created an appeal larger than the movie.
Talk of the film created hype through word of mouth causing the audience to go online. The hype from the film turned viral from production posting websites, myspace pages, and trailers on the Internet to appeal to the audience.
Through online marketing strategies, the hype created around this film targeted the audience to see the film for two reasons: One, the audience wanted to see the footage for themselves to see what the hype was all about and determine the authenticity of the film. Secondly, the audience believed in the Blair Witch and wanted to know more about the myth.
The buzz from the film along with the films multiple webpages created a falsehood within the internet community much like Fuller’s concept to present the coupling of platforms to represent what is the object at the base. This was the first widely public production marketed on the Internet to help create the authenticity of the film. Ironically, the film was not advertised much leaving the advertising to us. Regardless of the authenticity of the film, the film was able to achieve their overall outcome to obtain viewers, appeal to an audience, and keep the advertising/buzz going. Compared to the appeal of the film over the appeal of gossip from the film, in the end they never even needed the film.
The allure of the film itself was second to the hype. Viewers did not see the movie for the cast and script. The audience’s appeal was the hype surrounding the film causing the viewer to see the movie. The movie did appeal to the audience that wanted to believe in the Blair Witch and the recovery of lost footage, which for a short period did convince many. For a low budget production, this film exceed expectations. Expectations around the film was not derived from the film’s content, but from the marketing of the film through the internet. The appeal and audience of the film allowed the Blair Witch Project to become the first in paving the way for viral advertisement.
Associations:
The film mythologic theme follows the legend surrounding The Blair Witch. As the legend has it, the Blair Witch, is the ghost of Elly Kedward. Elly Kedward was accused for using her witch-craft banishing her from Blair Township (Burkittsville) in 1785. The legend of The Blair Witch was inspired from the injustice on those claimed to have or use witch craft. The directors wanted to create the allusions to the Salem Witch Trials and The Crucible as an incorporation to the films theme. Other films including, The Shining, Alien, and The Omen, were also considered an influence to the overall theme of the film (23).
Interestingly, the directors purposely kept the witch in hiding during the duration of the film, to create suspense with the viewers associating it with Jaws (24).
Ironically, The Blair Witch became a product of association with an earlier faux-documentary in 1998 titled, The Last Broadcast. Similarly to The Blair Witch Project, The Last Broadcast features a contrived documentary focusing on characters as they vanish into the forest looking for a legendary figure. Although The Last Broadcast ends differently, the similarities of the two films can not go unnoticed. Certain speculation of the Blair Witch Project’s inital inspiration for the film, is said to have possibly derived from The Last Broadcast (25).
Other similarities with the Blair Witch Project have raised speculation from the possible association of the 1980 Italian documentary titled, Cannibal Film, Cannibal Holocaust, which was widely-banned. Both films base the theme of filmmakers documenting their ventures as the disappear into the wildlife and are never heard from. Again both films, similarly share the aspect of the lost film eventually being found and recovered (26).
Social Vectors:
Social Vectors can be attributed to Hollywood and the media deceiving us to create an early online buzz with the Blair Witch Project. The many “fan sites” that appeared prior to the films release created talk leaving us to speculation. These fan sites help create popular stir over the facts and relevance to further the popularity of the film. The sites, as well as the movie, ended up to be hoax. The sites were created from the films production team to create a viral marketing strategy.
With the release of the films trailer and website associations, web publication sites created articles outing The Blair Witch Project. These sites reported that The Blair Witch Project was falsely identifying the authenticity of the film and their websites to raise buzz and popularity for the films release. (Even back in July of 1999 Salon.com published "Did 'The Blair Witch Project' fake its online fan base?" ) These sites, and like Fuller’s readings, try to raise awareness within the internet community to bring attention to the filmmakers and those alike, who purposely rely on targeting the willing audience to believe, on the bases of what is true within a media object.
The Blair Witch filmmakers knew they needed to achieve audience approval and credibility over the authenticity of the film. The filmmakers knowingly created a web ring of sites, mailing lists, and social media accounts before the film was released, to keep true to the credibility of the documentary as being factual. These sites contained interviews of the towns people, investigative reports of the scene, and even search parties who told stories of this happening. The buzz surrounding the Blair Witch Project created a surge of information and commentary flooding the internet. Even media outlets started to pick up on the talk and popularity over the film.
Aiding to the films authenticity and audience approval, MTV supported and endorsed the film by running a story over The Blair Witch Project. With MTV’s stamp of approval, The Blair Witch Project had targeted a large demographic for viewers.
Similarly, the sci-fi channel blocked regular scheduling allowing a time slot of one-hour to host a special over The Blair Witch Project until the film’s release.
The endorsement of the film from main stream media outlets, as well as the internet buzz, proved to set records in the box office and created an entirely new marketing approach on the internet virally. It is obvious that the first film had great success, however the films sequel did not do as well. Why was this?
Harry Knowles a proprietor of the website, Ain’t-it-Cool, was asked if the Blair Witch sequel would follow in the same footsteps of the films initial release. Knowles suggests that the post Blair websites provided a perfect platform to match the subject matter with the films style. "That," he said simply, "was a one-off."
Books
Author D.A. Stern created, The Blair Witch Project: A Dossier in September 1999. Stern compiled the book, by holding true to the authenticity of the film’s myth by including contrived police reports, newspaper articles, interviews and photos representing the book and film as factual. Stern focused the book on provided further insight of the films charcters like Elly Kedward and Rustin Parr. The development of characters led Stern to write another novel titled Blair Witch: The Secret Confessions of Rustin Parr in 2000 and another titled, Blair Witch: Graveyard Shift in 2004.
Claire Forbes released a photo novel adaptation of The Blair Witch Project in May of 2009.
Random released a series of eight books entitled The Blair Witch Files in 2000 to 2001. The book series focuses around the film’s mythic theme, creating a new character and cousin of Heather Donahue, who investigates the happenings of The Blair Witch to uncover the filmmakers disappearances (27).
Blair Witch Files 1 - The Witch's Daughter
Blair Witch Files 2 - The Dark Room
Blair Witch Files 3 - The Drowning Ghost
Blair Witch Files 4 - Blood Nightmare
Blair Witch Files 5 - The Death Card
Blair Witch Files 6 - The Prisoner
Blair Witch Files 7 - The Night Shifters
Blair Witch Files 8 - The Obsession
Blair Witch Files 9-
Comic books:
To help with promotion of the film, on August 1999, Oni Press released a oneshot comic titled The Blair Witch Project. The comic written by Jen Van Meter and drawn by Bernie Mireault, Guy Davis, and Tommy Lee Edwards, created three short stories based on the film’s mythology of the Blair Witch. The same group then worked on another four series comic In mid-2000, called The Blair Witch Chronicles.
With the release of the Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, Image Comics revealed a one-shot called Blair Witch: Dark Testaments. Charlie Adlard and Ian Edginton contributed to illustrating and writing the comic in October of 2009.
Computer games:
Gathering of developers released a trilogy of computer games in 2000 following the film’s mythic theme. The mythologic theme plays out within the trilogy of games focuses on different characters like, Rustin Parr to create the games multiple volumes. It is noted that the game’s graphics as well as, charcters are based upon an earlier computer game titled, Nocture (28). The game’s reviews were poor, reporting linear gameplay and clumsy controls, to name a few(28,29). While, Rustin Rarr- The first volume within the trilogy, claimed to be scarier than the film, creating positive reviews. “The following volumes were less well-received, with PC Gamer saying Volume 2's only saving grace was its cheap price and calling Volume 3 "amazingly mediocre" (30).
Home media:
on October 26, 1999 The Blair Witch Project was released on DVD in standard format, unlike the film. Features on the DVD included newly discovered footage, production insight as well as director and producer q and a, bios and trailers of the cast and crew and lastly two specials titled, "The Curse of the Blair Witch" and "The Blair Witch Legacy"(31).
Artisan teamed up with Lionsgate to release a blu-ray DVD on October 5, 2010 naming The Blair Witch Project the first Blu-ray Disc film presented in standard format (32).
Lionsgate paired up with Best Buy to exclusively hold the Blu-ray release making it available on August 29, 2010 (33).
Plot (According to Wikipedia):
In 1994, film students Heather Donahue , Michael C. Williams and Joshua Leonard set out to produce a documentary about the fabled Blair Witch. They travel to Burkittsville, Maryland , formerly Blair, and interview locals about the legend of the Blair Witch. The locals tell them of a hermit, Rustin Parr, who kidnapped seven children and brought them to his house in the forests, where he tortured and murdered them. Parr brought the children into his home's basement in pairs. Feeling that the children's eyes were staring into his soul, Parr forced the first child to face the corner and listen to their companion's screams as he murdered the second child. Parr would then murder the first child. Eventually turning himself in to the police, Parr later pleading insanity, saying that the spirit of a witch hanged from a tree in the 18th century had been terrorizing him for some time and convinced him to kill the seven children by promising to leave him alone if he did. The trio also interviews Mary Brown, an eccentric older woman who tells them that she had an encounter with the Blair Witch as a young girl.
The second day, the students begin to explore the woods in north Burkittsville to look for evidence of the Blair Witch. Along the way, a fisherman warns them that the woods are haunted, and recalls a time that he had seen strange vapor/mist rising from the water. The students hike to Coffin Rock, where five men were found ritualistically murdered in the 19th century, and then camp for the night. The next day they move deeper into the woods, despite being uncertain of their exact location on the map. They eventually locate what appears to be an old cemetery with seven small cairns . They set up camp nearby and then return to the cemetery after dark. Josh accidentally disturbs a cairn, and Heather hastily repairs it. Later, they hear strange cracking sounds in the darkness; they cannot locate the source and assume it was animals or locals following them.
The following day they attempt to return to their vehicle; they fail to find it before darkness falls and are forced to set camp. That night, they again hear cracking noises, but cannot see anything. The next morning they find three cairns have been built around their tent during the night. As they continue trying to find their way out of the woods, Heather realizes that her map is missing, and Mike later reveals that he kicked it into a creek out of frustration the previous day. Josh and Heather attack Mike in a fit of intense rage. They then realize they are now hopelessly lost, and decide to simply head south. Soon, they discover a multitude of humanoid stick figures suspended from trees. That night, they hear more strange noises, including the sounds of children and bizarre "morphing" sounds. An unknown force shakes the tent, causing them to flee and hide in the woods until dawn. Upon returning to their tent, they find that their possessions have been rifled through, and Josh's equipment is covered with slime, causing them to question why only his belongings were affected. As the day wears on, they pass a log over a stream that was identical to the one they had passed earlier, despite having traveled directly south all day, and again set camp completely demoralized at having wasted the entire day after appearing to have traveled in circles.
The next morning, Josh has disappeared. After trying in vain to find him, Mike and Heather eventually break camp and slowly move on. That night, they hear Josh's screams of pain in the darkness, but are not able to find him. The next morning, Heather finds a bundle of sticks and fabric outside their tent. Later inspection reveals it contains blood-soaked scraps of Josh's shirt, as well as teeth, flesh and hair, but she does not mention this to Mike.
That night, Heather records a confessional of herself apologizing to the cast of her project and her family and breaks down crying while she says, "we're gonna die out here...". Later, they hear Josh's agonized cries for help again, but this time they follow them to Rustin Parr's abandoned house in the woods. Mike races upstairs, following the voice, while Heather tries to follow. Mike then claims he hears Josh in the basement. He follows the sound and—after what seems to be a struggle—goes silent and drops his camera to the floor. Heather frantically goes down to the basement still screaming for Mike but gets no answer. She then enters the basement looking for both men, and her camera sees a glimpse of Mike facing the corner (in a similar fashion to how Parr had been described to make the children face the corner). Ear splitting screams are heard from Heather as she drops her camera. There is only silence while the footage ends.
Sources:
1. http://www.troupcreative.com/viral/index.htm Dane Troup. December 13, 2005.MD23: Theories of Electronic Communications II. Sean Carton. Viral Marketing. CASE STUDIES
2. http://www.slashfilm.com/blair-witch-remake-is-probably-not-what-it-seems/ . remake blair witch
3. www.Enotes.com Blair Witch Project
4. http://www.aintitcool.com/node/3990 . Ain’t It cool
5. Chmielewski, Dawn C. (2006-07-13). "When fans hissed, he listened" . Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2011-09-28.
6. Kaufman, Anthony (1999-07-14). "Season of the Witch" . Village Voice. Retrieved 2011-09-26.
7. "Heather Donohue – Blair Witch Project" . KAOS 2000 Magazine. 1999-01-01. Retrieved 2011-09-28.
8. Aloi, Peg (1999-07-11). "Blair Witch Project – an Interview with the Directors" . Witchvox.com. Retrieved 2011-09-28.
9. Mannes, Brett (1999-07-13). "Something wicked" . Salon.com. Retrieved 2011-09-28.
10. Klein, Joshua (1999-07-22). "Interview - The Blair Witch Project" . avclub.com. Retrieved 2011-09-28.
| The Blair Witch Project |
Created by Tim Smit in Cornwall, what is the name of the ecological botanical gardens sometimes dubbed the eighth wonder of the world? | Viral Media [licensed for non-commercial use only] / Blair Witch Project
Description:
The Blair Witch Project is categorized as a low-budget horror film. The film portrays the real time stories of three film students (Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, and Michael C. Williams) who venture off into the Black Hills of Maryland to capture footage of the towns legend, The Blair Witch. While in the Black Hills, the three students go missing and are never found. The video footage is then recovered a year later creating the “lost footage”, which is the film’s premise and theme.
Peak Popularity: Prior to the films release and shortly after.
Date Discovered: 1999
Original Site: The original site has since been removed however, a current similar site exists at www.blairwitch.com
The original BWP sites relied on making the viewer feel that the content was real. Like the original Blair Witch site, the filmmakers also created myspace accounts for the cast of the film to gain credibility for the characters and for the audience appeal.
Genesis:
The development on The Blair Witch Project began in 1998 by two novice filmmakers, Eduardo Sanchez and Daniel Myrick. The film’s script was based on a 68 page outline in hopes to complete the dialogue with improvisations from the cast. Auditions where held to specifically look for actors with exceptional improvisation skills. The completed cast included Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, and Michael C. Williams. The filmmakers focused on several mythological ideas during the developmental stages of the movie. Inspired by near-anagrams, some characters names served to create the mythology behind the film. Referencing the overall mythology of the film through characters, started with naming the Blair Witch, Elly Kedward, which is Edward Kelley, a 16th century mystic and naming the fictional 1940‘s child murder Rustin Parr, as Rasputin. The next step for the film focused on obtaining funding and directional production association, which was produced by Haxan Films. Originally titled, “The Blair Witch Project: The Story of the Black Hills Disappearances” was presented to investors as a documentary based upon short amateur footage coupled with new papers and news footage.
"The media ecology's materiality, the connections and uses made, missed, and implied, form a grounding part of the work. Webcams, their aesthetics, distribution, and their use, by, amoung others, Wolfgang Staehle, are discussed strating from a simple account of their construction. Software and network systems such as those used by these cameras are usually understood to be value-free, simple utilities. Here, their compositional terms are taken up in order to test their affordances and limits" (pg 10 Media Ecologies).
Matthew Fuller
History (Filming Process):
On October 1997, filming began and continued for eight day in Seneca Creek State Park in Maryland and only a few scenes where shot in Burkittsville (6).Unbeknownst to the main cast, the filmmakers planted interviews of the townspeople and actors. Upon filming, the main character, Donhaue, had to go through a crash course of film, as she did not know how to operate or use a camera.The actors were casted because of their improvisational skills in which, the filmmakers pushed to the limits. The filmmakers gave the cast clues to switch locations and improvisational instructions for the day from messages in milk creates with global positioning satellite systems (7). The directors tried to achieve the realism of the myth by rationing the food of the cast, which caused Donahue to suffer excruciating eczema. Attracting to the appeal of realism, a Maryland dentist provided the set with teeth to show the remains of the dead (8). Influencing the realism effect, Producer Gregg Hale's military training was honed in to move the cast in a military fashion by pushing the characters to the limits during the day, harassing the sleepless cast at night, and depriving the cast of food. To the dismay of the cast, 19 hours of solid footage was recorded, however, the film was edited down to 90 minutes (9). The editing of the film took up the most time hold back production more than eight months. Interestingly enough, the filmmakers originally hoped for the film to reach cable networks with no anticipation of a wide release (10). The lucky three filmmakers from University of Central Florida invested an initial $35,000 leading Artisan to purchase the film for 1.1 million and spending a close 25 million to market it (11). By signing a small agreement with the commencement of the films release, the actors received some of profits of the film (12).
The Potential in Viral Marketing (rise to popularity):
The Blair Witch Project is the first released movie to gain success on the Internet based on viral marketing strategies. One of these strategies, included the producers to create multiple websites to assure the credibility of being a real documentary. These websites led to the rise of popularity over the film within the internet community, creating skepticism and debate over the film’s authenticity. Even with the film’s skepticism lingering within the Internet community, the buzz proved worthy for the film, grossing over $160 million in the USA and $248 million worldwide (13) Due to the films low budget cost of $35,000 and the financial benefits resulting from viral marketing, the picture snubbed the record of the highest- profit-to-cost ratio ever for a motion picture placing it in the Guinness Book of Records. (13) It is also noted that for every dollar spent, the film made more than $10,000. (14).
Relevant Viewership:
The Blair Witch Project grossed $248,639,099 worldwide (13)while the film’s final budget was projected to be $500,000 and $750,000 (14).
Rotten Tomatoes shows over 127 reviews of the film, allotting to a surprising total of 85% favorable reviews (15).
The film received four stars from Roger Ebert, calling it "an extraordinarily effective horror film" (16).
www.Filmcritic.com has the film listed as the 50th best movie ending of all time (17).
The Blair Witch Project was given a Global Film Critics Award for Best Screenplay and won the Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award. Conversely, the film was nominated for the 1999 Razzie Award for Worst Picture (18).
In 2008, The Blair Witch Project was named one of the "The 100 best films from 1983 to 2008", ranking it at #99 according to Entertainment Weekly (19).
Listed as one of the "Top 100 Scariest Movies" in 2006, Chicago Film Critics Association ranked the film at #12 (20).
Sequels:
The Blair Witch:Book of Shadows was released on October 27, 2000 basing the sequel on the same premise and theme of the original Blair Witch. The studio planned to release another sequel following the second, but that sequel did not come to fruition. Today, internet buzz reports of a possible third Blair Witch.
Remakes:
It was reported that director Stacy Hopkins and Bob Greensworth was scheduled to start production late in 2009 on the Scottish remake of The Blair Witch. However, no further information on the remake has been released.
Appeal Release (Likely audience/viewership):
Sundance Film Festival held debut of The Blair Witch Project in January of 1999. Soon after the films initial screening, Artisan released The Blair Witch Project on July 30, 1999 following the popularity and publicity from the viral marketing campaign. Artisan executive, Steven Rothenberg is said to be responsible for the distribution and marketing strategy for the film (21). Rothenberg’s marketing tactics created the films immediate popularity with viewers and critics marking The Blair Witch as the third most successful independent film of all time, trailing Paranormal Activity and Mad Max (22). On December 1999 The Blair Witch Project DVD was then released.
Appeal and Audience (Video Analysis):
The film was an overall success from viewers and critics. The obvious horror appeal coupled with the allure of the film’s authenticity through viral marketing strategies targeted a wide audience.
The film’s amateur documentary footage aided to the appeal of the film, allowing the viewer to undergo a “real life experience”. Tension was created through camera techniques, like shaking, to give the audience a sense that the film was captured in real time footage.
The overall hype spurred from the authenticity of film and the film’s websites, created an appeal larger than the movie.
Talk of the film created hype through word of mouth causing the audience to go online. The hype from the film turned viral from production posting websites, myspace pages, and trailers on the Internet to appeal to the audience.
Through online marketing strategies, the hype created around this film targeted the audience to see the film for two reasons: One, the audience wanted to see the footage for themselves to see what the hype was all about and determine the authenticity of the film. Secondly, the audience believed in the Blair Witch and wanted to know more about the myth.
The buzz from the film along with the films multiple webpages created a falsehood within the internet community much like Fuller’s concept to present the coupling of platforms to represent what is the object at the base. This was the first widely public production marketed on the Internet to help create the authenticity of the film. Ironically, the film was not advertised much leaving the advertising to us. Regardless of the authenticity of the film, the film was able to achieve their overall outcome to obtain viewers, appeal to an audience, and keep the advertising/buzz going. Compared to the appeal of the film over the appeal of gossip from the film, in the end they never even needed the film.
The allure of the film itself was second to the hype. Viewers did not see the movie for the cast and script. The audience’s appeal was the hype surrounding the film causing the viewer to see the movie. The movie did appeal to the audience that wanted to believe in the Blair Witch and the recovery of lost footage, which for a short period did convince many. For a low budget production, this film exceed expectations. Expectations around the film was not derived from the film’s content, but from the marketing of the film through the internet. The appeal and audience of the film allowed the Blair Witch Project to become the first in paving the way for viral advertisement.
Associations:
The film mythologic theme follows the legend surrounding The Blair Witch. As the legend has it, the Blair Witch, is the ghost of Elly Kedward. Elly Kedward was accused for using her witch-craft banishing her from Blair Township (Burkittsville) in 1785. The legend of The Blair Witch was inspired from the injustice on those claimed to have or use witch craft. The directors wanted to create the allusions to the Salem Witch Trials and The Crucible as an incorporation to the films theme. Other films including, The Shining, Alien, and The Omen, were also considered an influence to the overall theme of the film (23).
Interestingly, the directors purposely kept the witch in hiding during the duration of the film, to create suspense with the viewers associating it with Jaws (24).
Ironically, The Blair Witch became a product of association with an earlier faux-documentary in 1998 titled, The Last Broadcast. Similarly to The Blair Witch Project, The Last Broadcast features a contrived documentary focusing on characters as they vanish into the forest looking for a legendary figure. Although The Last Broadcast ends differently, the similarities of the two films can not go unnoticed. Certain speculation of the Blair Witch Project’s inital inspiration for the film, is said to have possibly derived from The Last Broadcast (25).
Other similarities with the Blair Witch Project have raised speculation from the possible association of the 1980 Italian documentary titled, Cannibal Film, Cannibal Holocaust, which was widely-banned. Both films base the theme of filmmakers documenting their ventures as the disappear into the wildlife and are never heard from. Again both films, similarly share the aspect of the lost film eventually being found and recovered (26).
Social Vectors:
Social Vectors can be attributed to Hollywood and the media deceiving us to create an early online buzz with the Blair Witch Project. The many “fan sites” that appeared prior to the films release created talk leaving us to speculation. These fan sites help create popular stir over the facts and relevance to further the popularity of the film. The sites, as well as the movie, ended up to be hoax. The sites were created from the films production team to create a viral marketing strategy.
With the release of the films trailer and website associations, web publication sites created articles outing The Blair Witch Project. These sites reported that The Blair Witch Project was falsely identifying the authenticity of the film and their websites to raise buzz and popularity for the films release. (Even back in July of 1999 Salon.com published "Did 'The Blair Witch Project' fake its online fan base?" ) These sites, and like Fuller’s readings, try to raise awareness within the internet community to bring attention to the filmmakers and those alike, who purposely rely on targeting the willing audience to believe, on the bases of what is true within a media object.
The Blair Witch filmmakers knew they needed to achieve audience approval and credibility over the authenticity of the film. The filmmakers knowingly created a web ring of sites, mailing lists, and social media accounts before the film was released, to keep true to the credibility of the documentary as being factual. These sites contained interviews of the towns people, investigative reports of the scene, and even search parties who told stories of this happening. The buzz surrounding the Blair Witch Project created a surge of information and commentary flooding the internet. Even media outlets started to pick up on the talk and popularity over the film.
Aiding to the films authenticity and audience approval, MTV supported and endorsed the film by running a story over The Blair Witch Project. With MTV’s stamp of approval, The Blair Witch Project had targeted a large demographic for viewers.
Similarly, the sci-fi channel blocked regular scheduling allowing a time slot of one-hour to host a special over The Blair Witch Project until the film’s release.
The endorsement of the film from main stream media outlets, as well as the internet buzz, proved to set records in the box office and created an entirely new marketing approach on the internet virally. It is obvious that the first film had great success, however the films sequel did not do as well. Why was this?
Harry Knowles a proprietor of the website, Ain’t-it-Cool, was asked if the Blair Witch sequel would follow in the same footsteps of the films initial release. Knowles suggests that the post Blair websites provided a perfect platform to match the subject matter with the films style. "That," he said simply, "was a one-off."
Books
Author D.A. Stern created, The Blair Witch Project: A Dossier in September 1999. Stern compiled the book, by holding true to the authenticity of the film’s myth by including contrived police reports, newspaper articles, interviews and photos representing the book and film as factual. Stern focused the book on provided further insight of the films charcters like Elly Kedward and Rustin Parr. The development of characters led Stern to write another novel titled Blair Witch: The Secret Confessions of Rustin Parr in 2000 and another titled, Blair Witch: Graveyard Shift in 2004.
Claire Forbes released a photo novel adaptation of The Blair Witch Project in May of 2009.
Random released a series of eight books entitled The Blair Witch Files in 2000 to 2001. The book series focuses around the film’s mythic theme, creating a new character and cousin of Heather Donahue, who investigates the happenings of The Blair Witch to uncover the filmmakers disappearances (27).
Blair Witch Files 1 - The Witch's Daughter
Blair Witch Files 2 - The Dark Room
Blair Witch Files 3 - The Drowning Ghost
Blair Witch Files 4 - Blood Nightmare
Blair Witch Files 5 - The Death Card
Blair Witch Files 6 - The Prisoner
Blair Witch Files 7 - The Night Shifters
Blair Witch Files 8 - The Obsession
Blair Witch Files 9-
Comic books:
To help with promotion of the film, on August 1999, Oni Press released a oneshot comic titled The Blair Witch Project. The comic written by Jen Van Meter and drawn by Bernie Mireault, Guy Davis, and Tommy Lee Edwards, created three short stories based on the film’s mythology of the Blair Witch. The same group then worked on another four series comic In mid-2000, called The Blair Witch Chronicles.
With the release of the Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, Image Comics revealed a one-shot called Blair Witch: Dark Testaments. Charlie Adlard and Ian Edginton contributed to illustrating and writing the comic in October of 2009.
Computer games:
Gathering of developers released a trilogy of computer games in 2000 following the film’s mythic theme. The mythologic theme plays out within the trilogy of games focuses on different characters like, Rustin Parr to create the games multiple volumes. It is noted that the game’s graphics as well as, charcters are based upon an earlier computer game titled, Nocture (28). The game’s reviews were poor, reporting linear gameplay and clumsy controls, to name a few(28,29). While, Rustin Rarr- The first volume within the trilogy, claimed to be scarier than the film, creating positive reviews. “The following volumes were less well-received, with PC Gamer saying Volume 2's only saving grace was its cheap price and calling Volume 3 "amazingly mediocre" (30).
Home media:
on October 26, 1999 The Blair Witch Project was released on DVD in standard format, unlike the film. Features on the DVD included newly discovered footage, production insight as well as director and producer q and a, bios and trailers of the cast and crew and lastly two specials titled, "The Curse of the Blair Witch" and "The Blair Witch Legacy"(31).
Artisan teamed up with Lionsgate to release a blu-ray DVD on October 5, 2010 naming The Blair Witch Project the first Blu-ray Disc film presented in standard format (32).
Lionsgate paired up with Best Buy to exclusively hold the Blu-ray release making it available on August 29, 2010 (33).
Plot (According to Wikipedia):
In 1994, film students Heather Donahue , Michael C. Williams and Joshua Leonard set out to produce a documentary about the fabled Blair Witch. They travel to Burkittsville, Maryland , formerly Blair, and interview locals about the legend of the Blair Witch. The locals tell them of a hermit, Rustin Parr, who kidnapped seven children and brought them to his house in the forests, where he tortured and murdered them. Parr brought the children into his home's basement in pairs. Feeling that the children's eyes were staring into his soul, Parr forced the first child to face the corner and listen to their companion's screams as he murdered the second child. Parr would then murder the first child. Eventually turning himself in to the police, Parr later pleading insanity, saying that the spirit of a witch hanged from a tree in the 18th century had been terrorizing him for some time and convinced him to kill the seven children by promising to leave him alone if he did. The trio also interviews Mary Brown, an eccentric older woman who tells them that she had an encounter with the Blair Witch as a young girl.
The second day, the students begin to explore the woods in north Burkittsville to look for evidence of the Blair Witch. Along the way, a fisherman warns them that the woods are haunted, and recalls a time that he had seen strange vapor/mist rising from the water. The students hike to Coffin Rock, where five men were found ritualistically murdered in the 19th century, and then camp for the night. The next day they move deeper into the woods, despite being uncertain of their exact location on the map. They eventually locate what appears to be an old cemetery with seven small cairns . They set up camp nearby and then return to the cemetery after dark. Josh accidentally disturbs a cairn, and Heather hastily repairs it. Later, they hear strange cracking sounds in the darkness; they cannot locate the source and assume it was animals or locals following them.
The following day they attempt to return to their vehicle; they fail to find it before darkness falls and are forced to set camp. That night, they again hear cracking noises, but cannot see anything. The next morning they find three cairns have been built around their tent during the night. As they continue trying to find their way out of the woods, Heather realizes that her map is missing, and Mike later reveals that he kicked it into a creek out of frustration the previous day. Josh and Heather attack Mike in a fit of intense rage. They then realize they are now hopelessly lost, and decide to simply head south. Soon, they discover a multitude of humanoid stick figures suspended from trees. That night, they hear more strange noises, including the sounds of children and bizarre "morphing" sounds. An unknown force shakes the tent, causing them to flee and hide in the woods until dawn. Upon returning to their tent, they find that their possessions have been rifled through, and Josh's equipment is covered with slime, causing them to question why only his belongings were affected. As the day wears on, they pass a log over a stream that was identical to the one they had passed earlier, despite having traveled directly south all day, and again set camp completely demoralized at having wasted the entire day after appearing to have traveled in circles.
The next morning, Josh has disappeared. After trying in vain to find him, Mike and Heather eventually break camp and slowly move on. That night, they hear Josh's screams of pain in the darkness, but are not able to find him. The next morning, Heather finds a bundle of sticks and fabric outside their tent. Later inspection reveals it contains blood-soaked scraps of Josh's shirt, as well as teeth, flesh and hair, but she does not mention this to Mike.
That night, Heather records a confessional of herself apologizing to the cast of her project and her family and breaks down crying while she says, "we're gonna die out here...". Later, they hear Josh's agonized cries for help again, but this time they follow them to Rustin Parr's abandoned house in the woods. Mike races upstairs, following the voice, while Heather tries to follow. Mike then claims he hears Josh in the basement. He follows the sound and—after what seems to be a struggle—goes silent and drops his camera to the floor. Heather frantically goes down to the basement still screaming for Mike but gets no answer. She then enters the basement looking for both men, and her camera sees a glimpse of Mike facing the corner (in a similar fashion to how Parr had been described to make the children face the corner). Ear splitting screams are heard from Heather as she drops her camera. There is only silence while the footage ends.
Sources:
1. http://www.troupcreative.com/viral/index.htm Dane Troup. December 13, 2005.MD23: Theories of Electronic Communications II. Sean Carton. Viral Marketing. CASE STUDIES
2. http://www.slashfilm.com/blair-witch-remake-is-probably-not-what-it-seems/ . remake blair witch
3. www.Enotes.com Blair Witch Project
4. http://www.aintitcool.com/node/3990 . Ain’t It cool
5. Chmielewski, Dawn C. (2006-07-13). "When fans hissed, he listened" . Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2011-09-28.
6. Kaufman, Anthony (1999-07-14). "Season of the Witch" . Village Voice. Retrieved 2011-09-26.
7. "Heather Donohue – Blair Witch Project" . KAOS 2000 Magazine. 1999-01-01. Retrieved 2011-09-28.
8. Aloi, Peg (1999-07-11). "Blair Witch Project – an Interview with the Directors" . Witchvox.com. Retrieved 2011-09-28.
9. Mannes, Brett (1999-07-13). "Something wicked" . Salon.com. Retrieved 2011-09-28.
10. Klein, Joshua (1999-07-22). "Interview - The Blair Witch Project" . avclub.com. Retrieved 2011-09-28.
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Who is the only artist to have a top 40 hit with 'Mustang Sally' in the UK when it reached number 28 in 1966? | Michigan Rock and Roll Legends - Legendary Michigan Songs
Legendary Michigan Songs
Category: Uncategorised
These 110 vinyl recordings have been voted Legendary Michigan Songs during the past ten years. Each listing contains a brief song history as well as a link to a youtube video that features a performance of the recording. Ten more songs will be added to the list in 2017.
01. "Runaway" (D. Shannon, M. Crook) - Del Shannon; Big Top label, # 1 Billboard Hot 100, # 3 Billboard R&B - 1961. Inducted in 2007.
Del's biggest hit was the result of a jam with keyboard player Max Crook at the Hi-Lo nightclub in Battle Creek, Michigan. The chord changes were loosely based on a song called "Kaw-Liga", written by Hank Williams - one of Del's early influences when he was growing up in Coopersville, Michigan.
The distinctive solo on "Runaway" is played on a musitron, an electronic keyboard invented by Max Crook. "Runaway" was on the charts for 17 weeks and was Billboard's Song of the Year for 1961. Shannon released a "live" version of "Runaway" in 1967 but it was only a minor hit.
In 1986, Del re-recorded "Runaway" with new lyrics for use as the theme for the television drama Crime Story. Shannon's original recording of "Runaway" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2002.
"Runaway" has been covered by numerous artists over the years including the Small Faces, Bonnie Raitt, the Shirelles, and Elvis Presley.
Watch Del perform "Runaway" on David Letterman at http://youtu.be/nSkV9pdzLgo
02. "Rock Around The Clock" (M. Freedman, J. Myers) - Bill Haley And His Comets; Decca label, # 1 Billboard Hot 100, # 3 Billboard R&B - 1955. Inducted in 2007.
Bill Haley's biggest hit didn't sell when it was first issued in 1954 as the b-side of "Thirteen Women (And Only One Man In Town)". "Rock Around The Clock" was re-released as the a-side the following year, however, after it was used on the soundtrack of Blackboard Jungle, a movie about high school juvenile delinquents. It became the first rock and roll song ever to reach # 1 in the summer of 1955. "Rock Around The Clock" also had the distinction of becoming a Top 40 hit again in 1974 due to its use as the original opening theme of TV's Happy Days.
Haley, who was born in Highland Park, Michigan, was a featured performer in two early rock and roll movies (Rock Around The Clock and Don't Knock The Rock).
In 1957, Haley and the Comets became the first American rock and roll act to tour England. Bill Haley was even more popular in Great Britain than in the United States, and "Rock Around The Clock" re-entered the British charts seven times from 1955 through 1974.
"Rock Around The Clock" was the first rock and roll recording to be honored with induction into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1982.
Watch slides from the hit film American Graffiti and hear Bill Haley And His Comets perform the original version of "Rock Around The Clock" at www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ud_JZcC0tHI&feature=related
03. "Respect" (O. Redding) - Aretha Franklin; Atlantic label, # 1 Billboard Hot 100, # 1 Billboard R&B - 1967. Inducted in 2007.
Both Otis Redding, who wrote the song, and Michigan's Rationals had charting hits with "Respect" prior to Aretha. Franklin's version, however, became one of the greatest soul recordings of all time.
Her powerful, gospel-trained voice turned "Respect" into both a feminist call to action and an appeal for civil rights. The "sock-it-to me's" from the backing singers as well the clever spelling of the song's title in her vocal performance also helped Aretha claim the song as her own.
"Respect" was Aretha's first # 1 hit on the Hot 100, and it spent 8 weeks at the top of Billboard's R&B Chart while serving to establish her as the "Queen of Soul".
Aretha's version of "Respect" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998. The song was # 5 on Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and was also listed as part of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.
Watch a collage of Aretha performing her original version of "Respect" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FOUqQt3Kg0&list=RD6FOUqQt3Kg0
04. "96 Tears" (R. Martinez) - ? And The Mysterians; Pa-Go-Go and Cameo labels, # 1 Billboard Hot 100 - 1966. Inducted in 2007.
"96 Tears" was recorded at the Art Schiell Recording Studio located at the rear of Schiell's home on Raymond Street in Bay
City, Michigan. The melody grew out of a jam session between guitarist Bobby Balderrama and keyboard player Frank Rodriguez in the Rodriguez family basement built around a song idea that Rudy (?) Martinez had with the working title of "Too Many Teardrops".
Drummer Eddie Serrato suggested the title "69 Tears"; but the band wisely decided to reverse the numbers to avoid the sexual connotation and increase the chances of radio airplay. Originally released on the small Pa-Go-Go label, it was picked up for national distribution by Cameo Records.
"96 Tears" and "Hanky Panky" are the only garage rock singles to ever reach # 1 on Billboard's Hot 100. Driven by the instantly identifiable organ riffs of Frankie Rodriguez and ?'s compelling vocal, "96 Tears" has been recognized by both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Rolling Stone magazine as one of the 500 greatest rock and roll songs of all time.
Because "96 Tears" was recorded in the Schiell Recording Studio, it was proclaimed 'Bay City's Official Rock and Roll Song' by Mayor Chris Shannon on August 14, 2014.
Watch a new MRRL slide show video featuring rare photos of ? And The Mysterians' along with the original 1966 recording of "96 Tears"at
05. "Do You Love Me" (B. Gordy) - Contours; Gordy label, # 1 Billboard R&B, # 3 Billboard Hot 100 - 1962. Inducted in 2007.
Berry Gordy Jr. wrote "Do You Love Me" for the Temptations, but when they were unavailable, the song was passed to the Contours. The Contours might never have been signed to Motown if Jackie Wilson had not phoned Berry Gordy on their behalf. Wilson's cousin, Hubert Johnson, was a member of the group and Gordy changed his mind about the Contours as a result of the call.
"Do You Love Me" would become the Contours only Top Ten hit, although they did chart seven more singles in the Hot 100. "Do You Love Me" also spent three weeks at # 1 on the R&B chart in 1962.
The original version of the song became a big hit all over again in 1988 after it was featured in the soundtrack of the hit movie Dirty Dancing.
Listen to the original recording of "Do You Love Me" by the Contours in a video from the film Dirty Dancing at www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRVMTX-PDyw
06. "My Girl" (W. Robinson, R. White) - The Temptations; Gordy label, # 1 Billboard Hot 100, # 1 Billboard R&B - 1965. Inducted in 2007.
The first three hits that Smokey Robinson wrote for the Temptations featured Eddie Kendricks as the lead singer.
Robinson wrote "My Girl", along with fellow Miracle Ronnie White, with David Ruffin's vocal specifically in mind.
The song came together when the Miracles and Temptations were on the same week-long bill at the Apollo in New York City. In between shows, Smokey dragged Ruffin down to the piano and showed him the song, which was kind of a follow-up to "My Guy", his hit for Mary Wells.
The Temptations recorded the classic tune when they returned to Detroit. "My Girl" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998.
Watch the classic Temptations line-up perform "My Girl" during the 60's at www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltRwmgYEUr8
07. "Night Moves" (B. Seger) - Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band; Capitol label, # 4 Billboard Hot 100 - 1977. Inducted in 2007.
Seger's most famous composition was about the freedom and looseness we feel when we're young, and how it can be lost as we grow older. "Night Moves" evokes memories of growing up in Michigan in the 60's with grassers in farm fields and young lovers parking in deserted rural areas. The song was loosely based on real events in Bob's life.
After eleven years of being a popular regional act, "Night Moves" provided Seger with his first national Top Ten hit. The song became the springboard to a series of memorable singles and albums that established him as a major force in rock music.
The photograph of Seger that graces the cover of his "Night Moves" album was shot by Tom Bert, the first honorary inductee to the MRRL online Hall of Fame.
Watch Bob Seger's great video for "Night Moves" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgOA24hAe60
08. "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" (N. Whitfield, B. Strong) - Marvin Gaye; Tamla label, # 1 Billboard Hot 100, # 1 Billboard R&B - 1968. Inducted in 2007.
Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong wrote "I Heard It Through The Grapevine",
and Whitfield produced it with Marvin Gaye in early 1967. Berry Gordy rejected the song, however, and released Gaye's "Your Unchanging Love" instead.
Whitfield then re-recorded a different version of "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" with Gladys Knight & The Pips, and it was a # 2 Pop hit in the fall of 1967.
Despite having that hit, Whitfield kept bugging Berry Gordy to release Marvin's version, and he finally did in the fall of 1968. Gaye's "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" spent 7 weeks at # 1 on both the Pop and R&B charts, and it turned out to be Motown's biggest-selling single of the 1960's.
Marvin's version of "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998.
Watch Marvin's live performance of "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" at http://youtu.be/Y7dGdrP3pms
09. "Mustang Sally" (M. Rice) - Wilson Pickett; Atlantic label, # 1 Billboard R&B, # 23 Billboard Hot 100 - 1966. Inducted in 2007.
"Mustang Sally" was written and originally recorded by Sir Mack Rice in 1965 on the Blue Rock label.
Rice had a # 15 R&B hit with the song. Sir Mack and Wilson Pickett had sung together from 1961 to 1963 in the Detroit vocal group, the Falcons, before pursuing solo careers.
When Wilson was looking for a follow-up to his 1966 hit single, "Land Of 1,000 Dances", he recorded a cover of "Mustang Sally".
Pickett's version was recorded at the Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and produced by Jerry Wexler. "Mustang Sally" was also a substantial R&B hit for Wilson, spending 12 weeks on the chart and peaking at # 6.
Wilson Pickett's version of "Mustang Sally" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2000.
Watch Wilson's live performance of "Mustang Sally" in the 60's at www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfuHgzu1Cjg
10. "What's Going On" (A. Cleveland, R. Benson, M. Gaye) - Marvin Gaye; Tamla label, # 1 Billboard R&B, # 2 Billboard Hot 100 - 1971. Inducted in 2007.
The title song from Marvin Gaye's greatest album was written from the point of view of his brother Frankie, a Vietnam veteran sickened by an unjust war and returning to the confusion of American life in the late 60's.
Although written from a black man's point of view, "What's Going On" also displays Marvin's identification with the era's hippies who he admired for having the guts to stand up to the establishment.
Because it was so unlike Gaye's previous hits, Berry Gordy was at first reluctant to release it. As the lead song from the "What's Going On" album, it began the transformation of Marvin Gaye into an artist whose albums were just as important as his singles, maybe more so.
Marvin Gaye's groundbreaking "What's Going On" album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998.
Watch Marvin's performance of "What's Going On" along with a spoken introduction at www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4xQ6StnIFg
11. "Journey To The Center Of The Mind" (S. Farmer, T. Nugent) - The Amboy Dukes; Mainstream label, # 16 Billboard Hot 100 - 1968. Inducted in 2008.
Led by the howling guitar of Ted Nugent, the Amboy Dukes set the bar for high-energy Michigan rock and roll.
"Journey To The Center Of The Mind" blasted out of car radios across the land to help define the psychedelic movement during the summer of 1968. But the two co-writers of the song, Ted Nugent and Steve Farmer, couldn't have been more different.
Nugent claims to have never done a drug in his life, and that he didn't even drink or smoke cigarettes. He described Farmer, the other main creative force in the Amboy Dukes, as a brilliant thinker who was often "so high and so irresponsible you couldn't get from point A to point B with him."
This creative odd couple kept it together for three albums and a handful of singles before the original Amboy Dukes disintegrated. "Journey To The Center Of The Mind" would be their only significant hit.
Watch a 1968 performance of "Journey To The Center Of The Mind" by the Amboy Dukes at www.youtube.com/watch?v=UN2VNFpiGWo
12. "Kick Out The Jams" (R. Tyner, W. Kramer, F. Smith, M. Davis, D. Thompson) - The MC5; Elektra label, # 82 Billboard Hot 100 - 1969. Inducted in 2008.
With the release of the MC5's "Kick Out The Jams" album, recorded live at Detroit's Grande Ballroom, Elektra Records became the first major company to issue a rock and roll recording containing the dreaded "F-bomb".
In order to get "Kick Out The Jams" played on Top 40 radio stations, the MC5 had recorded a different version of the song on the 45 rpm single which substituted "Brothers and Sisters" for the offensive expletive. The single was a major hit in the Detroit area, and showing signs of doing the same nationally, when Elektra released the album with the uncensored version.
The wave of controversy from the release resulted in the record being banned in many stores and radio stations. Some clerks who sold the album in record stores were arrested on obscenity charges.
The censorship issues and radical politics swirling around the MC5 unfortunately obscured the fact that they were a great band, and "Kick Out The Jams" would be their only charting record.
Watch a 1972 performance of "Kick Out The Jams" by the MC5 at http://youtu.be/8XhQRFO4M7A
13. "Eighteen" (A. Cooper, M. Bruce, G. Buxton, D. Dunaway, N. Smith) - Alice Cooper; Warner label, # 21 Billboard Hot 100 - 1971. Inducted in 2008.
Dismissed as "the worst band in L.A." when they were based in California, things changed completely when the group moved to lead singer Alice Cooper's hometown of Detroit and started recording with producer Bob Ezrin.
The hit single "Eighteen" addressed the awkwardness and uncertainty of teenagers moving into adulthood, and it was the band's first collaboration with Ezrin.
Spending 13 weeks in the Hot 100 and driven by guitars, harmonica, and a great vocal; "Eighteen" was Alice Cooper's first commercial success.
Supported with an outrageous stage show featuring snakes, beheadings, and other assorted acts of feigned mayhem, the Alice Cooper band's partnership with Ezrin resulted in 9 more hit singles and 5 Top 40 albums before the original group broke up in 1974.
Watch a live, in-color performance of "Eighteen" by the original Alice Cooper band at www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXZcJojTucg
14. "Little Boy Blue" (T. Slocum) - Tonto And The Renegades; Sound of the Sceen label, Did not chart nationally - 1967. Inducted in 2008.
The band formed in the city of Grand Ledge, Michigan, located west of Lansing. Tonto And The Renegades was originally a quartet composed of Tom Kirby, Terry Slocum, Bill Ford, and Gary Richey. "Tonto" was Richey's nickname.
They were the house band at a popular teen club in the area called 'The Sceen'.
The owner of the club financed their single, which was recorded at the Great Lakes Recording Studio (a.k.a. Fenton Studio) in Sparta, Michigan, and put it out on his own vanity label, 'Sound Of The Sceen'. By the time of the recording, the band had added keyboardist Jeff Keast to the line-up.
Slocum, who sang lead and played fuzz-tone guitar on the high octane tune, wrote "Little Boy Blue" about his girlfriend at the time. Inexplicably, Lansing-area AM radio stations pushed the single's b-side, "I Knew This Thing Would Happen", and it became a local hit for the band. Over the years, however, the far superior "Little Boy Blue" has grown in stature as one of Michigan's undiscovered garage rock classics.
Hear "Little Boy Blue" and see some vintage photos of Tonto & The Renegades at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkAjJhWCc3Y
15. "The Tracks Of My Tears" (W. Robinson, W. Moore, M. Tarplin) - The Miracles; Tamla label, # 2 Billboard R&B, # 16 Billboard Hot 100 - 1965. Inducted in 2008.
Marv Tarplin's classic lead guitar figure in the Miracles' "The Tracks Of My Tears" was inspired by his listening to Harry Belafonte's "The Banana Boat Song" at the wrong speed.
Smokey Robinson and Pete Smith co-wrote the song with Tarplin, and it is a perfect match for Smokey's impassioned vocal and the Miracles' smooth backing.
"The Tracks Of My Tears" spent 12 weeks in the Hot 100, and it was an even bigger R&B hit, peaking at # 2 and spending 18 weeks on that chart.
The song also spawned three hit cover versions by Johnny Rivers, Aretha Franklin, and Linda Ronstadt. Incredibly, Rivers' cover version in 1967 charted higher on the Hot 100 than the Miracles' original. It is the Miracles' original recording of "The Tracks Of My Tears", however, that was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2002.
Watch the Miracles perform "The Tracks Of My Tears" in 1965 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCwkZrj2VT4
16. "Dancing In The Street" (M. Gaye, M. Stevenson, I. Hunter) - Martha & The Vandellas; Gordy label, # 1 Billboard R&B, # 2 Billboard Hot 100 - 1964. Inducted in 2008.
Martha & The Vandellas' classic hit was written by Mickey Stevenson, Ivy Jo Hunter, and Marvin Gaye.
Stevenson, who discovered Martha Reeves for Motown, first offered the song to Kim Weston, who turned it down. Mickey then brought it to Martha and had her sing on a demo of "Dancing In The Street" with Stevenson, Hunter, and Gaye singing background.
Although Reeves didn't like the song at first, her recording of "Dancing In The Street" with the Vandellas became not only their biggest hit but also their signature song.
Released in the summer of 1964, it spent two weeks at # 2 on the Hot 100 and a total of fourteen weeks on the chart. "Dancing In The Street" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.
Watch Martha & The Vandellas perform "Dancing In The Street" in 1964 at www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdvITn5cAVc
17. "Keep Searchin' (We'll Follow The Sun)" (D. Shannon) - Del Shannon; Amy label, # 9 Billboard Hot 100 - 1965. Inducted in 2008.
Del recorded "Keep Searchin'" in 1964 at the height of 'Beatlemania' in the United States. Like almost all of his biggest hits, the song is an Del Shannon original.
Shannon, who was an inspiration to many of the British Invasion bands, used the same basic formula that he first employed on "Runaway" in 1961 - building tension and darkness by using minor chords before the song explodes into a major chord crescendo.
Featuring his trademark falsetto and a keyboard solo, "Keep Searchin'" spent fourteen weeks in the the Hot 100 (one more than "Runaway"), but it would be Shannon's last big hit single.
Del would go on to chart only four more songs before his untimely death in 1990.
Watch Del Shannon sing "Keep Searchin' (We'll Follow The Sun)" at www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNrni2UAlFI
18. "Who Do You Love" (E. McDaniel) - The Woolies; Dunhill/ABC label, # 95 Billboard Hot 100 - 1967. Inducted in 2008.
The Woolies' fabulous cover of Bo Diddley's "Who Do You Love" was the band's only charting hit.
The original group was formed in Dearborn, Michigan. The story of how they got to make that recording is unusual.
The Woolies had won a "Best Band in the World" contest sponsored by Vox amplifiers. The first prize was advertised to be a recording contract. Although that never materialized, the band did get plane tickets to Los Angeles.
They took their demo recording of "Who Do You Love", recorded with Dave Kalmbach at the Great Lakes Recording Studio in Sparta, Michigan, and several other songs to a number of record companies in L.A.; and they managed to land a recording deal with Lou Adler at ABC-Dunhill.
Originally released as the b-side to "Hey Girl", it was "Who Do You Love" that became the big hit in Detroit and later spread across the nation. The new version of the song was recorded at United Western Studio 3, the same studio where the Beach Boys, Frank Sinatra, and the Mamas and the Papas produced some of their biggest hits. The Woolies flew Ron English to California from Lansing to play lead guitar, and he joined together with Bob and Jeff Baldori, "Bee" Metros, and Stormy Rice to record a classic Michigan garage rock single.
19. "We're An American Band" (D. Brewer) - Grand Funk; Capitol label, # 1 Billboard Hot 100 - 1973. Inducted in 2008.
Grand Funk's first # 1 single in the summer of 1973 marked the emergence of drummer Don Brewer as a lead singer and a songwriter for the group. "We're An American Band" spent 17 weeks on the Hot 100.
The song was a chronicle of a rock band on the road, and it was based on Grand Funk's own experiences. They did play poker with blues guitarist Freddie King, there were four young 'chichitas' in Omaha who did take care of them while they were in the city, and apparently "sweet, sweet Connie", the groupie with legendary oral skills, demonstrated her talents on the band members.
"We're An American Band" was the first of six consecutive Top Ten singles for Grand Funk, and the song quickly became the band's anthem.
Watch a 1974 live performance of "We're An American Band" by Grand Funk at www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMsIrKjSM6Y
20. "Money (That's What I Want)" (J. Bradford, B. Gordy) - Barrett Strong; Anna label, # 2 Billboard R&B, # 23 Billboard Hot 100 - 1960. Inducted in 2008.
"Money" was just the second hit issued on the fledgling Tamla label. It was written by Berry Gordy, Janie Bradford, and Barrett Strong late in 1959.
Because Gordy didn't have enough money at this time to distribute the record nationally, he released it on his sister Gwen's Anna label that had a national distribution deal with Chess Records in Chicago.
"Money" became a # 2 hit on the R&B chart as well as a # 23 hit on the Hot 100 early in 1960. As a result of its success, Berry Gordy soon took the plunge and began distributing his own records later that year.
Barrett Strong never really wanted to sing, however, and "Money" would be his only hit recording. Strong's real talents were as both a piano player and a songwriter. Barrett would go on to co-write many classic Motown hits during the 60's and 70's including "I Heard It Through The Grapevine", "War", and "Cloud Nine".
You can hear Barrett Strong's original version of "Money (That's What I Want)" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijEgfnJuirA
21. "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher And Higher" (G. Jackson, R. Miner, C. Smith) - Jackie Wilson; Brunswick label, # 6 Billboard Hot 100, # 1 Billboard R&B - 1967. Inducted in 2008.
In 1966, Jackie Wilson started recording with producer Carl Davis in Chicago.
"Higher And Higher" was their second hit single together, and it served to end a nearly three-year slump on the charts for Jackie.
The song was originally reorded by the Dells, but it was the perfect vehicle for Wilson's amazing vocal talents. Jackie's hit version was recorded with members of Motown's famous house band, the Funk Brothers. Bassist James Jamerson, guitarist Robert White, keyboardist Johnny Griffith, and drummer "Pistol" Allen all played on "Higher And Higher".
The song spent 12 weeks on the Hot 100 in the summer and early fall of 1967. Although he would continue to chart records into the 1970's, "Higher And Higher" would be Jackie Wilson's last # 1 R&B hit single. Jackie's original version of "Higher And Higher" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.
Watch Jackie Wilson performing "Higher And Higher" live at www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1odvp-_bhk
22. "Where You Gonna Go" (R. Mackavich, R. Stults) - The Unrelated Segments; Liberty label, Did not chart nationally - 1967. Inducted in 2008.
The members of the Unrelated Segments were from the downriver suburbs of Detroit: Taylor, Allen Park,
Melvindale, and Lincoln Park, respectively. The band name came from an economics term that one of the band members had heard during a class he was taking.
"Where You Gonna Go" was the driving follow-up single to their Detroit chart debut, the excellent "Story Of My Life". With its propulsive beat and compelling vocals, it's almost shocking that "Where You Gonna Go" was not a smash hit for the Unrelated Segments.
The record had the unfortunate luck of being released the same month as the Detroit race riots in the summer of 1967, however. In the turbulence and its aftermath, record sales in the Motor City suffered. That could be the only possible explanation as to why this quintessential slab of Michigan rock and roll did not break nationally.
Watch a "Where You Gonna Go" video that includes a tour of Detroit in the late 60's at www.youtube.com/watch?v=fF8Jv1mQp0U
23. "2 + 2 = ?" (B. Seger) - The Bob Seger System; Capitol label, Did not chart nationally - 1968. Inducted in 2008.
Bob Seger was signed to Capitol Records in 1968 mainly because of his songwriting ability. His first single for the label, "2 + 2 = ?", demonstrated that skill in spades.
Seger managed to perfectly articulate the feelings of young men facing the draft and the possibility of death in the jungles of Vietnam while fighting in what many of them felt was a corrupt and unjust war.
Released in April of 1968, "2 + 2 = ?" was the first and the greatest of the rock and roll anti-war songs. The record starts ominously with just Don Hornaker's bass and Seger's low vocal before putting the pedal to the metal and blasting into high gear.
The original version of the song had a dramatic five-second pause near the end. The 45 rpm single, however, inserted a guitar chord to cover it for AM radio stations intolerant of silence, no matter how dramatic it might be.
Listen to the 45 rpm single version of the incredible "2 + 2 = ?" and see a video collage of photos of Bob Seger from the late 60's at www.youtube.com/watch?v=l110qVhale0
24. "Devil With A Blue Dress On & Good Golly Miss Molly" (F. Long, M. Stevenson, J. Marascalco, R. Blackwell) - Mitch Ryder And The Detroit Wheels; New Voice label, # 4 Billboard Hot 100 - 1966. Inducted in 2008.
Mitch Ryder And The Detroit Wheels used the same approach on their biggest hit single as they did on their debut smash, "Jenny Take A Ride".
This time they combined Motown artist Shorty Long's "Devil With A Blue Dress On" with another Little Richard hit, "Good Golly Miss Molly".
Drummer John Badanjek shares the spotlight with Mitch Ryder on this great tune as his bass drum triggers the roll that kicks off the song and provides the ecstatic beat that literally compels you onto the dance floor.
"Devil With A Blue Dress On & Good Golly Miss Molly" spent 16 weeks in the Hot 100, but there would only be two more hits for Mitch Ryder And The Detroit Wheels, as Ryder's manager would soon jettison the Detroit Wheels and push Mitch into a solo career.
Watch a reunion performance by Mitch Ryder And The Detroit Wheels of "Devil With A Blue Dress On & Good Golly Miss Molly" at www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dd9qjHUyHQ&feature=related
25. "Hot Rod Lincoln" (C. Ryan, W. Stevenson) - Commander Cody And His Lost Planet Airmen; Paramount label, # 9 Billboard Hot 100 - 1972. Inducted in 2008.
Although they were sometimes called the first hippie country band, Commander Cody And His Lost Planet Airmen embraced a number of different styles as well, including rockabilly, western swing, boogie-woogie, and novelty tunes.
The band's biggest hit, "Hot Rod Lincoln", would probably fall into the latter category. The humorous song originally provided Top 40 hits for both Johnny Bond and Charlie Ryan in 1960.
When the band started out, Commander Cody (a.k.a. George Frayne) was not one of the main singers in the group. He performed "Hot Rod Lincoln" in a fast-talking style reminiscent of comedian and recording artist Phil Harris.
When the song became a surprise hit, the band's Paramount label as well as much of the record-buying public expected more vocals from the Commander. In a recent interview, Cody claims that the fact that the real singers in the group weren't getting any hits was a major reason for the original band breaking up in 1976.
Listen to the Commander and the original line-up of the band perform "Hot Rod Lincoln" at http://youtu.be/F9QpDvhshOQ
26. "Closer To Home/I'm Your Captain" (M. Farner) - Grand Funk Railroad; Capitol label, # 22 Billboard Hot 100 - 1970. Inducted in 2009.
Grand Funk Railroad's first Top 40 single came to Mark Farner in his sleep. He awoke with the words to "I'm Your Captain" in his head, and he had the presence of mind to write them down before falling back to sleep.
Mark had forgotten about them the next morning when he picked up his guitar and started strumming music that was different from his previous compositions. Farner then remembered the lyrics he wrote down the previous night, and a Grand Funk classic was born.
"I'm You Captain/Closer To Home" would be Terry Knight's finest production with the band. Inspired by the Moody Blues' recent use of orchestration on their recordings, Knight and the band brought in strings to enhance the drama and impact of the song.
Written during the Vietnam War, "I'm Your Captain/Closer To Home" also became something of an anthem to many servicemen and women involved in the conflict overseas.
Watch a live performance by Grand Funk Railroad of "Closer To Home/I'm Your Captain" from their legendary concert at Shea Stadium at www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyF5J7au1jE
27. "Shake, Rattle And Roll" (J. Stone) - Bill Haley And His Comets; Decca label, # 7 Billboard Hot 100 - 1954. Inducted in 2009.
"Shake, Rattle & Roll" was not only Bill Haley And His Comets' first Top Ten record, but it was also the first ever rock and roll record to reach that Billboard chart position.
Haley, who started out as a country singer, had been experimenting with R&B songs for a couple of years on the Essex label before signing with Decca Records in 1954.
His first record for the label, "Rock Around The Clock", failed to sell when it was first released in May of 1954, but its follow-up, "Shake, Rattle And Roll" helped make Bill Haley And His Comets the first big rock and roll stars.
The song was a cover of Big Joe Turner's original but with some of the more suggestive lyrics changed. Turner had a # 1 R&B hit with his version, and it also reached # 22 on the Hot 100, a remarkable feat for a black artist in 1954.
Listen to "Shake, Rattle And Roll" by Bill Haley And His Comets and see some vintage photos of Haley and the band at www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKl2FIesuOc
28. "Smokin' In The Boy's Room" (C. Koda, M. Lutz) - Brownsville Station; Big Tree label, # 3 Billboard Hot 100 - 1974. Inducted in 2009.
Michael Lutz and Cub Koda co-wrote the ode to an act of rebellion common to all high schools, and it became Brownsville Station's biggest hit in early 1974.
Koda reportedly got the idea for the song from his own experience with childhood friends of smoking cigarettes in the restroom of a local movie theatre in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He and Lutz then switched the setting to a high school.
The song was recorded quickly - the basic track was completed in just two hours. Michael Lutz remembered the session in an interview: "It was recorded the way it was written - fast, which is a good sign; it means we were comfortable with it. We knew we had a good song, but we didn't expect it to blow up the way it did".
"Smokin' In The Boy's Room" earned Brownsville Station its first Gold Record and helped blast off a tour that would see the band play 347 dates that year.
Watch a 1974 performance of "Smokin' In The Boy's Room" along with "Barefootin'" at www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxBbmoUdEac
29. "My Guy" (W. Robinson) - Mary Wells; Motown label, # 1 Billboard Hot 100 - 1964. Inducted in 2009.
Mary Wells was the first female star on the Motown label. Mary and writer/producer Smokey Robinson combined for seven Top 40 hits from 1962 to 1964. The last of these was "My Guy", Mary's only # 1 hit.
Smokey Robinson had a great deal of success writing songs for Wells that featured a calypso-based rhythm, amd "My Guy" fits into that general pattern.
Robinson adapted the opening notes of the song from "Canadian Sunset", a 1956 instrumental by Eddie Heywood, and the song is anchored by some incredible playing by the Funk Brothers' bassist, James Jamerson. The backing vocals on "My Guy" are by the Andantes who's "What you say?" responses are a perfect match with Mary's declarations of undying love.
"My Guy" was the first big Motown hit in England, and Mary Wells became the first Motown artist to perform there when she opened for the Beatles on their tour of the United Kingdom in 1964. Mary's recording of "My Guy" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.
Watch Mary perform "My Guy" on Shindig in 1964 at www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1M5eEJeT38
30. "School's Out" (A. Cooper, M. Bruce, G. Buxton, D. Dunaway, N. Smith) - Alice Cooper; Warner label, # 7 Billboard Hot 100 - 1972. Inducted in 2009.
"The two most intense and joyous times of the year are Christmas morning and the end of school. The few minutes waiting for that final school bell to ring are so intense that when it happens, it's almost orgasmic. I think we captured that feeling with this anthem, it was certainly our signature song." That was Alice Cooper describing his band's biggest hit.
"School's Out" was also the title cut of the band's third album with producer Bob Ezrin, and the first to employ a concept that loosely united its eight songs.
"School's Out" deals with teenage defiance by combining great guitar riffs with some amusing puns; "We've got not class, and we've got no principles", and ending the stanza with, "We can't even think of a word that rhymes".
The album cover of "School's Out" depicts a wooden desk cover with either the band members' names or their initials carved on it. The "desk" opens to find a slingshot, marbles, a pocket knife, a comic book, various school supplies, and the album credits in the form of a written test. "School's Out" was also the first Alice Cooper record to feature fellow Michigan legend Dick Wagner on guitar.
Watch Alice perform "School's Out" at a recent concert by clicking on www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbNEOJMGFAo&NR=18feature=fvwp
31. "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man" (B. Seger) - The Bob Seger System; Capitol label, # 17 Billboard Hot 100 - 1969. Inducted in 2009.
Seven seconds of Pep Perrine's pounding drums kick off "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man", the Bob Seger System's first Top 40 hit. The organ riff that also drives the song was not played by Seger, who was proficient on the instrument, but by keyboardist Bob Schultz who was a member of the band at the time of the recording.
Also sitting in on the session to sing backing vocals was Seger's friend and fellow Michigan artist, Glenn Frey.
"Ramblin' Gamblin' Man" was Bob's second single for his new label, Capitol Records. After the controversial "2 + 2 = ?" failed to chart nationally, "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man" justified Capitol's faith in the Bob Seger System by spending 14 weeks in the Hot 100.
The success of the single enabled the band to tour California for the first time, and it prompted Seger and Capitol to change the title of his first album from "Tales Of Lucy Blue" to "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man". The song would be a concert staple for Bob until the early 80's. He did not play it live again until his Face The Promise tour in the fall of 2006.
Watch the Bob Seger System perform "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man" on television in early 1969 at www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2aBOTNGWMY
32. "Let's Stay Together" (A. Green, W. Mitchell, A. Jackson) - Al Green; Hi label, # 1 Billboard Hot 100, # 1 Billboard R&B - 1972. Inducted in 2009.
"Let's Stay Together" established Al Green as a major soul music star.
The basic music track was put together by producer Willie Mitchell and Al Jackson. Jackson, who was the drummer for Booker T. & The MG's as well as Mitchell's session band, was an important collaborator on Al Green's early 70's recordings. Once the pair gave the music to Green, he completed the lyrics to "Let's Stay Together" in fifteen minutes.
Recording the track, however, was another matter entirely. Mitchell claims they spent over one hundred hours working on the song. The problem was that Mitchell felt that Green was trying to overpower the song. Willie said that he wanted Al to "let the the song happen, let it ooze out".
Mitchell's less is more approach with Green helped turn soul music in a new direction in the 1970's and moved it away from the shouting style of the 1960's. Green's "Let's Stay Together" was an even bigger R&B hit, spending nine weeks at # 1. In 1984, Tina Turner would begin her successful comeback with a hit cover version of "Let's Stay Together". Al Green's original recording of "Let's Stay Together" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.
Watch Al Green perform "Let's Stay Together" in 1972 at www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVzYxqG9N1c
33. "Hats Off To Larry" (D. Shannon) - Del Shannon; Big Top label, # 5 Billboard Hot 100 - 1961. Inducted in 2009.
"Hats Off To Larry" was Del Shannon's all-important follow-up single to his debut smash, "Runaway". As a result of "Runaway", Shannon had been added to a series of big rock and roll shows in the spring of 1961 at Brooklyn's Paramount Theatre, headlined by Jackie Wilson, Dion, and Bobby Vee. Del wrote "Hats Off To Larry" in his dressing room between shows in the presence of both Dion and Bobby Vee.
Shannon returned to New York on May 11th with keyboardist Max Crook and recorded the song in one day.
Released in June 1961, "Hats Off To Larry" was a big summer hit for Del, spending 13 weeks in the Hot 100. It was another song about a romantic break-up and sounded similar to "Runaway". Shannon once again employed his falsetto, only this time it was "Cry, cry, cry" rather than "Why, why, why".
"Hats Off To Larry" differed from its predecessor in some ways, however. The song starts slowly with a 13-second introduction before kicking into gear. Sax and piano play a lesser role on "Hats Off To Larry" than on "Runaway". Max Crook is again featured prominently throughout with keyboard flourishes at the line of each line and another musitron solo mid-song.
Both Runaway" and "Hats Off To Larry" established Del Shannon as a major star in England. Nine of his next ten singles charted higher in Great Britain than in the United States.
Watch Del perform "Hats Off To Larry" on an Australian television show in the 1980's at www.youtube.com/watch?v=0otse5mGmgU
34. "House Of The Rising Sun" (Traditional) - Frijid Pink; Parrot label, # 7 Billboard Hot 100 - 1970. Inducted in 2009.
Although Frijid Pink may not immediately come to mind when the subject of Detroit rock and roll is brought up,
the band had a bigger hit single and a bigger hit album than most of its better-known Motor City brethern. The band was formed in 1967, and they were originally called the Detroit Vibrations.
After changing their name to Frijid Pink, the band signed with Parrot Records in 1969. Following the release of two singles that were minor regional hits, Parrot to put out "House Of The Rising Sun" as a single on the advice of Paul Cannon, program director of Detroit's powerful radio station WKNR.
Frijid Pink's rousing, guitar-drenched version of the Animals' 1964 hit, "House Of The Rising Sun", was recorded in just one take and was at first considered just filler for their eponymous LP, "Frijid Pink". The song got such a strong response from both AM and FM radio, however, that it became the band's only Top Ten hit after Parrot released it as a single early in 1970.
"House Of The Rising Sun" was an even bigger smash for the band in Germany where it reached # 1 and stayed at the top of that country's chart for 11 weeks. It was also a hit in Canada at # 3 and in Great Britain, where it peaked at # 4. The presence of the song on their debut LP also helped push "Frijid Pink" to # 11 on the Billboard Pop Album chart.
Watch Frijid Pink perform "House Of The Rising Sun" on a television show in 1971 at www.youtube.com/watch?v=t40INnb6DnY
35. "What I Like About You" (W. Palmar, M. Skill, J. Marinos) - The Romantics; Nemperor label, # 49 Billboard Hot 100 - 1980. Inducted in 2009.
The Romantics (Wally Palmar, Mike Skill, Jimmy Marinos, and Rich Cole) formed in East Detroit in early 1977.
They were nfluenced by early Motor City rockers like Bob Seger & The Last Heard, the Underdogs, the Rationals, Mitch Ryder And The Detroit Wheels as well as the 60's British Invasion bands. The Romantics combined these sources into a modern high energy sound that didn't quite fit into either the 'punk rock' or 'new wave' categories.
The band signed with Nemperor Records in 1979 and recorded their debut album, "The Romantics", in just three weeks. The first single from the album was the impossibly catchy and hard-driving "What I Like About You". It became the Romantics' first hit single, peaking at # 49 in early 1980.
Strangely enough, the Romantics' gritty anthem of young romance has grown in popularity over the years due to its airplay on oldies radio and use in a variety of television commercials. In 2007, the band sued Guitar Heroes Encore: Rocks The 80's over a cover version of "What I Like About You" used in the game. The case was dismissed in 2008.
Watch the Romantics perform the original version of "What I Like About You" at http://youtu.be/Rqnw5IfbZOU
36. "Old Time Rock & Roll" (G. Jackson, T. Jones, B. Seger) - Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band; Capitol label, # 28 Billboard Hot 100 - 1979. Inducted in 2009.
"Old Time Rock & Roll" was the fouth single released from Bob Seger's "Stranger In Town" album. Although it was far from being one of his biggest hit singles, it has become one of Bob's most popular songs over the past thirty years.
"Old Time Rock & Roll" has been used effectively in both movies and television commercials. You cannot go to a wedding reception without the deejay playing the song, and it seems like every bar band on earth has got the song in its repertoire.
Years after its release, "Old Time Rock & Roll" was designated the 'most played jukebox song in history' by the Amusement Operators of America.
In an interview with the Detroit Free Press, Seger stated that the members of the Silver Bullet Band hated the song at first, but learned to accept it after it got great crowd reactions every time they played it live.
The song is not a Seger original, but Bob did rewrite some of the verses before recording it. He declined to take writer's credit on "Old Time Rock & Roll", however, a decision that turned out to be quite costly considering the amount of airplay the song has gotten and its use in any number of creative and commercial projects including the 1983 hit film Risky Business.
Watch Bob perform "Old Time Rock & Roll" live in 1983 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQswfILThsY
37. "War" (N. Whitfield, B. Strong) - Edwin Starr; Gordy label, # 1 Billboard Hot 100, # 3 Billboard R&B - 1970. Inducted in 2009.
"War" was written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong and was first recorded by the Temptations on their "Psychedelic Shack" album.
Motown received hundreds of letters asking that the song be released as a single, but the Temptations already had "Ball Of Confusion" scheduled as their next record. Instead, Norman Whitfield asked Edwin Starr if he would be interested in cutting a version of "War".
Starr had come to Motown after Berry Gordy purchased Golden World Records and its subsidiaries in 1968. Starr had four charting singles on the company's Ric-Tic label, including "Agent Double-O-Soul", before signing with Motown. Edwin had a Top Ten single with "Twenty-Five Miles" the previous year for Motown before hitting the top spot in the Hot 100 with "War".
Starr's biggest hit spent three weeks at # 1 in the summer of 1970 as more and more people began to turn against the United States' involvement in the war in Vietnam.
Edwin won a Grammy for Best R&B Vocal Performance for his outstanding recording of "War" - the only anti-war song to ever reach # 1. Edwin Starr's recording of "War" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.
You can watch a Motown Time Capsule video of wartime events in 1970 and hear Edwin Starr's classic recording of "War" at www.youtube.com/watch?v=_d8C4AIFgUg
38. "Some Kind Of Wonderful" (J. Ellison) - Grand Funk; Capitol label, # 3 Billboard Hot 100, # 85 Billboard R&B - 1975. Inducted in 2009.
Growing up in and around Flint, Michigan in the 1960's, all of the members of Grand Funk were exposed to, and inspired by the soul music hits on the local AM radio stations. "Some Kind Of Wonderful" by the Soul Brothers Six got a lot of airplay on Flint's WTAC in 1967.
The guys in Grand Funk always loved the song and would often sing it as a warm-up in their limo on the way to concerts.
The band finally recorded it for their 1975 album, "All The Girls In The World". Producer Jimmy Ienner wanted Grand Funk to make their cover version of "Some Kind Of Wonderful" sound as basic as possible - almost like a demo recording. The cut has Mark Farner and Don Brewer singing together to a musical backing that is mostly just bass and drums.
"Some Kind Of Wonderful" was a very different sounding single for Grand Funk in that it had very little guitar; but it became their fifth consecutive Top Ten hit, and spent 13 weeks in the Hot 100 in early 1975.
You can hear Grand Funk's recording of "Some Kind Of Wonderful" and view a photo collage from throughout their career by clicking on www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz7fMRBIxpU
39. "Baby I Need Your Loving" (B. Holland, L. Dozier, E. Holland) - The Four Tops; Motown label, # 11 Billboard Hot 100 - 1964. Inducted in 2009.
The Four Tops signed with Motown in 1963, but their first recording for the label was an album of jazz standards. In 1964, they were teamed with the songwriting and production team of Brian and Eddie Holland and Lamont Dozier. H-D-H provided the Four Tops with "Baby I Need Your Loving", which spent 12 weeks in the Hot 100.
The secret ingedient for almost all of Motown's great hits, however, were the label's great session musicians, the Funk Brothers. According to Earl Van Dyke, the leader of Motown's great house band, they would sometimes get called to the studio to cut rhythm tracks for songs that hadn't even been written yet. A lot of these tracks wound up as parts of melodies and even vocal backgrounds on the label's hit songs.
On "Baby I Need Your Loving", the background that the Four Tops sang actually came from the melodic lines that Van Dyke played on his piano for one of those rhythm tracks. H-D-H took Earl's piano out of the mix and had the Four Tops sing the melody he created instead. Holland, Dozier, and Holland then added strings and the female backing vocals of the Andantes to the group's pristine harmonies and Levi Stubbs' powerful lead vocals to produce one of Motown's classic singles.
You can watch a television performance of "Baby I Need Your Loving" by the Four Tops at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUOntQocGWk
40. "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" (N. Ashford, V. Simpson) - Diana Ross; Motown label, # 1 Billboard R&B, # 1 Billboard Hot 100 - 1970. Inducted in 2009.
"Ain't No Mountain High Enough" was the first duet hit for Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell in 1967. The lyrics were written by Nick Ashford shortly after he first moved to New York City.
Determined not to let the Big Apple get the best of him, the title just popped into his head as he was walking down a Manhattan street. Nick rushed back to his apartment and finished the song with his partner, Valerie Simpson.
The big differences in the version of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" that they produced for Diana Ross were: a spoken section in the song that took advantage of Diana's sexy speaking voice, and the rearrangement of the song so that the chorus is not sung until the end in order to add drama and suspense to the recording.
Their original production was six minutes long, but Motown edited down to three minutes and fifteen seconds for the 45 rpm single. "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" was the first # 1 hit for Diana Ross as a solo artist following her astounding career as the lead singer of the Supremes.
Watch Diana Ross perform "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" at her 1983 concert in Central Park at www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMu8u7En6dw&feature=related
41. “Mystery Man” (D. Wagner) – The Frost; Vanguard label; Did not chart nationally - 1969. Inducted in 2010.
“Mystery Man” was the first single from The Frost’s debut album, “Frost Music”. Released in early 1969, “Mystery Man” was a monster hit in Detroit but it stalled nationally as Vanguard Records totally dropped the ball when it failed to adequately distribute and promote what could have been the band’s breakout single.
Dick Wagner, who was heavily influenced by the songwriting of Lennon and McCartney, penned the song while on vacation in Houghton Lake, Michigan. He had just returned from a trip to New York and a failed audition for Blood, Sweat & Tears. Wagner claims that he asked his wife for a divorce after writing the song.
“Mystery Man” was also the first song Wagner wrote for The Frost’s classic line-up that included Dick, fellow guitarist Donny Hartman, drummer Bobby Riggs, and new bassist Gordy Garris. In a recent interview, Wagner stated that “Mystery Man” remains his favorite Frost composition to this day.
Listen to the original unreleased version of “Mystery Man” by The Frost recorded at Jeep Holland's A-Square Records by clicking on http://youtu.be/rygrz8q7Aj4
42. “Shotgun” (A. DeWalt) – Jr. Walker & The All Stars; Soul label, # 1 Billboard R&B, # 4 Billboard Hot 100 - 1965. Inducted in 2010.
Jr. Walker & The All Stars were playing the El Grotto nightclub in Battle Creek, Michigan, when they got the inspiration for what would become their biggest hit on Berry Gordy’s Soul label, a new Motown subsidiary.
One night at the club, Walker became intrigued by a dance where the participants were employing moves that imitated shooting a gun. When he asked one of the girls on the dance floor what it was called, she said it was the ‘shotgun’ and that he should write a tune for it.
In 1964, Motown was still a small enough company that an artist could call Berry Gordy directly to discuss a recording. After Walker wrote “Shotgun”, he called Gordy and told him he had written a new dance tune. Berry like the idea and had the band drive over to Detroit to record it in late 1964.
Jr. Walker was reluctantly pressed into doing the lead vocal when the original singer failed to show up for the session. “Shotgun” was an immediate hit when it was released in early 1965. The song spent four weeks at # 1 on the R&B charts peaked at # 4 on the Hot 100. Jr. Walker would sing the lead vocals on all of The All Stars’ charting hits from that point onward.
Watch Jr. Walker & The All Stars perform “Shotgun” in 1966 on the Hullabaloo TV show at www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnhI_ECOAK4&feature=related
43. “Against The Wind” (B. Seger) – Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band; Capitol label, # 5 Billboard Hot 100 - 1980. Inducted in 2010.
The title song from Bob Seger’s first # 1 LP was the second Top Ten single released from the album.(“Fire Lake” was the first.) In a 1980 Rolling Stone interview, Seger said that “Against The Wind” is about trying to move ahead, keeping your sanity and integrity at the same time.
He went on to say in the interview that “Knowing the difference between when people are using you and when people truly care about you, that’s what “Against The Wind” is also about. The people in the song have weathered the storm, and it’s made them much better that they’ve been able to do it and maintain whatever relationship. To get through is a real victory”.
In a TV interview with Bob Costas, Seger revealed that he almost didn’t include the song’s most famous line, “I wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then”. Seger explained: “I thought it was bad grammar. My manager, my tour manager, and my band said ‘That’s a great line’”. Thus, the classic lyric remained.
Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band won a Grammy in the category “Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal” for “Against The Wind”.
Watch a 2006 live performance by Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band of “Against The Wind” at http://youtu.be/hydTdZ9Au7c
44. “Superstition” (S. Wonder) – Stevie Wonder; Tamla label, # 1 Billboard Hot 100, # 1 Billboard R&B - 1973. Inducted in 2010.
Stevie Wonder was the opening act on the Rolling Stones' massive 1972 tour and, as a result, gained valuable exposure to large white rock audiences who might not normally have seen him in concert. Following the Stones tour, Wonder released “Talking Book”, his first Top Ten album since 1963.
Stevie’s first choice for a single from the album was “Big Brother”, but Motown executives were adamant that “Superstition” was the stronger choice. A year earlier, Wonder had worked with guitarist Jeff Beck and had written “Superstition” with Beck in mind. When the guitarist didn’t record the song promptly, Motown put out the song as the new Stevie Wonder single in late 1972 in advance of the release of “Talking Book”.
In the early Seventies, ‘Soul’ music was evolving into ‘Funk’, a bass-driven, percussive form of black music. “Superstition” with its irresistible dance groove established Wonder as a leader of this new genre and it would be the first of five # 1 singles that he would enjoy during the decade.
Jeff Beck’s recording of “Superstition” would come out later in 1973 as part of the album “Beck, Bogart, Appice”. “Superstition” by Stevie Wonder was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998.
Watch Stevie Wonder perform “Superstition” live on Sesame Street at www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ul7X5js1vE
45. “In The Midnight Hour” (W. Pickett, S. Cropper) – Wilson Pickett; Atlantic label, # 1 Billboard R&B, # 21 Billboard Hot 100 - 1965. Inducted in 2010.
After his first two Atlantic singles failed to chart, producer Jerry Wexler brought Wilson Pickett to Memphis in 1965 to record with the multi-racial soul music band, Booker T. & The MG’s.
Pickett and the white guitarist from the MG’s, Steve Cropper, wrote and recorded “In The Midnight Hour” at the first session they worked together.
Cropper had listened to some of Pickett’s early recordings before the session began and he noticed that Wilson had sung the phrase, “In the midnight hour”, at the end of several of them.
When the two sat down to write some new songs, Cropper suggested that Pickett use the phrase. Within and hour, the pair had written the soul music classic that would make Wilson Pickett a star.
“In The Midnight Hour” had a delayed backbeat that made it perfect for a brand new dance that was sweeping the country called ‘the jerk’. It would not only become Pickett’s first Top 40 hit, but also his first of five # 1 R&B hits during his illustrious career.
“In The Midnight Hour” by Wilson Pickett was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.
Watch Wilson Pickett perform “In The Midnight Hour” on television in color at http://youtu.be/mhOy1wt5lDc
46. “Crimson And Clover” (T. James, P, Lucia) - Tommy James & The Shondells; Roulette label, # 1 Billboard Hot 100 - 1969. Inducted in 2010.
Following three months on the road with Hubert Humphrey’s 1968 presidential campaign, Tommy James decided to end his successful association with producers Bo Gentry and Ritchie Cordell. The pair had been co-writers with James on the Top Ten singles: “I Think We’re Alone Now”, “Mirage”, and “Mony Mony”.
James first big success as both writer and producer came in 1969 with “Crimson And Clover”, the group’s first # 1 single since “Hanky Panky”. In an interview for The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits, James said that “‘crimson’ and ‘clover’ were two of my favorite words and I just put them together. We had the title before we had the song. When I wrote with the Shondells, it was different than when I wrote with Bo and Ritchie – a different energy flow. “Crimson And Clover” was part of the psychedelia of the late 1960’s”.
In another interview James said said of the recording; “I had a kind of historical sense of the record right from the beginning. I really felt like we were cutting something special”.
The single sold over 5.5 million copies, and it remains the Tommy James & The Shondells’ best selling single of all time. It was also the title song of the multi-platinum album, “Crimson & Clover”, released in early 1969 with liner notes by Hubert Humphrey. In 1982, “Crimson And Clover” was covered by Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, who had a # 7 hit single with the song.
Watch Tommy James & The Shondells perform “Crimson And Clover” in a vintage 1968 video at http://youtu.be/VfeCgMo-Kao
47. “Please Mr. Postman” (G. Dobbins, W. Garrett, F. Gorman, B. Holland, R. Bateman) – The Marvelettes; Tamla label, #1 Billboard Hot 100, # 1 Billboard R&B - 1961. Inducted in 2010.
“Please Mr. Postman’ was Motown’s first # 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100, but its success seemed very unlikely in 1961. The girls who became known as The Marvelettes first came together in the Inkster High School Glee Club to participate in a talent show at the school with the prize being an audition at Berry Gordy’s Tamla Records in Detroit.
The girls only finished fourth at the talent show, but two of their teachers were so impressed with their performance that they prevailed upon the school principal give the girls a shot at the audition with Motown producers, Robert Bateman and Brian Holland. Bateman and Holland liked the girls’ singing, but told them to come back with some original material.
Group member Georgia Dobbins asked a songwriter friend for a song, and he gave her a blues tune called “Please Mr. Postman”. Dobbins got his permission to work on it, and she completely changed the song, keeping only the title. Before taking the new song to Motown, however, Dobbins decided to leave the group to take care of her ill mother.
Lead singer Gladys Horton, along with Katherine Anderson, Georgeanna Tillman, Juanita Cowart, and new member Wanda Young, performed the song for Bateman and Holland who loved it. “Please Mr. Postman” was then recorded by the newly-named Marvelettes with a young Marvin Gaye playing the drums.
“Please Mr. Postman” was covered by The Beatles in 1963, and also by The Carpenters who would have a # 1 single in 1975 with their recording of the song.
Watch The Marvelettes perform “Please Mr. Postman” on television in the 1960's at http://youtu.be/KseUrBSRBDA
48. “(Love Is Like A) Heat Wave” (B. Holland, L. Dozier, E. Holland) – Martha & The Vandellas: Gordy label, #1 Billboard R&B, # 4 Billboard Hot 100 - 1963. Inducted in 2010.
“Heat Wave” was the second single and the first Top Ten hit written for Martha & The Vandellas by Motown’s new writing and production team of Holland-Dozier-Holland.
Produced with a gospel-like fervor, the song opens with a 27-second instrumental passage featuring handclaps, Joe Hunter’s piano, Thomas “Beans” Bowles sax, and the drumming of “Pistol” Allen. “Heat Wave” is often credited as being one of the first songs to exemplify the style of music that would later be called the “Motown Sound”.
"Heat Wave" is probably Martha Reeves greatest vocal performance, and it helped Martha & The Vandellas become the first Motown group to receive a Grammy Award Nomination for Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group.
Martha Reeves remembered watching the network news during the summer of 1963. “I was in my mom’s living room when the anchorman said, ‘There’s a heat wave in Los Angeles,’ it was a hundred and something and then they played “Heat Wave”. I jumped all over the floor. My mom told me to sit down and shut up! I screamed, ‘We’re on network TV! They’re playing our song!”
“Heat Wave” has been recorded by many artists over the years. Linda Ronstadt had a # 5 hit single in 1975 with her cover of the song.
Watch Martha & The Vandellas perform “Heat Wave” on TV in the 60’s at www.youtube.com/watch?v=XE2fnYpwrng
49. “Chain Of Fools” (D. Covay) – Aretha Franklin; Atlantic label, # 1 Billboard R&B, # 2 Billboard Hot 100 - 1968. Inducted in 2010.
Aretha Franklin’s recordings on Atlantic in 1967 and 1968 firmly established her as the 'Queen Of Soul'. “Chain Of Fools” was her fifth consecutive Top Ten hit produced by Jerry Wexler. Employing memorable tremolo guitar licks by Joe South in its introduction, “Chain Of Fools” features Franklin’s trademark powerhouse vocal and a great gospel-style call-and –response chorus provided by her sister Carolyn along with the Sweet Inspiration and the great songwriter Ellie Greenwich.
Written by R&B singer Don Covay, “Chain Of Fools” was released as a single in late 1967. Although she did not write the hit, her sister Carolyn said: "She might as well have. It was her story." Aretha felt trapped in an abusive marriage to her manager Ted White. She was unhappy but was afraid that leaving him would have an adverse effect on her career.
The song spent four weeks at # 1 on the R&B charts in late ‘67 and early ‘68, while peaking at #2 on the Hot 100. Aretha won a Grammy Award for “Chain of Fools” for Best R&B Vocal Performance. The song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2001.
Listen to Aretha Franklin perform "Chain Of Fools" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BloxxEFwibo
50. “The Way I Walk” (J. Scott) – Jack Scott; Carlton label, # 35 Billboard Hot 100 - 1959. Inducted in 2010.
Jack Scott’s career was flying high in late 1958 with the release of his third consecutive two-sided hit single, “Goodbye Baby/Save My Soul”. Things came to a screeching halt, however, when he received an induction notice from the U. S. Army in December of that same year.
In May of 1959, after only five months in the service, Scott was discharged from the Army on medical grounds because of a peptic ulcer. Carlton Records, which had very little material in the can when Scott went in the service, pulled “The Way I Walk” from Jack’s 1st album and released it as a single a week before his discharge.
“The Way I Walk” is a classic cut with its powerful ‘walking’ bass and menacing vocal. It is regarded by some as the last of the authentic rockabilly hits of the 50’s as softer pop sounds began to engulf the charts in the wake of the ‘Payola Scandal’.
Scott talked about “The Way I Walk” in a recent interview. “When we cut it, I’d only half-finished it, and I didn’t have all the words, just two verses.
Since his producer was anxious to take the song back to New York for the album, Jack told the Chantones, his vocal backing group, to fill in the gap with “Oo-wee, oo-wee, oo-wee, oo-wee…”
At first, Scott complained when the song was released because he thought “The Way I Walk” needed more work. Looking back, however, he now says, “It’s kinda neat the way it is”
Watch Jack Scott perform “The Way I Walk” in 1988 at Little Darlin’s nightclub in Florida at www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxhHtqMHbbM
51. “Hanky Panky” (J. Barry, E. Greenwich) – Tommy James and The Shondells; Roulette label, # 1 Billboard Hot 100, # 39 Billboard R&B - 1966. I nducted in 2011.
“Hanky Panky” was written and first recorded by Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich as the B-side of a single for their group The Raindrops in 1963.
Tommy James’ cover version was first released on the tiny Snap label in Niles, Michigan, in the fall of 1964. Although it was a regional hit, “Hanky Panky” didn’t become a national smash until 1966 when it was discovered in a used record bin by a Pittsburgh dance promoter. It became the # 1 song in the city after he pressed up a batch of bootleg copies of song on the local Red Fox label.
The Shondells had broken up by this time, and Tommy was considering giving up music and getting a "real job" when he got word that his recording of "Hanky Panky" had become a surprise hit. After failing to reunite the original Shondells, Tommy made several appearances in the Pittsburgh area with a make-shift band, and then traveled to New York where he signed with Morris Levy’s Roulette Records.
James recruited a Pittsburgh band called The Raconteurs to be the “new” Shondells and took to the road to promote “Hanky Panky”. The song reached # 1 in the summer of 1966, the first 'garage rock' single to do so. It also kicked off a string of 19 charting hits enjoyed by Tommy James and The Shondells from 1966 to 1970.
Watch a recent performance of "Hanky Panky" by Tommy James at the Bitter End in New York City by clicking below.
52. “Lonely Teardrops” (B. Gordy, R. Davis, G. Gordy) – Jackie Wilson; Brunswick label, # 7 Billboard Hot 100, # 1 Billboard R&B - 1959. Inducted in 2011.
“Lonely Teardrops” was Jackie Wilson’s first Top Ten single. It was the fourth consecutive charting record written for him by the team of Berry Gordy Jr. and Tyran Carlo. The pair would contribute two more hit singles for Wilson in 1959 before leaving in a dispute over the material being issued as the B-sides on the singer’s recordings.
“Lonely Teardrops” was released late in 1958 and would become the first of Jackie Wilson’s six # 1 hits on the R&B chart early in 1959. The song helped launch Wilson into superstar status and led to television appearances on American Bandstand and the Ed Sullivan Show, as well as the early rock and roll movies, Go Johnny Go! and Teen-age Millionaire.
In a strange twist of fate, Jackie suffered a massive heart attack while singing “Lonely Teardrops” in 1975 while appearing with Dick Clark’s Good Ol’ Rock ‘N Roll Revue in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. He also suffered a serious head injury when he fell to the stage. The effects of the tragic incident left Jackie Wilson in a near vegetative state, and he lived the remainder of his life in a nursing home until his death in 1984.
“Lonely Teardrops” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.
53. “Baby Love” (B. Holland, L. Dozier, E. Holland) – The Supremes; Motown label, # 1 Billboard Hot 100 - 1964. Inducted in 2011.
With “Baby Love”, The Supremes became the first Motown artist, and the first girl group, to have two consecutive # 1 singles. But this was just the beginning. The Detroit trio would go on to record a total of twelve # 1 singles during the 1960’s. “Baby Love” was the biggest of these hits, spending 4 weeks at the top of the charts during the fall of 1964.
“
Baby Love” was the follow-up single to the group’s first # 1 hit, “Where Did Our Love Go”. The song again featured the Funk Brothers’ instrumental backing, but the main focus of the recording was on Diana Ross’ sexy, cooing vocal. Although both Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson had brief solo ad-libs at the end of the song, Ross would continue to take center stage on both group recordings and live performances.
Berry Gordy had felt that Diana Ross’ unique voice would set The Supremes apart from the many girl groups of the time, and his decision to team them with the writing and production team of brothers Eddie and Brian Holland and Lamont Dozier turned out to be the perfect combination. The pairing would go on to produce 19 charting hits, including 10 of the # 1 singles recorded by The Supremes.
Watch The Supremes perform "Baby Love" on England's Top Of The Pops 60'stelevision show by clicking below.
54. “I Think We’re Alone Now” (R. Cordell, B. Gentry) – Tommy James and The Shondells; Roulette label, # 4 Billboard Hot 100 - 1967. Inducted in 2011.
“I Think We’re Alone Now” marked the beginning of a successful partnership between Tommy James and the songwriting team of Ritchie Cordell and Bo Gentry. Cordell and Gentry had originally written the song as a mid-tempo ballad, but James insisted that they speed up the arrangement.
Jimmy Wisner’s original production of “I Think We’re Alone Now” included a small symphony orchestra complete with cellos, chimes, and the whole works. After eight takes, Cordell, Gentry, and James felt it sounded “too big” and sent the musicians home. They then proceeded to strip down what they had created in order to find the ingredients that they liked.
Tommy James laid down the final vocal on Christmas Eve in 1966. Without realizing it at the time, James, Cordell, and Gentry’s recording of “I Think We’re Alone Now” invented what later became known as “bubblegum music”.
The song even provided a follow-up hit for Tommy James and The Shondells when the tape of “I Think We’re Alone Now” was accidentally put on a reel-to-reel upside down. When it was played, it came out backward, but the chord progression in reverse sounded just as good as it did forward. Cordell and Gentry wrote a new set of lyrics, called the song “Mirage”, and had a # 10 hit with it in the spring of 1967.
Listen to the original recording of "I Think We're Alone Now" by Tommy James and The Shondells by clicking below.
55. “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” (N. Ashford, V. Simpson) – Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell; Tamla label, # 19 Billboard Hot 100, # 3 Billboard R&B - 1967. Inducted in 2011.
The song was written by Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson in 1966. It was the first hit for Marvin Gaye and his new duet partner, Tammi Terrell in the spring of 1967. Gaye had previously teamed with Mary Wells and Kim Weston for hit singles, but Terrell proved to be his ideal singing partner.
According to producers Harvey Fuqua and Johnny Bristol, Tammi Terrell was both nervous and a little intimidated during the recording because she hadn’t rehearsed the lyrics. As a result, she recorded her vocals alone. Marvin Gaye added his vocal at a later date, but there was no denying the magic produced by the blending of their voices
Because of the subject matter of their duets, there were rumors of a romantic relationship between Gaye and Terrell. Both singers denied it, however, with Gaye claiming at a later date that they had a brother and sister relationship. The duo paired up for several more hits: “Your Precious Love”, “If I Could Build My Whole World Around You”, “Ain’t Nothing Like The Real Thing”, and “You’re All I Need To Get By” before Tammi was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor after collapsing into Marvin’s arms during a performance in Virginia.
Tammi Terrell died in 1970 at the age of 24 from the brain tumor that put an end to her career. In 1970, Diana Ross had her first # 1 hit as a solo artist with her cover of “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”, but it was the recording by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell that was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.
Watch the original 1967 Motown video of Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell performing "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" by clicking below.
56. “Get Ready” (W. Robinson) – Rare Earth; Rare Earth label, # 4 Billboard Hot 100, # 20 Billboard R&B - 1970. Inducted in 2011.
Rare Earth was the first act that Motown vice president Barney Ales signed for the company’s newest label that would concentrate on album-oriented progressive rock played by self-contained bands. Ales liked the band’s moniker so much that he ended up using it as the name for the subsidiary label.
The band released its first album in the summer of 1969. It was titled after the song “Get Ready”, a 21-minute extended jam of the 1966 Temptations’ single that took up one whole side of the LP.
In order to get airplay, “Get Ready” was edited down to around 3 minutes, and it promptly soared to # 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. The success of the single also pushed the “Get Ready” album to hit status, reaching # 12 on the LP chart.
Although Rare Earth would go on to chart eight more singles, including the Top Ten hits, “(I Know) I’m Losing You” and “I Just Want To Celebrate”, their version of “Get Ready” would prove to be the band’s biggest success.
57. “Mony Mony” (T. James, R. Cordell, B. Gentry, B. Bloom) – Tommy James and The Shondells; Roulette label, # 3 Billboard Hot 100 - 1968. Inducted in 2011.
After two successive single failed to crack the Top 40, Tommy James went into Century Sound Studios to work on a track for a proposed party rock song inspired by past hits by Gary (U.S.) Bonds and Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels. The song started as a basic rhythm track. James and Ritchie Cordell then took the original tape and began a process of reassembling what they had, adding snippets of organ, piano, and background voices until they had a catchy melody with a verse and irresistible hook.
The night before they were supposed to finish the record, the pair convened in James’ New York apartment to write the lyrics. They assembled a list of nonsensical one-liners but could not come up with a suitable title. They wanted to use a two-syllable girl’s name, but every real name they came up with didn’t sound right.
Around midnight they decided to take a cigarette break on the terrace while looking at the Manhattan skyline. Tommy James noticed the Mutual of New York Insurance Company building a couple of blocks away. It had a flashing neon sign on top of it with the company logo: MONY. Just like that, they had their name, and a rock and roll party classic was born.
Although it only reached # 3 in the U.S., Tommy James and The Shondell’s “Mony Mony” was # 1 hit in England. In 1987, Billy Idol had a # 1 hit in the U.S. with a live version of the song.
Watch a 60's psychedelic television performance of "Mony Mony" by Tommy James and the Shondells in color by clicking here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkMgs3lFwkQ
58. “Sock It To Me-Baby!” (Crewe, Brown) – Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels; New Voice label, # 6 Billboard Hot 100 - 1967. Inducted in 2011.
In early 1967, Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels followed up their first Top Ten single, “Devil With A Blue Dress On & Good Golly Miss Molly”, with the prototypical riff-rockin’ “Sock It To Me-Baby!”. Co-written by band producer and New Voice label head Bob Crewe, the song was a party rock classic that kept pace with earlier band workouts like “Jenny Take A Ride!” and “Little Latin Lupe Lu”.
“Sock It To Me-Baby!” became the band’s second and last Top Ten single when it peaked at # 6 in the Billboard Hot 100 early in 1967, even though it was banned on several radio stations for being “too sexually suggestive”. In spite of this initial flap, the term ‘sock it to me’ ended up becoming a national catch-phrase when it appeared both on Aretha Franklin’s “Respect” and after it began to be used on a weekly basis on the hit TV comedy show, Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In.
Unfortunately, Bob Crewe’s contract gave him full control over Mitch Ryder’s career. After one last single, he dismissed The Detroit Wheels and began concentrating on turning Mitch into a mainstream singing star. Ryder went on to minor chart success as a solo act, and the “Sock It To Me” LP, released in the spring of 1967, became the last official release by Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels.
59 . “I Wanna Be Your Dog” (D. Alexander, R. Asheton, I. Pop, S. Asheton) – The Stooges; Elektra label, Did not chart nationally - 1969. Inducted in 2011.
One of The Stooges' most famous songs, “I Wanna Be Your Dog”, appeared on the band’s self-titled debut album on Elektra Records. It was also released as the B-side to “1969” on the first Stooges’ single.
Ron Asheton’s relentless guitar riffs and producer John Cale’s pounding piano set the stage for Iggy Pop’s snarling vocals. It’s not exactly clear what the song is about, but no matter. “I Wanna Be Your Dog”, as well as most of the songs on their debut, set the stage for both the punk rock movement of the 70’s and the grunge rock movement of the 90’s.
Although both the single and the album sold modestly at best, “I Wanna Be Your Dog” has achieved an exalted status over the years. The song has been covered by a multitude of artists including Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Nirvana, Sonic Youth, and The White Stripes. In 2007, R.E.M. performed the song with Patti Smith during their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The song has also been featured on the soundtrack of several movies including The Crow: City Of Angels, Sid and Nancy, Transporter 3, and The Runaways.
Watch a live performance by The Stooges of "I Wanna Be Your Dog" from a 2004 concert in Serbia by clicking below.
60. “I Can’t Help Myself” (B. Holland, L. Dozier, E. Holland) – The Four Tops; Motown label, # 1 Billboard Hot 100, # 1 Billboard R&B - 1965. Inducted in 2011.
The Four Tops began working with Motown’s songwriting/production team of Holland-Dozier-Holland in 1964. After three charting singles in a row, the combination really hit its stride in the summer of 1965 with “I Can’t Help Myself”. The song had the distinction of holding down the # 1 spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 for two non-consecutive weeks – June 12 to June 19th, and again from June 26th to July 3rd.
As on most of the group’s big hits, “I Can’t Help Myself” is powered by Levi Stubbs baritone lead vocal over an irresistible dance groove powered by Motown’s crack session band, the Funk Brothers. Holland-Dozier-Holland wrote the majority of Stubbs’ vocals in the range of a tenor so that his voice took on a gospel-tinged urgency as he strained to hit the high notes.
With their simple yet distinctive melodies and rhymes, Levi Stubbs powerful lead vocals, and the smooth backing of Duke Fakir, Lawrence Payton, and Obie Benson, the recordings of H-D-H songs by The Four Tops often epitomized what became known as the Motown Sound.
“I Can’t Help Myself” has been covered by a diverse group of artists over the years. These include The Supremes, Johnny Rivers, and Dolly Parton.
Listen to the classic performance of "I Can't Help Myself" by The Four Tops by clicking here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z59EVHU8MjI
61. "Anytime You Want Some Lovin'" (D. Wagner) – Tonto and The Renegades; Sound Of The Sceen label, Did not chart nationally -1968. Inducted in 2012.
Grand Ledge's Tonto and The Renegades employed an all-star Michigan cast for the recording of their second single. The song was written and produced by Dick Wagner formerly of The Bossmen and featured harmonica by Donny Hartman of Wagner's new group, The Frost. In addition, the recording was done at Dave Kalmbach's Great Lakes Recording Studio in Sparta, Michigan, with Kalmbach serving as sound engineer.
The band had become acquainted with Dick Wagner after The Bossmen had played at The Sceen, a teen dance club where Tonto and The Renegades were often booked. Knowing the quality of Wagner's songwriting, they asked him about the availability of some of his material for their next single. Wagner brought his acoustic guitar to Gary "Tonto" Richey's house, where the band practiced, and he performed a number of his unrecorded songs.
According to drummer Tom Kirby, "Anytime You Want Some Lovin'" stood out immediately, and was everyone's first choice for the A-side of their second 45. The finished recording would be a quite a departure from the driving garage rock of "Little Boy Blue", their debut single. Wagner's production of "Anytime You Want Some Lovin'" was a very polished mid-tempo pop rock ballad, featuring some fine group harmonies from the band members, and even a horn section composed of two students from the Grand Ledge High School band.
The recording was financed by Don Trefry, owner of The Sceen and the booking agent for Tonto and The Renegades. Kalmbach's studio offered the chance to release records on your own vanity label, so Trefry chose one that would advertise his teen club. Unfortunately, the tiny label's limited distribution hurt the record's chances of becoming something more than a regional hit.
62. "The Easy Way Out" (D. Wagner) – Tonto and The Renegades; Sound Of The Sceen label, Did not chart nationally - 1968. Inducted in 2012.
"Anytime You Want Some Lovin'" b/w "The Easy Way Out" is the only 45 single to have both sides voted Legendary Michigan Songs.
Tonto and the Renegades first choice for the B-side of the single was another Dick Wagner composition called "First Day of May". After Considering it, Wagner decided to save the song for The Frost's debut album instead. The band then went with their second pick, a Wagner-penned rocker called "The Easy Way Out".
It turned out to be an excellent choice. Like the A-side, the session for "The Easy Way Out" was produced by Dick Wagner in Dave Kalmbach's Great Lakes Studio, located in the Sparta Theater. Drummer Tom Kirby remembered that several rows of the old theater seats were removed in front of the movie screen so that there was enough room for the band's equipment, and that Kalmbach erected a three-sided partition around the drum kit. the studio's recording equipment was situated behind a large glass window inside the theater's projection booth. Since Wagner was producing the session, Kalmbach worked in the booth while the band recorded.
Tonto and The Renegades were firing on all cylinders during the recording, and Wagner once again used the horn section of Grand Ledge High band students Jim Hall and Ernie Morrow to good effect. In addition, the producer added a special personal touch to the song by contributing the controlled guitar feedback that helped give "The Easy Way Out" its unique sound.
63. "Misery" (F. Baker, W. Tippett) – The Dynamics; Big Top label, # 44 Billboard's Hot 100 - 1963. Inducted in 2012.
The classic R&B dance hit "Misery" was the biggest hit on Billboard's Hot 100 by The Dynamics, a black vocal group from Detroit. At that time, the group was a quintet made up of Fred "Sonny" Baker, Starling Schafer, Lorenzo Campbell, Samuel Stevenson, and George White. The terrific instrumental backing was provided by an all-white combo from Dearborn called The Royal Playboys, featuring guest artists Joe Cyers on drums and MRRL Inductee Cliff Bramlett on guitar.
The song was recorded at the United Sound studio for Fox Records, a small independent Detroit label, but the master tape was sold to Big Top Records out of New York and distributed nationally. "Misery" was a big hit in the Motor City, spending most of the fall of 1963 in WKNR's Top Ten on the popular AM station's Classic Top 30 Survey. The song also did well nationally lasting 10 weeks on the Hot 100 and peaking at # 44.
The song would become the subject of a still unresolved controversy in 1964 when Pete Meaden, then manager/publicist of The Who, rewrote the lyrics to the song as "Zoot Suit" for The Who's first single, released in England as by The High Numbers. Meaden claimed sole songwriting credit for the melody he stole. The truth is in the grooves, however, as The Dynamics' recording of "Misery" completely blows "Zoot Suit" off the turntable when the songs are played back-to-back.
Listen to the Dynamics' original recording of "Misery" by clicking below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_1WVDVSxN0
64. "Rock And Roll Music" (D. Wagner, D. Hartman) – The Frost; Vanguard label, # 105 Billboard's Bubbling Under Singles - 1970. Inducted in 2012.
"Rock And Roll Music" was recorded live at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit in 1969. According to producer Sam Charters, the vocals were re-done in the studio in order to clean up the sound, but that fact takes nothing away from this blast of Motor City rock that quickly became the band's anthem.
In his book, Not Only Women Bleed, Dick Wagner reveals that the genesis of the song came from a one-line rock song from the Frost's other guitarist, Donny Hartman. Hartman wanted Wagner to finish the song for him, and Wagner produced a finished product that combined lyric simplicity with an intensity that literally leaped off the turntable.
"Rock And Roll Music" was the lead track and title of The Frost's second album, and the only song the band charted nationally when it was released as a single. Although Wagner and Hartman shared the lead vocals, Dick Wagner was listed as the sole songwriter on the song.
In his book, Wagner wrote that for many years he believed that he had totally written the song, but now claims it was really a Hartman-Wagner collaboration. Wagner has tried to make it right in recent years by giving Hartman credit for his contributions whenever he performs "Rock And Roll Music" live.
65. "I Cannot Stop You" (D. Wagner) - The Cherry Slush; U.S.A. label, # 119 Billboard's Bubbling Under Singles - 1968. Inducted in 2012.
“I Cannot Stop You” was originally intended to be the second single for a Saginaw, Michigan, teen band called The Bells Of Rhymny. The tune was written by Dick Wagner of The Bossmen and was recorded at the tiny Audio Sound studio, located in the basement of an office building in downtown Cleveland, Ohio.
By the time the record was released on the small Coconut Groove label based in Mt. Morris, Michigan, the band had lost one original and added two new members, and changed its name to The Cherry Slush. The radio-friendly “I Cannot Stop You” was a big regional hit, and was quickly in heavy rotation on Top 40 AM stations like WKNX, WSAM, and the highly influential WTAC out of Flint.
In order to get the record distributed nationally, the band signed and the master tape was leased to U.S.A., a small Chicago label that had a # 1 hit in 1967 with “Kind Of A Drag” by The Buckinghams. “I Cannot Stop You” also had all the signs of also being a national hit upon its release. It got airplay in major markets, was a pick hit in both Billboard and Cashbox magazines, and entered Record World magazine as # 93 in the nation.
Quite unexpectedly, however, the record stalled and failed to reach the Billboard Hot 100. The Cherry Slush would go on to record one more single for the U.S.A. label before the company filed for bankruptcy.
66. "Turn The Page" (B. Seger) – Bob Seger and Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band, From "Back In '72" LP, Palladium label - 1973; and "Live Bullet" 2 LP; Capitol label - 1976. Inducted in 2012.
Despite never being released as a single, "Turn The Page" has emerged as one of Bob Seger's most popular songs over the years. Many fans may be unfamiliar with the original studio version released on the "Back In '72" album since it has never been released on CD. Although it does not contain the Alto Reed sax solo that was such as distinctive part of the "Live Bullet" version, it is still a great vocal performance with the keyboard leading the song and the sax only coming in at the very end.
The song's lyrics describe life on the road for a regional rock and roll band trying to hit the big time, and were partly based on an incident that occurred when Seger was touring with Teegarden and Van Winkle. In a 1975 radio interview Seger stated; "You have a lot of dark days on the road...you have a lot of good days too, but basically we're in a dog-eat-dog business, and you can get pretty dark sometimes, and if you're able to translate that, which I think "Turn The Page" does more effectively than anything else I've done before."
As Scott Sparling rightly observes on his Seger File site, "The lyrics are only part of the song's success. The live performance, the plaintive sax, the vocals and the simplicity of the song all come together to create its power. And as the first Seger ballad to achieve mass popularity, it's also an important, maybe even pivotal song in his career."
67. "Cat Scratch Fever" (T. Nugent) – Ted Nugent; Epic label, # 30 Billboard's Hot 100 - 1977. Inducted in 2012.
"Cat Scratch Fever" was the song that helped turn Ted Nugent into a major arena rock act in 1977. Nugent reportedly got the title from an antique medical journal that his wife was reading that mentioned 'cat scratch fever', and he mated it with what is arguably his most infectious guitar riff to produce his classic hit.
The song's lyrics may be somewhat autobiographical, and they have Nugent chronicling his long history of promiscuous sex, as well as lamenting his inability to control both himself and his female partners. Despite its lyrical content, "Cat Scratch Fever" has been used by the Detroit Tigers, the University of Cincinnati Bearcats, the San Jose SabreCats, and the Carolina Panthers to fire up fans before sporting events.
"Cat Scratch Fever" was Ted Nugent's only Top 40 single. Over the years it has been covered by a number of different artists, and it has appeared on the film soundtracks of Lords Of Dogtown, EDtv, and Stoned Age. In 2009, VH1 named it # 32 on its list of the Best Hard Rock Songs of All Time.
Watch Ted Nugent perform "Cat Scratch Fever" on the Midnight SpecialTV show in the 70's by clicking below.
68. "You've Really Got A Hold On Me" (W. Robinson) – The Miracles; Tamla label, # 8 Billboard's Hot 100, # 1 Billboard R&B - 1963. Inducted in 2012.
"You've Really Got A Hold On Me" was the second # 1 R&B hit for The Miracles as well as their second Top Ten Hit on the Hot 100. In 1998, it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, and it was also selected by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll.
Smokey Robinson wrote the song and sings lead while second tenor Bobby Rogers is featured on harmony co-lead. "You've Really Got A Hold On Me" was originally slated to be the B-side to "Happy Landing" on the single that was released in the winter of 1962, but DJs and record buyers across the nation preferred the song on the flipside that explored the feelings of a man so in love with a woman that he can't leave her despite the fact that she treats him badly.
The song has been covered by a wide variety of artists over the years. The most famous cover was by The Beatles, who recorded "You've Really Got A Hold On Me" for "With The Beatles", their second U.K album released in 1963.
Listen to The Miracles' original hit recording of "You've Really Got A Hold One Me" by clicking below.
69. "Beautiful Loser" (B. Seger) – Bob Seger; Capitol label, # 103 Billboard's Bubbling Under Singles - 1975. Inducted in 2012.
"Beautiful Loser" was the title cut and first single from the 1975 album that marked Seger's return to Capitol Records. Seger has said that the song was inspired by the epilogue of a novel by Leonard Cohen titled Beautiful Losers, and that the original concept came from one of Cohen's lines; 'He's reaching for the sky just to surrender'. Seger took that thought and transformed it into a song about a person who sets his goals so low that he will never be disappointed.
Seger confided in a Rolling Stone interview in 1976 that the song took a long over a year to put together, and that he wrote five different versions of "Beautiful Loser", including a blues and a ballad, before coming up with the one he finally settled on. He credits his friend, and fellow MRRL inductee, Glenn Frey for giving him some sound advice. Frey was the first person to hear the song, and he loved it. That positive feedback encouraged Seger to stick with it until he had pieced together another classic track.
Possibly because of Seger's long journey to national stardom and Tom Bert's poignant album cover photo, many people have believed that "Beautiful Loser" was autobiographical. Seger has given conflicting answers over the years when asked if the song was about him. In a Rolling Stone interview he stated; "To a degree. Well I say that now, but back then I didn't believe it". During a Creem interview in 1987, however, Seger said "The song was about underachievers in general. I rarely write about myself that much. I'm not like my songs at all. I'm a lot more 'up' person than what I write."
Listen to Bob Seger's recording of "Beautiful Loser" by clicking below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xWVRE9FskQ
70. "Day Don't Come" (Barkam, Adams) – The Cherry Slush, U.S.A. label, Did not chart nationally - 1968. Inducted in 2012.
"Day Don't Come" was recorded as "I Cannot Stop You" was climbing the national charts. Their record company brought The Cherry Slush to Chicago to record it at the famous Chess Studio although the song was a far cry from the countless classic blues recordings that had been made there. The engineer on the session was Ron Malo, who had also been behind the boards on the Rolling Stones' recording of "Satisfaction" which had been done in the same studio three years before.
The Cherry Slush recorded the basic instrumental track during the first session then returned back home in Michigan where the band members were still attending high school. Bassist Art Hauffe claims that when they returned the following week to do the vocals, they were surprised to find that their record label had added the Chicago Symphony to the track at a cost of $5,000; and that the hefty sum would be taken out of the band's royalties for "I Cannot Stop You".
The results were impressive, however, and "Day Don't Come" ranks as one of the biggest and brightest productions ever recorded by a Michigan garage rock band. Sounding much like a radio-friendly single tailored for The Buckinghams, the single was selected by Billboard magazine as a top pick hit when it was released, and it raced to the top of the charts in the band's hometown of Saginaw and in other cities across the country. Unfortunately, "Day Don't Come" did not reach its potential nationally because U.S.A. Records filed for bankruptcy shortly after its release.
71. “This Is The Time” (F. Bachman, R. Hamrick) - The Sixth Generation; GMA label, Did not chart nationally – 1967. Inducted in 2013.
In need of an original song for their first recording session, lead singer Fred Bachman came up with a melody on his guitar in his bedroom. Stuck for lyrics, his mother suggested the line “this is the time” and that seemed to jump-start the rest of the song. Inspired by the progressive recording of the Beatles, keyboard player Ron Hamrick made a few musical changes; and the pair ended up with 14 different chords for the song, compared to the typical 3-5 chords in most pop-rock songs of the 1960’s.
Since all of the members of the Sixth Generation were still in high school, they had to get permission to miss school on the day of their scheduled session in Chicago. The band recorded their debut single at Sound Studios, the site of previous hits by the Buckinghams and the Cryan’ Shames, under the watchful eye of veteran studio engineer Stu Black.
After criticizing Dave Walenga’s drums as sounding like “garbage cans” and scolding band members for bringing soft drinks into his console room, the no-nonsense Black warmed to the young band and helped them produce two strong tracks intended for the Sixth Generation’s first single. Unfortunately, band manager Marie Needham did not know how to obtain a release for their cover of “Glitter And Gold”, resulting in the unusual situation of “This Is The Time” ultimately being released as both the a-side and the b-side of the 45, issued on the tiny GMA record label.
Although the song was a regional success, the band’s inexperienced management didn’t know how to pursue a major label for national distribution, relegating “This Is The Time” to one of Michgan’s many highly-regarded, but little-heard, singles of the late 1960’s.
Watch a slideshow video for "This Is The Time" by clicking below: http://youtu.be/2XPqVOiS1gE
72. “Crystal Blue Persuasion” (E. Gray, T. James, M. Vale) – Tommy James & The Shondells; Roulette label, # 2 Billboard Hot 100 – 1969. Inducted in 2013.
Tommy James & The Shondells were a continuous chart presence in the latter half of the 1960’s. “Crystal Blue Persuasion” was the band’s third-biggest single of their career, and their 15th hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in a four-year span from 1966 to 1969.
Contrary to writings that the song was an allegory about Tommy James’ involvement with amphetamines or that the song was about LSD, the title and lyrical concept for the gently grooving song came to James after reading passages from the Bible. According to Tommy’s manager, the singer was inspired by both the Book of Isaiah and the Book of Revelation which tell of a future brotherhood of mankind, living in peace and harmony.
Although the song is not religious, its sentiments fit in nicely with the popular hippie-based “peace, love, and understanding” philosophy of the times. James claims that “Crystal Blue Persuasion” is the favorite of all of his recordings and one of the band’s most requested numbers.
To promote the single, a rather primitive non-performance music video was produced in 1969 that contrasted scenes of turbulent political events and cultural unrest with imagery of love and peace.
Watch the 1969 video for "Crystal Blue Persuasion" by clicking below: http://youtu.be/XDl8ZPm3GrU
73. “I Just Want To Celebrate” (D. Fekaris, N. Zesses) – Rare Earth; Rare Earth label, # 7 Billboard Hot 100 – 1971. Inducted in 2013.
Rare Earth was not the first all-white act to be signed to Motown, but they were the first to enjoy major hits. 1970 and 1971 were the two biggest years in the band’s recording career as they placed five recordings on the Billboard Hot 100. “I Just Want To Celebrate” was the band’s third, and final, Top Ten single in 1971.
The single was edited down to 2 minutes 52 seconds from the longer track on the band’s “One World” album to increase the song’s chances for radio play. “I Just Want To Celebrate was also the opening track on the band’s Rare Earth In Concert LP, issued later in 1971.
That year also saw the start of several personnel changes in Rare Earth. The new line-up was only able to produce one more Top 20 hit, “Hey Big Brother in early 1972. Things were never quite the same for Rare Earth after they followed Motown to Los Angeles later in the year, and they lost the most identifiable member of the band when lead singer/drummer Peter Rivera left the band in 1974.
Watch a video of Rare Earth performing "I Just Want To Celebrate" by clicking below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLwkT5vAzCE
74. “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg” (N. Whitfield, E. Holland) – The Temptations; Gordy label, #1 Billboard R&B, # 13 Billboard Hot 100 – 1966. Inducted in 2013.
“Ain’t Too Proud To Beg” marked the beginning of the Norman Whitfield era in the recording career of the Temptations. Whitfield got his big opportunity when Smokey Robinson’s “Get Ready” failed to make the Top 20 for the group in early 1966 after writing and producing four big hits for them in 1965.
Whitfield had composed a great instrumental track for the single and then recruited Eddie Holland to write lyrics for the song. David Ruffin’s terrific lead vocal was partly the result of Whitfield’s arrangement which was placed slightly above his actual vocal range. Ruffin’s straining to hit the high notes of “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg” put an element of pain and desperation in his delivery that perfectly matched Holland’s lyrics.
Whitfield’s success with “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg” began an association with the Temptations that would last through 1974. During that time the group charted 32 songs on Billboard’s Hot 100, including three # 1 hits.
The Rolling Stones covered three Temptations’ songs on albums, but only “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg” was released as a single. The Stones’ version of the song also became a Top 20 hit, reaching # 17 on the Hot 100 in 1974.
Watch The Temptations perform "Ain't Too Proud To Beg" by clicking below: http://youtu.be/RfyFI-4ZsaE
75. “Baby I’m Yours” (V. McCoy) – Barbara Lewis; Atlantic label, # 11 Billboard Hot 100, # 5 Billboard R&B – 1965. Inducted in 2013.
Barbara Lewis enjoyed her second-biggest single with the romantic ballad “Baby I’m Yours” in 1965. Although it might be her best-known hit, Lewis reportedly didn’t care for the song when she first heard it and had to be persuaded to record it. It was written by Van McCoy who had previously worked with the Shirelles at Scepter Records and would later have a # 1 disco-era hit of his own with “The Hustle” in 1975.
“Baby I’m Yours” was produced in New York by Bert Berns. This marked a change from Ollie McLaughlin, the Ann Arbor DJ who discovered her and produced her first charting singles. The new combination worked beautifully as the hit single returned Lewis to both the Pop and R&B charts after an eighteen month absence.
Barbara Lewis has been somewhat underappreciated for her recorded output and is rarely listed among the top female vocalists of the 60’s. This is hard to understand in light of the quality of Lewis’ vocals. In one critic’s words, “Lewis’ voice radiates sophistication and warmth, sounding both familiar and no one else you’ve ever heard.”
“Baby I’m Yours” has been covered by many artists over the years including Cher, Peter and Gordon, Mama Cass Elliot, Debby Boone, Petula Clark, Tanya Tucker, and Bobby Vee to name just a few. But Barbara Lewis’ original is still the definitive version of the song.
Watch a video of Barbara Lewis performing "Baby I'm Yours" by clicking below: http://youtu.be/RHfMFCOpJtc
76. “Hollywood Nights” (B. Seger) – Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band; Capitol label, # 12 Billboard Hot 100 – 1978. Inducted in 2013.
Released as the second single from Seger’s 1978 LP, “Stranger In Town”, “Hollywood Nights” was one of the last songs written for Seger’s important follow-up to “Night Moves”, his certified platinum album released in 1976. According to the Seger File web site, the cover photo for “Stranger In Town” was shot on the lawn of the house that Seger rented while recording the album in Los Angeles. The house was in the Hollywood Hills and helped provide the inspiration for “Hollywood Nights”.
In a radio interview Seger explained, “I had to stay in LA for 2 and 1/2 months while recording the album. I rented a house for the second month and a half. It was up in the Hollywood Hills, and every night when we’d get back from the studio I would look out and there would be all the lights of the city. I was just sitting there with an electric guitar, and I started bashing it out.”
Seger explained some of the lyrics to the Detroit Free Press: “The chorus just came into my head. I was driving around in the Hollywood Hills and I started singing “Hollywood nights, Hollywood hills, Above all the lights, Hollywood nights”.
“I went back to my rented house, and there was a Time magazine with Cheryl Tiegs on the cover”, Seger recalled. I said “Let’s write a song about a guy from the Midwest who runs into someone like this and gets caught up in the whole bizzaro thing.”
Watch Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band perform "Hollywood Nights" by clicking here: http://youtu.be/_D4eUWBAE_A
77. “Stop! In The Name Of Love” (B. Holland, L. Dozier, E. Holland) – The Supremes; Motown label, # 1 Billboard Hot 100, # 2 Billboard R&B – 1965. Inducted in 2013.
“Stop! In The Name of Love” was the fourth consecutive # 1 single written and produced for The Supremes by Motown’s most successful production team, Holland-Dozier-Holland. Prior to this impressive string of hits by the Supremes during the height of Beatlemania, no other Motown artist had enjoyed more than one # 1 hit on the Hot 100.
The Supremes' choreography for this song, with one hand on the hip and the other outstretched in a "stop" gesture, is equally legendary. Paul Williams and Melvin Franklin of The Temptations taught the girls the routine backstage in London, before the Supremes' first televised performance of the single on the Ready Steady Go! Special, The Sound of Motown, hosted by Motown enthusiast Dusty Springfield They also performed the song on an episode of the ABC variety program Shindig! that aired on Wednesday, February 25, 1965.
The song was nominated for the 1966 Grammy award for Best Contemporary Rock & Roll Group Vocal Performance but inexplicably lost out to “Flowers On The Wall” by the Statler Brothers. “Stop! In The Name Of Love” was later honored by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s permanent collection of the 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll.
Watch The Supremes perform "Stop! In The name Of Love" on the Hollywood Palace TV show by clicking here: http://youtu.be/iDPjYZxi0n8
78. “Let’s Get It On” (M. Gaye, E. Townshend) – Marvin Gaye; Tamla label, # 1 Billboard Hot 100, # 1 Billboard R&B – 1973. Inducted in 2013.
Marvin Gaye’s second # 1 single and biggest hit of the 1970’s was the title track and the first song recorded for his acclaimed album “Let’s Get It On”. Gaye’s music during the decade had moved away from the Motown sound that he had helped popularize with his many classic recordings during the 1960’s.
“Let’s Get It On” was originally composed as a religious ode to life, but with the help of co-writer Ed Townshend, the lyrics were changed to better reflect Gaye’s views on love and sex. Marvin expounded on his forward thinking views on those two subjects in the album’s liner notes: “I can’t see anything wrong with sex between consenting anybodies. After all, one’s genitals are just one part of the magnificent human body. I contend that SEX IS SEX and LOVE IS LOVE. When combined, they work well together, if two people are of about the same mind. But they are really two discrete needs and should be treated as such.”
The song features soulful, passionate vocals and multi-tracked background singing, both done by Gaye. Inspired by Marvin’s infatuation with a young lady named Janis Hunter, “Let’s Get It One” has an almost 1950’s-styled melody built around an eccentric rhythm pattern and the distinctive guitar of session musician Don Peake.
The explicit content of “Let’s Get It On” cemented Gaye’s reputation as Motown’s sex icon. In 2004, the song was included on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. It was ranked at # 32 on Billboard’s Hot 100 All Time Top Songs list in 2008.
Watch Marvin Gaye perform "Let's Get It On" by clicking here: http://youtu.be/s7eTOnNBwYU
79. “You Are The Sunshine Of My Life” (S. Wonder) – Stevie Wonder; Tamla label, # 1 Billboard Hot 100, # 3 Billboard R&B – 1973. Inducted in 2013.
Written and produced by Stevie Wonder, “You Are The Sunshine Of My Life” was taken from “Talking Book”, the second album issued after his new Motown contract gave him full creative control over the songs he recorded for the label. Shortly before the release of the single, Wonder completed a tour as the opening act for the Rolling Stones which exposed his music to the vast white rock audience and helped alleviate his being pigeon-holed as an artist who only appealed to black R&B listeners.
As a result, “You Are The Sunshine Of My Life” not only became Wonder’s third # 1 on the Hot 100, but it also became his first # 1 on the Billboard Easy Listening chart in 1973. The single’s relaxed groove was a major departure from its predecessor, the rocking # 1 hit “Superstition”, a song that Wonder had originally written for Jeff Beck. In addition, the first two lines of “You Are The Sunshine Of My Life” are sung, not by Wonder, but by Jim Gilstrip with Lani Groves singing the next two lines. The single version differs from the album version of the song with the addition of horns to the mix.
Wonder was presented with the Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for his recording of the song. “You Are the Sunshine Of My Life” was listed on Rolling Stone magazine’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
Watch Stevie Wonder perform "You Are The Sunshine Of My Life" at the White House by clicking here: http://youtu.be/gZXjFV8nT4E
80. The Tears Of A Clown” (S. Wonder, H. Cosby, W. Robinson) – Smokey Robinson & The Miracles; Tamla label, # 1 Billboard Hot 100, # 1 Billboard R&B – 1970. Inducted in 2013.
“The Tears of A Clown” has to be the most unusual # 1 hit in the long and storied history of the Motown record label. Stevie Wonder and his producer hank Cosby had composed the music in 1966, but couldn’t come up with a lyric to match the instrumental. Wonder played it to Smokey Robinson who said the tune reminded him of the circus. Smokey wrote the lyrics, and sang lead on the song that became part of the Miracles’ 1967 album, “Make It Happen”.
By the end of 1969, Robinson had informed the other Miracles that he was tired of touring and would be retiring from the act to spend more time in Detroit with his family and concentrate on his duties as vice-president of Motown Records. Because of a lack of new material from the Miracles, the division of Motown in Britain selected “The Tears Of A Clown” from the group’s catalogue for a single release in that country. A new mix was made of the song, and by September of 1970, the single was # 1 in Great Britain.
The success of the song overseas prompted Motown to release the single in the United States, where it quickly became a # 1 hit on both the Hot 100 and the R&B charts. The Miracles had sold millions of records during their long career at Motown, but “The Tears Of A Clown” was the group’s first and only # 1 hit with Smokey Robinson as the lead singer.
Because of the success of the single, Robinson delayed his decision to leave the Miracles for two more years. “The Tears Of A Clown” remains the biggest hit of the 46 recordings that the Miracles placed on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2002, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Watch Smokey Robinson & The Miracles perform "The Tears Of A Clown" by clicking here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaMX0Cs5Bc4
81. “Flamingo Express” (G. Katakis, M. Popoff, G. Popoff) – The Royaltones; Goldisc label, # 82 Billboard Hot 100 – 1961. Inducted in 2014.
The Royaltones formed in Dearborn, Michigan, in 1957 while they were still in high school. Originally called The Paragons, the band was renamed ‘The Royaltones’ when their original composition of “Poor Boy” was leased by Jubilee Records. The instrumental became a # 17 hit in the fall of 1958.
In 1960, original members George Katsakis – sax, and identical twins Mike Popoff – drums and Greg Popoff – keyboards, added guitarist Karl Kaminski and signed with George Goldner’s Goldisc label. “Flamingo Express was recorded at the first session produced by Goldner in New York. The song was originally called “Wiggle, Wiggle” but was renamed in honor of The Flamingos, George Goldner’s highly successful vocal group.
“Flamingo Express” was released in late 1960 and peaked at # 82 in early 1961. It would prove to be the last charting hit for the Royaltones. Future Funk Brother Bob Babbitt played bass on the hit instrumental and would officially join the band a few months later. Guitarist Dennis Coffey also joined the band in 1961.
82. “Talking In Your Sleep” (C. Canler, W. Palmar, M. Skill, J. Marinos, P. Solley) – The Romantics; Nemperor label, # 3 Billboard Hot 100 – 1984. Inducted in 2014.
The Romantics formed in Detroit in 1977. “Talking In Your Sleep” was the first single released for the band’s fourth album, “In Heat”. The song became the band’s biggest chart hit, reaching # 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1984 and staying at that position for three weeks.
“Talking In Your Sleep” garnered a great deal of radio airplay and eventually sold over one million copies of the 45 rpm single in the United States. The song’s music video, in which the Romantics were shown performing while surrounded by standing, but supposedly sleeping young women in lingerie, pajamas, and other sleepwear, received heavy rotation on MTV and helped boost sales.
The song went # 1 on Billboard’s Hot Dance Club Play charts and also topped the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart. Although the single was unsuccessful in England, “Talking In Your Sleep” reached # 14 on the Australian Singles Chart and was a # 5 hit in Sweden.
Listen to The Romantics' recording of "Talking In Your Sleep" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcN_AEOQv4s
83. “One In A Million” (C. Canler, W. Palmar, M. Skill, J. Marinos) – The Romantics; Nemperor label, # 37 Billboard Hot 100 – 1984. Inducted in 2014.
“One In A Million” was the third and final single taken from the Romantics’ most successful album, “In Heat”. After the single “Rock You Up” failed to keep up the momentum started with the success of “Talking In Your Sleep”, “One In A Million” got the band back in the Top 40 when it peaked at # 37 in 1984. It also reached # 22 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock chart.
Despite achieving their commercial breakthrough in 1984, the Romantics had begun to splinter. “One In A Million” would prove to be the band’s last big hit. Disagreements with the Romantics’ management, and also between band members, resulted in Jimmy Marinos leaving the band later in the year. He was replaced by drummer Dave Petratos.
The band recorded one more album, “Rhythm Romance” before becoming entangled in legal matters that caused undue hardships for the band, rendered them unable to record for a seven-year period, and effectively torpedoed the Romantics’ career.
Watch the Romantics perform "One In A Million" on American Bandstand in 1984. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfHMyrZVpS0
84. “East Side Story” (B. Seger) – Bob Seger & The Last Heard; Hideout and Cameo labels, Did not chart nationally– 1966. Inducted in 2014.
According to Scott Sparling’s Seger Files; “East Side Story” is the defining song of Seger’s early years. It is the song that captures the full power of his voice, his promise, his songwriting ability. More than anything, it is probably the song that launched his career and sustained it during the dry periods that followed.
"East Side Story" became a huge hit in Detroit, a #3 record on Detroit radio, which was rare for a local band. Forty-eight years later, the song has not lost one iota of energy -- it still has the same raw, pulsing urgency of a rock classic. Only in this case, it's a rock classic that most people have never heard.
In an interview with Roy Trakin for Creem magazine in 1987, Seger recalled; "I was trying to write something for this band called the Underdogs. I did not write that for me to do. I might have been a little derivative at that point just because I didn't think it would be my song. I do remember losing some sleep over the fact that it sounded an awful lot like ‘Gloria’, though, if you put them side by side, they're not really all that alike. There are a lot more chords in 'East Side Story’ than there are in ‘Gloria.’"
Watch Bob Seger & The Last Heard perform "East Side Story" on Swinging Time with Robin Seymour. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JL_N-Dly-Q
85. “Baby Please Don’t Go” (J. Williams) – The Amboy Dukes; Mainstream label, # 106 Billboard Bubbling Under the Hot 100 – 1968. Inducted in 2014.
Detroit-born Ted Nugent formed the Amboy Dukes following his father’s transfer to Chicago. Named after a defunct Detroit R&B band, Nugent claimed to have never heard of the street gang from Perth Amboy, New Jersey, whose name was made famous as the title of a 1950’s novel.
After making a name in Chicago, Nugent relocated the band to Detroit and, along with lead vocalist John Drake, put together a new lineup that quickly became one of the Motor City’s top bands. They signed with Mainstream Records in 1967 and recorded their self-titled debut album in just one night.
Their scalding version of “Baby Please Don’t Go” was released as the first single, and his propulsive beat and howling guitar sound raised the bar for Detroit rock and roll. The song was a big local hit and even made the national charts, reaching # 106 in Billboard in early 1968.
Listen to "Baby Please Don't Go" by the Amboy Dukes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vi8h9_KgFpc
86. “Heavy Music Pt. 1” (B. Seger) – Bob Seger & The Last Heard; Cameo-Parkway label, # 103 Billboard Bubbling Under the Hot 100 – 1967. Inducted in 2014.
From the Seger File; “This is the song that changed everything. This is the song that, ten years later, remained the focal point of Seger's live performance as captured on the “Live Bullet” LP. It is the first song, on vinyl anyway, that really captured his ability to combine the raw power of rock with the punch and rhythm of the James Brown style soul music he loved.”
“Heavy Music” grew out of a jam at a bar in Columbus, Ohio, and they just happened to be taping the performance that night. Seger really dug the ‘deeper’ part of the jam and wrote a song around it after he went home. It's not an exaggeration to say that this was a new sound. He wasn't following anyone here (the way that he was arguably following Van Morrison with "East Side Story," the first landmark song of his career.) Instead, he was combining two styles into a something new.
“When that happens, worlds can explode, as they did for Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry or the Beatles. In a lesser but still potent way, "Heavy Music" might have exploded for Seger, too, except for the ultimate bad luck with Cameo-Parkway, which went out of business just as the song hit. Still, "Heavy Music" cracked open the door of stardom and became Bob Seger’s first charting single when it reached # 103 on Billboard in 1967.”
Listen to "Heavy Music Pt .1" by Bob Seger & The Last Heard. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-W52Kt_ocqw
87. “Village Of Love” (N. Mayer, D. Brown) – Nathaniel Mayer and the Fabulous Twilights; Fortune and United Artists labels, # 22 Billboard Hot 100, # 16 Billboard R&B – 1962. Inducted in 2014.
According to author David A. Carson, Nathaniel Mayer recorded his own composition of “Village Of Love” for Detroit’s Fortune Records at the age of 18 in 1962. It would go on to become Fortune’s biggest hit after it was leased to United Artist for national distribution and peaked at # 22 on the Hot 100.
Although label owner Devora Brown received songwriting credit along with Mayer, it is doubtful that she contributed anything to the song beyond running the recording session in the Fortune building. Mayer’s raw brand of doo-wop was very different from the smooth tones of his Fortune label mates, Nolan Strong & The Diablos, but it is an unquestioned Motor City classic.
The prominent bass voice at the beginning and end of “Village Of Love” was that of the Diablos’ bass singer, Jay Johnson. After the song became a national hit, Nathaniel Mayer played the best clubs in Detroit including the Gay Haven and the 20 Grand, and then went on to headline a tour around the country fronting his own revue.
Listen to "Viilage Of Love" by Nathaniel Mayer & The Fabulous Twilights. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpA5Ljxuxl4
88. “1969” (D. Alexander, R. Asheton, S. Asheton, I. Pop) – The Stooges; Elektra label, Did not chart nationally – 1969. Inducted in 2014.
Listed among Rolling Stone magazine’s 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time, “1969” was the first single issued from the Stooges debut album released in the summer of 1969. The song was recorded with John Cale of the Velvet Underground at the Hit Factory in New York, but conflicts arose immediately when the band turned their amps up to 10 in the recording studio.
According to author David A Carson, the Stooges practically had to stage a sit-down strike over the issue before they reached a compromise, and the band recorded with their amps on 9. The attitude expressed by Iggy Pop in “1969”, the lead track on the album, provided the blueprint for the punk rock movement in the 1970’s in both England and the United States: “Another year for me and you, another year with nothing to do”.
“1969” was paired with another Stooges’ classic, “I Wanna Be Your Dog” for the first single after the Cale sessions were remixed by Elektra Records president Jac Holzman and Iggy Pop. Elektra put Steve Harris in charge of the Stooges marketing project, but there were few Top 40 stations outside of Michigan willing to play either side.
Listen to "1969" by The Stooges along with some rare footage of the band in concert that was shot by Leni Sinclair. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeQ2r1HLALE
89. “What Becomes Of the Brokenhearted” (W. Weatherspoon, P. Riser, J. Dean) – Jimmy Ruffin; Soul label, # 7 Billboard Hot 100, # 6 Billboard R&B – 1966. Inducted in 2014.
Jimmy Ruffin was encouraged to come to Detroit by his younger brother David Ruffin. He signed with Motown in 1961 and his first recording was on Berry Gordy’s short-lived Miracle label.
“What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted” was originally intended for the Spinners. But Jimmy convinced the producers to let him record the ballad; and it became his only Top Ten hit in 1966. The song originally featured a spoken introduction by Ruffin, but it was removed in the final mix resulting in in the rather long instrumental intro in the released version.
Ruffin’s lead vocal is ably supported by Motown’s famous studio band, the Funk Brothers, and the backing voices are by both the Originals and the Andantes. Besides being a big hit in the United States, “What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted” reached # 8 in England when it was originally released and then charted even higher at # 4 when it was reissued in the U. K. in 1974.
Watch a video of Jimmy Ruffin performing "What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQU4sIn96M4
90. “(Just Like) Romeo & Juliet” (B. Hamilton, F. Gorman) – The Reflections; Golden World label, # 6 Billboard Hot 100 – 1964. Inducted in 2014.
The Reflections formed in Livonia, Michigan. After recording one single on the tiny Kayco label in 1963, they were signed to Ed Wingate’s Golden World record company. There, the group was presented with a song co-written by former Motown artist Freddie Gorman. The group members listened to Gorman sing “(Just Like) Romeo & Juliet” on a piano in an upstairs rehearsal room and were initially unimpressed with the song.
Several weeks later when the group was informed that the backing tracks had been completed, and that they needed to add their vocals, their opinion of the song changed dramatically. Several moonlighting members of the Funk Brothers had recorded the instrumental backing at the United Sound studios in Detroit and the Reflections were blown away by the sound.
The song was pushed hard on both CKLW and WKNR, and by the middle of March, 1964, it was # 1 in the Detroit market and eventually sold over one million copies nationwide. The Reflections’ success with “(Just Like) Romeo & Juliet” led to a spot on Dick Clark’s Caravan of Stars 1964 summer tour, a slot on James Brown’s revue (Brown loved the record), and a performance at the famed Apollo Theater in New York.
Watch the Reflections performing "(Just Like) Romeo & Juliet" on the 60's TV music show Shivaree. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycCZX-olchU
91. “Be My Lover” (M. Bruce) – Alice Cooper; Warner Bros. label, # 49 Billboard Hot 100 – 1972. Inducted in 2015.
“Be My Lover” was written by guitarist Mike Bruce and was the second single released from Alice Cooper’s “Killer” album. The album was reviewed in Rolling Stone by renowned rock writer Lester Bangs who had high praise for one of the album’s best songs: “Be My Lover” sets Stones-like lyrics dealing with a sexual situation to a bedrock guitar riff straight from Lou Reed’s “Sweet Jane”. This may be the best vocal Alice’s ever recorded, and Mike Bruce’s words reflect the strutting, smug feeling of the nascent Superstar perfectly: ‘And with a magnifyin’ glance I just sorta look her over/ We have a drink or two, well maybe three/ And then she starts tellin’ me her life story’.”
Bangs went on to write: “Later there is a great moment hilariously reminiscent, whether intended as parody or not, of “Honky Tonk Women”: ‘I told her that I came from Detroit City/ And I played guitar in a long-haired rock & roll band’ – and here Glenn Buxton’s guitar takes off in a great swooping flight set at reduced volume level so you don’t quite catch it at first – ‘She asked me why the singer’s name was Alice/ And I said, Listen baby, you really wouldn’t understand’. The name and the self-conscious sense of charisma will recur later, when he throws in a ‘This is Alice speakin!’, and even if you’ve never experienced the pandemonium of a live show you know that this man is a hero to countless American kids, and he knows it too.”
Alice Cooper was known for their controversial stage show, but the “Killer” albums two singles, “Be My Lover” and “Under My Wheels”, firmly established them as a top flight rock and roll band and a top concert draw in the early 70’s.
Listen to "Be My Lover" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46lHQT-_0Ig
92. “Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone” (N. Whitfield, B. Strong) – The Temptations; Gordy label, # 1 Billboard Hot 100, # 5 Billboard R&B – 1972. Inducted in 2015.
Although Norman Whitfield produced the original version of “Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone” for Motown’s Undisputed Truth in late 1971, the definitive recording of the song was done the following year by The Temptations.
Beginning with “Cloud Nine” in late 1968, Whitfield had produced a number of big hits for the Temptations in a style described as psychedelic soul. “Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone”, a classic example of Whitfield’s production technique, was originally a 12-minute cut on the Tempts’ “One Direction” album but was edited down to just under 7 minutes for the single.
By 1972, the Temptations’ line-up had undergone some changes. Eddie Kendricks had left to go solo and his falsetto had been replaced by Damon Harris; and Richard Street was filling in for Paul Williams. The two new Tempts joined with regulars Dennis Edwards, Melvin Franklin, and Otis Williams to perform the vocals in true ensemble style: alternating vocal lines, taking the role of siblings asking their mother about their now-deceased father and getting their mother’s repeated response: “Papa was a rollin’ stone/ wherever he laid his hat was his home/ and when he died, all he left us was alone”.
“Papa Was A Rollin Stone” won three Grammys in 1973 including Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Group. It’s b-side, an instrumental featuring the Funk Brothers without the Temptations’ vocals, won Best R&B Instrumental. Composers Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong also won for Best R&B Song.
Watch a live performance by The Temptations from 1972 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDi2X
93. “Higher Ground” (S. Wonder) – Stevie Wonder; Tamla label, # 4 Billboard Hot 100, # 1 Billboard R&B – 1973. Inducted in 2015.
“Higher Ground” was the first single from Wonder’s 1973 hit album, “Innervisions”. He had recorded the song shortly before he was involved in a near-fatal accident in August of 1973 that left him in a coma. Early in his recovery, Wonder’s road manager Ira Tucker sang the song’s melody into the singer’s ear; Wonder responded by moving his fingers with the music and eventually playing the clavinet in the hospital. Strangely enough, the song’s lyrics address the issue of reincarnation.
“Innervisions” was released just three days before the accident. It was the third album since fully becoming his own man at Motown and taking over the production of his music. While Wonder was in recovery, his funk single, “Higher Ground” raced up the charts. Via overdubs, Stevie Wonder played all the instruments on the song. The unique wah-clavinet sound in the recording was achieved with a Mu-tron III envelope filter pedal. The bass line was provided by a Moog synthesizer.
In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine selected “Higher Ground” as one of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Wonder’s “Innervisions” album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.
Watch a live performance of "Higher Ground" by Stevie Wonder from 1974 at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XV1DK9tSHio
94. “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” (G. Goffin, C. King, J. Wexler) – Aretha Franklin; Atlantic label, # 8 Billboard Hot 100, # 2 Billboard R&B – 1967. Inducted in 2015.
Aretha Franklin’s fourth consecutive hit single on Atlantic Records was written by the crack songwriting team of Carole King and Gerry Goffin but was inspired by Franklin’s producer, Jerry Wexler. Wexler was a student of African-American musical culture and had been mulling over the concept of the “natural man” when he drove by King on the streets of New York City. In his autobiography he claims to have shouted out to her that he wanted a “natural woman” song for Aretha Franklin’s next album. In thanks for giving them the idea for what became a big hit, Goffin and King granted Wexler a co-writing credit.
“A Natural Woman” was the first single released from Franklin’s classic “Lady Soul” album from 1967. Aretha performed the song in a strong gospel style with able backing by the Sweet Inspirations, but Wexler’s use of strings and warm brass accents kept the song in the gospel-pop vein, thereby insuring crossover appeal.
In 1971, Carole King recorded a stripped-down and very different rendering of “A Natural Woman” on her hit album, “Tapestry”. The Grammy Hall of Fame inducted Aretha Franklin’s version of “A Natural Woman” in 1999.
95. “Better Man Than I” (M. Hugg, B. Hugg) – Terry Knight & The Pack; Lucky Eleven label, # 125 Billboard Bubbling Under – 1966. Inducted in 2015.
Terry Knight & The Pack first heard “You’re A Better Man Than I” when they opened for The Yardbirds at the Flint IMA auditorium in December of 1965. The English band was riding a string of three consecutive Top 20 singles in the U.S. They had recently released their second LP, “Having A Rave Up With The Yardbirds” and “You’re A Better Man Than I” was the album’s first track. The song had been recorded at the Sam Phillips Studio in Memphis in September and Phillips himself engineered the session.
Being an anglophile of the first order, and discovering that the Yardbirds had no plans to release “You’re A Better Man Than I” as a single, Terry Knight booked the band into the Audio Recording Studio in Cleveland on Valentine’s Day in 1966 to produce a cover of the song for their Lucky Eleven label out of Flint.
Released as “Better Man Than I”, the 45 became the first regional hit for Terry Knight & The Pack. It reached # 1 on Flint’s WTRX the week of March 18, 1966 and it also moved into the Top Ten on radio stations in Detroit and Cleveland. Knight, being a former DJ, had several good radio connections that undoubtedly helped the song, but in the final analysis Terry Knight & The Pack recorded an admirable version and it spent three weeks in the upper reaches of the Billboard charts in April of 1966.
Listen to "Better Man Than I" at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsvY0M9U1QM
96. “Rock ‘N Roll” (L. Reed) – Detroit featuring Mitch Ryder; Paramount label, # 107 Billboard Bubbling Under – 1972. Inducted in 2015.
“Rock ‘N Roll” was written by Lou Reed and included on “Loaded”, his last studio album with the Velvet Underground. Mitch Ryder’s version of the song with his band Detroit was kicked off with a big guitar riff by Steve Hunter and prominent cowbell compliments of former Detroit Wheels’ drummer Johnny Badanjek. Lou Reed was impressed by the powerful performance and was quoted as saying that was how the song was supposed to sound. After Detroit broke up, Reed recruited Hunter to for his Rock N Roll Animal tour and two live albums.
Following a nasty parting of the ways with Bob Crewe, Mitch Ryder returned to Detroit and took on Barry Kramer, publisher of Creem magazine, as his manager. Kramer’s plan was to reunite the Detroit Wheels but he was only able to recruit Badanjek and guitarist Joey Kubert. The band then changed gears and morphed into Detroit but was plagued with numerous personnel changes, disagreements, and rampant drug abuse.
Somehow the band managed to produce an excellent album titled “Detroit”, but it fell through the cracks along with its two great singles, “Long Neck Goose” and especially the radio friendly “Rock ‘N Roll’. Despite sounding like a major hit, “Rock ‘N Roll” never found its audience and failed to reach the Hot 100, peaking at # 107 in early 1972.
Embittered by his experiences, Mitch Ryder would leave the music scene and head to Denver. There he worked a day job for five years while working on his songwriting skills at night before returning to Detroit and resuming his music career.
Listen to "Rock 'N Roll" at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mag6jxiHXXk
97. “Bad Time” (M. Farner) – Grand Funk; Capitol label, # 4 Billboard Hot 100 – 1975. Inducted in 2015.
Grand Funk’s last big single, “Bad Time”, came from a particularly painful chapter in Mark Farner’s life. According to his biography, From Grand Funk To Grace, Farner and his girlfriend of several years, Cheri Chestnut, had been going through a breakup after he had discovered that she had been unfaithful while he was away of tour.
Following Chestnut’s attempted suicide, Farner’s family intervened and convinced him to forgive her. The couple then decided to marry in November of 1972 while in Fort Worth, Texas. Things seemed to go smoothly for a while, but after Farner learned of her continued infidelities, he started to take full advantage of the available females that were constantly surrounding the members of Grand Funk on the road.
His own indiscretions made it easier for Farner to seek a divorce from his wife in 1974. While she sat crying in the kitchen, Farner sat at the piano in the living room of their home and composed what become the hit song “Bad Time”.
The song became the second single released from Grand Funk’s ninth studio album, “All the Girls in the World Beware!!!”. The LP was produced by Jimmy Ienner, who had previously worked with three Dog Night, the Raspberries, and the Bay City Rollers. Sounding more pop than most of their previous releases, “Bad Time” became the band’s fourth single to reach the Top Ten, but it was also Grand Funk’s last Top 40 hit in the U.S.
Listen to "Bad Time" at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Exn11k4HOG0
98. “Mainstreet” (B.Seger) – Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band; Capitol label, # 24 Billboard Hot 100 – 1977. Inducted in 2015.
“Mainstreet” was the second 45 released from Seger’s hit album, “Night Moves”. It marked the first time that Seger released a ballad as the a-side of one of his singles; and like the album’s title track, which was his first Top Ten hit, “Mainstreet” was based on places and events in his early life.
Seger has stated that the street he was singing about was Ann Street, just off Main Street in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he grew up. There was a pool hall on Ann where they had girls dancing in the window and R&B bands playing on the weekends.
In a 1994 interview in the Detroit Free Press, Seger spoke about the song “Mainstreet” with writer Gary Graff: “Again, that’s going back to the “Night Moves” situation where I was writing about my high school years in Ann Arbor and what it was like – the discovery, the total naivete and fresh-faced openness that I went through. It was sort of an entire awakening of my life; before that, I was kind of a quiet, lonesome kid.”
Listen to a live performance of "Mainstreet" from 1977 at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fA764ch0rBk
99. “No More Mr. Nice Guy” (A. Cooper, M. Bruce) – Alice Cooper; Warner Bros. label, # 25 Billboard Hot 100 – 1973. Inducted in 2015.
The third charting single from Alice Cooper’s # 1 album, “Billion Dollar Babies”, was built around The Who’s song “Substitute”. In the CD booklet for “The Best Of Alice Cooper”, Cooper recalled: “The funny part of this song was that we had all of this horrific publicity, and then we came out and declared, ‘All right, everyone…now it’s no more Mr. Nice Guy time. The gloves are off.’ People were going, ‘Huh?!? What? Now they’re going to get worse?!?’ Also, I wrote the lyrics out of anger because of how my parents were treated by some of the press. It was particularly hard because of my dad being a minister. Fact is, my parents were the only ones who knew I was a nice guy.”
Strangely enough, “No More Mr. Nice Guy” was a bigger hit in Great Britain, reaching # 10, than in the U.S. where it peaked at # 25.
The song has had an interesting history over the years. “No More Mr. Nice Guy” was played in the classic stoner film Dazed and Confused. The scene from the movie was later parodied on the Family Guy TV show in the episode titled Jungle Love.
“No More Mr. Nice Guy” was later re-recorded by Alice Cooper and used in the video game Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock and also used in The Simpsons’ episode Love Is A Many Strangled Thing. In addition, Cooper made a cameo appearance while performing the song in the film adaptation of the TV series Dark Shadows.
Listen to "No More Mr. Nice Guy" at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyCAZOGjYD0
100. “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” (B. Holland, L. Dozier, E. Holland) – The Supremes; Motown label, # 1 Billboard Hot 100, # 1 Billboard R&B – 1966. Inducted in 2015.
No singing group was hotter than The Supremes in 1966. “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” became the trio’s eighth # 1 single when it topped the charts for two week in November. The song’s signature guitar part originated from a Morse code-like radio sound effect, typically used before a news announcement, which caught Lamont Dozier’s ear. He later collaborated with Brian and Eddie Holland to integrate the idea into a song.
Many elements of the recording, including the guitars, the drums, and Diana Ross, Mary Wilson, and Florence Ballard’s vocals were multitracked, a production technique that was established and popularized by Holland-Dozier-Holland and other premier producers of the 1960s. H-D-H recorded “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” in eight sessions with The Supremes and The Funk Brothers before settling on a version deemed suitable for release.
“You Keep Me Hangin’ On” was the first single taken from the Supremes’ album “The Supremes Sing Holland-Dozier-Holland”. The song was selected as one of Rolling Stone magazine’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. In 1999, “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” by The Supremes was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Listen to "You Keep Me Hangin' On" at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phhwkbD1E2c
101. “Boom Boom” (J. Hooker) - John Lee Hooker; Vee Jay label, # 60 Billboard Hot 100, # 16 Billboard R&B – 1962. Inducted in 2016.
Hooker wrote “Boom Boom” during an extended engagement at the Apex Bar in Detroit in 1961. He was always a little tardy for his performances and got the idea for the song from the female bartender at the Apex who would say to him “Boom boom – you late again” on a nightly basis.
Although Hooker was primarily a solo performer or accompanied by only a second guitarist on his early recordings, he often recorded with a small band while on the Vee Jay label. On “Boom Boom”, Hooker used several of Motown’s Funk Brothers including pianist Joe Hunter, bassist James Jamerson, drummer Benny Benjamin, and sax players Hank Crosby and Andrew “Mike” Terry.
“Boom Boom” was John Lee Hooker’s only Hot 100 hit. In 1965, The Animals also charted with their cover of the song.
Watch a 1960's John Lee Hooker televison performance of "Boom Boom" at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WS7_e9LdvDI
102. “Respect” (O. Redding) – The Rationals: Cameo label, # 92 Billboard Hot 100 – 1966. Inducted in 2016.
Otis Redding had a # 4 R&B hit with his composition of “Respect” in 1965. The Rationals’ version was issued in 1966, about a year before Aretha Franklin’s. The band given the song by their manager “Jeep” Holland and it was initially released on Holland’s A-Square label before he signed a deal for the Rationals with Cameo.
According to lead singer Scott Morgan, they worked out their version of “Respect” on the stage of Mother’s teen club in East Tawas. Holland did the arrangement on the recording which was produced by Les Cooley, and it was Holland’s idea for the instantly recognizable note at the beginning. Being from the Detroit area, the band grew up on Motown and R&B music came easily to them. The Rationals took just three tries in the studio to capture their classic version.
Shortly after the band was signed to Cameo, the Rationals broke big in Detroit at the ALSAC leukemia. Jerry Wexler wanted the band to sign with Atlantic but Jeep Holland couldn’t give up his control of the band’s recordings. It’s said that Wexler suggested that Aretha Franklin record “Respect” after hearing the Rationals’ version of the song.
Watch The Rationals perform "Respect" on television in 1966: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW9DDIfmDUk
103. “Jenny Take A Ride” (Crewe/Johnson/Penniman) – Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels; New Voice label, # 10 Billboard Hot 100 – 1966. Inducted in 2016.
Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels’ third single welded Chuck Willis’ “C. C. Rider” to Little Richard’s “Jenny, Jenny” and was the first of seven high energy chart hits by the group.
The group first came together in 1964 in Detroit as Billy Lee & The Rivieras with lead singer Billy Levise, lead guitarist Jim McCarty, drummer John Badanjek, bassist Earl Elliott, and rhythm guitarist Joey Kubert. By mid-summer they had attracted a fanatical local following. The band’s live performances were so potent that the unrecorded group was soon headlining over major Motown artists at clubs and casinos in the Detroit area.
The band changed its name to Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels after signing with Bob Crewe’s New Voice label. What followed was a wild two-year ride through the star-making machinery of the record industry that brought them fame but not fortune and tore the group apart in the process.
Watch Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels perform "Jenny Take A Ride" on Hullabaloo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrOvQ9JAf3g&list=RDTrOvQ9JAf3g
104. “Black Sheep” (SRC) – SRC; Capitol label. Did not chart nationally – 1968. Inducted in 2016.
SRC first came together under the guidance of Jeep Holland when Scott Richardson, lead singer of the Chosen Few, joined forces with Gary and Glenn Quackenbush, E.G. Clawson, Steve Lyman, and Robin Dale of The Fugitives to form a new band called the Scot Richard Case.
The band shortened its name to SRC after it left Holland and his A-Square label to sign with Capitol Records in 1968. “Black Sheep” was the single taken from the band’s self-titled debut album on Capitol, and it was a sterling example of SRC’s approach of combining poetry, Eastern philosophy, psychedelics, and a deep spiritual questing in a unique and heavy style of Motor City rock.
“Black Sheep” is in many ways the ultimate SRC song, featuring the doomy organ passages of Glenn Quackenbush, brother Gary’s sustained guitar notes, E.G. Clawson’s pounding drumbeats, and Scott Richardson’s yearning vocals. Although the song got a great deal of airplay in Michigan, it failed to chart nationally.
SRC was one of Michigan’s most popular and distinctive bands from 1967-1970. Although the group’s first two LPs made the Billboard album chart, they were never able to come up with the hit single that would have broken them nationally.
Listen to "Black Sheep" at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUrLjD33Vyo
105. “Reach Out I’ll Be There” (Holland-Dozier-Holland) – The Four Tops; Motown label. # 1 Billboard Hot 100, # 1 Billboard R&B – 1966. Inducted in 2016.
The Four Tops’ biggest hit of 1966 was written and produced by Motown’s top production team of Holland-Dozier-Holland. According to the Tops’ Duke Fakir, the trio realized that when lead singer Levi Stubbs hit the top of his vocal range, it sounded like someone hurting, so H-D-H liked him to sing up there so that you could hear the tears in his voice.
Stubbs delivered many of the lines in a tone that straddled the line between singing and shouting. The song features a dramatic, semi-operatic tension and release and contains a rock-solid groove compliments of the Funk Brothers.
“Reach Out I’ll Be There” is one of the most-well-known Motown songs of the 60s and is today considered to be the Four Tops’ signature song. It was # 1 on the Hot 100 for two weeks in October until it was replaced by “96 Tears” by ? and The Mysterians.
It also reached # 1 on the British charts in 1966 where it stayed for three weeks. At the time, it was only the second Motown song to reach # 1 in Great Britain.
Watch the Four Tops perform "Reach Out I'll Be There" at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c56Sj7kMbLk
106. “City Slang” (F. Smith) – Sonic’s Rendezvous Band; Orchide label. Did not chart nationally 1978. Inducted in 2016.
Formed in Ann Arbor in 1975, Sonic’s Rendezvous Band was an all-star hard rock group formed out of the ashes of four great Michigan bands. Fred Smith was formerly of the MC5, Scott Morgan came from The Rationals, Scott Asheton the drummer for The Stooges and Gary Rasmussen played bass in The Up.
Despite their stellar lineup, the band remained virtually unknown outside of Michigan and only released one single during its career. Because they lacked finances, the band only had enough money to mix one song, “City Slang”, so it was pressed on both sides of the single (one side in stereo, one in mono).
Detroit’s Metro Times listed “City Slang” as one of Detroit’s 100 Greatest Songs a few years back. It’s music critic stated, “Living up to Smith’s nickname, ‘City Slang’ was a guitar-powered sonic assault, an anthem that reflected the Detroit notion of a guitar army. There was no promotion and the band barely ventured out of the state, but ‘City Slang’ reached international classic status totally via word-of-mouth.”
Listen to "City Slang" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtqTAvv2kDA
107. “Roll Me Away” (B. Seger) – Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band; Capitol label. # 27 Billboard Hot 100 – 1983. Inducted in 2016.
“Roll Me Away” was the third single issued from Seger’s 1983 album, “The Distance”. Seger said to Gary Graff of the Detroit Free Press that the song was written about a motorcycle trip he took to Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Seger told Graff: “I wanted to do that for a long time. It was fascinating being out. The first night it was 42 degrees in Northern Minnesota; the second day it was 106 degrees in South Dakota and all I had was my shorts, and my feet were up on the handlebars to keep them from boiling on the engine. It was just silence and feeling nature.”
The song has been used in several motion pictures. “Roll Me Away” is featured on the Armageddon soundtrack. In addition, the song is played in its entirety in the final scene and closing credits of the film Mask starring Cher and Eric Stoltz. It was also the closing song in the 1984 film Reckless, as Aidan Quinn and Darryl Hannah drive off on a motorcycle.
Watch a live performance of "Roll Me Away" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEBwq4A1wsU
108. “Farmer John” (D. Harris, D. Terry) – The Tidal Waves; HBR label. # 123 on Billboard in 1966. Inducted in 2016.
The Tidal Waves formed in Roseville, Michigan in 1964, inspired by The Beatles’ appearances on Ed Sullivan. Their first single, “Farmer John” was released on the Detroit-based SVR label in early 1966 before being picked up for national distribution by the Hanna-Barbera Records (HBR). “Farmer John” was a huge hit in Michigan but did not do as well nationally. The Tidal Waves’ version charted at # 123 on Billboard but did much better on the Cashbox chart, peaking at # 79.
“Farmer John” was written and recorded in the late 1950s by the duo of Don & Dewey on Specialty Records. It did not become a hit, however, until 1964 when it was covered by The Premiers, a Hispanic rock group from California and reached # 19 on the Hot 100.
The Tidal Waves recorded two more singles after “Farmer John”, including the garage band classic “Action! (Speaks Louder Than Words)” before disbanding in 1967 over issues regarding the group’s royalties from their record sales.
Listen to "Farmer John" by the Tidal Waves at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWtvv6mQNLA
109. “Mind Over Matter (I’m Gonna Make You Mine)” (D. Brown) – Nolan Strong; Fortune label. # 112 Billboard – 1962. Inducted in 2016.
The Diablos with lead singer Nolan Strong was one of Detroit’s most successful early vocal groups. The group’s classic 1954 recording of “The Wind” would have probably been a national R&B hit were it not for the spotty distribution of the tiny Fortune label.
According to author David A. Carson, “In 1962 Fortune owner Devora Brown wrote a song expressly for Nolan Strong. Although only his name appeared on the label, the Diablos backed him up. ‘Mind Over Matter’ was an irresistible midtempo dance record full of sudden stops, starts, and vocal acrobatics, as Nolan sang about putting a hex on his girl to win her love.”
“Mind Over Matter” quickly shot to # 1 on the Detroit charts. Sheldon Brown, Devora’s son, remembered that Berry Gordy was not pleased with Fortune suddenly having a # 1 record in his backyard. “Berry Gordy thought it was such a great record that he took the guys in the Temptations and they recorded a version of ‘Mind Over Matter’ as the Pirates for Motown, but Nolan Strong had the bigger hit.”
Listen to "Mind Over Matter" by Nolan Strong at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGko6th_7ko
110. “True Blue” (Madonna, Steve Bray) – Madonna; Sire label. # 3 Billboard Hot 100 – 1986. Inducted in 2016.
“True Blue”, the title track of Madonna’s 1986 album, was the third of five hit singles released from the record. The song is a tribute to the girl groups, including those on Motown, that were popular when Madonna was growing up in Michigan and were a direct influence of her music.
According to Madonna, “True Blue” took its title from a favorite expression of her then husband Sean Penn and his very pure vision of love and was a direct tribute to him. When interviewed later, following her divorce for Penn, Madonna said of “True Blue”: “It’s a song about love. I didn’t know what I was talking about when I wrote it.”
Madonna’s video for “True Blue” was shot in the fall of 1986 in New York and was directed by James Foley who has also done the videos for “Papa Don’t Preach” and “Live To Tell”. Foley’s charming retro video features Madonna and three dancers and a 50s car in an all-blue diner. Madonna performs the song in choreographed moves backed her dancers in a direct tribute to the rock and roll culture of the 1950’s.
Watch Madonna's "True Blue" video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_U0vsmn2G3w
| Wilson Pickett |
What was Manchester United football club's original name? | Michigan Rock and Roll Legends - Legendary Michigan Songs
Legendary Michigan Songs
Category: Uncategorised
These 110 vinyl recordings have been voted Legendary Michigan Songs during the past ten years. Each listing contains a brief song history as well as a link to a youtube video that features a performance of the recording. Ten more songs will be added to the list in 2017.
01. "Runaway" (D. Shannon, M. Crook) - Del Shannon; Big Top label, # 1 Billboard Hot 100, # 3 Billboard R&B - 1961. Inducted in 2007.
Del's biggest hit was the result of a jam with keyboard player Max Crook at the Hi-Lo nightclub in Battle Creek, Michigan. The chord changes were loosely based on a song called "Kaw-Liga", written by Hank Williams - one of Del's early influences when he was growing up in Coopersville, Michigan.
The distinctive solo on "Runaway" is played on a musitron, an electronic keyboard invented by Max Crook. "Runaway" was on the charts for 17 weeks and was Billboard's Song of the Year for 1961. Shannon released a "live" version of "Runaway" in 1967 but it was only a minor hit.
In 1986, Del re-recorded "Runaway" with new lyrics for use as the theme for the television drama Crime Story. Shannon's original recording of "Runaway" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2002.
"Runaway" has been covered by numerous artists over the years including the Small Faces, Bonnie Raitt, the Shirelles, and Elvis Presley.
Watch Del perform "Runaway" on David Letterman at http://youtu.be/nSkV9pdzLgo
02. "Rock Around The Clock" (M. Freedman, J. Myers) - Bill Haley And His Comets; Decca label, # 1 Billboard Hot 100, # 3 Billboard R&B - 1955. Inducted in 2007.
Bill Haley's biggest hit didn't sell when it was first issued in 1954 as the b-side of "Thirteen Women (And Only One Man In Town)". "Rock Around The Clock" was re-released as the a-side the following year, however, after it was used on the soundtrack of Blackboard Jungle, a movie about high school juvenile delinquents. It became the first rock and roll song ever to reach # 1 in the summer of 1955. "Rock Around The Clock" also had the distinction of becoming a Top 40 hit again in 1974 due to its use as the original opening theme of TV's Happy Days.
Haley, who was born in Highland Park, Michigan, was a featured performer in two early rock and roll movies (Rock Around The Clock and Don't Knock The Rock).
In 1957, Haley and the Comets became the first American rock and roll act to tour England. Bill Haley was even more popular in Great Britain than in the United States, and "Rock Around The Clock" re-entered the British charts seven times from 1955 through 1974.
"Rock Around The Clock" was the first rock and roll recording to be honored with induction into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1982.
Watch slides from the hit film American Graffiti and hear Bill Haley And His Comets perform the original version of "Rock Around The Clock" at www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ud_JZcC0tHI&feature=related
03. "Respect" (O. Redding) - Aretha Franklin; Atlantic label, # 1 Billboard Hot 100, # 1 Billboard R&B - 1967. Inducted in 2007.
Both Otis Redding, who wrote the song, and Michigan's Rationals had charting hits with "Respect" prior to Aretha. Franklin's version, however, became one of the greatest soul recordings of all time.
Her powerful, gospel-trained voice turned "Respect" into both a feminist call to action and an appeal for civil rights. The "sock-it-to me's" from the backing singers as well the clever spelling of the song's title in her vocal performance also helped Aretha claim the song as her own.
"Respect" was Aretha's first # 1 hit on the Hot 100, and it spent 8 weeks at the top of Billboard's R&B Chart while serving to establish her as the "Queen of Soul".
Aretha's version of "Respect" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998. The song was # 5 on Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and was also listed as part of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.
Watch a collage of Aretha performing her original version of "Respect" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FOUqQt3Kg0&list=RD6FOUqQt3Kg0
04. "96 Tears" (R. Martinez) - ? And The Mysterians; Pa-Go-Go and Cameo labels, # 1 Billboard Hot 100 - 1966. Inducted in 2007.
"96 Tears" was recorded at the Art Schiell Recording Studio located at the rear of Schiell's home on Raymond Street in Bay
City, Michigan. The melody grew out of a jam session between guitarist Bobby Balderrama and keyboard player Frank Rodriguez in the Rodriguez family basement built around a song idea that Rudy (?) Martinez had with the working title of "Too Many Teardrops".
Drummer Eddie Serrato suggested the title "69 Tears"; but the band wisely decided to reverse the numbers to avoid the sexual connotation and increase the chances of radio airplay. Originally released on the small Pa-Go-Go label, it was picked up for national distribution by Cameo Records.
"96 Tears" and "Hanky Panky" are the only garage rock singles to ever reach # 1 on Billboard's Hot 100. Driven by the instantly identifiable organ riffs of Frankie Rodriguez and ?'s compelling vocal, "96 Tears" has been recognized by both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Rolling Stone magazine as one of the 500 greatest rock and roll songs of all time.
Because "96 Tears" was recorded in the Schiell Recording Studio, it was proclaimed 'Bay City's Official Rock and Roll Song' by Mayor Chris Shannon on August 14, 2014.
Watch a new MRRL slide show video featuring rare photos of ? And The Mysterians' along with the original 1966 recording of "96 Tears"at
05. "Do You Love Me" (B. Gordy) - Contours; Gordy label, # 1 Billboard R&B, # 3 Billboard Hot 100 - 1962. Inducted in 2007.
Berry Gordy Jr. wrote "Do You Love Me" for the Temptations, but when they were unavailable, the song was passed to the Contours. The Contours might never have been signed to Motown if Jackie Wilson had not phoned Berry Gordy on their behalf. Wilson's cousin, Hubert Johnson, was a member of the group and Gordy changed his mind about the Contours as a result of the call.
"Do You Love Me" would become the Contours only Top Ten hit, although they did chart seven more singles in the Hot 100. "Do You Love Me" also spent three weeks at # 1 on the R&B chart in 1962.
The original version of the song became a big hit all over again in 1988 after it was featured in the soundtrack of the hit movie Dirty Dancing.
Listen to the original recording of "Do You Love Me" by the Contours in a video from the film Dirty Dancing at www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRVMTX-PDyw
06. "My Girl" (W. Robinson, R. White) - The Temptations; Gordy label, # 1 Billboard Hot 100, # 1 Billboard R&B - 1965. Inducted in 2007.
The first three hits that Smokey Robinson wrote for the Temptations featured Eddie Kendricks as the lead singer.
Robinson wrote "My Girl", along with fellow Miracle Ronnie White, with David Ruffin's vocal specifically in mind.
The song came together when the Miracles and Temptations were on the same week-long bill at the Apollo in New York City. In between shows, Smokey dragged Ruffin down to the piano and showed him the song, which was kind of a follow-up to "My Guy", his hit for Mary Wells.
The Temptations recorded the classic tune when they returned to Detroit. "My Girl" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998.
Watch the classic Temptations line-up perform "My Girl" during the 60's at www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltRwmgYEUr8
07. "Night Moves" (B. Seger) - Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band; Capitol label, # 4 Billboard Hot 100 - 1977. Inducted in 2007.
Seger's most famous composition was about the freedom and looseness we feel when we're young, and how it can be lost as we grow older. "Night Moves" evokes memories of growing up in Michigan in the 60's with grassers in farm fields and young lovers parking in deserted rural areas. The song was loosely based on real events in Bob's life.
After eleven years of being a popular regional act, "Night Moves" provided Seger with his first national Top Ten hit. The song became the springboard to a series of memorable singles and albums that established him as a major force in rock music.
The photograph of Seger that graces the cover of his "Night Moves" album was shot by Tom Bert, the first honorary inductee to the MRRL online Hall of Fame.
Watch Bob Seger's great video for "Night Moves" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgOA24hAe60
08. "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" (N. Whitfield, B. Strong) - Marvin Gaye; Tamla label, # 1 Billboard Hot 100, # 1 Billboard R&B - 1968. Inducted in 2007.
Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong wrote "I Heard It Through The Grapevine",
and Whitfield produced it with Marvin Gaye in early 1967. Berry Gordy rejected the song, however, and released Gaye's "Your Unchanging Love" instead.
Whitfield then re-recorded a different version of "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" with Gladys Knight & The Pips, and it was a # 2 Pop hit in the fall of 1967.
Despite having that hit, Whitfield kept bugging Berry Gordy to release Marvin's version, and he finally did in the fall of 1968. Gaye's "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" spent 7 weeks at # 1 on both the Pop and R&B charts, and it turned out to be Motown's biggest-selling single of the 1960's.
Marvin's version of "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998.
Watch Marvin's live performance of "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" at http://youtu.be/Y7dGdrP3pms
09. "Mustang Sally" (M. Rice) - Wilson Pickett; Atlantic label, # 1 Billboard R&B, # 23 Billboard Hot 100 - 1966. Inducted in 2007.
"Mustang Sally" was written and originally recorded by Sir Mack Rice in 1965 on the Blue Rock label.
Rice had a # 15 R&B hit with the song. Sir Mack and Wilson Pickett had sung together from 1961 to 1963 in the Detroit vocal group, the Falcons, before pursuing solo careers.
When Wilson was looking for a follow-up to his 1966 hit single, "Land Of 1,000 Dances", he recorded a cover of "Mustang Sally".
Pickett's version was recorded at the Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and produced by Jerry Wexler. "Mustang Sally" was also a substantial R&B hit for Wilson, spending 12 weeks on the chart and peaking at # 6.
Wilson Pickett's version of "Mustang Sally" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2000.
Watch Wilson's live performance of "Mustang Sally" in the 60's at www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfuHgzu1Cjg
10. "What's Going On" (A. Cleveland, R. Benson, M. Gaye) - Marvin Gaye; Tamla label, # 1 Billboard R&B, # 2 Billboard Hot 100 - 1971. Inducted in 2007.
The title song from Marvin Gaye's greatest album was written from the point of view of his brother Frankie, a Vietnam veteran sickened by an unjust war and returning to the confusion of American life in the late 60's.
Although written from a black man's point of view, "What's Going On" also displays Marvin's identification with the era's hippies who he admired for having the guts to stand up to the establishment.
Because it was so unlike Gaye's previous hits, Berry Gordy was at first reluctant to release it. As the lead song from the "What's Going On" album, it began the transformation of Marvin Gaye into an artist whose albums were just as important as his singles, maybe more so.
Marvin Gaye's groundbreaking "What's Going On" album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998.
Watch Marvin's performance of "What's Going On" along with a spoken introduction at www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4xQ6StnIFg
11. "Journey To The Center Of The Mind" (S. Farmer, T. Nugent) - The Amboy Dukes; Mainstream label, # 16 Billboard Hot 100 - 1968. Inducted in 2008.
Led by the howling guitar of Ted Nugent, the Amboy Dukes set the bar for high-energy Michigan rock and roll.
"Journey To The Center Of The Mind" blasted out of car radios across the land to help define the psychedelic movement during the summer of 1968. But the two co-writers of the song, Ted Nugent and Steve Farmer, couldn't have been more different.
Nugent claims to have never done a drug in his life, and that he didn't even drink or smoke cigarettes. He described Farmer, the other main creative force in the Amboy Dukes, as a brilliant thinker who was often "so high and so irresponsible you couldn't get from point A to point B with him."
This creative odd couple kept it together for three albums and a handful of singles before the original Amboy Dukes disintegrated. "Journey To The Center Of The Mind" would be their only significant hit.
Watch a 1968 performance of "Journey To The Center Of The Mind" by the Amboy Dukes at www.youtube.com/watch?v=UN2VNFpiGWo
12. "Kick Out The Jams" (R. Tyner, W. Kramer, F. Smith, M. Davis, D. Thompson) - The MC5; Elektra label, # 82 Billboard Hot 100 - 1969. Inducted in 2008.
With the release of the MC5's "Kick Out The Jams" album, recorded live at Detroit's Grande Ballroom, Elektra Records became the first major company to issue a rock and roll recording containing the dreaded "F-bomb".
In order to get "Kick Out The Jams" played on Top 40 radio stations, the MC5 had recorded a different version of the song on the 45 rpm single which substituted "Brothers and Sisters" for the offensive expletive. The single was a major hit in the Detroit area, and showing signs of doing the same nationally, when Elektra released the album with the uncensored version.
The wave of controversy from the release resulted in the record being banned in many stores and radio stations. Some clerks who sold the album in record stores were arrested on obscenity charges.
The censorship issues and radical politics swirling around the MC5 unfortunately obscured the fact that they were a great band, and "Kick Out The Jams" would be their only charting record.
Watch a 1972 performance of "Kick Out The Jams" by the MC5 at http://youtu.be/8XhQRFO4M7A
13. "Eighteen" (A. Cooper, M. Bruce, G. Buxton, D. Dunaway, N. Smith) - Alice Cooper; Warner label, # 21 Billboard Hot 100 - 1971. Inducted in 2008.
Dismissed as "the worst band in L.A." when they were based in California, things changed completely when the group moved to lead singer Alice Cooper's hometown of Detroit and started recording with producer Bob Ezrin.
The hit single "Eighteen" addressed the awkwardness and uncertainty of teenagers moving into adulthood, and it was the band's first collaboration with Ezrin.
Spending 13 weeks in the Hot 100 and driven by guitars, harmonica, and a great vocal; "Eighteen" was Alice Cooper's first commercial success.
Supported with an outrageous stage show featuring snakes, beheadings, and other assorted acts of feigned mayhem, the Alice Cooper band's partnership with Ezrin resulted in 9 more hit singles and 5 Top 40 albums before the original group broke up in 1974.
Watch a live, in-color performance of "Eighteen" by the original Alice Cooper band at www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXZcJojTucg
14. "Little Boy Blue" (T. Slocum) - Tonto And The Renegades; Sound of the Sceen label, Did not chart nationally - 1967. Inducted in 2008.
The band formed in the city of Grand Ledge, Michigan, located west of Lansing. Tonto And The Renegades was originally a quartet composed of Tom Kirby, Terry Slocum, Bill Ford, and Gary Richey. "Tonto" was Richey's nickname.
They were the house band at a popular teen club in the area called 'The Sceen'.
The owner of the club financed their single, which was recorded at the Great Lakes Recording Studio (a.k.a. Fenton Studio) in Sparta, Michigan, and put it out on his own vanity label, 'Sound Of The Sceen'. By the time of the recording, the band had added keyboardist Jeff Keast to the line-up.
Slocum, who sang lead and played fuzz-tone guitar on the high octane tune, wrote "Little Boy Blue" about his girlfriend at the time. Inexplicably, Lansing-area AM radio stations pushed the single's b-side, "I Knew This Thing Would Happen", and it became a local hit for the band. Over the years, however, the far superior "Little Boy Blue" has grown in stature as one of Michigan's undiscovered garage rock classics.
Hear "Little Boy Blue" and see some vintage photos of Tonto & The Renegades at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkAjJhWCc3Y
15. "The Tracks Of My Tears" (W. Robinson, W. Moore, M. Tarplin) - The Miracles; Tamla label, # 2 Billboard R&B, # 16 Billboard Hot 100 - 1965. Inducted in 2008.
Marv Tarplin's classic lead guitar figure in the Miracles' "The Tracks Of My Tears" was inspired by his listening to Harry Belafonte's "The Banana Boat Song" at the wrong speed.
Smokey Robinson and Pete Smith co-wrote the song with Tarplin, and it is a perfect match for Smokey's impassioned vocal and the Miracles' smooth backing.
"The Tracks Of My Tears" spent 12 weeks in the Hot 100, and it was an even bigger R&B hit, peaking at # 2 and spending 18 weeks on that chart.
The song also spawned three hit cover versions by Johnny Rivers, Aretha Franklin, and Linda Ronstadt. Incredibly, Rivers' cover version in 1967 charted higher on the Hot 100 than the Miracles' original. It is the Miracles' original recording of "The Tracks Of My Tears", however, that was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2002.
Watch the Miracles perform "The Tracks Of My Tears" in 1965 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCwkZrj2VT4
16. "Dancing In The Street" (M. Gaye, M. Stevenson, I. Hunter) - Martha & The Vandellas; Gordy label, # 1 Billboard R&B, # 2 Billboard Hot 100 - 1964. Inducted in 2008.
Martha & The Vandellas' classic hit was written by Mickey Stevenson, Ivy Jo Hunter, and Marvin Gaye.
Stevenson, who discovered Martha Reeves for Motown, first offered the song to Kim Weston, who turned it down. Mickey then brought it to Martha and had her sing on a demo of "Dancing In The Street" with Stevenson, Hunter, and Gaye singing background.
Although Reeves didn't like the song at first, her recording of "Dancing In The Street" with the Vandellas became not only their biggest hit but also their signature song.
Released in the summer of 1964, it spent two weeks at # 2 on the Hot 100 and a total of fourteen weeks on the chart. "Dancing In The Street" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.
Watch Martha & The Vandellas perform "Dancing In The Street" in 1964 at www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdvITn5cAVc
17. "Keep Searchin' (We'll Follow The Sun)" (D. Shannon) - Del Shannon; Amy label, # 9 Billboard Hot 100 - 1965. Inducted in 2008.
Del recorded "Keep Searchin'" in 1964 at the height of 'Beatlemania' in the United States. Like almost all of his biggest hits, the song is an Del Shannon original.
Shannon, who was an inspiration to many of the British Invasion bands, used the same basic formula that he first employed on "Runaway" in 1961 - building tension and darkness by using minor chords before the song explodes into a major chord crescendo.
Featuring his trademark falsetto and a keyboard solo, "Keep Searchin'" spent fourteen weeks in the the Hot 100 (one more than "Runaway"), but it would be Shannon's last big hit single.
Del would go on to chart only four more songs before his untimely death in 1990.
Watch Del Shannon sing "Keep Searchin' (We'll Follow The Sun)" at www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNrni2UAlFI
18. "Who Do You Love" (E. McDaniel) - The Woolies; Dunhill/ABC label, # 95 Billboard Hot 100 - 1967. Inducted in 2008.
The Woolies' fabulous cover of Bo Diddley's "Who Do You Love" was the band's only charting hit.
The original group was formed in Dearborn, Michigan. The story of how they got to make that recording is unusual.
The Woolies had won a "Best Band in the World" contest sponsored by Vox amplifiers. The first prize was advertised to be a recording contract. Although that never materialized, the band did get plane tickets to Los Angeles.
They took their demo recording of "Who Do You Love", recorded with Dave Kalmbach at the Great Lakes Recording Studio in Sparta, Michigan, and several other songs to a number of record companies in L.A.; and they managed to land a recording deal with Lou Adler at ABC-Dunhill.
Originally released as the b-side to "Hey Girl", it was "Who Do You Love" that became the big hit in Detroit and later spread across the nation. The new version of the song was recorded at United Western Studio 3, the same studio where the Beach Boys, Frank Sinatra, and the Mamas and the Papas produced some of their biggest hits. The Woolies flew Ron English to California from Lansing to play lead guitar, and he joined together with Bob and Jeff Baldori, "Bee" Metros, and Stormy Rice to record a classic Michigan garage rock single.
19. "We're An American Band" (D. Brewer) - Grand Funk; Capitol label, # 1 Billboard Hot 100 - 1973. Inducted in 2008.
Grand Funk's first # 1 single in the summer of 1973 marked the emergence of drummer Don Brewer as a lead singer and a songwriter for the group. "We're An American Band" spent 17 weeks on the Hot 100.
The song was a chronicle of a rock band on the road, and it was based on Grand Funk's own experiences. They did play poker with blues guitarist Freddie King, there were four young 'chichitas' in Omaha who did take care of them while they were in the city, and apparently "sweet, sweet Connie", the groupie with legendary oral skills, demonstrated her talents on the band members.
"We're An American Band" was the first of six consecutive Top Ten singles for Grand Funk, and the song quickly became the band's anthem.
Watch a 1974 live performance of "We're An American Band" by Grand Funk at www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMsIrKjSM6Y
20. "Money (That's What I Want)" (J. Bradford, B. Gordy) - Barrett Strong; Anna label, # 2 Billboard R&B, # 23 Billboard Hot 100 - 1960. Inducted in 2008.
"Money" was just the second hit issued on the fledgling Tamla label. It was written by Berry Gordy, Janie Bradford, and Barrett Strong late in 1959.
Because Gordy didn't have enough money at this time to distribute the record nationally, he released it on his sister Gwen's Anna label that had a national distribution deal with Chess Records in Chicago.
"Money" became a # 2 hit on the R&B chart as well as a # 23 hit on the Hot 100 early in 1960. As a result of its success, Berry Gordy soon took the plunge and began distributing his own records later that year.
Barrett Strong never really wanted to sing, however, and "Money" would be his only hit recording. Strong's real talents were as both a piano player and a songwriter. Barrett would go on to co-write many classic Motown hits during the 60's and 70's including "I Heard It Through The Grapevine", "War", and "Cloud Nine".
You can hear Barrett Strong's original version of "Money (That's What I Want)" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijEgfnJuirA
21. "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher And Higher" (G. Jackson, R. Miner, C. Smith) - Jackie Wilson; Brunswick label, # 6 Billboard Hot 100, # 1 Billboard R&B - 1967. Inducted in 2008.
In 1966, Jackie Wilson started recording with producer Carl Davis in Chicago.
"Higher And Higher" was their second hit single together, and it served to end a nearly three-year slump on the charts for Jackie.
The song was originally reorded by the Dells, but it was the perfect vehicle for Wilson's amazing vocal talents. Jackie's hit version was recorded with members of Motown's famous house band, the Funk Brothers. Bassist James Jamerson, guitarist Robert White, keyboardist Johnny Griffith, and drummer "Pistol" Allen all played on "Higher And Higher".
The song spent 12 weeks on the Hot 100 in the summer and early fall of 1967. Although he would continue to chart records into the 1970's, "Higher And Higher" would be Jackie Wilson's last # 1 R&B hit single. Jackie's original version of "Higher And Higher" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.
Watch Jackie Wilson performing "Higher And Higher" live at www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1odvp-_bhk
22. "Where You Gonna Go" (R. Mackavich, R. Stults) - The Unrelated Segments; Liberty label, Did not chart nationally - 1967. Inducted in 2008.
The members of the Unrelated Segments were from the downriver suburbs of Detroit: Taylor, Allen Park,
Melvindale, and Lincoln Park, respectively. The band name came from an economics term that one of the band members had heard during a class he was taking.
"Where You Gonna Go" was the driving follow-up single to their Detroit chart debut, the excellent "Story Of My Life". With its propulsive beat and compelling vocals, it's almost shocking that "Where You Gonna Go" was not a smash hit for the Unrelated Segments.
The record had the unfortunate luck of being released the same month as the Detroit race riots in the summer of 1967, however. In the turbulence and its aftermath, record sales in the Motor City suffered. That could be the only possible explanation as to why this quintessential slab of Michigan rock and roll did not break nationally.
Watch a "Where You Gonna Go" video that includes a tour of Detroit in the late 60's at www.youtube.com/watch?v=fF8Jv1mQp0U
23. "2 + 2 = ?" (B. Seger) - The Bob Seger System; Capitol label, Did not chart nationally - 1968. Inducted in 2008.
Bob Seger was signed to Capitol Records in 1968 mainly because of his songwriting ability. His first single for the label, "2 + 2 = ?", demonstrated that skill in spades.
Seger managed to perfectly articulate the feelings of young men facing the draft and the possibility of death in the jungles of Vietnam while fighting in what many of them felt was a corrupt and unjust war.
Released in April of 1968, "2 + 2 = ?" was the first and the greatest of the rock and roll anti-war songs. The record starts ominously with just Don Hornaker's bass and Seger's low vocal before putting the pedal to the metal and blasting into high gear.
The original version of the song had a dramatic five-second pause near the end. The 45 rpm single, however, inserted a guitar chord to cover it for AM radio stations intolerant of silence, no matter how dramatic it might be.
Listen to the 45 rpm single version of the incredible "2 + 2 = ?" and see a video collage of photos of Bob Seger from the late 60's at www.youtube.com/watch?v=l110qVhale0
24. "Devil With A Blue Dress On & Good Golly Miss Molly" (F. Long, M. Stevenson, J. Marascalco, R. Blackwell) - Mitch Ryder And The Detroit Wheels; New Voice label, # 4 Billboard Hot 100 - 1966. Inducted in 2008.
Mitch Ryder And The Detroit Wheels used the same approach on their biggest hit single as they did on their debut smash, "Jenny Take A Ride".
This time they combined Motown artist Shorty Long's "Devil With A Blue Dress On" with another Little Richard hit, "Good Golly Miss Molly".
Drummer John Badanjek shares the spotlight with Mitch Ryder on this great tune as his bass drum triggers the roll that kicks off the song and provides the ecstatic beat that literally compels you onto the dance floor.
"Devil With A Blue Dress On & Good Golly Miss Molly" spent 16 weeks in the Hot 100, but there would only be two more hits for Mitch Ryder And The Detroit Wheels, as Ryder's manager would soon jettison the Detroit Wheels and push Mitch into a solo career.
Watch a reunion performance by Mitch Ryder And The Detroit Wheels of "Devil With A Blue Dress On & Good Golly Miss Molly" at www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dd9qjHUyHQ&feature=related
25. "Hot Rod Lincoln" (C. Ryan, W. Stevenson) - Commander Cody And His Lost Planet Airmen; Paramount label, # 9 Billboard Hot 100 - 1972. Inducted in 2008.
Although they were sometimes called the first hippie country band, Commander Cody And His Lost Planet Airmen embraced a number of different styles as well, including rockabilly, western swing, boogie-woogie, and novelty tunes.
The band's biggest hit, "Hot Rod Lincoln", would probably fall into the latter category. The humorous song originally provided Top 40 hits for both Johnny Bond and Charlie Ryan in 1960.
When the band started out, Commander Cody (a.k.a. George Frayne) was not one of the main singers in the group. He performed "Hot Rod Lincoln" in a fast-talking style reminiscent of comedian and recording artist Phil Harris.
When the song became a surprise hit, the band's Paramount label as well as much of the record-buying public expected more vocals from the Commander. In a recent interview, Cody claims that the fact that the real singers in the group weren't getting any hits was a major reason for the original band breaking up in 1976.
Listen to the Commander and the original line-up of the band perform "Hot Rod Lincoln" at http://youtu.be/F9QpDvhshOQ
26. "Closer To Home/I'm Your Captain" (M. Farner) - Grand Funk Railroad; Capitol label, # 22 Billboard Hot 100 - 1970. Inducted in 2009.
Grand Funk Railroad's first Top 40 single came to Mark Farner in his sleep. He awoke with the words to "I'm Your Captain" in his head, and he had the presence of mind to write them down before falling back to sleep.
Mark had forgotten about them the next morning when he picked up his guitar and started strumming music that was different from his previous compositions. Farner then remembered the lyrics he wrote down the previous night, and a Grand Funk classic was born.
"I'm You Captain/Closer To Home" would be Terry Knight's finest production with the band. Inspired by the Moody Blues' recent use of orchestration on their recordings, Knight and the band brought in strings to enhance the drama and impact of the song.
Written during the Vietnam War, "I'm Your Captain/Closer To Home" also became something of an anthem to many servicemen and women involved in the conflict overseas.
Watch a live performance by Grand Funk Railroad of "Closer To Home/I'm Your Captain" from their legendary concert at Shea Stadium at www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyF5J7au1jE
27. "Shake, Rattle And Roll" (J. Stone) - Bill Haley And His Comets; Decca label, # 7 Billboard Hot 100 - 1954. Inducted in 2009.
"Shake, Rattle & Roll" was not only Bill Haley And His Comets' first Top Ten record, but it was also the first ever rock and roll record to reach that Billboard chart position.
Haley, who started out as a country singer, had been experimenting with R&B songs for a couple of years on the Essex label before signing with Decca Records in 1954.
His first record for the label, "Rock Around The Clock", failed to sell when it was first released in May of 1954, but its follow-up, "Shake, Rattle And Roll" helped make Bill Haley And His Comets the first big rock and roll stars.
The song was a cover of Big Joe Turner's original but with some of the more suggestive lyrics changed. Turner had a # 1 R&B hit with his version, and it also reached # 22 on the Hot 100, a remarkable feat for a black artist in 1954.
Listen to "Shake, Rattle And Roll" by Bill Haley And His Comets and see some vintage photos of Haley and the band at www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKl2FIesuOc
28. "Smokin' In The Boy's Room" (C. Koda, M. Lutz) - Brownsville Station; Big Tree label, # 3 Billboard Hot 100 - 1974. Inducted in 2009.
Michael Lutz and Cub Koda co-wrote the ode to an act of rebellion common to all high schools, and it became Brownsville Station's biggest hit in early 1974.
Koda reportedly got the idea for the song from his own experience with childhood friends of smoking cigarettes in the restroom of a local movie theatre in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He and Lutz then switched the setting to a high school.
The song was recorded quickly - the basic track was completed in just two hours. Michael Lutz remembered the session in an interview: "It was recorded the way it was written - fast, which is a good sign; it means we were comfortable with it. We knew we had a good song, but we didn't expect it to blow up the way it did".
"Smokin' In The Boy's Room" earned Brownsville Station its first Gold Record and helped blast off a tour that would see the band play 347 dates that year.
Watch a 1974 performance of "Smokin' In The Boy's Room" along with "Barefootin'" at www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxBbmoUdEac
29. "My Guy" (W. Robinson) - Mary Wells; Motown label, # 1 Billboard Hot 100 - 1964. Inducted in 2009.
Mary Wells was the first female star on the Motown label. Mary and writer/producer Smokey Robinson combined for seven Top 40 hits from 1962 to 1964. The last of these was "My Guy", Mary's only # 1 hit.
Smokey Robinson had a great deal of success writing songs for Wells that featured a calypso-based rhythm, amd "My Guy" fits into that general pattern.
Robinson adapted the opening notes of the song from "Canadian Sunset", a 1956 instrumental by Eddie Heywood, and the song is anchored by some incredible playing by the Funk Brothers' bassist, James Jamerson. The backing vocals on "My Guy" are by the Andantes who's "What you say?" responses are a perfect match with Mary's declarations of undying love.
"My Guy" was the first big Motown hit in England, and Mary Wells became the first Motown artist to perform there when she opened for the Beatles on their tour of the United Kingdom in 1964. Mary's recording of "My Guy" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.
Watch Mary perform "My Guy" on Shindig in 1964 at www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1M5eEJeT38
30. "School's Out" (A. Cooper, M. Bruce, G. Buxton, D. Dunaway, N. Smith) - Alice Cooper; Warner label, # 7 Billboard Hot 100 - 1972. Inducted in 2009.
"The two most intense and joyous times of the year are Christmas morning and the end of school. The few minutes waiting for that final school bell to ring are so intense that when it happens, it's almost orgasmic. I think we captured that feeling with this anthem, it was certainly our signature song." That was Alice Cooper describing his band's biggest hit.
"School's Out" was also the title cut of the band's third album with producer Bob Ezrin, and the first to employ a concept that loosely united its eight songs.
"School's Out" deals with teenage defiance by combining great guitar riffs with some amusing puns; "We've got not class, and we've got no principles", and ending the stanza with, "We can't even think of a word that rhymes".
The album cover of "School's Out" depicts a wooden desk cover with either the band members' names or their initials carved on it. The "desk" opens to find a slingshot, marbles, a pocket knife, a comic book, various school supplies, and the album credits in the form of a written test. "School's Out" was also the first Alice Cooper record to feature fellow Michigan legend Dick Wagner on guitar.
Watch Alice perform "School's Out" at a recent concert by clicking on www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbNEOJMGFAo&NR=18feature=fvwp
31. "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man" (B. Seger) - The Bob Seger System; Capitol label, # 17 Billboard Hot 100 - 1969. Inducted in 2009.
Seven seconds of Pep Perrine's pounding drums kick off "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man", the Bob Seger System's first Top 40 hit. The organ riff that also drives the song was not played by Seger, who was proficient on the instrument, but by keyboardist Bob Schultz who was a member of the band at the time of the recording.
Also sitting in on the session to sing backing vocals was Seger's friend and fellow Michigan artist, Glenn Frey.
"Ramblin' Gamblin' Man" was Bob's second single for his new label, Capitol Records. After the controversial "2 + 2 = ?" failed to chart nationally, "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man" justified Capitol's faith in the Bob Seger System by spending 14 weeks in the Hot 100.
The success of the single enabled the band to tour California for the first time, and it prompted Seger and Capitol to change the title of his first album from "Tales Of Lucy Blue" to "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man". The song would be a concert staple for Bob until the early 80's. He did not play it live again until his Face The Promise tour in the fall of 2006.
Watch the Bob Seger System perform "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man" on television in early 1969 at www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2aBOTNGWMY
32. "Let's Stay Together" (A. Green, W. Mitchell, A. Jackson) - Al Green; Hi label, # 1 Billboard Hot 100, # 1 Billboard R&B - 1972. Inducted in 2009.
"Let's Stay Together" established Al Green as a major soul music star.
The basic music track was put together by producer Willie Mitchell and Al Jackson. Jackson, who was the drummer for Booker T. & The MG's as well as Mitchell's session band, was an important collaborator on Al Green's early 70's recordings. Once the pair gave the music to Green, he completed the lyrics to "Let's Stay Together" in fifteen minutes.
Recording the track, however, was another matter entirely. Mitchell claims they spent over one hundred hours working on the song. The problem was that Mitchell felt that Green was trying to overpower the song. Willie said that he wanted Al to "let the the song happen, let it ooze out".
Mitchell's less is more approach with Green helped turn soul music in a new direction in the 1970's and moved it away from the shouting style of the 1960's. Green's "Let's Stay Together" was an even bigger R&B hit, spending nine weeks at # 1. In 1984, Tina Turner would begin her successful comeback with a hit cover version of "Let's Stay Together". Al Green's original recording of "Let's Stay Together" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.
Watch Al Green perform "Let's Stay Together" in 1972 at www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVzYxqG9N1c
33. "Hats Off To Larry" (D. Shannon) - Del Shannon; Big Top label, # 5 Billboard Hot 100 - 1961. Inducted in 2009.
"Hats Off To Larry" was Del Shannon's all-important follow-up single to his debut smash, "Runaway". As a result of "Runaway", Shannon had been added to a series of big rock and roll shows in the spring of 1961 at Brooklyn's Paramount Theatre, headlined by Jackie Wilson, Dion, and Bobby Vee. Del wrote "Hats Off To Larry" in his dressing room between shows in the presence of both Dion and Bobby Vee.
Shannon returned to New York on May 11th with keyboardist Max Crook and recorded the song in one day.
Released in June 1961, "Hats Off To Larry" was a big summer hit for Del, spending 13 weeks in the Hot 100. It was another song about a romantic break-up and sounded similar to "Runaway". Shannon once again employed his falsetto, only this time it was "Cry, cry, cry" rather than "Why, why, why".
"Hats Off To Larry" differed from its predecessor in some ways, however. The song starts slowly with a 13-second introduction before kicking into gear. Sax and piano play a lesser role on "Hats Off To Larry" than on "Runaway". Max Crook is again featured prominently throughout with keyboard flourishes at the line of each line and another musitron solo mid-song.
Both Runaway" and "Hats Off To Larry" established Del Shannon as a major star in England. Nine of his next ten singles charted higher in Great Britain than in the United States.
Watch Del perform "Hats Off To Larry" on an Australian television show in the 1980's at www.youtube.com/watch?v=0otse5mGmgU
34. "House Of The Rising Sun" (Traditional) - Frijid Pink; Parrot label, # 7 Billboard Hot 100 - 1970. Inducted in 2009.
Although Frijid Pink may not immediately come to mind when the subject of Detroit rock and roll is brought up,
the band had a bigger hit single and a bigger hit album than most of its better-known Motor City brethern. The band was formed in 1967, and they were originally called the Detroit Vibrations.
After changing their name to Frijid Pink, the band signed with Parrot Records in 1969. Following the release of two singles that were minor regional hits, Parrot to put out "House Of The Rising Sun" as a single on the advice of Paul Cannon, program director of Detroit's powerful radio station WKNR.
Frijid Pink's rousing, guitar-drenched version of the Animals' 1964 hit, "House Of The Rising Sun", was recorded in just one take and was at first considered just filler for their eponymous LP, "Frijid Pink". The song got such a strong response from both AM and FM radio, however, that it became the band's only Top Ten hit after Parrot released it as a single early in 1970.
"House Of The Rising Sun" was an even bigger smash for the band in Germany where it reached # 1 and stayed at the top of that country's chart for 11 weeks. It was also a hit in Canada at # 3 and in Great Britain, where it peaked at # 4. The presence of the song on their debut LP also helped push "Frijid Pink" to # 11 on the Billboard Pop Album chart.
Watch Frijid Pink perform "House Of The Rising Sun" on a television show in 1971 at www.youtube.com/watch?v=t40INnb6DnY
35. "What I Like About You" (W. Palmar, M. Skill, J. Marinos) - The Romantics; Nemperor label, # 49 Billboard Hot 100 - 1980. Inducted in 2009.
The Romantics (Wally Palmar, Mike Skill, Jimmy Marinos, and Rich Cole) formed in East Detroit in early 1977.
They were nfluenced by early Motor City rockers like Bob Seger & The Last Heard, the Underdogs, the Rationals, Mitch Ryder And The Detroit Wheels as well as the 60's British Invasion bands. The Romantics combined these sources into a modern high energy sound that didn't quite fit into either the 'punk rock' or 'new wave' categories.
The band signed with Nemperor Records in 1979 and recorded their debut album, "The Romantics", in just three weeks. The first single from the album was the impossibly catchy and hard-driving "What I Like About You". It became the Romantics' first hit single, peaking at # 49 in early 1980.
Strangely enough, the Romantics' gritty anthem of young romance has grown in popularity over the years due to its airplay on oldies radio and use in a variety of television commercials. In 2007, the band sued Guitar Heroes Encore: Rocks The 80's over a cover version of "What I Like About You" used in the game. The case was dismissed in 2008.
Watch the Romantics perform the original version of "What I Like About You" at http://youtu.be/Rqnw5IfbZOU
36. "Old Time Rock & Roll" (G. Jackson, T. Jones, B. Seger) - Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band; Capitol label, # 28 Billboard Hot 100 - 1979. Inducted in 2009.
"Old Time Rock & Roll" was the fouth single released from Bob Seger's "Stranger In Town" album. Although it was far from being one of his biggest hit singles, it has become one of Bob's most popular songs over the past thirty years.
"Old Time Rock & Roll" has been used effectively in both movies and television commercials. You cannot go to a wedding reception without the deejay playing the song, and it seems like every bar band on earth has got the song in its repertoire.
Years after its release, "Old Time Rock & Roll" was designated the 'most played jukebox song in history' by the Amusement Operators of America.
In an interview with the Detroit Free Press, Seger stated that the members of the Silver Bullet Band hated the song at first, but learned to accept it after it got great crowd reactions every time they played it live.
The song is not a Seger original, but Bob did rewrite some of the verses before recording it. He declined to take writer's credit on "Old Time Rock & Roll", however, a decision that turned out to be quite costly considering the amount of airplay the song has gotten and its use in any number of creative and commercial projects including the 1983 hit film Risky Business.
Watch Bob perform "Old Time Rock & Roll" live in 1983 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQswfILThsY
37. "War" (N. Whitfield, B. Strong) - Edwin Starr; Gordy label, # 1 Billboard Hot 100, # 3 Billboard R&B - 1970. Inducted in 2009.
"War" was written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong and was first recorded by the Temptations on their "Psychedelic Shack" album.
Motown received hundreds of letters asking that the song be released as a single, but the Temptations already had "Ball Of Confusion" scheduled as their next record. Instead, Norman Whitfield asked Edwin Starr if he would be interested in cutting a version of "War".
Starr had come to Motown after Berry Gordy purchased Golden World Records and its subsidiaries in 1968. Starr had four charting singles on the company's Ric-Tic label, including "Agent Double-O-Soul", before signing with Motown. Edwin had a Top Ten single with "Twenty-Five Miles" the previous year for Motown before hitting the top spot in the Hot 100 with "War".
Starr's biggest hit spent three weeks at # 1 in the summer of 1970 as more and more people began to turn against the United States' involvement in the war in Vietnam.
Edwin won a Grammy for Best R&B Vocal Performance for his outstanding recording of "War" - the only anti-war song to ever reach # 1. Edwin Starr's recording of "War" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.
You can watch a Motown Time Capsule video of wartime events in 1970 and hear Edwin Starr's classic recording of "War" at www.youtube.com/watch?v=_d8C4AIFgUg
38. "Some Kind Of Wonderful" (J. Ellison) - Grand Funk; Capitol label, # 3 Billboard Hot 100, # 85 Billboard R&B - 1975. Inducted in 2009.
Growing up in and around Flint, Michigan in the 1960's, all of the members of Grand Funk were exposed to, and inspired by the soul music hits on the local AM radio stations. "Some Kind Of Wonderful" by the Soul Brothers Six got a lot of airplay on Flint's WTAC in 1967.
The guys in Grand Funk always loved the song and would often sing it as a warm-up in their limo on the way to concerts.
The band finally recorded it for their 1975 album, "All The Girls In The World". Producer Jimmy Ienner wanted Grand Funk to make their cover version of "Some Kind Of Wonderful" sound as basic as possible - almost like a demo recording. The cut has Mark Farner and Don Brewer singing together to a musical backing that is mostly just bass and drums.
"Some Kind Of Wonderful" was a very different sounding single for Grand Funk in that it had very little guitar; but it became their fifth consecutive Top Ten hit, and spent 13 weeks in the Hot 100 in early 1975.
You can hear Grand Funk's recording of "Some Kind Of Wonderful" and view a photo collage from throughout their career by clicking on www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz7fMRBIxpU
39. "Baby I Need Your Loving" (B. Holland, L. Dozier, E. Holland) - The Four Tops; Motown label, # 11 Billboard Hot 100 - 1964. Inducted in 2009.
The Four Tops signed with Motown in 1963, but their first recording for the label was an album of jazz standards. In 1964, they were teamed with the songwriting and production team of Brian and Eddie Holland and Lamont Dozier. H-D-H provided the Four Tops with "Baby I Need Your Loving", which spent 12 weeks in the Hot 100.
The secret ingedient for almost all of Motown's great hits, however, were the label's great session musicians, the Funk Brothers. According to Earl Van Dyke, the leader of Motown's great house band, they would sometimes get called to the studio to cut rhythm tracks for songs that hadn't even been written yet. A lot of these tracks wound up as parts of melodies and even vocal backgrounds on the label's hit songs.
On "Baby I Need Your Loving", the background that the Four Tops sang actually came from the melodic lines that Van Dyke played on his piano for one of those rhythm tracks. H-D-H took Earl's piano out of the mix and had the Four Tops sing the melody he created instead. Holland, Dozier, and Holland then added strings and the female backing vocals of the Andantes to the group's pristine harmonies and Levi Stubbs' powerful lead vocals to produce one of Motown's classic singles.
You can watch a television performance of "Baby I Need Your Loving" by the Four Tops at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUOntQocGWk
40. "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" (N. Ashford, V. Simpson) - Diana Ross; Motown label, # 1 Billboard R&B, # 1 Billboard Hot 100 - 1970. Inducted in 2009.
"Ain't No Mountain High Enough" was the first duet hit for Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell in 1967. The lyrics were written by Nick Ashford shortly after he first moved to New York City.
Determined not to let the Big Apple get the best of him, the title just popped into his head as he was walking down a Manhattan street. Nick rushed back to his apartment and finished the song with his partner, Valerie Simpson.
The big differences in the version of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" that they produced for Diana Ross were: a spoken section in the song that took advantage of Diana's sexy speaking voice, and the rearrangement of the song so that the chorus is not sung until the end in order to add drama and suspense to the recording.
Their original production was six minutes long, but Motown edited down to three minutes and fifteen seconds for the 45 rpm single. "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" was the first # 1 hit for Diana Ross as a solo artist following her astounding career as the lead singer of the Supremes.
Watch Diana Ross perform "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" at her 1983 concert in Central Park at www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMu8u7En6dw&feature=related
41. “Mystery Man” (D. Wagner) – The Frost; Vanguard label; Did not chart nationally - 1969. Inducted in 2010.
“Mystery Man” was the first single from The Frost’s debut album, “Frost Music”. Released in early 1969, “Mystery Man” was a monster hit in Detroit but it stalled nationally as Vanguard Records totally dropped the ball when it failed to adequately distribute and promote what could have been the band’s breakout single.
Dick Wagner, who was heavily influenced by the songwriting of Lennon and McCartney, penned the song while on vacation in Houghton Lake, Michigan. He had just returned from a trip to New York and a failed audition for Blood, Sweat & Tears. Wagner claims that he asked his wife for a divorce after writing the song.
“Mystery Man” was also the first song Wagner wrote for The Frost’s classic line-up that included Dick, fellow guitarist Donny Hartman, drummer Bobby Riggs, and new bassist Gordy Garris. In a recent interview, Wagner stated that “Mystery Man” remains his favorite Frost composition to this day.
Listen to the original unreleased version of “Mystery Man” by The Frost recorded at Jeep Holland's A-Square Records by clicking on http://youtu.be/rygrz8q7Aj4
42. “Shotgun” (A. DeWalt) – Jr. Walker & The All Stars; Soul label, # 1 Billboard R&B, # 4 Billboard Hot 100 - 1965. Inducted in 2010.
Jr. Walker & The All Stars were playing the El Grotto nightclub in Battle Creek, Michigan, when they got the inspiration for what would become their biggest hit on Berry Gordy’s Soul label, a new Motown subsidiary.
One night at the club, Walker became intrigued by a dance where the participants were employing moves that imitated shooting a gun. When he asked one of the girls on the dance floor what it was called, she said it was the ‘shotgun’ and that he should write a tune for it.
In 1964, Motown was still a small enough company that an artist could call Berry Gordy directly to discuss a recording. After Walker wrote “Shotgun”, he called Gordy and told him he had written a new dance tune. Berry like the idea and had the band drive over to Detroit to record it in late 1964.
Jr. Walker was reluctantly pressed into doing the lead vocal when the original singer failed to show up for the session. “Shotgun” was an immediate hit when it was released in early 1965. The song spent four weeks at # 1 on the R&B charts peaked at # 4 on the Hot 100. Jr. Walker would sing the lead vocals on all of The All Stars’ charting hits from that point onward.
Watch Jr. Walker & The All Stars perform “Shotgun” in 1966 on the Hullabaloo TV show at www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnhI_ECOAK4&feature=related
43. “Against The Wind” (B. Seger) – Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band; Capitol label, # 5 Billboard Hot 100 - 1980. Inducted in 2010.
The title song from Bob Seger’s first # 1 LP was the second Top Ten single released from the album.(“Fire Lake” was the first.) In a 1980 Rolling Stone interview, Seger said that “Against The Wind” is about trying to move ahead, keeping your sanity and integrity at the same time.
He went on to say in the interview that “Knowing the difference between when people are using you and when people truly care about you, that’s what “Against The Wind” is also about. The people in the song have weathered the storm, and it’s made them much better that they’ve been able to do it and maintain whatever relationship. To get through is a real victory”.
In a TV interview with Bob Costas, Seger revealed that he almost didn’t include the song’s most famous line, “I wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then”. Seger explained: “I thought it was bad grammar. My manager, my tour manager, and my band said ‘That’s a great line’”. Thus, the classic lyric remained.
Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band won a Grammy in the category “Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal” for “Against The Wind”.
Watch a 2006 live performance by Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band of “Against The Wind” at http://youtu.be/hydTdZ9Au7c
44. “Superstition” (S. Wonder) – Stevie Wonder; Tamla label, # 1 Billboard Hot 100, # 1 Billboard R&B - 1973. Inducted in 2010.
Stevie Wonder was the opening act on the Rolling Stones' massive 1972 tour and, as a result, gained valuable exposure to large white rock audiences who might not normally have seen him in concert. Following the Stones tour, Wonder released “Talking Book”, his first Top Ten album since 1963.
Stevie’s first choice for a single from the album was “Big Brother”, but Motown executives were adamant that “Superstition” was the stronger choice. A year earlier, Wonder had worked with guitarist Jeff Beck and had written “Superstition” with Beck in mind. When the guitarist didn’t record the song promptly, Motown put out the song as the new Stevie Wonder single in late 1972 in advance of the release of “Talking Book”.
In the early Seventies, ‘Soul’ music was evolving into ‘Funk’, a bass-driven, percussive form of black music. “Superstition” with its irresistible dance groove established Wonder as a leader of this new genre and it would be the first of five # 1 singles that he would enjoy during the decade.
Jeff Beck’s recording of “Superstition” would come out later in 1973 as part of the album “Beck, Bogart, Appice”. “Superstition” by Stevie Wonder was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998.
Watch Stevie Wonder perform “Superstition” live on Sesame Street at www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ul7X5js1vE
45. “In The Midnight Hour” (W. Pickett, S. Cropper) – Wilson Pickett; Atlantic label, # 1 Billboard R&B, # 21 Billboard Hot 100 - 1965. Inducted in 2010.
After his first two Atlantic singles failed to chart, producer Jerry Wexler brought Wilson Pickett to Memphis in 1965 to record with the multi-racial soul music band, Booker T. & The MG’s.
Pickett and the white guitarist from the MG’s, Steve Cropper, wrote and recorded “In The Midnight Hour” at the first session they worked together.
Cropper had listened to some of Pickett’s early recordings before the session began and he noticed that Wilson had sung the phrase, “In the midnight hour”, at the end of several of them.
When the two sat down to write some new songs, Cropper suggested that Pickett use the phrase. Within and hour, the pair had written the soul music classic that would make Wilson Pickett a star.
“In The Midnight Hour” had a delayed backbeat that made it perfect for a brand new dance that was sweeping the country called ‘the jerk’. It would not only become Pickett’s first Top 40 hit, but also his first of five # 1 R&B hits during his illustrious career.
“In The Midnight Hour” by Wilson Pickett was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.
Watch Wilson Pickett perform “In The Midnight Hour” on television in color at http://youtu.be/mhOy1wt5lDc
46. “Crimson And Clover” (T. James, P, Lucia) - Tommy James & The Shondells; Roulette label, # 1 Billboard Hot 100 - 1969. Inducted in 2010.
Following three months on the road with Hubert Humphrey’s 1968 presidential campaign, Tommy James decided to end his successful association with producers Bo Gentry and Ritchie Cordell. The pair had been co-writers with James on the Top Ten singles: “I Think We’re Alone Now”, “Mirage”, and “Mony Mony”.
James first big success as both writer and producer came in 1969 with “Crimson And Clover”, the group’s first # 1 single since “Hanky Panky”. In an interview for The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits, James said that “‘crimson’ and ‘clover’ were two of my favorite words and I just put them together. We had the title before we had the song. When I wrote with the Shondells, it was different than when I wrote with Bo and Ritchie – a different energy flow. “Crimson And Clover” was part of the psychedelia of the late 1960’s”.
In another interview James said said of the recording; “I had a kind of historical sense of the record right from the beginning. I really felt like we were cutting something special”.
The single sold over 5.5 million copies, and it remains the Tommy James & The Shondells’ best selling single of all time. It was also the title song of the multi-platinum album, “Crimson & Clover”, released in early 1969 with liner notes by Hubert Humphrey. In 1982, “Crimson And Clover” was covered by Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, who had a # 7 hit single with the song.
Watch Tommy James & The Shondells perform “Crimson And Clover” in a vintage 1968 video at http://youtu.be/VfeCgMo-Kao
47. “Please Mr. Postman” (G. Dobbins, W. Garrett, F. Gorman, B. Holland, R. Bateman) – The Marvelettes; Tamla label, #1 Billboard Hot 100, # 1 Billboard R&B - 1961. Inducted in 2010.
“Please Mr. Postman’ was Motown’s first # 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100, but its success seemed very unlikely in 1961. The girls who became known as The Marvelettes first came together in the Inkster High School Glee Club to participate in a talent show at the school with the prize being an audition at Berry Gordy’s Tamla Records in Detroit.
The girls only finished fourth at the talent show, but two of their teachers were so impressed with their performance that they prevailed upon the school principal give the girls a shot at the audition with Motown producers, Robert Bateman and Brian Holland. Bateman and Holland liked the girls’ singing, but told them to come back with some original material.
Group member Georgia Dobbins asked a songwriter friend for a song, and he gave her a blues tune called “Please Mr. Postman”. Dobbins got his permission to work on it, and she completely changed the song, keeping only the title. Before taking the new song to Motown, however, Dobbins decided to leave the group to take care of her ill mother.
Lead singer Gladys Horton, along with Katherine Anderson, Georgeanna Tillman, Juanita Cowart, and new member Wanda Young, performed the song for Bateman and Holland who loved it. “Please Mr. Postman” was then recorded by the newly-named Marvelettes with a young Marvin Gaye playing the drums.
“Please Mr. Postman” was covered by The Beatles in 1963, and also by The Carpenters who would have a # 1 single in 1975 with their recording of the song.
Watch The Marvelettes perform “Please Mr. Postman” on television in the 1960's at http://youtu.be/KseUrBSRBDA
48. “(Love Is Like A) Heat Wave” (B. Holland, L. Dozier, E. Holland) – Martha & The Vandellas: Gordy label, #1 Billboard R&B, # 4 Billboard Hot 100 - 1963. Inducted in 2010.
“Heat Wave” was the second single and the first Top Ten hit written for Martha & The Vandellas by Motown’s new writing and production team of Holland-Dozier-Holland.
Produced with a gospel-like fervor, the song opens with a 27-second instrumental passage featuring handclaps, Joe Hunter’s piano, Thomas “Beans” Bowles sax, and the drumming of “Pistol” Allen. “Heat Wave” is often credited as being one of the first songs to exemplify the style of music that would later be called the “Motown Sound”.
"Heat Wave" is probably Martha Reeves greatest vocal performance, and it helped Martha & The Vandellas become the first Motown group to receive a Grammy Award Nomination for Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group.
Martha Reeves remembered watching the network news during the summer of 1963. “I was in my mom’s living room when the anchorman said, ‘There’s a heat wave in Los Angeles,’ it was a hundred and something and then they played “Heat Wave”. I jumped all over the floor. My mom told me to sit down and shut up! I screamed, ‘We’re on network TV! They’re playing our song!”
“Heat Wave” has been recorded by many artists over the years. Linda Ronstadt had a # 5 hit single in 1975 with her cover of the song.
Watch Martha & The Vandellas perform “Heat Wave” on TV in the 60’s at www.youtube.com/watch?v=XE2fnYpwrng
49. “Chain Of Fools” (D. Covay) – Aretha Franklin; Atlantic label, # 1 Billboard R&B, # 2 Billboard Hot 100 - 1968. Inducted in 2010.
Aretha Franklin’s recordings on Atlantic in 1967 and 1968 firmly established her as the 'Queen Of Soul'. “Chain Of Fools” was her fifth consecutive Top Ten hit produced by Jerry Wexler. Employing memorable tremolo guitar licks by Joe South in its introduction, “Chain Of Fools” features Franklin’s trademark powerhouse vocal and a great gospel-style call-and –response chorus provided by her sister Carolyn along with the Sweet Inspiration and the great songwriter Ellie Greenwich.
Written by R&B singer Don Covay, “Chain Of Fools” was released as a single in late 1967. Although she did not write the hit, her sister Carolyn said: "She might as well have. It was her story." Aretha felt trapped in an abusive marriage to her manager Ted White. She was unhappy but was afraid that leaving him would have an adverse effect on her career.
The song spent four weeks at # 1 on the R&B charts in late ‘67 and early ‘68, while peaking at #2 on the Hot 100. Aretha won a Grammy Award for “Chain of Fools” for Best R&B Vocal Performance. The song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2001.
Listen to Aretha Franklin perform "Chain Of Fools" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BloxxEFwibo
50. “The Way I Walk” (J. Scott) – Jack Scott; Carlton label, # 35 Billboard Hot 100 - 1959. Inducted in 2010.
Jack Scott’s career was flying high in late 1958 with the release of his third consecutive two-sided hit single, “Goodbye Baby/Save My Soul”. Things came to a screeching halt, however, when he received an induction notice from the U. S. Army in December of that same year.
In May of 1959, after only five months in the service, Scott was discharged from the Army on medical grounds because of a peptic ulcer. Carlton Records, which had very little material in the can when Scott went in the service, pulled “The Way I Walk” from Jack’s 1st album and released it as a single a week before his discharge.
“The Way I Walk” is a classic cut with its powerful ‘walking’ bass and menacing vocal. It is regarded by some as the last of the authentic rockabilly hits of the 50’s as softer pop sounds began to engulf the charts in the wake of the ‘Payola Scandal’.
Scott talked about “The Way I Walk” in a recent interview. “When we cut it, I’d only half-finished it, and I didn’t have all the words, just two verses.
Since his producer was anxious to take the song back to New York for the album, Jack told the Chantones, his vocal backing group, to fill in the gap with “Oo-wee, oo-wee, oo-wee, oo-wee…”
At first, Scott complained when the song was released because he thought “The Way I Walk” needed more work. Looking back, however, he now says, “It’s kinda neat the way it is”
Watch Jack Scott perform “The Way I Walk” in 1988 at Little Darlin’s nightclub in Florida at www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxhHtqMHbbM
51. “Hanky Panky” (J. Barry, E. Greenwich) – Tommy James and The Shondells; Roulette label, # 1 Billboard Hot 100, # 39 Billboard R&B - 1966. I nducted in 2011.
“Hanky Panky” was written and first recorded by Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich as the B-side of a single for their group The Raindrops in 1963.
Tommy James’ cover version was first released on the tiny Snap label in Niles, Michigan, in the fall of 1964. Although it was a regional hit, “Hanky Panky” didn’t become a national smash until 1966 when it was discovered in a used record bin by a Pittsburgh dance promoter. It became the # 1 song in the city after he pressed up a batch of bootleg copies of song on the local Red Fox label.
The Shondells had broken up by this time, and Tommy was considering giving up music and getting a "real job" when he got word that his recording of "Hanky Panky" had become a surprise hit. After failing to reunite the original Shondells, Tommy made several appearances in the Pittsburgh area with a make-shift band, and then traveled to New York where he signed with Morris Levy’s Roulette Records.
James recruited a Pittsburgh band called The Raconteurs to be the “new” Shondells and took to the road to promote “Hanky Panky”. The song reached # 1 in the summer of 1966, the first 'garage rock' single to do so. It also kicked off a string of 19 charting hits enjoyed by Tommy James and The Shondells from 1966 to 1970.
Watch a recent performance of "Hanky Panky" by Tommy James at the Bitter End in New York City by clicking below.
52. “Lonely Teardrops” (B. Gordy, R. Davis, G. Gordy) – Jackie Wilson; Brunswick label, # 7 Billboard Hot 100, # 1 Billboard R&B - 1959. Inducted in 2011.
“Lonely Teardrops” was Jackie Wilson’s first Top Ten single. It was the fourth consecutive charting record written for him by the team of Berry Gordy Jr. and Tyran Carlo. The pair would contribute two more hit singles for Wilson in 1959 before leaving in a dispute over the material being issued as the B-sides on the singer’s recordings.
“Lonely Teardrops” was released late in 1958 and would become the first of Jackie Wilson’s six # 1 hits on the R&B chart early in 1959. The song helped launch Wilson into superstar status and led to television appearances on American Bandstand and the Ed Sullivan Show, as well as the early rock and roll movies, Go Johnny Go! and Teen-age Millionaire.
In a strange twist of fate, Jackie suffered a massive heart attack while singing “Lonely Teardrops” in 1975 while appearing with Dick Clark’s Good Ol’ Rock ‘N Roll Revue in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. He also suffered a serious head injury when he fell to the stage. The effects of the tragic incident left Jackie Wilson in a near vegetative state, and he lived the remainder of his life in a nursing home until his death in 1984.
“Lonely Teardrops” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.
53. “Baby Love” (B. Holland, L. Dozier, E. Holland) – The Supremes; Motown label, # 1 Billboard Hot 100 - 1964. Inducted in 2011.
With “Baby Love”, The Supremes became the first Motown artist, and the first girl group, to have two consecutive # 1 singles. But this was just the beginning. The Detroit trio would go on to record a total of twelve # 1 singles during the 1960’s. “Baby Love” was the biggest of these hits, spending 4 weeks at the top of the charts during the fall of 1964.
“
Baby Love” was the follow-up single to the group’s first # 1 hit, “Where Did Our Love Go”. The song again featured the Funk Brothers’ instrumental backing, but the main focus of the recording was on Diana Ross’ sexy, cooing vocal. Although both Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson had brief solo ad-libs at the end of the song, Ross would continue to take center stage on both group recordings and live performances.
Berry Gordy had felt that Diana Ross’ unique voice would set The Supremes apart from the many girl groups of the time, and his decision to team them with the writing and production team of brothers Eddie and Brian Holland and Lamont Dozier turned out to be the perfect combination. The pairing would go on to produce 19 charting hits, including 10 of the # 1 singles recorded by The Supremes.
Watch The Supremes perform "Baby Love" on England's Top Of The Pops 60'stelevision show by clicking below.
54. “I Think We’re Alone Now” (R. Cordell, B. Gentry) – Tommy James and The Shondells; Roulette label, # 4 Billboard Hot 100 - 1967. Inducted in 2011.
“I Think We’re Alone Now” marked the beginning of a successful partnership between Tommy James and the songwriting team of Ritchie Cordell and Bo Gentry. Cordell and Gentry had originally written the song as a mid-tempo ballad, but James insisted that they speed up the arrangement.
Jimmy Wisner’s original production of “I Think We’re Alone Now” included a small symphony orchestra complete with cellos, chimes, and the whole works. After eight takes, Cordell, Gentry, and James felt it sounded “too big” and sent the musicians home. They then proceeded to strip down what they had created in order to find the ingredients that they liked.
Tommy James laid down the final vocal on Christmas Eve in 1966. Without realizing it at the time, James, Cordell, and Gentry’s recording of “I Think We’re Alone Now” invented what later became known as “bubblegum music”.
The song even provided a follow-up hit for Tommy James and The Shondells when the tape of “I Think We’re Alone Now” was accidentally put on a reel-to-reel upside down. When it was played, it came out backward, but the chord progression in reverse sounded just as good as it did forward. Cordell and Gentry wrote a new set of lyrics, called the song “Mirage”, and had a # 10 hit with it in the spring of 1967.
Listen to the original recording of "I Think We're Alone Now" by Tommy James and The Shondells by clicking below.
55. “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” (N. Ashford, V. Simpson) – Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell; Tamla label, # 19 Billboard Hot 100, # 3 Billboard R&B - 1967. Inducted in 2011.
The song was written by Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson in 1966. It was the first hit for Marvin Gaye and his new duet partner, Tammi Terrell in the spring of 1967. Gaye had previously teamed with Mary Wells and Kim Weston for hit singles, but Terrell proved to be his ideal singing partner.
According to producers Harvey Fuqua and Johnny Bristol, Tammi Terrell was both nervous and a little intimidated during the recording because she hadn’t rehearsed the lyrics. As a result, she recorded her vocals alone. Marvin Gaye added his vocal at a later date, but there was no denying the magic produced by the blending of their voices
Because of the subject matter of their duets, there were rumors of a romantic relationship between Gaye and Terrell. Both singers denied it, however, with Gaye claiming at a later date that they had a brother and sister relationship. The duo paired up for several more hits: “Your Precious Love”, “If I Could Build My Whole World Around You”, “Ain’t Nothing Like The Real Thing”, and “You’re All I Need To Get By” before Tammi was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor after collapsing into Marvin’s arms during a performance in Virginia.
Tammi Terrell died in 1970 at the age of 24 from the brain tumor that put an end to her career. In 1970, Diana Ross had her first # 1 hit as a solo artist with her cover of “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”, but it was the recording by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell that was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.
Watch the original 1967 Motown video of Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell performing "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" by clicking below.
56. “Get Ready” (W. Robinson) – Rare Earth; Rare Earth label, # 4 Billboard Hot 100, # 20 Billboard R&B - 1970. Inducted in 2011.
Rare Earth was the first act that Motown vice president Barney Ales signed for the company’s newest label that would concentrate on album-oriented progressive rock played by self-contained bands. Ales liked the band’s moniker so much that he ended up using it as the name for the subsidiary label.
The band released its first album in the summer of 1969. It was titled after the song “Get Ready”, a 21-minute extended jam of the 1966 Temptations’ single that took up one whole side of the LP.
In order to get airplay, “Get Ready” was edited down to around 3 minutes, and it promptly soared to # 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. The success of the single also pushed the “Get Ready” album to hit status, reaching # 12 on the LP chart.
Although Rare Earth would go on to chart eight more singles, including the Top Ten hits, “(I Know) I’m Losing You” and “I Just Want To Celebrate”, their version of “Get Ready” would prove to be the band’s biggest success.
57. “Mony Mony” (T. James, R. Cordell, B. Gentry, B. Bloom) – Tommy James and The Shondells; Roulette label, # 3 Billboard Hot 100 - 1968. Inducted in 2011.
After two successive single failed to crack the Top 40, Tommy James went into Century Sound Studios to work on a track for a proposed party rock song inspired by past hits by Gary (U.S.) Bonds and Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels. The song started as a basic rhythm track. James and Ritchie Cordell then took the original tape and began a process of reassembling what they had, adding snippets of organ, piano, and background voices until they had a catchy melody with a verse and irresistible hook.
The night before they were supposed to finish the record, the pair convened in James’ New York apartment to write the lyrics. They assembled a list of nonsensical one-liners but could not come up with a suitable title. They wanted to use a two-syllable girl’s name, but every real name they came up with didn’t sound right.
Around midnight they decided to take a cigarette break on the terrace while looking at the Manhattan skyline. Tommy James noticed the Mutual of New York Insurance Company building a couple of blocks away. It had a flashing neon sign on top of it with the company logo: MONY. Just like that, they had their name, and a rock and roll party classic was born.
Although it only reached # 3 in the U.S., Tommy James and The Shondell’s “Mony Mony” was # 1 hit in England. In 1987, Billy Idol had a # 1 hit in the U.S. with a live version of the song.
Watch a 60's psychedelic television performance of "Mony Mony" by Tommy James and the Shondells in color by clicking here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkMgs3lFwkQ
58. “Sock It To Me-Baby!” (Crewe, Brown) – Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels; New Voice label, # 6 Billboard Hot 100 - 1967. Inducted in 2011.
In early 1967, Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels followed up their first Top Ten single, “Devil With A Blue Dress On & Good Golly Miss Molly”, with the prototypical riff-rockin’ “Sock It To Me-Baby!”. Co-written by band producer and New Voice label head Bob Crewe, the song was a party rock classic that kept pace with earlier band workouts like “Jenny Take A Ride!” and “Little Latin Lupe Lu”.
“Sock It To Me-Baby!” became the band’s second and last Top Ten single when it peaked at # 6 in the Billboard Hot 100 early in 1967, even though it was banned on several radio stations for being “too sexually suggestive”. In spite of this initial flap, the term ‘sock it to me’ ended up becoming a national catch-phrase when it appeared both on Aretha Franklin’s “Respect” and after it began to be used on a weekly basis on the hit TV comedy show, Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In.
Unfortunately, Bob Crewe’s contract gave him full control over Mitch Ryder’s career. After one last single, he dismissed The Detroit Wheels and began concentrating on turning Mitch into a mainstream singing star. Ryder went on to minor chart success as a solo act, and the “Sock It To Me” LP, released in the spring of 1967, became the last official release by Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels.
59 . “I Wanna Be Your Dog” (D. Alexander, R. Asheton, I. Pop, S. Asheton) – The Stooges; Elektra label, Did not chart nationally - 1969. Inducted in 2011.
One of The Stooges' most famous songs, “I Wanna Be Your Dog”, appeared on the band’s self-titled debut album on Elektra Records. It was also released as the B-side to “1969” on the first Stooges’ single.
Ron Asheton’s relentless guitar riffs and producer John Cale’s pounding piano set the stage for Iggy Pop’s snarling vocals. It’s not exactly clear what the song is about, but no matter. “I Wanna Be Your Dog”, as well as most of the songs on their debut, set the stage for both the punk rock movement of the 70’s and the grunge rock movement of the 90’s.
Although both the single and the album sold modestly at best, “I Wanna Be Your Dog” has achieved an exalted status over the years. The song has been covered by a multitude of artists including Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Nirvana, Sonic Youth, and The White Stripes. In 2007, R.E.M. performed the song with Patti Smith during their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The song has also been featured on the soundtrack of several movies including The Crow: City Of Angels, Sid and Nancy, Transporter 3, and The Runaways.
Watch a live performance by The Stooges of "I Wanna Be Your Dog" from a 2004 concert in Serbia by clicking below.
60. “I Can’t Help Myself” (B. Holland, L. Dozier, E. Holland) – The Four Tops; Motown label, # 1 Billboard Hot 100, # 1 Billboard R&B - 1965. Inducted in 2011.
The Four Tops began working with Motown’s songwriting/production team of Holland-Dozier-Holland in 1964. After three charting singles in a row, the combination really hit its stride in the summer of 1965 with “I Can’t Help Myself”. The song had the distinction of holding down the # 1 spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 for two non-consecutive weeks – June 12 to June 19th, and again from June 26th to July 3rd.
As on most of the group’s big hits, “I Can’t Help Myself” is powered by Levi Stubbs baritone lead vocal over an irresistible dance groove powered by Motown’s crack session band, the Funk Brothers. Holland-Dozier-Holland wrote the majority of Stubbs’ vocals in the range of a tenor so that his voice took on a gospel-tinged urgency as he strained to hit the high notes.
With their simple yet distinctive melodies and rhymes, Levi Stubbs powerful lead vocals, and the smooth backing of Duke Fakir, Lawrence Payton, and Obie Benson, the recordings of H-D-H songs by The Four Tops often epitomized what became known as the Motown Sound.
“I Can’t Help Myself” has been covered by a diverse group of artists over the years. These include The Supremes, Johnny Rivers, and Dolly Parton.
Listen to the classic performance of "I Can't Help Myself" by The Four Tops by clicking here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z59EVHU8MjI
61. "Anytime You Want Some Lovin'" (D. Wagner) – Tonto and The Renegades; Sound Of The Sceen label, Did not chart nationally -1968. Inducted in 2012.
Grand Ledge's Tonto and The Renegades employed an all-star Michigan cast for the recording of their second single. The song was written and produced by Dick Wagner formerly of The Bossmen and featured harmonica by Donny Hartman of Wagner's new group, The Frost. In addition, the recording was done at Dave Kalmbach's Great Lakes Recording Studio in Sparta, Michigan, with Kalmbach serving as sound engineer.
The band had become acquainted with Dick Wagner after The Bossmen had played at The Sceen, a teen dance club where Tonto and The Renegades were often booked. Knowing the quality of Wagner's songwriting, they asked him about the availability of some of his material for their next single. Wagner brought his acoustic guitar to Gary "Tonto" Richey's house, where the band practiced, and he performed a number of his unrecorded songs.
According to drummer Tom Kirby, "Anytime You Want Some Lovin'" stood out immediately, and was everyone's first choice for the A-side of their second 45. The finished recording would be a quite a departure from the driving garage rock of "Little Boy Blue", their debut single. Wagner's production of "Anytime You Want Some Lovin'" was a very polished mid-tempo pop rock ballad, featuring some fine group harmonies from the band members, and even a horn section composed of two students from the Grand Ledge High School band.
The recording was financed by Don Trefry, owner of The Sceen and the booking agent for Tonto and The Renegades. Kalmbach's studio offered the chance to release records on your own vanity label, so Trefry chose one that would advertise his teen club. Unfortunately, the tiny label's limited distribution hurt the record's chances of becoming something more than a regional hit.
62. "The Easy Way Out" (D. Wagner) – Tonto and The Renegades; Sound Of The Sceen label, Did not chart nationally - 1968. Inducted in 2012.
"Anytime You Want Some Lovin'" b/w "The Easy Way Out" is the only 45 single to have both sides voted Legendary Michigan Songs.
Tonto and the Renegades first choice for the B-side of the single was another Dick Wagner composition called "First Day of May". After Considering it, Wagner decided to save the song for The Frost's debut album instead. The band then went with their second pick, a Wagner-penned rocker called "The Easy Way Out".
It turned out to be an excellent choice. Like the A-side, the session for "The Easy Way Out" was produced by Dick Wagner in Dave Kalmbach's Great Lakes Studio, located in the Sparta Theater. Drummer Tom Kirby remembered that several rows of the old theater seats were removed in front of the movie screen so that there was enough room for the band's equipment, and that Kalmbach erected a three-sided partition around the drum kit. the studio's recording equipment was situated behind a large glass window inside the theater's projection booth. Since Wagner was producing the session, Kalmbach worked in the booth while the band recorded.
Tonto and The Renegades were firing on all cylinders during the recording, and Wagner once again used the horn section of Grand Ledge High band students Jim Hall and Ernie Morrow to good effect. In addition, the producer added a special personal touch to the song by contributing the controlled guitar feedback that helped give "The Easy Way Out" its unique sound.
63. "Misery" (F. Baker, W. Tippett) – The Dynamics; Big Top label, # 44 Billboard's Hot 100 - 1963. Inducted in 2012.
The classic R&B dance hit "Misery" was the biggest hit on Billboard's Hot 100 by The Dynamics, a black vocal group from Detroit. At that time, the group was a quintet made up of Fred "Sonny" Baker, Starling Schafer, Lorenzo Campbell, Samuel Stevenson, and George White. The terrific instrumental backing was provided by an all-white combo from Dearborn called The Royal Playboys, featuring guest artists Joe Cyers on drums and MRRL Inductee Cliff Bramlett on guitar.
The song was recorded at the United Sound studio for Fox Records, a small independent Detroit label, but the master tape was sold to Big Top Records out of New York and distributed nationally. "Misery" was a big hit in the Motor City, spending most of the fall of 1963 in WKNR's Top Ten on the popular AM station's Classic Top 30 Survey. The song also did well nationally lasting 10 weeks on the Hot 100 and peaking at # 44.
The song would become the subject of a still unresolved controversy in 1964 when Pete Meaden, then manager/publicist of The Who, rewrote the lyrics to the song as "Zoot Suit" for The Who's first single, released in England as by The High Numbers. Meaden claimed sole songwriting credit for the melody he stole. The truth is in the grooves, however, as The Dynamics' recording of "Misery" completely blows "Zoot Suit" off the turntable when the songs are played back-to-back.
Listen to the Dynamics' original recording of "Misery" by clicking below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_1WVDVSxN0
64. "Rock And Roll Music" (D. Wagner, D. Hartman) – The Frost; Vanguard label, # 105 Billboard's Bubbling Under Singles - 1970. Inducted in 2012.
"Rock And Roll Music" was recorded live at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit in 1969. According to producer Sam Charters, the vocals were re-done in the studio in order to clean up the sound, but that fact takes nothing away from this blast of Motor City rock that quickly became the band's anthem.
In his book, Not Only Women Bleed, Dick Wagner reveals that the genesis of the song came from a one-line rock song from the Frost's other guitarist, Donny Hartman. Hartman wanted Wagner to finish the song for him, and Wagner produced a finished product that combined lyric simplicity with an intensity that literally leaped off the turntable.
"Rock And Roll Music" was the lead track and title of The Frost's second album, and the only song the band charted nationally when it was released as a single. Although Wagner and Hartman shared the lead vocals, Dick Wagner was listed as the sole songwriter on the song.
In his book, Wagner wrote that for many years he believed that he had totally written the song, but now claims it was really a Hartman-Wagner collaboration. Wagner has tried to make it right in recent years by giving Hartman credit for his contributions whenever he performs "Rock And Roll Music" live.
65. "I Cannot Stop You" (D. Wagner) - The Cherry Slush; U.S.A. label, # 119 Billboard's Bubbling Under Singles - 1968. Inducted in 2012.
“I Cannot Stop You” was originally intended to be the second single for a Saginaw, Michigan, teen band called The Bells Of Rhymny. The tune was written by Dick Wagner of The Bossmen and was recorded at the tiny Audio Sound studio, located in the basement of an office building in downtown Cleveland, Ohio.
By the time the record was released on the small Coconut Groove label based in Mt. Morris, Michigan, the band had lost one original and added two new members, and changed its name to The Cherry Slush. The radio-friendly “I Cannot Stop You” was a big regional hit, and was quickly in heavy rotation on Top 40 AM stations like WKNX, WSAM, and the highly influential WTAC out of Flint.
In order to get the record distributed nationally, the band signed and the master tape was leased to U.S.A., a small Chicago label that had a # 1 hit in 1967 with “Kind Of A Drag” by The Buckinghams. “I Cannot Stop You” also had all the signs of also being a national hit upon its release. It got airplay in major markets, was a pick hit in both Billboard and Cashbox magazines, and entered Record World magazine as # 93 in the nation.
Quite unexpectedly, however, the record stalled and failed to reach the Billboard Hot 100. The Cherry Slush would go on to record one more single for the U.S.A. label before the company filed for bankruptcy.
66. "Turn The Page" (B. Seger) – Bob Seger and Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band, From "Back In '72" LP, Palladium label - 1973; and "Live Bullet" 2 LP; Capitol label - 1976. Inducted in 2012.
Despite never being released as a single, "Turn The Page" has emerged as one of Bob Seger's most popular songs over the years. Many fans may be unfamiliar with the original studio version released on the "Back In '72" album since it has never been released on CD. Although it does not contain the Alto Reed sax solo that was such as distinctive part of the "Live Bullet" version, it is still a great vocal performance with the keyboard leading the song and the sax only coming in at the very end.
The song's lyrics describe life on the road for a regional rock and roll band trying to hit the big time, and were partly based on an incident that occurred when Seger was touring with Teegarden and Van Winkle. In a 1975 radio interview Seger stated; "You have a lot of dark days on the road...you have a lot of good days too, but basically we're in a dog-eat-dog business, and you can get pretty dark sometimes, and if you're able to translate that, which I think "Turn The Page" does more effectively than anything else I've done before."
As Scott Sparling rightly observes on his Seger File site, "The lyrics are only part of the song's success. The live performance, the plaintive sax, the vocals and the simplicity of the song all come together to create its power. And as the first Seger ballad to achieve mass popularity, it's also an important, maybe even pivotal song in his career."
67. "Cat Scratch Fever" (T. Nugent) – Ted Nugent; Epic label, # 30 Billboard's Hot 100 - 1977. Inducted in 2012.
"Cat Scratch Fever" was the song that helped turn Ted Nugent into a major arena rock act in 1977. Nugent reportedly got the title from an antique medical journal that his wife was reading that mentioned 'cat scratch fever', and he mated it with what is arguably his most infectious guitar riff to produce his classic hit.
The song's lyrics may be somewhat autobiographical, and they have Nugent chronicling his long history of promiscuous sex, as well as lamenting his inability to control both himself and his female partners. Despite its lyrical content, "Cat Scratch Fever" has been used by the Detroit Tigers, the University of Cincinnati Bearcats, the San Jose SabreCats, and the Carolina Panthers to fire up fans before sporting events.
"Cat Scratch Fever" was Ted Nugent's only Top 40 single. Over the years it has been covered by a number of different artists, and it has appeared on the film soundtracks of Lords Of Dogtown, EDtv, and Stoned Age. In 2009, VH1 named it # 32 on its list of the Best Hard Rock Songs of All Time.
Watch Ted Nugent perform "Cat Scratch Fever" on the Midnight SpecialTV show in the 70's by clicking below.
68. "You've Really Got A Hold On Me" (W. Robinson) – The Miracles; Tamla label, # 8 Billboard's Hot 100, # 1 Billboard R&B - 1963. Inducted in 2012.
"You've Really Got A Hold On Me" was the second # 1 R&B hit for The Miracles as well as their second Top Ten Hit on the Hot 100. In 1998, it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, and it was also selected by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll.
Smokey Robinson wrote the song and sings lead while second tenor Bobby Rogers is featured on harmony co-lead. "You've Really Got A Hold On Me" was originally slated to be the B-side to "Happy Landing" on the single that was released in the winter of 1962, but DJs and record buyers across the nation preferred the song on the flipside that explored the feelings of a man so in love with a woman that he can't leave her despite the fact that she treats him badly.
The song has been covered by a wide variety of artists over the years. The most famous cover was by The Beatles, who recorded "You've Really Got A Hold On Me" for "With The Beatles", their second U.K album released in 1963.
Listen to The Miracles' original hit recording of "You've Really Got A Hold One Me" by clicking below.
69. "Beautiful Loser" (B. Seger) – Bob Seger; Capitol label, # 103 Billboard's Bubbling Under Singles - 1975. Inducted in 2012.
"Beautiful Loser" was the title cut and first single from the 1975 album that marked Seger's return to Capitol Records. Seger has said that the song was inspired by the epilogue of a novel by Leonard Cohen titled Beautiful Losers, and that the original concept came from one of Cohen's lines; 'He's reaching for the sky just to surrender'. Seger took that thought and transformed it into a song about a person who sets his goals so low that he will never be disappointed.
Seger confided in a Rolling Stone interview in 1976 that the song took a long over a year to put together, and that he wrote five different versions of "Beautiful Loser", including a blues and a ballad, before coming up with the one he finally settled on. He credits his friend, and fellow MRRL inductee, Glenn Frey for giving him some sound advice. Frey was the first person to hear the song, and he loved it. That positive feedback encouraged Seger to stick with it until he had pieced together another classic track.
Possibly because of Seger's long journey to national stardom and Tom Bert's poignant album cover photo, many people have believed that "Beautiful Loser" was autobiographical. Seger has given conflicting answers over the years when asked if the song was about him. In a Rolling Stone interview he stated; "To a degree. Well I say that now, but back then I didn't believe it". During a Creem interview in 1987, however, Seger said "The song was about underachievers in general. I rarely write about myself that much. I'm not like my songs at all. I'm a lot more 'up' person than what I write."
Listen to Bob Seger's recording of "Beautiful Loser" by clicking below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xWVRE9FskQ
70. "Day Don't Come" (Barkam, Adams) – The Cherry Slush, U.S.A. label, Did not chart nationally - 1968. Inducted in 2012.
"Day Don't Come" was recorded as "I Cannot Stop You" was climbing the national charts. Their record company brought The Cherry Slush to Chicago to record it at the famous Chess Studio although the song was a far cry from the countless classic blues recordings that had been made there. The engineer on the session was Ron Malo, who had also been behind the boards on the Rolling Stones' recording of "Satisfaction" which had been done in the same studio three years before.
The Cherry Slush recorded the basic instrumental track during the first session then returned back home in Michigan where the band members were still attending high school. Bassist Art Hauffe claims that when they returned the following week to do the vocals, they were surprised to find that their record label had added the Chicago Symphony to the track at a cost of $5,000; and that the hefty sum would be taken out of the band's royalties for "I Cannot Stop You".
The results were impressive, however, and "Day Don't Come" ranks as one of the biggest and brightest productions ever recorded by a Michigan garage rock band. Sounding much like a radio-friendly single tailored for The Buckinghams, the single was selected by Billboard magazine as a top pick hit when it was released, and it raced to the top of the charts in the band's hometown of Saginaw and in other cities across the country. Unfortunately, "Day Don't Come" did not reach its potential nationally because U.S.A. Records filed for bankruptcy shortly after its release.
71. “This Is The Time” (F. Bachman, R. Hamrick) - The Sixth Generation; GMA label, Did not chart nationally – 1967. Inducted in 2013.
In need of an original song for their first recording session, lead singer Fred Bachman came up with a melody on his guitar in his bedroom. Stuck for lyrics, his mother suggested the line “this is the time” and that seemed to jump-start the rest of the song. Inspired by the progressive recording of the Beatles, keyboard player Ron Hamrick made a few musical changes; and the pair ended up with 14 different chords for the song, compared to the typical 3-5 chords in most pop-rock songs of the 1960’s.
Since all of the members of the Sixth Generation were still in high school, they had to get permission to miss school on the day of their scheduled session in Chicago. The band recorded their debut single at Sound Studios, the site of previous hits by the Buckinghams and the Cryan’ Shames, under the watchful eye of veteran studio engineer Stu Black.
After criticizing Dave Walenga’s drums as sounding like “garbage cans” and scolding band members for bringing soft drinks into his console room, the no-nonsense Black warmed to the young band and helped them produce two strong tracks intended for the Sixth Generation’s first single. Unfortunately, band manager Marie Needham did not know how to obtain a release for their cover of “Glitter And Gold”, resulting in the unusual situation of “This Is The Time” ultimately being released as both the a-side and the b-side of the 45, issued on the tiny GMA record label.
Although the song was a regional success, the band’s inexperienced management didn’t know how to pursue a major label for national distribution, relegating “This Is The Time” to one of Michgan’s many highly-regarded, but little-heard, singles of the late 1960’s.
Watch a slideshow video for "This Is The Time" by clicking below: http://youtu.be/2XPqVOiS1gE
72. “Crystal Blue Persuasion” (E. Gray, T. James, M. Vale) – Tommy James & The Shondells; Roulette label, # 2 Billboard Hot 100 – 1969. Inducted in 2013.
Tommy James & The Shondells were a continuous chart presence in the latter half of the 1960’s. “Crystal Blue Persuasion” was the band’s third-biggest single of their career, and their 15th hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in a four-year span from 1966 to 1969.
Contrary to writings that the song was an allegory about Tommy James’ involvement with amphetamines or that the song was about LSD, the title and lyrical concept for the gently grooving song came to James after reading passages from the Bible. According to Tommy’s manager, the singer was inspired by both the Book of Isaiah and the Book of Revelation which tell of a future brotherhood of mankind, living in peace and harmony.
Although the song is not religious, its sentiments fit in nicely with the popular hippie-based “peace, love, and understanding” philosophy of the times. James claims that “Crystal Blue Persuasion” is the favorite of all of his recordings and one of the band’s most requested numbers.
To promote the single, a rather primitive non-performance music video was produced in 1969 that contrasted scenes of turbulent political events and cultural unrest with imagery of love and peace.
Watch the 1969 video for "Crystal Blue Persuasion" by clicking below: http://youtu.be/XDl8ZPm3GrU
73. “I Just Want To Celebrate” (D. Fekaris, N. Zesses) – Rare Earth; Rare Earth label, # 7 Billboard Hot 100 – 1971. Inducted in 2013.
Rare Earth was not the first all-white act to be signed to Motown, but they were the first to enjoy major hits. 1970 and 1971 were the two biggest years in the band’s recording career as they placed five recordings on the Billboard Hot 100. “I Just Want To Celebrate” was the band’s third, and final, Top Ten single in 1971.
The single was edited down to 2 minutes 52 seconds from the longer track on the band’s “One World” album to increase the song’s chances for radio play. “I Just Want To Celebrate was also the opening track on the band’s Rare Earth In Concert LP, issued later in 1971.
That year also saw the start of several personnel changes in Rare Earth. The new line-up was only able to produce one more Top 20 hit, “Hey Big Brother in early 1972. Things were never quite the same for Rare Earth after they followed Motown to Los Angeles later in the year, and they lost the most identifiable member of the band when lead singer/drummer Peter Rivera left the band in 1974.
Watch a video of Rare Earth performing "I Just Want To Celebrate" by clicking below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLwkT5vAzCE
74. “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg” (N. Whitfield, E. Holland) – The Temptations; Gordy label, #1 Billboard R&B, # 13 Billboard Hot 100 – 1966. Inducted in 2013.
“Ain’t Too Proud To Beg” marked the beginning of the Norman Whitfield era in the recording career of the Temptations. Whitfield got his big opportunity when Smokey Robinson’s “Get Ready” failed to make the Top 20 for the group in early 1966 after writing and producing four big hits for them in 1965.
Whitfield had composed a great instrumental track for the single and then recruited Eddie Holland to write lyrics for the song. David Ruffin’s terrific lead vocal was partly the result of Whitfield’s arrangement which was placed slightly above his actual vocal range. Ruffin’s straining to hit the high notes of “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg” put an element of pain and desperation in his delivery that perfectly matched Holland’s lyrics.
Whitfield’s success with “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg” began an association with the Temptations that would last through 1974. During that time the group charted 32 songs on Billboard’s Hot 100, including three # 1 hits.
The Rolling Stones covered three Temptations’ songs on albums, but only “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg” was released as a single. The Stones’ version of the song also became a Top 20 hit, reaching # 17 on the Hot 100 in 1974.
Watch The Temptations perform "Ain't Too Proud To Beg" by clicking below: http://youtu.be/RfyFI-4ZsaE
75. “Baby I’m Yours” (V. McCoy) – Barbara Lewis; Atlantic label, # 11 Billboard Hot 100, # 5 Billboard R&B – 1965. Inducted in 2013.
Barbara Lewis enjoyed her second-biggest single with the romantic ballad “Baby I’m Yours” in 1965. Although it might be her best-known hit, Lewis reportedly didn’t care for the song when she first heard it and had to be persuaded to record it. It was written by Van McCoy who had previously worked with the Shirelles at Scepter Records and would later have a # 1 disco-era hit of his own with “The Hustle” in 1975.
“Baby I’m Yours” was produced in New York by Bert Berns. This marked a change from Ollie McLaughlin, the Ann Arbor DJ who discovered her and produced her first charting singles. The new combination worked beautifully as the hit single returned Lewis to both the Pop and R&B charts after an eighteen month absence.
Barbara Lewis has been somewhat underappreciated for her recorded output and is rarely listed among the top female vocalists of the 60’s. This is hard to understand in light of the quality of Lewis’ vocals. In one critic’s words, “Lewis’ voice radiates sophistication and warmth, sounding both familiar and no one else you’ve ever heard.”
“Baby I’m Yours” has been covered by many artists over the years including Cher, Peter and Gordon, Mama Cass Elliot, Debby Boone, Petula Clark, Tanya Tucker, and Bobby Vee to name just a few. But Barbara Lewis’ original is still the definitive version of the song.
Watch a video of Barbara Lewis performing "Baby I'm Yours" by clicking below: http://youtu.be/RHfMFCOpJtc
76. “Hollywood Nights” (B. Seger) – Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band; Capitol label, # 12 Billboard Hot 100 – 1978. Inducted in 2013.
Released as the second single from Seger’s 1978 LP, “Stranger In Town”, “Hollywood Nights” was one of the last songs written for Seger’s important follow-up to “Night Moves”, his certified platinum album released in 1976. According to the Seger File web site, the cover photo for “Stranger In Town” was shot on the lawn of the house that Seger rented while recording the album in Los Angeles. The house was in the Hollywood Hills and helped provide the inspiration for “Hollywood Nights”.
In a radio interview Seger explained, “I had to stay in LA for 2 and 1/2 months while recording the album. I rented a house for the second month and a half. It was up in the Hollywood Hills, and every night when we’d get back from the studio I would look out and there would be all the lights of the city. I was just sitting there with an electric guitar, and I started bashing it out.”
Seger explained some of the lyrics to the Detroit Free Press: “The chorus just came into my head. I was driving around in the Hollywood Hills and I started singing “Hollywood nights, Hollywood hills, Above all the lights, Hollywood nights”.
“I went back to my rented house, and there was a Time magazine with Cheryl Tiegs on the cover”, Seger recalled. I said “Let’s write a song about a guy from the Midwest who runs into someone like this and gets caught up in the whole bizzaro thing.”
Watch Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band perform "Hollywood Nights" by clicking here: http://youtu.be/_D4eUWBAE_A
77. “Stop! In The Name Of Love” (B. Holland, L. Dozier, E. Holland) – The Supremes; Motown label, # 1 Billboard Hot 100, # 2 Billboard R&B – 1965. Inducted in 2013.
“Stop! In The Name of Love” was the fourth consecutive # 1 single written and produced for The Supremes by Motown’s most successful production team, Holland-Dozier-Holland. Prior to this impressive string of hits by the Supremes during the height of Beatlemania, no other Motown artist had enjoyed more than one # 1 hit on the Hot 100.
The Supremes' choreography for this song, with one hand on the hip and the other outstretched in a "stop" gesture, is equally legendary. Paul Williams and Melvin Franklin of The Temptations taught the girls the routine backstage in London, before the Supremes' first televised performance of the single on the Ready Steady Go! Special, The Sound of Motown, hosted by Motown enthusiast Dusty Springfield They also performed the song on an episode of the ABC variety program Shindig! that aired on Wednesday, February 25, 1965.
The song was nominated for the 1966 Grammy award for Best Contemporary Rock & Roll Group Vocal Performance but inexplicably lost out to “Flowers On The Wall” by the Statler Brothers. “Stop! In The Name Of Love” was later honored by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s permanent collection of the 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll.
Watch The Supremes perform "Stop! In The name Of Love" on the Hollywood Palace TV show by clicking here: http://youtu.be/iDPjYZxi0n8
78. “Let’s Get It On” (M. Gaye, E. Townshend) – Marvin Gaye; Tamla label, # 1 Billboard Hot 100, # 1 Billboard R&B – 1973. Inducted in 2013.
Marvin Gaye’s second # 1 single and biggest hit of the 1970’s was the title track and the first song recorded for his acclaimed album “Let’s Get It On”. Gaye’s music during the decade had moved away from the Motown sound that he had helped popularize with his many classic recordings during the 1960’s.
“Let’s Get It On” was originally composed as a religious ode to life, but with the help of co-writer Ed Townshend, the lyrics were changed to better reflect Gaye’s views on love and sex. Marvin expounded on his forward thinking views on those two subjects in the album’s liner notes: “I can’t see anything wrong with sex between consenting anybodies. After all, one’s genitals are just one part of the magnificent human body. I contend that SEX IS SEX and LOVE IS LOVE. When combined, they work well together, if two people are of about the same mind. But they are really two discrete needs and should be treated as such.”
The song features soulful, passionate vocals and multi-tracked background singing, both done by Gaye. Inspired by Marvin’s infatuation with a young lady named Janis Hunter, “Let’s Get It One” has an almost 1950’s-styled melody built around an eccentric rhythm pattern and the distinctive guitar of session musician Don Peake.
The explicit content of “Let’s Get It On” cemented Gaye’s reputation as Motown’s sex icon. In 2004, the song was included on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. It was ranked at # 32 on Billboard’s Hot 100 All Time Top Songs list in 2008.
Watch Marvin Gaye perform "Let's Get It On" by clicking here: http://youtu.be/s7eTOnNBwYU
79. “You Are The Sunshine Of My Life” (S. Wonder) – Stevie Wonder; Tamla label, # 1 Billboard Hot 100, # 3 Billboard R&B – 1973. Inducted in 2013.
Written and produced by Stevie Wonder, “You Are The Sunshine Of My Life” was taken from “Talking Book”, the second album issued after his new Motown contract gave him full creative control over the songs he recorded for the label. Shortly before the release of the single, Wonder completed a tour as the opening act for the Rolling Stones which exposed his music to the vast white rock audience and helped alleviate his being pigeon-holed as an artist who only appealed to black R&B listeners.
As a result, “You Are The Sunshine Of My Life” not only became Wonder’s third # 1 on the Hot 100, but it also became his first # 1 on the Billboard Easy Listening chart in 1973. The single’s relaxed groove was a major departure from its predecessor, the rocking # 1 hit “Superstition”, a song that Wonder had originally written for Jeff Beck. In addition, the first two lines of “You Are The Sunshine Of My Life” are sung, not by Wonder, but by Jim Gilstrip with Lani Groves singing the next two lines. The single version differs from the album version of the song with the addition of horns to the mix.
Wonder was presented with the Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for his recording of the song. “You Are the Sunshine Of My Life” was listed on Rolling Stone magazine’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
Watch Stevie Wonder perform "You Are The Sunshine Of My Life" at the White House by clicking here: http://youtu.be/gZXjFV8nT4E
80. The Tears Of A Clown” (S. Wonder, H. Cosby, W. Robinson) – Smokey Robinson & The Miracles; Tamla label, # 1 Billboard Hot 100, # 1 Billboard R&B – 1970. Inducted in 2013.
“The Tears of A Clown” has to be the most unusual # 1 hit in the long and storied history of the Motown record label. Stevie Wonder and his producer hank Cosby had composed the music in 1966, but couldn’t come up with a lyric to match the instrumental. Wonder played it to Smokey Robinson who said the tune reminded him of the circus. Smokey wrote the lyrics, and sang lead on the song that became part of the Miracles’ 1967 album, “Make It Happen”.
By the end of 1969, Robinson had informed the other Miracles that he was tired of touring and would be retiring from the act to spend more time in Detroit with his family and concentrate on his duties as vice-president of Motown Records. Because of a lack of new material from the Miracles, the division of Motown in Britain selected “The Tears Of A Clown” from the group’s catalogue for a single release in that country. A new mix was made of the song, and by September of 1970, the single was # 1 in Great Britain.
The success of the song overseas prompted Motown to release the single in the United States, where it quickly became a # 1 hit on both the Hot 100 and the R&B charts. The Miracles had sold millions of records during their long career at Motown, but “The Tears Of A Clown” was the group’s first and only # 1 hit with Smokey Robinson as the lead singer.
Because of the success of the single, Robinson delayed his decision to leave the Miracles for two more years. “The Tears Of A Clown” remains the biggest hit of the 46 recordings that the Miracles placed on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2002, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Watch Smokey Robinson & The Miracles perform "The Tears Of A Clown" by clicking here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaMX0Cs5Bc4
81. “Flamingo Express” (G. Katakis, M. Popoff, G. Popoff) – The Royaltones; Goldisc label, # 82 Billboard Hot 100 – 1961. Inducted in 2014.
The Royaltones formed in Dearborn, Michigan, in 1957 while they were still in high school. Originally called The Paragons, the band was renamed ‘The Royaltones’ when their original composition of “Poor Boy” was leased by Jubilee Records. The instrumental became a # 17 hit in the fall of 1958.
In 1960, original members George Katsakis – sax, and identical twins Mike Popoff – drums and Greg Popoff – keyboards, added guitarist Karl Kaminski and signed with George Goldner’s Goldisc label. “Flamingo Express was recorded at the first session produced by Goldner in New York. The song was originally called “Wiggle, Wiggle” but was renamed in honor of The Flamingos, George Goldner’s highly successful vocal group.
“Flamingo Express” was released in late 1960 and peaked at # 82 in early 1961. It would prove to be the last charting hit for the Royaltones. Future Funk Brother Bob Babbitt played bass on the hit instrumental and would officially join the band a few months later. Guitarist Dennis Coffey also joined the band in 1961.
82. “Talking In Your Sleep” (C. Canler, W. Palmar, M. Skill, J. Marinos, P. Solley) – The Romantics; Nemperor label, # 3 Billboard Hot 100 – 1984. Inducted in 2014.
The Romantics formed in Detroit in 1977. “Talking In Your Sleep” was the first single released for the band’s fourth album, “In Heat”. The song became the band’s biggest chart hit, reaching # 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1984 and staying at that position for three weeks.
“Talking In Your Sleep” garnered a great deal of radio airplay and eventually sold over one million copies of the 45 rpm single in the United States. The song’s music video, in which the Romantics were shown performing while surrounded by standing, but supposedly sleeping young women in lingerie, pajamas, and other sleepwear, received heavy rotation on MTV and helped boost sales.
The song went # 1 on Billboard’s Hot Dance Club Play charts and also topped the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart. Although the single was unsuccessful in England, “Talking In Your Sleep” reached # 14 on the Australian Singles Chart and was a # 5 hit in Sweden.
Listen to The Romantics' recording of "Talking In Your Sleep" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcN_AEOQv4s
83. “One In A Million” (C. Canler, W. Palmar, M. Skill, J. Marinos) – The Romantics; Nemperor label, # 37 Billboard Hot 100 – 1984. Inducted in 2014.
“One In A Million” was the third and final single taken from the Romantics’ most successful album, “In Heat”. After the single “Rock You Up” failed to keep up the momentum started with the success of “Talking In Your Sleep”, “One In A Million” got the band back in the Top 40 when it peaked at # 37 in 1984. It also reached # 22 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock chart.
Despite achieving their commercial breakthrough in 1984, the Romantics had begun to splinter. “One In A Million” would prove to be the band’s last big hit. Disagreements with the Romantics’ management, and also between band members, resulted in Jimmy Marinos leaving the band later in the year. He was replaced by drummer Dave Petratos.
The band recorded one more album, “Rhythm Romance” before becoming entangled in legal matters that caused undue hardships for the band, rendered them unable to record for a seven-year period, and effectively torpedoed the Romantics’ career.
Watch the Romantics perform "One In A Million" on American Bandstand in 1984. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfHMyrZVpS0
84. “East Side Story” (B. Seger) – Bob Seger & The Last Heard; Hideout and Cameo labels, Did not chart nationally– 1966. Inducted in 2014.
According to Scott Sparling’s Seger Files; “East Side Story” is the defining song of Seger’s early years. It is the song that captures the full power of his voice, his promise, his songwriting ability. More than anything, it is probably the song that launched his career and sustained it during the dry periods that followed.
"East Side Story" became a huge hit in Detroit, a #3 record on Detroit radio, which was rare for a local band. Forty-eight years later, the song has not lost one iota of energy -- it still has the same raw, pulsing urgency of a rock classic. Only in this case, it's a rock classic that most people have never heard.
In an interview with Roy Trakin for Creem magazine in 1987, Seger recalled; "I was trying to write something for this band called the Underdogs. I did not write that for me to do. I might have been a little derivative at that point just because I didn't think it would be my song. I do remember losing some sleep over the fact that it sounded an awful lot like ‘Gloria’, though, if you put them side by side, they're not really all that alike. There are a lot more chords in 'East Side Story’ than there are in ‘Gloria.’"
Watch Bob Seger & The Last Heard perform "East Side Story" on Swinging Time with Robin Seymour. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JL_N-Dly-Q
85. “Baby Please Don’t Go” (J. Williams) – The Amboy Dukes; Mainstream label, # 106 Billboard Bubbling Under the Hot 100 – 1968. Inducted in 2014.
Detroit-born Ted Nugent formed the Amboy Dukes following his father’s transfer to Chicago. Named after a defunct Detroit R&B band, Nugent claimed to have never heard of the street gang from Perth Amboy, New Jersey, whose name was made famous as the title of a 1950’s novel.
After making a name in Chicago, Nugent relocated the band to Detroit and, along with lead vocalist John Drake, put together a new lineup that quickly became one of the Motor City’s top bands. They signed with Mainstream Records in 1967 and recorded their self-titled debut album in just one night.
Their scalding version of “Baby Please Don’t Go” was released as the first single, and his propulsive beat and howling guitar sound raised the bar for Detroit rock and roll. The song was a big local hit and even made the national charts, reaching # 106 in Billboard in early 1968.
Listen to "Baby Please Don't Go" by the Amboy Dukes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vi8h9_KgFpc
86. “Heavy Music Pt. 1” (B. Seger) – Bob Seger & The Last Heard; Cameo-Parkway label, # 103 Billboard Bubbling Under the Hot 100 – 1967. Inducted in 2014.
From the Seger File; “This is the song that changed everything. This is the song that, ten years later, remained the focal point of Seger's live performance as captured on the “Live Bullet” LP. It is the first song, on vinyl anyway, that really captured his ability to combine the raw power of rock with the punch and rhythm of the James Brown style soul music he loved.”
“Heavy Music” grew out of a jam at a bar in Columbus, Ohio, and they just happened to be taping the performance that night. Seger really dug the ‘deeper’ part of the jam and wrote a song around it after he went home. It's not an exaggeration to say that this was a new sound. He wasn't following anyone here (the way that he was arguably following Van Morrison with "East Side Story," the first landmark song of his career.) Instead, he was combining two styles into a something new.
“When that happens, worlds can explode, as they did for Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry or the Beatles. In a lesser but still potent way, "Heavy Music" might have exploded for Seger, too, except for the ultimate bad luck with Cameo-Parkway, which went out of business just as the song hit. Still, "Heavy Music" cracked open the door of stardom and became Bob Seger’s first charting single when it reached # 103 on Billboard in 1967.”
Listen to "Heavy Music Pt .1" by Bob Seger & The Last Heard. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-W52Kt_ocqw
87. “Village Of Love” (N. Mayer, D. Brown) – Nathaniel Mayer and the Fabulous Twilights; Fortune and United Artists labels, # 22 Billboard Hot 100, # 16 Billboard R&B – 1962. Inducted in 2014.
According to author David A. Carson, Nathaniel Mayer recorded his own composition of “Village Of Love” for Detroit’s Fortune Records at the age of 18 in 1962. It would go on to become Fortune’s biggest hit after it was leased to United Artist for national distribution and peaked at # 22 on the Hot 100.
Although label owner Devora Brown received songwriting credit along with Mayer, it is doubtful that she contributed anything to the song beyond running the recording session in the Fortune building. Mayer’s raw brand of doo-wop was very different from the smooth tones of his Fortune label mates, Nolan Strong & The Diablos, but it is an unquestioned Motor City classic.
The prominent bass voice at the beginning and end of “Village Of Love” was that of the Diablos’ bass singer, Jay Johnson. After the song became a national hit, Nathaniel Mayer played the best clubs in Detroit including the Gay Haven and the 20 Grand, and then went on to headline a tour around the country fronting his own revue.
Listen to "Viilage Of Love" by Nathaniel Mayer & The Fabulous Twilights. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpA5Ljxuxl4
88. “1969” (D. Alexander, R. Asheton, S. Asheton, I. Pop) – The Stooges; Elektra label, Did not chart nationally – 1969. Inducted in 2014.
Listed among Rolling Stone magazine’s 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time, “1969” was the first single issued from the Stooges debut album released in the summer of 1969. The song was recorded with John Cale of the Velvet Underground at the Hit Factory in New York, but conflicts arose immediately when the band turned their amps up to 10 in the recording studio.
According to author David A Carson, the Stooges practically had to stage a sit-down strike over the issue before they reached a compromise, and the band recorded with their amps on 9. The attitude expressed by Iggy Pop in “1969”, the lead track on the album, provided the blueprint for the punk rock movement in the 1970’s in both England and the United States: “Another year for me and you, another year with nothing to do”.
“1969” was paired with another Stooges’ classic, “I Wanna Be Your Dog” for the first single after the Cale sessions were remixed by Elektra Records president Jac Holzman and Iggy Pop. Elektra put Steve Harris in charge of the Stooges marketing project, but there were few Top 40 stations outside of Michigan willing to play either side.
Listen to "1969" by The Stooges along with some rare footage of the band in concert that was shot by Leni Sinclair. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeQ2r1HLALE
89. “What Becomes Of the Brokenhearted” (W. Weatherspoon, P. Riser, J. Dean) – Jimmy Ruffin; Soul label, # 7 Billboard Hot 100, # 6 Billboard R&B – 1966. Inducted in 2014.
Jimmy Ruffin was encouraged to come to Detroit by his younger brother David Ruffin. He signed with Motown in 1961 and his first recording was on Berry Gordy’s short-lived Miracle label.
“What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted” was originally intended for the Spinners. But Jimmy convinced the producers to let him record the ballad; and it became his only Top Ten hit in 1966. The song originally featured a spoken introduction by Ruffin, but it was removed in the final mix resulting in in the rather long instrumental intro in the released version.
Ruffin’s lead vocal is ably supported by Motown’s famous studio band, the Funk Brothers, and the backing voices are by both the Originals and the Andantes. Besides being a big hit in the United States, “What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted” reached # 8 in England when it was originally released and then charted even higher at # 4 when it was reissued in the U. K. in 1974.
Watch a video of Jimmy Ruffin performing "What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQU4sIn96M4
90. “(Just Like) Romeo & Juliet” (B. Hamilton, F. Gorman) – The Reflections; Golden World label, # 6 Billboard Hot 100 – 1964. Inducted in 2014.
The Reflections formed in Livonia, Michigan. After recording one single on the tiny Kayco label in 1963, they were signed to Ed Wingate’s Golden World record company. There, the group was presented with a song co-written by former Motown artist Freddie Gorman. The group members listened to Gorman sing “(Just Like) Romeo & Juliet” on a piano in an upstairs rehearsal room and were initially unimpressed with the song.
Several weeks later when the group was informed that the backing tracks had been completed, and that they needed to add their vocals, their opinion of the song changed dramatically. Several moonlighting members of the Funk Brothers had recorded the instrumental backing at the United Sound studios in Detroit and the Reflections were blown away by the sound.
The song was pushed hard on both CKLW and WKNR, and by the middle of March, 1964, it was # 1 in the Detroit market and eventually sold over one million copies nationwide. The Reflections’ success with “(Just Like) Romeo & Juliet” led to a spot on Dick Clark’s Caravan of Stars 1964 summer tour, a slot on James Brown’s revue (Brown loved the record), and a performance at the famed Apollo Theater in New York.
Watch the Reflections performing "(Just Like) Romeo & Juliet" on the 60's TV music show Shivaree. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycCZX-olchU
91. “Be My Lover” (M. Bruce) – Alice Cooper; Warner Bros. label, # 49 Billboard Hot 100 – 1972. Inducted in 2015.
“Be My Lover” was written by guitarist Mike Bruce and was the second single released from Alice Cooper’s “Killer” album. The album was reviewed in Rolling Stone by renowned rock writer Lester Bangs who had high praise for one of the album’s best songs: “Be My Lover” sets Stones-like lyrics dealing with a sexual situation to a bedrock guitar riff straight from Lou Reed’s “Sweet Jane”. This may be the best vocal Alice’s ever recorded, and Mike Bruce’s words reflect the strutting, smug feeling of the nascent Superstar perfectly: ‘And with a magnifyin’ glance I just sorta look her over/ We have a drink or two, well maybe three/ And then she starts tellin’ me her life story’.”
Bangs went on to write: “Later there is a great moment hilariously reminiscent, whether intended as parody or not, of “Honky Tonk Women”: ‘I told her that I came from Detroit City/ And I played guitar in a long-haired rock & roll band’ – and here Glenn Buxton’s guitar takes off in a great swooping flight set at reduced volume level so you don’t quite catch it at first – ‘She asked me why the singer’s name was Alice/ And I said, Listen baby, you really wouldn’t understand’. The name and the self-conscious sense of charisma will recur later, when he throws in a ‘This is Alice speakin!’, and even if you’ve never experienced the pandemonium of a live show you know that this man is a hero to countless American kids, and he knows it too.”
Alice Cooper was known for their controversial stage show, but the “Killer” albums two singles, “Be My Lover” and “Under My Wheels”, firmly established them as a top flight rock and roll band and a top concert draw in the early 70’s.
Listen to "Be My Lover" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46lHQT-_0Ig
92. “Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone” (N. Whitfield, B. Strong) – The Temptations; Gordy label, # 1 Billboard Hot 100, # 5 Billboard R&B – 1972. Inducted in 2015.
Although Norman Whitfield produced the original version of “Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone” for Motown’s Undisputed Truth in late 1971, the definitive recording of the song was done the following year by The Temptations.
Beginning with “Cloud Nine” in late 1968, Whitfield had produced a number of big hits for the Temptations in a style described as psychedelic soul. “Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone”, a classic example of Whitfield’s production technique, was originally a 12-minute cut on the Tempts’ “One Direction” album but was edited down to just under 7 minutes for the single.
By 1972, the Temptations’ line-up had undergone some changes. Eddie Kendricks had left to go solo and his falsetto had been replaced by Damon Harris; and Richard Street was filling in for Paul Williams. The two new Tempts joined with regulars Dennis Edwards, Melvin Franklin, and Otis Williams to perform the vocals in true ensemble style: alternating vocal lines, taking the role of siblings asking their mother about their now-deceased father and getting their mother’s repeated response: “Papa was a rollin’ stone/ wherever he laid his hat was his home/ and when he died, all he left us was alone”.
“Papa Was A Rollin Stone” won three Grammys in 1973 including Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Group. It’s b-side, an instrumental featuring the Funk Brothers without the Temptations’ vocals, won Best R&B Instrumental. Composers Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong also won for Best R&B Song.
Watch a live performance by The Temptations from 1972 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDi2X
93. “Higher Ground” (S. Wonder) – Stevie Wonder; Tamla label, # 4 Billboard Hot 100, # 1 Billboard R&B – 1973. Inducted in 2015.
“Higher Ground” was the first single from Wonder’s 1973 hit album, “Innervisions”. He had recorded the song shortly before he was involved in a near-fatal accident in August of 1973 that left him in a coma. Early in his recovery, Wonder’s road manager Ira Tucker sang the song’s melody into the singer’s ear; Wonder responded by moving his fingers with the music and eventually playing the clavinet in the hospital. Strangely enough, the song’s lyrics address the issue of reincarnation.
“Innervisions” was released just three days before the accident. It was the third album since fully becoming his own man at Motown and taking over the production of his music. While Wonder was in recovery, his funk single, “Higher Ground” raced up the charts. Via overdubs, Stevie Wonder played all the instruments on the song. The unique wah-clavinet sound in the recording was achieved with a Mu-tron III envelope filter pedal. The bass line was provided by a Moog synthesizer.
In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine selected “Higher Ground” as one of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Wonder’s “Innervisions” album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.
Watch a live performance of "Higher Ground" by Stevie Wonder from 1974 at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XV1DK9tSHio
94. “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” (G. Goffin, C. King, J. Wexler) – Aretha Franklin; Atlantic label, # 8 Billboard Hot 100, # 2 Billboard R&B – 1967. Inducted in 2015.
Aretha Franklin’s fourth consecutive hit single on Atlantic Records was written by the crack songwriting team of Carole King and Gerry Goffin but was inspired by Franklin’s producer, Jerry Wexler. Wexler was a student of African-American musical culture and had been mulling over the concept of the “natural man” when he drove by King on the streets of New York City. In his autobiography he claims to have shouted out to her that he wanted a “natural woman” song for Aretha Franklin’s next album. In thanks for giving them the idea for what became a big hit, Goffin and King granted Wexler a co-writing credit.
“A Natural Woman” was the first single released from Franklin’s classic “Lady Soul” album from 1967. Aretha performed the song in a strong gospel style with able backing by the Sweet Inspirations, but Wexler’s use of strings and warm brass accents kept the song in the gospel-pop vein, thereby insuring crossover appeal.
In 1971, Carole King recorded a stripped-down and very different rendering of “A Natural Woman” on her hit album, “Tapestry”. The Grammy Hall of Fame inducted Aretha Franklin’s version of “A Natural Woman” in 1999.
95. “Better Man Than I” (M. Hugg, B. Hugg) – Terry Knight & The Pack; Lucky Eleven label, # 125 Billboard Bubbling Under – 1966. Inducted in 2015.
Terry Knight & The Pack first heard “You’re A Better Man Than I” when they opened for The Yardbirds at the Flint IMA auditorium in December of 1965. The English band was riding a string of three consecutive Top 20 singles in the U.S. They had recently released their second LP, “Having A Rave Up With The Yardbirds” and “You’re A Better Man Than I” was the album’s first track. The song had been recorded at the Sam Phillips Studio in Memphis in September and Phillips himself engineered the session.
Being an anglophile of the first order, and discovering that the Yardbirds had no plans to release “You’re A Better Man Than I” as a single, Terry Knight booked the band into the Audio Recording Studio in Cleveland on Valentine’s Day in 1966 to produce a cover of the song for their Lucky Eleven label out of Flint.
Released as “Better Man Than I”, the 45 became the first regional hit for Terry Knight & The Pack. It reached # 1 on Flint’s WTRX the week of March 18, 1966 and it also moved into the Top Ten on radio stations in Detroit and Cleveland. Knight, being a former DJ, had several good radio connections that undoubtedly helped the song, but in the final analysis Terry Knight & The Pack recorded an admirable version and it spent three weeks in the upper reaches of the Billboard charts in April of 1966.
Listen to "Better Man Than I" at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsvY0M9U1QM
96. “Rock ‘N Roll” (L. Reed) – Detroit featuring Mitch Ryder; Paramount label, # 107 Billboard Bubbling Under – 1972. Inducted in 2015.
“Rock ‘N Roll” was written by Lou Reed and included on “Loaded”, his last studio album with the Velvet Underground. Mitch Ryder’s version of the song with his band Detroit was kicked off with a big guitar riff by Steve Hunter and prominent cowbell compliments of former Detroit Wheels’ drummer Johnny Badanjek. Lou Reed was impressed by the powerful performance and was quoted as saying that was how the song was supposed to sound. After Detroit broke up, Reed recruited Hunter to for his Rock N Roll Animal tour and two live albums.
Following a nasty parting of the ways with Bob Crewe, Mitch Ryder returned to Detroit and took on Barry Kramer, publisher of Creem magazine, as his manager. Kramer’s plan was to reunite the Detroit Wheels but he was only able to recruit Badanjek and guitarist Joey Kubert. The band then changed gears and morphed into Detroit but was plagued with numerous personnel changes, disagreements, and rampant drug abuse.
Somehow the band managed to produce an excellent album titled “Detroit”, but it fell through the cracks along with its two great singles, “Long Neck Goose” and especially the radio friendly “Rock ‘N Roll’. Despite sounding like a major hit, “Rock ‘N Roll” never found its audience and failed to reach the Hot 100, peaking at # 107 in early 1972.
Embittered by his experiences, Mitch Ryder would leave the music scene and head to Denver. There he worked a day job for five years while working on his songwriting skills at night before returning to Detroit and resuming his music career.
Listen to "Rock 'N Roll" at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mag6jxiHXXk
97. “Bad Time” (M. Farner) – Grand Funk; Capitol label, # 4 Billboard Hot 100 – 1975. Inducted in 2015.
Grand Funk’s last big single, “Bad Time”, came from a particularly painful chapter in Mark Farner’s life. According to his biography, From Grand Funk To Grace, Farner and his girlfriend of several years, Cheri Chestnut, had been going through a breakup after he had discovered that she had been unfaithful while he was away of tour.
Following Chestnut’s attempted suicide, Farner’s family intervened and convinced him to forgive her. The couple then decided to marry in November of 1972 while in Fort Worth, Texas. Things seemed to go smoothly for a while, but after Farner learned of her continued infidelities, he started to take full advantage of the available females that were constantly surrounding the members of Grand Funk on the road.
His own indiscretions made it easier for Farner to seek a divorce from his wife in 1974. While she sat crying in the kitchen, Farner sat at the piano in the living room of their home and composed what become the hit song “Bad Time”.
The song became the second single released from Grand Funk’s ninth studio album, “All the Girls in the World Beware!!!”. The LP was produced by Jimmy Ienner, who had previously worked with three Dog Night, the Raspberries, and the Bay City Rollers. Sounding more pop than most of their previous releases, “Bad Time” became the band’s fourth single to reach the Top Ten, but it was also Grand Funk’s last Top 40 hit in the U.S.
Listen to "Bad Time" at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Exn11k4HOG0
98. “Mainstreet” (B.Seger) – Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band; Capitol label, # 24 Billboard Hot 100 – 1977. Inducted in 2015.
“Mainstreet” was the second 45 released from Seger’s hit album, “Night Moves”. It marked the first time that Seger released a ballad as the a-side of one of his singles; and like the album’s title track, which was his first Top Ten hit, “Mainstreet” was based on places and events in his early life.
Seger has stated that the street he was singing about was Ann Street, just off Main Street in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he grew up. There was a pool hall on Ann where they had girls dancing in the window and R&B bands playing on the weekends.
In a 1994 interview in the Detroit Free Press, Seger spoke about the song “Mainstreet” with writer Gary Graff: “Again, that’s going back to the “Night Moves” situation where I was writing about my high school years in Ann Arbor and what it was like – the discovery, the total naivete and fresh-faced openness that I went through. It was sort of an entire awakening of my life; before that, I was kind of a quiet, lonesome kid.”
Listen to a live performance of "Mainstreet" from 1977 at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fA764ch0rBk
99. “No More Mr. Nice Guy” (A. Cooper, M. Bruce) – Alice Cooper; Warner Bros. label, # 25 Billboard Hot 100 – 1973. Inducted in 2015.
The third charting single from Alice Cooper’s # 1 album, “Billion Dollar Babies”, was built around The Who’s song “Substitute”. In the CD booklet for “The Best Of Alice Cooper”, Cooper recalled: “The funny part of this song was that we had all of this horrific publicity, and then we came out and declared, ‘All right, everyone…now it’s no more Mr. Nice Guy time. The gloves are off.’ People were going, ‘Huh?!? What? Now they’re going to get worse?!?’ Also, I wrote the lyrics out of anger because of how my parents were treated by some of the press. It was particularly hard because of my dad being a minister. Fact is, my parents were the only ones who knew I was a nice guy.”
Strangely enough, “No More Mr. Nice Guy” was a bigger hit in Great Britain, reaching # 10, than in the U.S. where it peaked at # 25.
The song has had an interesting history over the years. “No More Mr. Nice Guy” was played in the classic stoner film Dazed and Confused. The scene from the movie was later parodied on the Family Guy TV show in the episode titled Jungle Love.
“No More Mr. Nice Guy” was later re-recorded by Alice Cooper and used in the video game Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock and also used in The Simpsons’ episode Love Is A Many Strangled Thing. In addition, Cooper made a cameo appearance while performing the song in the film adaptation of the TV series Dark Shadows.
Listen to "No More Mr. Nice Guy" at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyCAZOGjYD0
100. “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” (B. Holland, L. Dozier, E. Holland) – The Supremes; Motown label, # 1 Billboard Hot 100, # 1 Billboard R&B – 1966. Inducted in 2015.
No singing group was hotter than The Supremes in 1966. “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” became the trio’s eighth # 1 single when it topped the charts for two week in November. The song’s signature guitar part originated from a Morse code-like radio sound effect, typically used before a news announcement, which caught Lamont Dozier’s ear. He later collaborated with Brian and Eddie Holland to integrate the idea into a song.
Many elements of the recording, including the guitars, the drums, and Diana Ross, Mary Wilson, and Florence Ballard’s vocals were multitracked, a production technique that was established and popularized by Holland-Dozier-Holland and other premier producers of the 1960s. H-D-H recorded “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” in eight sessions with The Supremes and The Funk Brothers before settling on a version deemed suitable for release.
“You Keep Me Hangin’ On” was the first single taken from the Supremes’ album “The Supremes Sing Holland-Dozier-Holland”. The song was selected as one of Rolling Stone magazine’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. In 1999, “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” by The Supremes was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Listen to "You Keep Me Hangin' On" at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phhwkbD1E2c
101. “Boom Boom” (J. Hooker) - John Lee Hooker; Vee Jay label, # 60 Billboard Hot 100, # 16 Billboard R&B – 1962. Inducted in 2016.
Hooker wrote “Boom Boom” during an extended engagement at the Apex Bar in Detroit in 1961. He was always a little tardy for his performances and got the idea for the song from the female bartender at the Apex who would say to him “Boom boom – you late again” on a nightly basis.
Although Hooker was primarily a solo performer or accompanied by only a second guitarist on his early recordings, he often recorded with a small band while on the Vee Jay label. On “Boom Boom”, Hooker used several of Motown’s Funk Brothers including pianist Joe Hunter, bassist James Jamerson, drummer Benny Benjamin, and sax players Hank Crosby and Andrew “Mike” Terry.
“Boom Boom” was John Lee Hooker’s only Hot 100 hit. In 1965, The Animals also charted with their cover of the song.
Watch a 1960's John Lee Hooker televison performance of "Boom Boom" at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WS7_e9LdvDI
102. “Respect” (O. Redding) – The Rationals: Cameo label, # 92 Billboard Hot 100 – 1966. Inducted in 2016.
Otis Redding had a # 4 R&B hit with his composition of “Respect” in 1965. The Rationals’ version was issued in 1966, about a year before Aretha Franklin’s. The band given the song by their manager “Jeep” Holland and it was initially released on Holland’s A-Square label before he signed a deal for the Rationals with Cameo.
According to lead singer Scott Morgan, they worked out their version of “Respect” on the stage of Mother’s teen club in East Tawas. Holland did the arrangement on the recording which was produced by Les Cooley, and it was Holland’s idea for the instantly recognizable note at the beginning. Being from the Detroit area, the band grew up on Motown and R&B music came easily to them. The Rationals took just three tries in the studio to capture their classic version.
Shortly after the band was signed to Cameo, the Rationals broke big in Detroit at the ALSAC leukemia. Jerry Wexler wanted the band to sign with Atlantic but Jeep Holland couldn’t give up his control of the band’s recordings. It’s said that Wexler suggested that Aretha Franklin record “Respect” after hearing the Rationals’ version of the song.
Watch The Rationals perform "Respect" on television in 1966: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW9DDIfmDUk
103. “Jenny Take A Ride” (Crewe/Johnson/Penniman) – Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels; New Voice label, # 10 Billboard Hot 100 – 1966. Inducted in 2016.
Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels’ third single welded Chuck Willis’ “C. C. Rider” to Little Richard’s “Jenny, Jenny” and was the first of seven high energy chart hits by the group.
The group first came together in 1964 in Detroit as Billy Lee & The Rivieras with lead singer Billy Levise, lead guitarist Jim McCarty, drummer John Badanjek, bassist Earl Elliott, and rhythm guitarist Joey Kubert. By mid-summer they had attracted a fanatical local following. The band’s live performances were so potent that the unrecorded group was soon headlining over major Motown artists at clubs and casinos in the Detroit area.
The band changed its name to Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels after signing with Bob Crewe’s New Voice label. What followed was a wild two-year ride through the star-making machinery of the record industry that brought them fame but not fortune and tore the group apart in the process.
Watch Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels perform "Jenny Take A Ride" on Hullabaloo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrOvQ9JAf3g&list=RDTrOvQ9JAf3g
104. “Black Sheep” (SRC) – SRC; Capitol label. Did not chart nationally – 1968. Inducted in 2016.
SRC first came together under the guidance of Jeep Holland when Scott Richardson, lead singer of the Chosen Few, joined forces with Gary and Glenn Quackenbush, E.G. Clawson, Steve Lyman, and Robin Dale of The Fugitives to form a new band called the Scot Richard Case.
The band shortened its name to SRC after it left Holland and his A-Square label to sign with Capitol Records in 1968. “Black Sheep” was the single taken from the band’s self-titled debut album on Capitol, and it was a sterling example of SRC’s approach of combining poetry, Eastern philosophy, psychedelics, and a deep spiritual questing in a unique and heavy style of Motor City rock.
“Black Sheep” is in many ways the ultimate SRC song, featuring the doomy organ passages of Glenn Quackenbush, brother Gary’s sustained guitar notes, E.G. Clawson’s pounding drumbeats, and Scott Richardson’s yearning vocals. Although the song got a great deal of airplay in Michigan, it failed to chart nationally.
SRC was one of Michigan’s most popular and distinctive bands from 1967-1970. Although the group’s first two LPs made the Billboard album chart, they were never able to come up with the hit single that would have broken them nationally.
Listen to "Black Sheep" at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUrLjD33Vyo
105. “Reach Out I’ll Be There” (Holland-Dozier-Holland) – The Four Tops; Motown label. # 1 Billboard Hot 100, # 1 Billboard R&B – 1966. Inducted in 2016.
The Four Tops’ biggest hit of 1966 was written and produced by Motown’s top production team of Holland-Dozier-Holland. According to the Tops’ Duke Fakir, the trio realized that when lead singer Levi Stubbs hit the top of his vocal range, it sounded like someone hurting, so H-D-H liked him to sing up there so that you could hear the tears in his voice.
Stubbs delivered many of the lines in a tone that straddled the line between singing and shouting. The song features a dramatic, semi-operatic tension and release and contains a rock-solid groove compliments of the Funk Brothers.
“Reach Out I’ll Be There” is one of the most-well-known Motown songs of the 60s and is today considered to be the Four Tops’ signature song. It was # 1 on the Hot 100 for two weeks in October until it was replaced by “96 Tears” by ? and The Mysterians.
It also reached # 1 on the British charts in 1966 where it stayed for three weeks. At the time, it was only the second Motown song to reach # 1 in Great Britain.
Watch the Four Tops perform "Reach Out I'll Be There" at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c56Sj7kMbLk
106. “City Slang” (F. Smith) – Sonic’s Rendezvous Band; Orchide label. Did not chart nationally 1978. Inducted in 2016.
Formed in Ann Arbor in 1975, Sonic’s Rendezvous Band was an all-star hard rock group formed out of the ashes of four great Michigan bands. Fred Smith was formerly of the MC5, Scott Morgan came from The Rationals, Scott Asheton the drummer for The Stooges and Gary Rasmussen played bass in The Up.
Despite their stellar lineup, the band remained virtually unknown outside of Michigan and only released one single during its career. Because they lacked finances, the band only had enough money to mix one song, “City Slang”, so it was pressed on both sides of the single (one side in stereo, one in mono).
Detroit’s Metro Times listed “City Slang” as one of Detroit’s 100 Greatest Songs a few years back. It’s music critic stated, “Living up to Smith’s nickname, ‘City Slang’ was a guitar-powered sonic assault, an anthem that reflected the Detroit notion of a guitar army. There was no promotion and the band barely ventured out of the state, but ‘City Slang’ reached international classic status totally via word-of-mouth.”
Listen to "City Slang" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtqTAvv2kDA
107. “Roll Me Away” (B. Seger) – Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band; Capitol label. # 27 Billboard Hot 100 – 1983. Inducted in 2016.
“Roll Me Away” was the third single issued from Seger’s 1983 album, “The Distance”. Seger said to Gary Graff of the Detroit Free Press that the song was written about a motorcycle trip he took to Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Seger told Graff: “I wanted to do that for a long time. It was fascinating being out. The first night it was 42 degrees in Northern Minnesota; the second day it was 106 degrees in South Dakota and all I had was my shorts, and my feet were up on the handlebars to keep them from boiling on the engine. It was just silence and feeling nature.”
The song has been used in several motion pictures. “Roll Me Away” is featured on the Armageddon soundtrack. In addition, the song is played in its entirety in the final scene and closing credits of the film Mask starring Cher and Eric Stoltz. It was also the closing song in the 1984 film Reckless, as Aidan Quinn and Darryl Hannah drive off on a motorcycle.
Watch a live performance of "Roll Me Away" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEBwq4A1wsU
108. “Farmer John” (D. Harris, D. Terry) – The Tidal Waves; HBR label. # 123 on Billboard in 1966. Inducted in 2016.
The Tidal Waves formed in Roseville, Michigan in 1964, inspired by The Beatles’ appearances on Ed Sullivan. Their first single, “Farmer John” was released on the Detroit-based SVR label in early 1966 before being picked up for national distribution by the Hanna-Barbera Records (HBR). “Farmer John” was a huge hit in Michigan but did not do as well nationally. The Tidal Waves’ version charted at # 123 on Billboard but did much better on the Cashbox chart, peaking at # 79.
“Farmer John” was written and recorded in the late 1950s by the duo of Don & Dewey on Specialty Records. It did not become a hit, however, until 1964 when it was covered by The Premiers, a Hispanic rock group from California and reached # 19 on the Hot 100.
The Tidal Waves recorded two more singles after “Farmer John”, including the garage band classic “Action! (Speaks Louder Than Words)” before disbanding in 1967 over issues regarding the group’s royalties from their record sales.
Listen to "Farmer John" by the Tidal Waves at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWtvv6mQNLA
109. “Mind Over Matter (I’m Gonna Make You Mine)” (D. Brown) – Nolan Strong; Fortune label. # 112 Billboard – 1962. Inducted in 2016.
The Diablos with lead singer Nolan Strong was one of Detroit’s most successful early vocal groups. The group’s classic 1954 recording of “The Wind” would have probably been a national R&B hit were it not for the spotty distribution of the tiny Fortune label.
According to author David A. Carson, “In 1962 Fortune owner Devora Brown wrote a song expressly for Nolan Strong. Although only his name appeared on the label, the Diablos backed him up. ‘Mind Over Matter’ was an irresistible midtempo dance record full of sudden stops, starts, and vocal acrobatics, as Nolan sang about putting a hex on his girl to win her love.”
“Mind Over Matter” quickly shot to # 1 on the Detroit charts. Sheldon Brown, Devora’s son, remembered that Berry Gordy was not pleased with Fortune suddenly having a # 1 record in his backyard. “Berry Gordy thought it was such a great record that he took the guys in the Temptations and they recorded a version of ‘Mind Over Matter’ as the Pirates for Motown, but Nolan Strong had the bigger hit.”
Listen to "Mind Over Matter" by Nolan Strong at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGko6th_7ko
110. “True Blue” (Madonna, Steve Bray) – Madonna; Sire label. # 3 Billboard Hot 100 – 1986. Inducted in 2016.
“True Blue”, the title track of Madonna’s 1986 album, was the third of five hit singles released from the record. The song is a tribute to the girl groups, including those on Motown, that were popular when Madonna was growing up in Michigan and were a direct influence of her music.
According to Madonna, “True Blue” took its title from a favorite expression of her then husband Sean Penn and his very pure vision of love and was a direct tribute to him. When interviewed later, following her divorce for Penn, Madonna said of “True Blue”: “It’s a song about love. I didn’t know what I was talking about when I wrote it.”
Madonna’s video for “True Blue” was shot in the fall of 1986 in New York and was directed by James Foley who has also done the videos for “Papa Don’t Preach” and “Live To Tell”. Foley’s charming retro video features Madonna and three dancers and a 50s car in an all-blue diner. Madonna performs the song in choreographed moves backed her dancers in a direct tribute to the rock and roll culture of the 1950’s.
Watch Madonna's "True Blue" video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_U0vsmn2G3w
| i don't know |
Who played the title role in the television series 'Dr. Kildare'? | Dr. Kildare (TV Series 1961–1966) - IMDb
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The dramatic relationship between a young medical intern and his surgeon mentor.
Stars:
A Japanese-American doctor discovers that his pregnant Japanese-born wife, who he thought was from Tokyo, was actually from Nagasaki and was in that city when the atomic bomb was dropped there at the...
9.6
Kildare puts two women together as roommates in Blair: a highly maternal elderly woman and a young commercial artist diagnosed with a debilitating illness. But the two do not get along well due to ...
9.6
A man suffers a heart attack after coming to see his blind daughter, whom he abandoned when she was a child in order to live a vagabond life. The daughter refuses to forgive him and will not accept ...
9.4
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Title: Dr. Kildare (1961–1966)
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Won 1 Golden Globe. Another 1 win & 9 nominations. See more awards »
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The story of a young intern in a large metropolitan hospital trying to learn his profession, deal with the problems of his patients, and win the respect of the senior doctor in his specialty, internal medicine. Written by Anonymous
28 September 1961 (USA) See more »
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Over 30 actors auditioned for the lead role with William Shatner the eventual winner, though he then declined it. James Franciscus was also offered the role but had committed himself to another (eventually unmade) series at the time. See more »
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(N Syracuse NY) – See all my reviews
Ben Casey and Dr. Kildare were exact contemporaries, both doctor shows that began and ended in the same season and were the most talked about shows on TV when they debuted in 1961. People were always making comparisons between them and here is mine.
One difference is that Casey was a resident, a full fledged doctor on staff at a hospital and a very prominent neurosurgeon. Kildare was an intern, a beginning doctor still learning the profession. If Kildare had been at the same hospital as Casey, Ben would have been bossing him around and making his life miserable.
A bigger difference was what they represented. Kildare was a symbol of the early 1960's. We were a very proud and optimistic country at that time. We'd survived the depression, won the war, had the communists on the defensive and were beginning to explore space. Social changes were taking place as well. if we were going to be the Greatest Country in the World, how could we have poverty and injustice? We tended to look at our government and institutions as benevolent servants of the people. There were several shows from this period, (Naked City, The Defenders, Mr. Novak were others), where handsome young idealistic novices entered a profession to be guided by their wise, patient but firm elders in becoming instruments of the system. The big challenge was getting people to trust the system by not committing crimes, studying hard and taking their pills. And of course, it's hard to look at the young men in these shows, (Richard Chamberlain, James Franciscus, Paul Burke, Robert Reed), and not see our youthful, idealistic president of the time, John Kennedy.
Casey was a precursor of the late 1960's. To him, the system was a monolith that existed for its own purposes and on its own momentum. You had to wrestle with it and with the mediocrity around you to get things done. Casey had a mentor as well, but Dr. Zorba often appeared to be more of a matador than a mentor, trying to tame Ben Casey, as he always called him, with a red cape and a sharp needle to puncture his ego from time to time.
I'd rather wake up from surgery and see Dr. Kildare's smiling face. But I'd be more likely to survive if it was Ben Casey who had done the surgery.
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| Richard Chamberlain |
Which company manufactured Love Hearts - packets of small round sweets each of which had a short message on? | 1000+ images about Dr kildare on Pinterest | Richard chamberlain, The thorn birds and Actors
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Richard Chamberlain (March 31,1934) an American stage and screen actor and singer, became a teen idol in the title role of the tv show Dr. Kildare (1961–1966). Since then, he has appeared in several mini-series, many successful films, and performed classical stage roles and worked in the musical theatre. Chamberlain was outed by the French woman's magazine Nous Deux in Dec 1989 at the age of 55, but it was not until 2003 that he officially came out in his autobiography, Shattered Love.
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Approximately what percentage of Valentine's cards are bought by women? 50%, 70% or 85%? | Valentine's Day Fun Fact - Valentines Day Superstitions, Valentines Love Superstitions
Valentine's Day Fun Fact
Valentine's Day » Valentine's Day Fun » Valentine's Day Fun Fact
Valentine's Day Fun Fact
Here is the most enjoyable and unbelievable collection of Valentine's Day Fun Facts. Share these fun facts with your friends to amaze them this Valentine Day.
About 1 billion Valentine's Day cards are exchanged in US each year. That's the largest seasonal card-sending occasion of the year, next to Christmas.
Women purchase 85% of all valentines.
In order of popularity, Valentine's Day cards are given to teachers, children, mothers, wives, sweethearts and pets.
Parents receive 1 out of every 5 valentines.
About 3% of pet owners will give Valentine's Day gifts to their pets.
Valentine's Day and Mother's Day are the biggest holidays for giving flowers.
Worldwide, over 50 million roses are given for Valentine's Day each year.
California produces 60 percent of American roses, but the vast number sold on Valentine's Day in the United States are imported, mostly from South America. Approximately 110 million roses, the majority red, will be sold and delivered within a three-day time period.
73% of people who buy flowers for Valentine's Day are men, while only 27 percent are women.
Men buy most of the millions of boxes of candy and bouquets of flowers given on Valentine's Day.
In the Middle Ages, young men and women drew names from a bowl to see who their valentines would be. They would wear these names on their sleeves for one week. To wear your heart on your sleeve now means that it is easy for other people to know how you are feeling.
The Italian city of Verona, where Shakespeare's lovers Romeo and Juliet lived, receives about 1,000 letters addressed to Juliet every Valentine's Day.
Richard Cadbury invented the first Valentines Day candy box in the late 1800s.
Alexander Graham Bell applied for his patent on the telephone, an "Improvement in Telegraphy", on Valentine's Day, 1876.
The oldest surviving love poem till date is written in a clay tablet from the times of the Sumerians, inventors of writing, around 3500 B.C
Amongst the earliest Valentine's Day gifts were candies. The most common were chocolates in heart shaped boxes.
In some countries, a young woman may receive a gift of clothing from a prospective suitor. If the gift is kept, then it means she has accepted his proposal of marriage
If an individual thinks of five or six names considered to be suitable marriage partners and twists the stem of an apple while the names are being recited, then it is believed the eventual spouse will be the one whose name was recited at the moment the stem broke.
In Medieval times, girls ate unusual foods on St Valentine's Day to make them dream of their future husband.
Valentine's Day Superstitions
It is said that the kind of bird a girl watches on Valentine's Day predicts her future husband. For instance:
Sparrow: a poor man
Blackbird: a priest or clergyman
Crossbill: an argumentative man
If an apple is cut in half, the number of seeds found inside the fruit will indicate the number of children that individual will have.
To be awoken by a kiss on Valentine's Day is considered lucky.
On Valentine's Day, the first guy's name you read in the paper or hear on the TV or radio will be the name of the man you will marry.
If you see a squirrel on Valentine's Day, you will marry a cheapskate who will hoard all your money.
If you see a goldfinch on Valentine's Day, you will marry a millionaire.
If you see a robin on Valentine's Day, you will marry a crime fighter - maybe they mean Batman!
If you see a flock of doves on Valentine's Day, you will have a happy, peaceful marriage.
If you find a glove on the road on Valentine's Day, your future beloved will have the other missing glove.
Recreate Romance on Valentines Day
Posted on : 6th Feb 2015
Romance is an ardent emotional attachment or involvement between people. It is a love idealised for its purity and beauty. Valentines Day....
Inexpensive Gift Ideas on Valentines Day
Posted on : 30th January 2015
Valentines Day is a beautiful occasion that speaks of love and romance. All of us want to do something different and special for....
General View on Valentines Day
Posted on : 25th January 2013
Every celebration is representative of a past event or an occurrence which may have happened on the 'date' some years, months or days back....
Symbolising Romance on Valentines Day
Posted on : 20th January 2015
Valentines day or St. Valentines day falls on February 14 every year. This is one of the most awaited days among all occasions that celebrate....
| 85 |
In which TV sitcom is one of the characters said to have proposed to another on Valentine's Day by putting the message Lee love Dawn, marriage? in their local paper? | Valentine's Day Fun Fact - Valentines Day Superstitions, Valentines Love Superstitions
Valentine's Day Fun Fact
Valentine's Day » Valentine's Day Fun » Valentine's Day Fun Fact
Valentine's Day Fun Fact
Here is the most enjoyable and unbelievable collection of Valentine's Day Fun Facts. Share these fun facts with your friends to amaze them this Valentine Day.
About 1 billion Valentine's Day cards are exchanged in US each year. That's the largest seasonal card-sending occasion of the year, next to Christmas.
Women purchase 85% of all valentines.
In order of popularity, Valentine's Day cards are given to teachers, children, mothers, wives, sweethearts and pets.
Parents receive 1 out of every 5 valentines.
About 3% of pet owners will give Valentine's Day gifts to their pets.
Valentine's Day and Mother's Day are the biggest holidays for giving flowers.
Worldwide, over 50 million roses are given for Valentine's Day each year.
California produces 60 percent of American roses, but the vast number sold on Valentine's Day in the United States are imported, mostly from South America. Approximately 110 million roses, the majority red, will be sold and delivered within a three-day time period.
73% of people who buy flowers for Valentine's Day are men, while only 27 percent are women.
Men buy most of the millions of boxes of candy and bouquets of flowers given on Valentine's Day.
In the Middle Ages, young men and women drew names from a bowl to see who their valentines would be. They would wear these names on their sleeves for one week. To wear your heart on your sleeve now means that it is easy for other people to know how you are feeling.
The Italian city of Verona, where Shakespeare's lovers Romeo and Juliet lived, receives about 1,000 letters addressed to Juliet every Valentine's Day.
Richard Cadbury invented the first Valentines Day candy box in the late 1800s.
Alexander Graham Bell applied for his patent on the telephone, an "Improvement in Telegraphy", on Valentine's Day, 1876.
The oldest surviving love poem till date is written in a clay tablet from the times of the Sumerians, inventors of writing, around 3500 B.C
Amongst the earliest Valentine's Day gifts were candies. The most common were chocolates in heart shaped boxes.
In some countries, a young woman may receive a gift of clothing from a prospective suitor. If the gift is kept, then it means she has accepted his proposal of marriage
If an individual thinks of five or six names considered to be suitable marriage partners and twists the stem of an apple while the names are being recited, then it is believed the eventual spouse will be the one whose name was recited at the moment the stem broke.
In Medieval times, girls ate unusual foods on St Valentine's Day to make them dream of their future husband.
Valentine's Day Superstitions
It is said that the kind of bird a girl watches on Valentine's Day predicts her future husband. For instance:
Sparrow: a poor man
Blackbird: a priest or clergyman
Crossbill: an argumentative man
If an apple is cut in half, the number of seeds found inside the fruit will indicate the number of children that individual will have.
To be awoken by a kiss on Valentine's Day is considered lucky.
On Valentine's Day, the first guy's name you read in the paper or hear on the TV or radio will be the name of the man you will marry.
If you see a squirrel on Valentine's Day, you will marry a cheapskate who will hoard all your money.
If you see a goldfinch on Valentine's Day, you will marry a millionaire.
If you see a robin on Valentine's Day, you will marry a crime fighter - maybe they mean Batman!
If you see a flock of doves on Valentine's Day, you will have a happy, peaceful marriage.
If you find a glove on the road on Valentine's Day, your future beloved will have the other missing glove.
Recreate Romance on Valentines Day
Posted on : 6th Feb 2015
Romance is an ardent emotional attachment or involvement between people. It is a love idealised for its purity and beauty. Valentines Day....
Inexpensive Gift Ideas on Valentines Day
Posted on : 30th January 2015
Valentines Day is a beautiful occasion that speaks of love and romance. All of us want to do something different and special for....
General View on Valentines Day
Posted on : 25th January 2013
Every celebration is representative of a past event or an occurrence which may have happened on the 'date' some years, months or days back....
Symbolising Romance on Valentines Day
Posted on : 20th January 2015
Valentines day or St. Valentines day falls on February 14 every year. This is one of the most awaited days among all occasions that celebrate....
| i don't know |
The word love as used in the scoring of tennis is thought to have originated from the French word for what type of food? | What does "love" mean in tennis? | Dictionary.com Blog
July 11, 2010 by: Dictionary.com 53 Comments
A novice tennis fan wouldn’t be blamed for being confused about who’s winning a match—an understanding of the language of tennis scores is needed to appreciate the game! Unlike soccer, basketball, and baseball, which simply count points for every goal, basket, and run, tennis has a scoring system (and lexicon) all its own.
At the beginning of the game, when both sides have no score, the game is love-love because in tennis, love means having a score of zero or nil. One point brings a player to 15, two to 30; and three to 40. The next point wins the game, unless a complex series of tiebreakers comes into play, because in order to win a tennis match, a player must win by a margin of two.
Where did the game gets its affectionate score for zero? The Oxford English Dictionary suggests that the term might be rooted in the colloquial phrase “for love,” meaning “without stakes being wagered.” This theory reflects the sport’s long history of etiquette and sportsmanship. Others theorize that love arose from the French word for “egg,” l’oeuf, because a zero on a scoreboard resembles an egg. This is a clever claim, but it remains unsubstantiated.
Tennis might have ended up with a different name altogether. Major Walter Wingfield, who laid down the rules for modern tennis, had another name for tennis. He called it sphairistike, based on the Greek phrase “skill in playing at ball.” The word tennis most likely comes from the French word tenetz — meaning “hold!” — the imperative conjugation of the verb tenir. Etymologists hypothesize that this was an early command used in the game, but there is no firm evidence to support this.
Have you heard other theories about why love is used in tennis?
| Egg |
In 'Friends', which character left home at an early age after her mother committed suicide? | Phil Cousineau’s ‘The Painted Word’ | Forum | Forum | KQED
Phil Cousineau’s ‘The Painted Word’
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Phil Cousineau really, really loves words. In his new book, “The Painted Word: A Treasure Chest of Remarkable Words and Their Origins,” that passion shines through as Cousineau digs deep into history to find the stories behind words ranging from abbey-lubber (“a holy, lazy, fool”) to zuihitsu (“a spontaneous jotting down of one’s thoughts”). We talk with the author about his latest love letter to language.
How about “Hard Tack” for Biscotti. Civil War bread for soldiers.
Anita
I’ve always loved the sound of ‘evanescent’–it seems to fade away on the tongue…
Rob
I’ve always loved the word “serendipity,” which to me sounds just like what it means.
Rebecca Morgan
This summer, I volunteered at an English-language school in Turkey. The owner liked my vocabulary as I taught him some new words. He asked me to send him interesting words as I came upon them. I sent him 5 new words each day for him and to pass on to his students. I collected them and posted them here: http://www.growyourkeytalent.com/2012/08/favorite-english-words/
A. Nony Mouse
From my encounter with a controversial quasi-religious group; I was the beneficiary of one of their courses which required the student to look up, define and finally demonstrate understanding of around 250,00 English language words. I am disappointed to find that I accomplished only a quarter of the journey to the complete and current English lexicon!! 😉
It was an enlightening experience in several ways, not the least of which was the epiphany that words are the connecting point or…the point of disconnection in all human relationships. Two life long friends can become, in a few seconds of utterance of certain words, mortal enemies! And yet our educational systems have not yet established a real education in the essential importance of words to understanding life.
The demonstration of one’s ability to communicate has little to do with using complicated, obscure or little understood words. It is instead the choice of commonly understood words to communicate one’s perceived reality. Without an understanding of the words at the receipt point, they are strange sounds falling on deaf ears.
David
Folk comes from Volk, German for people. Don’t know how it got into English, but I’d wager it came to the isle with the Angles.
Did Dr Krasny just ask about the origin of “folks”? Wouldn’t that be “volks” the german word for people? (As in volkswagon.)
– Brian Rosen (San Francisco)
Ashley
I love the word ‘vehement’ and in general words that begin with V. They have this intensity when you say and read them.
Marcia Mednick
I find it interesting that you use “sonicate” in a positive sounding way. Anyone who has used a sonicator in a biology would strongly disagree! It is an awful-sounding device that uses vibration to lyse cells!
Lucas Fladzinski
I’ve always loved “tempest” and “tempestuous.” Always a delight to say and use in context.
julie
the etymology of the seemingly mundane word “person” is unexpectedly poetic and inspiring — it’s a combination of the prefix per-, meaning “through,” and the verb “sonare,” meaning “to sound.” put together, you get “to sound through” as the root of what it is to be a person. a person is the vehicle through which spirit can sound.
robby13851
I beg to differ. The Latin word for an actor’s mask is “persona”; for the Greeks, probable source of persona it was Prosoopon.
Gregg Chadwick
Greetings to Michael and Phil!
As the artist who created the paintings that join Phil Cousineau’s vivid word stories in The Painted Word I have to say that my favorite word in the book is monogashi. This rich word from Japanese means the sigh or sadness of things. I am right now sitting in front of the painting that illuminates the word in the book and sending my thanks for life your way.
Happy Holidays
Gregg Chadwick
Barbara Poole
I was reading the newspaper while listening to your program and came across 2 headline words. Does your guest know the origin of “BROUHAHA” and “FILIBUSTER?” Both great sounding words!
michael
my favorite would be the etymology of G.I.
Elizabeth
I think that sports terminology is fascinating. My particular favorite is “love” meaning zero in tennis scoring. It comes from the French for egg l’oeuf because 0 looks like an egg!
C. Lombardi
I get a kick out of usages that borrow counterfeit gravitas with the use of Latin-like phrases: the motto of Red Green’s Possum Lodge “Omni Flunkus Moritati” (When all else fails, play dead”); “E Clampus Vitus”–the organization than places tongue-in-cheek plaques at historical places; and “Phi Slamma Jamma”–the pseudo-frat nickname for a great Houston Cougars basketball team.
winston
Please talk about “onomonapia”.
FayNissenbaum
“POWNED” or pwned originated long before twitter existed. It’s a corruption of the word “Owned.” This originated in an online game called Warcraft, where a map designer misspelled “owned.” When the computer beat a player, it was supposed to say, so-and-so “has been owned.” Also, note that the letter P is next to O on the keyboard.
Rachel Leibman
When taking Hebrew lessons awhile back I was struck by how similar the phrase “ha col beseder” (everything’s OK) sounded to the jazz term “copacetic.” I did some Internet searches and find that I’m not the only one to think this. Do these have anything in common or is it just a happy coincidence?
“pwned” from “owned” is not at all mysterious. The “p” key is next to the “o” on a standard keyboard. It is the result of simply not correcting the typo.
vada Russell
“flabbergasted” I grew up with this word in Oklahoma. At college, I used the word in discussion with an Iranian student (still Persia at that time). He was taken aback, flabbergasted, at the word. I never thought the word was unusual, but where does it come from?
Magick
My daughter, Celeste Hirschman, who has an MA in human sexuality, coined the word “Cockfidence” as a title for her book to express the idea “to be the man you want to be AND drive women wild”.
Her latest word is selfness, to recognize the need to be yourself and not think of it as negative like selfish or self-centered.
Fantastic, I love language and words and I really loved this
michael
i’d like to recommend César Aira’s “An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter” a chilling, surreal portrait of a young landscape painters travels through south american. Dark, bizarre, and truly incredible.
Gregg Chadwick
| i don't know |
Who was the first female presenter of 'Grandstand'? | BBC News | UK | Helen Rollason: Presenter with fighting spirit
Tuesday, August 10, 1999 Published at 07:15 GMT 08:15 UK
UK
Helen Rollason: Presenter with fighting spirit
Helen always maintained a positive attitude
The first first female presenter of the BBC sports programme Grandstand, Helen Rollason, has died after a long battle with cancer.
When Helen Rollason became the first woman to present BBC Television's flagship sports programme Grandstand, she was defying those who, even in 1990, believed the programme would not be taken seriously with a female host.
The BBC's Peter Sissons looks back at the life of Helen Rollason
It was an example of her determination, a quality that stayed with her right to the end.
A self-confessed "sports nut", Helen Rollason, an adopted child was born on 11 March 1956. She went to a physical education college and taught PE for three years before moving to Essex radio in 1980 where she became deputy sports editor.
Rollason became a familiar face as a presenter on Newsround
Later she worked as a freelance TV sports producer and presenter. At 24 she married John, a biology teacher and they had a daughter Nikki. But the marriage did not last.
She became well-known to young people in Britain when she presented the children's BBC news programme Newsround. With her great energy and enthusiasm she proved herself a natural communicator.
Regular slot on sport
Helen moved to BBC Sport in 1990 and her ability in the Grandstand studio was rewarded with a regular slot on Sport on Friday. Her presenting credits include the Wimbledon Tennis Championships the Summer Olympics in Barcelona in 1992 and Atlanta in 1996, as well as the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Canada.
In 1990, she became the first female presenter of Grandstand
She was also involved in ground-breaking projects with disabled athletes. In 1996 she was named as Sports Presenter of the Year.
But in August 1997, while she was presenting the sports slot on BBC Breakfast News, she complained of acute tiredness and discomfort.
She was diagnosed as having colon cancer, and the disease had spread to her liver. One of her doctors gave her four months to live.
Despite this shattering blow, Helen Rollason refused to accept her fate passively and immersed herself in work.
Although bouts of chemotherapy robbed her of her hair and energy, she rarely missed a day's work.
A BBC camera followed her around in 1998 and the resultant programme, Hope for Helen, showed her undergoing intensive medical treatment. She maintained a positive attitude in the face of increasingly bad news. "I want to live so badly," she said.
Charity work
She accepted the challenge of presenting the sport on the BBC's Six O'clock News
By now she had become heavily involved in charity work. She helped raise more than �5 million to set up a cancer wing at the North Middlesex hospital. It will be named after her.
When, in May 1999, the BBC asked her to present the Friday sports section of the revamped Six O'Clock News, she accepted the challenge despite the cancer having now spread to her lungs.
There were bad days when the physical pain would become overwhelming. But there were good days too, none more so than when she was awarded an MBE in the Queen's birthday honours.
"I cried when I received the news," she said. "I don't feel I deserve it but I'm very thrilled that so many women are coming through in sports broadcasting now."
Seeing her daughter Nikki through her exams became one of Helen's main aims
The MBE recognised her services to broadcasting and charity but the public's perception was that her spirit in the face of a fatal disease was also being rewarded.
She had set herself a number of targets, and she met the one that meant most to her; helping her daughter Nikki during her GCSE examinations.
As a result of the media publicity generated by the programme Hope for Helen she gained widespread public sympathy. She once described how she and Nikki spent the day shopping near her home.
Bob Wilson: "Helen was a true sports fan"
"We couldn't walk for people coming up to us," she said. She told her daughter to "cherish this moment".
"When you get older, if ever you get cynical, look back and remember how people cared. I've seen how much my friends love me. I'm very lucky because most women don't know that in all their lives, do they?"
| Helen Rollason |
Which children's TV show featured a rag doll called Madeleine, a toad called Gabriel, a group of mice and a woodpecker called Professor Yaffle? | Female TV sports presenters in a league of their own - Yorkshire Post
Female TV sports presenters in a league of their own
BBC Super League Show presenter Tanya Arnold. (Picture Jonathan Gawthorpe).
15:29 Friday 06 February 2015
Super League Show host Tanya Arnold talks to Chris Bond about the challenges facing female sports reporters on TV.
for Tanya Arnold Saturday afternoons when she was growing up meant one thing - Grandstand.
For many people, watching the BBC’s flagship sports show was as much a weekend tradition as Sunday roasts and going for a drive in the country. But while the likes of David Coleman, Des Lynam and later Steve Rider became household names to millions of viewers, female presenters were conspicuous by their absence.
Apart from trailblazers like the much-missed Helen Rollason, who became the first female presenter of Grandstand in 1990, there were few role models for sports fans like Tanya to look up to. “I knew I wanted to work in sport but I didn’t have a clear idea of what I could do and I don’t know whether that’s because there weren’t lots of women doing it, or because I didn’t know what I wanted to do,” she says.
Role models or not, Tanya has become a familiar face on BBC’s Look North over the past 17 years and since 2012 she has hosted the popular Super League Show, which returns to our screens on Monday. She took over the reins from Harry Gration and admits that when she first started covering the sport she had to be a quick learner. “You can’t be up here [as a sports reporter] and not do rugby league. But the people who cover rugby league tend to have grown up with it and I hadn’t really, so it’s been a bit of a learning curve.”
But she says she was helped in those early days by people like Brian Noble, the former Bradford Bulls and Great Britain coach, and is hugely grateful for their support. “I’ve worked across a fair few sports now and I have to say I have found Rugby League an incredibly friendly environment to be in.” Some people might assume it’s quite a macho environment but she says that’s not the case. “It sells itself as a family sport and I think it’s a lot less macho than football.”
Today, the likes of Sue Barker, Clare Balding and Gabby Logan have helped pave the way for a new generation of female sports reporters, commentators and pundits. However, she feels there’s an onus to prove to other people that you’re up to the job and to yourself. “I interviewed Eleanor Oldroyd when I was doing my postgraduate training. We’re going back a few years and I doubt it matters to her now, but I remember her saying if she covered a football match for Five Live she would pick up the newspaper the next day to make sure she was right.
“You have to learn to trust yourself because maybe you’re more conscious of the ‘what do you know, you’re a woman,’ type of criticism. I think looking back there was a bit of that and also you have days when you don’t want to be the only woman in the room.”
One of her first roles after becoming a sports reporter was covering Leeds United as they returned to playing in Europe in the 90s, which she admits she found a daunting prospect initially. “The press pack that followed Leeds scared the living daylights out of me, but actually they were lovely and really supportive. Peter Lorimer was an absolute gentleman in terms of helping me out and just making me feel at home. So in that respect I think I was very lucky because if they’d had the knives out for me it would have been hard.”
But while the glass ceiling has been cracked it hasn’t yet been completely smashed. Jacqui Oatley, who cut her teeth as a Radio Leeds reporter, caused a bit of a rumpus in 2007 when she became the first female commentator on Match of the Day. It shouldn’t have done, but it did.
Female sports reporters can find themselves being questioned in a way their male counterparts don’t. “She [Oatley] did an interview with Arsène Wenger the other day and there were articles being written about the fact she was a woman asking these questions.” It’s something that understandably irritates Tanya. “I’ve been doing this a long time and Jacqui’s been doing this a long time and I think there’s an element now for a lot of us where we feel we just want to be allowed to do our job.”
She says that women are still being criticised for the way they look, the clothes they wear and even the way they talk. “I get abuse about the fact I’ve got a deep voice. I don’t smoke, I don’t drink vodka and I haven’t had a sex change. It’s just who I am and what I have - can we just move on?” she says, laughing almost out of exasperation.
But while she can shrug off taunts aimed at her, she’s more concerned about the effect it could have on her family. “Social media can be a cruel and nasty beast and what upsets me more is the idea that my son might read it, although he seems to be coping quite well,” she says.
This kind of casual sexism isn’t just confined to sport, though. “Whenever there’s a reshuffle of MPs they still discuss what the women are wearing when they walk into Downing Street. Really? Have we not moved on from that?”
Despite these frustrations does she regard herself as a role model to girls who might want a career in sports reporting? “I hope so. You might have to have a thicker skin at times and as a woman you have to deal with stuff that a bloke doesn’t have to deal with, but I think also there is a feeling now that we can do this.”
* The weekly Super League Show returns on Monday at 11.45pm on BBC One in the North of England, and is repeated across the UK on BBC Two on Tuesdays at 1pm.
| i don't know |
Who played Hutch in the TV series 'Starsky and Hutch'? | Amazon.com: Starsky & Hutch The Complete Series: Paul Michael Glaser, David Soul, Bernie Hamilton, Antonio Fargas, Various: Movies & TV
Starsky & Hutch The Complete Series
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Starsky & Hutch The Complete Series
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Editorial Reviews
First Time ALL 4 Seasons Are Available In One Package!
Since its debut season the popular detective series Starsky & Hutch, produced by Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg and starring Paul Michael Glaser and David Soul was a breakout hit. By Season Two, their way-cool Gran Torino, jive-talking informant Huggy Bear (Antonio Fargas), the boss man Capt. Harold Dobey (Mention Bernie Hamilton) and even Starsky's cable knit, belted sweater were on their way to becoming icons of 70s cool. The show's outrageous style and tongue-in-cheek humor, played alongside Season Three s more serious story lines which made it one of the most popular and innovative cop shows ever. With colorful bad guys, explosive gunplay, big laughs and plenty of burning rubber, the Fourth Season of Starsky & Hutch was an action-packed farewell to this television classic. Known as the epitome of hip 70s action this 93 episode collection is a retro explosion of cops, cars & superstars!
Produced by Aaron Spelling
Format: Multiple Formats, Box set, Color, Full Screen, NTSC
Language: English
Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats. )
Number of discs: 16
DVD Release Date: November 11, 2014
Run Time: 3888 minutes
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By Richardson VINE VOICE on November 21, 2014
Format: DVD
I picked this up at Best Buy for 24 dollars. I figured it was a very convenient size and might be an upgrade from the previous season releases that I have not watched in some time but remembered as less than impressive. Here's the update ...
If you have the original 4 seasonal releases, keep em. They are better. They contain the series on 20 discs and this has them all on only 16 .. so some extra compression has taken place. ALSO , the original season one has some additional features and interviews with the stars that this bare bones stripped down release does not. Some of the later shows on this issue do not even feature chapter stops... it's just 1 and done.
I'm giving it a five star review because at 77 hours of Starsky and Hutch (it was a great show in it's day) for 25 bucks all in one handy little box ..... it would be stupid to rate it less. Would I like the Batman Blu Ray treatment? All four seasons digitally remastered and hours of bonus features... yes... is it going to happen... no. When this company (Mill Creek)gets a series the studio that backed it has given up... they've done what they can and let it go so to speak. If you have the original seasons, keep em... no need to upgrade, because it's not. I just popped one of season 4 in ... the model is played by Maude Adams and the creepy photographer Jeffrey Tambor ... that is typical casting for this show , one time stars and future ones colliding on scripts written by future giants like Michael Mann no less!
By Rift Corbitt on March 15, 2015
Format: DVD
If you are planning on watching these on a screen larger than 24 inches go with the Original DVD's. The bit rate is very low on these as a result they look horrible in comparison to the original DVD's on a decent sized screen. After seeing how bad these looked I returned them and then got the original sets for only $7-9 each and they look infinitely better than the Mill Creeks. The originals had no jerky movements during fast moving scenes and no pixalation.
To any that think the Creeks look good, please compare them next to the original DVD issues and be prepared to get blown away by the quality of the older discs because in comparison the differences are jarring.
| David Soul |
What is the colour of the cross on the flag of Greece? | Starsky & Hutch | Film | The Guardian
Starsky & Hutch
Details: 2004, USA, Cert 15, 100 mins
Direction: Todd Phillips
With: Ben Stiller , Carmen Electra, Juliette Lewis, Owen Wilson , Snoop Dogg and Vince Vaughn
User reviews
The geek who stole Hollywood
On screen he is everyone's favourite underachiever. But in real life he's anything but: an industry player with a movie-star wife and a string of box-office hits behind and ahead of him, Ben Stiller tells Gaby Wood why being funny is serious business.
Starsky & Hutch, by Hutch
"I like to watch the piss taken out of me," says David Soul, chain-smoking in an armchair at the Dorchester hotel in central London. The new Starsky and Hutch film, which premieres here tomorrow, is a merciless parody of the original series, in which Soul played Hutch. Soul, 60, and co-star Paul Michael Glaser had been planning their own reunion movie, but Warner Brothers had other ideas, casting Ben Stiller as Starsky, Owen Wilson as Hutch, and Snoop Dogg as Huggy Bear. The two agreed to take cameo roles, although, as Soul points out, "If you drop your keys on the floor and look for them, when you come back up, we're off the screen."
| i don't know |
Originally made in a drugstore in Waco, Texas and still enjoyed today, what is America's oldest soft drink? | 1000+ images about I'm A pEppEr yOuR a pEpPer on Pinterest | Advertising, Sodas and Museums
Forward
We all know that Dr Pepper is no longer being bottled in Dublin, Texas, but I just ran across this little tidbit....thought y'all would enjoy. ~ Linda "Dr. Pepper was very much a real person, Dr. Kenneth Pepper of Rural Retreat, Virginia. The story goes that the founder and creator of the Dr. Pepper Company, Wade Morrison, got his first job at Pepper’s pharmacy in the 1880s.
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| Dr Pepper |
Which word can go after 'mid', 'fort' and 'over' to produce three new words? | Dr. Pepper anyone - Review of Dr Pepper Museum, Waco, TX - TripAdvisor
Review of Dr Pepper Museum
300 South 5th Street, Waco, TX 76701-2115
+1 254-757-1025
Attraction details
Recommended length of visit: 1-2 hours
Owner description: A museum dedicated to the nation's oldest major soft drink - Dr Pepper! We offer three floors of exhibits featuring information about many different soft drinks, as well as a carefully curated selection of our massive soft drink memorabilia collection. Exhibits change regularly! You can visit our soda fountain and gift shop any time without paying admission. Photo ops outside the Museum include a Dr Pepper Green 1940s delivery truck, one of three original neon signs from the Mockingbird Plant in Dallas, and a hand-painted advertising sign original to the site. Of course the front of the Museum building itself is visitors' favorite photo location. We are a two block walk from Magnolia Market and the famous silos, and about half a mile from the newest restaurants including Torchy's Tacos and In-N-Out Burger.
Useful Information: Activities for older children, Stairs / elevator, Food available for purchase, Activities for young children, Bathroom facilities, Wheelchair access
There are newer reviews for this attraction
“Dr. Pepper anyone”
Reviewed June 11, 2010
This is an interesting museum which chronicles the history of the Dr. Pepper company. Outside are vehicles and wagons used in the delivery of the product throughout the years. Inside are various bottles and other information which gives the visitor an insight as to how the company was founded and evolved into the modern company that it is today. There is also machinery inside used in the manufacture of the product. When the visitor is finished with his tour, he can go to the soda fountain and have a cold Dr. Pepper. If you visit the website before you go to the museum, you can print out a coupon good for 50 cents off your ticket.
Ask globeseeker007 about Dr Pepper Museum
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
697 reviews from our community
Visitor rating
“Nice, small museum Worth 1 hour and $7.00”
Reviewed June 5, 2010
Small, company museum in old Waco. Had lots of Dr. Pepper artifacts and displays of the history of the product and the company. The displays were average but interesting. Perhaps my experience was tempered by not being that "into" Dr. Pepper and the fact that the famous soda fountain was broken when we were there.
It is worth an hour of your time, especially if you like Dr. Pepper and a bit of Waco history.
Helpful?
Ask Mohsman about Dr Pepper Museum
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
redelaneymd
“Cool museum, and soda fountain”
Reviewed September 10, 2009
This is a relatively small attraction, but very enjoyable. We spent about an hour in the museum and learned the history behind Dr. Pepper. Don't miss the short video of an actor portraying the inventor telling his story - what a true example of the American Dream. There is a wall of bronze bottle caps from around the country - what a suprise to see one from Roanoke, VA (our hometown) on the wall. I still don't know the significance of this and forgot to ask. Definitely stop by the soda fountain on the way out and get an original Dr Pepper made with the soda water and syrup mixed my hand!
Helpful?
Ask redelaneymd about Dr Pepper Museum
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
Stevied888
“Great collection”
Reviewed July 29, 2009
The museum has all things Dr Pepper and for fans of the drink will be fascinating! It is in the orginal facotry and has lots of interesting history.
Helpful?
Ask Stevied888 about Dr Pepper Museum
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
Pete7919
“Small and authentic - not for small kids”
Reviewed February 9, 2009
We visited with our two young children and it was a mistake. There is a lot of interesting stuff to see but nothing that is child friendly.
I especially enjoyed reading about the artesian well they found under the floor and the process by which they uncovered and excavated it. Also the equipment was neat showing the bottling process. I enjoyed the different machine on the 2nd floor but they were not as interesting.
There is a drugstore scene with an animatronic version of the pharmacist that originally created it which kinda creeped me out. I'm not from the era of soda fountains in drug stores, so maybe for some it was nostalgic. He said he wanted to make it taste like a drug store would smell. That is gross to me!
The soda fountain and gift shop were both decent. I got a Dr. pepper float and it wasn't as good as I was anticipating. I'll just stick to the soda.
Overall worth a stop if you are near Waco or travelling through.
Helpful?
| i don't know |
In the 1990 film 'The Hunt For Red October', who or what is Red October? | The Hunt for Red October (1990) - IMDb
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The Hunt for Red October ( 1990 )
PG |
In November 1984, the Soviet Union's best submarine captain in their newest sub violates orders and heads for the USA. Is he trying to defect or to start a war?
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Title: The Hunt for Red October (1990)
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Won 1 Oscar. Another 2 wins & 6 nominations. See more awards »
Videos
When CIA Analyst Jack Ryan interferes with an IRA assassination, a renegade faction targets him and his family for revenge.
Director: Phillip Noyce
CIA Analyst Jack Ryan is drawn into an illegal war fought by the US government against a Colombian drug cartel.
Director: Phillip Noyce
On a US nuclear missile sub, a young first officer stages a mutiny to prevent his trigger happy captain from launching his missiles before confirming his orders to do so.
Director: Tony Scott
Dr. Richard Kimble, unjustly accused of murdering his wife, must find the real killer while being the target of a nationwide manhunt.
Director: Andrew Davis
CIA analyst Jack Ryan must stop the plans of a Neo Nazis faction that threatens to induce a catastrophic conflict between the United States and Russia's newly elected president by detonating a nuclear weapon at a football game in Baltimore.
Director: Phil Alden Robinson
A mild-mannered chemist and an ex-con must lead the counterstrike when a rogue group of military men, led by a renegade general, threaten a nerve gas attack from Alcatraz against San Francisco.
Director: Michael Bay
Hijackers seize the plane carrying the President of the United States and his family, but he - an ex-soldier - works from hiding to defeat them.
Director: Wolfgang Petersen
A lawyer becomes a target by a corrupt politician and his NSA goons when he accidentally receives key evidence to a serious politically motivated crime.
Director: Tony Scott
An insurance agent is sent by her employer to track down and help capture an art thief.
Director: Jon Amiel
US Marshal Samuel Gerard (Jones) and his team of Marshals are assigned to track down Sheridan (Snipes), who has been accused of a double-murder.
Director: Stuart Baird
Investigating a gold magnate's smuggling, James Bond uncovers a plot to contaminate the Fort Knox gold reserve.
Director: Guy Hamilton
A resourceful British government agent seeks answers in a case involving the disappearance of a colleague and the disruption of the American space program.
Director: Terence Young
Edit
Storyline
Soviets create a new nuclear submarine that runs silent due to a revolutionary propulsion system. Russian sub captain defects, goal of taking it to the U.S.A. to prevent the Russians from using the sub to wreak nuclear (missile) war against the U.S. Lots of plot turns and twists in this high-tech thriller. Written by Anonymous
The hunt is on. See more »
Genres:
2 March 1990 (USA) See more »
Also Known As:
Jagd auf 'Roter Oktober' See more »
Filming Locations:
70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints)| Dolby SR (35 mm prints)
Color:
Natalia Ramius died on November 23, 1983. See more »
Goofs
When Admiral Greer asks Ryan when's the last time he slept, Ryan says he has no idea because his watch is still on London time. If his watch is still on the same time as the place he last slept, he should know exactly how long it's been. See more »
Quotes
[telling young Sonarman Beaumont about Jones's most embarrassing moment]
Watson : Seaman Jones here is into music in a big way, and he views this whole boat as his own personal, private stereo set. Well, one day he's got this piece of Pavarotti...
Seaman Jones : It was Paganini.
Watson : Look, this is my story, okay?
Seaman Jones : Then tell it right, COB. Pavarotti is a tenor, Paganini was a composer.
Watson : So anyway, he's got this music out in the water, and he's listening to it on his headsets, and he's just happy as a...
[...]
Stanley (Sally Ryan's stuffed bear) is credited as "Himself" See more »
Connections
The Best of the Jack Ryan Films...
18 May 2003 | by MovieAddict2016
(UK) – See all my reviews
"The Hunt for Red October" is taken off of military-expert Tom Clancy's gripping novel. Tom Clancy has a knack for the inner-psyche of our fears. He doesn't openly thrill us, but rather opens our minds to the potential hazards in the US government. Most government/military thrillers skim the surface and gather us a few good things to make us go, "Whoo," but Tom Clancy's books make us fall over in amazement. The man has an incredible knowledge of the government and its subsidaries, and his novels show this.
His film adaptations normally make good. All four are at least good, and one of them, "The Hunt for Red October," is taut, tense, and powerfully moving. The plot of the film is fictional, but it is right out of the headlines.
It is about a submarine, a Russian, and an American. It sounds like the setup for a bar-joke, but it's not. The Russian man is named Ramius (Sean Connery), who, along with his crew, takes a Soviet submarine out to the North Atlantic ocean. The sub is the best-of-the-best, with an all-new propolsion system (it's faster than other submarines), and uses advanced techniques to literally disappear off radar.
After a few days out at sea, the submarine vanishes off radar, and the Russians, frantic, tell the American government that Ramius has taken the sub to America's mainland to launch a missile attack. However, CIA Analyst Jack Ryan (Alec Baldwin) thinks otherwise. He believes Ramius is defecting to the States along with his crew. Further, he believes the Russians don't want to admit this for fear of losing their best submarine.
The film is directed by John McTiernan, who brought us "Predator," "Die Hard," "The Thomas Crown Affair" (remake) and "Die Hard with a Vengeance." All of the preceding films are very good, most of them great, and "The Hunt for Red October" qualifies as "very good."
Sean Connery gives a commanding performance as the leading character, Ramius. His second-hand-man is played by Sam Neil, faking a Russian accent very badly. But Neil is lovable in his role, despite having the worst Russian accent ever. Tim Curry joins along for the ride on the misfortuned sub as well, and Alec Baldwin gives his best performance as Jack Ryan.
As much as I don't like to admit it, Harrison Ford isn't the ideal Jack Ryan for me. He differs too much from the character in the novel. Neither Ben Affleck nor Alec Baldwin take the cake, either. But if you look past the book persona, you will enjoy the performances in all the films much more.
I don't tend to like military thrillers most of the time. Most likely because they are put together sloppily on the whole. But "The Hunt for Red October" isn't sloppy, careless, nor boring. It's thrilling, exciting, and entertaining.
But the book is better.
4/5 stars -
42 of 53 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you?
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| Submarine |
Which murder weapon in the game of Cluedo starts and ends with the same letter? | The Hunt for Red October | Movie | 1990
While Americans prepare for a nuclear submarine attack, CIA agent Jack Ryan has only a few hours to prove his suspicion that the Russian is defecting before all-out war breaks loose. Let the hunt begin.
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Where in London would you find the Grave of the Unknown Warrior? | The unknown soldier's journey from trench to tomb - BBC News
BBC News
The unknown soldier's journey from trench to tomb
By Mario Cacciottolo BBC News
11 November 2010
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Image caption The tomb, in London's Westminster Abbey
The unknown warrior was carried from a French battlefield 90 years ago, to be laid to rest among kings and statesmen in Westminster Abbey. But how did this symbol of the sacrifice of war come to be chosen?
In 1916, a Church of England clergyman serving at the Western Front in World War I spotted an inscription on an anonymous war grave which gave him an idea.
That moment of inspiration would blossom into a worldwide ceremony that is still being replicated in the 21st Century - the grave of an unknown warrior, symbolising those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.
The Reverend David Railton caught sight of the grave in a back garden at Armentieres in France in 1916, with a rough cross upon which was pencilled the words "An Unknown British Soldier".
Image caption The coffin of the unknown warrior was carried from the citadel in Boulogne and left for England.
Soldiers salute as the coffin leaves France
Who came up with the idea?
In August 1920 Mr Railton wrote to the Dean of Westminster, Herbert Ryle, to suggest having a nationally recognised grave for an unknown soldier. The idea - which had also been mooted by the Daily Express newspaper the year before - was presented to the government and quickly taken up.
Memories of the war, in which a million British people had died, were still raw and the thousands of bodies that lay unidentified were a blight on Britain's conscience.
"Those parents and wives who had lost men to war didn't have anything tangible to grieve at, so the unknown warrior represented their loss," says Terry Charman, a historian at the Imperial War Museum.
But there was a procedure in choosing a single corpse to represent the many unnamed dead. The unknown warrior's body was chosen from a number of British servicemen exhumed from four battle areas - the Aisne, the Somme, Arras and Ypres. These remains were brought to the chapel at St Pol on the night of 7 November 1920, where the officer in charge of troops in France and Flanders, Brig Gen L J Wyatt, went with a Col Gell.
Neither had any idea where the bodies, laid on stretchers and covered by union jacks, were from.
Clues to his identity
"[He was] probably a regular army soldier of the original 'contemptible' British expeditionary force, and therefore a young unmarried man in his 20s or possibly an older married reservist recalled from civilian life to the colours.
"He might have been a Territorial, since the London Scottish and other Territorial units were at the Western Front from September 1914. He was not navy or air force, a 'new army' volunteer, conscript, or dominion soldier."
By National Biography's Roger T Stearn
Unknown Warrior on Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
"The point was that it literally could have been anybody," says Mr Charman. "It could have been an earl or a duke's son, or a labourer from South Africa.
"The idea really caught the public mood, as it was a very democratic thing that it could have been someone from any rank."
Gen Wyatt selected one body - it has been suggested he may have been blindfolded while making his choice - and the two officers placed it in a plain coffin and sealed it. The other bodies were reburied.
The next day the dead soldier began the journey to his final resting place. The coffin was taken to Boulogne and placed inside another coffin, made of oak from Hampton Court and sent over from England. Its plate bore the inscription: "A British Warrior who fell in the Great War 1914-1918 for King and Country".
This second coffin had a 16th Century sword, taken from King George V's private collection, fixed on top.
The body was then transported to Dover via the destroyer HMS Verdun and taken by train to London.
To have its own unknown warrior, for a country that sent troops to WWI, is part of its own national identity
Terry Charman , Imperial War Museum
On the morning of 11 November 1920 - two years to the day after the war had ended, the body of the unknown warrior was drawn in a procession through London to the Cenotaph. This new war memorial on Whitehall was then unveiled by George V.
At 1100 there was a two-minute silence, and the body was then taken to nearby Westminster Abbey where it was buried, passing through a guard of honour of 100 holders of the Victoria Cross.
In a particularly poignant gesture, the grave was filled with earth from the main French battlefields, and the black marble stone was Belgian.
And at the exact time Britain was interring its unknown warrior, France was doing the same - burying its Soldat Inconnu at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
But while the coffin in London had been laid with great ceremony, no-one was exactly sure how the public would respond to this new memorial. In the event, they flocked to it. An estimated 1,250,000 people visited the Abbey to see the grave in only the first week.
Ninety years on, the dead soldier continues to be honoured, by the public and royalty alike.
What's more, the symbolism of the act has been mirrored by many other countries around the world. Iraq, the United States, Germany, Lithuania and Poland are just some of those which have created their own memorials.
On 17 October 1921, Britain's unknown soldier was given the US Medal of Honor, America's highest award for bravery, which hangs on a pillar near his grave. On 11 November 1921, the US unknown soldier was reciprocally awarded the Victoria Cross.
And the commemorations have continued - Australia's unknown soldier was buried at Canberra in 1993 and a Canadian equivalent interred in Ottawa in 2000. Six years ago, New Zealand exhumed remains from the Somme in France and buried its own unknown warrior.
Mr Charman says the diminishing significance of the Commonwealth may have added to the need for individual nations, which were once part of the British Empire, to create their own memorials.
"Nowadays, the concept of Commonwealth is much diminished. It doesn't mean anything in the same way it did years ago.
"To have its own unknown warrior, for a country that sent troops to WWI, is part of its own national identity."
| Westminster Abbey |
What is the full title of the first Austin Powers film? | Somme Vigil Is Held At The Grave Of The Unkown Warrior Photos and Images | Getty Images
Somme Vigil Is Held At The Grave Of The Unkown Warrior
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British Military personnel LBdr Walsh, LCpl Drury, LCpl Kinmond, Cpl Wolfe and Sgt...British Military personnel LBdr Walsh, LCpl Drury, LCpl Kinmond, Cpl Wolfe and Sgt Cohoon stand at the Grave of the Unknown Warrior during a vigil to commemorate the centenary of the Battle of the Somme at Westminster Abbey on July 1, 2016 in London, England. The overnight vigil is being held to remember those who died in the Battle of the Somme which began 100 years ago on July 1st 1916. Armies of British and French soldiers fought against the German Empire and over one million lives were lost. The Grave of the Unknown Warrior contains the body of an unidentified British solider from the First World War buried in French soil and covered with a Belgian marble slab. LessMore
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A member of the military stands at the Grave of the Unknown Warrior during a vigil...A member of the military stands at the Grave of the Unknown Warrior during a vigil to commemorate the centenary of the Battle of the Somme at Westminster Abbey on July 1, 2016 in London, England. The overnight vigil is being held to remember those who died in the Battle of the Somme which began 100 years ago on July 1st 1916. Armies of British and French soldiers fought against the German Empire and over one million lives were lost. The Grave of the Unknown Warrior contains the body of an unidentified British solider from the First World War buried in French soil and covered with a Belgian marble slab. LessMore
Somme Vigil Is Held At The Grave Of The Unkown Warrior
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Members of the British Navy stand at the Grave of the Unknown Warrior during a...Members of the British Navy stand at the Grave of the Unknown Warrior during a vigil to commemorate the centenary of the Battle of the Somme at Westminster Abbey on July 1, 2016 in London, England. The overnight vigil is being held to remember those who died in the Battle of the Somme which began 100 years ago on July 1st 1916. Armies of British and French soldiers fought against the German Empire and over one million lives were lost. The Grave of the Unknown Warrior contains the body of an unidentified British solider from the First World War buried in French soil and covered with a Belgian marble slab. LessMore
Somme Vigil Is Held At The Grave Of The Unkown Warrior
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British Military personnel LBdr Walsh, LCpl Drury, LCpl Kinmond, Cpl Wolfe and Sgt...British Military personnel LBdr Walsh, LCpl Drury, LCpl Kinmond, Cpl Wolfe and Sgt Cohoon stand at the Grave of the Unknown Warrior during a vigil to commemorate the centenary of the Battle of the Somme at Westminster Abbey on July 1, 2016 in London, England. The overnight vigil is being held to remember those who died in the Battle of the Somme which began 100 years ago on July 1st 1916. Armies of British and French soldiers fought against the German Empire and over one million lives were lost. The Grave of the Unknown Warrior contains the body of an unidentified British solider from the First World War buried in French soil and covered with a Belgian marble slab. LessMore
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Five members of the military and four civilians stand at the Grave of the Unknown...Five members of the military and four civilians stand at the Grave of the Unknown Warrior during a vigil to commemorate the centenary of the Battle of the Somme at Westminster Abbey on July 1, 2016 in London, England. The overnight vigil is being held to remember those who died in the Battle of the Somme which began 100 years ago on July 1st 1916. Armies of British and French soldiers fought against the German Empire and over one million lives were lost. The Grave of the Unknown Warrior contains the body of an unidentified British solider from the First World War buried in French soil and covered with a Belgian marble slab. LessMore
Somme Vigil Is Held At The Grave Of The Unkown Warrior
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Members of the British Navy stand at the Grave of the Unknown Warrior during a...Members of the British Navy stand at the Grave of the Unknown Warrior during a vigil to commemorate the centenary of the Battle of the Somme at Westminster Abbey on July 1, 2016 in London, England. The overnight vigil is being held to remember those who died in the Battle of the Somme which began 100 years ago on July 1st 1916. Armies of British and French soldiers fought against the German Empire and over one million lives were lost. The Grave of the Unknown Warrior contains the body of an unidentified British solider from the First World War buried in French soil and covered with a Belgian marble slab. LessMore
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A member of the public lights a candle during a vigil to commemorate the centenary...A member of the public lights a candle during a vigil to commemorate the centenary of the Battle of the Somme at Westminster Abbey on July 1, 2016 in London, England. The overnight vigil is being held to remember those who died in the Battle of the Somme which began 100 years ago on July 1st 1916. Armies of British and French soldiers fought against the German Empire and over one million lives were lost. The Grave of the Unknown Warrior contains the body of an unidentified British solider from the First World War buried in French soil and covered with a Belgian marble slab. LessMore
Somme Vigil Is Held At The Grave Of The Unkown Warrior
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British Military personnel stand at the Grave of the Unknown Warrior during a vigil...British Military personnel stand at the Grave of the Unknown Warrior during a vigil to commemorate the centenary of the Battle of the Somme at Westminster Abbey on July 1, 2016 in London, England. The overnight vigil is being held to remember those who died in the Battle of the Somme which began 100 years ago on July 1st 1916. Armies of British and French soldiers fought against the German Empire and over one million lives were lost. The Grave of the Unknown Warrior contains the body of an unidentified British solider from the First World War buried in French soil and covered with a Belgian marble slab. LessMore
Somme Vigil Is Held At The Grave Of The Unkown Warrior
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A member of the public lights a candle during a vigil to commemorate the centenary...A member of the public lights a candle during a vigil to commemorate the centenary of the Battle of the Somme at Westminster Abbey on July 1, 2016 in London, England. The overnight vigil is being held to remember those who died in the Battle of the Somme which began 100 years ago on July 1st 1916. Armies of British and French soldiers fought against the German Empire and over one million lives were lost. The Grave of the Unknown Warrior contains the body of an unidentified British solider from the First World War buried in French soil and covered with a Belgian marble slab. LessMore
Somme Vigil Is Held At The Grave Of The Unkown Warrior
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A member of the military stands at the Grave of the Unknown Warrior during a vigil...A member of the military stands at the Grave of the Unknown Warrior during a vigil to commemorate the centenary of the Battle of the Somme at Westminster Abbey on July 1, 2016 in London, England. The overnight vigil is being held to remember those who died in the Battle of the Somme which began 100 years ago on July 1st 1916. Armies of British and French soldiers fought against the German Empire and over one million lives were lost. The Grave of the Unknown Warrior contains the body of an unidentified British solider from the First World War buried in French soil and covered with a Belgian marble slab. LessMore
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At what game was a former world champion famously defeated by a computer called Deep Blue in 1997? | IBM100 - Deep Blue
IBM100
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On May 11, 1997, an IBM computer called IBM ® Deep Blue ® beat the world chess champion after a six-game match: two wins for IBM, one for the champion and three draws. The match lasted several days and received massive media coverage around the world. It was the classic plot line of man vs. machine. Behind the contest, however, was important computer science, pushing forward the ability of computers to handle the kinds of complex calculations needed to help discover new medical drugs; do the broad financial modeling needed to identify trends and do risk analysis; handle large database searches; and perform massive calculations needed in many fields of science.
Since the emergence of artificial intelligence and the first computers in the late 1940s, computer scientists compared the performance of these “giant brains” with human minds, and gravitated to chess as a way of testing the calculating abilities of computers. The game is a collection of challenging problems for minds and machines, but has simple rules, and so is perfect for such experiments.
Over the years, many computers took on many chess masters, and the computers lost.
IBM computer scientists had been interested in chess computing since the early 1950s. In 1985, a graduate student at Carnegie Mellon University, Feng-hsiung Hsu, began working on his dissertation project: a chess playing machine he called ChipTest. A classmate of his, Murray Campbell, worked on the project, too, and in 1989, both were hired to work at IBM Research. There, they continued their work with the help of other computer scientists, including Joe Hoane, Jerry Brody and C. J. Tan. The team named the project Deep Blue. The human chess champion won in 1996 against an earlier version of Deep Blue; the 1997 match was billed as a “rematch.”
The champion and computer met at the Equitable Center in New York, with cameras running, press in attendance and millions watching the outcome. The odds of Deep Blue winning were not certain, but the science was solid. The IBMers knew their machine could explore up to 200 million possible chess positions per second. The chess grandmaster won the first game, Deep Blue took the next one, and the two players drew the three following games. Game 6 ended the match with a crushing defeat of the champion by Deep Blue.
The match’s outcome made headlines worldwide, and helped a broad audience better understand high-powered computing. The 1997 match took place not on a standard stage, but rather in a small television studio. The audience watched the match on television screens in a basement theater in the building, several floors below where the match was actually held. The theater seated about 500 people, and was sold out for each of the six games. The media attention given to Deep Blue resulted in more than three billion impressions around the world.
Deep Blue had an impact on computing in many different industries. It was programmed to solve the complex, strategic game of chess, so it enabled researchers to explore and understand the limits of massively parallel processing. This research gave developers insight into ways they could design a computer to tackle complex problems in other fields, using deep knowledge to analyze a higher number of possible solutions. The architecture used in Deep Blue was applied to financial modeling, including marketplace trends and risk analysis; data mining—uncovering hidden relationships and patterns in large databases; and molecular dynamics, a valuable tool for helping to discover and develop new drugs.
Ultimately, Deep Blue was retired to the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC, but IBM went on to build new kinds of massively parallel computers such as IBM Blue Gene ®. [Read more about this Icon of Progress.]
The Deep Blue project inspired a more recent grand challenge at IBM: building a computer that could beat the champions at a more complicated game, Jeopardy!.
Over three nights in February 2011, this machine—named Watson—took on two of the all-time most successful human players of the game and beat them in front of millions of television viewers. The technology in Watson was a substantial step forward from Deep Blue and earlier machines because it had software that could process and reason about natural language, then rely on the massive supply of information poured into it in the months before the competition. Watson demonstrated that a whole new generation of human - machine interactions will be possible.
| Chess |
In 1987, which golfer became the first British winner of the US Masters? | AlphaGo seals 4-1 victory over Go grandmaster Lee Sedol | Technology | The Guardian
Artificial intelligence (AI)
AlphaGo seals 4-1 victory over Go grandmaster Lee Sedol
DeepMind’s artificial intelligence astonishes fans to defeat human opponent and offers evidence computer software has mastered a major challenge
The world’s top Go player, Lee Sedol, lost the final game of the Google DeepMind challenge match. Photograph: Yonhap/Reuters
Tuesday 15 March 2016 06.12 EDT
First published on Tuesday 15 March 2016 05.45 EDT
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This article is 11 months old
Google DeepMind’s AlphaGo program triumphed in its final game against South Korean Go grandmaster Lee Sedol to win the series 4-1, providing further evidence of the landmark achievement for an artificial intelligence program.
Lee started Tuesday’s game strongly, taking advantage of an early mistake by AlphaGo. But in the end, Lee was unable to hold off a comeback by his opponent, which won a narrow victory.
AlphaGo: its creator on the computer that learns by thinking
Read more
After the results were in, Google DeepMind co-founder Demis Hassabis called today’s contest “One of the most incredible games ever,” saying AlphaGo mounted a “mind-blowing” comeback after an early mistake.
Demis Hassabis (@demishassabis)
#AlphaGo wins game 5! One of the most incredible games ever. To comeback from the initial big mistake against Lee Sedol was mind-blowing!!!
March 15, 2016
This was the fifth game in seven days, in what was a draining, emotional battle for Lee. AlphaGo had won the first three, but Lee took the fourth game on Sunday.
He remained in his seat as the game’s results were announced, his eyes swelling with tears. In a post-game press conference, he expressed regret over his defeat. “I failed,” he said. “I feel sorry that the match is over and it ended like this. I wanted it to end well.”
Throughout the match, Lee won praise from observers for a determined, creative approach to AlphaGo, an opponent that is invulnerable to stress and fatigue. In Tuesday’s press conference, Chris Garlock, one of the live commentators said the match was composed of “five beautiful and historic games,” adding, “I think we’ll be studying these for years to come.”
Due to Go’s complexity and the importance of reaction and intuition, it has proved harder for computers to master than simpler games such as checkers or chess. Go has too many moves for a machine to win by brute-force calculations, which is how IBM’s Deep Blue famously beat former world chess champion Garry Kasparov in 1997.
AlphaGo’s win over Lee is significant because it marks the first time an artificial intelligence program has beaten a top-ranked Go professional, a victory experts had predicted was still years away. AlphaGo beat European Go champion Fan Hui in October, but Lee was expected to be a tougher challenge.
The match has brought an unusual level of attention to Go, a game that is popular in east Asia but not widely played in the west. Go insiders say they are not used to being in the spotlight. “I’ve never seen this much attention for Go, ever,” Lee Ha-jin, secretary general at the International Go Federation and guest commentator on Tuesday’s live broadcast, said.
Google DeepMind has talked about applying the deep neural networks and machine learning techniques that AlphaGo used to master Go to more pressing areas such as healthcare and robotics. But with AlphaGo’s victory in the books, Hassabis was tightlipped, saying his team will need to return to the UK and spend “weeks or months” going over the results of the match before announcing their next moves.
Software program can weigh up legal evidence and moral questions of right and wrong to predict the outcome of trials
Published: 23 Oct 2016
Professor praises creation of Cambridge University institute to study future of artificial intelligence
Published: 19 Oct 2016
Deep learning needs to become more efficient if it is going to move from using data to categorise images of cats to diagnosing rare illnesses
Published: 27 Sep 2016
Combining external memory and deep learning, DeepMind’s program learns how to do tasks independently, and could pave the way for sophisticated AI assistants
Published: 12 Oct 2016
Harry Armstrong and Jared Robert Keller
Published: 15 Sep 2016
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As at March 2004, who is the only actor to win an Oscar for best actor in a leading role for a performance in a foreign language film? | Academy Awards Best Actor
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) ); two were consecutive nominations (from 1930/31-1931/32)
Tom Hanks (5) - with two wins (Philadelphia (1993), Forrest Gump (1994)); two were consecutive nominations (from 1993-1994)
Sean Penn (5) - with two wins (Mystic River (2003) and Milk (2008)); nominations were from 1995-2008
The Most Best Actor Nominations:
Actors with the highest number of Best Actor acting nominations (in parentheses) include:
Spencer Tracy (9) - with two wins
Laurence Olivier (9) - with one win (Hamlet (1948)); two were consecutive nominations (from 1939-1940)
Jack Nicholson (8) - with two wins
Paul Newman (8) - with one win (The Color of Money (1986)); two were consecutive nominations (from 1981-1982)
Peter O'Toole (8) - with no wins; two were consecutive nominations (from 1968-1969); nominations from 1962-2006
Marlon Brando (7) - with two wins
Dustin Hoffman (7) - with two wins
Jack Lemmon (7) - with one win (Save the Tiger (1973)); two were consecutive nominations (from 1959-1960, and from 1979-1980)
Paul Muni (6) - with one win (The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936)); three were consecutive nominations (from 1935-1937)
Richard Burton (6) - with no wins; three were consecutive nominations (from 1964-1966)
Gary Cooper (5) - with two wins
Tom Hanks (5) - with two wins
Fredric March (5) - with two wins
Sean Penn (5) - with two wins
Daniel Day-Lewis (5) - with three wins
James Stewart (5) - with one win (
Anthony Hopkins (3) - with one win ( The Silence of the Lambs (1991) ); nominations from 1991-1995
Russell Crowe (3) - with one win (Gladiator (2000)); three were consecutive nominations (from 1999-2001)
Jeff Bridges (3) - with one win (Crazy Heart (2009)); nominations from 1984-2010
George Clooney (3) - with no wins; nominations from 2007-2011
Consecutive Best Actor-Winning Performers:
There are only two actresses (Luise Rainer and Katharine Hepburn) who have received two consecutive Best Actress awards, as there are only two actors who have received two consecutive Best Actor statuette wins:
Spencer Tracy (Captains Courageous (1937) and Boys Town (1938))
Tom Hanks (Philadelphia (1993) and Forrest Gump (1994))
[Note: Jason Robards won two consecutive Best Supporting Actor Oscars in 1976 and 1977.]
Winners of Both a Lead and Supporting Actor Oscar:
In 1997, Jack Nicholson tied Walter Brennan for the most wins (3) for a male performer (Brennan has three Best Supporting Actor trophies, Nicholson has two for Best Actor and one for Best Supporting Actor). The only stars to win both a Best Actor and a Best Supporting Actor (BSA) Oscar are the following:
Jack Nicholson (BA for
Gene Hackman (BA for The French Connection (1971) , BSA for Unforgiven (1992) )
Kevin Spacey (BA for American Beauty (1999), BSA for The Usual Suspects (1995))
Denzel Washington (BA for Training Day (2001), BSA for Glory (1989))
The Only Best Actor Tie:
In the Best Actor category, an unusual tie (the only occurrence among male acting performances) occurred in 1931/32 between Wallace Beery and Fredric March, for their respective performances in The Champ (1931/32) and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931/32).
The Most Best Actor Oscar Nominations - Without Winning:
Peter O'Toole is the only star with eight Best Actor Oscar nominations without a single win. His record extends 44 years, from 1962 to 2006.
Richard Burton was nominated seven times (and never won), although his first nomination was as Best Supporting Actor for My Cousin Rachel (1952) -- his last six nominations were as Best Actor.
Oscar-Winning Actor Roles and Trends:
Biographies of remarkable, real-life individuals (military figures or soldiers, law-and-order enforcers, historical figures) and portrayals of the mentally ill are heavily represented among male Oscar winners, particularly in the acting awards. It helps an actor's chances of winning an Oscar if the character dies a tragic death during the movie, or is slightly eccentric (or genius).
Physical and Mental Disabilities or Diseases
An overwhelming number of actors have won (or been nominated for) the top acting (and supporting) awards for portraying characters with physical or mental disabilities (personality disorders, amnesia) or diseases (with handicaps, such as blindness or muteness, tics, etc.):
Fredric March won the Best Actor Oscar for his dual, split personality role as a respected doctor and as a fiendish mad-man in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931/32)
Ronald Colman was nominated as Best Actor for his role as shell-shocked amnesiac Charles Rainier in Random Harvest (1942)
Harold Russell (real-life amputee) won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as courageous and resourceful returning sailor Homer Parrish in
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) [Note: Russell is the only performer to win two Oscars for the same performance. In 1946, he won Best Supporting Actor and was voted an Honorary Oscar that same year for his performance.]
Arthur Kennedy was nominated as Best Actor for his role as veteran Larry Nevins made blind in WWII combat in Bright Victory (1951)
Cliff Robertson won the Best Actor Oscar for his title role as Charly Gordon - a mentally-retarded, thirty year-old bakery worker temporarily made a genius through surgery in Charly (1968)
Alan Arkin was nominated as Best Actor for his role as deaf-mute Singer in The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (1968)
Sir John Mills won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as mute, gentle, mis-shaped village idiot Michael in Ryan's Daughter (1970) - he became the sole male actor to win an Oscar for a non-speaking role
Jack Nicholson won the Best Actor Oscar for his role as life-affirming, ill-fated, free-spirited, anarchic misfit patient Randle Patrick McMurphy in
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
Jon Voight won the Best Actor Oscar for his role as handicapped Luke Martin - a bitter but sensitive paraplegic veteran paralyzed during the Vietnam War in Coming Home (1978)
Timothy Hutton won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as guilt-ridden, depressed teenaged Conrad Jarrett in Ordinary People (1980)
John Malkovich was nominated as Best Supporting Actor for his role as blind boarder Mr. Will in Places in the Heart (1984)
Dustin Hoffman won the Best Actor Oscar for his role as institutionalized, ultimately loveable, autistic idiot savant Raymond ('Ray(n)' 'Man(d)') Babbitt in Rain Man (1988)
Daniel Day-Lewis won the Best Actor Oscar for his role as Irish-born artist and author Christy Brown - a self-reliant, spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy victim who could only write and draw with his foot in My Left Foot (1989)
Anthony Hopkins won the Best Actor Oscar for his role as cannibalistic, menacing, psychopathic serial psychiatrist/killer Dr. Hannibal "Cannibal" Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Al Pacino won the Best Actor Oscar for his role as foul-mouthed, suicidal, blind (as a result of a boozing-related accident), retired Lt. Col. Frank Slade in Scent of a Woman (1992)
Tom Hanks won the Best Actor Oscar for his role as AIDS-infected corporate attorney and victim Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia (1993) - Hanks' 1994 acceptance speech for his Best Actor Oscar win for Philadelphia (1993) directly inspired the homosexuality-themed film In & Out (1997), about an outed English literature teacher (Kevin Kline) in an Indiana town when one of his former students (Matt Dillon) thanked him at the Academy Awards and mentioned he was gay
Tom Hanks won the Best Actor Oscar again for his title role as Forrest Gump, a good-hearted, naive, eccentric, dim-witted protagonist (an idiot-savant) in Forrest Gump (1994)
Geoffrey Rush won the Best Actor Oscar for his role as talented but agonizingly-troubled, mentally-disabled Australian concert pianist David Helfgott who suffered a crippling nervous breakdown in Shine (1996)
Jack Nicholson won the Best Actor Oscar for his role as rich, bigoted, obsessive-compulsive romance novelist Melvin Udall living in New York in As Good As It Gets (1997)
Geoffrey Rush was also nominated as Best Actor for his role as sexually-crazed French novelist Marquis de Sade in Quills (2000)
Jamie Foxx won the Best Actor Oscar for his role as legendary blues singer and blind pianist Ray Charles in Ray (2004)
Forest Whitaker won the Best Actor Oscar for his role as brutal, infamous, genocidal Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland (2006)
Colin Firth won the Best Actor Oscar for his role as stuttering monarch George VI in The King's Speech (2010)
Eddie Redmayne won the Best Actor Oscar for his role as ALS-diagnosed physicist Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything (2014)
Alcoholics
And a number of other actors have won Oscar awards (or been nominated) for portraying alcoholic characters:
Lionel Barrymore won the Best Actor Oscar for his role as dissolute and drunken lawyer Stephen Ashe (co-star Norma Shearer's father) in A Free Soul (1930/31)
Van Heflin won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as Shakespeare-quoting, alcoholic confidant Jeff Hartnett who befriended gangster co-star Robert Taylor in Johnny Eager (1942)
Ray Milland won the Best Actor Oscar for his role as whiskey-soaked, boozing, writer's blocked Don Birnam in The Lost Weekend (1945)
Fredric March won Best Actor for his role as anguished, middle-aged, alcoholic banking executive - and returning war veteran and ex-sergeant Al Stephenson in
A Star Is Born (1954)
Jack Lemmon was nominated as Best Actor for his role as alcoholic advertising man Joe Clay in Days of Wine and Roses (1962)
Lee Marvin won the Best Actor Oscar for his dual role as cold-eyed, ruthlessly evil desperado Tim Strawn (with an artificial silver nose) and Strawn's aging, once-famous, drunken and whiskey-soaked twin gunman Kid Shelleen in Cat Ballou (1965)
Dudley Moore was nominated as Best Actor for his role as drunk, spoiled, amiable and millionaire-rich playboy - title character Arthur Bach in Arthur (1981)
Paul Newman was nominated as Best Actor for his role as alcoholic, ambulance-chasing, Boston trial lawyer Frank P. Galvin in The Verdict (1982)
Robert Duvall won Best Actor for his role as ex-drinking, ex-country/western music star Mac Sledge in Tender Mercies (1983)
Note: in 1983, all five Best Actor nominees played drunks of one sort or another (two were nominated for the film The Dresser (1983), Albert Finney and Tom Courtenay)
Albert Finney was nominated as Best Actor for his role as self-destructive alcoholic Geoffrey Firmin drinking himself to death in the shadow of a Mexican volcano in Under the Volcano (1984)
Nicolas Cage won the Best Actor Oscar for his role as failed, Hollywood scriptwriter and fatally-destructive, genial, but suicidal alcoholic Ben Sanderson in Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
Robert Duvall was nominated as Best Actor for his role as Texas Pentecostal preacher Eulis ("Sonny") Dewey who became 'The Apostle' of God in Louisiana to escape his past in The Apostle (1997)
James Coburn won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as Nick Nolte's tyrannical, abusive and alcoholic father Glen "Pop" Whitehouse in Affliction (1998)
Jeff Bridges won the Best Actor Oscar for his role as broken-down, aging, boozy country-music singer Bad Blake in Crazy Heart (2009)
Denzel Washington was nominated as Best Actor for his role as tragic, heroic, and addicted boozy airline pilot Whip Whitaker in Flight (2012)
Homosexual Roles
Some straight actors have been nominated (and often won) for homosexual roles:
Peter Finch received his first Best Actor nomination (without winning) for his role as middle-aged, homosexual Jewish Dr. Daniel Hirsh involved in a three-sided love story in Sunday, Bloody Sunday (1971)
William Hurt won Best Actor for his role as imprisoned, flamboyant gay South American Luis Molina in Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985)
Tom Hanks won Best Actor for his role as dying AIDS patient Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia (1993)
Sean Penn won the Best Actor Oscar for his role as openly pioneering San Francisco gay camera store owner Harvey Milk who successfully was serving in public office as mayoral aide when he was assassinated, in Milk (2008)
Mediocre or Compensatory Oscar Wins:
Oscar victories for Best Actor haven't always been for the stars' best work either, but have often been an effort to right past injustices, or retroactively for an entire body of work:
56 year-old Ronald Colman's late win as Best Actor for A Double Life (1947) - a tribute to his entire silent and sound film career
62 year-old John Wayne's belated win as Best Actor for True Grit (1969), when he should have been honored years earlier for
The Grapes of Wrath (1940) or The Ox-Bow Incident (1943)
Also, elderly nominees seem to fare better, such as 54 year-old Art Carney winning the Best Actor Oscar for Harry and Tonto (1974), 60 year-old Peter Finch's posthumous Best Actor award for Network (1976) , 80 year-old George Burns winning the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for The Sunshine Boys (1975), Melvyn Douglas winning the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Being There (1979), Don Ameche winning the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Cocoon (1985), and 72 year-old Alan Arkin winning the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Little Miss Sunshine (2006).
Many other elderly actors have been nominated for supporting roles, including Eric von Stroheim for
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) , John Mills for Ryan's Daughter (1970), Lee Strasberg for
The Godfather, Part II (1974) , Burgess Meredith for Rocky (1976) , Robert Preston for Victor/Victoria (1982), Denholm Elliott for A Room With a View (1986), and Armin Mueller-Stahl for Shine (1996).
Post-Humous Acting Nominations and Award(s):
There are only been seven post-humous performance nominees in Academy history. Only two posthumous nominees have won the Oscar: the first by Peter Finch and and the second by Heath Ledger - see below:
Jeanne Eagels - unofficially nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for The Letter (1928/29) posthumously (Academy records indicated that she was "under consideration" for an award)
James Dean - the only actor who was twice nominated (in two consecutive years) for a Best Actor Oscar after his death and lost, for East of Eden (1955) , and Giant (1956)
Spencer Tracy - nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) posthumously
Peter Finch - nominated and winning the Best Actor Oscar for Network (1976) posthumously - Finch was the first performer to have won the Oscar after his death
Ralph Richardson - nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984) posthumously
Italian actor Massimo Troisi - nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for The Postman (Il Postino) (1995) posthumously
Heath Ledger - nominated and winning the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for The Dark Knight (2008) posthumously - the second performer to win posthumously
The Most Best Actor Nominations for a Single Film:
The film with the most Best Actor nominations (3) was Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) , for Clark Gable, Franchot Tone, and Charles Laughton. It was the first film to have three acting nominations, and the first film to have three co-performers competing against each other in the same category - as Best Actor.
African-American (or Black) Notables:
There have only been twenty African-American (or black) nominations for Best Actor, divided amongst thirteen different performers. Four actors (Poitier, Freeman, Washington and Smith) have been nominated twice (or more) for the top award. Some regard Denzel Washington as the first African-American performer to win Best Actor -- because previous Oscar-winner Sidney Poitier was of Bahamas descent:
#
Chiwetel Ejiofor
12 Years a Slave (2013)
In total, there have only been 23 different African-American (or black) performers nominated for the top award (either Best Actor or Best Actress). Only fourteen awards have been won by African-Americans (or blacks) in both lead and supporting categories (four Best Actor, one Best Actress, four Best Supporting Actor, and five Best Supporting Actress). Only five black performers have won the Oscar in the lead category (four Best Actor, one Best Actress).
Only four African-American actors have won the Best Actor Oscar:
Sidney Poitier for Lilies of the Field (1963)
Denzel Washington for Training Day (2001)
Jamie Foxx for Ray (2004)
Forest Whitaker for The Last King of Scotland (2006)
Five of the 20 acting nominations in 2004 and 2006 were African-American nominees. This bested the record of three nominated blacks that occurred in three different years (2001, 1985, and 1972):
2006
2001: Halle Berry for Monster's Ball, Denzel Washington for Training Day, and Will Smith for Ali
1985: Whoopi Goldberg, Margaret Avery and Oprah Winfrey for The Color Purple
1972: Diana Ross for Lady Sings the Blues, and Cicely Tyson and Paul Winfield for Sounder
Jamie Foxx also set a record for being the first black to debut as a nominee in two categories in the same year, lead and supporting, for Ray (2004) and Collateral (2004).
Denzel Washington is the only black actor nominated six times for Best Actor or Best Supporting Actor. With his nomination for Flight (2012), he became the most nominated African-American actor in Academy history. He is the only black actor to have won two competitive Oscars (as Best Supporting Actor for Glory (1989) and as Best Actor for Training Day (2001)).
Two African-American actors have been nominated for Best Actor in the same year, numerous times:
Year
Don Cheadle for Hotel Rwanda (2004), Jamie Foxx for Ray (2004)
2001
Will Smith for Ali (2001), Denzel Washington for Training Day (2001)
Morgan Freeman's Best Supporting Actor win for Million Dollar Baby (2004), paired with Jamie Foxx's Best Actor win for Ray (2004), was the first time that African-American actors won in their respective categories in the same year.
In three instances, African-Americans have won two of the four acting prizes:
2006: Forest Whitaker for The Last King of Scotland, Jennifer Hudson for Dreamgirls
2004: Morgan Freeman for Million Dollar Baby, Jamie Foxx for Ray
2001: Halle Berry for Monster's Ball, Denzel Washington for Training Day
Latino, Asian and Other Ethnic-Minority (Non-English) Performers:
There have been only a few Best Actor Oscar wins by ethnic/other minority (or non-English) performers:
French actor Jean Dujardin won Best Actor for The Artist (2011) - he was the first French actor to win the Best Actor Oscar
Italian actor Roberto Benigni won the Best Actor Oscar for Life is Beautiful (1998) - he was the first male actor to win an Oscar for a foreign-language film (his Best Actor Oscar win was only the second time a nominee won an acting Oscar for a foreign language film role - the earlier winner was Sophia Loren)
Ben Kingsley, with half-Indian (birth name Krishna Bhanji) and half-English descent, won the Best Actor Oscar for Gandhi (1982) - he became the first South Asian performer to achieve such a feat
Puerto Rican-born Jose Ferrer won the Best Actor Oscar for his role in Cyrano de Bergerac (1950)
Notable ethnic/minority performance nominations for Best Actor include:
Australian actor Hugh Jackman was nominated as Best Actor for Les Miserables (2012)
Mexican-born actor Demián Bichir was nominated as Best Actor for A Better Life (2011)
Ben Kingsley was nominated as Best Actor for House of Sand and Fog (2003)
Spanish/Latino actor Javier Bardem was nominated as Best Actor for Before Night Falls (2000) and for Biutiful (2010) - he was the first Best Actor nominee for a fully Spanish-language role
Australian actor Geoffrey Rush was nominated as Best Actor for Shine (1996) (win) and Quills (2000) - Geoffrey Rush became the first Australian actor to win Best Actor (for the role of the mad pianist in Shine (1996)) since Peter Finch won posthumously for Network (1976)
Italian actor Massimo Troisi was nominated as Best Actor for The Postman (Il Postino) (1995)
French actor Gerard Depardieu was nominated as Best Actor for Cyrano de Bergerac (1990)
Swedish actor Max Von Sydow was nominated as Best Actor for Pelle the Conqueror (1988)
Mexican-American Edward James Olmos was nominated as Best Actor for Stand and Deliver (1988)
Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni was nominated as Best Actor for Dark Eyes (1987)
Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni was nominated as Best Actor for A Special Day (1977)
Italian actor Giancarlo Giannini was nominated as Best Actor for Seven Beauties (1976)
Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni was nominated as Best Actor for Divorce - Italian Style (1962)
Mexican-born Anthony Quinn was nominated twice as Best Actor for Wild Is the Wind (1957) and Zorba the Greek (1964)
Puerto Rican-born Jose Ferrer was nominated as Best Actor for Moulin Rouge (1952)
Note: In 1985, all ten of the Best Actor/Actress nominees were American-born - the first time in Oscar history. Also, in 1964 and in 2007, all four winners of the performance/acting Oscars were non-Americans.
Multiple Nominations for the Same Character -- The Most Oscar-Friendly Role:
The character of Henry VIII has the most acting nominations (three) and is the most Oscar-friendly role:
Charles Laughton as Henry VIII in The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933) - the only winner of the three - a Best Actor Oscar
Robert Shaw as Henry VIII in A Man for All Seasons (1966) - nominated as Best Supporting Actor
Richard Burton as Henry VIII in Anne of the Thousand Days (1969) - nominated as Best Actor
Other historical or fictional characters with two acting nominations include: Norman Maine, Mr. Arthur Chipping ("Mr. Chips"), Abraham Lincoln, Father Chuck O'Malley, King Henry V, Professor Henry Higgins, Cyrano de Bergerac, Joe Pendleton, President Richard Nixon, Vito Corleone. (See below).
Only two nominees in Oscar history have been nominated for playing the role of a real-life Oscar nominee: Cate Blanchett as Best Supporting Actress (win) for playing the role of Katharine Hepburn in The Aviator (2004), and Robert Downey, Jr. nominated as Best Actor for the title role of Oscar nominee Charlie Chaplin in Chaplin (1992).
Multiple Nominations for the Same Character:
Five actors have been nominated twice for playing the same character in two different films (wins are marked with an *):
Bing Crosby as Father Charles "Chuck" O'Malley in Going My Way (1944)* and The Bells of St. Mary's (1945)
Paul Newman as 'Fast' Eddie Felson in The Hustler (1961) and The Color of Money (1986)*
Peter O'Toole as King Henry II in Becket (1964) and The Lion in Winter (1968)
Al Pacino as Michael Corleone in
Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa in Rocky (1976) and Creed (2015)
(*Crosby won Best Actor for his first role, and Newman won Best Actor for his second role.)
Only one actress has ever received two nominations for playing the same character in two different films:
Cate Blanchett became the fifth performer to draw mentions for the same role (Queen Elizabeth I) in two different films: Best Actress for Elizabeth (1998) and Best Actress for Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007)
Performers who were nominated as Best Actor for the same character in different films in different years include:
Fredric March and James Mason as Norman Maine in A Star is Born (1937) and
A Star is Born (1954)
Robert Donat and Peter O'Toole as Mr. Arthur Chipping ("Mr. Chips") in Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939) and Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969)
Laurence Olivier and Kenneth Branagh as King Henry V in Henry V (1944) and Henry V (1989) - both were directed by their stars
Charles Laughton and Richard Burton as King Henry VIII in The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933) and Anne of the Thousand Days (1969)
Leslie Howard and Rex Harrison as Professor Henry Higgins in Pygmalion (1938) and My Fair Lady (1964)
Jose Ferrer and Gerard Depardieu as Cyrano de Bergerac in Cyrano de Bergerac (1950) and Cyrano de Bergerac (1990)
Robert Montgomery and Warren Beatty as Joe Pendleton in Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941) and Heaven Can Wait (1978)
Anthony Hopkins and Frank Langella as President Richard Nixon in Nixon (1995) and Frost/Nixon (2008)
John Wayne and Jeff Bridges as Rooster Cogburn in True Grit (1969) and True Grit (2010)
Raymond Massey and Daniel Day-Lewis as President Abraham Lincoln in Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940) and Lincoln (2012)
Robert De Niro won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as Vito Corleone in
The Godfather, Part II (1974) , the role for which Marlon Brando had previously won Best Actor in
The Godfather (1972).
Multiple Nominations:
After 1929/30, an actor could not receive more than one nomination per category. In 1944, the rules permitted Barry Fitzgerald to be nominated for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor (which he won) for the same performance - Father Fitzgibbon in Going My Way (1944). Subsequently, new rules have prevented this from re-occurring, although an actor may still be nominated in both categories for two different roles. (See the Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress pages for further information on double nominees.)
Barry Fitzgerald is the only actor to be nominated for both Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor for the same character (or performance) in the same year. Since then, two other male performers have been double-nominated in a single year (wins are marked with *) - Pacino was the first actor to be nominated for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor in two different roles; the second actor in Oscar history to do so was Jamie Foxx in 2004:
Barry Fitzgerald (Best Actor for Going My Way (1944)* and Best Supporting Actor for Going My Way (1944))
Al Pacino (Best Actor for Scent of a Woman (1992)* and Best Supporting Actor for Glengarry Glen Ross (1992))
Jamie Foxx (Best Actor for Ray (2004)* and Best Supporting Actor for Collateral (2004))
One Nomination for Multiple Roles:
Peter Sellers is the only actor to be nominated (as Best Actor) for playing three entirely-different roles in the same film,
Three films have had the entire speaking casts nominated for awards:
Sleuth (1972), with Best Actor nominations for Michael Caine and Laurence Olivier
Give 'Em Hell, Harry! (1975), with a Best Actor nomination for James Whitmore
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) , with various nominations for all four cast members, Elizabeth Taylor (Best Actress win), Richard Burton (Best Actor loss), George Segal (Best Supporting Actor loss), and Sandy Dennis (Best Supporting Actress win)
Actors Who Won An Oscar for a Dual Role:
Fredric March, Best Actor winner for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931/32): Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Laurence Olivier, Best Actor winner for Hamlet (1948, UK): Hamlet and the Voice of the Ghost (uncredited)
Lee Marvin, Best Actor winner for Cat Ballou (1965): Tim Strawn and Kid Shelleen
The Best Actor Award for Two Films in the Same Year:
Emil Jannings was the only performer to win the Best Actor award for his performances in two films in the same year: The Last Command (1927/28) and The Way of All Flesh (1927/28) - he was the very first actor to win the Academy Award for Best Actor; the Switzerland-born actor was the first non-American to win the award, which was presented to him a month before the ceremony.
Winning Co-Stars: Best Actor and Best Actress in the Same Film:
Seven films have won in both the leading actor and leading actress categories:
Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert in
Gene Hackman, Best Actor ( The French Connection (1971) ), Best Supporting Actor ( Unforgiven (1992) )
Kevin Spacey, Best Supporting Actor (The Usual Suspects (1995)), Best Actor (American Beauty (1999))
Denzel Washington, Best Supporting Actor (Glory (1989)), Best Actor (Training Day (2001))
Films With the Most Oscars for Acting: (see also here )
The Only Films in Which Three Stars Won Performance Oscars
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) - 12 nominations total, 4 acting nominations, 3 acting wins: Vivien Leigh (Best Actress), Karl Malden (Best Supporting Actor), Kim Hunter (Best Supporting Actress)
Network (1976) - 10 nominations total, 5 acting nominations, 3 acting wins: Peter Finch (Best Actor), Faye Dunaway (Best Actress), Beatrice Straight (Best Supporting Actress)
Film Debut Nominees/Winners for Best Actor Oscars:
Not a single actor has ever won the Best Actor Oscar for a feature film debut. A few of those below had very small debuting roles before a substantial film appearance. Others have received nominations for Best Actor for their debut role (a sampling):
Paul Muni in The Valiant (1928/29) (nomination)
Lawrence Tibbett in The Rogue Song (1929-30) (nomination)
Orson Welles in
The Graduate (1967) (nomination)
Ben Kingsley in Gandhi (1982) (win) (he had a bit role in his feature film debut, Fear is the Key (1972))
Geoffrey Rush in Shine (1997) (win) (he had a bit role in a few earlier films, including Hoodwink (1981))
Reprising an Acclaimed Stage Role:
Six Best Actor winners won the Oscar for an acclaimed stage role that they reprised on the screen. Those with an asterisk (*) won both a Best Actor Oscar and a Tony Award for musical roles they had created on stage:
George Arliss for Disraeli (1929/30)
Paul Lukas for Watch on the Rhine (1943)
Jose Ferrer for Cyrano de Bergerac (1950)
Paul Scofield in A Man For All Seasons (1966)
Oscar-Winning Roles First on TV:
The only two Best Actor winners who first played their Oscar-winning roles on TV were:
Maximilian Schell for Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) [Note: Schell is the lowest-billed performer to win a Best Actor Academy Award. He received fifth billing - behind Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, and Marlene Dietrich.]
Cliff Robertson for Charly (1968)
Best Actors Refusing Their Oscar Trophy:
George C. Scott refused his Best Actor Oscar for Patton (1970)
Marlon Brando refused his Best Actor Oscar for
Note: Much earlier in 1935, Dudley Nichols (the Best Writing Oscar winner for The Informer (1935)) also boycotted the Oscars, thereby refusing his Academy Award
Actors/Actresses With the Most Consecutive Acting Nominations (in both Leading and Supporting categories)
(wins marked with *):
Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), Chicago (2002), Cold Mountain (2003)*
Longest Time Period Between First and Last Nomination/Win:
48 years - Katharine Hepburn was first nominated and won Best Actress for Morning Glory (1932/33) and then 48 years later was nominated and won Best Actress for On Golden Pond (1981) - her fourth (and last) Oscar win!
46 years - Alan Arkin was nominated as Best Actor for The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming! (1966) and then two years later as Best Actor for The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (1968). Then, there was a long gap - 38 years later, after which he won Best Supporting Actor for Little Miss Sunshine (2006). He topped that with another six year wait for another Best Supporting Actor nomination for Argo (2012).
41 years - Henry Fonda was first nominated in 1940 as Best Actor for
The Grapes Of Wrath (1940) , and wasn't nominated again until 41 years later - when he won his sole Oscar (Best Actor) for On Golden Pond (1981)
40 years - Mickey Rooney was first nominated as Best Actor for Babes in Arms (1939), then as Best Actor for The Human Comedy (1943), then as Best Supporting Actor for The Bold and the Brave (1956), and then as Best Supporting Actor for The Black Stallion (1979), 40 years later, but he didn't ever win!
39 years - Sylvester Stallone was first nominated as Best Actor for Rocky (1976) , then again as Best Supporting Actor for Creed (2015)
39 years - Jack Palance was nominated as Best Supporting Actor for Sudden Fear (1952) and then as Best Supporting Actor for
Shane (1953) - it was a time span of 39 years from his first nomination to his eventual victory as Best Supporting Actor for City Slickers (1991)!
38 years - Helen Hayes had to wait 38 years between her only Oscar nominations (both wins), Best Actress for The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931/32), and Best Supporting Actress for Airport (1970)
37 years - Albert Finney was first nominated as Best Actor for Tom Jones (1963) and then received three more nominations for Best Actor: for Murder on the Orient Express (1974), The Dresser (1983), and Under the Volcano (1984) -- 37 years after his first nomination, he received his fifth and final Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for Erin Brockovich (2000) - he never won!
Longest Gap Between First Nomination and First Winning Film:
41 years - Henry Fonda was first nominated in 1940 as Best Actor for
The Grapes Of Wrath (1940) , and didn't win an acting award (Best Actor) until 41 years later for On Golden Pond (1981), and these were his only two career acting nominations (Note: Fonda did receive a producing Best Picture nomination for 12 Angry Men (1957) )
32 years - Geraldine Page was first nominated in 1953 as Best Supporting Actress for Hondo (1953), and won Best Actress for A Trip to Bountiful (1985), 32 years later; she was the only actress with seven unsuccessful nominations (in both categories) before finally winning Best Actress with nomination # 8
28 years - Paul Newman was first nominated in 1958 as Best Actor for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) , and won Best Actor for The Color of Money (1986), 28 years later; he was the only actor with six unsuccessful Best Actor nominations before finally winning Best Actor with nomination # 7 - and he later added another nomination as Best Actor for Nobody's Fool (1994), and his first Best Supporting Actor nomination also came later for Road to Perdition (2002)
25 years - Shirley MacLaine was first nominated in 1958 as Best Actress for Some Came Running (1958), and won Best Actress for Terms of Endearment (1983) , 25 years later
20 years - Al Pacino was first nominated in 1972 as Best Supporting Actor for
The Godfather (1972) , and won Best Actor for Scent of a Woman (1992), 20 years later
20 years - John Wayne was first nominated in 1949 as Best Actor for Sands of Iwo Jima (1949), and won Best Actor for True Grit (1969), 20 years later
18 years - Ronald Colman was first nominated in 1929/30 as Best Actor for Bulldog Drummond (1929/30), and won Best Actor for A Double Life (1947), 18 years later
17 years - Gregory Peck was first nominated in 1945 as Best Actor for The Keys of the Kingdom (1945), and won Best Actor for
12 years - Leonardo DiCaprio was first nominated in 1993 as Best Supporting Actor for What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), and won Best Actor for The Revenant (2015), 12 years later
Shortest Best Actor Performance:
Anthony Hopkins had the shortest screen time for his Best Actor Oscar win - as Hannibal "Cannibal" Lecter in Silence of the Lambs (1991) - supposedly 16 minutes of screen time
Only Non-Human Best Actor-Nominated Performance:
Jeff Bridges as the alien 'Starman' in Starman (1984)
Directors Directing Themselves to a Best Actor Oscar or Nomination:
There are only two actors/performers that have directed themselves to an Oscar-winning Best Actor Oscar:
British actor Laurence Olivier as the title character in Hamlet (1948, UK) - Olivier became the first individual to win both an acting Oscar and Best Picture Oscar (as producer) - this time for the same film
Italian actor Roberto Benigni as Guido in Life is Beautiful (1998, It.)
Many actors have directed themselves to Best Actor Oscar nominations, most prominently:
Charles Chaplin for The Great Dictator (1940)
Woody Allen for Annie Hall (1977)
Warren Beatty for Heaven Can Wait (1978) and Reds (1981)
Kenneth Branagh for Henry V (1989)
Billy Bob Thornton for Sling Blade (1996)
Roberto Benigni for Life is Beautiful (1998)
Ed Harris for Pollock (2000)
Clint Eastwood for Million Dollar Baby (2004)
Michael Douglas became the second individual to win both an acting Oscar and Best Picture Oscar, this time for different films: Best Picture (
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) ) and Best Actor (Wall Street (1987)).
Winning Performances Portraying Royalty:
Yul Brynner, Best Actor as King Mongkut of Siam in The King and I (1956)
Ingrid Bergman, Best Actress as Anastasia (possibly daughter of murdered Russian czar Nicholas II) in Anastasia (1956)
Katharine Hepburn, Best Actress as Eleanor of Aquitaine in The Lion in Winter (1968)
Helen Mirren, Best Actress as Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen (2006)
Colin Firth, Best Actor as King George VI in The King's Speech (2010)
Married (or Attached) Oscar-Winners:
Only three times have married couples (husband-wife) won acting Oscars:
Laurence Olivier, Best Actor for Hamlet (1948), and Vivien Leigh, Best Actress for
Gone With the Wind (1939) and
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) [Note: They were not yet married when Leigh won her first Oscar in 1939.]
Paul Newman, Best Actor for The Color of Money (1986), and Joanne Woodward, Best Actress for The Three Faces of Eve (1957). [Note: They were married in 1958, prior to Woodward receiving 1957's Best Actress Award.] Newman also directed Woodward to her second Best Actress nomination for his Best Picture-nominated film Rachel, Rachel (1968).
Catherine Zeta-Jones, Best Supporting Actress for Chicago (2002), and husband Michael Douglas, Best Actor for Wall Street (1987) [Note: The couple were not married until the year 2000.]
There are others (girlfriend/boyfriend, or unmarried companions) who are close to (or have achieved) the same milestone:
Spencer Tracy, Best Actor and Katharine Hepburn, Best Actress for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
Diane Keaton, Best Actress winner for Best Director-winning Woody Allen's
Annie Hall (1977) - although they were romantically linked, they never married
Amy Madigan, Best Supporting Actress for Twice in a Lifetime (1985), and Ed Harris, nominated four times (1995, 1998, 2000, 2002) [Note: Harris directed himself to a Best Actor nomination for Pollock (2000).]
Susan Sarandon, Best Actress for Dead Man Walking (1995) (directed by her Best Director-nominated husband (unofficial live-in) Tim Robbins); Robbins won Best Supporting Actor for Mystic River (2003); earlier, Sarandon was married to Chris Sarandon, nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
Others: Jack Nicholson-Anjelica Huston, Al Pacino-Diane Keaton, and William Hurt-Marlee Matlin
Married (or Attached) Oscar-Nominees:
Five married couples have earned acting nominations in the same year (three times, a husband-and-wife team have been nominated for the same picture):
Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, Best Actor and Best Actress nominations for The Guardsman (1932) - both lost
Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress nominations for Witness for the Prosecution (1957) - both lost
Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor (win), Best Actor and Best Actress nominations for
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
Frank Sinatra, Best Supporting Actor nomination (and win) for From Here to Eternity (1953) , and Ava Gardner, Best Actress nomination for Mogambo (1953)
Rex Harrison, Best Actor nomination for Cleopatra (1963), and Rachel Roberts, Best Actress nomination for This Sporting Life (1963)
The only divorced couple to co-star in a film with each receiving an Oscar nomination:
William Powell and Carole Lombard, Best Actor and Best Actress nominations for My Man Godfrey (1936)
Brother-Sister Oscar Winners/Nominees:
The only brother and sister to win acting Oscars are:
Lionel Barrymore, Best Actor for A Free Soul (1930/31)
Ethel Barrymore, Best Supporting Actress for None But the Lonely Heart (1944)
The only sisters to win acting Oscars are:
Joan Fontaine, Best Actress for Suspicion (1941)
Olivia de Havilland, Best Actress for To Each His Own (1946), and The Heiress (1949)
The only brothers nominated for acting Oscars are:
River Phoenix, nominated as Best Supporting Actor for Running on Empty (1988)
Joaquin Phoenix, nominated as Best Supporting Actor for Gladiator (2000), Best Actor for Walk the Line (2005), and Best Actor for The Master (2012)
Youngest and Oldest Best Actors: Nominees and Winners
Note: The calculated time is from date of birth to the date of either (1) the nominations announcement, or (2) the date of the awards ceremony.
Youngest Best Actor Nominee
| Roberto Benigni |
Which football team lost the F.A. Cup final in both 1998 and 1999? | OSCARS LISTS: RECORDS AND CURIOSITIES
The Winners List
The 1987 Chinese/Italian co-production THE LAST EMPEROR by Bernardo Bertolucci is the only film produced outside of America or Britain to have received the ultimate award for Best Motion Picture. However it was not a foreign language film, and so was not nominated for Best Foreign Language Film.
In 1998 ROBERTO BEGNINI (who won Best Actor and Best Foreign Film awards as the writer/director/star of "Life is Beautiful") became only the second person to have won an Oscar for acting in a foreign language film. SOPHIA LOREN, who presented Begnini with the award for Best Foreign Film, was the first: she won Best Actress in 1961 for her performance in "Two Women". Since then, MARION COTILLARD has become the third foreign language recipent, winning Best Actress for the 2007 French film "La Vie En Rose".
Only six films have won both an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film and other Academy Awards as well: The 1963 winner, Fellini's "8½" (Italian) also won an Oscar for Best Costume Design; "A MAN AND A WOMAN" (French, 1966) also won the Best Original Screenplay Oscar; Costa-Gavras's "Z" (French/Algerian) in 1969 also won for Film Editing; and Ingmar Bergman's "FANNY AND ALEXANDER" (Sweden, 1983) won 3 further Oscars for Cinematography, for Art Direction and for Costume Design. 1998's winner, "LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL" (Italian) also received the Best Actor award for Roberto Benigni and a music award for Best Original Dramatic Score. And most recently, Ang Lee's "CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON" (Taiwan, 2000) won 3 further Oscars for Cinematography, for Art Direction & Set Design, and for Original Music Score.
DIRECTORS
The Winners List
JOHN FORD holds the record for most "Best Directing" awards - four in total, from five nominations, from 1935 (for "The Informer"), 1940 ("The Grapes Of Wrath"), 1941 ("How Green Was My Valley") and 1952 (for "The Quiet Man"). Intriguingly for the architect of the cinematic American west, none are Westerns - "Stagecoach" (1939), his only other directing nomination, failed to win him an award and "The Searchers" (1952) was passed over completely.
As for other directorial achievers, only FRANK CAPRA and WILLIAM WYLER stand close with three awards each, although Wyler's three (for "Mrs Miniver" (1942), "The Best Years of Our Lives" (1946) and the epic 1959 "Ben-Hur") came from 14 nominations - the most nominations ever achieved by a film director.
JOSEPH L. MANKIEWICZ deserves a special mention for his efforts in Directing for 1949. He achieved Best Director in that year for "A Letter To Three Wives", but the film itself failed to achieve Best Picture - instead that honour went to "All The King's Men"... also directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz!
MANKIEWICZ also went on to achieve a rare "follow-on" Oscar in the next year (1950) for directing "All About Eve", something that has otherwise only happened to JOHN FORD (in 1941 and 1942 for "The Grapes Of Wrath" and "How Green Was My Valley").
ALFRED HITCHCOCK (the renowned "Master of Suspense") never won a single award for Best Director - not even when his film "Rebecca" (1940) was voted Best Motion Picture... Among the film profession, many (who ultimately also do the voting) found the Master difficult to work with...
Another maverick, STANLEY KUBRICK (who died in 1999 and was responsible for such films as "Spartacus", "Paths Of Glory", "Dr.Strangelove", "A Clockwork Orange", "2001: A Space Oddysey" and "The Shining") never won a Best Director's award. Nor did did the influential but independent film-maker ROBERT ALTMAN (whose films included "Mash", "Nashville" and "Gosford Park"). And none of their films achieved Best Motion Picture either. Even MARTIN SCORSESE (whom many film critics call "the greatest American director alive today"...) spent many years in the "Oscar" wilderness until securing the 2006 "double" of Best Director and Best Film with "The Departed" (a film which curiously failed to attract any Best Actor/Actress nominations, let alone awards).
MUSIC
The Songwinners' List
From 1934 until 1971, every award for Best Original Song went to a "Tin Pan Alley"-type ballad only (although most of the winning songs were and have remained classics). But after the start of popular rock'n'roll in the mid-1950s, still no rock, soul or blues song won the top award - not even an Elvis movie song - until ISAAC HAYES broke the mould with 1971's soul music "Theme From Shaft"".
Since then, the awards have recognised other rhythmic song-styles but the preferred choice among Academy voters is still for laid-back or MOR songs with lyrics usually associated with romance. Only three songwriters have won the top award with uncompromising lyrics - the performing artists BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN with "Streets of Philadelphia" for 1993, BOB DYLAN with "Things Have Changed" for 2000, and EMINEM with "Lose Yourself" for 2002.
The prolific popular songwriter RANDY NEWMAN was nominated 15 times (8 for Best Score, 7 for Best Song) before finally winning at his 16th attempt with the song "If I Don't Have You" at the ceremony for 2001. Since then "We Belong Together", his 20th nomination, has won him a second Oscar.
At the other end of the musical scale, maestro composer and arranger JOHN WILLIAMS remains at the top of the music lists with five awards from 45 nominations (41 for Best Dramatic Score and four for Best Song). His works include the scoring of "Jaws" (1975), "Star Wars" (1977), "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial" (1982) and "Schindler's List" (1993).
Apart from "Best Original Score" and "Best Original Song", there is a third musical Award category still in existence - "Best Original Musical". Due however to continuous insufficient eligibility each year, it has not been awarded since 1984 (when won by "Purple Rain").
COLOUR
Throughout its first 73 years until March 2002, the Best Actor Oscar had only been won by a black man once - by SIDNEY POITIER for "The Lilies In The Field" in 1963, despite the emergence of strong roles for coloured actors and actresses from the 1960s onwards.
Meanwhile, only three black American actors had won the Best Supporting category, and all comparatively late on: LOUIS GOSSET Jr (1982), DENZIL WASHINGTON (1989) and CUBA GOODING Jr (1996); and in the female arena only WHOOPIE GOLDBERG (1990) had matched the singular achievement of Best Supporting Actress 51 years earlier by HATTIE McDANIEL (1939).
Finally in 2002 the 74th Award show saw Afro-Americans win both top honours, and both in the same year - Best Actress for the first time, and Best Actor again at last: first HALLE BERRY (for her 2001 performance in "Monsters Ball") and then DENZIL WASHINGTON (for his portrayal of a bad cop in "Training Day"). Two years later JAMIE FOXX was nominated in both acting categories (the only person ever to have achieved this double) for his Leading Role in the biopic "Ray" (for which he won the Oscar) and his Supporting Role in "Collateral".
ACTORS
The Winners List
Several actors have won 2 oscars in their careers, but only WALTER BRENNAN and JACK NICHOLSON have achieved a record 3 Oscars for Best Acting in Leading and/or Supporting roles.
LAURENCE OLIVIER was nominated 11 times (10 for acting roles) during his career - a record only surpassed recently by JACK NICHOLSON with his 12th acting nomination in 2002.
SPENCER TRACY was the only actor ever to achieve the Best Actor award two years in succession (in 1937 and 1938, for "Captains Courageous" and "Boys Town") - until TOM HANKS repeated the feat in 1993 and 1994 (for "Philadelphia" and "Forrest Gump")... The only other actor to achieve a near-similar "repeat" accolade is JASON ROBARDS, who won the award for Best Supporting Actor in both 1976 and 1977 (for "All The President's Men" and "Julia").
BARRY FITZGERALD is the only person ever to have been nominated for the same role in both Best Supporting Actor and Best Actor categories, after his 1944 performance as a priest in "Going My Way". He ultimately won the award for Best Support, the Best Actor award going instead to the film's fellow priest and crooner BING CROSBY... Since then, the Academy's rules have been changed to prevent a nomination in both categories.
Several people have been nominated for different portrayals of the same character (either in the same film or in different films), but MARLON BRANDO (for "The Godfather", 1972) and ROBERT DeNIRO (for "The Godfather II", 1974) are the only persons to have actually won Oscars for performances as the same character (being that of Don Corleone).
ACTRESSES
The Winning List
KATHERINE HEPBURN achieved and still holds the record of four Oscars for Best Female Acting in a Leading and/or Supporting role. Nominated 12 times (and all for Leading Roles only) during a span of 48 years, her four Oscars were awarded for 1933 ("Morning Glory"), 1967 ("Guess Who's Coming To Dinner"), 1968 ("The Lion In Winter") and 1981 ("On Golden Pond").
Among all other actresses only INGRID BERGMAN has approached close to Hepburn's unique feat, with 3 Oscars awarded for 1944 ("Gaslight"), 1956 ("Anastasia") and 1974 (with her Supporting Role in "Murder On The Orient Express"). Ingrid Bergman's tally is perhaps all the more remarkable considering that she was ostracised by the Hollywood community for several years after 1948 because of her married affair with Roberto Rossellini (Italian director of "Stromboli").
LUISE RAYNER was the only actress ever to achieve the Best Actress award two years in succession (in 1936 and 1937, for "The Great Ziegfeld and "The Good Earth") - until KATHERINE HEPBURN did the "double" in 1967 (for "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner") and 1968 (for "The Lion In Winter"). Curiously Hepburn's "two-in-a-row" feat also happened to match the previous achievement of her partner SPENCER TRACY...
Surprisingly, MERYL STREEP has just two Oscars (for a Supporting Role in 1979's "Kramer vs. Kramer" and a Leading Role in 1988's "Sophie's Choice"). With her 12th acting nomination (and 10th in a leading role) for 1999's "Music Of The Heart" she equalled the record for most-nominated actress set in 1981 by Katherine Hepburn, and surpassed it with her 13th nomination for a Supporting Role in 2002's "Adaptation". She still holds the record to the present day ("Doubt" in 2008 and "Julie and Julia in 2009 being her 15th and 16th nominations in a 31 year span comprising 13 for Best Actress and 3 for Best Supporting Actress).
WRITERS
| i don't know |
Which TV actor had a number one hit single in 1986 with 'Every Loser Wins'? | Top 100 Songs of 1986
Top 100 Songs of 1986
Derived from Billboard's Hottest Hot 100 Hits
The Bangles; "Greatest Love Of All," Whitney Houston; "The Next Time I Fall," Peter Cetera
1. "That's What Friends Are For".....Dionne & Friends
2. "Walk Like An Egyptian".....Bangles
3. "On My Own".....Patti Labelle & Michael McDonald
4. "The Way It Is".....Bruce Hornsby & The Range
5. "You Give Love A Bad Name".....Bon Jovi
6. "Greatest Love Of All".....Whitney Houston
7. "There'll Be Sad Songs".....Billy Ocean
8. "How Will I Know".....Whitney Houston
9. "Kyrie".....Mr. Mister
11. "The Next Time I Fall".....Peter Cetera & Amy Grant
12. "Burning Heart".....Survivor
13. "Stuck With You".....Huey Lewis & The News
14. "When I Think Of You".....Janet Jackson
15. "Rock Me Amadeus".....Falco
16. "West End Girls".....Pet Shop Boys
17. "Sledgehammer".....Peter Gabriel
21. "Glory Of Love".....Peter Cetera
22. "Everybody Have Fun Tonight".....Wang Chung
23. "Friends And Lovers".....Gloria Loring & Carl Anderson
24. "Conga".....Miami Sound Machine
27. "Addicted To Love".....Robert Palmer
28. "I Can't Wait".....Nu Shooz
29. "What Have You Done For Me Lately".....Janet Jackson
30. "Venus".....Bananarama
32. "Take My Breath Away".....Berlin
33. "These Dreams".....Heart
34. "Holding Back The Years".....Simply Red
35. "Walk Of Life".....Dire Straits
36. "Dancing On The Ceiling".....Lionel Richie
37. "Amanda".....Boston
40. "Talk To Me".....Stevie Nicks
41. "Mad About You".....Belinda Carlisle
42. "Don't Forget Me (When I'm Gone)".....Glass Tiger
43. "When The Going Gets Tough".....Billy Ocean
44. "Why Can't This Be Love".....Van Halen
45. "Danger Zone".....Kenny Loggins
46. "Crush On You".....The Jets
47. "Hip To Be Square".....Huey Lewis & The News
48. "Manic Monday".....Bangles
50. "If You Leave".....Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
"Everybody Have Fun Tonight," Wang Chung; "Danger Zone,"Kenny Loggins; "No One To Blame," Howard Jones
51. "Word Up".....Cameo
53. "No One Is To Blame".....Howard Jones
54. "To Be A Lover".....Billy Idol
55. "Throwing It All Away".....Genesis
56. "Your Love".....The Outfield
57. "Something About You".....Level 42
58. "Let's Go All The Way".....Sly Fox
59. "Tonight She Comes".....The Cars
60. "Typical Male".....Tina Turner
62. "R.O.C.K. In The USA".....John Cougar Mellencamp
63. "I Didn't Mean To Turn You On".....Robert Palmer
64. "Who's Johnny".....El DeBarge
65. "Two Of Hearts".....Stacey Q
67. "Stand By Me".....Ben E. King
68. "We Don't Have To Take Our Clothes Off".....Jermaine Stewart
69. "Take Me Home Tonight".....Eddie Money
70. "Sweet Freedom".....Michael McDonald
72. "Words Get In The Way".....Miami Sound Machine
73. "Love Touch".....Rod Stewart
74. "All I Need Is A Miracle".....Mike + The Mechanics
75. "Rumors".....Times Social Club
76. "Silent Running".....Mike + The Mechanics
77. "All Cried Out".....Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam w/ Full Force
78. "Don't Get Me Wrong".....Pretenders
79. "Baby Love".....Regina
80. "Spies Like Us".....Paul McCartney
81. "True Blue".....Madonna
82. "Living In America".....James Brown
83. "Take Me Home".....Phil Collins
84. "Dreamtime".....Daryl Hall
85. "Bad Boy".....Miami Sound Machine
86. "Heartbeat".....Don Johnson
88. "King For A Day".....Thompson Twins
89. "A Different Corner".....George Michael
90. "Love Will Conquer All".....Lionel Richie
91. "Life In A Northern Town".....The Dream Academy
92. "Go Home".....Stevie Wonder
94. "Your Wildest Dreams".....The Moody Blues
95. "Is It Love".....Mr. Mister
96. "You Should Be Mine".....Jeffrey Osborne
97. "Harlem Shuffle".....Rolling Stones
100. "The Rain".....Oran "Juice" Jones
"Word Up," Cameo; "Let's Go All The Way," Sly Fox
1986's Number Ones
(Includes the date the song reached the top of Billboard's Hot 100, and the duration of its stay there.)
"That's What Friends Are For," Dionne and Friends
18 January 1986/4 weeks
Originally penned by Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager and recorded by Rod Stewart for the 1982 film Night Shift, this song was presented to Warwick three years later. Warwick and Stevie Wonder were in the studio recording the song as a duet when Sager got the idea to donate the proceeds to AmFar (American Foundation for AIDS Research); Gladys Knight and Elton John were brought on board virtually at the last minute.
"How Will I Know," Whitney Houston
15 February 1986/2 weeks
Songwriters George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam were signed to A&M Records as Boy Meets Girl when they were asked to submit songs for Janet Jackson. Jackson passed on "How Will I Know," but execs at Arista snapped it up for Whitney Houston's debut album as a likely pop crossover hit. Whitney's mother Cissy sang backing vocals, and the song knocked Houston's first cousin Dionne Warwick out of the # 1 spot -- only the third time in the rock era that an artist succeeded a blood relative at the top of the Hot 100.
"Kyrie," Mr. Mister
1 March 1986/2 weeks
Mr. Mister's second # 1 single (the first being "Broken Wings"), "Kyrie" was written a year before it was recorded, while the band was on tour with Adam Ant. Kyrie eleison is Greek for "Lord have mercy."
"Sara," Starship
15 March 1986/1 week
Originally named Jefferson Airplane, this band was formed in 1965 and, in the mid-Seventies was reincarnated as Jefferson Starship. The departure of Paul Kantner in 1984 led to a third name change. In all that time, the band never had a # 1 hit, until Knee Deep in the Hoopla produced two -- this one and "We Built This City."
"These Dreams," Heart
22 March 1986/1 week
After eight albums without a Top 10 hit, Heart was willing to listen to producer Ron Nevison's ideas for crafting a commercial record. For the first time, most of the songs on a Heart album were written by outsiders, in this case Martin Page and Bernie Taupin (who also wrote "We Built This City"). Heart had three consecutive Top 10 hits off the album (Heart), and "These Dreams" was the group's first # 1. It was dedicated to a fan who died of cancer at the age of 21.
"Rock Me Amadeus," Falco
29 March 1986/3 weeks
The Austrian musical prodigy was inspired to write a song about Wolfgang Mozart after watching Milo Forman's film Amadeus. Falco wrote "Der Kommissar" in 1981, which became an American chart hit for the British band After the Fire. "Rock Me Amadeus" was followed by another Top 20 song for Falco, "Vienna Calling."
"Kiss," Prince
19 April 1986/2 week
When "Kiss" hit the top of the Hot 100, Prince became the fifth songwriter to hold that chart's top two positions simultaneously; # 2 that week was "Manic Monday," performed by The Bangles but written by "Christopher" -- one of several Prince pseudonyms.
"Addicted To Love," Robert Palmer
3 May 1986/1 week
This was Palmer's first # 1 hit -- and it was almost a duet with Chaka Khan. They recorded the song together, but later her management decided against the project and her vocals were erased. The lyrics, according to Palmer (who wrote the tune), address the problems of an addictive personality.
"West End Girls," Pet Shop Boys
10 May 1986/1 week
This song became a hit in 1984 in Belgium and France, but failed to chart in Britain. The following year, the Pet Shop Boys (Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe), went back to the studio and recorded a new version, which soared to the top of the charts in both the UK and the U.S.
"Greatest Love Of All," Whitney Houston
17 May 1986/3 weeks
Originally written for a film about Muhammad Ali entitled The Greatest, this song was one of those performed by Houston during her audition for Clive Davis, president of Arista Records. It was done by George Benson on the soundtrack and issued as a single, but did not chart. On the B side of Houston's "You Give Good Love," the tune was never pegged as a single, but extensive radio airplay changed all that -- and Houston had three # 1 songs from her debut album, a first for a female solo artist.
"Live To Tell," Madonna
7 June 1986/1 week
Written by Patrick Leonard -- musical director for the Virgin tour -- and Madonna, this song was intended initially for the soundtrack of a movie called Fire With Fire. But Paramount Pictures passed on the tune, and Madonna arranged for it to be included in the score of boyfriend Sean Penn's film, At Close Range. "Live To Tell" was the fifth single to hit # 1 without being available on an album, and was Madonna's second chart-topper from a movie (the first being "Crazy For You" from Vision Quest.)
"On My Own," Patti LaBelle & Michael McDonald
14 June 1986/2 weeks
Another # 1 hit from the songwriting team of Burt Bacharach and wife Carole Bayer Sager. After Patti LaBelle's producer Richard Perry failed to cut a track he liked, Bacharach and Sager produced it themselves. After LaBelle put her vocals on, Sager thought it would be a perfect song for a duet. Warner Brothers allowed Michael McDonald to add his vocals since "On My Own" wasn't intended as a single. Both the vocals and the subsequent video were done without LaBelle and McDonald ever actually working together.
"There'll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry)," Billy Ocean
5 July 1986/1 week
Released before Ocean's second Jive Records album, Love Zone, reached the record stores, this tune became the artist's fifth Top 5 single in 20 months, and his second chart-topper -- the first being "Caribbean Queen" in 1984. With his collaborators Barry Eastmond and Wayne Brathwaite, Ocean wrote eight of the nine tracks on the album; four of them became Top 20 songs.
"Holding Back The Years," Simply Red
12 July 1986/1 week
Mick Hucknall wrote this song when he was 19 -- seven years before it became a chart-topper. Though the band's soulful sound did not endear it to the British press, Simply Red impressed people in the American soul music scene; the band was asked to open for James Brown, and Diana Ross requested that Hucknall write a song for her next album.
"Invisible Touch," Genesis
19 July 1986/1 week
Incredibly, past and present members of Genesis accounted for seven of the Hot 100 songs in the last week of July, 1986, as either artists or producers. Aside from "Invisible Touch" there was Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer" and the Phil Collins-produced hit "No One Is To Blame" by Howard Jones, there was Collins' "Take Me Home" and Mike Rutherford's two singles, "All I Need Is A Miracle" and "Taken In." The seventh was Steve Hackett and GTR's "When The Heart Rules The Mind." The Invisible Touch album produced five Top 10 songs, including two # 3's ("Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" and "In Too Deep") and two # 4's ("Throwing It All Away" and "Land Of Confusion").
"Sledgehammer," Peter Gabriel
26 July 1986/1 week
Written, according to Gabriel, as a salute to the '60s soul that had so inspired him as a teenager, "Sledgehammer" featured a brass section led by Wayne Jackson, whom Gabriel had seen perform, twenty years earlier, in South London's Ram Jam Club. Gabriel decided that very night that he "wanted to be a musician for life."
"Glory Of Love," Peter Cetera
2 August 1986/2 weeks
Peter Cetera had been with Chicago for 18 years, and penned both the band's chart-toppers ("If You Leave Me Now" and "Hard To Say I'm Sorry"), when he set out on a solo career. His wife Diane Nini helped him finish "Glory Of Love," which was chosen for The Karate Kid II soundtrack.
"Papa Don't Preach," Madonna
16 August 1986/2 weeks
Madonna knew she had a controversial song on her hands with "Papa Don't Preach," the story of an unwed and pregnant teenager, and she was right. The Pro-Life League adopted the song as its anthem, while pro-choice advocates criticized the artist for its message. Co-writer Brian Elliot commented that if Madonna influenced young girls to keep their babies, what was so bad about that?
"Higher Love," Steve Winwood
30 August 1986/1 week
Winwood and songwriter Will Jennings had collaborated on four songs for the former's second solo album, Arc of a Diver (1980), including the # 7 hit "While You See A Chance." On Back in the High Life, the two men wrote five of the eight tracks, including this, the first single. Chaka Khan provided backing vocals, while her drummer, John Robinson, provided the distinctive acoustic drums.
"Venus," Bananarama
6 September 1986/1 week
The original version, by the Dutch group Shocking Blue, was a # 1 hit in 1970, and it was one of the songs Siobahn Fahey, Keren Wood and Sarah Dallin would perform when they first started rehearsing together. The song was produced by the hitmakers Matt Aitkin, Mike Stock and Pete Waterman, who had produced hits by Dead or Alive and Rick Astley. "Venus" was only the fourth song of the rock era to be # 1 twice by two different artists.
"Take My Breath Away," Berlin
13 September 1986/1 week
This song won an Oscar for Best Original Song, and was the second tune written by Giorgio Morodor and Tom Whitlock for the film Top Gun. (The other was "Danger Zone," performed by Kenny Loggins; it peaked at # 2 on the Hot 100.) "Take My Breath Away" was Berlin's only hit song -- the group was always more interested in doing more album-oriented rock.
"Stuck With You," Huey Lewis and the News
20 September 1986/3 weeks
After the huge success of their Sports album, Huey Lewis and the News felt intense pressure to come up with another hit or two. After listening to six months worth of work on new material, manager Bob Brown told the group that they still didn't have that hit song. Lead guitarist Chris Hayes went home and wrote the music for "Stuck With You" in just a few hours, and the News had another chart-topper on their hands.
"When I Think Of You," Janet Jackson
11 October 1986/2 weeks
Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, formerly of the Time (until Prince fired them), had written the tunes used on Janet Jackson's Control album even before they were signed on to produce it. The songs had originally been intended for the debut solo effort of Atlantic Starr vocalist Sharon Bryant. But Bryant thought the tracks weren't right for her. The first five singles from Control made it into the Top Five. Janet and Michael Jackson became the first siblings to both have solo # 1 singles.
"True Colors," Cyndi Lauper
25 October 1986/2 weeks
Lauper's first album had produced four consecutive Top Five songs in 1984, so the pressure was on when she went into the studio to create her sophomore album, True Colors. Written by the team of Tom Kelly and Billy Steinberg, who had penned Madonna's # 1, "Like A Virgin," "True Colors" was the only song on the album that Lauper didn't have a hand in writing. Kelly and Steinberg had previously pitched the tune to Kenny Rogers and Anne Murray.
"Amanda," Boston
8 November 1986/2 weeks
It took Boston six years to complete their third album, Third Stage -- so long, in fact, that CBS (which owned Epic Records) sued the band for breach of contract. A bootleg version of "Amanda" -- which was actually written by the band's founder, Tom Scholz, in 1980 -- circulated two or three years before the album was released.
"Human," Human League
22 November 1986/1 week
Dissatisfied after working for nine months with British producer Colin Thurston, Human League switched to Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis (see "When I Think Of You," above). Band member Phil Oakey wrote six of the ten songs on the Crash album, but it was Jimmy and Terry who penned "Human" -- a song that gave Human League their second chart-topper, four years after the first #1, "Don't You Want Me."
"You Give Love A Bad Name," Bon Jovi
29 November 1986/1 week
For their third album, Slippery When Wet, the New Jersey-based band turned to Loverboy producer Bruce Fairbairn and songwriter Desmond Child, who collaborated with band members Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora to pen this, the first release from the album, and the group's first chart-topper.
"The Next Time I Fall," Peter Cetera & Amy Grant
6 December 1986/1 week
Peter Cetera had two # 1 hits with his first two singles as a post-Chicago solo artist, the second this ballad written by Bobby Caldwell and Paul Gordon. The decision to make it a duet with Christian singer Amy Grant was a calculated career move that paid off, big time -- and launched Grant as a viable pop artist.
"The Way It Is," Bruce Hornsby and the Range
13 December 1986/1 week
Bruce Hornsby never thought his music would interest the major record labels. And he didn't thnk "The Way It Is," one of the four songs on the demo tape that sold RCA on the band, was hit single material. He was wrong on both counts. In fact, though the band would have great success throughout the late Eighties, this would be their only chart-topper.
"Walk Like An Egyptian," Bangles
20 December 1986/4 weeks
The third release from the Different Light album became, according to Billboard, the # 1 single for the year 1987. It was also the girl band's first of two chart-toppers. (The other was "Eternal Flame.")
1986's Top 50 in the UK
* Number One songs
The Communards, Mel & Kim, Berlin
1. "Don't Leave Me This Way," The Communards*
2. "Every Loser Wins," Nick Berry*
3. "I Want To Wake Up With You," Boris Gardiner*
4. "Living Doll," Cliff Richard & The Young Ones*
5. "Chain Reaction," Diana Ross*
6. "The Lady In Red," Chris De Burgh*
7. "When The Going Gets Tough (The Tough Get Going)," Billy Ocean*
8. "Papa Don't Preach," Madonna*
9. "Take My Breath Away," Berlin*
10. ""So Macho"/"Cruising," Sinitta
12. "A Different Corner," George Michael*
13. "Rock Me Amadeus," Falco*
14. "We Don't Have To," Jermaine Stewart
15. "Spirit In The Sky," Dr & The Medics*
16. "The Final Countdown," Europe*
17. ""Real Petite (The Sweetest Girl In Town)," Jackie Wilson*
18. "Rain Or Shine," Five Star
19. "Caravan Of Love," The Housemartins*
20. "The Chicken Song," Spitting Image*
21. "The Sun Always Shines on T.V.," a-ha*
22. "On My Own," Patti LaBelle * Michael McDonald
23. "Walk Like An Egyptian," The Bangles
24. "In The Army Now," Status Quo
25. "Lesson In Love," Level 42
26. "Glory Of Love," Peter Cetera
27. "The Edge Of Heaven," Wham!*
28. "Sledgehammer," Peter Gabriel
29. "All I Ask Of You," Cliff Richard & Sarah Brightman
30. "Touch Me (I Want Your Body)," Samantha Fox
31. "Wonderful World," Sam Cooke
32. "A Kind Of Magic," Queen
33. "Holding Back The Years," Simply Red
34. "You Keep Me Hangin' On," Kim Wilde
35. "Let's Go All The Way," Sly Fox
36. "Word Up," Cameo
37. "Manic Monday," The Bangles
38. "I Can't Wait," Nu Shooz
39. "My Favourite Waste Of Time," Owen Paul
40. "You Can Call Me Al," Paul Simon
41. "Livin' On A Prayer," Bon Jovi
42. "Sometimes," Erasure
43. "Showing Out," Mel & Kim
44. "I Just Died In Your Arms," Cutting Crew
45. "You To Me Are Everything," The Real Thing
46. "Happy Hour," The Housemartins
47. "Starting Together," Su Pollard
48. "Thorn In My Side," The Eurythmics
49. "The Walk Of Life," Dire Straits
50. "Borderline," Madonna
| Nick Berry |
In what year did the first Rugby World Cup take place? | What are the highest-charting TV themes of all time?
What are the highest-charting TV themes of all time?
Wait, Will Smith never released the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme?
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We all love a good TV feem toon. Whether it's insanely catchy, explains the premise in the lyrics or makes you feel all nostalgic, it's the hallmark of a truly great show. And sometimes they're good enough to enter the actual charts.
We've trawled the history of the chart and tracked down as many TV themes as we can remember to find out which ones performed the best over the years, and they're an... eclectic bunch.
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Surprisingly, a theme as classic as The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was never even released as a single, while others barely scraped the chart at all, such as The Sopranos (80), Neighbours (83) and Home & Away (79). Though we're not surprised the Lost theme didn't get a look-in.
And we're not including songs which became TV themes years after their release (like Harvey Danger's 'Flagpole Sitta' for Peep Show), or themes which were reworked, remixed or covered (like Green Day's 'The Simpsons Theme', The Timelords' 'Doctorin' the Tardis' or Oxide & Neutrino's 'Bound 4 Da Reload (Casualty)').
But we are including themes which were in themselves covers of pre-existing songs (like CCS's 'Whole Lotta Love', which was the Top of the Pops theme tune as well as a cover of Led Zeppelin's original).
We were torn on Anita Dobson's 'Anyone Can Fall in Love' as her lyrics don't appear over the EastEnders credits, but come on, it had to stay. It's Dobbo.
First, here's a quick rundown of numbers 40-11:
40. Cheers - #58 (Gary Portnoy - 'Where Everybody Knows Your Name')
39. The Royle Family - #56 (Oasis - 'Half the World Away')
38. Dawson's Creek - #43 (Paula Cole - 'I Don't Want To Wait')
37. Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads - #35 (Highly Likely - 'Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?')
36. Made in Chelsea - #34 (M83 - 'Midnight City')
35. Fraggles - #33 (Fraggles - 'Fraggle Rock Theme')
34. Happy Days - #31 (Pratt & McClain - 'Happy Days Theme)
33. The Inbetweeners - #30 (Morning Runner - 'Gone Up in Flames')
32. One Tree Hill - #27 (Gavin Degraw - 'I Don't Want To Be')
31. Hill Street Blues - #25 (Mike Post & Larry Carlton - 'Hill Street Blues Theme')
30. Celebrity Love Island - #24 (Jem - 'Wish I')
29. Malcolm in the Middle - #21 (They Might Be Giants - 'Boss of Me')
28. Howard's Way - #21 (Simon May Orchestra - 'Howard's Way')
27. Rupert - #14 (Jackie Lee - 'Rupert')
26. Brush Strokes - #13 (Dexys Midnight Runners - 'Because of You')
25. Top of the Pops - #13 (CCS - 'Whole Lotta Love')
24. Ally McBeal - #10 (Vonda Shepard - 'Searchin' My Soul')
23. The OC - #9 (Phantom Planet - 'California')
22. Z Cars - #8 (Johnny Keating Orchestra - 'Theme from Z Cars')
21. Moonlighting - #8 (Al Jarreau - 'Moonlighting')
20. Twin Peaks - #7 (Julee Cruise - 'Falling')
19. Boon - #5 (Jim Diamond - 'Hi Ho Silver')
18. Harry's Game - #5 (Clannad - 'Theme from Harry's Game')
17. Miami Vice - #5 (Jan Hammer - 'Miami Vice Theme')
16. Lazytown - #4 (Lazytown - 'Bing Bang (Time To Dance)')
15. Crocodile Shoes - #4 (Jimmy Nail - 'Crocodile Shoes')
14. Big Brother - #4 (Element Four - 'Big Brother UK TV Theme')
13. The Wombles - #4 (The Wombles - The Wombling Song')
12. EastEnders - #4 (Anita Dobson - 'Anyone Can Fall in Love')
11. Prisoner Cell Block H - #3 (Lynne Hamilton - 'On the Inside')
10. Minder - #3 (Dennis Waterman - 'I Could Be So Good for You')
"Write the feem toon, sing the feem toon...". Co-written by Dennis's then-wife Patricia, this was the first of several themes he sang for his own shows (a fact lampooned at length by Little Britain) including On the Up, Stay Lucky and New Tricks. None were as big as this classic.
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9. Power Rangers - #3 (Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers - 'Power Rangers')
This was the brainchild of Simon Cowell, before he was TV's Simon Cowell. Capitalising on the huge popularity of the show with kids, it was a contender for the Christmas number one race in 1994. Best of all, it actually gave UK fans a spoiler for the next season ("that is the White Ranger"), a tactic which we're surprised hasn't been used since.
8. Friends - #3 (The Rembrandts - 'I'll Be There for You')
If you're going to be a one hit wonder, make sure your song is the theme to one of the greatest and best loved shows of all time. Reaching a peak of number 3 in 1995, it subsequently reached number 5 again when re-released just two years later.
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7. The X-Files - #2 (Mark Snow - 'The X-Files Theme')
It might not have a killer chorus or any lyrics, but this haunting theme almost hit number one in the summer of 1996, showing just how big the cult sci-fi show was at the time. Bonus fact: a remix of the theme by DJ Dado was also in the Top 10 at the same time. We couldn't get enough of it.
6. Heartbeat - #2 (Nick Berry - 'Heartbeat')
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He may not have had the best voice of all time, but actor Nick Berry scored his second huge hit (after number one 'Every Loser Wins' from EastEnders), with this cover of Buddy Holly's classic - the title theme for the '60s-set cop show. And we heard this tune for what seemed like every Sunday for years and years and years.
5. Miami 7 - #1 (S Club 7 - 'Bring It All Back')
You may be forgiven for a) not remembering that this pop classic was the theme tune to S Club 7's TV show, or b) not remembering that S Club 7 had a TV show at all. S Club's debut single was also the theme tune to Miami 7, and gave them the first of their four number one singles.
4. M*A*S*H - #1 (The Mash - 'Suicide Is Painless')
Written by Johnny Mandel and Mike Altman (the 15-year-old son of the film's director Robert Altman), this was the theme to both the M*A*S*H movie and TV series. The theme was eventually released as a single in 1980 in the UK, reaching number one, and it later returned to the Top 10 as a cover by the Manic Street Preachers in 1992.
3. Van Der Valk - #1 (Simon Park Orchestra - 'Eye Level')
Yeah, don't worry if you've never heard of this one, but it was a big deal back in 1972. This ITV crime drama starred Barry Foster as the titular Dutch detective, and fans bloody loved its theme tune. Originally intended as library music, it was number one for four weeks and sold over a million copies.
2. Bob the Builder - #1 (Bob the Builder - 'Can We Fix It?')
Technically speaking, Neil Morrissey has one of the best-selling singles of all time. Maybe people just wanted to stop a boring Westlife ballad from being the Christmas number one back in 2000, but Bob's theme tune was a huge success, and spawned a number one cover of 'Mambo No 5' a year later. It would be like if Peppa Pig scored two number ones today. It just wouldn't happen.
1. Teletubbies - #1 (Teletubbies - 'Teletubbies Say Eh-Oh!')
Everyone seemed to lose their minds in the winter of 1997, as over a million people rushed out to buy the theme tune to this iconic kids' show, complete with baby laughter and cringy nursery rhymes. Another Simon Cowell creation, it reached number one and just missed out on the Christmas top spot to the Spice Girls.
| i don't know |
What sport was the subject of the film 'National Velvet'? | National Velvet (1944) - IMDb
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A jaded former jockey helps a young girl prepare a wild but gifted horse for England's Grand National Sweepstakes.
Director:
From $2.99 (SD) on Amazon Video
ON DISC
a list of 37 titles
created 09 Jun 2011
a list of 46 titles
created 28 Aug 2011
a list of 23 titles
created 09 Sep 2013
a list of 21 titles
created 07 Apr 2014
a list of 35 titles
created 2 months ago
Search for " National Velvet " on Amazon.com
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Won 2 Oscars. Another 1 win & 4 nominations. See more awards »
Photos
Velvet's orphaned niece, Sarah, follows her dream of Olympic glory with her horse Arizona Pie.
Director: Bryan Forbes
After her destitute family is forced to sell her, a collie named Lassie escapes from her new owner and begins the long trek from Scotland to her Yorkshire home.
Director: Fred M. Wilcox
Bill's separated from his litter, making friends with the wild creatures until he's found and adopted by young Kathie. An accident separates him from her, and he's drafted into K-9 duty in ... See full summary »
Director: Fred M. Wilcox
Louisa May Alcott 's autobiographical account of her life with her three sisters in Concord, Massachusetts in the 1860s. With their father fighting in the American Civil War, sisters Jo, Meg... See full summary »
Director: Mervyn LeRoy
While traveling with his father, young Alec becomes fascinated by a mysterious Arabian stallion who is brought on board and stabled in the ship he is sailing on. When it tragically sinks ... See full summary »
Director: Carroll Ballard
A teenager loses his horse in Morocco and gets him back after various daredevil adventures.
Director: Robert Dalva
Edit
Storyline
Mi Taylor was a young wanderer and opportunist whose father had given him "all the roads in the Kingdom" to travel. One of the roads, and a notation in his father's journal, leads him to the quiet English country-side home of the Brown family. The youngest daughter, Velvet, has a passion for horses and when she wins the spirited steed Pie in a town lottery, Mi is encouraged to train the horse for the Grand National - England's greatest racing event. Written by A.L.Beneteau <[email protected]>
M-G-M's Great TECHNICOLOR Heart Drama See more »
Genres:
26 January 1945 (USA) See more »
Also Known As:
Fuego de juventud See more »
Filming Locations:
Mono (Western Electric Sound System)
Color:
Did You Know?
Trivia
"Lux Radio Theater" broadcast a 60 minute radio adaptation of the movie on February 3, 1947 with Elizabeth Taylor , Mickey Rooney and Donald Crisp reprising their film roles. See more »
Goofs
Mr. Brown, a butcher who should know better, authoritatively announces that one small-to-medium-sized lobster will provide a family dinner for six: A claw apiece for he and his wife, the entire tail (the meatiest part of the crustacean) for his picky young son who's a finicky eater and what's "in-between" (basically all of it's inedible entrails) for his three teenage daughters - with some left over for the dog! In reality, a lobster of that size would hardly feed one hungry person. See more »
Quotes
Mr. Herbert Brown : [Velvet is pretending she's riding The Pi] Who's this Pi? A new one?
Velvet Brown : Oh, Father, you should see him, he's beautiful. He never puts a foot wrong.
Velvet Brown : Mr. Ede's new horse. I'm in love with him.
Mr. Herbert Brown : You're a fickle woman. I've heard you say that about other horses.
See more »
Crazy Credits
A frame, with music, was added to the film at the end: "To families of servicemen and women: Pictures exhibited in this theater are given to the armed forces for showing in combat areas around the world. [signed] War Activities Committee/Motion Picture Industry" See more »
Connections
The Most Toppy Of The Top Ten Movies About Horses!
4 March 2004 | by httpmom
(San Francisco Bay Area) – See all my reviews
I am 13 years old and I am writing this review in my mom's sign in. She will write her own review later.
This is my all time favorite movie.It was filmed in England in 1944. I watched it so many times when I was little that I wore out the video tape. I love this movie and it changed my life! The beautiful landscapes. The mighty pie-bold thoroughbred horse. The plain little Irish village with the young girl who wanted to do what no other girl had ever done, compete in The Grand National Steeplechase in London with her most beloved horse, The Pirate. It all made me want to ride horses (which I have done now for 7 years)and learn everything I could about their breeds so I could also draw and paint them. It's a ground breaking movie about winning against all odds, overcoming your fears, believing in yourself, and reaching difficult goals by working very hard. Also, the horse race scene was one of the best ever made and I have seen many movies with horse races. I never get tired of watching this movie. Everything about it is perfect. Especially if you are a young girl and passionate about horses!
29 of 38 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you?
Yes
| Horse racing |
At which distance did Sally Gunnell win her gold medal for hurdling at the 1992 Olympics? | National Velvet (1944) - IMDb
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Error
A jaded former jockey helps a young girl prepare a wild but gifted horse for England's Grand National Sweepstakes.
Director:
From $2.99 (SD) on Amazon Video
ON DISC
a list of 37 titles
created 09 Jun 2011
a list of 46 titles
created 28 Aug 2011
a list of 23 titles
created 09 Sep 2013
a list of 21 titles
created 07 Apr 2014
a list of 35 titles
created 2 months ago
Search for " National Velvet " on Amazon.com
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Won 2 Oscars. Another 1 win & 4 nominations. See more awards »
Photos
Velvet's orphaned niece, Sarah, follows her dream of Olympic glory with her horse Arizona Pie.
Director: Bryan Forbes
After her destitute family is forced to sell her, a collie named Lassie escapes from her new owner and begins the long trek from Scotland to her Yorkshire home.
Director: Fred M. Wilcox
Bill's separated from his litter, making friends with the wild creatures until he's found and adopted by young Kathie. An accident separates him from her, and he's drafted into K-9 duty in ... See full summary »
Director: Fred M. Wilcox
Louisa May Alcott 's autobiographical account of her life with her three sisters in Concord, Massachusetts in the 1860s. With their father fighting in the American Civil War, sisters Jo, Meg... See full summary »
Director: Mervyn LeRoy
While traveling with his father, young Alec becomes fascinated by a mysterious Arabian stallion who is brought on board and stabled in the ship he is sailing on. When it tragically sinks ... See full summary »
Director: Carroll Ballard
A teenager loses his horse in Morocco and gets him back after various daredevil adventures.
Director: Robert Dalva
Edit
Storyline
Mi Taylor was a young wanderer and opportunist whose father had given him "all the roads in the Kingdom" to travel. One of the roads, and a notation in his father's journal, leads him to the quiet English country-side home of the Brown family. The youngest daughter, Velvet, has a passion for horses and when she wins the spirited steed Pie in a town lottery, Mi is encouraged to train the horse for the Grand National - England's greatest racing event. Written by A.L.Beneteau <[email protected]>
M-G-M's Great TECHNICOLOR Heart Drama See more »
Genres:
26 January 1945 (USA) See more »
Also Known As:
Fuego de juventud See more »
Filming Locations:
Mono (Western Electric Sound System)
Color:
Did You Know?
Trivia
"Lux Radio Theater" broadcast a 60 minute radio adaptation of the movie on February 3, 1947 with Elizabeth Taylor , Mickey Rooney and Donald Crisp reprising their film roles. See more »
Goofs
Mr. Brown, a butcher who should know better, authoritatively announces that one small-to-medium-sized lobster will provide a family dinner for six: A claw apiece for he and his wife, the entire tail (the meatiest part of the crustacean) for his picky young son who's a finicky eater and what's "in-between" (basically all of it's inedible entrails) for his three teenage daughters - with some left over for the dog! In reality, a lobster of that size would hardly feed one hungry person. See more »
Quotes
Mr. Herbert Brown : [Velvet is pretending she's riding The Pi] Who's this Pi? A new one?
Velvet Brown : Oh, Father, you should see him, he's beautiful. He never puts a foot wrong.
Velvet Brown : Mr. Ede's new horse. I'm in love with him.
Mr. Herbert Brown : You're a fickle woman. I've heard you say that about other horses.
See more »
Crazy Credits
A frame, with music, was added to the film at the end: "To families of servicemen and women: Pictures exhibited in this theater are given to the armed forces for showing in combat areas around the world. [signed] War Activities Committee/Motion Picture Industry" See more »
Connections
The Most Toppy Of The Top Ten Movies About Horses!
4 March 2004 | by httpmom
(San Francisco Bay Area) – See all my reviews
I am 13 years old and I am writing this review in my mom's sign in. She will write her own review later.
This is my all time favorite movie.It was filmed in England in 1944. I watched it so many times when I was little that I wore out the video tape. I love this movie and it changed my life! The beautiful landscapes. The mighty pie-bold thoroughbred horse. The plain little Irish village with the young girl who wanted to do what no other girl had ever done, compete in The Grand National Steeplechase in London with her most beloved horse, The Pirate. It all made me want to ride horses (which I have done now for 7 years)and learn everything I could about their breeds so I could also draw and paint them. It's a ground breaking movie about winning against all odds, overcoming your fears, believing in yourself, and reaching difficult goals by working very hard. Also, the horse race scene was one of the best ever made and I have seen many movies with horse races. I never get tired of watching this movie. Everything about it is perfect. Especially if you are a young girl and passionate about horses!
29 of 38 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you?
Yes
| i don't know |
Which sport was author Bill Bryson talking about when said It is the only sport in which spectators burn as many calories as players -- more if they are moderately restless? | Quotes by Bill Bryson @ Like Success
Quotes by Bill Bryson
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I mused for a few moments on the question of which was worse, to lead a life so boring that you are easily enchanted, or a life so full of stimulus that you are easily bored. more...
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My mother only ever said two things. She said,'I don't know, dear.'And she said,'Can I get you a sandwich, honey? more...
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Consider the Lichen. Lichens are just about the hardiest visible organisms on Earth, but the least ambitious. more...
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There are only three things that can kill a farmer: lightning, rolling over in a tractor, and old age. more...
Roads get wider and busier and less friendly to pedestrians. And all of the development based around cars, like big sprawling shopping malls. Everything seems to be designed for the benefit of the automobile and not the benefit of the human being. more...
There'd never been a more advantageous time to be a criminal in America than during the 13 years of Prohibition. At a stroke, the American government closed down the fifth largest industry in the United States - alcohol production - and just handed it to criminals - a pretty remarkable thing to do. more...
I have long known that it is part of God's plan for me to spend a little time with each of the most stupid people on earth. more...
You don't have to know anything about baseball to respond to Babe Ruth because he's just this magnificent human being. And a really good story because he was this kid who grew up essentially as an orphan, you know, had a tough life, and then he became the most successful baseball player ever. But he was also a really good guy. more...
If you drive to, say, Shenandoah National Park, or the Great Smoky Mountains, you'll get some appreciation for the scale and beauty of the outdoors. When you walk into it, then you see it in a completely different way. You discover it in a much slower, more majestic sort of way. more...
I'm a great believer that you had to do everything you've done to have got to where you are. more...
I see litter as part of a long continuum of anti-social behaviour. more...
America is a great disappointment to me. As I said in one of my books, other societies create civilisations; we build shopping malls. more...
I often feel I'm a disappointment to people because they expect me to be the guy in the books. When I sit next to someone at a dinner party I can see they expect me to be quick and witty, and I'm not at all. more...
I can wear a baseball cap; I am entitled to wear a baseball cap. I am genetically pre-disposed to wear a baseball cap, whereas most English people look wrong in a baseball cap. more...
I had always thought that once you grew up you could do anything you wanted - stay up all night or eat ice-cream straight out of the container. more...
Boston's freeway system is insane. It was clearly designed by a person who had spent his childhood crashing toy trains. more...
In a funny way, nothing makes you feel more like a native of your own country than to live where nearly everyone is not. more...
In any area of human endeavour, there is going to be mediocrity. You're going to find people who get money that they shouldn't get. more...
I don't know whether I'm misanthropic. It seems to me I'm constantly disappointed. I'm very easily disappointed. more...
England was full of words I'd never heard before - streaky bacon, short back and sides, Belisha beacon, serviettes, high tea, ice-cream cornet. more...
It is unthinkable to have a British countryside that doesn't have actual functioning farmers riding tractors, cows in fields, things like that. more...
In the countryside, litter doesn't have a friend. It doesn't have anybody who's saying, 'Wait a minute, this is really starting to get out of control.' more...
I still enjoy traveling a lot. I mean, it amazes me that I still get excited in hotel rooms just to see what kind of shampoo they've left me. more...
Coming back to your native land after an absence of many years is a surprisingly unsettling business, a little like waking from a long coma. Time, you discover, has wrought changes that leave you feeling mildly foolish and out of touch. more...
I understand cricket - what's going on, the scoring - but I can't understand why. more...
Book tours are really kind of fun. You get to stay in nice hotels, you are driven everywhere in big silver cars, you are treated as if you are much more important than you are, you can eat steak three times a day at someone else's expense, and you get to talk endlessly about yourself for weeks at a stretch. more...
If you go out on the Appalachian Trail, you have to bring so much more equipment - a tent, sleeping bag - but if you go hiking in England, or Europe, generally, towns and villages are near enough together at the end of the day you can always go to a nice little inn and have a hot bath and something to drink. more...
Britain still has the most reliably beautiful countryside of anywhere in the world. I would hate to be part of the generation that allowed that to be lost. more...
I just use my life story as a kind of device on which to hang comic observations. It's not my interest or instinct to tell the world anything pertinent about myself or my family. more...
Open your refrigerator door, and you summon forth more light than the total amount enjoyed by most households in the 18th century. The world at night, for much of history, was a very dark place indeed. more...
An awful lot of England is slowly eroding, in ways that I find really distressing, and an awful lot of it is the hedgerows... We're reaching the point where a lot of the English countryside looks just like Iowa - just kind of open space. more...
I have made a career of bumbling around places, stumbling on landmarks and generally being quite haphazard and shambolic about the way I go about things. more...
Maine is wonderful. It can be very hard. I mean, if you look at the profile maps it doesn't look it, but somehow when you get out there it's really steep and hard. more...
To me, the greatest invention of my lifetime is the laptop computer and the fact that I can be working on a book and be in an airport lounge, in a hotel room, and continue working; I fire up my laptop, and I'm in exactly the same place I was when I left home - that, to me, is a miracle. more...
I once joked in a book that there are three things you can't do in life. You can't beat the phone company, you can't make a waiter see you until he is ready to see you, and you can't go home again. more...
I'm not a natural story-teller. Put a keyboard in front of me and I'm fine, but stand me up in front of an audience and I'm actually quite shy and reserved. more...
I hadn't realized quite how extraordinary Charles Lindbergh's achievement was in flying the Atlantic alone. He had never flown over open water before, but he flew straight to Dingle Bay in Ireland and then on to Paris, exactly as planned. more...
There are things you just can't do in life. You can't beat the phone company, you can't make a waiter see you until he's ready to see you, and you can't go home again. more...
The remarkable position in which we find ourselves is that we don't actually know what we actually know. more...
I come from Des Moines. Someone had to. more...
I can't fix the world. If you want to make a difference in life, you have to direct your energies in a focused way. more...
A world without newspapers or a world where the newspapers are purely electronic and you read them on a screen is not a very appealing world. more...
I'm not funny in person. I mean I'm really not. I'm one of those people who always screw up anecdotes. more...
My first rule of consumerism is never to buy anything you can't make your children carry. more...
There is the odd exception, like Albert Einstein, but as a breed, scientists tend not be very good at presenting themselves. more...
Des Moines is like your typical American city; it's just these concentric circles of malls, built outward from the city. more...
I grew up in Des Moines. My dad had a house full of books, things like P.G. Wodehouse books and 'Wuthering Heights' by Emily Bronte. more...
I sometimes think I cannot write another passage about a disappointing meal ever again, because I've done it so many times. more...
I want things to be better all the time. And I tend to get angry about that. Books are an opportunity to vent. more...
I'm definitely an American, because I grew up here. But I've lived very happily in Britain. more...
Scientists tend to be unappreciated in the world at large, but you can hardly overstate the importance of the work they do. more...
The whole of the global economy is based on supplying the cravings of two per cent of the world's population. more...
The world at night, for much of history, was a very dark place indeed. more...
When you tell an Iowan a joke, you can see a kind of race going on between his brain and his expression. more...
You don't need a science degree to understand about science. You just need to think about it. more...
The world is very lucky to have America. It's got to be the first time in the whole history of the planet that a country has been the dominant force in the world and it has actually been a force for good... America really deserves more credit. more...
The basic challenge of any book is you know you're going to be working on it for three or four years or more. So you want to have a subject that will keep you engaged. more...
Science has been quite embattled. It's the most important thing there is. An arts graduate is not going to fix global warming. They may do other valuable things, but they are not going to fix the planet or cure cancer or get rid of malaria. more...
Although I was always very happy in Britain, I never stopped thinking of America as home, in the fundamental sense of the term. It was where I came from, what I really understood, the base against which all else was measured. more...
Have you ever seen Glenn Beck in operation? It is the most terrifying thing. It's so bad that you think he's going to announce in a minute that it's all a great con. He makes Sarah Palin look reasonable and steady. more...
I could give you a long list of things I like about Britain, but essentially what it comes down to is that I feel about Britain the same way I feel about my wife. I'm crazy about my wife - we just kind of suit each other. I wouldn't say that she's the most fantastic human being that's ever lived, but she is for me. more...
I don't know whether I'm misanthropic. It seems to me I'm constantly disappointed. I'm very easily disappointed. Disappointed in the things that people do; disappointed in the things that people construct. I want things to be better all the time. more...
I don't plan to write another science book, but I don't plan not to. I do enjoy writing histories, and taking subjects that are generally dull and trying to make them interesting. more...
I grew up, really, in the days before air conditioning. So I can remember what it was like to be really hot, for instance, and I can remember what it was like when your barber shop and your local stores weren't air conditioned, so it was hot when you went in them and they propped the doors open. more...
I once joked in a book that there are three things you can't do in life. You can't beat the phone company, you can't make a waiter see you until he is ready to see you, and you can't go home again. Since the spring of 1995, I have been quietly, even gamely, reassessing point number three. more...
One of the brilliant things about Britain is the way you've managed to save old things but to keep using them - that they've not just become museums the way they do in the United States. more...
Personally, I've never been attracted to danger. It's not my sort of thing. I am more attracted to pubs and cafes. The known, safe and comfortable world. more...
Very little of what America does is actually bad, and I don't think it ever does anything anywhere that is intentionally bad. I mean, sometimes we make mistakes and bad judgments and kind of back the wrong regimes and things, but by and large what America does is really good. more...
Where I grew up, in Des Moines, Iowa, there is hardly any downtown economic activity now. Everybody shops in malls - you don't find a sense of community in malls. more...
Anyone who has read my books will know that I don't tend to use guides when I am travelling. It's not a pride thing, but it is certainly a fact. more...
The real problem you get with humour is that you only have so many kinds of jokes within you, and you mine that vein a lot. This isn't just common to me; it's anybody who's funny. more...
For a long time, I'd been vaguely fascinated by the idea that Charles Lindbergh flew the Atlantic and Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs in the same summer. more...
I've been wanting to do a book about baseball for the longest time, and nobody will let me do it. It's the one thing from America I really miss. more...
America is a very seductive place in terms of lifestyle and comfort, but it wasn't for me. more...
Cheapness is a great virtue. more...
I always wanted to do a baseball book; I love baseball. The problem is that a very large part of my following is in non-baseball playing countries. more...
I can't imagine there has ever been a more gratifying time or place to be alive than America in the 1950s. No country had ever known such prosperity. more...
I don't want to go and start trying to make jokes in places like India, Tanzania or Iraq. Afghanistan is not a funny place. more...
I like to do books in which a lot of the research and the writing and the thinking revolves around something American. more...
I've never quite understood that feeling: that you arrive in a strange place, yet you want to have nothing but familiar experiences. more...
More than 300 million people in the world speak English and the rest, it sometimes seems, try to. more...
Much as I resented having to grow up in Des Moines, it gave me a real appreciation for every place in the world that's not Des Moines. more...
Nobody gets excited about the future at all, ever. The future is something we find depressing and worrisome. more...
The first book I did - the first successful book - was a kind of a travel book, and publishers in Britain encouraged me to do more. more...
You may find that your parents are the most delightful people, but you don't want to live with them. more...
All the things that are part of your heritage make you British - that makes this country what it is. It's part of your history. And here, unlike America, it's still living history. more...
I always tell people there's only one trick to writing: You have to write something that people are willing to pay money to read. It doesn't have to be very good, necessarily, but somebody, somewhere, has got to be willing to pay money for it. more...
I painted myself into a corner by writing a whole book on this one period. The summer of 1927 came to an end, but nothing else did - all of these peoples' lives went on. more...
I wish I could adjust my voice, but it's just what's happened to me. It's because I've lived abroad for a long time, and my wife is English and my kids all have English accents, and every voice I hear is English. I've never intentionally changed my accent at all. more...
I would make a genuinely terrible guide. I can't remember things. I would get half way through telling a story or explaining something and I would get distracted. Oh, and I have absolutely no sense of direction at all. more...
I've been writing all these books that have been largely autobiographical and yet, really, they don't tell you anything about me. I just use my life story as a kind of device on which to hang comic observations. It's not my interest or instinct to tell the world anything pertinent about myself or my family. more...
In 1927, if you were stuck with idle time, reading is what you did. It's no accident that the 'Book-of-the-Month Club' and 'The Literary Guild' were founded in that period as well as a lot of magazines, like 'Reader's Digest,' 'Time,' and 'The New Yorker.' more...
In order to have quality journalism you need to have a good income stream, and no Internet model has produced a way of generating income that would pay for good-quality investigative journalism. more...
Yes, U.S. travelers dress better. The British are always so conspicuous in hot climates. They don't seem to wear shorts. American men seem to be comfortable wearing hot-weather clothing. more...
A sign in the yard of a church next door said CHRIST IS THE ANSWER. (The question, of course, is: What do you say when you strike your thumb with a hammer?) more...
Clearly, some time ago makers and consumers of American junk food passed jointly through some kind of sensibility barrier in the endless quest for new taste sensations. Now they are a little like those desperate junkies who have tried every known drug and are finally reduced to mainlining toilet bowl cleanser in an effort to get still higher. more...
As James Surowiecki noted in a New Yorker article, given a choice between developing antibiotics that people will take every day for two weeks and antidepressants that people will take every day for ever, drug companies not surprisingly opt for the latter. Although a few antibiotics have been toughened up a bit, the pharmaceutical industry hasn't given us an entirely new antibiotic since the 1970s. more...
If a potato can produce vitamin C, why can't we? Within the animal kingdom only humans and guinea pigs are unable to synthesize vitamin C in their own bodies. Why us and guinea pigs? No point asking. Nobody knows. more...
Romans park their cars the way I would park if I had just spilled a beaker of hydrochloric acid on my lap. more...
The best that can be said for Norwegian television is that it gives you the sensation of a coma without the worry and inconvenience. more...
When I was growing up I used to think that the best thing about coming from Des Moines was that it meant you didn't come from anywhere else in Iowa. By Iowa standards, Des Moines is a mecca of cosmopolitanism, a dynamic hub of wealth and education, where people wear three-piece suits and dark socks, often simultaneously. more...
The average Southerner has the speech patterns of someone slipping in and out of consciousness. I can change my shoes and socks faster than most people in Mississippi can speak a sentence. more...
At a conference of sociologists in America in 1977, love was defined as "the cognitive-affective state characterized by intrusive and obsessive fantasizing concerning reciprocity of amorant feelings by the object of the amorance." That is jargon - the practice of never calling a spade a spade when you might instead call it a manual earth-restructuring implement - and it is one of the great curses of modern English. more...
But I got a great deal else from the experience. I learned to pitch a tent and sleep beneath the stars. For a brief, proud period I was slender and fit. I gained a profound respect for the wilderness and nature and the benign dark power of woods. I understand now, in a way I never did before, the colossal scale of the world. I found patience and fortitude that I didn't know I had. I discovered an America that millions of people scarcely know exists. I made a friend. I came home. more...
Take a moment from time to time to remember that you are alive. I know this sounds a trifle obvious, but it is amazing how little time we take to remark upon this singular and gratifying fact. By the most astounding stroke of luck an infinitesimal portion of all the matter in the universe came together to create you and for the tiniest moment in the great span of eternity you have the incomparable privilege to exist. more...
In the morning I awoke early and experienced that sinking sensation that overcomes you when you first open your eyes and realize that instead of a normal day ahead of you, with its scatterings of simple gratifications, you are going to have a day without even the tiniest of pleasures; you are going to drive across Ohio. more...
And before long there will be no more milk in bottles delivered to the doorstep or sleepy rural pubs, and the countryside will be mostly shopping centers and theme parks. Forgive me. I don't mean to get upset. But you are taking my world away from me, piece by little piece, and sometimes it just pisses me off. Sorry. more...
Because time moves more slowly in Kid World ... it goes on for decades ... It is adult life that is over in a twinkling. more...
I come from Des Moines. Somebody had to. more...
I have long known that it is part of God's plan for me to spend a little time with each of the most stupid people on earth, and Mary Ellen was proof that even in the Appalachian woods I would not be spared. It became evident that she was a rarity. more...
I love everything about motels. I can't help myself. I still get excited every time I slip a key into a motel room door and fling it open. more...
Of all the things I am not very good at, living in the real world is perhaps the most outstanding. more...
I turned to my own bunk and examined it with a kind of appalled fascination. If the mattress stains were anything to go by, a previous user had not so much suffered from incontinence as rejoiced in it. He had evidently included the pillow in his celebrations. more...
On the dashboard of our family car is a shallow indentation about the size of a paperback book. If you are looking for somewhere to put your sunglasses or spare change, it is the obvious place, and it works extremely well, I must say, so long as the car is not actually moving. However, as soon as you put the car in motion ... everything slides off ... It can hold nothing that has not been nailed to it. So I ask you: what then is it for? more...
... it occurred to me that never again would he be seven years, one month and six days old, so we had better catch these moments while we can. more...
When I awoke it was daylight. The inside of my tent was coated in a curious flaky rime, which I realized after a moment was all of my nighttime snores, condensed and frozen and pasted to the fabric, as if into a scrapbook of respiratory memories. more...
Your pillow alone may be home to 40 million bed mites. (To them your head is just one large oily bon-bon). And don't think a clean pillow-case will make a difference... Indeed, if your pillow is six years old-which is apparently about the average age for a pillow-it has been estimated that one-tenth of its weight will be made up of sloughed skin, living mites, dead mites and mite dung. more...
The taipan is the one to watch out for. It is the most poisonous snake on Earth, with a lunge so swift and a venom so potent that your last mortal utterance is likely to be: "I say, is that a sn- more...
Houses aren't refuges from history. They are where history ends up. more...
As a rule of thumb, I would submit that if you need to call your floss provider, for any reason, you are probably not ready for this level of oral hygiene. more...
English is full of booby traps for the unwary foreigner. Any language where the unassuming word fly signifies an annoying insect, a means of travel, and a critical part of a gentleman's apparel is clearly asking to be mangled. more...
Finally, this being America, there is the constant possibility of murder. more...
To my surprise, I felt a certain springy keenness. I was ready to hike. I had waited months for this day, after all, even if it had been mostly with foreboding. I wanted to see what was out there. All over America today people would be dragging themselves to work, stuck in traffic jams, wreathed in exhaust smoke. I was going for a walk in the woods. I was more than ready for this. more...
It was the kind of pure, undiffused light that can only come from a really hot blue sky, the kind that makes even a concrete highway painful to behold and turns every distant reflective surface into a little glint of flame. Do you know how sometimes on very fine days the sun will shine with a particular intensity that makes the most mundane objects in the landscape glow with an unusual radiance, so that buildings and structures you normally pass without a glance suddenly become arresting, even beautiful? Well, they seem to have that light in Australia nearly all the time. more...
A third...candidate for Shakespearean authorship was Christopher Marlowe. He was the right age (just two months older than Shakespeare), had the requisite talent, and would certainly have had ample leisure after 1593, assuming he wasn't too dead to work. more...
Isn't it strange how wealth is always wasted on the rich? more...
I come Des Moines. Somebody had to. more...
Physicists are atoms' way of thinking about atoms. more...
People don't talk like this, theytalklikethis. Syllables, words, sentences run together like a watercolour left in the rain. To understand what anyone is saying to us we must separate these noises into words and the words into sentences so that we might in our turn issue a stream of mixed sounds in response. more...
Every kid I knew had a father with a little stash of men's magazines which the father thought was secret and which the kid knew all about. more...
The English invented cricket to make other human endeavors look interesting. more...
Taxonomy is described sometimes as a science and sometimes as an art, but really it's a battleground. more...
The upshot of all this is that we live in a universe whose age we can't quite compute, surrounded by stars whose distances we don't altogether know, filled with matter we can't identify, operating in conformance with physical laws whose properties we do' truly understand. more...
So, if people did' settle down to take up farming, why then did they embark on this entirely new way of living? We have no idea - or actually, we have lots of ideas, but we do' know if any of them are right. According to Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, at least thirty-eight theories have been put forward to explain why people took to living in communities: that they were driven to it by climatic change, or by a wish to stay near their dead, or by a powerful desire to brew and drink beer, which could only be indulged by staying in one place. more...
I sat on a toilet watching the water run thinking what an odd thing tourism is. You fly off to a strange land, eagerly abandoning all the comforts of home and then expend vast quantities of time and money in a largely futile effort to recapture the comforts you would' have lost if you had' left home in the first place. more...
"Croissant": However you choose to pronounce it at home, it is perhaps worth nothing that outside the United States, the closer you can come to saying "kwass-ohn," the sooner you can expect to be presented with one. more...
There is no such thing, incidentally, as one kudo. more...
Hardly anyone ever leaves. This is because Des Moines is the most powerful hypnotic known to man. Outside town there is a big sign that says, WELCOME TO DES MOINES. THIS IS WHAT DEATH IS LIKE. There isn't really. I just made that up. But the place does get a grip on you. more...
I had to drive to Minneapolis once, and went on a back road just to see the country. But there was nothing to see. It's just flat and hot, and full of corn and soybeans and hogs. Every once in a while you come across a farm or some dead little town where the liveliest thing is the flies. more...
My father liked Iowa. He lived his whole life in the state, and is even now working his way through eternity there, in Glendale Cemetery in Des Moines. more...
I had to calm down because a state trooper pulled up alongside me at a traffic light and began looking at me with that sort of casual disdain you often get when you give a dangerously stupid person a gun and a squad car. more...
I assume he was descended from apes like all the rest of us, but clearly in his case it had been a fairly gentle slope. more...
I watched a rerun on television of a 1960s comedy programme called Mr Ed, which was about a talking horse. Judging by the quality of the jokes, I would guess that Mr Ed wrote his own material. more...
Just down the road stood a little town, which I shall call Dullard lest the people recognize themselves and take me to court or come to my house and batter me with baseball bats. more...
A sign in the yard of a church next door said CHRIST IS THE ANSWER. more...
For forty years or so this was the world headquarters of conspicuous consumption. more...
Much of the tablecloth was a series of grey smudges outlined in a large, irregular patch of yellow that looked distressingly like a urine stain. more...
You have three chromosomes, Bryson. X, Y, and Fuckhead. more...
I don't care how paranoid and irrational this makes me sound, but I know for a fact that the people of Paris want me dead. more...
We couldn't place their accents but we thought the smaller one might be Australian since he seemed so at home down under. more...
Why, it's a perfect little city. If you have never been to Durham, go there at once. Take my car. It's wonderful. more...
Blackpool's illuminations are nothing if not splendid, and they are not splendid. more...
Excuse me, but I have to say this. You are more stupid than a paramecium. more...
Tell me, did they specify asshole on the job description or did you go on a course? more...
Virginia? he said, as if I had asked him if there was anywhere local we could get a dose of syphilis. more...
If the mattress stains were anything to go by, a previous user had not so much suffered from incontinence as rejoiced in it. He had evidently included the pillow in his celebrations. more...
America is an outstandingly dangerous place. Consider this: every year in New Hampshire a dozen or more people are killed crashing their cars into moose. Now correct me if I am wrong, but this is not something that is likely to happen to you on the way home from Sainsbury's. more...
Three things alone are certain when you venture into a loft: that you will crack your head on a beam at least twice, that you will get cobwebs draped over your face, and that you will not find what you went looking for. more...
My wife recently put me on a diet after suggesting (a little unkindly, if you ask me), that I was beginning to look like something Richard Branson would try to get airborne. more...
my customary aversion to consulting a book by anyone so immensely pratty as to put Ph.D. after his name (I don't put Ph.D. after my name on my books, after all - and not just because I don't have one). more...
It would be a great abuse of my position to write that it was Northwest Airlines that treated us in this shoddy and inexcusable way, so I won't. more...
It is not true that the English invented cricket as a way of making all other human endeavours look interesting and lively; that was merely an unintended side effect. I don't wish to denigrate a sport that is enjoyed by millions, some of them awake and facing the right way, but it is an odd game. more...
Above all, what is oddest to the outsider is that Aborigines just aren't there. more...
So without an original or helpful thought in my head, I just sat for some minutes and watched these poor disconnected people shuffle past. Then I did what most white Australians do. I read my newspaper and drank my coffee and didn't see them anymore. more...
It was impossible to determine what he was saying, but I imagined he was telling all those present that they were nongs and maggots. I decided I quite liked watching the news with the sound off. more...
I'd turn on the lights, but they're blown. I'd offer you a seat, but there isn't one. I'd offer you a drink from the minibar, but there doesn't appear to be one. It certainly is basic. Basic? It's a bloody cell! more...
A friend Alan and I ended up in an Outback pub in a place called Daly Waters and apparently, he says, in the course of this very lively evening we spent there I offered to do a house swap with a family from Korea. We weren't sure whether they were from North Korea or South Korea. more...
All that can really be said is that at some indeterminate point in the very distant past, for reasons unknown, there came the moment known to science as t = 0. We were on our way. more...
But what is life to a lichen? Yet its impulse to exist, to be, is every bit as strong as ours - arguably even stronger. If I were told that I had to spend decades being a furry growth on a rock in the woods, I believe I would lose the will to go on. more...
Absolute brain size does not tell you everything - or possibly sometimes even much. Elephants and whales both have brains larger than ours, but you wouldn't have much trouble outwitting them in contract negotiations. more...
...Our guide announces that he's going to take us to the coldest place on Earth, where particles are cooled to within a fraction of a Kelvin. Ah, says Bryson. That must be Donald Rumsfeld's heart. more...
Nearly a quarter of American men were in the Armed forces. The rest were in school, in prison, or were George W. Bush. more...
Taking a scenic route in Southeast Iowa is like talking about a good Barry Manilow album. You have to make certain allowances. more...
Entirely incidentally, a little-known fact about Shakespeare is that his father moved to Stratford-upon-Avon from a nearby village shortly before his son's birth. Had he not done so, the Bard of Avon would instead be known as the rather less ringing Bard of Snitterfield. more...
The great failure in education, much of the time, is the lack of excitement and stimulus more...
There is more difference between a zebra and a horse, or between a dolphin and a porpoise, than there is between you and the furry creatures your distant ancestors left behind when they set out to take over the world. more...
The food is excellent. The beer is cold. The sun nearly always shines. There is coffee on every corner. Life does' get much better than this. more...
It was one of those sumptuous days when the world is full of autumn muskiness and tangy, crisp perfection: vivid blue sky, deep green fields, leaves in a thousand luminous hues. It is a truly astounding sight when every tree in a landscape becomes individual, when each winding back highway and plump hillside is suddenly and infinitely splashed with every sharp shade that nature can bestow - flaming scarlet, lustrous gold, throbbing vermilion, fiery orange. more...
And I find chopsticks frankly distressing. Am I alone in thinking it odd that a people ingenious enough to invent paper, gunpowder, kites and any number of other useful objects, and who have a noble history extending back 3,000 years haven't yet worked out that a pair of knitting needles is no way to capture food? more...
Still, I never really mind bad service in a restaurant. It makes me feel better about not leaving a tip. more...
He had the sort of face that makes you realize God does have a sense of humor. more...
The tearoom lady called me love. All the shop ladies called me love and most of the men called me mate. I hadn't been here twelve hours and already they loved me. more...
I'm quite certain that if the rest of the world vanished overnight and the development of cricket were left in Australian hands, within a generation, the players would be wearing shorts and using the bats to hit each other, and the thing is, it'd be a much better game for it. more...
By the time I had finished my coffee and returned to the streets, the rain had temporarily abated, but the streets were full of vast puddles where the drains where unable to cope with the volume of water. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you would think that if one nation ought by now to have mastered the science of drainage, Britain would be it. more...
I refer of course to the soaring wonder of the age known as the Eiffel Tower. Never in history has a structure been more technologically advanced, materially obsolescent, and gloriously pointless all at the same time. more...
Strange as it may seem, wrote Richard Feynman, we understand the distribution of matter in the interior of the Sun far better than we understand the interior of the Earth. more...
Why is it, I wondered, that old people are always so self-centered and excitable? But I just smiled benignly and stood back, comforted by the thought that soon they would be dead. more...
I could spend my life arriving each evening in a new city. more...
Perhaps it's my natural pessimism, but it seems that an awfully large part of travel these days is to see things while you still can. more...
Language is more fashion than science, and matters of usage, spelling and pronunciation tend to wander around like hemlines. more...
English grammar is so complex and confusing for the one very simple reason that its rules and terminology are based on Latin - a language with which it has precious little in common. In Latin, to take one example, it is not possible to split an infinitive. So in English, the early authorities decided, it should not be possible to split an infinitive either. But there is no reason why we shouldn't, any more than we should forsake instant coffee and air travel because they weren't available to the Romans. more...
For most of us the rules of English grammar are at best a dimly remembered thing. But even for those who make the rules, grammatical correctitude sometimes proves easier to urge than to achieve. Among the errors cited in this book are a number committed by some of the leading authorities of this century. If men such as Fowler and Bernstein and Quirk and Howard cannot always get their English right, is it reasonable to expect the rest of us to? more...
Those who sniff decay in every shift of sense or alteration of usage do the language no service. Too often for such people the notion of good English has less to do with expressing ideas clearly than with making words conform to some arbitrary pattern. more...
My favourite fellow of the Royal Society is the Reverend Thomas Bayes, an obscure 18th-century Kent clergyman and a brilliant mathematician who devised a complex equation known as the Bayes theorem, which can be used to work out probability distributions. It had no practical application in his lifetime, but today, thanks to computers, is routinely used in the modelling of climate change, astrophysics and stock-market analysis. more...
[The Royal Society] is quite simply the voice of science in Britain. It is intellectually rigorous, not afraid to be outspoken on controversial issues such as climate change, but it is not aggressively secular either, insisting on a single view of the world. In fact, there are plenty of eminent scientists - Robert Winston, for instance - who are also men of faith. more...
The human diet consists of just nine plants: corn, rice, wheat, potatoes, cassava, sorghum, millet, beans, barley, rye and oats. more...
Every twenty minutes on the Appalachian Trail, Katz and I walked farther than the average American walks in a week. For 93 percent of all trips outside the home, for whatever distance or whatever purpose, Americans now get in a car. On average the total walking of an American these days - that's walking of all types: from car to office, from office to car, around the supermarket and shopping malls - adds up to 1.4 miles a week, barely 350 yards a day. more...
My first rule of travel is never to go to a place that sounds like a medical condition and Critz is clearly an incurable disease involving flaking skin. more...
There is no reason why we shouldn't be able to split an infinitive, any more than we should forsake instant coffee and air travel because they weren't available to the Romans. more...
English grammar is so complex and confusing for the one very simple reason that its rules and terminology are based on Latin, a language with which it has precious little in common. more...
Making English grammar conform to Latin rules is like asking people to play baseball using the rules of football. more...
It is a curious feature of our existance that we come from a planet that is very good at promoting life but even better at extinguishing it. more...
There is always a little more toothpaste in the tube. Think about it. more...
What this means in practice is that if you are not a born worrier you have nothing to worry about (though of course you wouldn't be worrying anyway), whereas if you are a worrier by nature there is absolutely nothing you can do about it, so you may as well stop worrying, except of course you can't. more...
Woods are not like other spaces. To begin with, they are cubic. Their trees surround you, loom over you, press in from all sides. Woods choke off views & leave you muddled & without bearings. They make you feel small & confused & vulnerable, like a small child lost in a crowd of strange legs. Stand in a desert or prairie & you know you are in a big space. Stand in the woods and you only sense it. They are vast, featureless nowhere. And they are alive. more...
When you sit in a chair, you are not actually sitting there, but levitating above it at a height of one angstrom (a hundred millionth of a centimetre), your electrons and its electrons implacably opposed to any closer intimacy. more...
Look at a globe and what you are seeing really is a snapshot of the continents as they have been for just one-tenth of 1 per cent of the earths history. more...
99.99 percent of all species that have ever lived are no longer with us. more...
When you consider it from a human perspective, and clearly it would be difficult for us to do otherwise, life is an odd thing. It couldn't wait to get going, but then, having gotten going, it seemed in very little hurry to move on. more...
Energy is liberated matter, matter is energy waiting to happen. more...
What is it about maps? I could look at them all day, earnestly studying the names of towns and villages I have never heard of and will never visit... more...
Human beings would split the atom and invent television, nylon, and instant coffee before they could figure out the age of their own planet. more...
Not one of your pertinent ancestors was squashed, devoured, drowned, starved, stranded, stuck fast, untimely wounded, or otherwise deflected from its life's quest of delivering a tiny charge of genetic material to the right partner at the right moment in order to perpetuate the only possible sequence of hereditary combinations that could result - eventually, astoundingly, and all too briefly - in you. more...
In three minutes, 98 percent of all the matter there is or will ever be has been produced. We have a universe more...
The universe is not only queerer than we suppose; it is queerer than we can suppose more...
Most of what has lived on Earth has left behind no record at all. more...
Out of the thirty thousand types of edible plants thought to exist on Earth, just eleven-corn, rice, wheat, potatoes, cassava, sorghum, millet, beans, barley, rye, and oats-account for 93 percent of all that humans eat, and every one of them was first cultivated by our Neolithic ancestors. more...
It is not as if farming brought a great improvement in living standards either. A typical hunter-gatherer enjoyed a more varied diet and consumed more protein and calories than settled people, and took in five times as much viatmin C as the average person today. more...
Even though sugar was very expensive, people consumed it till their teeth turned black, and if their teeth didn't turn black naturally, they blackened them artificially to show how wealthy and marvelously self-indulgent they were. more...
...and it occurred to me, with the forcefulness of a thought experienced in 360 degrees, that that's really what history mostly is: masses of people doing ordinary things. more...
When the Duke [W.J.C. Scott-Bentinck] died, his heirs found all of the aboveground rooms devoid of furnishings except for one chamber in the middle of which sat the Duke's commode. The main hall was mysteriously floor less. Most of the rooms were painted pink. The one upstairs room in which the Duke had resided was packed to the ceiling with hundreds of green boxes, each of which contained a single dark brown wig. This was, in short, a man worth getting to know. more...
In terms of adaptability, humans are pretty amazingly useless. more...
There are three stages in scientific discovery. First, people deny that it is true, then they deny that it is important; finally they credit the wrong person. more...
Everywhere throughout New England you find old, tumbledown field walls, often in the middle of the deepest, most settled- looking woods- a reminder of just how swiftly nature reclaims the land in America. more...
I wanted to quit and to do this forever, sleep in a bed and in a tent, see what was over the next hill and never see a hill again. All of this all at once, every moment, on the trail or off. more...
Hunters will tell you that a moose is a wily and ferocious forest creature. Nonsense. A moose is a cow drawn by a three-year-old. more...
No one knows, incidentally, why Australia's spiders are so extravagantly toxic; capturing small insects and injecting them with enough poison to drop a horse would appear to be the most literal case of overkill. Still, it does mean that everyone gives them lots of space. more...
The people are immensely likable- cheerful, extrovert, quick-witted, and unfailingly obliging. Their cities are safe and clean and nearly always built on water. They have a society that is prosperous, well ordered, and instinctively egalitarian. The food is excellent. The beer is cold. The sun nearly always shines. There is coffee on every corner. Life doesn't get much better than this. more...
You may not feel outstandingly robust, but if you are an average-sized adult you will contain within your modest frame no less than 7 X 10^18 joules of potential energy-enough to explode with the force of thirty very large hydrogen bombs, assuming you knew how to liberate it and really wished to make a point. more...
Most scientists are without exception adorably quirky, and one of the ways of making it more accessible was to try to get readers interested in the person. more...
Our instinct may be to see the impossibility of tracking everything down as frustrating, dispiriting, perhaps even appalling, but it can just as well be viewed as almost unbearably exciting. We live on a planet that has a more or less infinite capacity to surprise. What reasoning person could possibly want it any other way? more...
Taxonomy is described sometimes as a science and sometimes as an art, but really it's a battleground. more...
We are so used to the notion of our own inevitability as life's dominant species that it is hard to grasp that we are here only because of timely extraterrestrial bangs and other random flukes. The one thing we have in common with all other living things is that for nearly four billions years our ancestors have managed to slip through a series of closing doors every time we needed them to. more...
Because we humans are big and clever enough to produce and utilize antibiotics and disinfectants, it is easy to convince ourselves that we have banished bacteria to the fringes of existence. Don't you believe it. Bacteria may not build cities or have interesting social lives, but they will be here when the Sun explodes. This is their planet, and we are on it only because they allow us to be. more...
The upshot of all this is that we live in a universe whose age we can't quite compute, surrounded by stars whose distances we don't altogether know, filled with matter we can't identify, operating in conformance with physical laws whose properties we don't truly understand. more...
So here I am, my affections torn between a postal service that never feeds me but can tackle a challenge and one that gives me free tape and prompt service but won't help me out when I can't remember a street name. The lesson to draw from this, of course, is that when you move from one country to another you have to accept that there are some things that are better and some things worse, and there is nothing you can do about it. That may not be the profoundest of insights to take away from a morning's outing, but I did get a free doughnut as well, so on balance I guess I'm happy. more...
I tell the kids that, even in a childhood marked by despair and deprivation, I knew that no matter what happened, I still had my family, or at least the remnants of a family ripped apart by divorce and then glued back together in various odd arrangements through a series of ill- advised remarriages. It was good to know I had a solid foundation. more...
Physics is really nothing more than a search for ultimate simplicity, but so far all we have is a kind of elegant messiness. more...
Four times I was honked at for having the temerity to proceed through town without the benefit of metal. more...
Everything seems to be designed for the benefit of the automobile and not the benefit of the human being. more...
As the saying goes, it takes all kinds to make the world go around, though perhaps some shouldn't go quite so far around it as others. more...
If this book has a lesson, it is that we are awfully lucky to be here-and by 'we' I mean every living thing. To attain any kind of life in this universe of ours appears to be quite an achievement. As humans we are doubly lucky, of course: We enjoy not only the privilege of existence but also the singular ability to appreciate it and even, in a multitude of ways, to make it better. It is a talent we have only barely begun to grasp. more...
To my mind, the only possible pet is a cow. Cows love you. They will listen to your problems and never ask a thing in return. They will be your friends forever. And when you get tired of them, you can kill and eat them. Perfect. more...
In my day, the principal concerns of university students were sex, smoking dope, rioting and learning. Learning was something you did only when the first three weren't available. more...
From an evolutionary point of view, sex is really just a reward mechanism to encourage us to pass on our genetic material. more...
You can be a scientist and believe in god: the two can go hand in hand. more...
If you believe in god, it's much more fantastic to believe that he created this universe billions of years ago and set in motion this long train of activities that eventually resulted in us. I think that's so much more satisfying, more thrilling, than the idea that it was all done in seven days. more...
I really enjoy going to a library and spending the day doing research - to me that is the most pleasurable part of writing the science book. more...
Not writing the same kind of book over and over again is to me the real pleasure of what I do. more...
It's hard not to be kind of pessimistic about human beings generally, because we do tend to mess things up. If you just look at the history of extinctions, we've killed off an awful lot of animals - and I don't think we're doing a very good job of looking after the planet. more...
Being a pessimist is just such a gloomy way of looking at things, so I have to hope for the best - life wouldn't be worth living if we didn't have hope. And I also do think that human beings often do do wonderful, correct, brilliant things. So, on balance, I'd like to be optimistic about the future. more...
South Dakota... is like the world's first drive-through sensory deprivation chamber. more...
And then it occurred to me that a computer is a stupid machine with the ability to do incredibly smart things, while computer programmers are smart people with the ability to do incredibly stupid things. They are, in short, a perfect match. more...
When I was growing up I used to think that the best thing about coming from Des Moines was that it meant you didn't come from anywhere else in Iowa. By Iowa standards, Des Moines is a mecca of cosmopolitanism, a dynamic hub of wealth and education... more...
If you can imagine a man having a vasectomy without anesthetic to the sound of frantic sitar-playing, you will have some idea what popular Turkish music is like. more...
Columbus real achievement was managing to cross the ocean successfully in both directions. Though an accomplished enough mariner, he was not terribly good at a great deal else, especially geography, the skill that would seem most vital in an explorer. more...
I had spent the whole of my savings ... on a suit for the wedding - a remarkable piece of apparel with lapels that had been modelled on the tail fins of a 1957 Coupe de Ville and trousers so copiously flared that when I walked you didn't see my legs move. more...
...if you were designing an organism to look after life in our lonely cosmos, to monitor where it is going and keep a record of where it has been, you wouldn't choose human beings for the job. But here's an extrememly salient point: we have been chosen, by fate or Providence or whatever you wish to call it. As far as we can tell, we are the best there is. We may be all there is. It's an unnerving thought that we may be the living universe's supreme achievement and its worst nightmare simultaneously. more...
Australians are very unfair in this way. They spend half of any conversation insisting that the country's dangers are vastly overrated and that there's nothing to worry about, and the other half telling you how six months ago their Uncle Bob was driving to Mudgee when a tiger snake slid out from under the dashboard and bit him on the groin, but that it's okay now because he's off the life support machine and they've discovered he can communicate with eye blinks. more...
I love the feeling of being anonymous in a city I've never been before. more...
| Cricket |
What is the name given to a shot in snooker where the cue ball hits a red ball which hits another red ball to make it go into a pocket? | Food for the Spirit and the Soul by Robert Neralich - Part 19
April Offerings – Part XXV: Something to Delight both Head and Heart
American Art – Part I of V: Amy Abshier-Reyes
Artist Staztment: “Most of my works are painted as a mimicry of traditional portraiture, but are (as I see them) vehicles to another concept entirely. Almost all of them have a very tongue- in-cheek wryness about them as I explore themes ranging from self-image issues to historical oddities to the dissection of fairy tales and popular culture. They differ in emotion; some are just silly, while others are plainly macabre, but they are all simple illustrations to the subtle narratives underneath.”
Below – “A Believer in Magic”; “A Constant Shadow”; “The Oceans Loss”; “Green Study”; “I’m a Pretender.”
Fancies in Springtime: Adalbert Stifter
“On increasingly warm nice days I liked to sit toward noon on the bench encircling the cherry tree and look at the bare trees, the freshly plowed fields, the green strips of winter planting, the meadows that were already sprouting, and through the fragrance which swells out of the ground with the advent of spring contemplate the mountains, gleaming with the colossal quantities of snow still on them.”
From the American History Archives: Cripple Creek
25 April 1896 – A fight in the Central Dance Hall in Cripple Creek, Colorado results in a fire that destroys the building. I mention this incident in order to have an excuse to post this:
A Poem for Today
Now that we are sending you to The End
That great god
That we who follow you invented forgiveness
And forgive nothing
I write as though you could understand
And I could say it
One must always pretend something
Among the dying
When you have left the seas nodding on their stalks
Empty of you
Tell him that we were made
On another day
The bewilderment will diminish like an echo
Winding along your inner mountains
Unheard by us
And find its way out
Leaving behind it the future
Dead
When you will not see again
The whale calves trying the light
Consider what you will find in the black garden
And its court
The sea cows the Great Auks the gorillas
The irreplaceable hosts ranged countless
And fore-ordaining as stars
Join your word to theirs
Tell him
That it is we who are important
Ukrainian Art – Part I of II: Inga Loyeva
In the words of one writer, painter Inga Loyeva “strives to put forth beauty and project a positive undercurrent into everything she creates.”
Loyeva lives and works in Florence, where she teaches drawing and artistic anatomy at the Angel Academy of Art and works on creative projects in her studio.
Fancies in Springtime: Christopher Lasch
“Today Americans are overcome not by the sense of endless possibility but by the banality of the social order they have erected against it.”
From the Music Archives – Part I of VI: Ella Fitzgerald
“The only thing better than singing is more singing.” – Ella Fitzgerald, American jazz vocalist known as the “First Lady of Song,” who was born 25 April 1917.
A Second Poem for Today
“The Lady and the Tramp”
By Bruce Guernsey
As my mother’s memory dims
she’s losing her sense of smell
and can’t remember the toast
blackening the kitchen with smoke
or sniff how nasty the breath of the dog
that follows her yet from room to room,
unable, himself, to hear his own bark.
It’s thus they get around,
the wheezing old hound stone deaf
baying like a smoke alarm
for his amnesiac mistress whose back
from petting him is bent forever
as they shuffle towards the flaming toaster
and split the cindered crisp that’s left.
Ukrainian Art – Part II of II: Alexander Pavlenko
Painter Alexander Pavlenko (born 1974) is a graduate of the Faculty of Fine Art at Izmail State University.
“A lost but happy dream may shed its light upon our waking hours, and the whole day may be infected with the gloom of a dreary or sorrowful one; yet of neither may we be able to recover a trace.” – Walter de la Mare, English poet, short story writer, and novelist, who was born 25 April 1873.
Another quote from Walter de la Mare: “All day long the door of the sub-conscious remains just ajar; we slip through to the other side, and return again, as easily and secretly as a cat.”
And his most famous poem:
“The Listeners”
‘Is there anybody there?’ said the Traveller,
Knocking on the moonlit door;
And his horse in the silence champed the grasses
Of the forest’s ferny floor:
And a bird flew up out of the turret,
Above the Traveller’s head:
And he smote upon the door again a second time;
‘Is there anybody there?’ he said.
But no one descended to the Traveller;
No head from the leaf-fringed sill
Leaned over and looked into his grey eyes,
Where he stood perplexed and still.
But only a host of phantom listeners
That dwelt in the lone house then
Stood listening in the quiet of the moonlight
To that voice from the world of men:
Stood thronging the faint moonbeams on the dark stair,
That goes down to the empty hall,
Hearkening in an air stirred and shaken
By the lonely Traveller’s call.
And he felt in his heart their strangeness,
Their stillness answering his cry,
While his horse moved, cropping the dark turf,
’Neath the starred and leafy sky;
For he suddenly smote on the door, even
Louder, and lifted his head:—
‘Tell them I came, and no one answered,
That I kept my word,’ he said.
Never the least stir made the listeners,
Though every word he spake
Fell echoing through the shadowiness of the still house
From the one man left awake:
Ay, they heard his foot upon the stirrup,
And the sound of iron on stone,
And how the silence surged softly backward,
When the plunging hoofs were gone.
From the Music Archives – Part II of VI: Michael Brown
Born 25 April 1949 – Michael Brown, an American keyboardist, songwriter, and member of the group The Left Banke.
This is one of the hit songs Brown wrote for The Left Banke:
Fancies in Springtime: Lewis Thomas
“Statistically, the probability of any one of us being here is so small that you’d think the mere fact of existing would keep us all in a contented dazzlement of surprise. We are alive against the stupendous odds of genetics, infinitely outnumbered by all the alternates who might, except for luck, be in our places.”
American Art – Part II of V: Steven Lang
Artist Statement (partial): “I love to paint the Old West. I derive great satisfaction from creating images that stir the imagination and express the truths of the way it used to be. From the beginning of western expansion and Lewis & Clark to the early decades of the 1900s, America experienced a period of unparalleled adventures, hardships, triumphs and tragedies…I endeavor to depict all that was and is the legacy of the Western Frontier.”
Below – “Home on the Range”; “New Sun Rising”; “Drifting Through the Sage”; “Over the Lolo Pass”; “Pine Ridge Cowboys”; “Indian Summer.”
A Third Poem for Today
“At a Certain Age”
He sits beside his wife who takes the wheel.
Clutching coupons, he wanders the aisles
of Stop & Save. There’s no place he must be,
no clock to punch. Sure,
there are bass in the lake, a balsa model
in the garage, the par-three back nine.
But it’s not the same.
Time the enemy then, the enemy now.
As he points the remote at the screen
or pauses at the window, staring
into the neighbor’s fence but not really seeing it,
he listens to his wife in the kitchen, more amazed
than ever—how women seem to know
what to do. How, with their cycles and timers,
their rolling boils and three-minute eggs,
they wait for something to start. Or stop.
From the Music Archives – Part III of VI: Freda Payne
25 April 1970 – Freda Payne releases “Band of Gold.”
Fancies in Springtime: Gaston Rebuffat
“Rain is disagreeable, but snow is as much part of the mountain as are sunshine and clear skies.”
Italian Art – Part I of II: Mario Tozzi
Here is one critic describing the artistry of painter Mario Tozzi (1895-1979): “His compositions are characterized by strong, monumental, geometric volumes and mythical implications.”
From the Music Archives – Part IV of VI: Melanie
25 April 1970 – Melanie releases “Lay Down.”
Fancies in Springtime: Neil deGrasse Tyson
“The more I learn about the universe, the less convinced I am that there’s any sort of benevolent force that has anything to do with it, at all.”
Italian Art – Part II of II: Vita di Milano
Here is artist Vita di Milano describing his “Women and Wheels” series of paintings: “”In an ideal world there would only be bicycles, roads smooth as silk and the wind always at your back. (Note: The first painting posted below is called “Against the Wind.”)
‘Women and Wheels’ is a tribute to women’s freedom from the dogmas and the doctrines of religion as imposed by misogynous men.”
Here is one critic writing about Milano’s work: “While Vita’s detailed and bluntly-honest figurative paintings may recall a narrative common to classic art, the intent imbedded in each of his works far exceeds what could be mistaken as an exercise in technique.
In his compositions the painter expresses his concerns about misconceptions and prejudice while elaborating on those socio/humanistic perspectives which are often masked by the veils of hypocrisy.”
From the Music Archives – Part V of VI: Stu Ulvaeus
Born 25 April 1945 – Stu Ulvaeus, a Swedish songwriter, composer, musician, writer, producer, and former member of ABBA, the greatest semi-hard rock group in music history.
I am dedicating this song to my sons, who for some inexplicable reason like it.
Fancies in Springtime: Robert Thurman
“Commercial interests with their advertising industry do not want people to develop contentment and less greed. Military interests in economic, political, ethnic or nationalist guises, do not want people to develop more tolerance, nonviolence and compassion. And ruling groups in general, in whatever sort of hierarchy do not want the ruled to become too insightful, too independent, too creative on their own, as the danger is that they will become insubordinate, rebellious, and unproductive in their alloted tasks.”
In the words of one critic, Dutch artist Ton Schulten (born 25 April 1938) “mainly paints landscapes using bright blocks of color.”
From the Music Archives – Part VI of VI: Stu Cook
Born 25 April 1945 – Stu Cook, an American bass guitarist best known for his work with Creedence Clearwater Revival.
British artist Claerwen James (born 1970) specializes in portraiture, especially of young people, based on photographs.
“Law cannot stand aside from the social changes around it.” – William J. Brennan, Jr., Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1956 to 1990, who was born 25 April 1906.
Some quotes from the work of Justice William J. Brennan, Jr.:
“If the right to privacy means anything, it is the right of the individual, married or single, to be free from unwarranted governmental intrusion.”
“Death is not only an unusually severe punishment, unusual in its pain, in its finality and in its enormity, but is serves no penal purpose more effectively than a less severe punishment.”
“Religious conflict can be the bloodiest and cruelest conflicts that turn people into fanatics.”
“The quest for freedom, dignity, and the rights of man will never end.”
“We do not consecrate the flag by punishing its desecration, for in doing so, we dilute the freedom this cherished emblem represents.”
German painter Steffi Weigel (born 1975) lives and works in Berlin.
Fancies in Springtime: Robert S. de Ropp
“Seek above all for a game worth playing- such is the advice of the oracle to modern man.”
“As humans we look at things and think about what we’ve looked at. We treasure it in a kind of private art gallery.” – Tom Gunn, Anglo-American poet, who died 25 April 2004.
In the words of one writer, “(Gunn) was praised both for his early verses in England, where he was associated with The Movement and his later poetry in America, even after moving toward a looser, free-verse style. After relocating from England to San Francisco, Gunn, who became openly gay, wrote about gay-related topics—particularly in his most famous work, ‘The Man With Night Sweats’ in 1992—as well as drug use, sex, and topics related to his bohemian lifestyle. He won numerous major literary awards.”
“A Map of the City”
I stand upon a hill and see
A luminous country under me,
Through which at two the drunk sailor must weave;
The transient’s pause, the sailor’s leave.
I notice, looking down the hill,
Arms braced upon a window sill;
And on the web of fire escapes
Move the potential, the grey shapes.
I hold the city here, complete;
And every shape defined by light
Is mine, or corresponds to mine,
Some flickering or some steady shine.
This map is ground of my delight.
Between the limits, night by night,
I watch a malady’s advance,
I recognize my love of chance.
By the recurrent lights I see
Endless potentiality,
The crowded, broken, and unfinished!
I would not have the risk diminished.
Here is the Artist Statement of Japanese painter Aya Kato (born 1982): “I want to wake up the souls that are sleeping in the innermost recesses of the human heart by using my imagination.”
“A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves.” – Edward R. Murrow, American broadcast journalist, who was born 25 April 1908.
Murrow’s greatest moment – and one of America’s, as well – came when he publicly denounced the hideous Senator Joseph McCarthy.
Some quotes from the work of Edward R. Murrow:
“Just because your voice reaches halfway around the world doesn’t mean you are wiser than when it reached only to the end of the bar.”
“We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.”
“We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. When the loyal opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it.”
“Anyone who isn’t confused really doesn’t understand the situation.”
“A great many people think they are thinking when they are really rearranging their prejudices.”
“Our major obligation is not to mistake slogans for solutions.”
“Everyone is a prisoner of his own experiences. No one can eliminate prejudices–just recognize them.”
“No one can terrorize a whole nation, unless we are all his accomplices.”
“Most truths are so naked that people feel sorry for them and cover them up, at least a little bit.”
“We have currently a built-in allergy to unpleasant or disturbing information. Our mass media reflect this. But unless we get up off our fat surpluses and recognize that television in the main is being used to distract, delude, amuse, and insulate us, then television and those who finance it, those who look at it, and those who work at it, may see a totally different picture too late. ”
“Difficulty is the excuse history never accepts.”
“The speed of communications is wondrous to behold. It is also true that speed can multiply the distribution of information that we know to be untrue.”
“The newest computer can merely compound, at speed, the oldest problem in the relations between human beings, and in the end the communicator will be confronted with the old problem, of what to say and how to say it.”
“We are in the same tent as the clowns and the freaks-that’s show business.”
“People say conversation is a lost art; how often I have wished it were.”
“When the politicians complain that TV turns the proceedings into a circus, it should be made clear that the circus was already there, and that TV has merely demonstrated that not all the performers are well trained.”
“We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men – not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate, and to defend causes that were, for the moment, unpopular.”
A Fourth Poem for Today
“Superhero Pregnant Woman”
Her sense of smell is ten times stronger.
And so her husband smells funny;
she rolls away from him in the bed.
She even smells funny to herself,
but cannot roll away from that.
Why couldn’t she get a more useful superpower?
Like the ability to turn invisible, or fly?
The refrigerator laughs at her from its dark corner,
knowing she will have to open it some time
and surrender to its villainous odors.
Fancies in Springtime: Carl Sagan
“We are like butterflies who flutter for a day and think it is forever.”
American Art – Part III of V: Justin Balliet
In the words of one critic, “Justin Balliet is a realist artist based out of Northeast Pennsylvania and a former apprentice of the Waichulis Studio. Balliet seeks to push his realism as far as possible, resulting in some of the most technically proficient work available today.”
“Above us, stars. Beneath us, constellations.
Five billion miles away, a galaxy dies
like a snowflake falling on water. Below us,
some farmer, feeling the chill of that distant death,
snaps on his yard light, drawing his sheds and barn
back into the little system of his care.
All night, the cities, like shimmering novas,
tug with bright streets at lonely lights like his.” – “Flying at Night,” by Ted Kooser, American poet and Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004 to 2006, who was born 25 April 1939.
“A Letter in October”
Dawn comes later and later now,
and I, who only a month ago
could sit with coffee every morning
watching the light walk down the hill
to the edge of the pond and place
a doe there, shyly drinking,
then see the light step out upon
the water, sowing reflections
to either side—a garden
of trees that grew as if by magic—
now see no more than my face,
mirrored by darkness, pale and odd,
startled by time. While I slept,
night in its thick winter jacket
bridled the doe with a twist
of wet leaves and led her away,
then brought its black horse with harness
that creaked like a cricket, and turned
the water garden under. I woke,
and at the waiting window found
the curtains open to my open face;
beyond me, darkness. And I,
who only wished to keep looking out,
must now keep looking in.
American Art – Part IV of V: Donna Reibslager
Artist Statement (partial): “I create art because I am compelled to do so. For many years, it was a fragmented process, pursued in a garage, on a back porch, or elsewhere, between work and family demands. Since 2002, I have had a dedicated studio space in which I can work every day, which has allowed me to establish continuity and to more fully develop ideas.”
Below – “Coyote and Crow”; “Evening”; “Free Spirit III”; “Spirit on the Water”; “Waiting for the Parade”; “Pumping Station”; “La Curandera”; “La Luna”; “Red Rock”; “Falcon.”
Fancies in Springtime: Gore Vidal
“The planet Venus, a circle of silver in a green sky, pierced the edge of the evening while the wintry woods darkened about me and in the stillness the regular sound of my footsteps striking the pavement was like a the rhythmic beating of a giant stone heart.”
“There’s little to see, but things leave an impression. It’s a matter of time and repetition. As something old wears thin or out, something new wears in. The handle on the pump, the crank on the churn, the dipper floating in the bucket, the latch on the screen, the door on the privy, the fender on the stove, the knees of the pants and the seat of the chair, the handle of the brush and the lid to the pot exist in time but outside taste; they wear in more than they wear out. It can’t be helped. It’s neither good nor bad. It’s the nature of life.” – Wright Morris, American novelist, essayist, photographer, and two-time winner of the National Book Award for Fiction (for “The Field of Vision” [1956] and “Plains Song: For Female Voices” [1980]), best known for his portrayals of the people and artifacts of the Great Plains in words and pictures, who died 25 April 1998.
A few quotes from the work of Wright Morris, whose words, like his photographs, often capture a poignant sense of this fleeting world:
“After many months of writing, it occurred to me that it might be possible to photograph, in the flesh, what I was attempting to capture in words. I bought a Rolleiflex camera and began to take pictures of objects or structures that were used and abused by human hands.”
“Cats don’t belong to people. They belong to places.”
“The imagination made us human, but being human, becoming more human, is a greater burden than we imagined. We have no choice but to imagine ourselves more human than we are.”
Below – “Panama” (Nebraska); “Door Between Buildings”; “Uncle Harry”; “Farmhouse with Snowbank”; “Clothing on Hooks”; “Cupboard”; “Barber Pole and Hydrant”; “Fallen Out House”; “Second Bed (Ed’s Place).”
A Fifth Poem for Today
“The Crossing”
The snail at the edge of the road
inches forward, a trim gray finger
of a fellow in pinstripe suit.
He’s burdened by his house
that has to follow
where he goes. Every inch,
he pulls together
on the other side.
Fancies in Springtime: Barry Lopez
“Wilderness travel can be extremely taxing and dangerous. You can fall into a crevasse, flip your kayak, lose your way, become hypothermic, run out of food, or be killed by a bear. Far less violent events, however, are the common experience of most people who travel in wild landscapes. A sublime encounter with perhaps the most essential attribute of wilderness – falling into resonance with a system of unmanaged, non-human-centered relationships – can be as fulfilling as running a huge and difficult rapid. Sometimes they prove, indeed, to be the same thing.”
Back from the Territory – Art: Rie Munoz (Part XII)
Artist Statement: “My artwork can best be described as expressionism. The term applies to work that rejects camera snapshot realism, and instead, expresses emotion by distortion and strong colors. My paintings reflect an interest in the day-to-day activities of Alaskans such as fishing, berry picking, children at play, crabbing, and whaling. I am also fascinated with the legends of Alaska’s Native people. While I find much to paint around Juneau, most of my material comes from sketching trips taken to the far corners of Alaska. I’ve taught school on King Island in the Bering Sea, traveled and sketched almost every community in Alaska.”
Back from the Territory, I share this with you, before I light out again.
Below – “Whale!”; “Winter Cabin, Tenakee”; “Winter Games”; “Winter Sport”; “Winter Village, Noatak”; “Wrangel Waterfront.”
Fancies in Springtime: Robert Pirsig
“Like those in the valley behind us, most people stand in sight of the spiritual mountains all their lives and never enter them, being content to listen to others who have been there and thus avoid the hardships.”
A Sixth Poem for Today
“Sleep”
On the ridge above Skelp Road
bears binge on blackberries and apples,
even grapes, knocking down
the Petersens’ arbor to satisfy the sweet
hunger that consumes them. Just like us
they know the day must come when
the heart slows, when to take one
more step would mean the end of things
as they should be. Sleep is a drug;
dreams its succor. How better to drift
toward another world but with leaves
falling, their warmth draping us,
our stomachs full and fat with summer?
American Art – Part V of V: Mark Allen
In the words of one writer, “‘Ethereal Waters’ is a photography series that focuses on the mysterious and aesthetic quality of water; how the human subject portrays their innermost consciousness when separated from the surroundings that might otherwise define them. This blissful weightlessness creates a scene unlike anything else in the natural world.”
Below – “Alas”; “Ankita”; “Poker Face”; “Vanilla”; “Pennant.”
In the blue and buoyant air,
Cinctured by bright winds,
And the waves which precede you
Ripple and stir
The sands at my feet.
Below – Sandro Botticelli: “The Birth of Venus”
Fancies in Springtime: Donna Lynn Hope
“Joy – in the fall, winter, and always in the mountains where people are few, wildlife is abundant and there is peace in the quiet.”
24 April 1792 – Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle composes “La Marseillaise.” In the words of one historian, “The French National Convention adopted it as the Republic’s anthem in 1795. It acquired its nickname after being sung in Paris by volunteers from Marseille marching on the capital.”
Here’s a stirring rendition of the anthem:
German painter Susanne Kuhn has a Master of Art Degree in Painting and Graphic Art. She lives and works in Freiburg.
Fancies in Springtime: Christopher Lasch
“Advertising serves not so much to advertise products as to promote consumption as a way of life. It ‘educates’ the masses into an unappeasable appetite not only for goods but for new experiences and personal fulfillment.”
A Second Poem for Today
“Sun Storm,”
By Tsering Wangmo Dhompa
Like brides behind veils, my people peep from drawn curtains and feel the air with their fingers. They do not see any use for heat and are not hospitable to it. Electric fans focus on bare shoulder blades and erect nipples.
Mosquitoes persist. Hands do not move fast enough.
On arrival, my people were instructed to throw away their black clothes, then taught to distract the sun. In crisp white pajamas and khadi shirts, they walked the camp till it paled to a canvas of gathering spirits.
Night led them to the edge of the stream. Feet in water, they talked about what they had left to lose.
Some afternoons, old stories were translated into Tibetan. ‘You are blessed,’ strangers said. ‘God has delivered you. Such is his bountiful nature.’
Sparrows tattooed the air. Prayer beads clicked as mantras circulated above the parable of a son who erred and was forgiven. The story teller’s lips bent with crystals of sweat.
‘Jesus loves you.’ For years, F thought Jesus was the president of a country. He thought he was a rich old man.
He told one story-telling woman she was wrong. Jesus had nothing to do with it. It was all fate.
(Note: Tsering Wangmo Dhompa is the first Tibetan female poet to be published in English. She lives in Santa Cruz, California.)
Fancies in Springtime: Dee Holmes
“He rose and walked to the windows. The moon reflected the pristine whiteness blowing into shadowy silvery mounds beneath the stars. It spread out before him, all pure and flowing and sterling. There’d always been a gentle peace and welcome solitude on a wintry night in this house. A place of memories and innocent times; a place for new plans.”
“I like trees because they seem more resigned to the way they have to live than other things do.” – Willa Cather, American writer and recipient of the Pulitzer Prize (for “One of Ours”), who died 24 April 1947.
In the words of one critic, Cather “achieved recognition for her novels of frontier life on the Great Plains, in works such as “O Pioneers!,” “My Ántonia,” and “The Song of the Lark.”
Some quotes from the work of Willa Cather:
“The earth was warm under me, and warm as I crumbled it through my fingers…I kept as still as I could. Nothing happened. I did not expect anything to happen. I was something that lay under the sun and felt it, like the pumpkins, and I did not want to be anything more. I was entirely happy. Perhaps we feel like that when we die and become a part of something entire, whether it is sun and air, or goodness and knowledge. At any rate, that is happiness; to be dissolved into something complete and great. When it comes to one, it comes as naturally as sleep.”
“I wanted to walk straight on through the red grass and over the edge of the world, which could not be very far away. The light and air abot me told me that the world ended here: only the ground and sun and sky were left, and if one went a little farther there would only be sun and sky, and one would float off into them, like the tawny hawks which sailed over our heads making slow shadows on the grass.”
“Winter lies too long in country towns; hangs on until it is stale and shabby, old and sullen.”
“While the train flashed through never-ending miles of ripe wheat, by country towns and bright-flowered pastures and oak groves wilting in the sun, we sat in the observation car, where the woodwork was hot to the touch and red dust lay deep over everything. The dust and heat, the burning wind, reminded us of many things. We were talking about what it is like to spend one’s childhood in little towns like these, buried in wheat and corn, under stimulating extremes of climate: burning summers when the world lies green and billowy beneath a brilliant sky, when one is fairly stifled in vegetation, in the color and smell of strong weeds and heavy harvests; blustery winters with little snow, when the whole country is stripped bare and gray as sheet-iron. We agreed that no one who had not grown up in a little prairie town could know anything about it. It was a kind of freemasonry, we said.”
“I slept that night in the room I used to have when I was a little boy, with the summer wind blowing in at the windows, bringing the smell of the ripe fields. I lay awake and watched the moonlight shining over the barn and the stacks and the pond, and the windmill making its old dark shadow against the blue sky.”
“Trees were so rare in that country, and they had to make such a hard fight to grow, that we used to feel anxious about them, and visit them as if they were persons.”
Fancies in Springtime: Rebecca Goldstein
“Given cognitive vulnerabilities, it would be convenient to have an arrangement whereby reality could tell us off; and that is precisely what science is. Scientific methodology is the arrangement that allows reality to answer us back.”
A Third Poem for Today
“Insomnia”
I try tearing paper into tiny, perfect squares—
they cut my fingers. Warm milk, perhaps,
stirred counter-clockwise in a cast iron pan—
but even then there’s burning at the edges,
angry foam-hiss. I’ve been told
to put trumpet flowers under my pillow,
I do: stamen up, the old crone said.
But the pollen stains, and there are bees,
I swear, in those long yellow chambers, echoing,
the way the house does, mocking, with its longevity—
each rib creaking and bending where I’m likely to break—
I try floating out along the long O of ‘lone,’
to where it flattens to ‘loss,’ and just stay there
disconnecting the dots of my night sky
as one would take apart a house made of sticks,
carefully, last addition to first,
like sheep leaping backward into their pens.
Fancies in Springtime: Mehmet Murat Ildan
“Winter invites white; white invites silence; silence invites peace. You see, there is so much peace in walking on the snow!”
Oleg Zhivetin was born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan in 1964 to a family of Russian painters. He is a graduate of the prestigious Surikov Art Institute. In his words, “I show in my paintings what people cannot see in real life. I show individuality, the intelligence, dreams and emotions, that every human being is different and because of that they are beautiful.”
Fancies in Springtime: Brian Cox
“The scientific creation story has majesty, power and beauty. and is infused with a powerful message capable of lifting our spirits in a way that its multitudinous supernatural counterparts are incapable of matching. It teaches us that we are the products of 13.7 billion years of cosmic evolution and the mechanism by which meaning entered the universe, if only for a fleeting moment in time. Because the universe means something to me, and the fact that we are all agglomerations of quarks and electrons in a complex and fragile pattern that can perceive the beauty of the universe with visceral wonder, is, I think, a thought worth raising a glass to this Christmas.”
“For West is where we all plan to go some day. It is where you go when the land gives out and the old-field pines encroach. It is where you go when you get the letter saying: Flee, all is discovered. It is where you go when you look down at the blade in your hand and the blood on it. It is where you go when you are told that you are a bubble on the tide of empire. It is where you go when you hear that thar’s gold in them-thar hills. It is where you go to grow up with the country. It is where you go to spend your old age. Or it is just where you go.” – Robert Penn Warren, American poet, novelist, literary critic, and recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel (for “All the King’s Men”) and two-time recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, who was born 24 April 1905. Warren is the only person to have won Pulitzer Prizes for both fiction and poetry.
“Evening Hawk”
From plane of light to plane, wings dipping through
Geometries and orchids that the sunset builds,
Out of the peak’s black angularity of shadow, riding
The last tumultuous avalanche of
Light above pines and the guttural gorge,
The hawk comes.
Scythes down another day, his motion
Is that of the honed steel-edge, we hear
The crashless fall of stalks of Time.
The head of each stalk is heavy with the gold of our error.
Look! Look! he is climbing the last light
Who knows neither Time nor error, and under
Whose eye, unforgiving, the world, unforgiven, swings
Into shadow.
The last thrush is still, the last bat
Now cruises in his sharp hieroglyphics. His wisdom
Is ancient, too, and immense. The star
Is steady, like Plato, over the mountain.
If there were no wind we might, we think, hear
The earth grind on its axis, or history
Drip in darkness like a leaking pipe in the cellar.
Fancies in Springtime: Neil deGrasse Tyson
“People cited violation of the First Amendment when a New Jersey schoolteacher asserted that evolution and the Big Bang are not scientific and that Noah’s ark carried dinosaurs. This case is not about the need to separate church and state; it’s about the need to separate ignorant, scientifically illiterate people from the ranks of teachers.”
Note: The cartoon below is a concise summary of the intellectual fatuity of Intelligent Design.
Korean painter Hi Kyung earned a BFA from Honik University.
From the American History Archives: Joshua Slocum
24 April 1895 – Joshua Slocum, the first person to sail single-handedly around the world, sets sail from Boston, Massachusetts aboard the sloop “Spray.”
A Fourth Poem for Today
“How Good Fortune Surprises Us”
By Jackson Wheeler
up to the Cumberland Plateau
when, in Tennessee, I saw
from the freeway, at 2 am
a house ablaze.
Water from the firehoses arced
into luminescent rainbows.
The only sound, the dull roar of my truck
passing. I found myself strangely happy.
It was misfortune on that cold night
falling on someone’s house,
but not mine
not mine.
Fancies in Springtime: Robert Pirsig
“The doctrinal differences between Hinduism and Buddhism and Taoism are not anywhere near as important as doctrinal differences among Christianity and Islam and Judaism. Holy wars are not fought over them because verbalized statements about reality are never presumed to be reality itself.”
Here is the Artist Statement of painter Krassimir Kolev: “I was born in Bulgaria, but now I live in Uppsala, Sweden with my wife Lena and our daughter Matilda. My paintings are realistic with a hyper-realistic touch. They are often emotional and expressive. The figures in my paintings express more presence than action.”
“Humor is the spiciest condiment in the feast of existence. Laugh at your mistakes but learn from them, joke over your troubles but gather strength from them, make a jest of your difficulties but overcome them.” – Lucy Maud Montgomery, Canadian author best known for a series of novels beginning with “Anne of Green Gables,” who died 24 April 1942.
Some quotes from the work of Lucy Maud Montgomery:
“Isn’t it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?”
“It’s been my experience that you can nearly always enjoy things if you make up your mind firmly that you will.”
“Kindred spirits are not so scarce as I used to think. It’s splendid to find out there are so many of them in the world.”
“Perhaps, after all, romance did not come into one’s life with pomp and blare, like a gay knight riding down; perhaps it crept to one’s side like an old friend through quiet ways; perhaps it revealed itself in seeming prose, until some sudden shaft of illumination flung athwart its pages betrayed the rhythm and the music, perhaps . . . perhaps . . . love unfolded naturally out of a beautiful friendship, as a golden-hearted rose slipping from its green sheath.”
“Life is worth living as long as there’s a laugh in it.”
“It’s not what the world holds for you. It’s what you bring to it.”
“Nothing is ever really lost to us as long as we remember it.”
“Isn’t it splendid to think of all the things there are to find out about? It just makes me feel glad to be alive–it’s such an interesting world. It wouldn’t be half so interesting if we know all about everything, would it? There’d be no scope for imagination then, would there?”
“Look at that sea, girls–all silver and shadow and vision of things not seen. We couldn’t enjoy its loveliness any more if we had millions of dollars and ropes of diamonds.”
“There are so many unpleasant things in the world already that there is no use in imagining any more.”
Here is one critic describing the artistry of Norwegian painter Christer Karlstad (born 1974): “In Karlstad’s constructed, ambiguous scenarios he freely engages in myths, symbols and archetypes, as this is how he sees and understands the world. When confronted by one of his paintings, wondering if somebody is dead or only sleeping, whether it’s good or evil, comforting or disturbing, the answers are actually to be found in the questions.
In his visual world of ‘staged mysticism’ the ordinary time perspective ceases to exist. Depictions of realistic situations give way to another agenda. Compositions revolve around scenarios where normality is challenged, replaced or consumed by something else, something unknown.”
A Fifth Poem for Today
“In the House of the Voice of Maria Callas”
By Steve Orlen
In the house of the voice of Maria Callas
We hear the baby’s cries, and the after-supper
Rattle of silverware, and three clocks ticking
To different tunes, and ripe plums
Sleeping in their chipped bowl, and traffic sounds
Dissecting the avenues outside. We hear, like water
Pouring over time itself, the pure distillate arias
Of the numerous pampered queens who have reigned,
And the working girls who have suffered
The envious knives, and the breathless brides
With their horned helmets who have fallen in love
And gone crazy or fallen in love and died
On the grand stage at their appointed moments—
Who will sing of them now? Maria Callas is dead,
Although the full lips and the slanting eyes
And flared nostrils of her voice resurrect
Dramas we are able to imagine in this parlor
On evenings like this one, adding some color,
Adding some order. Of whom it was said:
‘She could imagine almost anything and give voice to it.’
Fancies in Springtime: Wes Adamson
“Inner peace is a quiet evening moonlight walk in the soft falling snow of our minds.”
American Art – Part II of IV: George Grey Barnard
Died 24 April 1938 – George Grey Barnard, an American sculptor.
Below – “The Prodigal”; “Refugee”; “Statue of a Girl”; “The Struggle of Two Natures in Man.”
From the American Old West: Annie Oakley
24 April 1885 – Nate Salsbury hires sharpshooter Annie Oakley to be part of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West.
Fancies in Springtime: Barry Lopez
“Something, most certainly, happens to a diver’s emotions underwater. It is not merely a side effect of the pleasing, vaguely erotic sensation of water pressure on the body. Nor is it alone the peculiar sense of weightlessness, which permits a diver to hang motionless in open water, observing sea life large as whales around him; not the ability of a diver, descending in that condition, to slowly tumble and rotate in all three spatial planes. It is not the exhilaration from disorientation that comes when one’s point of view starts to lose its ‘lefts’ and ‘down’ and gains instead something else, a unique perception that grows out of the ease of movement in three dimensions. It is not from the diminishment of gravity to a force little more emphatic than a suggestion. It is not solely exposure to an unfamiliar intensity of life. It is not a state of rapture with the bottomless blue world beneath one’s feet…it is some complicated mix of these emotions, together with the constant proximity of real terror.”
American Art – Part III of IV: Steve Hawley
Painter Steve Hawley (born 1950) received his diploma and graduate diploma from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
A Sixth Poem for Today
“Trust”
It’s like so many other things in life
to which you must say no or yes.
So you take your car to the new mechanic.
Sometimes the best thing to do is trust.
The package left with the disreputable-looking
clerk, the check gulped by the night deposit,
the envelope passed by dozens of strangers—
all show up at their intended destinations.
The theft that could have happened doesn’t.
Wind finally gets where it was going
through the snowy trees, and the river, even
when frozen, arrives at the right place.
And sometimes you sense how faithfully your life
is delivered, even though you can’t read the address.
Fancies in Springtime: Gore Vidal
“Ayn Rand’s ‘philosophy’ is nearly perfect in its immorality, which makes the size of her audience all the more ominous and symptomatic as we enter a curious new phase in our society…. To justify and extol human greed and egotism is to my mind not only immoral, but evil.”
Back from the Territory – Art: Rie Munoz (Part XI)
Artist Statement: “My artwork can best be described as expressionism. The term applies to work that rejects camera snapshot realism, and instead, expresses emotion by distortion and strong colors. My paintings reflect an interest in the day-to-day activities of Alaskans such as fishing, berry picking, children at play, crabbing, and whaling. I am also fascinated with the legends of Alaska’s Native people. While I find much to paint around Juneau, most of my material comes from sketching trips taken to the far corners of Alaska. I’ve taught school on King Island in the Bering Sea, traveled and sketched almost every community in Alaska.”
Back from the Territory, I share this with you, before I light out again.
Below – “View from my Window, St. George”; “View from my Window, Tenakee”; “Violin Lesson”; “Warm Springs, Atlin, B.C.”; “Whale!”
Fancies in Springtime: Robert Thurman
“Imagine a culture in which everything is geared toward helping all individuals become the best human beings they can be; in which individuals are driven to devoting their lives to becoming enlightened by the natural flood of compassion for others that arises from their wisdom.”
A Seventh Poem for Today
“Elegance”
All that is uncared for.
Left alone in the stillness
in that pure silence married
to the stillness of nature.
A door off its hinges,
shade and shadows in an empty room.
Leaks for light. Raw where
the tin roof rusted through.
The rustle of weeds in their
different kinds of air in the mornings,
year after year.
A pecan tree, and the house
made out of mud bricks. Accurate
and unexpected beauty, rattling
and singing. If not to the sun,
then to nothing and to no one.
Fancies in Springtime: Carl Sagan
“Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.”
American Art – Part IV of IV: Victor Angelo
Victor Angelo studied at the University of California, San Diego; Art Students League of New York; and School of Visual Arts Manhattan New York.
Below – “Palace”; “Born of Fire”; “Femme Fatale”; “The City”; “Ghost OG.”
April Offerings – Part XXIII: Something to Delight both Head and Heart
American Art – Part I of VI: Stacy D’Aguiar
In the words of one writer, “Stacy D’Aguiar is an established San Diego artist whose work is known for having a wide range of styles from surrealistic to abstract.”
Below – “Origin”; “As Above So Below”; “Crow”; “Bedroom Eyes”; “Bogie”; “The Botanist.”
A Poem for Today
“A Workman to the Gods”
By Edwin Markham
Once Phidias stood, with hammer in his hand,
Carving Minerva from the breathing stone,
Tracing with love the winding of a hair,
A single hair upon her head, whereon
A youth of Athens cried, “O Phidias,
Why do you dally on a hidden hair?
When she is lifted to the lofty front
Of the Parthenon, no human eye will see.”
And Phidias thundered on him: “Silence, slave:
Men will not see, but the Immortals will!”
Below – “Minerva,” Roman herm, a copy after Greek original from the school of Phidias.
Born 23 April 1775 – J.M.W. Turner, an English landscape painter, watercolorist, and printmaker.
Below – “Ivy Bridge”; “Rain, Steam, and Speed – The Great Western Railway”; “Snow Storm: Hannibal and His Army Crossing the Alps”; “Heaving in Coals by Moonlight”; “Paestrum in the Storm”; “Self-Portrait.”
Fancies in Springtime: Christopher Lasch
“The contemporary climate is therapeutic, not religious. People today hunger not for personal salvation, let alone for the restoration of an earlier golden age, but for the feeling, the momentary illusion, of personal well-being, health, and psychic security.”
Literary Genius – Part I of II: Miguel de Cervantes
“It’s up to brave hearts, sir, to be patient when things are going badly, as well as being happy when they’re going well … For I’ve heard that what they call fortune is a flighty woman who drinks too much, and, what’s more, she’s blind, so she can’t see what she’s doing, and she doesn’t know who she’s knocking over or who she’s raising up.” –
Miguel de Cervantes, Spanish novelist, poet, playwright, and author of “Don Quixote,” one of the major works of Western literature, who died 23 April 1616.
Some quotes from “Don Quixote”:
“Finally, from so little sleeping and so much reading, his brain dried up and he went completely out of his mind.”
“All I know is that while I’m asleep, I’m never afraid, and I have no hopes, no struggles, no glories — and bless the man who invented sleep, a cloak over all human thought, food that drives away hunger, water that banishes thirst, fire that heats up cold, chill that moderates passion, and, finally, universal currency with which all things can be bought, weight and balance that brings the shepherd and the king, the fool and the wise, to the same level. There’s only one bad thing about sleep, as far as I’ve ever heard, and that is that it resembles death, since there’s very little difference between a sleeping man and a corpse”
“Time ripens all things; no man is born wise.”
“Remember that there are two kinds of beauty: one of the soul and the other of the body. That of the soul displays its radiance in intelligence, in chastity, in good conduct, in generosity, and in good breeding, and all these qualities may exist in an ugly man. And when we focus our attention upon that beauty, not upon the physical, love generally arises with great violence and intensity. I am well aware that I am not handsome, but I also know that I am not deformed, and it is enough for a man of worth not to be a monster for him to be dearly loved, provided he has those spiritual endowments I have spoken of.”
“Virtue is persecuted by the wicked more than it is loved by the good.”
“Drink moderately, for drunkenness neither keeps a secret, nor observes a promise.”
“Make it thy business to know thyself, which is the most difficult lesson in the world”
“‘Destiny guides our fortunes more favorably than we could have expected. Look there, Sancho Panza, my friend, and see those thirty or so wild giants, with whom I intend to do battle and kill each and all of them, so with their stolen booty we can begin to enrich ourselves. This is noble, righteous warfare, for it is wonderfully useful to God to have such an evil race wiped from the face of the earth.’
‘What giants?’ Asked Sancho Panza.
‘The ones you can see over there,’ answered his master, ‘with the huge arms, some of which are very nearly two leagues long.’
‘Now look, your grace,’ said Sancho, ‘what you see over there aren’t giants, but windmills, and what seems to be arms are just their sails, that go around in the wind and turn the millstone.’
‘Obviously,’ replied Don Quijote, ‘you don’t know much about adventures.’”
Italian painter Giuseppe Pecoraro (born 1947) lives and works in Favara, Sicily.
Fancies in Springtime: Bill Watterson
“Some days you get up and you already know that things aren’t going to go well. They’re the type of days when you should just give in, put your pajamas back on, make some hot chocolate and read comic books in bed with the covers up until the world looks more encouraging. Of course, they never let you do that.”
Literary Genius – Part II of II: William Shakespeare
“Many a good hanging prevents a bad marriage.” – William Shakespeare, English poet, playwright, actor, and both the greatest writer in the English language and the world’s pre-eminent dramatist, who died 23 April 1616.
Some quotes from the work of William Shakespeare:
“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.”
“Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.”
“I would challenge you to a battle of wits, but I see you are unarmed!”
“It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.”
“We know what we are, but not what we may be.”
“Words are easy, like the wind; Faithful friends are hard to find.”
“To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, ’tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish’d. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law’s delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover’d country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.”
“All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.”
American Art – Part II of VI: Gregory Calibey
Painter Gregory Calibey (born 1959) studied fine art at Wesleyan University and the University of North Carolina. Among the artists who have influenced him, he cites Degas, Sargent, and Rodin.
A Second Poem for Today
“Safe”
You used to be able to flag a ride in this country.
Impossible now—everyone is afraid
of strangers. Well, there was fear then too,
and it was mutual: drivers versus hitchhikers.
And we rode without seat belts,
insurance or beliefs. People
would see me far ahead on a hill like a seedling,
watch me grow in the windshield
and not know they were going to stop until
they got right up to me. Maybe they wanted
company or thought I’d give them
some excitement. It was the age
of impulse, of lonesome knee jerks. An old woman
stopped, blew smoke in my face
and after I was already in her car she asked me
if I wanted a ride. I’m telling you.
Late one night a construction boss pulled over.
One of his crew had been hit
by the mob, he said as he drove, distraught
and needing to talk to someone.
We rode around for a long time.
He said, ‘I never wore a gun to a funeral before,
but they’ve gotta be after me too.’
Then he looked at me and patted the bulge
in his coat. ‘Don’t worry,’ he said, ‘you’re safe.’
Latvian painter Laura Ozola (born 1981) earned a degree in textile design from the Riga College of Applied Arts.
Fancies in Springtime: Thomm Quackenbush
“Snow is both our best friend and worst enemy. Best friend because it shows us in a concrete form the paths others have taken to get where they are. Worst enemy because it will tell such tales of us if we chance upon it. I find poetry in snow that cannot be resisted. In a way, it is the closest to time travel most civilians will ever manage.”
A Third Poem for Today
“The Quarrel”
If there were a monument
to silence, it would not be
the tree whose leaves
If there were a monument
to silence, it would be you
standing so upright, so unforgiving,
your mute back deflecting
every word I say.
In the words of one art historian, “The artwork of Gabriel Bonmati (1928-2005) is a mixture of choice ingredients inspired by his travels around the world. It all started in Morocco in 1928, when he was born into a French/Spanish household. He began his studies in French, which eventually lead him to the Paris School of Fine Arts. From 1952-1965 he taught at a girls’ high school in Casablanca. At that time, he was also painting and began to exhibit his work in 1965. The same year he was appointed head of the Educational Documentation Center at the Nice Academy by the French ministry of Education. Although he had a successful career, he continued to paint and exhibit in Menton, Monte Carlo and Nice.
Growing up in Morocco, educated in France, and inspired by Quebec, Gabriel Bonmati dismisses nothing he was exposed to. His romantic paintings are an accumulation of his travels and experiences. He often paints women of nobility that are adorned with bejeweled headdresses in a middle-eastern décor, seemingly set in the mountains of Charlevoix. Every so often, he incorporates symbolic royal elements like kings and horses into his pieces. Most striking are his delicate female figures that seem to invite the viewer into the Bonmati world. In this imaginary world, they are the queens and we are their subordinates.”
Nobel Laureate: Halldor Laxness
“Whoever doesn’t live in poetry cannot survive here on earth.” – Halldor Laxness, Icelandic writer, author of “Independent People,” and recipient of the 1955 Nobel Prize in Literature “for his vivid epic power which has renewed the great narrative art of Iceland,” who was born 23 April 1902.
Some quotes from the work of Halldor Laxness:
“Human beings, in point of fact, are lonely by nature, and one should feel sorry for them and love them and mourn with them. It is certain that people would understand one another better and love one another more if they would admit to one another how lonely they were, how sad they were in their tormented, anxious longings and feeble hopes.”
“Shortly afterwards it started raining, very innocently at first, but the sky was packed tight with cloud and gradually the drops grew bigger and heavier, until it was autumn’s dismal rain that was falling—rain that seemed to fill the entire world with its leaden beat, rain suggestive in its dreariness of everlasting waterfalls between the planets, rain that thatched the heavens with drabness and brooded oppressively over the whole countryside, like a disease, strong in the power of its flat, unvarying monotony, its smothering heaviness, its cold, unrelenting cruelty. Smoothly, smoothly it fell, over the whole shire, over the fallen marsh grass, over the troubled lake, the iron-grey gravel flats, the sombre mountain above the croft, smudging out every prospect. And the heavy, hopeless, interminable beat wormed its way into every crevice in the house, lay like a pad of cotton wool over the ears, and embraced everything, both near and far, in its compass, like an unromantic story from life itself that has no rhythm and no crescendo, no climax, but which is nevertheless overwhelming in its scope, terrifying in its significance. And at the bottom of this unfathomed ocean of teeming rain sat the little house and its one neurotic woman.”
“This was the first time that he has ever looked into the labyrinth of the human soul. He was very far from understanding what he saw. But what was of more value, he felt and suffered with her. In years that were yet to come, he relived this memory in song, in the most beautiful song this world has known. For the understanding of the soul’s defenselessness, of the conflict between the two poles, is not the source of the greatest song. The source of the greatest song is sympathy.”
“One boy’s footprints are not long in being lost in the snow, in the steadily falling snow of the shortest day, the longest night; they are lost as soon as they are made. And once again the heath is clothed in drifting white. And there is no ghost, save the one ghost that lives in the heart of a motherless boy, till his footprints disappear.”
“But he could not help it. No one can help it. One is a realist. One has put up with it all ever since childhood; one has had the courage to look it full in the eye, possibly courage enough to look it in the eye all one’s life long. Then one day the distances beckon with their floating possibilities, and in one’s hands are the admission tickets, two slips of blue paper. One is a realist no longer. One has finished putting up with it all, one no longer has the courage to look it in the eye, one is in the power of beckoning hospitable distances, floating possibilities, perhaps forever afterwards. Perhaps one’s life is over.”
“Strange though it may seem, people rarely show such enthusiasm as when they are seeking the proof of a ghost story—the soul gathers all this sort of thing to its hungry bosom.”
“The tyranny of mankind; it was like the obstinate drip of water falling on a stone and hollowing it little by little; and this drip continued, falling obstinately, falling without pause on the souls of the children.”
“And when the spring breezes blow up the valley; when the spring sun shines on last year’s withered grass on the river banks; and on the lake; and on the lake’s two white swans; and coaxes the new grass out of the spongy soil in the marshes – who could believe on such a day that this peaceful, grassy valley brooded over the story of our past; and over its spectres?”
“The farm brook ran down from the mountain in a straight line for the fold then swerved to the west to go its way down into the marshes. There were two knee-high falls in it and two pools, knee-deep. At the bottom there was shingle, pebbles and sand. It ran in many curves. Each curve had its own tone, but not one of them was dull; the brook was merry and music-loving, like youth, but yet with various strings, and it played its music without thought of any audience and did not care though no one heard for a hundred years, like the true poet.”
is of more account than the height of a roof beam. I ought to know; mine cost me eighteen years’ slavery. The man who lives on his own land is an independent man. He is his own master. If I can keep my sheep alive through winter and can pay what has been stipulated from year to year – then I pay what has been stipulated; and I have kept my sheep alive. No, it is freedom that we are all after, Titla. He who pays his way is a king. He who keeps his sheep alive through the winter lives in a palace.”
Fancies in Springtime: Neil deGrasse Tyson
“We spend the first year of a child’s life teaching it to walk and talk and the rest of its life to shut up and sit down. There’s something wrong there.”
American Art – Part III of VI: Darrell Hill
Painter Darrell Hill (born 1941) received formal art instruction at the College of the Sequoias, Fresno State University, and Brooks Institute School of Fine Art in Santa Barbara.”
A Fourth Poem for Today
“What the Frost Casts Up”
Ed Ochester
A crown of handmade nails, as though
there were a house here once, burned,
where we’ve gardened for fifteen years;
the ceramic top of an ancient fuse;
this spring the tiny head of a plastic doll—
not much compared to what they find
in England, where every now and then
a coin of the Roman emperors, Severus
or Constantius, works its way up, but
something, as though nothing we’ve
ever touched wants to stay in the earth,
the patient artifacts waiting, having been lost
or cast away, as though they couldn’t bear
the parting, or because they are the only
messengers from lives that were important once,
waiting for the power of the frost
to move them to the mercy of our hands.
Polish painter Grażyna Smalej earned her MFA degree from the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow.
Fancies in Springtime: Miriam Joy
“In the darkness and the snow, the street is empty
and it is just the night, the ice and me.”
Here is the brief Artist Statement of painter Fiona Vermeeren: “I’m an artist, illustrator, and muralist working in Melbourne, Australia.”
Fancies in Springtime: Robert Thurman
“To finish building the free society dreamed of by Washington, Franklin, and Jefferson, we must draw upon the resources of the enlightened imagination, which can be systematically developed by the spiritual sciences of India and Tibet. We have not yet tamed our own demons of racism, nationalism, sexism, and materialism. We have not yet made peace with a land we took by force and have only partly paid for. We are a teeming conglomeration of people from different tribes who have yet to embrace fully the humanness in one another. And none of us can be really free until all of us are.”
Spanish Art – Part I of III: Goyo Dominguez
Here is one critic describing the artistry of Spanish painter Goyo Dominguez (born 1960): “Goyo is one of those very few, enviable characters who very early in life realize that haste and noise are the principal enemies of happiness. He soon chose, both in his life and in his art, the road of wisdom; taking him far away from sterile competition and useless ambition, from false gods and passing glory. This is the way he found the peace and quiet that stimulate his soul.”
And from a second critic: “It is from within this state of peace that Goyo Dominguez composes his festive, alluring paintings, using his brilliant draftsmanship from several years in art school, his distinct mixture of dulled and bright colors, and his fascinating juxtaposition of detailed countenances and blurred backgrounds to transcend reality entirely. Goyo’s faith in and dependence on his paintings is clearly evident: he speaks through his subjects, and pleadingly gazes back at the viewer through his figures’ eyes.”
Fancies in Springtime: Gore Vidal
“How marvelous books are, crossing worlds and centuries, defeating ignorance and, finally, cruel time itself.”
Spanish Art –Part II of III: Matias Quetglas
Painter Matias Quetglas (born 1946) is a graduate of the School of Fine Arts in Madrid.
Fancies in Springtime: Joel Garreau
“He raises a copy of a poster. On the left is a quote from The New York Times dated October 9, 1903. It says,’ The flying machine which will really fly might be evolved by the combined and continuous efforts of mathematicians in from one million to ten million years’. On the right is a quote from Orville Wright’s diary, dated October 9, 1903. ‘We started assembly today’ it says.”
“Fish say, they have their Stream and Pond;
But is there anything Beyond?” – Rupert Brooke, English poet and soldier, who died 23 April 1915.
“The Soldier”
If I should die, think only this of me:
That there’s some corner of a foreign field
That is for ever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
A body of England’s, breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.
And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,
In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.
Below – Rupert Brooke’s grave on the Greek Island of Skyros – “some corner of a foreign field/That is for ever England.”
Spanish Art – Part III of III: Josep Moncada Juaneda
Artist Josep Moncada Juaneda (born 1967) trained as a painter at both the Massana and the Llotja Schools of Art in Barcelona.
Fancies in Springtime: Anthony Biglan
“Nearly all problems of human behavior stem from our failure to ensure that people live in environments that nurture their well-being.”
Below – Stow Lake Bridge, Golden Gate Park.
From the Music Archives – Part I of II: Sergei Prokofiev
Born 23 April 1891 – Sergei Prokofiev, a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor.
Fancies in Springtime: Martin J. Rees
“The science done by the young Einstein will continue as long as our civilization, but for civilization to survive, we’ll need the wisdom of the old Einstein — humane, global and farseeing. And whatever happens in this uniquely crucial century will resonate into the remote future and perhaps far beyond the Earth.”
American Art – Part IV of VI: Julio Reyes
Artist Statement: “Beyond my parents, there exists an incredible family saga, transmitted to me around dinner tables and fireplaces one story at a time. Through those experiences, I learned that I come from a long line of Indians, witch doctors, and bootleggers, a lineage that stretches out across Mexico, and the American Southwest. I suppose it was there with my family that I got what I really needed to be an artist. It was in family and hearth that I discovered what it meant to feel deeply about things – the ability to move and be moved by others. At that dinner table, my soul was built up and made larger with noble thoughts. I learned that there were sacred things in life, and that I should devote myself to knowing them.
Very simply, I want to create art for the rest of my life according to my highest calling and fullest abilities — all else stems from this really. If I can transmit, through my work, even the smallest semblance of the love and awe that I have for life – I will have truly done something… I want to look back on a life of meaningful and serious works of art. Art that stands against the growing nihilism of our time, and with fixed purpose celebrates the beauty and immensity of life.”
Fancies in Springtime: Robert M. Pirsig
“But to tear down a factory or to revolt against a government or to avoid repair of a motorcycle because it is a system is to attack effects rather than causes; and as long as the attack is upon effects only, no change is possible. The true system, the real system, is our present construction of systematic thought itself, rationality itself, and if a factory is torn down but the rationality which produced it is left standing, then that rationality will simply produce another factory. If a revolution destroys a systematic government, but the systematic patterns of thought that produced that government are left intact, then those patterns will repeat themselves in the succeeding government. There’s so much talk about the system. And so little understanding.”
From the Music Archives – Part II of II: Roy Orbison
“Love hurts, love scars, love wounds, and mars.” – Roy Orbison, American singer-songwriter dubbed by one critic “the Caruso of Rock,” who was born 23 April 1936.
A Fifth Poem for Today
“Santa Paula”
There’s a woman kissing a cowboy
across the street. His eight-year-old son
watches from the bus stop bench.
She’s really planting one on him,
his Stetson in danger.
It must have been some weekend.
Seeing no room in that embrace for himself,
the boy measures his future, legs
straight out in front of him.
Both hands hold onto a suitcase handle,
thin arms ready to prove themselves.
Fancies in Springtime: John Jeremiah Sullivan
“If we are part of nature, then we are synonymous with it at the metaphysical level, every bit as much as the first all-but-inorganic animalcules that ever formed a chain of themselves in the blow hole of a primordial sea vent. There is no magic rod that comes down three hundred thousand years ago and divides our essence from the material world that produced us. This means that we cannot speak in essential terms of nature—neither of its brutality nor of its beauty—and hope to say anything true, if what we say isn’t true of ourselves.
The importance of that proposition becomes clear only when it’s reversed: What’s true of us is true of nature. If we are conscious, as our species seems to have become, then nature is conscious. Nature became conscious in us, perhaps in order to observe itself. It may be holding us out and turning us around like a crab does its eyeball. Whatever the reason, that thing out there, with the black holes and the nebulae and whatnot, is conscious. One cannot look in the mirror and rationally deny this. It experiences love and desire, or thinks it does. The idea is enough to render the Judeo-Christian cosmos sort of quaint.”
American Art – Part V of VI: Daniel Sprick
Painter Daniel Sprick (born 1953, in Little Rock, Arkansas) is a graduate of the National Academy of Design in New York City. He lives and works in Glenwood Springs, Colorado.
23 April 1907 – Jack London and his wife Charmian set sail from San Francisco on the Snark. London had the forty-three-foot-long boat built in anticipation of a seven-year, around-the-world cruise. Unfortunately, while in the Solomon Islands London became sick with what he feared was leprosy (it proved to be a bad case of psoriasis), and after he was forced to spend five weeks in a Sydney hospital recovering, doctors in Australia convinced him to forsake the rest of his journey and return to California.
Below – The Snark; Jack and Charmian London on board the Snark; the book in which Jack London chronicled their adventures in the South Seas; the book in which Charmian London recorded the details of their voyage.
Fancies in Springtime: Carl Sagan
“Some 3.6 million years ago, in what is now northern Tanzania, a volcano erupted, the resulting cloud of ash covering the surrounding savannahs. In 1979, the paleoanthropologist Mary Leakey found in that ash footprints – the footprints, she believes, of an early hominid, perhaps an ancestor of all the people on the Earth today. And 380,000 kilometers away, in a flat dry plain that humans have in a moment of optimism called the Sea of Tranquility, there is another footprint, left by the first human to walk another world. We have come far in 3.6 million years, and in 4.6 billion and in 15 billion.
For we are the local embodiment of a Cosmos grown to self-awareness. We have begun to contemplate our origins: starstuff pondering the stars; organized assemblages of ten billion billion billion atoms considering the evolution of atoms; tracing the long journey by which, here at least, consciousness arose. Our loyalties are to the species and the planet. We speak for Earth. Our obligation to survive is owed not just to ourselves but also to that Cosmos, ancient and vast, from which we spring.”
A Sixth Poem for Today
“I stand alone at the foot ”
By William Kloefkorn
I stand alone at the foot
Of my father’s grave,
Trembling to tell:
The door to the granary is open,
Sir,
And someone lost the bucket
To the well.
Back from the Territory – Art: Rie Munoz (Part X)
Artist Statement: “My artwork can best be described as expressionism. The term applies to work that rejects camera snapshot realism, and instead, expresses emotion by distortion and strong colors. My paintings reflect an interest in the day-to-day activities of Alaskans such as fishing, berry picking, children at play, crabbing, and whaling. I am also fascinated with the legends of Alaska’s Native people. While I find much to paint around Juneau, most of my material comes from sketching trips taken to the far corners of Alaska. I’ve taught school on King Island in the Bering Sea, traveled and sketched almost every community in Alaska.”
Back from the Territory, I share this with you, before I light out again.
Below – “Tenakee Cabin”; “Tenakee Gardener”; “Tenakee Laundry”; “Tossing Sticks”; “Trick or Treat”; “Tulips, $2”; “Tundra.”
A Seventh Poem for Today
“Veterans of the Seventies”
His army jacket bore the white rectangle
of one who has torn off his name. He sat mute
at the round table where the trip-wire veterans
ate breakfast. They were foxhole buddies
who went stateside without leaving the war.
They had the look of men who held their breath
and now their tongues. What is to say
beyond that said by the fathers who bent lower
and lower as the war went on, spines curving
toward the ground on which sons sat sandbagged
with ammo belts enough to make fine lace
of enemy flesh and blood. Now these who survived,
who got back in cargo planes emptied at the front,
lived hiddenly in the woods behind fence wires
strung through tin cans. Better an alarm
than the constant nightmare of something moving
on its belly to make your skin crawl
with the sensory memory of foxhole living.
Fancies in Springtime: Barry Lopez
“When the stories were over, four or five of us walked out the home of our host. The surrounding land, in the persistent light of a far northern summer, was still visible for miles–striated, pitched massifs of the Brooks Range; the shy, willow-lined banks of the John River flowing south from Anaktuvuk Pass; and the flat tundra plain, opening with great affirmation to the north. The landscape seemed alive because of the stories. It was precisely these ocherous tones, the kind of willow, exactly this austerity that had informed the wolverine narratives. I felt exhilaration, and a deeper confirmation of what I had heard. The mundane task that awaited me I anticipated now with pleasure. The stories had renewed in me a sense of the purpose of my life.”
American Art – Part VI of VI: Stefanie Bales
Artist Statement: “The idea of subjectivity in representation has been a common thread in my work for years, even prior to my actively pursuing it as subject or form. As our imaginations instigate exaggeration, contradiction belies our perceptions. In my work, this takes the form of merging both realist and surrealist qualities under the umbrella of romanticism, creating playful, pictorial conversations about the illusions of place and space and time. While my work is a depiction of my own visual consciousness, all creative expression reveals a facet of the collective mind, and it is this contradiction I am interested in studying.
In my current body of work, I am exploring the transitory state of reality- where figures and spaces move circuitously, day and night exist in the same plane, and our waking lives and lucid dreams collide. This develops in ‘surreal’ landscapes which represent revelations of my own A priori, while simultaneously referencing visual idioms that are a part of a collective (sub)conscious. My paintings start with one inspiration and then evolve intuitively as I respond to color, texture and subject. Whether the result references a playful daydream, a clairvoyant reality or a corporeal conception, each is in some way a contradiction in figure and form, ground and space, lightness and darkness. Each is a pictorial conversation about truth and illusion.
I am interested in documenting the ineffably personal, yet universal experiences that make up the history of our lives, and of our dreams.”
Below – “High Tide”; “Aurora”; “Winter’s Flight”; “La Jolla Sirens”; “Reverie”; from the Kaleidoscope Watercolor Series”; “Flight”; “Buffalo”; “San Fran Study”; “Castles in the Sky.”
April Offerings – Part XXII: Something to Delight both Head and Heart
Loving Our Mother: Earth Day 2016
22 April 1970 – Earth Day, founded by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson, is first observed, though the idea for such a day had been suggested a year earlier. In the words of one historian, “In 1969 at a UNESCO Conference in San Francisco, peace activist John McConnell proposed a day to honor the Earth and the concept of peace, to first be celebrated on March 21, 1970, the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere. This day of nature’s equipoise was later sanctioned in a Proclamation written by McConnell and signed by Secretary General U Thant at the United Nations.”
Some appropriate quotes for Earth Day (particularly the final one):
“Here is your country. Cherish these natural wonders, cherish the natural resources, cherish the history and romance as a sacred heritage, for your children and your children’s children. Do not let selfish men or greedy interests skin your country of its beauty, its riches or its romance.” —Theodore Roosevelt
“A true conservationist is a man who knows that the world is not given by his fathers, but borrowed from his children.” —John James Audubon
“Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth.” —Henry David Thoreau
“Perhaps a creature of so much ingenuity and deep memory is almost bound to grow alienated from his world, his fellows, and the objects around him. He suffers from a nostalgia for which there is no remedy upon earth except as it is to be found in the enlightenment of the spirit–some ability to have a perceptive rather than an exploitive relationship with his fellow creatures.” – Loren Eiseley
“Keep close to Nature’s heart… and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.” —John Muir
“The good man is the friend of all living things.” — Mahatma Gandhi
“We need the tonic of wildness … At the same time that we are earnest to explore and learn all things, we require that all things be mysterious and unexplainable, that land and sea be indefinitely wild, unsurveyed and unfathomed by us because unfathomable. We can never have enough of nature.” —Henry David Thoreau
“Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together … all things connect.” —Chief Seattle
“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” —Jane Goodall
“Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every ‘superstar,’ every ‘supreme leader,’ every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot.
Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.
The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.
It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.” – Carl Sagan
Below – The Earth Day Flag, created by John McConnell; John McConnell (1915-2012); Gaylord Nelson (1916-2005); the “Pale Blue Dot” – a photograph of the Earth taken from about six billion miles away by the Voyager 1 space probe.
American Art – Part I of VIII: Ansel Adams
“It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment.” AND “A great photograph is a full expression of what one feels about what is being photographed in the deepest sense, and is, thereby, a true expression of what one feels about life in its entirety.” – Ansel Adams, visionary American photographer and environmentalist, who died 22 April 1984.
Fancies in Springtime: John Marzluff
“To remember what bio-diversity is and why it is important, we must conserve nature close to where we live and work as well as develop distant reserves.”
Died 22 April 1957 – Roy Campbell, a South African poet and satirist.
“Reflection”
My thought has learned the lucid art
By which the willows lave their limbs
Whose form upon the water swims
Though in the air they rise apart.
For when with my delight I lie,
By purest reason unreproved,
Psyche usurps the outward eye
To trace her inward sculpture grooved
In one melodious line, whose flow
With eddying circle now invests
The rippled silver of her breasts,
Now shaves a flank of rose-lit snow,
Or rounds a cheek where sunset dies
in the black starlight of her eyes.
Below – Mary Garman, wife of Roy Campbell.
Fancies in Springtime: Robert M. Pirsig
“We take a handful of sand from the endless landscape of awareness around us and call that handful of sand the world.”
“Fashion is the science of appearance, and it inspires one with the desire to seem rather than to be.” – Henry Fielding, English novelist, dramatist, and author of “Tom Jones,” who was born 22 April 1707.
Some quotes from “Tom Jones”:
“There are a set of religious, or rather moral writers, who teach that virtue is the certain road to happiness, and vice to misery, in this world. A very wholesome and comfortable doctrine, and to which we have but one objection, namely, that it is not true.”
“Wisdom, in short, whose lessons have been represented as so hard to learn by those who never were at her school, only teaches us to extend a simple maxim universally known and followed even in the lowest life, a little farther than that life carries it. And this is, not to buy at too dear a price. Now, whoever takes this maxim abroad with him into the grand market of the world, and constantly applies it to honours, to riches, to pleasures, and to every other commodity which that market affords, is, I will venture to affirm, a wise man.”
“I look upon the vulgar observation, ‘That the devil often deserts his friends, and leaves them in the lurch,’ to be a great abuse on that gentleman’s character. Perhaps he may sometimes desert those who are only his cup acquaintance; or who, at most, are but half his; but he generally stands by those who are thoroughly his servants, and helps them off in all extremities, till their bargain expires.”
“It is much easier to make good men wise, than to make bad men good.”
“Nothing can be more reasonable, than that slaves and flatterers should exact the same taxes on all below them, which they themselves pay to all above them.”
“One of the maxims which the devil, in a late visit upon earth, left to his disciples, is, when once you are got up, to kick the stool from under you. In plain English, when you have made your fortune by the good offices of a friend, you are advised to discard him as soon as you can.”
“Men are strangely inclined to worship what they do not understand. A grand secret, upon which several imposers on mankind have totally relied for the success of their frauds.”
American Art – Part II of VIII: Sherry Krulle-Beaton
Artist Statement: “The object of my art is not to reproduce nature, but to define the essence, energies, and intensity of it. I want to create paintings that draw the viewer to them and possibly generate a significant event or joy in their lives.”
Below – “Within a Fiery Sky”; “Seeking Solitude”; “At Day’s End”;
“Poetry in Purple”; “Wooded Tapestry.”
Fancies in Springtime: Christopher Lasch
“Our growing dependence on technologies no one seems to understand or control has given rise to feelings of powerlessness and victimization. We find it more and more difficult to achieve a sense of continuity, permanence, or connection with the world around us. Relationships with others are notably fragile; goods are made to be used up and discarded; reality is experienced as an unstable environment of flickering images. Everything conspires to encourage escapist solutions to the psychological problems of dependence, separation, and individuation, and to discourage the moral realism that makes it possible for human beings to come to terms with existential constraints on their power and freedom.”
A Poem for Today
of conflict and healing, common
concepts of collective survival. . .
Memory was there all the while.
Her house, her shed, her skin,
were all the same— weathered—
and she didn’t do anything, especially,
except hum as she moved;
Memory, in essence, was unmemorable.
Yet, ask any of us who have long since left,
who have all but forgotten that adulterated place
paved over and parceled out by the powers that be,
and what we remember, without even choosing to,
is an old woman humming, sweeping, smoothing her yard: Memory.
Cuban-born painter Miguel Padura (born 1957) lives and works in Miami.
From the “Too Good Not to Quote Department”:
“Sure there are dishonest men in local government. But there are dishonest men in national government too.” – Richard Milhous Nixon, 37th President of the United States and shamelessly dishonest man, who died 22 April 1994.
Fancies in Springtime: Robert M. Pirsig
“…but the ones who go posing as moralists are the worst. Cost-free morals. Full of great ways for others to improve without any expense to themselves. There’s an ego thing in there, too. They use the morals to make someone else look inferior and that way look better themselves. It doesn’t matter what the moral code is — religious morals, political morals, racist morals, capitalist morals, feminist morals, hippie morals — they’re all the same. The moral codes change but the meanness and the egotism stay the same.”
Here is one critic describing the artistry of Chinese-born painter Zhaoming Wu (born 1955): “Wu focuses on figurative work, using live models, mainly women draped in cloth, although his repertoire includes landscapes and portraits. The curves of the body and folds in cloth remind Wu of nature, such as mountains, water, and sunrise and sunset. Wu’s style is impressionistic and moody. It has evolved from initially painting ‘quickly and spontaneously’ with exaggerated values and colors to growing more logical and conscious, according to Wu.”
Zhaoming Wu lives and works in San Francisco.
Died 22 April 1930 – Jeppe Aakjaer, a Danish poet and novelist.
“Evening”
Still, my heart, now sets the sun,
While the moor is resting,
Herds now homeward are begun,
And the stork is nesting.
Still, my heart, now sets the sun.
O’er the moor-path silence falls
As on roads so winding.
A late bumblebee is all
Keenest ears are finding.
Still, my heart, now sets the sun.
Briefly now the lapwing flies
O’er the bog-pond’s blushes,
Ere it folds its wings and lies
’Neath a roof of rushes.
Still, my heart, now sets the sun.
Eastern window-panes afar
Flare up in the gloaming,
Moorland ponds like tiny stars
Catch the sunset’s homing.
Still, my heart, now sets the sun!
Below – Per Ekstrom: “Winter Landscape”
Fancies in Springtime: John Marzluff
“Woodpeckers are natural engineers whose abandoned nest and roost cavities facilitate a great diversity of life, including birds, mammals, invertebrates, and many fungi,moss, and lichens. Without woodpeckers, birds such as chickadees and tits, swallows ans martins, bluebirds, some flycatchers, nuthatches, wood ducks, hooded mergansers, and small owls (screech, saw-whet, and pygmy) would be homeless.”
Here is one critic describing the artistry of Moldovan painter Vladimir Sorin (born 1966): “Sorin has developed a personal style that allows him to depict his subject with photorealistic clarity using traditional painting techniques combined with soft light and warm colors to create a romantic realism that is more like a dream-like ‘ultra memory.’
Sorin is an avid photographer and gets many of his ideas while cycling or hiking in the countryside with his camera. His poetic landscapes have become a part of personal collections throughout Europe and America.”
A Second Poem for Today
“Today’s News”
A slow news day, but I did like the obit about the butcher
who kept the same store for fifty years. People remembered
when his street was sweetly roaring, aproned
with flower stalls and fish stands.
The stock market wandered, spooked by presidential winks,
by micro-winds and the shadows of earnings. News was stationed
around the horizon, ready as summer clouds to thunder–
but it moved off and we covered the committee meeting
at the back of the statehouse, sat around on our desks,
then went home early. The birds were still singing,
the sun just going down. Working these long hours,
you forget how beautiful the early evening can be,
the big houses like ships turning into the night,
their rooms piled high with silence.
Fancies in Springtime: George Lakoff
“The problem with classical disembodied scientific realism is that it takes two intertwined and inseparable dimensions of all experience – the awareness of the experiencing organism and the stable entities and structures it encounters – and erects them as separate and distinct entities called subjects and objects. What disembodied realism … misses is that, as embodied, imaginative creatures, we never were separated or divorced from reality in the first place. What has always made science possible is our embodiment, not our transcendence of it, and our imagination, not our avoidance of it.”
American Art – Part III of VIII: John Randall Younger
Artist John Randall Younger studied sculpture and life drawing at the Portland School of Fine Arts in Portland, Maine. He is a self-taught painter.
“All change is not growth, as all movement is not forward.” – Ellen Glasgow, American novelist and recipient of the 1942 Pulitzer Prize for the Novel (for “In This Our Life”), who was born 22 April 1873.
Some quotes from the work of Ellen Glasgow:
“The only difference between a rut and a grave are the dimensions.”
“He knows so little and knows it so fluently.”
“To teach one’s self is to be forced to learn twice.”
“Mediocrity would always win by force of numbers, but it would win only more mediocrity.”
“There wouldn’t be half as much fun in the world if it weren’t for children and men, and there ain’t a mite of difference between them under the skins.”
“No idea is so antiquated that it was not once modern. No idea is so modern that it will not someday be antiquated.”
“No matter how vital experience might be while you lived it, no sooner was it ended and dead than it became as lifeless as the piles of dry dust in a school history book.”
“Nothing is more consuming, or more illogical, than the desire for remembrance.”
“Violence commands both literature and life, and violence is always crude and distorted.”
“What happens is not as important as how you react to what happens.”
The paintings of British artist Jennifer McRae have won numerous awards.
A Third Poem for Today
“Hospital”
I don’t know. It seems
as if the end of the world
has never happened in here.
No smoke, no
those candles you can light
in the chapel for a quarter.
They last maybe an hour
before burning out.
where we wait, I see
them pass, the surgical folk—
nurses, doctors, the guy who hangs up
the blood drop—ready for lunch,
their scrubs still starched into wrinkles,
a cheerful green or pale blue,
and the end of a joke, something
about a man who thought he could be—
what? I lose it
in their brief laughter.
Fancies in Springtime: Carl Sagan
“How thoroughly the chimps and bonobos have erased the list of purported human distinctions!-self-awareness, language, ideas and their association, reason, trade, play, choice, courage, love and altruism, laughter, concealed ovulation, kissing, face-to-face sex, female orgasm, division of labor, cannibalism, art, music, politics, and featherless bipedalism, besides tool using, tool making, and much else. Philosophers and scientists confidently offer up traits said to be uniquely human, and the apes casually knock them down–toppling the pretension that humans constitute some sort of biological aristocracy among the beings of Earth. Instead, we are more like the nouveau riche, incompletely accommodated to our recent exalted state, insecure about who we are, and trying to put as much distance as possible between us and our humble origins. It’s as if our nearest relatives, by their very existence, refute all our explanations and justifications. So as counterweights to human arrogance and pride, it is good for us that there are still apes on Earth.”
“He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men. We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals.” – Immanuel Kant, German philosopher, who was born 22 April 1724.
Some quotes from the work of Immanuel Kant:
“Immaturity is the incapacity to use one’s intelligence without the guidance of another.”
“Experience without theory is blind, but theory without experience is mere intellectual play.”
“Live your life as though your every act were to become a universal law.”
“Two things awe me most: the starry sky above me and the moral law within me.”
“All our knowledge begins with the senses, proceeds then to the understanding, and ends with reason. There is nothing higher than reason.”
“Morality is not the doctrine of how we may make ourselves happy, but how we may make ourselves worthy of happiness.”
“Always recognize that human individuals are ends, and do not use them as means to your end.”
“Seek not the favor of the multitude; it is seldom got by honest and lawful means. But seek the testimony of few; and number not voices, but weigh them.”
“Happiness is not an ideal of reason, but of imagination.”
“To be is to do.”
“Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.”
“If man makes himself a worm he must not complain when he is trodden on.”
“Even philosophers will praise war as ennobling mankind, forgetting the Greek who said: ‘War is bad in that it begets more evil than it kills.’”
“Nothing is divine but what is agreeable to reason.”
“From such crooked wood as that which man is made of, nothing straight can be fashioned.”
American Art – Part IV of VIII: Dominic Avant
Artist Statement: “I mainly work in oils on figurative and landscape subjects. Because of my passion for plein air painting, I use a strong play of light and color to create drama. This impressionistic use of color and light set on my foundation of academic drawing builds a nice marriage between Impressionism and Realism.
I have become increasingly intrigued with catching the figure in natural moments. In my painting of my son Dean I was struck by a child’s fascination and peaceful innocence as he played with a green bucket in the water and sand oblivious of time. It is just this type of moment that I strive for in my figurative work. I have been doing commissions now for several years.
Whether I am doing landscape or figurative works I strive to capture the essence and the true beauty of the subject. I believe nature is
A Fourth Poem for Today
“Yellowjackets”
Fancies in Springtime: Toni Morrison
“Outside, snow solidified itself into graceful forms. The peace of winter stars seemed permanent.”
“The cradle rocks above an abyss, and common sense tells us that our existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness.” – Vladimir Nabokov, Russian-American novelist, lepidopterist, and author of “Lolita” and “Pale Fire,” who was born 22 April 1899.
Some quotes from the work of Vladimir Nabokov:
“Literature and butterflies are the two sweetest passions known to man.”
“Revelation can be more perilous than Revolution.”
“Complacency is a state of mind that exists only in retrospective: it has to be shattered before being ascertained.”
“Nothing revives the past so completely as a smell that was once associated with it.”
“There is nothing in the world that I loathe more than group activity, that communal bath where the hairy and slippery mix in a multiplication of mediocrity.”
“My loathings are simple: stupidity, oppression, crime, cruelty, soft music.”
“A work of art has no importance whatever to society. It is only important to the individual.”
“Existence is a series of footnotes to a vast, obscure, unfinished masterpiece.”
“I think it is all a matter of love: the more you love a memory, the stronger and stranger it is.”
“To play safe, I prefer to accept only one type of power: the power of art over trash, the triumph of magic over the brute.”
“Life is a great sunrise. I do not see why death should not be an even greater one.”
“I confess, I do not believe in time.”
“I cannot conceive how anybody in his right mind should go to a psychoanalyst.”
“Poetry involves the mysteries of the irrational perceived through rational words.”
“It is hard, I submit, to loathe bloodshed, including war, more than I do, but it is still harder to exceed my loathing of the very nature of totalitarian states in which massacre is only an administrative detail.”
“Some people, and I am one of them, hate happy ends. We feel cheated. Harm is the norm.”
“Nothing is more exhilarating than philistine vulgarity.”
“Satire is a lesson, parody is a game.”
“The good, the admirable reader identifies himself not with the boy or the girl in the book, but with the mind that conceived and composed that book.”
“The breaking of a wave cannot explain the whole sea.”
“Let all of life be an unfettered howl. Like the crowd greeting the gladiator. Don’t stop to think, don’t interrupt the scream, exhale, release life’s rapture.”
American Art – Part V of VIII: Craig Nelson
Here is one critic describing the artistry of painter Craig Nelson: “For over 30 years, Craig Nelson has been depicting figures landscapes and various environments in rich vibrant oils. His passion for the subjects relates directly to his brushwork, weaving mood and emotion into each work of art.”
“We look at the world once, in childhood. The rest is memory.” –
Louise Gluck, American poet and 12th U.S. Poet Laureate, who was born 22 April 1943.
“A Summer Garden”
Several weeks ago I discovered a photograph of my mother
sitting in the sun, her face flushed as with achievement or triumph.
The sun was shining. The dogs
were sleeping at her feet where time was also sleeping,
calm and unmoving as in all photographs.
I wiped the dust from my mother’s face.
Indeed, dust covered everything; it seemed to me the persistent
haze of nostalgia that protects all relics of childhood.
In the background, an assortment of park furniture, trees and shrubbery.
The sun moved lower in the sky, the shadows lengthened and darkened.
The more dust I removed, the more these shadows grew.
Summer arrived. The children
leaned over the rose border, their shadows
merging with the shadows of the roses.
A word came into my head, referring
to this shifting and changing, these erasures
that were now obvious—
it appeared, and as quickly vanished.
Was it blindness or darkness, peril, confusion?
Summer arrived, then autumn. The leaves turning,
the children bright spots in a mash of bronze and sienna.
2
When I had recovered somewhat from these events,
I replaced the photograph as I had found it
between the pages of an ancient paperback,
many parts of which had been
annotated in the margins, sometimes in words but more often
in spirited questions and exclamations
meaning “I agree” or “I’m unsure, puzzled—”
The ink was faded. Here and there I couldn’t tell
what thoughts occurred to the reader
but through the bruise-like blotches I could sense
urgency, as though tears had fallen.
I held the book awhile.
It was ‘Death in Venice’ (in translation);
I had noted the page in case, as Freud believed,
nothing is an accident.
was buried again, as the past is buried in the future.
In the margin there were two words,
linked by an arrow: “sterility” and, down the page, “oblivion”—
“And it seemed to him the pale and lovely
summoner out there smiled at him and beckoned…”
3
How quiet the garden is;
no breeze ruffles the Cornelian cherry.
Summer has come.
now that life has triumphed. The rough
pillars of the sycamores
And in the middle of the sky,
the immodest god.
Things are, he says. They are, they do not change;
response does not change.
How hushed it is, the stage
as well as the audience; it seems
breathing is an intrusion.
He must be very close,
the grass is shadowless.
How quiet it is, how silent,
like an afternoon in Pompeii.
4
Beatrice took the children to the park in Cedarhurst.
The sun was shining. Airplanes
passed back and forth overhead, peaceful because the war was over.
It was the world of her imagination:
true and false were of no importance.
Freshly polished and glittering—
that was the world. Dust
had not yet erupted on the surface of things.
The planes passed back and forth, bound
for Rome and Paris—you couldn’t get there
unless you flew over the park. Everything
must pass through, nothing can stop—
The children held hands, leaning
to smell the roses.
They were five and seven.
Infinite, infinite—that
was her perception of time.
She sat on a bench, somewhat hidden by oak trees.
Far away, fear approached and departed;
from the train station came the sound it made.
The sky was pink and orange, older because the day was over.
There was no wind. The summer day
cast oak-shaped shadows on the green grass.
Fancies in Springtime: Jerry Dennis
“There’s relief in not having to be outside. No gardening, no mowing the lawn, no tyranny of long daylight hours to fill with productive activity. We rip through summer, burning the hours and tearing up the land. Then snow comes like a bandage, and winter heals the wounds.”
From the Music Archives: Richie Havens
Died 22 April 2013 – Richie Havens, an American guitarist and singer-songwriter.
American Art – Part VI of VIII: Michelle Dunaway
Artist Statement: “My mother was always doing something creative, whether painting, wood carving, or stained glass… there were always art books around the house and she encouraged me to do charcoal drawings at around the age of seven. I think growing up in Alaska gave me a love of color and also, growing up in such an untamed wilderness made me aware of all the beauty that is in the everyday. My Father and I always went on adventure hikes in the wilderness, taking the ‘path less traveled.’ I think that really gave me a joy of the process of discovery that translates into the creation of art. For me, the most profound stories are found in the simplest moments. That is something I aspire to convey in my paintings.”
Fancies in Springtime: Barry Lopez
“Many Western biologists appreciate the mystery inherent in the animals they observe. They comprehend that, objectively, what they are watching is deceptively complex and, subjectively, that the animals themselves have nonhuman ways of life. They know that while experiments can be designed to reveal aspects of the animal, the animal itself will always remain larger than the sum of any set of experiments. They know they can be very precise about what they do, but that that does not guarantee they will be accurate. They know the behavior of an individual animal may differ strikingly from the generally recognized behavior of its species; and that the same species may behave quite differently from place to place, from year to year.”
A Fifth Poem for Today
“Spare Parts”
We barge out of the womb
with two of them: eyes, ears,
arms, hands, legs, feet.
Only one heart. Not a good
plan. God should know we
need at least a dozen,
a baker’s dozen of hearts.
They break like Easter eggs
hidden in the grass,
My own heart is patched,
bandaged, taped, barely
the same shape it once was
when it beat fast for you.
Fancies in Springtime: Murasaki Shikibu
“People make a great deal of the flowers of spring and the leaves of autumn, but for me a night like this, with a clear moon shining on snow, is the best — and there is not a trace of color in it. I cannot describe the effect it has on me, weird and unearthly somehow. I do not understand people who find a winter evening forbidding.”
From the Movie Archives: Jack Nicholson
Born 22 April 1937 – Jack Nicholson, an American actor, film director, producer, and writer. In the words of one movie historian, “ With twelve Academy Award nominations (eight for Best Actor and four for Best Supporting Actor), Nicholson is the most nominated male actor in Academy Awards history.”
A scene from one of Jack Nicholson’s Academy Award-winning performances (Will Sampson, portraying Chief Bromden in this scene, also deserved at least an Academy Award nomination.):
Fancies in Springtime: Miranda Dickinson
“There’s this moment, just before it happens, when everything around you goes still. It’s like that moment you get just before it snows – like nature is holding its breath … And in that moment, anything is possible, and everything you know is called into question.”
American Art – Part VII of VIII: William Whitaker
In the words of one writer, “The only son of an artist father, William Whitaker (born 1943), American painter, grew up in the special world of the working artist. He had access to the finest art materials and was painting in watercolor and oil at the age of six. His fondest early memories are of the sights sounds and smells of the art studio.
Whitaker loves to paint from life in an old fashioned studio. No matter what direction his art takes him, he always comes back to the model in the studio, the form bathed in the beautiful quiet cool light coming down from a high north window. He refers to this kind of seeing and painting as the Old Testament of art and feels there is enough magic to engage him there for the rest of his life.
He believes the value of painting is to be found in its spiritual power. Having been told all his life that the kind of painting he enjoys is dead, he takes quiet comfort in lovingly attempting to capture something the camera cannot see. He is also delighted that there are so many wonderfully talented young artists who are not bound or inhibited by contemporary art world conventions and who are out to paint beautifully crafted pictures without apology. He has been a professional artist since 1965, during which time he has conducted workshops and been a university art professor. He continues to work with one or two advanced student artists for fun. He paints about three or four hours every day ands spends the rest of the time trying not to ruin any good work he’s done.”
Fancies in Springtime: Annie Dillard
“When her doctor took her bandages off and led her into the garden, the girl who was no longer blind saw ‘the tree with the lights in it.’ It was for this tree I searched through the peach orchards of summer, in the forests of fall and down winter and spring for years. Then one day I was walking along Tinker creek and thinking of nothing at all and I saw the tree with the lights in it. I saw the backyard cedar where the mourning doves roost charged and transfigured, each cell buzzing with flame. I stood on the grass with the lights in it, grass that was wholly fire, utterly focused and utterly dreamed. It was less like seeing that like being for the first time see, knocked breathless by a powerful glance. The flood of fire abated, but I’m still spending the power. Gradually the lights went out in the cedar, the colors died, the cells un-flamed and disappeared. I was still ringing. I had been my whole life a bell and never knew it until at that moment I was lifted and struck. I have since only very rarely seen the tree with the lights in it. The vision comes and goes, mostly goes, but I live for it, for the moment the mountains open and a new light roars in spate through the crack, and the mountains slam.”
A Sixth Poem for Today
“Medical History”
I wanted it: arc of red and blue
strobing my skin, sirens singing
my praises, the cinching embrace
of the cot as the ambulance
slammed shut and steered away.
More than needle-pierce
or dragging blade, I wanted the swab
of alcohol and cotton, the promise
of gauze-covered cure.
who asked, but never me,
never the way I wanted:
her palms skimming my limbs
for injury, her fingers finding
what hurt, her lips whispering,
‘I got here just in time.’
Fancies in Springtime: Sean J. Halford
“Tears are a wonderful thing; they wash, they warm, they are the rivers that run through our minds, seeking release. In their salinity they remind us that we came from the sea. Our cells know this, and go about their machinations, ceaselessly recreating the primordial brine. We are water…”
Below – Cathleen Tarawhiti: “Woman Crying at the Beach”
Back from the Territory – Art: Rie Munoz (Part IX)
Artist Statement: “My artwork can best be described as expressionism. The term applies to work that rejects camera snapshot realism, and instead, expresses emotion by distortion and strong colors. My paintings reflect an interest in the day-to-day activities of Alaskans such as fishing, berry picking, children at play, crabbing, and whaling. I am also fascinated with the legends of Alaska’s Native people. While I find much to paint around Juneau, most of my material comes from sketching trips taken to the far corners of Alaska. I’ve taught school on King Island in the Bering Sea, traveled and sketched almost every community in Alaska.”
Back from the Territory, I share this with you, before I light out again.
Below – “Story Knife”; “Strong Dog”; “Summer Camp, Sigik”; “Summer Quartet”; “Swing, Tenakee”; “Tangled Traces.”
Fancies in Springtime: Carol Oates
“Art serves a purpose. It expands our horizons, frees our minds, and opens us up to new experiences. It opens the imagination. All these great discoveries of our time — without the desire to reach beyond our boundaries, we would be forever stagnant. The folly is in closing one’s eyes and not recognizing it.”
Below – John William Waterhouse: “I Am Half-Sick of Shadows,” Said The Lady of Shalott; a Bison, by American artist Brooke Newman.
American Art – Part VIII of VIII: Sonia Lopez-Chavez
Artist Statement: “Art is my calling, and I love every minute of it.”
Below – “That Moment”; “Conscious”; “Deep Down”; “In All Languages”; “Serenity”; “In Place”; “Corneja.”
I love the feel of marbles,
cool, smooth,
rolling freely in my palm,
like smooth-sided stars
that light up the worn world.
“I never married because there was no need. I have three pets at home which answer the same purpose as a husband. I have a dog which growls every morning, a parrot which swears all afternoon, and a cat that comes home late at night.” – Marie Corelli, British novelist, who died 21 April 1924.
A few quotes from the work of Marie Corelli:
“No one is contented in this world, I believe. There is always something left to desire, and the last thing longed for always seems the most necessary to happiness.”
“Any era that is dominated by the love of money only, has a rotten core within it and must perish.”
“What a fool cannot learn he laughs at, thinking that by his laughter he shows superiority instead of latent idiocy.”
Peruvian painter Jean Paul Zelada is a graduate of the College of Fine Arts of Trujillo.
Fancies in Springtime: L. Ashley Straker
“The Gobi wasn’t completely devoid of life; its ecosystem was unexpectedly extensive and varied given the extremes to which it subjected its denizens, but some of those forms of life weren’t the kind that Anna wanted to admire too closely.”
“For beauty being the best of all we know
Sums up the unsearchable and secret aims
Of nature.” – Robert Bridges, British poet and Poet Laureate (1913-1930), who died 21 April 1930.
“Nightingales”
BEAUTIFUL must be the mountains whence ye come,
And bright in the fruitful valleys the streams wherefrom
Ye learn your song:
Where are those starry woods? O might I wander there,
Among the flowers, which in that heavenly air
Bloom the year long!
Nay, barren are those mountains and spent the streams:
Our song is the voice of desire, that haunts our dreams,
A throe of the heart,
Whose pining visions dim, forbidden hopes profound,
No dying cadence, nor long sigh can sound,
For all our art.
Alone, aloud in the raptured ear of men
We pour our dark nocturnal secret; and then,
As night is withdrawn
From these sweet-springing meads and bursting boughs of May,
Dream, while the innumerable choir of day
Welcome the dawn.
Below – Rusty Hardin: “Nightingale”
In the words of one critic, British painter Helen Masacz (born 1968) “concerns herself with the issues of transition; from childhood to adulthood, from the changes in relationships over a lifetime and to the meaning that the passage of time imprints on all our lives.”
“The opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice, it is conformity.” – Rollo May, American existential psychologist and author of “Love and Will,” who was born 21 April 1909.
Some quotes from the work of Rollo May:
“It is an ironic habit of human beings to run faster when we have lost our way.”
“If you do not express your own original ideas, if you do not listen to your own being, you will have betrayed yourself.”
“Communication leads to community, that is, to understanding, intimacy and mutual valuing.”
“Creativity is not merely the innocent spontaneity of our youth and childhood; it must also be married to the passion of the adult human being, which is a passion to live beyond one’s death.”
“Courage is not the absence of despair; it is, rather, the capacity to move ahead in spite of despair.”
“Depression is the inability to construct a future.”
“Hate is not the opposite of love; apathy is.”
“It requires greater courage to preserve inner freedom, to move on in one’s inward journey into new realms, than to stand defiantly for outer freedom. It is often easier to play the martyr, as it is to be rash in battle.”
“One does not become fully human painlessly.”
“Human freedom involves our capacity to pause, to choose the one response toward which we wish to throw our weight.”
“Joy, rather than happiness, is the goal of life, for joy is the emotion which accompanies our fulfilling our natures as human beings. It is based on the experience of one’s identity as a being of worth and dignity.”
“Freedom is man’s capacity to take a hand in his own development. It is our capacity to mold ourselves.”
“Life comes from physical survival; but the good life comes from what we care about.
Care is a state in which something does matter; it is the source of human tenderness.”
Here is one critic describing the artistry of painter Ana Teresa Fernandez: “Growing up in Mexico, Ana Teresa Fernandez learned at an early age about the double standards imposed on women and their sexuality. Through performance-based paintings, Fernandez explores the territories that encompass these different boundaries and stereotypes: physical, emotional, and psychological.
Fernandez subverts the typical folkloric representations of Mexican women by changing the protagonist’s uniform to the quintessential little black dress, a symbol of American prosperity and femininity and of the Mexican tradition of wearing black for a year after a death. Her paintings portray actual performances where Fernandez takes on the Sisyphean task of cleaning the environment – sweeping sand on a beach, vacuuming a dirt road – to accentuate the idea of disposable labor resources.”
Fancies in Springtime: Robert M. Pirsig
“The only Zen you find on tops of mountains is the Zen you bring there.”
“Life has the dimension of a tree in the eyes of an insect. Life is a strange sense experienced by a migrating bird.” – Sohrab Sepehri, Persian poet and painter, who died 21 April 1980.
In describing Sepehri, one critic states, “Well-versed in Buddhism, mysticism and Western traditions, he mingled the Western concepts with Eastern ones, thereby creating a kind of poetry unsurpassed in the history of Persian literature. To him, new forms were new means to express his thoughts and feelings.”
“The Footsteps of Water”
Life’s a pleasant tradition.
Life’s wing is as vast as death.
Life’s a jump the size of love.
Life’s not something,
we put on the mantel of habit
and forget.
It does not matter where I am.
The sky is always mine.
Windows, ideas, air, love,
Why does it matter if sometimes,
the mushrooms of nostalgia grow?
Let’s take off our clothes.
Water is just a foot away.
Let’s have a basket and
fill it up with all the greens
and all the reds.
We are not to comprehend;
the secret of roses, but maybe
swimming in the incantation of roses.
Or may be looking for
the song of truth
There was a special moment,
All doors were open.
The garden of annihilation had appeared.
Birds of places were silent,
This silent, that silent,
The silence itself was utterance.
What was that area?
Seems an ewe and a wolf,
Standing side by side.
The shape of the sound, pale
The voice of the shape, weak
Was the curtain folded?
I was gone, he was gone,
We had lost us.
Every river had become a sea,
Every being had become a Buddha.
Below – “The Sound of the Garden”; “Pomegranates and Desire”; “The Mystery of the Rose”; “The Pulse of the Flowers.”
Fancies in Springtime: Andrea Pirlo
“Becoming a footballer is only the first half of the silent prayer a kid offers up to the sky or confides to his teacher in a primary school essay. The second part is the name of the team he wants to play for.”
Polish painter Anna Masiul-Gozdecka graduated from the Warsaw Academy of Arts in 2000.
American Comic Genius – Part I of II: Josh Billings
“There is only one good substitute for the endearments of a sister, and that is the endearments of some other fellow’s sister.” – Josh Billings, the pen name of Henry Wheeler Shaw, American writer, humorist, lecturer, and friend of Mark Twain, who was born 21 April 1818.
Some quotes from the work of Josh Billings:
“A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself.”
“Advice is like castor oil, easy to give, but dreadful to take.”
“As long as we are lucky we attribute it to our smartness; our bad luck we give the gods credit for.”
“As scarce as truth is, the supply has always been in excess of the demand.”
“Be like a postage stamp. Stick to one thing until you get there.”
“Common sense is the knack of seeing things as they are, and doing things as they ought to be done.” “Don’t mistake pleasure for happiness. They are a different breed of dog.”
“Don’t take the bull by the horns, take him by the tail; then you can let go when you want to.” “Experience is a school where a man learns what a big fool he has been.”
“Flattery is like cologne water: to be smelt, not swallowed.”
“Half of the troubles of this life can be traced to saying yes too quickly and not saying no soon enough.”
“Health is like money, we never have a true idea of its value until we lose it.”
“I hate to be a kicker, I always long for peace, But the wheel that does the squeaking, Is the one that gets the grease.”
“It is much easier to repent of sins that we have committed than to repent of those we intend to commit.”
“It’s not ignorance does so much damage; it’s knowin’ so derned much that ain’t so.”
“Life consists not in holding good cards but in playing those you hold well.”
“Man was created a little lower than the angels, and has been getting lower ever since.”
“Most people repent their sins by thanking God they ain’t so wicked as their neighbor.”
“Motivation and inspiration energize people, not by pushing them in the right direction as control mechanisms do but by satisfying basic human needs for achievement, a sense of belonging, recognition, self-esteem, a feeling of control over one’s life, and the ability to live up to one’s ideals. Such feelings touch us deeply and elicit a powerful response.” “Never work before breakfast; if you have to work before breakfast, eat your breakfast first.”
“One of the rarest things that a man ever does is to do the best he can.”
“Silence is one of the hardest arguments to refute.”
“The best way to convince a fool he is wrong is to let him have his way.”
“The man whose only pleasure in life is making money weighs less on the moral scale than an angleworm.”
“There are lots of people who mistake their imagination for their memory.”
“There are some people so addicted to exaggeration that they can’t tell the truth without lying.”
“There may come a time when the lion and the lamb will lie down together, but I am still betting on the lion.”
“Time is like money, the less we have of it to spare the further we make it go.”
“When a man comes to me for advice, I find out the kind of advice he wants, and I give it to him.”
Italian painter Davide Puma (born 1971) lives and works in Imperia, Italy.
Fancies in Springtime: Alex Nye
“All around him the branches of the trees had frozen solid, reaching out white fingers of glass that looked as if they would shatter in any breeze, or chime like musical bells. The world looked strangely magical.”
Japanese painter Kaoru Saito (born 1931) lives and works in Hayama.
American Comic Genius – Part II of II: Mark Twain
“The man who is a pessimist before 48 knows too much; if he is an optimist after it he knows too little.” – Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by his pen name Mark Twain, American writer, humorist, and author of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” who died 21 April 1910.
Some quotes from the work of Mark Twain:
“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”
“Sometimes too much to drink is barely enough.”
“Never put off ‘til tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow.”
“If the world comes to an end, I want to be in Cincinnati. Everything comes there ten years later.”
“Concerning the difference between man and the jackass: some observers hold that there isn’t any. But this wrongs the jackass.”
“I didn’t attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it.”
“I am quite sure now that often, very often, in matters concerning religion and politics a man’s reasoning powers are not above the monkey’s.”
“It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either of them.”
“Familiarity breeds contempt – and children.”
“Let us make a special effort to stop communicating with each other, so we can have some conversation.”
“Of the demonstrably wise there are but two: those who commit suicide, and those who keep their reasoning faculties atrophied with drink.”
“Heaven goes by favor. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in.”
“Life would be infinitely happier if we could only be born at the age of eighty and gradually approach eighteen.”
American Art – Part II of V: Roy Kerckhoffs
Artist Statement: “In my work I enjoy conveying a story of a place with a history. I love bold textures as these are created by passing time, therefore putting emphasis on bygone days. In particular, I aim to show the beauty that exists in human-made wooden, concrete and steel structures contrasting with soft organic forms from nature. My favorite subjects are industrial objects, ghost towns and coastal themes with an element of human origin in it. To obtain my goal I portray these by high-contrast black and white photographs and hand color the photographs with an oil-based paint, using similar techniques as in the early days of photography. My frames have a relation with the subject matter, such that the final product is an integrated whole.”
Fancies in Springtime: Russell Hoban
“An ordinary mirror is silvered at the back but the window of the night train has darkness behind the glass. My face and the faces of other travellers were now mirrored on this darkness in a succession of stillnesses. Consider this, said the darkness: any motion at any speed is a succession of stillnesses; any section through an action will show just such a plane of stillness as this dark window in which your seeking face is mirrored. And in each plane of stillness is the moment of clarity that makes you responsible for what you do.”
A Second Poem for Today
“Car Showroom”
Day after day, along with his placid
automobiles, that well-groomed
sallow young man had been waiting for
me, as in the cheerful, unchanging
weather of a billboard—pacing
the tiles, patting his tie, knotting, un-
knotting the façade of his smile
while staring out the window.
He was so bad at the job
he reminded me of myself
the summer I failed
at selling ‘Time’ and ‘Life’ in New Jersey.
Even though I was a boy
I could feel someone else’s voice
crawl out of my mouth,
spoiling every word,
like this cowed, polite kid in his tie
and badge that said ‘Greg,’
saying ‘Ma’am’ to my wife, calling
me ‘Sir,’ retailing the air with such piety
I had to find anything out the window.
Maybe the rain. It was gray
and as honestly wet as ever. Something
we could both believe.
Here is the Artist Statement of painter Valery Koroshilov: ”I was born in Russia and received an architectural education.
Fifteen years ago I found a home in Britain. I work in two studios: one in London, and one on the Greek Island of Samos, where I travel every summer to paint.
My artistic career started in 1992 after an exhibition of graphic works in Amsterdam. That first public exposure led to the invitations from three more galleries to show my work. Since then I exhibit regularly, and have participated in more than 100 exhibitions worldwide.”
Fancies in Springtime: Stephen L. Burns
“Science has an unfortunate habit of discovering information politicians don’t want to hear, largely because it has some bearing on reality.”
Defending the Land – Part I of II: John Muir
“When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.” – John Muir, Scottish-American naturalist, author, advocate of preservation of wilderness in the United States, and founder of the Sierra Club, who was born 21 April 1838.
Some quotes from the work of John Muir:
“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of Autumn.”
“The sun shines not on us but in us.”
“I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.”
“Going to the mountains is going home.”
“I am losing precious days. I am degenerating into a machine for making money. I am learning nothing in this trivial world of men. I must break away and get out into the mountains to learn the news.”
“Not blind opposition to progress, but opposition to blind progress.”
“When we contemplate the whole globe as one great dewdrop, striped and dotted with continents and islands, flying through space with other stars all singing and shining together as one, the whole universe appears as an infinite storm of beauty.”
“We all travel the Milky Way together, trees and men.”
“How narrow we selfish conceited creatures are in our sympathies! How blind to the rights of all the rest of creation!”
“The mountains are calling and I must go.”
Spanish artist Noguero Iglesias (born 1971) earned a degree in Painting from the Department of Fine Arts of Santa Isabela of Hungary University.
Fancies in Springtime: John Marzluff
“Those of us who retain dead trees or place nest boxes in our yards enjoy the wonder of watching woodpeckers listen and dig for termites; we are serenaded by wrens; and we benefit from the appetites of swallow, chickadee, bluebird, and flycatcher broods that are sated on insects, including pesky mosquitoes.”
Defending the Land – Part II of II: Aldo Leopold
“We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see the land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.” – Aldo Leopold, American scientist, ecologist, writer, forester, environmentalist, author of “Sand County Almanac,” and elaborator of “The Land Ethic,” who died 21 April 1948.
A few quotes from “Sand County Almanac”:
“One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds. Much of the damage inflicted on land is quite invisible to laymen. An ecologist must either harden his shell and make believe that the consequences of science are none of his business, or he must be the doctor who sees the marks of death in a community that believes itself well and does not want to be told otherwise.”
“Our ability to perceive quality in nature begins, as in art, with the pretty. It expands through successive stages of the beautiful to values as yet uncaptured by language.”
“To those devoid of imagination a blank place on the map is a useless waste; to others, the most valuable part.”
“Cease being intimidated by the argument that a right action is impossible because it does not yield maximum profits, or that a wrong action is to be condoned because it pays.”
“The modern dogma is comfort at any cost.”
“Some paintings become famous because, being durable, they are viewed by successive generations, in each of which are likely to be found a few appreciative eyes.
I know a painting so evanescent that it is seldom viewed at all, except by some wandering deer. It is a river who wields the brush, and it is the same river who, before I can bring my friends to view his work, erases it forever from human view. After that it exists only in my mind’s eye.
Like other artists, my river is temperamental; there is no predicting when the mood to paint will come upon him, or how long it will last. But in midsummer, when the great white fleets cruise the sky for day after flawless day, it is worth strolling down to the sandbars just to see whether he has been at work.”
American Art – Part III of V: Sabin Howard
In the words of one critic, “The Torino-born sculptor Sabin Howard grew up in New York City and in Torino, Italy. He studied art at the Philadelphia College of Art and then earned his MFA from the New York Academy of Art. For twenty years, he taught at the graduate and undergraduate levels. He has been elected to the board of the National Sculpture Society. He has received numerous commissions and has showed his work at more than fifty solo and group shows.”
According to a second critic, “Sabin Howard is a sculptor whose work radiates a startling presence while finding its roots in the classical past. …Howard mixes Roman gods with abstract forms and sees himself as a new kind of Renaissance figure-the artist-businessman with his own Medici clients. His bronze sculptures exert an outward pressure against their own metal skin, textured in pointillist marks. Formally and technically, the work is wonderfully compelling.”
Fancies in Springtime: Ken Kesey
“I realized I still had my eyes shut. I had shut them when I put my face to the screen, like I was scared to look outside. Now I had to open them. I looked out the window and saw for the first time how the hospital was out in the country. The moon was low in the sky over the pastureland; the face of it was scarred and scuffed where it had just torn up out of the snarl of scrub oak and madrone trees on the horizon. The stars up close to the moon were pale; they got brighter and braver the farther they got out of the circle of light ruled by the giant moon. I was off on a hunt with Papa and the uncles and I lay rolled in blankets Grandma had woven, lying off a piece from where the men hunkered around the fire as they passed a quart jar of cactus liquor in a silent circle. I watched that big Oregon prairie moon above me put all the stars around it to shame. I kept awake watching, to see if the moon ever got dimmer or the stars got brighter, till the dew commenced to drift onto my cheeks and I had to pull a blanket over my head.”
A Third Poem for Today
“Part of a Legacy”
I take pillows outdoors to sun them
as my mother did. “Keeps bedding fresh,”
she said. It was April then, too—
buttercups fluffing their frail sails,
one striped bee humming grudges, a crinkle
of jonquils. Weeds reclaimed bare ground.
All of these leaked somehow
into the pillows, looking odd where they
simmered all day, the size of hams, out of place
on grass. And at night I could feel
some part of my mother still with me
in the warmth of my face as I dreamed
baseball and honeysuckle, sleeping
on sunlight.
Here is one writer describing the artistry of German painter Siegfried Zademack (born 1952): “Siegfried Zademack’s surrealistic visionary paintings make recipients and reviewers wonder. The arrangement of his pictorial thoughts immensely exceeds a realistic reproduction. His pictures allow us to slip in metaphysical dimensions, between humorous irony and the unfathomable deepness of our souls.”
The first painting posted below is called “North Sea (after a scene in J. W. Waterhouse).” The scene Zademack alludes to is the Waterhouse painting “Hylas and the Nymphs,” which I have placed immediately after the Zademack work for instructive comparison.
Fancies in Springtime: Christopher Lasch
“The best defenses against the terrors of existence are the homely comforts of love, work, and family life, which connect us to a world that is independent of our wishes yet responsive to our needs. It is through love and work, as Freud noted in a characteristically pungent remark, that we exchange crippling emotional conflict for ordinary unhappiness. Love and work enable each of us to explore a small corner of the world and to come to accept it on its own terms. But our society tends either to devalue small comforts or else to expect too much of them. Our standards of ‘creative, meaningful work’ are too exalted to survive disappointment. Our ideal of ‘true romance’ puts an impossible burden on personal relationships. We demand too much of life, too little of ourselves.”
A Fourth Poem for Today
“In Your Absence”
I can’t stop my own life
from hurrying by.
The moon, already pacing.
Fancies in Springtime: John A. Byers
“It is hypocritical to exhort the Brazilians to conserve their rainforest after we have already destroyed the grassland ecosystem that occupied half the continent when we found it. A large-scale grassland restoration project would give us some moral authority when we seek conservation abroad.
I must admit that I also like the idea because it would mean a better home for pronghorn, currently pushed by agriculture into marginal habitats-The high sagebrush deserts of the West. I would love to return the speedsters to their evolutionary home, the Floor of the Sky. Imagine a huge national reserve where anyone could see what caused Lewis and Clark to write with such enthusiasm in their journals-the sea of grass and flowers dotted with massive herds of bison, accompanied by the dainty speedsters and by great herds of elk. Grizzly bears and wolves would patrol the margins of the herds and coyotes would at last be reduced to their proper place. The song of the meadowlarks would pervade the prairie and near water the spring air would ring with the eerie tremolos of snipe.”
American Art – Part IV of V: Pam Powell
Artist Statement: “I have a passion for the human figure and love the variety of expression in the human form. I want my paintings to be like visual poems, condensing time, creating a mood and evoking an emotion. People who buy my paintings often ask me to tell them the story in the painting, but I’ve learned that it’s better not to tell my story. The painting must speak to the person who views it.”
A Fifth Poem for Today
“Twilight: After Haying”
Yes, long shadows go out
from the bales; and yes, the soul
must part from the body:
what else could it do?
The men sprawl near the baler,
too tired to leave the field.
They talk and smoke,
and the tips of their cigarettes
blaze like small roses
in the night air. (It arrived
and settled among them
go out with the song of the bird;
the ravaged field
Below – Marc Bohne: “Twilight Hay Bales”
Fancies in Springtime: Ryszard Kapuscinski
“There is something in this January Siberian landscape that overpowers, oppresses, stuns. Above all, it is its enormity, its boundlessness, its oceanic limitlessness. The earth has no end here; the world has no end. Man is not created for such measureless. For him a comfortable, palpable, serviceable measure is the measure of his village, his field, street, house. At sea, the size of the ship’s deck will be such a measure. Man is created for the kind of space that he can traverse at one try, with a single effort.”
Back from the Territory – Art: Rie Munoz (Part VIII)
Artist Statement: “My artwork can best be described as expressionism. The term applies to work that rejects camera snapshot realism, and instead, expresses emotion by distortion and strong colors. My paintings reflect an interest in the day-to-day activities of Alaskans such as fishing, berry picking, children at play, crabbing, and whaling. I am also fascinated with the legends of Alaska’s Native people. While I find much to paint around Juneau, most of my material comes from sketching trips taken to the far corners of Alaska. I’ve taught school on King Island in the Bering Sea, traveled and sketched almost every community in Alaska.”
Back from the Territory, I share this with you, before I light out again.
Below – “Spring Migration”; “Starr Hill”; “Starting Dinner”; “Steam Bath, Aniak”; “Steam Bath, Unalaska”; “Storage Rack, Sigik.”
A Sixth Poem for Today
“The Inevitable”
To have that letter arrive
was like the mist that took a meadow
and revealed hundreds
of small webs once invisible
The inevitable often
stands by plainly but unnoticed
till it hands you a letter
that says death and you notice
the weed field had been
readying its many damp handkerchiefs
all along
Fancies in Springtime: Virginia Alison
“Gazing out from the mountains, the clouds are whiter, the sky is bluer, the air seeping into your lungs is as clear as the water roaring down from the snow, melting on the high peaks. A place where heaven is a little closer.”
American Art – Part V of V: Sarah Steiber
In the words of one writer, “Contemporary artist Sarah Stieber’s style of Electric Realism is a stunning amplification of real life, using a bejeweled palette of brilliant hues and evocative energy to explore a spirited reality. A spectacle of saturated colors, her paintings are a kaleidoscope to her world of wishful seeing, magnifying the human experience with dazzling color too often hidden in plain sight.
From her studio in San Diego, California, Stieber vivaciously harnesses the bold and the vibrant. Her radiant figurative depictions showcase Stieber’s fascination with the human condition. Her work shines a brilliant light on daily life, depicting her subjects in a moment of overcoming adversity and achieving the mindfulness and playfulness that reality often corrodes.”
Below – “Electric Rain Project”; “Long Hair Don’t Care”; “Lost and Found”; “Inspiration Vs Perspiration”; “Fierce”; “Guys and Dolls”; “Life Is Whatever.”
April Offerings – Part XX: Something to Delight both Head and Heart
American Art – Part I of IV: Richard Salcido
Artist Statement: “I was born and raised in San Diego, California and when I was a little kid I would love to sit for hours drawing. That love has amazingly turned into a career which I find to be such a great blessing.”
Below – “Starting New”; “I Will Follow”; “Dark Day”; “Bugs and Daffy”; “Prosaic”; “Be Still”; “Burnt”; “Pink Lady.”
A Poem for Today
My mother’s voice is at my throat
—”Try a scarf in the neckline”—
and on my lips: “Just a little
lipstick.” Today I’m wearing both.
My “mother’s voice,” pitched high, carries
reprimand and care:
“No boom on the table!” My daughter
swats me as I carry her
away from the dearest
activity on earth—sticks, stones, struck
as if the coffee table were a flint.
“Barbarian,” I croon
in heels. “What’s that?” she asks and rips
a nylon with a fingernail.
She cries at the turtleneck
pulled over her head. “I’ll give you something
to cry about!” I hush, succeeding for another
day, or an hour—another minute
late for work. Tonight I’ll choose
a lullaby: “Bluebird
at my window,” Mother sang to me,
a voice that could broom sorrow
through the door . . . A decal
staggered on the painted bureau,
blue wing seeking, finding no way out.
From the Music Archives: Paul McCartney & Wings
20 April 1974 – Paul McCartney & Wings release the single “Band on the Run.”
Fancies in Springtime: Susan Waring
“The honeybee, Apis mellifera, is a species on the cusp of culture and nature … If we’re to seriously improve honeybee health and with it our own wellbeing, we need to make the most of this timely opportunity to realise a more interconnected approach to agriculture and ecology.”
Here is one critic describing the artistry of New Zealand painter Irene Ferguson (born 1970): “Irene Ferguson’s interest lies within the tradition of portraiture and art history. Her work, often surreal and unsettling, possesses a dry and witty reinvigoration of contemporary painting practice. Particularly concerned with the dynamic between subject, viewer and artist, her work plays with the blur between figure and portrait and explores the act of looking and how it effects how we view a figure.”
Fancies in Springtime: Katherine Rundell
“Wolves, and stars, and snow: Those things made sense.”
Died 20 April 1899 – Joseph Wolf, a German artist who specialized in natural history illustration and painting. In the words of one critic, “He depicted animals accurately in lifelike postures and has been considered one of the great pioneers of wildlife art.”
Fancies in Springtime: Barry Lopez
“I would bow slightly with my hands in my pockets, toward the birds and the evidence of life in their nests–because of their fecundity, unexpected in this remote region, and because the serene arctic light that came down over the land like breath, like breathing.”
Died 20 April 1912 – Bram Stoker, an Irish novelist, short story writer, and author of “Dracula.”
Thank you, Bram Stoker:
Here is one historian describing the background of Spanish painter Luis Soler: “Luis Soler was born in Málaga , Spain in 1943. In his youth, he traveled around the world as a merchant marine for 7 years. He moved to New York City at the age of 25. While in Málaga, he studied at the Academia de Bellas Artes ( Academy of Fine Arts ), which is well-known for its famous alumnus, Pablo Ruiz Picasso. He has also studied at the Pratt Institute and at the Brooklyn Museum.”
“There is only one thing more painful than learning from experience, and that is not learning from experience.” – Archibald MacLeish, American poet and three-time recipient of the Pulitzer Prize, who died 20 April 1982.
“Ancestral”
The star dissolved in evening—the one star
The silently
and night O soon now, soon
And still the light now
and still now the large
Relinquishing
and through the pools of blue
Still, still the swallows
I was small. I lay
Beside my mother on the grass, and sleep
Came—
slow hooves and dripping with the dark
The velvet muzzles, the white feet that move
In a dream water
and O soon now soon
Sleep and the night.
And I was not afraid.
Her hand lay over mine. Her fingers knew
Darkness,—and sleep—the silent lands, the far
Far off of morning where I should awake.
Below – Leon Basile Perrault: “A Mother With Her Sleeping Child”
American Art – Part II of IV: Daniel Chester French
Born 20 April 1850 – Daniel Chester French, an American sculptor who designed the Abraham Lincoln statue for the Abraham Lincoln Memorial.
Below – “Abraham Lincoln”; “The Angel of Death”; “America”; “Minute Man”; “Republic.”
A Second Poem for Today
“The Laughter of Women”
From over the wall I could hear the laughter of women
in a foreign tongue, in the sun-rinsed air of the city.
They sat (so I thought) perfumed in their hats and their silks,
in chairs on the grass amid flowers glowing and swaying.
One spoke and the others rang like bells, oh so witty,
like bells till the sound filled up the garden and lifted
like bubbles spilling over the bricks that enclosed them,
their happiness holding them, even if just for the moment.
Although I did not understand a word they were saying,
their sound surrounded me, fell on my shoulders and hair,
and burst on my cheeks like kisses, and continued to fall,
holding me there where I stood on the sidewalk listening.
As I could not move, I had to hear them grow silent,
and adjust myself to the clouds and the cooling air.
The mumble of thunder rumbled out of the wall
and the smacking of drops as the rain fell everywhere.
Here is one critic describing the artistry of Peruvian painter Ernesto Arrisueno (born 1957): “He came to Australia in 1989 and soon found success in local exhibitions. The crisp reality of Ernesto Arrisueño’s works creates an air of mystical calm, a world of still waters, a myriad of flowers and isolated enigmatic figures. His current work blends memories of his early years in the dry barren landscape of Peru with the new visions and traditions of his life in Australia.
He imagines the boats, the beaches, the weathered surfaces of old timber as he sits and paints in his modern Sydney apartment. This is true, to a certain extent, but it is not just the artist’s imagination that creates this space, but memory.”
“We are our own dragons and our own heroes. We must rescue ourselves from ourselves.” – Peter S. Beagle, American novelist, essayist, screenplay writer, and author of the fantasy work “The Last Unicorn,” who was born 20 April 1939.
Some quotes from “The Last Unicorn”:
“Great heroes need great sorrows and burdens, or half their greatness goes unnoticed. It is all part of the fairy tale.”
“The true secret in being a hero lies in knowing the order of things. The swineherd cannot already be wed to the princess when he embarks on his adventures, nor can the boy knock on the witch’s door when she is already away on vacation. The wicked uncle cannot be found out and foiled before he does something wicked. Things must happen when it is time for them to happen. Quests may not simply be abandoned; prophecies may not be left to rot like unpicked fruit; unicorns may go unrescued for a very long time, but not forever. The happy ending cannot come in the middle of the story.”
“It’s a rare man who is taken for what he truly is.”
“When I was alive, I believed — as you do — that time was at least as real and solid as myself, and probably more so. I said ‘one o’clock’ as though I could see it, and ‘Monday’ as though I could find it on the map; and I let myself be hurried along from minute to minute, day to day, year to year, as though I were actually moving from one place to another. Like everyone else, I lived in a house bricked up with seconds and minutes, weekends and New Year’s Days, and I never went outside until I died, because there was no other door. Now I know that I could have walked through the walls… You can strike your own time, and start the count anywhere. When you understand that — then any time at all will be the right time for you.”
“Never run from anything immortal. It attracts their attention. ”
“The magician stood erect, menacing the attackers with demons, metamorphoses, paralyzing ailments, and secret judo holds. Molly picked up a rock.”
“As for you and your heart and the things you said and didn’t say, she will remember them all when men are fairy tales in books written by rabbits.”
“Whatever can die is beautiful — more beautiful than a unicorn, who lives forever, and who is the most beautiful creature in the world. Do you understand me?”
“I think love is stronger than habits or circumstances. I think it is possible to keep yourself for someone for a long time and still remember why you were waiting when she comes at last.”
“No cat out of its first fur can ever be deceived by appearances. Unlike human beings, who enjoy them.”
“We are not always what we seem, and hardly ever what we dream.”
Cyprus-born painter Sylvia Nitti has taught drawing and pastel classes at Northeastern State University since 2001.
Fancies in Springtime: Ralph Waldo Emerson
“The landscape belongs to the person who looks at it.”
20 April 1841 – Edgar Allan Poe publishes “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” a short story generally recognized as the first detective story in Western literary history. Poe referred to this work as one of his “tales of ratiocination.”
Fancies in Springtime: Robert M. Pirsig
“In a car you’re always in a compartment, and because you’re used to it you don’t realize that through that car window everything you see is just more TV. You’re a passive observer and it is all moving by you boringly in a frame.
On a cycle the frame is gone. You’re completely in contact with it all. You’re in the scene, not just watching it anymore, and the sense of presence is overwhelming.”
French Art – Part I of II: Odilon Redon
Born 20 April 1840 – Odilon Redon, a French symbolist painter, printmaker, draughtsman, and pastelist.
Below – “Lady of the Flowers”; “The Cyclops”; “Ophelia”; “Flower Clouds”; “The Buddha”; “Chariot of Apollo”; “Shell”; “Pandora”; “Portrait of Violette Heymann.”
A Third Poem for Today
“For the Tattooed Man”
Because she broke your heart, ‘Shannon’s’ a badge—
a seven-letter skidmark that scars up
across your chest, a flare of indelible script.
Between ‘Death or Glory,’ and ‘Mama,’ she rages,
scales the trellis of your rib cage;
her red hair swings down to bracket your ankles, whip
up the braid of your backbone, cuff your wrists. She keeps
you sleepless with her afterimage,
and each pinned and martyred limb aches for more.
Her memory wraps you like a vise.
How simple the pain that trails and graces
the length of your body. How it fans, blazes,
writes itself over in the blood’s tightening sighs,
bruises into wisdom you have no name for.
French Art – Part II of II: Martine Pinsolle
Painter Martine Pinsolle (born 1944) lives and works in Cote Basque, France.
From the American History Archives: The Ludlow Massacre
In the words of one historian, “The Ludlow Massacre was an attack by the Colorado National Guard and Colorado Fuel & Iron Company camp guards on a tent colony of 1,200 striking coal miners and their families at Ludlow, Colorado, on April 20, 1914. Some two dozen people, including women and children, were killed. The chief owner of the mine, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., was widely criticized for the incident.”
Below – Ruins of the Ludlow Colony in the aftermath of the massacre.
Fancies in Springtime: Vesta M. Kelly
“Snowflakes are one of nature’s most fragile things, but just look what they can do when they stick together.”
Italian Art – Part I of IV: Giambologna
Giambologna, born Jean Boulogne (1529-1608), was a French-born Italian sculptor known for his marble and bronze statuary in a late Renaissance or Mannerist style.
Below – “Mercury”; “A River God” (study); “Hercules and Nessus”; “Architettura”; “The Rape of the Sabine Women”; “Samson Slaying a Philistine”; “Astronomy”; “Venus”; “River God – Euphrates.”
Fancies in Springtime: Stephen Jay Gould
“Knowledge and wonder are the dyad of our worthy lives as intellectual beings.”
A Fourth Poem for Today
“Fried Beauty”
Glory be to God for breaded things—
Catfish, steak finger, pork chop, chicken thigh,
Sliced green tomatoes, pots full to the brim
With french fries, fritters, life-float onion rings,
Hushpuppies, okra golden to the eye,
That in all oils, corn or canola, swim
Toward mastication’s maw (O molared mouth!);
Whatever browns, is dumped to drain and dry
On paper towels’ sleek translucent scrim,
These greasy, battered bounties of the South:
Eat them.
Italian Art – Part II of IV: Ugo de Cesare
Italian painter Ugo de Cesare was born in a small village near Florence. He studied at the Academy of Naples and Florence. His work is held in public and private collections in Europe and North America.
Born 20 April 1893 – Harold Lloyd, an American film actor famous for performing dangerous stunts in his silent comedies.
Fancies in Springtime: John Updike
“And yet does the appetite for new days ever really cease?”
Italian Art – Part III of IV: Giuliano Tamburini
Here is one critic describing the background and artistry of Italian painter Giuliano Tamburini: “Giuliano Tamburini was born in Pesaro in 1958 where he obtained his high school diploma in accountancy in 1977. He started painting at an early stage and is self-taught. He chose the landscapes as his favourite subject using mostly oil or tempera.
The study of the classics led him later to discover the deep contrast between light and shadows used by Caravaggio to intense expression, by Vermeer, in refining portraits of everyday life and also by Turner in the great suggestivity of his landscapes and in particular in his Venetian works enhancing the intensity of the expressive quality of watercolour.
Tamburini pursued his artistic studies in order to widen his knowledge of different techniques in various schools and art institutes, with special attention to the study of watercolour, sculpture and modelling. At the same time he acquired more indepth knowledge of various XXth century movements getting progressively closer to contemporary art.”
Fancies in Springtime: Dick Allen
“Once upon a time,
there was a Zen sign
at every small railway crossing in America
Stop. Look. And listen.”
Italian Art – Part IV of IV: Claudio Tuccillo
Italian painter Claudio Tuccillo is a graduate of the State School of Arts of Naples.
A Fifth Poem for Today
“Dead Butterfly”
For months my daughter carried
a dead monarch in a quart mason jar.
To and from school in her backpack,
to her only friend’s house. At the dinner table
it sat like a guest alongside the pot roast.
She took it to bed, propped by her pillow.
Was it the year her brother was born?
Was this her own too-fragile baby
that had lived—so briefly—in its glassed world?
Or the year she refused to go to her father’s house?
Was this the holding-her-breath girl she became there?
This plump child in her rolled-down socks
I sometimes wanted to haul back inside me
and carry safe again. What was her fierce
commitment? I never understood.
We just lived with the dead winged thing
as part of her, as part of us,
weightless in its heavy jar.
American Art – Part III of IV: Brett Amory
Here is one critic describing the artistry of painter Brett Amory (born 1975): “Figures and places in Amory’s work are based on photographs the artist has taken of ordinary city architecture and random people who he sees on a daily basis but never speaks to.
He feels especially drawn to individuals who look lost, lonely or awkward—those who don’t appear to fit in socially. As the title suggests, the Waiting series is about how we rarely experience living in the now, always awaiting what will come next or obsessed with what has already transpired. In our age of distraction, being in the present is difficult to achieve outside of meditation practice, it requires heightened cognitive awareness and clear mental space, often prevented by constant internal dialogue, preoccupation with memories of the past and/or concern for the future. Amory’s work attempts to visually represent this concept of disconnection and anticipation, conveying the idea of transient temporality that exists in most moments of our daily lives.”
Fancies in Springtime: Peter Matthiessen
“The light irradiates white peaks of Annapurna marching down the sky, in the great rampart that spreads east and west for eighteen hundred miles, the Himalaya- the alaya (abode, or home) of hima (snow).Hibiscus, frangipani, bougainvillea: seen under snow peaks, these tropical blossoms become the flowers of heroic landscapes. Macaques scamper in green meadow, and a turquoise roller spins in a golden light. Drongos, rollers, barbets, and white Eqyptian vulture are the common birds, and all have close relatives in East Africa.”
Back from the Territory – Art: Rie Munoz (Part VII)
Artist Statement: “My artwork can best be described as expressionism. The term applies to work that rejects camera snapshot realism, and instead, expresses emotion by distortion and strong colors. My paintings reflect an interest in the day-to-day activities of Alaskans such as fishing, berry picking, children at play, crabbing, and whaling. I am also fascinated with the legends of Alaska’s Native people. While I find much to paint around Juneau, most of my material comes from sketching trips taken to the far corners of Alaska. I’ve taught school on King Island in the Bering Sea, traveled and sketched almost every community in Alaska.”
Back from the Territory, I share this with you, before I light out again.
Below – “Shamrock, Tenakee”; “Signs of Spring”; “Singing in the Bath, Tenakee Springs”; “Sliding at Unalakleet”; “Snow Buntings.”
A Sixth Poem for Today
“Seeing the Eclipse in Maine”
By Robert Bly
It started about noon. On top of Mount Batte,
We were all exclaiming. Someone had a cardboard
And a pin, and we all cried out when the sun
Appeared in tiny form on the notebook cover.
It was hard to believe. The high school teacher
We’d met called it a pinhole camera,
People in the Renaissance loved to do that.
And when the moon had passed partly through
We saw on a rock underneath a fir tree,
Dozens of crescents—made the same way—
Thousands! Even our straw hats produced
A few as we moved them over the bare granite.
We shared chocolate, and one man from Maine
Told a joke. Suns were everywhere—at our feet.
Fancies in Springtime: Jon Edgell
“Time becomes meaningless without memory.”
American Art – Part IV of IV: Paul Strahm
Artist Statement: “Each image is thoughtfully painted to capture the landscape, lifestyle of the area and its people.”
Paul Strahm lives and words in San Diego.
Below – “Old Town Market III”; “Lake Hodges”; “Coast Walk”; “Great Dipper Rollercoaster at Belmont Park, Mission Beach, San Diego”; ‘Historic Point Loma Lighthouse”; “Crystal Pier and Beach Life.”
April Offerings – Part XIX: Something to Delight both Head and Heart
American Art – Part I of IV: Minghua Nie
In the words of one writer, “Minghua Nie is a full time scientist and mother with a post-doctoral degree in Molecular Biology. She developed a serious interest in photography in 2010 and began capturing the scenic coastal city of San Diego.”
From the Music Archives: Alan Price
Born 19 April 1942 – Alan Price, an English musician best known as the original keyboardist for the British band The Animals.
Here is the Artist Statement of Indian painter Niladri Paul (born 1986): “I have been painting for as long as I can remember. Even before I knew it was called art. From the moment I first held a pencil in my hand, I started doodling , much to the exasperation of my parents and teachers. I would draw on anything and everything, from blank papers, walls, newspapers, sand and of course sketch books also at times, when provided. So it was a natural progression to join the art college and learn the fine nuances of the craft. And thus started the colourful journey of my life.
My art is not a social critique of our times, as I strongly feel that I am an artist and my language ought to be simple and forthright enough for everybody to understand and relate to, rather than just being read and applauded by a few art critics only.”
A Poem for Today
“Facing West From California’s Shores”
By Walt Whitman
Facing west, from California’s shores,
Inquiring, tireless, seeking what is yet unfound,
I, a child, very old, over waves, towards the house of maternity, the
land of migrations, look afar,
Look off the shores of my Western Sea–the circle almost circled;
For, starting westward from Hindustan, from the vales of Kashmere,
From Asia–from the north–from the God, the sage, and the hero,
From the south–from the flowery peninsulas, and the spice islands;
Long having wander’d since–round the earth having wander’d,
Now I face home again–very pleas’d and joyous;
(But where is what I started for, so long ago?
And why is it yet unfound?)
Fancies in Springtime: Richard Erdoes
“I think it was a sense of being completely swallowed up by nature that gave the prairie its powerful attraction. There is nothing like it in all of Europe. Even high up on a Swiss glacier one is still conscious of the toy villages below, the carefully groomed landscape of multicolored fields, the faraway ringing of a church bell. It is all very beautiful, but it does not convey the utmost escape. I believe, with the Indians, that a landscape influences and forms the people living on it and that one cannot understand them and make friends with them without also understanding, and making friends with, the earth from which they came.”
Happy Bicycle Day
Today is known as Bicycle Day because, on 19 April 1943, Swiss chemist Dr. Albert Hofmann purposefully ingested 250 micrograms of LSD. He started to feel the effects of the drug while riding home on a bike, and thus unfolded the first intentional acid trip.
Here is a very different, and to my mind far more significant sort of “trip” that Hofmann experienced in his youth: “There are experiences that most of us are hesitant to speak about, because they do not conform to everyday reality and defy rational explanation. These are not particular external occurrences, but rather events of our inner lives, which are generally dismissed as figments of the imagination and barred from our memory. Suddenly, the familiar view of our surroundings is transformed in a strange, delightful, or alarming way: it appears to us in a new light, takes on a special meaning. Such an experience can be as light and fleeting as a breath of air, or it can imprint itself deeply upon our minds. One enchantment of that kind, which I experienced in childhood, has remained remarkably vivid in my memory ever since. It happened on a May morning — I have forgotten the year — but I can still point to the exact spot where it occurred, on a forest path on Martinsberg above Baden, Switzerland. As I strolled through the freshly greened woods filled with bird song and lit up by the morning sun, all at once everything appeared in an uncommonly clear light. Was this something I had simply failed to notice before? Was I suddenly discovering the spring forest as it actually looked? It shone with the most beautiful radiance, speaking to the heart, as though it wanted to encompass me in its majesty. I was filled with an indescribable sensation of joy, oneness, and blissful security. I have no idea how long I stood there spellbound. But I recall the anxious concern I felt as the radiance slowly dissolved and I hiked on: how could a vision that was so real and convincing, so directly and deeply felt — how could it end so soon? And how could I tell anyone about it, as my overflowing joy compelled me to do, since I knew there were no words to describe what I had seen? It seemed strange that I, as a child, had seen something so marvelous, something that adults obviously did not perceive — for I had never heard them mention it. While still a child, I experienced several more of these deeply euphoric moments on my rambles through forest and meadow. It was these experiences that shaped the main outlines of my world view and convinced me of the existence of a miraculous, powerful, unfathomable reality that was hidden from everyday sight.” – from “LSD: My Problem Child”
Italian Art – Part I of II: Paolo Veronese
Died 19 April 1588 – Paolo Caliari, known as Paolo Veronese, an Italian Renaissance painter who lived in Venice.
Below – “Venus and Adonis”; “The Family of Darius before Alexander the Great”; “The Wedding at Cana”; “Juno Showering Gifts on Venetia.”
Fancies in Springtime: Barry Lopez
“To grasp the movement of the sun in the Arctic is no simple task. Imagine standing precisely at the North Pole on June 21, the summer solstice. Your feet rest on a crust of snow and windblown ice. If you chip the snow away you find the sea ice, grayish white and opaque. Six or seven feet underneath is the Arctic Ocean, dark, about 29°F and about 13,000 feet deep. You are standing 440 miles from the nearest piece of land, the tiny island of Oodaaq off the coast of northern Greenland. You stand in each of the world’s twenty-four time zones and north of every point on earth. On this day the sun is making a flat 360° orbit exactly 23½° above the horizon.”
“The night
Hath been to me a more familiar face
Than that of man; and in her starry shade
Of dim and solitary loveliness
I learned the language of another world.” – From “Don Juan,” by
George Gordon Byron, English poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement, who died 19 April 1824.
“There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more,
From these our interviews, in which I steal
From all I may be, or have been before,
To mingle with the Universe, and feel
What I can ne’er express, yet cannot all conceal.” – From “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage,”
Italian Art – Part II of II: Linda Carrara
Painter Linda Carrara (born 1984) lives and works in Milano.
Nobel Laureate: Octavio Paz
“No one behind, no one ahead.
The path the ancients cleared has closed.
And the other path, everyone’s path,
easy and wide, goes nowhere.
I am alone and find my way.” – Octavio Paz, Mexican poet, diplomat, writer, and recipient of the 1990 Nobel Prize for Literature “for impassioned writing with wide horizons, characterized by sensuous intelligence and humanistic integrity,” who died 19 April 1998.
“Between Going and Staying”
Between going and staying the day wavers,
in love with its own transparency.
The circular afternoon is now a bay
where the world in stillness rocks.
All is visible and all elusive,
all is near and can’t be touched.
Paper, book, pencil, glass,
rest in the shade of their names.
Time throbbing in my temples repeats
the same unchanging syllable of blood.
The light turns the indifferent wall
into a ghostly theater of reflections.
I find myself in the middle of an eye,
watching myself in its blank stare.
The moment scatters. Motionless,
I stay and go: I am a pause.
Fancies in Springtime: Marc Bekoff
“In my own field, I know that solid science can easily be done with ethics and compassion. There’s nothing wrong with compassionate or sentimental science or scientists. Studies of animal thought, emotions, and self-awareness, as well as behavioral ecology and conservation biology, can all be compassionate as well as scientifically rigorous. Science and the ethical treatment of animals aren’t incompatible. We can do solid science with an open mind and a big heart.
I encourage everyone to go where their hearts take them, with love, not fear. If we all travel this road, the world will be a better place for all beings. Kinder and more humane choices will be made when we let our hearts lead the way. Compassion begets compassion and caring for and loving animals spills over into compassion and caring for humans. The umbrella of compassion is very important to share freely and widely.”
Born 19 April 1898 – Sybil Andrews, a British-born Canadian printmaker best known for her modernist linocuts. (In the words of one art historian: “Linocut is a printmaking technique, a variant of woodcut in which a sheet of linoleum [sometimes mounted on a wooden block] is used for the relief surface. A design is cut into the linoleum surface with a sharp knife, V-shaped chisel or gouge, with the raised [uncarved] areas representing a reversal [mirror image] of the parts to show printed. The linoleum sheet is inked with a roller [called a brayer], and then impressed onto paper or fabric. The actual printing can be done by hand or with a press.”)
Below – “Michaelmas”; “The New Cable”; “The Timber Jim”; “Storm Wind”; “Skaters”; “Winch.”
A Second Poem for Today
“To Katharine: At Fourteen Months”
By Joelle Biele
All morning, you’ve studied the laws
of spoons, the rules of books, the dynamics
of the occasional plate, observed the principles
governing objects in motion and objects
at rest. To see if it will fall, and if it does,
how far, if it will rage like a lost penny
or ring like a Chinese gong—because
it doesn’t have to—you lean from your chair
and hold your cup over the floor.
It curves in your hand, it weighs in your palm,
it arches like a wave, it is a dipper
Fancies in Springtime: Richard Powers
“Science is not about control. It is about cultivating a perpetual condition of wonder in the face of something that forever grows one step richer and subtler than our latest theory about it. It is about reverence, not mastery.”
“Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science.” – Charles Darwin, English naturalist, geologist, and author of “On the Origin of Species,” one of the most scientifically important and intellectually liberating books in the history of our species, who died 19 April 1882.
“An American monkey, after getting drunk on brandy, would never touch it again, and thus is much wiser than most men.”
“We must, however, acknowledge, as it seems to me, that man with all his noble qualities… still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin.”
“The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.”
“If I had my life to live over again, I would have made a rule to read some poetry and listen to some music at least once every week.”
“A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.”
“There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.”
“It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best manage change.”
“The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man.”
“If the misery of the poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin.”
“I am not apt to follow blindly the lead of other men.”
“I can indeed hardly see how anyone ought to wish Christianity to be true for if so the plain language of the text seems to show that the men who do not believe, and this would include my father, brother and almost all of my friends, will be everlastingly punished. And this is a damnable doctrine.”
“The highest possible stage in moral culture is when we recognise that we ought to control our thoughts.”
“I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent and omnipotent God would have designedly created parasitic wasps with the express intention of their feeding within the living bodies of Caterpillars.”
“Blushing is the most peculiar and most human of all expressions.”
“Intelligence is based on how efficient a species became at doing the things they need to survive.”
“Besides love and sympathy, animals exhibit other qualities connected with the social instincts which in us would be called moral.”
“As man advances in civilization, and small tribes are united into larger communities, the simplest reason would tell each individual that he ought to extend his social instincts and sympathies to all members of the same nation, though personally unknown to him. This point being once reached, there is only an artificial barrier to prevent his sympathies extending to the men of all nations and races.”
“Nothing is easier than to admit in words the truth of the universal struggle for life, or more difficult–at least I have found it so–than constantly to bear this conclusion in mind.”
“We can allow satellites, planets, suns, universe, nay whole systems of universe, to be governed by laws, but the smallest insect, we wish to be created at once by special act.”
“Great is the power of steady misrepresentation”
“I am not the least afraid to die.”
Here is one crtic describing the artistry of French painter Denis Fremond: “His paintings have an inherent glamour, reminiscent settings favoured by authors such as F Scott Fitzgerald. The environments he paints are intimate yet reflexive. They exude mystery; while these settings are recognisable – a villa on the Amalfi, a Parisian brasserie, a New York apartment – the circumstances are ambiguous.
Cropped like movie stills, Fremond’s compositions often feature a lone figure, not the subject of the composition but a fixture: a piece of furniture or a prop. Reminiscent of the great American painter Edward Hopper, there is a loaded sense of some impending action or drama as we are transported beyond the canvas and into the realm of their thoughts. His paintings are spacious and airy, with a restrained palette rendering the scenes peaceful and meditative.”
Fancies in Springtime: Frank Herbert
“The thing the ecologically illiterate don’t realise about an ecosystem is that it’s a system. A system! A system maintains a certain fluid stability that can be destroyed by a misstep in just one niche. A system has order, flowing from point to point. If something dams that flow, order collapses. The untrained might miss that collapse until it was too late. That’s why the highest function of ecology is the understanding of consequences.”
A Third Poem for Today
“Piano”
Touched by your goodness, I am like
that grand piano we found one night on Willoughby
that someone had smashed and somehow
heaved through an open window.
And you might think by this I mean I’m broken
or abandoned, or unloved. Truth is, I don’t
know exactly what I am, any more
than the wreckage in the alley knows
it’s a piano, filling with trash and yellow leaves.
Maybe I’m all that’s left of what I was.
But touching me, I know, you are the good
breeze blowing across its rusted strings.
What would you call that feeling when the wood,
even with its cracked harp, starts to sing?
American Tragedy – Part I of II: Waco, Texas, 19 April 1993
“I’m not emotional.” – David Koresh, born Vernon Wayne Howell, American leader of the Branch Davidians religious sect, who died 19 April 1993. In the words of one historian, “A 1993 raid by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the subsequent siege by the FBI ended with the burning of the Branch Davidian ranch outside of Waco, Texas, in McLennan County. Koresh, 54 other adults, and 28 children were found dead after the fire.”
Below – David Koresh; the Branch Davidian compound under assault by the FBI.
American Art – Part II of IV: Ryan S. Brown
Here is one critic describing the background of painter Ryan S. Brown: “By the time he was a senior in high school Ryan had decided to pursue art as a profession. This pursuit led him to Brigham Young University where he studied Illustration, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2002. While finishing his studies at BYU, Ryan became aware of the deficiencies in his University education. Because his interests were in the academic and naturalist traditions of the nineteenth century, it became necessary for him to get the foundational drawing and painting training not offered at the university. In his senior year at BYU, Ryan began studying with William Whitaker, a renowned portrait and figurative painter. Soon after this, Ryan entered the Florence Academy of Art, where he received his first taste of Academic training. The organized, intense and concise training of the Florence Academy provided Ryan with what he considers the beginning of his understanding of the craft of art. This training not only gave Ryan a deep understanding and love of drawing, but also developed in him a strong self-discipline and work ethic, as well as an insatiable appetite for learning.”
Fancies in Springtime: Henry David Thoreau
“In any weather, at any hour of the day or night, I have been anxious to improve the nick of time, and notch it on my stick too; to stand on the meeting of two eternities, the past and the future, which is precisely the present moment; to toe that line.”
American Tragedy – Part II of II: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, 19 April 1995
“Based on observations of the policies of my own government, I viewed this action as an acceptable option.” – Timothy McVeigh,
the man convicted of the bomb attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. The bombing killed 168 people and injured more than 680 others. In the words of one historian, “Motivated by his hatred of the federal government and angered by what he perceived as its mishandling of the 1993 Waco siege and the Ruby Ridge incident in 1992, McVeigh timed his attack to coincide with the second anniversary of the deadly fire that ended the siege at Waco.”
Below – Timothy McVeigh; the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building after the bombing.
Fancies in Springtime: Keith Meldahl
“Colorado and Wyoming are America’s highest states, averaging 6,800 feet and 6,700 feet above sea level. Utah comes in third at 6,100 feet, New Mexico, Nevada, and Idaho each break 5,000 feet, and the rest of the field is hardly worth mentioning. At 3,400 feet, Montana is only half as high as Colorado, and Alaska, despite having the highest peaks, is even further down the list at 1,900 feet. Colorado has more fourteeners than all the other U.S. states combined, and more than all of Canada too. Colorado’s lowest point (3,315 feet along the Kansas border) is higher than the highest point in twenty other states. Rivers begin here and flow away to all the points of the compass. Colorado receives no rivers from another state (unless you count the Green River’s’ brief in and out from Utah).Wyoming’s Wind River Range is the only mountain in North America that supplies water to all three master streams of the American West: Missouri, Colorado, and Columbia rivers.”
A Fourth Poem for Today
“Heart”
I’ve hardly ever found.
For a month I worried
as I climbed the stairs
to my office. The mortality
I never believed in
say my heart’s ok,
just high cholesterol, but
I know my heart’s a house
someone has broken into,
a room you come back
to and know some stranger
with bad intent has been there
and touched all that you love. You know
he can come back. It’s his call,
his house now.
Fancies in Springtime: Anne Sexton
“I am younger each year at the first snow. When I see it, suddenly, in the air, all little and white and moving; then I am in love again and very young and I believe everything.”
American Art – Part III of IV: Forrest Rodts
Here is one critic describing the background and artistry of painter Forrest Rodts: “Forrest Rodts was born in 1960. Throughout his childhood he moved frequently with his family, but always spent his summers on Nantucket. Rodts traces his ancestry to some of the earliest settlers on the island. His family’s home in Siasconset was originally built by a whaling captain and has been passed down through the generations for more than 250 years.
Nantucket became the most important influence on his painting during his early years. A self-taught artist, Rodts began showing his paintings while still in college, with the Artist Association of Nantucket. In 1983 he graduated from Hobart College with a B.A. in Economics and a minor in Fine Arts. In 1988 he set up his first full one-man show at the New Street Gallery in Siasconset. Since then, Rodts has continuously exhibited on Nantucket, currently showing at Quidley and Company on Main Street.
In 1994 Rodts moved from Boston to Marblehead, Massachusetts, where he currently lives with his wife, Linda. With a shared interest in architecture and historic preservation, they set about restoring an antique home, and now raise their two boys there. Rodts finds Marblehead and the Cape Ann coast the ideal location for his study of sailing and of the complexities of water and light. His marine portraits exhibit a passion for maritime history. Through an exploration of his family’s whaling past and our country’s sailing tradition, Rodts captures the drama of breathtaking sunsets, explosive skies, sparkling blue seas and peaceful vistas. He combines color, light and meticulous draftsmanship in finely detailed acrylic landscapes, seascapes and still lifes that reflect his long-standing affection for the ocean and the serene New England coastline.”
From the American History Archives: The American Revolution
19 April 1775 – The American Revolution begins when Lexington Militia Captain John Parker collects his “Minutemen” and engages British troops, first on Lexington Common and then along the five mile “Battle Road Trail” to Concord.
“Concord Hymn,” by Ralph Waldo Emerson
(the original title of this poem was “Hymn. Sung at the Completion of Concord Monument, April 19, 1836”)
By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood
And fired the shot heard round the world.
The foe long since in silence slept;
Alike the conqueror silent sleeps;
And Time the ruined bridge has swept
Down the dark stream which seaward creeps.
On this green bank, by this soft stream,
We set today a votive stone;
That memory may their deed redeem,
When, like our sires, our sons are gone.
Spirit, that made those heroes dare
To die, and leave their children free,
Bid Time and Nature gently spare
The shaft we raise to them and thee.
Below – The Lexington-Concord Battle Monument; the Lexington Minuteman, representing John Parker; Concord Bridge.
A Fifth Poem for Today
“Marry Me”
when I come late to bed
I move your leg flung over my side—
that warm gate
nights you’re not here
I inch toward the middle
of this boat, balancing
when I turn over in sleep
you turn, I turn, you turn,
I turn, you
some nights you tug the edge
of my pillow under your cheek,
look in my dream
I marry you again
Fancies in Springtime: Daniel J. Rice
“I watched the surrounding landscape with great curiosity, and I wanted to discover the words that could describe all its unspoiled beauty.”
Back from the Territory – Art: Rie Munoz (Part VI)
Artist Statement: “My artwork can best be described as expressionism. The term applies to work that rejects camera snapshot realism, and instead, expresses emotion by distortion and strong colors. My paintings reflect an interest in the day-to-day activities of Alaskans such as fishing, berry picking, children at play, crabbing, and whaling. I am also fascinated with the legends of Alaska’s Native people. While I find much to paint around Juneau, most of my material comes from sketching trips taken to the far corners of Alaska. I’ve taught school on King Island in the Bering Sea, traveled and sketched almost every community in Alaska.”
Back from the Territory, I share this with you, before I light out again.
Below – “Red Skiff, Ketchikan”; “Rosie’s Café”; “Scarecrow in Winter”; “Seagull Story”; “Seal Study”; “Self Portrait, 4th Street Stairs”; “Shade Tree.”
Fancies in Springtime: Robert M. Pirsig
“To all appearances he was just drifting. In actuality he was just drifting.”
A Sixth Poem for Today
“Planting the Sand Cherry”
Today I planted the sand cherry with red leaves—
and hope that I can go on digging in this yard,
pruning the grape vine, twisting the silver lace
on its trellis, the one that bloomed
just before the frost flowered over all the garden.
Next spring I will plant more zinnias, marigolds,
straw flowers, pearly everlasting, and bleeding heart.
I plant that for you, old love, old friend,
and lilacs for remembering. The lily-of-the-valley
with cream-colored bells, bent over slightly, bowing
to the inevitable, flowers for a few days, a week.
Now its broad blade leaves are streaked with brown
and the stem dried to a pale hair.
In place of the silent bells, red berries
like rose hips blaze close to the ground.
It is important for me to be down on my knees,
my fingers sifting the black earth,
making those things grow which will grow.
Sometimes I save a weed if its leaves
are spread fern-like, hand-like,
or if it grows with a certain impertinence.
I let the goldenrod stay and the wild asters.
I save the violets in spring. People who kill violets
will do anything.
Fancies in Springtime: Carl Sagan
“Even after 400 generations in villages and cities, we haven’t forgotten. The open road still softly calls, like a nearly forgotten song of childhood.”
American Art – Part IV of IV: Marshall Vanderhoof
In the words of one writer, “Marshall Vanderhoof is an award-winning fine art photographer based out of San Diego, California. He has the luxury of having the coast, mountains, and local deserts all within a short distance.
His great grandmother gave him his first camera so he could take pictures while I was at camp. From that point on Marshall has always had a passion for photography.
As he got older, instead of following his creative ideas and passions he spent 8 plus years in the U.S. Army, got a B.S. Degree in Accountancy from National University in San Diego, CA and a couple of years later finished an MBA at the University of San Diego, in San Diego, CA.
Since something was missing Marshall went back to his roots and started taking photographs in any free time he could find and started taking photography classes. In 2013 he graduated with honors with a Certificate of Photography from San Diego City College.”
April Offerings – Part XVIII: Something to Delight both Head and Heart
American Art – Part I of IV: Lenore Simon
In the words of one writer, “Lenore Simon majored in art since high school in New York. She has attended Printmaking Workshops at the New School in New York, Intaglio Workshops at the Art Center Of Northern New Jersey and classes at Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art.”
Below – “Nicks II”; “Eve”; “Rehearsal”; “Circus”; “Self Portrait.”
Born 18 April 1839 – Henry Clarence Kendall, an Australian poet.
“Sonnet”
I purposed once to take my pen and write,
Not songs, like some, tormented and awry
With passion, but a cunning harmony
Of words and music caught from glen and height,
And lucid colours born of woodland light
And shining places where the sea-streams lie.
But this was when the heat of youth glowed white,
And since I’ve put the faded purpose by.
I have no faultless fruits to offer you
Who read this book; but certain syllables
Herein are borrowed from unfooted dells
And secret hollows dear to noontide dew;
And these at least, though far between and few,
May catch the sense like subtle forest spells.
From the Music Archives – Part I of II: Leopold Stokowski
“On matters of intonation and technicalities I am more than a martinet—I am a martinetissimo.” – Leopold Stokowski, Anglo-American orchestral conductor, who was born on18 April 1882.
Leopold Stokowski was one of the most famous and influential orchestral conductors of the 20th century, and I will always associate him with Walt Disney’s remarkable 1940 movie “Fantasia,” in which he appeared and for which he conducted nearly all the music. I still remember being both awed and frightened by this movie when I saw it as a boy, and I am happy to share the “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor” segment of the film, for which Stokowski produced his own orchestration of Bach’s great work.
Fancies in Springtime: Maud Hart Lovelace
“The wastes of snow on the hill were ghostly in the moonlight. The stars were piercingly bright.”
“The universe may
be as great as they say.
But it wouldn’t be missed
if it didn’t exist.” – A “grook” (a short, witty poem) written by Piet Hein, Danish architect, mathematician, inventor, author, and poet, who died 18 April 1996.
More Piet Hein grooks:
Corinna’s scanty evening dress
reveals her charms to an excess
which makes a fellow lust for less.
“A PSYCHOLOGICAL TIP”
Whenever you’re called on to make up your mind,
and you’re hampered by not having any,
the best way to solve the dilemma, you’ll find,
is simply by spinning a penny.
No — not so that chance shall decide the affair
while you’re passively standing there moping;
but the moment the penny is up in the air,
you suddenly know what you’re hoping.
Fancies in Springtime: Neil deGrasse Tyson
“On Venus you could cook a 16-inch pepperoni pizza in seven seconds, just by holding it out to the air. (Yes, I did the math.)”
The Pulitzer Prize – Part I of V: Susan Faludi
“A lot of people seem to want to make the institution of marriage substitute for a real relationship.” – Susan Faludi, American feminist, journalist, author, and recipient of the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism, who was born 18 April 1959.
Some quotes from Susan Faludi:
“Feminism’s agenda is basic: It asks that women not be forced to choose between public justice and private happiness.”
“Divorced men are more likely to meet their car payments than their child support obligations.”
“I think a reason that a lot of people feel politically paralyzed is that it used to be clear how power was organized. But those who have their hands on the levers of popular culture today have great power – and it isn’t even clear who they are.”
“The culture used to move relatively slowly, so you could take aim. Now it moves so fast, and is so fluffy and meaningless, you feel like an idiot even complaining about it.”
“The media and the rest of popular culture weren’t recording people’s reactions to 9/11; they were forcing made-up reactions down people’s throats.”
“What happened with Hurricane Katrina was the American electorate was forced to look at what lay behind the veneer of chest-beating. We all saw the consequences of having terrible government leadership.”
A Poem for Today
Though half my years besiege the aged sun,
I have not lived. My robust preparation
Lags tardily behind fit consummation,
Droops sweatily in courses just begun.
Oh, I have loved and lusted with the best,
Plucked momentary music from the senses;
I’ve kissed a lip or two with fair pretenses
And wept for softness of a woman’s breast.
My mind rebounds to nether joys and pain,
Toying with filth and pharisaic leaven;
I know the lift up sundry peaks to heaven,
And every rockless path to hell again.
I wait the hour when gods have more to give
Than husks and bare insatiate will to live.
American Art – Part II of IV: Jeff Barson
Here is one critic describing the artistry of painter Jeff Barson (born 1966): “Barson’s style is rich and refreshing, bearing the imprint of a finely tuned artistic hand. His colors are equally opulent, so captivating that it’s hard to remove their memory from your mind.”
18 April 1853 – The first train in Asia takes to the rails on a 36 km run from Bombay to Thana in India. Today, rail service in the country is as wonderful as it is extensive, and the several train trips I have taken in India were filled with pleasant serendipities.
Below – A photograph of the Bombay to Thana train taken in 1853.
Fancies in Springtime: Daniel J. Rice
“It occurred to me that no words by the tongue of man can express the simplicities of a quiet land, so I returned to the river.”
From the Music Archive – Part II of II: John Lennon
18 April 1975 – John Lennon releases “Stand by Me.”
A Second Poem for Today
“The Wheel Revolves”
You were a girl of satin and gauze
Now you are my mountain and waterfall companion.
Long ago I read those lines of Po Chu I
Written in his middle age.
Young as I was they touched me.
I never thought in my own middle age
I would have a beautiful young dancer
To wander with me by falling crystal waters,
Among mountains of snow and granite,
Least of all that unlike Po’s girl
She would be my very daughter.
The earth turns towards the sun.
Summer comes to the mountains.
Blue grouse drum in the red fir woods
All the bright long days.
You put blue jay and flicker feathers
In your hair.
Two and two violet green swallows
Play over the lake.
The blue birds have come back
To nest on the little island.
The swallows sip water on the wing
And play at love and dodge and swoop
Just like the swallows that swirl
Under and over the Ponte Vecchio.
Light rain crosses the lake
Hissing faintly. After the rain
There are giant puffballs with tortoise shell backs
At the edge of the meadow.
Snows of a thousand winters
Melt in the sun of one summer.
Wild cyclamen bloom by the stream.
Trout veer in the transparent current.
In the evening marmots bark in the rocks.
The Scorpion curls over the glimmering ice field.
A white crowned night sparrow sings as the moon sets.
Thunder growls far off.
Our campfire is a single light
Amongst a hundred peaks and waterfalls.
The manifold voices of falling water
Talk all night.
Wrapped in your down bag
Starlight on your cheeks and eyelids
Your breath comes and goes
In a tiny cloud in the frosty night.
Ten thousand birds sing in the sunrise.
Ten thousand years revolve without change.
All this will never be again.
Fancies in Springtime: Kent Haruf
“It seems to me nothing man has done or built on this land is an improvement over what was here before.”
“Borders? I have never seen one. But I have heard they exist in the minds of some people.” – Thor Heyerdahl, Norwegian ethnographer and adventurer most notable for his 1947 Kon-Tiki expedition, who died 18 April 2002.
Some quotes from the work of Thor Heyerdahl:
“A civilized nation can have no enemies, and one cannot draw a line across a map, a line that doesn’t even exist in nature and say that the ugly enemy lives on the one side, and good friends live on the other.”
“One learns more from listening than speaking. And both the wind and the people who continue to live close to nature still have much to tell us which we cannot hear within university walls.”
“In fighting nature, man can win every battle except the last. If he should win that too, he will perish, like an embryo cutting its own umbilical cord.”
“I have never been able to grasp the meaning of time. I don’t believe it exists. I’ve felt this again and again, when alone and out in nature. On such occasions, time does not exist. Nor does the future exist.”
“We must wake up to the insane reality of our time. We are all irresponsible, unless we demand from the responsible decision makers that modern armaments must no longer be made available to people whose former battle axes and swords our ancestors condemned.”
“Civilization grew in the beginning from the minute that we had communication – particularly communication by sea that enabled people to get inspiration and ideas from each other and to exchange basic raw materials.”
“In my experience, it is rarer to find a really happy person in a circle of millionaires than among vagabonds.”
“It is also rarer to find happiness in a man surrounded by the miracles of technology than among people living in the desert of the jungle and who by the standards set by our society would be considered destitute and out of touch.”
Below – Thor Heyerdahl; Kon-Tiki, the raft Heyerdahl used in his expedition across the Pacific Ocean from South America to the Polynesian Islands.
French Art – Part I of II: Didier Delamonica
Here is one critic describing the artistry of painter Didier Delamonica (born 1950): “Without any doubt, Delamonica is a poet and a storyteller who claims the freedom of leading us into a universe where only his personal vision matters.
This born storyteller who translates his text into highly fanciful images rather than words nurtures his imagination on Biblical, mythological stories and on legends from other cultures. He probably adds to that a lot of himself. He cares first and foremost about the beauty and the light of his painting, and wishes to share his daydream with us.
Each theme, each story is a pretext for building a fairytale universe where the slightest detail has its own importance and is a sort of key. For the deciphering to be richer, more complete, one must move from one side of the painting to the other, find clues, admittedly, but also accept to be immersed in the narrative.
Entering into the Delamonica world without losing your bearings means returning to childhood instincts, accepting the irrational, becoming part of the dreamlike surroundings, thus leaving reality completely behind you. More important still is to know the legends of the past, the bygone tales told by the fireside, all those stories told the world over.”
Fancies in Springtime: Peter Matthiessen
“I grow into these mountains like a moss. I am bewitched. The blinding snow peaks and the clarion air, the sound of earth and heaven in the silence, the requiem birds, the mythic beasts, the flags, great horns, and old carved stones, the silver ice in the black river, the Kang, the Crystal Mountain. Also, I love the common miracles-the murmur of my friends at evening, the clay fires of smudgy juniper, the coarse dull food, the hardship and simplicity, the contentment of doing one thing at a time… gradually my mind has cleared itself, and wind and sun pour through my head, as through a bell. Though we talk little here, I am never lonely; I am returned into myself. In another life-this isn’t what I know, but how I feel- these mountains were my home; there is a rising of forgotten knowledge, like a spring from hidden aquifers under the earth. To glimpse one’s own true nature is a kind of homegoing, to a place East of the Sun, West of the Moon- the homegoing that needs no home, like that waterfall on the supper Suli Gad that turns to mist before touching the earth and rises once again to the sky.”
Nobel Laureate: Albert Einstein
“The significant problems we face cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them.” – Albert Einstein, German-born theoretical physicist and genius who developed the theory of general relativity and thereby fundamentally changed our view of both the universe and our place in it. Einstein, who died on 18 April 1955, won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921 “for his services to theoretical physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect.”
Some quotes from the work of Albert Einstein:
“Confusion of goals and perfection of means seems, in my opinion, to characterize our age.”
“Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex… It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.”
“Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.”
“Anyone who doesn’t take truth seriously in small matters cannot be trusted in large ones either.”
“Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions.”
“I am not only a pacifist but a militant pacifist. I am willing to fight for peace.” “Nothing will end war unless the people themselves refuse to go to war.”
“Force always attracts men of low morality.”
“I do not believe in immortality of the individual, and I consider ethics to be an exclusively human concern with no superhuman authority behind it.”
“I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”
“Information is not knowledge.”
“Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts.”
“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
“Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind.”
“It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.”
“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.”
“Nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced.”
“Solitude is painful when one is young, but delightful when one is more mature.”
“The hardest thing to understand in the world is the income tax.”
“Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal.”
“The road to perdition has ever been accompanied by lip service to an ideal.”
“You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war.”
“The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.”
French Art – Part II of II: Lortiwa
Artist Lortiwa lives and works in Paris.
The Pulitzer Prize – Part II of V: Michael Cristofer
18 April 1977 – Michael Cristofer wins the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for “The Shadow Box.”
“Your whole life goes by and it feels like only a minute. You try to remember what it was you believed in. What was so important? What was it? You wanted to make a difference. And then you think someone should have said it sooner. Someone should have said it a long time ago. When we were young, someone should have said, ‘This is living. This is life. This lifetime doesn’t last forever. A few days. A few minutes. That’s all.’
This face. These hands. This world. It doesn’t last forever.
This air. This light. This earth. The things you love. These children. This smile. This paint. It doesn’t last forever.
It was never supposed to last forever. These things you have. This moment. They will not last forever.” – from “The Shadow Box”
Fancies in Springtime: Lucy Maud Montgomery
“Anne came dancing home in the purple winter twilight across the snowy places.”
A Third Poem for Today
“Driving to Camp Lend-A-Hand”
The day we picked our daughter up from camp,
goldenrod lined the road, towheaded scouts
bowing on both sides, the parting of macadam
as we drove, the fields dry, the sky lacy with clouds.
A farmer waved. A horse shrugged its haughty head.
We stopped for corn, just picked, and plums and kale,
sampled pies, still warm, and tarts and honeyed bread.
Sheets on a line ballooned out like a ship’s sail.
Time stopped in those miles before we saw her.
For eight days we hadn’t tucked her in or brushed
her hair or watched her grow, the week a busy blur
of grown-up bliss. It came anyway, that uprush
of fear—because somewhere a child was dead:
at a market, a subway, a school, in a lunatic’s bed.
American Art – Part III of IV: Adam Normandin
Here is the Artist Statement of painter Adam Normandin: “In my work, I seek to emphasize the beauty and relevance of unobserved details. Everyday things may not be recognized by most as beautiful, yet the ordinary can be compelling, truthful and soulful.
At the core, my work focuses on the commitment and persistence required to understand and ultimately master this art form. I rarely choose my subjects, instead they draw me to them. Recently, freight trains, industrial machinery and old tools fascinate me. Years of use and exposure to the elements imprint a sense of tireless duty onto these objects. They are purely functional and have a “no-nonsense” existence that resonates with my own way of working.
Freight trains are particularly intriguing to me because they are travelers, relentlessly moving from one place to the next, year after year. Many have been in operation for several decades, without rest. All the layers of rust, numeric codes and graffiti give the surface of each train a unique character. Accumulated details reveal truthful and compelling stories, transforming an ordinary object’s nature into something full of history and inherent beauty. If something mundane and functional can communicate such richness and complexity then perhaps we can find meaning within the most ordinary aspects of our own lives as well.”
The Pulitzer Prize – Part III of V: James Merrill
18 April 1977 – James Merrill wins the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for “Divine Comedies.”
“Remember Sam and Frodo in their hot
Waterless desolation overshot
By evil zombies. They of course come through
—It’s what, in any Quest, the heroes do—
But at the cost of being set apart,
Emptied, diminished. Tolkien knew this. Art—
The tale that all but shapes itself—survives
By feeding on its personages’ lives.
The stripping process, sort of. What to say?
Our lives led to this. It’s the price we pay.” – from “The Book of Ephraim,” in “Divine Comedies”
Italian painter Normanno Soscia (born 1938) studied at the Institute of Art in Naples.
The Pulitzer Prize – Part IV of V: Alice Walker
18 April 1983 – Alice Walker wins the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for “The Color Purple.”
“I am an expression of the divine, just like a peach is, just like a fish is. I have a right to be this way…I can’t apologize for that, nor can I change it, nor do I want to… We will never have to be other than who we are in order to be successful…We realize that we are as ourselves unlimited and our experiences valid. It is for the rest of the world to recognize this, if they choose.” – from “The Color Purple”
The paintings of Spanish artist Montserrat Gudiol i Corominas (born 1933) have been exhibited throughout Europe and the Americas.
Fancies in Springtime: Simon Morden
“Don’t reject something just because it seems strange. It’s comfort that will kill you in the end.”
The Pulitzer Prize – Part V of V: Galway Kinnell
18 April 1983 – Galway Kinnell wins the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for “Selected Poems.”
“Blackberry Eating”
I love to go out in late September
among the fat, overripe, icy, black blackberries
to eat blackberries for breakfast,
the stalks very prickly, a penalty
they earn for knowing the black art
of blackberry-making; and as I stand among them
lifting the stalks to my mouth, the ripest berries
fall almost unbidden to my tongue,
as words sometimes do, certain peculiar words
like strengths or squinched,
which I squeeze, squinch open, and splurge well
in the silent, startled, icy, black language
of blackberry — eating in late September. – from “Selected Poems”
A Fourth Poem for Today
“Father, Child, Water”
I lift your body to the boat
before you drown or choke or slip too far
beneath. I didn’t think—just jumped, just did
what I did like the physics
that flung you in. My hands clutch under
year-old arms, between your life
jacket and your bobbing frame, pushing you,
like a fountain cherub, up and out.
I’m fooled by the warmth pulsing from
the gash on my thigh, sliced wide and clean
by an errant screw on the stern.
No pain. My legs kick out blood below.
My arms strain
against our deaths to hold you up
as I lift you, crying, reaching, to the boat.
From the American History Archives: Paul Revere
18 April 1775: Paul Revere and William Dawes set out on horseback to warn colonists that British forces were approaching.
“Listen, my children, and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-Five:
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.” – The opening lines of “Paul Revere’s Ride,” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Here is one critic describing the artistry of Montenegrin painter and sculptor Vojo Stanic (born 1924): “In time he turned to painting, enabling him to better express his peace-loving, Mediterranean spirit and interest in people. His paintings are small drama stories from every day life, full of spirit. They bring back to life the spirit of Renaissance comedies, presenting human weaknesses and at the same time he shows understanding for them. Topics from cafes, sea or home are often a mixture of surreal details or imaginative relationship of characters and objects.”
Fancies in Springtime: Neil deGasse Tyson
“On Friday the 13th of April 2029, an asteroid large enough to fill the Rose Bowl as though it were an egg cup, will fly so close to Earth, that it will dip below the altitude of our communication satellites. We did not name this asteroid Bambi. Instead, it’s named Apophis, after the Egyptian god of darkness and death. If the trajectory of Apophis at close approach passes within a narrow range of altitudes called the ‘keyhole,’ the precise influence of Earth’s gravity on its orbit will guarantee that seven years later in 2036, on its next time around, the asteroid will hit Earth directly, slamming in the Pacific Ocean between California and Hawaii. The tsunami it creates will wipe out the entire west coast of North America, bury Hawaii, and devastate all the land masses of the Pacific Rim. If Apophis misses the keyhole in 2029, then, of course, we have nothing to worry about in 2036.”
Below – Apophis.
From the American Old West: Billy the Kid Escapes
18 April 1881: In the words of one historian, “Billy the Kid had been sentenced to be hanged by the neck until dead and was being held prisoner in the Old Lincoln County Courthouse in the New Mexico Territory. Somehow he got hold of a six-shooter, killed the two deputies who were guarding him, then stole a horse and rode out of town.” This was to prove Billy the Kid’s most famous escape – and his final one. Two months later he was tracked down and shot dead by Sheriff Pat Garrett.
Below – Billy the Kid; the Old Lincoln County Courthouse and Jail, where Billy the Kid was held.
A Fifth Poem for Today
“Rain at the Zoo”
A giraffe presented its head to me, tilting it
sideways, reaching out its long gray tongue.
I gave it my wheat cracker while small drops
of rain pounded us both. Lightning cracked open
the sky. Zebras zipped across the field.
It was springtime in Michigan. I watched
the giraffe shuffle itself backwards, toward
the herd, its bone- and rust-colored fur beading
with water. The entire mix of animals stood
away from the trees. A lone emu shook
its round body hard and squawked. It ran
along the fence line, jerking open its wings.
Perhaps it was trying to shake away the burden
of water or indulging an urge to fly. I can’t know.
I have no idea what about their lives these animals
love or abhor. They are captured or born here for us,
and we come. It’s true. This is my favorite field.
Fancies in Springtime: Barry Lopez
“Once in his life a man ought to concentrate his mind upon the remembered earth. He ought to give himself up to a particular landscape in his experience; to look at it from as many angles as he can, to wonder upon it, to dwell upon it. He ought to imagine that he touches it with his hands at every season and listens to the sounds that are made upon it. He ought to imagine the creatures there and all the faintest motions of the wind. He ought to recollect the glare of the moon and the colors of the dawn and dusk.”
The Pacific Theater in World War II, Part I of II – 18 April 1942: The Doolittle Raid
18 April 1942: Lieutenant Colonel James “Jimmy” Doolittle leads an aerial attack against the Japanese home islands. Taking off from the deck of the United States aircraft carrier Hornet in B-25 bombers – a feat thought impossible – Doolittle and his fellow airmen were able to provide a significant morale boost to Americans and partially avenge the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Below – Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle; a B-25 lifting off from the deck of the Hornet; Doolittle sitting beside the wing of his crashed plane somewhere in China.
Born 18 April 1852 – George Clausen, an English artist.
Below – “The Girl at the Gate”; “Day Dreams”; “Head of a Peasant Woman”; “The Golden Age”; “Dusk”; “Reading by Lamplight (Twilight: Interior)”; “In the Orchard”; “The Watcher”; “The Blacksmith”; “Portrait of a Girl’s Head”; “The Cherry Orchard”; “The Stars Coming Out.”
The Pacific Theater in World War II, Part II of II – 18 April 1943: Operation Vengeance
18 April 1943: A group of American airmen flying P-38 fighter planes intercepts and shoots down a plane carrying Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku, the architect of the Pearl Harbor attack. This long-range mission succeeded both because American cryptanalysts had broken Japanese military codes and because the pilots selected for the mission were incredibly courageous and skillful.
Below – A P-38 fighter; Yamamoto’s crashed plane in thick jungle; the pilots responsible for the success of the mission.
Fancies in Springtime: Jacquetta Hawkes
“It is only the pathetic shortness of human life that gives each individual a sense of the permanence of his background. The land we all walk upon has been under the sea many times, and it will be submerged again.”
Below – Sea fossils in Kansas; sea fossils in the Himalayas.
Back from the Territory – Art: Rie Munoz (Part V)
Artist Statement: “My artwork can best be described as expressionism. The term applies to work that rejects camera snapshot realism, and instead, expresses emotion by distortion and strong colors. My paintings reflect an interest in the day-to-day activities of Alaskans such as fishing, berry picking, children at play, crabbing, and whaling. I am also fascinated with the legends of Alaska’s Native people. While I find much to paint around Juneau, most of my material comes from sketching trips taken to the far corners of Alaska. I’ve taught school on King Island in the Bering Sea, traveled and sketched almost every community in Alaska.”
Back from the Territory, I share this with you, before I light out again.
Below – “Potlach Bar, Ketchikan”; “Power Outage, Orcas Island”; “Raft of Ducks”; “Raspberry Patch”; “Raven and Herring.”
A Sixth Poem for Today
“Sunflower”
You’re expected to see
only the top, where sky
scrambles bloom, and not
the spindly leg, hairy, fending off
tall, green darkness beneath.
Like every flower, she has a little
theory, and what she thinks
is up. I imagine the long
climb out of the dark
beyond morning glories, day lilies, four o’clocks
up there to the dream she keeps
lifting, where it’s noon all day.
Fancies in Springtime: Daniel J. Rice
“There are places which exist in this world beyond the reach of imagination.”
American Art – Part IV of IV: Lee Sie
In the words of one writer, Lee Sie was born in Utrecht Netherlands, grew up in Northern California, and now resides in San Diego, California.”
Below – “Poipu Sunrise” “Hidden Falls”; “Neptune’s Garden”; “The Final Act”; “Encinitas, California.”
April Offerings – Part XVII: Something to Delight both Head and Heart
American Art – Part I of IV: Kent Askew
In the words of one writer, “Kent Askew has lived in San Diego since early childhood. His photography evolved to artistic expression as he sought to explain in a pictorial way why changes to certain landscapes have such a profound effect on people.”
Below – “Boulder Oaks”; “Reality”; “Buckman Eyes”; “La Posta Spring”; “Zen Ranch.”
“Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge where there is no river.” –Nikita Krushchev, Russian leader of the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War, who was born 17 April 1894.
Some quotes from Nikita Krushchev:
“When you are skinning your customers, you should leave some skin on to heal, so that you can skin them again.”
“The press is our chief ideological weapon.”
“Do you think when two representatives holding diametrically opposing views get together and shake hands, the contradictions between our systems will simply melt away? What kind of a daydream is that?”
“The purpose of the United Nations should be to protect the essential sovereignty of nations, large and small.”
“Call it what you will, incentives are what get people to work harder.”
Economics is a subject that does not greatly respect one’s wishes.”
“Revolutions are not made for export.”
“What the scientists have in their briefcases is terrifying.”
Fancies in Springtime: Novala Takemoto
“Snow falling soundlessly in the middle of the night will always fill my heart with sweet clarity”
Argentinean painter Martin Riwnyi (born 1972) earned a Fine Arts National Professor degree from Prilidiano Pueyrredon National Fine Arts School.
“Any society that will give up a little liberty for a little security will deserve neither and lose both.” – Benjamin Franklin, a Founding Father of the United States, writer, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, statesman, diplomat, and author of “Poor Richard’s Almanac,” who died 17 April 1790.
Some quotes from “Poor Richard’s Almanac”:
“Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.”
“Love your Enemies, for they tell you your Faults.”
“There cannot be good living where there is not good drinking.”
“To all apparent beauties blind, each blemish strikes an envious mind.”
“He that drinks his cider alone, let him catch his horse alone.”
“Necessity never made a good bargain.”
“Marry’d in haste, we oft repent at leisure.”
“Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that’s the stuff life is made of.”
“To lengthen thy life, lessen thy meals.”
“He that lives upon hope will die fasting.”
Fancies in Springtime: Barry Lopez
“In Antartica, The Wright and half a dozen other valleys in the Central Transantarctic Mountains are collectively referred to as the dry valleys. It has not rained here in two million years. No animal abides, no plant grows. A persistent, sometimes ferocious wind has stripped the country to stone and gravel, to streamers of sand. The huge valleys stand stark as empty fjords. You look in vain for any conventional sign of human history- the vestige of a protective wall, a bit of charcoal, a discarded arrowhead.
Nothing. There is no history, until you bore into the layers of rock or until the balls of your fingertips run the rim of a partially exposed fossil. At the height of the austral summer, in December, you smell nothing but the sunbeaten stone. In a silence dense as water, your eye picks up no movement but the sloughing of sand, seeking its angle of repose.
On the flight in from New Zealand it had occurred to me, from what I had read and heard, that Antarctica retained Earth’s primitive link, however tenuous, with space, with the void that stretched out to Jupiter and Uranus. At the seabird rookeries of the Canadian Arctic or on the grasslands of the Serengeti, you can feel the vitality of the original creation; in the dry valleys you sense sharply what came before. The Archeozoic is like fresh spoor here.”
Below – Wright Valley, Antarctica.
American Art – Part II of IV: Louise Nevelson
“I have made my world and it is a much better world than I ever saw outside.” – Louise Nevelson, Russian-born American sculptor known for her monumental wooden pieces, who died 17 April 1988.
Below – “Sky Cathedral”; “Royal Tide IV”; “Dawn’s Wedding Chapel III.”
A Poem for Today
“Gathering Leaves in Grade School”
By Judith Harris
and some the shade of potatoes—
some had been moth-eaten
We put them under tracing paper
and rubbed our crayons
the spread of their bones
and black, veined catacombs.
We colored them green and brown
and orange, and
cut them out along the edges,
labeling them deciduous
All day, in the stuffy air of the classroom,
with its cockeyed globe,
and nautical maps of ocean floors,
I watched those leaves
lost in their own worlds
flap on the pins of the bulletin boards:
without branches or roots,
or even a sky to hold on to.
Fancies in Springtime: John Constable
“It is the soul that sees; the outward eyes
Present the object, but the Mind descries.
We see nothing till we truly understand it.”
Below – John Constable: “Wivenhoe Park”
“I believe that economists put decimal points in their forecasts to show they have a sense of humor.” – William Gilmore Simms, American novelist, short story writer, poet, and author of “The Cassique of Kiawah,” who was born 17 April 1806.
According to Edgar Allan Poe, William Gilmore Simms was both “The best novelist which this country has, on the whole, produced” and “immeasurably the greatest writer of fiction in America.” It is therefore regrettable that Simms has all but disappeared from reading lists in the United States. Regrettable, but perhaps not surprising, since Simms, born and raised in South Carolina, remained steadfastly loyal to the Confederacy, even in defeat. In the words of scholar David Aiken, William Gilmore Simms was purged from the canon of American literature because of the “unpardonable sin Simms committed when he published an account of Columbia’s destruction in which he dared to deny the North a righteous victory.” Critic Donald Davidson has suggested that, “The neglect of Simms’ stature is nothing less than a scandal when it results . . . in the disappearance of his books from the common market and therefore from the readers’ bookshelf. This is literary murder.”
Some critics find similarities between Simms’ “The Yemassee: A Romance of Carolina” and James Fenimore Cooper’s Leatherstocking Tales.
Some quotes from the work of William Gilmore Simms:
“The proverb answers where the sermon fails, as a well-charged pistol will do more execution than a whole barrel of gunpowder idly exploded in the air.”
“Genius is the very eye of intellect and the wing of thought; it is always in advance of its time, and is the pioneer for the generation which it precedes.”
“No errors of opinion can possibly be dangerous in a country where opinion is left free to grapple with them.”
“Neither praise or blame is the object of true criticism. Justly to discriminate, firmly to establish, wisely to prescribe, and honestly to award. These are the true aims and duties of criticism.”
Fancies in Springtime: Jim Goad
“Beware of anyone who calls you bad names merely for asking honest questions.”
Here is one critic describing the artistry of Roman Zaslonov:
“Roman Zaslonov is one of the most celebrated artists of our time. Born in 1962, he studied for 13 years at the Russian Academy of Fine Arts in Minsk. Upon moving to France, he won instant acclaim (including First Prize at the Salon d’Automne in 1997) and gained a vast international following.
His paintings are stunning — visually, intellectually and emotionally arresting. They are filled with the most fantastic imagination and wit. His work has been variously described as surrealist, fantastical, neo-romantic, theatrical — but it defies categorization. Zaslonov is in a world that is entirely his own.”
A Second Poem for Today
“The Crow”
so elegant in a way no one sees
but without it we would
be in trash up to our knees
with the heart of a lion
the mind of a fox
the color of the night sky
a crow
that helps in every way
each and every day
Fancies in Springtime: Norman Maclean
“Ahead and to the west was our ranger station – and the mountains of Idaho, poems of geology stretching beyond any boundaries and seemingly even beyond the world.”
From the Music Archives: Eddie Cochran
Died 17 April 1960 – Eddie Cochran, an American musician and songwriter whose songs have been covered by many great bands.
Here is the Artist Statement of Dutch painter Jolanda Richter (born 1971): “I don’t paint fashion-paintings since fashion is fast moving. My art is influenced by the spirit of the age, though ageless. I want to touch the midst of the human-being.”
17 April 1397 – Geoffrey Chaucer reads aloud the “Canterbury Tales” for the first time at the court of Richard II. Chaucer scholars have also identified 17 April 1387 as the date when the book’s pilgrimage to Canterbury begins.
Happily, we can emulate Chaucer in this matter any time we wish:
“Canterbury Tales, General Prologue,” ll. 1-18
Whan that Aprill with his shoures sote°
The droghte° of Marche hath perced to the rote,°
And bathed every veyne° in swich licour,°
Of which vertu° engendred is the flour;
Whan Zephirus° eek with his swete breeth
Inspired° hath in every holt° and heeth°
The tendre croppes,° and the yonge sonne
Hath in the Ram his halfe cours y-ronne;1
And smale fowles° maken melodye,
That slepen al the night with open yë°—
So priketh hem Nature in hir corages2—
Than longen° folk to goon° on pilgrimages,
And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes,3
To ferne halwes,° couthe° in sondry londes;
And specially, from every shires ende
Of Engelond to Caunterbury they wende,
The holy blisful martir4 for to seke,°
That hem hath holpen,° whan that they were seke.°
If your Middle English is a bit rusty:
When that April with his showers sweet
The drought of March has pierced root deep,
And bathed each vein with liquor of such power
That engendered from it is the flower,
When Zephyrus too with his gentle strife,
To every field and wood, has brought new life
In tender shoots, and the youthful sun
Half his course through the Ram has run,
And little birds are making melody,
Who all the night with open eye do sleep –
Nature their hearts in every way so pricks –
Then people long to go on pilgrimage,
And palmers who seek out foreign strands,
To far-off shrines, renowned in sundry lands;
And specially, from every shire’s end
Of England, down to Canterbury they wend,
The holy blissful martyr there to seek,
Who had aided them when they were sick.
Fancies in Springtime: Rebecca Solnit
“One of the functions of landscape it to correspond to, nurture, and provoke exploration of the landscape of the imagination. Space to walk is also space to think, and I think that’s one thing landscapes give us: places to think longer, more uninterrupted thoughts or thoughts to a rhythm other than the staccato of navigating the city.”
Here is one critic describing the artistry of Australian painter Herbert Badham (1899-1961): “In his own work Badham tended to concentrate on domestic or mundane subjects which he recorded with meticulous detail but which also tend to be imbued with a sense of the uncanny. This busy scene with some of its perspective distorted by mirrors and windows is no exception, as we loose our ability to distinguish between what is real and what is reflection.”
Fancies in Springtime: Hanshin
Snow…unceasing snow.”
The Pulitzer Prize – Part I of II: Carl Sagan
17 April 1978 – Carl Sagan wins the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction for “The Dragons of Eden.”
“In general, human societies are not innovative. They are hierarchical and ritualistic. Suggestions for change are greeted with suspicion: they imply an unpleasant future variation in ritual and hierarchy: an exchange of one set of rituals for another, or perhaps for a less structured society with fewer rituals. And yet there are times when societies must change.” – from “The Dragons of Eden”
Here is one critic describing the artistry of Thai painter Uab Sanasen (born 1935): “(He) is an artist whose creative vision, whilst not being so esoteric that it renders his work inaccessible, is still pitched far enough ahead to be thought provoking and instrumental in broadening the perspective of his audience.”
Fancies in Springtime: W.G. Hoskins
“Poets make the best topographers.”
Below – Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.
The Pulitzer Prize – Part II of II: Larry McMurtry
17 April 1986 – Larry McMurtry wins the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for “Lonesome Dove.”
“It’s like I told you last night son. The earth is mostly just a boneyard. But pretty in the sunlight, he added.” – from “Lonesome Dove”
A Third Poem for Today
“My name came from . . .”
My name came from my great-great-great-grandfather.
He was an Indian from the Choctaw tribe.
His name was Dark Ant.
When he went to get a job out in a city
he changed it to Emmett.
And his whole name was Emmett Perez Tenorio.
And my name means: Ant; Strong; Carry twice
its size.
Fancies in Springtime: Reinhold Messner
“Seen from above, landscapes are made up of mountains and watercourses. Just as a transparent model of the human body consists of a framework of bone and a network of arteries, the earth’s crust is structured in mountain ridges, river, creeks, and gullies.”
Here is the Artist Statement of Korean painter Park Min-Joon (born 1971): “The main subjects of my work are three: life, death, and eternity. These three subjects foam a foundation of all my work; each piece of artwork has specifically different stories. Those stories are based on Greek and Roman mythology, religious stories, Egyptian mythology and even the Eastern philosophy. However, I do not limit my thought in a particular philosophy. Actually, my work depicts stories of human beings: the current of time, nation and generation. On the one hand, my work looks more realistic when viewers see it through the lens of a traditional viewpoint. On the other hand, it looks enlightening when one sees it through the lens of a contemporary point of view. My work is located at the borderline between contemporary paintings and traditional paintings. That is I pursue the craftsmanship of great masters of the past while addressing contemporary issues at the same time.”
Fancies in Springtime: Ali Benjamin
“If people were silent, they could hear the noise of their own lives better. If people were silent, it would make what they did say, whenever they chose to say it, more important. If people were silent, they could read one another’s signals, the way underwater creatures flash lights at one another, or turn their skin different colors.”
“The air was cold to the lungs, the long grass dripping wet, and the herbs on it gave out their spiced astringent scent. In a little while on all sides the Cicada would begin to sing. The grass was me, and the air, the distant invisible mountains were me, the tired oxen were me. I breathed with the slight night-wind in the thorn trees.” – Karen von Blixen-Finecke, known by her pen name Isak Dinesen, Danish writer and author of “Out of Africa” and “Seven Gothic Tales,” who was born 17 April 1885.
Peter Englund, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, described it as “a mistake” that Blixen was not awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature during the 1930s.
Some quotes from Isak Dinesen:
“I had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills.”
“The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea.”
“To be lonely is a state of mind, something completely other than physical solitude; when modern authors rant about the soul’s intolerable loneliness, it is only proof of their own intolerable emptiness.”
“When in the end, the day came on which I was going away, I learned the strange learning that things can happen which we ourselves cannot possibly imagine, either beforehand, or at the time when they are taking place, or afterwards when we look back on them.”
“Through all the world there goes one long cry from the heart of the artist: Give me leave to do my utmost!”
“What is man, when you come to think upon him, but a minutely set, ingenious machine for turning, with infinite artfulness, the red wine of Shiraz into urine?”
“Difficult times have helped me to understand better than before, how infinitely rich and beautiful life is in every way, and that so many things that one goes worrying about are of no importance whatsoever.”
“When you have a great and difficult task, something perhaps almost impossible, if you only work a little at a time, every day a little, suddenly the work will finish itself.”
“I think it will be truly glorious when women become real people and have the whole world open to them.”
“I don’t believe in evil, I believe only in horror. In nature there is no evil, only an abundance of horror: the plagues and the blights and the ants and the maggots.”
“Love, with very young people, is a heartless business. We drink at that age from thirst, or to get drunk; it is only later in life that we occupy ourselves with the individuality of our wine.”
Fancies in Springtime: David Self
“So many other planets & stars — could all those stars set over barren planets, beauty wasted? Or, are sunsets witnessed throughout the universe?”
American Art – Part III of IV: Carrie Graber
Here is one critic describing the artistry of painter Carrie Graber (born 1975): “Carrie Graber is considered to be among the most talented, exciting and well-collected artists in the world today. With her warm tones and exquisite control of illumination creating a perfect composition of light and contrast, Carrie captures the beauty and subtlety of familiar environments, which are often overlooked. Her soft, realistic but also bold approach warms the viewers’ senses and creates a feeling of intimacy. This is the link between Carrie and one of her main influences, Dutch master painter Vermeer. Carrie Graber has always been fascinated with the human figure. Scholars and experts from several different institutions have predicted that as our aesthetics evolve, art will become less reliant on overt color, and come to depend more on the subtle interplay of light and shadow. Ms. Graber’s work is perfectly suited for the new millennium.”
Fancies in Springtime: James Rozoff
“Forget scientists. The next space launch we should send up painters, poets and musicians. I’d be more interested in what they discover than anything that takes place in a test tube.”
A Fourth Poem for Today
“Bushwick: Latex Flat”
that one could easily imagine
its reason for being was nothing more
than prettiness.”
Back from the Territory – Art: Rie Munoz (Part IV)
Artist Statement: “My artwork can best be described as expressionism. The term applies to work that rejects camera snapshot realism, and instead, expresses emotion by distortion and strong colors. My paintings reflect an interest in the day-to-day activities of Alaskans such as fishing, berry picking, children at play, crabbing, and whaling. I am also fascinated with the legends of Alaska’s Native people. While I find much to paint around Juneau, most of my material comes from sketching trips taken to the far corners of Alaska. I’ve taught school on King Island in the Bering Sea, traveled and sketched almost every community in Alaska.”
Back from the Territory, I share this with you, before I light out again.
Below – “Nikita”; “Noatak”; “On the Yukon”; “Osprey and Ravens”; “Pearl.”
A Fifth Poem for Today
“Prayer for the Dead”
The light snow started late last night and continued
all night long while I slept and could hear it occasionally
enter my sleep, where I dreamed my brother
was alive again and possessing the beauty of youth, aware
that he would be leaving again shortly and that is the lesson
of the snow falling and of the seeds of death that are in everything
that is born: we are here for a moment
of a story that is longer than all of us and few of us
remember, the wind is blowing out of someplace
we don’t know, and each moment contains rhythms
within rhythms, and if you discover some old piece
of your own writing, or an old photograph,
you may not remember that it was you and even if it was once you,
it’s not you now, not this moment that the synapses fire
and your hands move to cover your face in a gesture
of grief and remembrance.
Fancies in Springtime: Albert Payson Terhune
“Soon or late, every dog’s master’s memory becomes a graveyard; peopled by wistful little furry ghosts that creep back unbidden, at times, to a semblance of their olden lives.”
Below – Albert Payson Terhune with some of his Sunnybank collies; Robert Neralich, age 10, with Tippie, his dream dog.
American Art – Part IV of IV: Leah Younker
Leah Younker is a San Diego-based artist.
Below – “Red Bus”; “Looking East”; “One-Note Song”; “Lucky Lady.”
April Offerings – Part XVI: Something to Delight both Head and Heart
American Art – Part I of V: Ken Goldman
In the words of one writer, “Ken Goldman is an internationally known artist, author, teacher, and art juror.”
A Poem for Today
“Measuring the Distance to Oklahoma”
By Laura Da’
damp sign proclaiming ginkgo fossils
and iron sculpture of wild horses on the ridge.
At the turn of the last century,
Cayuse ponies were bred with European draft horses.
A leaner, tougher work animal for the logging fields.
Trumpeter swans stitch
the sallow slab of sky.
Two birds swap point position
to cut the air’s polarity.
Path that pulls the taste
of mixed blood into my mouth.
Late February
and I am three weeks pregnant. I drive
and the Columbia loosens
my dad’s easy silence.
He talks about his grandfather:
star musician of the Haskell Indian School Marching Band,
telegraph operator, rodeo cowboy?
three states to hunt for big game
was habitual.
dead within a week of my birth;
I am told
he looked at a Polaroid
and proclaimed me an angry little Indian.
Late August in a post-depression labor camp
in the Mojave desert.
My dad was born; he might have been premature,
covered with dark hair and sick enough to die?
Terraced sun shower wading through the cloudbank.
Recollection becomes embrace?
the doctor’s chart advises me—
my child is two and a half pounds, like a Chinese cabbage.
Blinking heavy eyes and fluttering his newly formed lashes.
My hair still damp from swimming laps.
Warning signs:
severe headaches, excessive nausea, a change in reflexes.
Feel of the doctor’s hand pushing me back onto the table.
In the hospital, I ask for books.
Posters from old rodeos.
A photo of a Mimbres pot
from southern New Mexico
black and white line figures—
a woman dusting corn pollen over a baby’s head
during a naming ceremony.
with the skins incised with hymns and verses
as a portent against death in childbirth.
Heparin Sodium
in a slow abdominal arc
incising my skin
like a creation spiral; my hope apple.
Say splitting the rails of the body
to lay down a fence
between harm and one’s young.
Terraced sun shower wading through the cloudbank.
My son at ten months
staring calmly at morning stars
during his naming.
The faint trail of corn pollen suspended
in his fine, dark hair.
Below – A Native American woman scoops corn pollen out of a pouch in order to use it in a blessing ceremony; Vantage, Washington.
The Pulitzer Prize – I of V: Edna Ferber
“A closed mind is a dying mind.” – Edna Ferber, American novelist, short story writer, playwright, and recipient of the 1925 Pulitzer Prize for the Novel (for “So Big”), who died 16 April 1968.
Some quotes from the work of Edna Ferber:
“Being an old maid is like death by drowning, a really delightful sensation after you cease to struggle.”
“Big doesn’t necessarily mean better. Sunflowers aren’t better than violets.”
“Perhaps too much of everything is as bad as too little.”
“I never go to weddings. Waste of time. Person can get married a dozen times. Lots of folks do. Family like ours, know everybody in the state of Texas and around outside, why, you could spend your life going to weddings. But a funeral, that’s different. You only die once.”
“Whoever said love conquers all was a fool. Because almost everything conquers love – or tries to.”
“Any piece of furniture, I don’t care how beautiful it is, has got to be lived with, and kicked about, and rubbed down, and mistreated…and repolished, and knocked around and dusted and sat on or slept in or eaten off of before it develops its real character.”
“Some day I’ll probably marry a horny-handed son of a toil, and if I do it’ll be the horny hands that will win me. If you want to know, I like ‘em with their scars on them. There’s something about a man who has fought for it – I don’t know what it is – a look in his eye – the feel of his hand. He needn’t have been successful – thought he probably would be. I don’t know. I’m not very good at this analysis stuff. I know he – well, you haven’t a mark on you. Not a mark. You quit being an architect, or whatever it was, because architecture was an uphill disheartening job at the time. I don’t say that you should have kept on. For all I know you were a bum architect. But if you had kept on – if you had loved it enough to keep on – fighting, and struggling, and sticking it out – why, that fight would show in your face to-day – in your eyes and your jaw and your hands and in your way of standing and walking and sitting and talking. Listen. I’m not critcizing you. But you’re all smooth. I like ‘em bumpy.”
“Then there were long, lazy summer afternoons when there was nothing to do but read. And dream. And watch the town go by to supper. I think that is why our great men and women so often have sprung from small towns, or villages. They have had time to dream in their adolescence. No cars to catch, no matinees, no city streets, none of the teeming, empty, energy-consuming occupations of the city child. Little that is competitive, much that is unconsciously absorbed at the most impressionable period, long evenings for reading, long afternoons in the fields or woods.”
Fancies in Springtime: Brian Switek
“Even now, the world’s metamorphosis continues. It’s at a rate that’s practically impossible to detect with our own eyes, but it’s happening. The scale of a human life – measured by the speed of Internet updates or the crawl of a working day – is ill suited to fit the dynamic nature of our planet and the fantastic organisms that continue to evolve here.”
A Second Poem for Today
“The Accompanist”
I’ve always worried about you—the man or woman
at the piano bench,
night after night receiving only such applause
as the singer allows: ‘a warm hand please,
for my accompanist.’ At concerts,
as I watch your fingers on the keys,
and how swiftly, how excellently
you turn sheet music pages,
track the singer’s notes, cover the singer’s flaws,
I worry about whole lifetimes,
most lifetimes
lived in the shadows of reflected fame;
but then the singer’s voice dies
and there are just your last piano notes,
not resentful at all,
carrying us to the end, into those heartfelt cheers
that spring up in little patches from a thrilled audience
like sudden wildflowers bobbing in a rain
of steady clapping. And I’m on my feet, also,
clapping and cheering for the singer, yes,
but, I think, partially likewise for you
half-turned toward us, balanced on your black bench,
modest, utterly well-rehearsed,
still playing the part you’ve made yours.
The Pulitzer Prize – Part II of V: Sam Shepard
16 April 1979 – Sam Shepard wins the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for “Buried Child.”
“You can’t force a thing to grow. You can’t interfere with it. It’s all hidden. It’s all unseen. You just gotta wait til it pops up out of the ground. Tiny little shoot. Tiny little white shoot. All hairy and fragile. Strong enough. Strong enough to break the earth even. It’s a miracle.” – from “Buried Child”
American Art – Part II of V: D. J. Hall
Painter D. J. Hall (born 1951) has a B.F.A. (magna cum laude) from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles.
Fancies in Springtime: Barry Lopez
“I lay there knowing something eerie ties us to the world of animals. Sometimes the animals pull you backward into it. You share hunger and fear with them like salt in blood.”
The Pulitzer Prize – Part III of V: Mary Oliver
16 April 1984 – Mary Oliver wins the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for “American Primitive.”
“In Blackwater Woods”
none of us will ever know.
To live in this world
you must be able
to love what is mortal;
to hold it
your own life depends on it;
and, when the time comes to let it go,
to let it go. – from “American Primitive”
A Third Poem for Today
“The Old Liberators”
Of all the people in the mornings at the mall,
it’s the old liberators I like best,
those veterans of the Bulge, Anzio, or Monte Cassino
I see lost in Automotive or back in Home Repair,
bored among the paints and power tools.
Or the really old ones, the ones who are going fast,
who keep dozing off in the little orchards
of shade under the distant skylights.
All around, from one bright rack to another,
their wives stride big as generals,
their handbags bulging like ripe fruit.
They are almost all gone now,
and with them they are taking the flak
and fire storms, the names of the old bombing runs.
Each day a little more of their memory goes out,
darkens the way a house darkens,
its rooms quietly filling with evening,
until nothing but the wind lifts the lace curtains,
the wind bearing through the empty rooms
the rich far off scent of gardens
where just now, this morning,
light is falling on the wild philodendrons.
Fancies in Springtime: Neil deGrasse Tyson
“We embark on this quest not from a simple desire, but from a mandate of our species to search for our place in the cosmos. The quest is old, not new. And has garnered the attention of thinkers great and small, across time and across culture. What we have discovered, the poets have known all along.”
The Pulitzer Prize – Part IV of V: Peter Taylor
16 April 1987 – Peter Taylor wins the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for “Summons to Memphis.”
“I had relived all the wrongs done me by my father, even those he had unwittingly done and those he had done merely in order to enable himself to go ahead with his own life. …I knew that after first protecting Father from my sisters, I must then convert the two middle-aged women to my own views on forgetting wrongs done them by their parents. …Our prerogative was to forget the wrongs done us in our youth and childhood, in order to know ourselves truly grown up. My new insight seemed a great light casting its rays everywhere.” – from “Summons to Memphis”
American Art – Part III of V: Linda Christensen
Here is one critic describing the artistry of painter Linda Christensen: “Since the early 1990s, Linda Christensen has chosen to depict female figures in transitions of movement and repose. Developing her own personal language over years of influence from the Bay Area Abstract and Figurative traditions, Christensen has confidently refined her own inner vision to reach a place of clarity and national significance with her painting.”
Fancies in Springtime: Ali Benjamin
“There are so many things to be scared of in this world: blooms of jellies. A sixth extinction. A middle school dance. But maybe we can stop feeling so afraid. Maybe instead of feeling like a mote of dust, we can remember that all the creatures on this earth are made from stardust.
And we are the only ones who get to know it.”
The Pulitzer Prize – Part V of V: August Wilson
16 April 1987 – August Wilson wins the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for “Fences.”
“Don’t you think I ever wanted other things? Don’t you think I had dreams and hopes? What about my life? What about me. Don’t you think it ever crossed my mind to want to know other men? That I wanted to lay up somewhere and forget about my responsibilities? That I wanted someone to make me laugh so I could feel good? You not the only one who’s got wants and needs. But I held on to you, Troy. I took all my feelings, my wants and needs, my dreams…and I buried them inside you. I planted myself inside you and waited to bloom. And it didn’t take me no eighteen years to find out the soil was hard and rocky and it wasn’t never gonna bloom.” – from “Fences”
British Art – Part I of II: Patrick Palmer
Artist Statement: “Whilst an element of realism is important, I try to move beyond artistic convention and avoid an image that is too predictable. Realism is not enough – what you take away and what you add to what you see are what transform a picture into art.
I believe that the viewer wants to see a degree of draughtsmanship from an artist but they deserve more than this. I aspire to make my pictures to touch people personally and to be considered works of beauty.”
“You must be able to see the beautiful.” – Sarah Kirsch, German poet, who was born 16 April 1935.
“Trees”
To have formed forests and birds
Also called dragonflies little
Fancies in Springtime: Ansel Adams
“Landscape photography is the supreme test of the photographer – and often the supreme disappointment. ”
Nobel Laureate: Kawabata Yasunari
“Along the coast the sea roars, and inland the mountains roar – the roaring at the center, like a distant clap of thunder.” – Kawabata Yasunari, Japanese novelist, short story writer, and recipient of the 1968 Nobel Prize for Literature “for his narrative mastery, which with great sensibility expresses the essence of the Japanese mind,” who died 16 April 1972.
Kawabata Yasunari titled his Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech “Japan, The Beautiful, and Myself,” and it is a concise elaboration of Japanese culture, aesthetics, and artistry – at least in their aristocratic expressions.
Fancies in Springtime: K.L. Toth
“You will never know how high you can climb until you reach the top.”
British Art – Part II of II: Agnes Toth
Artist Statement: “Dichotomy is the main feature of my practice; my work is equally precise and detailed, but also fractured, unfinished and deconstructed. A type of manipulation, where the painting is abstract and realistic at the same time. My aim is to be able to create anything within the framework of painting, to find a path where there are no constrains and limitations in terms of representation.
In my paintings appearance of the contrast between existing and invisible is linked to the conceptual matters of nature, existence and human cognition. The standard set of rules are dissolved by the fragments and the partial forms, layers. The shapes develop organically, as observed in nature.
My area of research is slow processes, private spaces, human behaviour, existence, incompleteness, reconstruction, fragmentation, reinterpretation and denial.”
From the American History Archives – Part I of II: Wilbur Wright
“The desire to fly is an idea handed down to us by our ancestors who… looked enviously on the birds soaring freely through space… on the infinite highway of the air.” – Wilbur Wright, American inventor, aviation pioneer, and, with his brother Orville, credited with building the world’s first successful airplane and making the first controlled, powered, and sustained heavier-than-air human flight, who was born 16 April 1867.
Below – Wilbur Wright; the first flight of the Wright Flyer I, December 17, 1903, Orville piloting, Wilbur running at wingtip.
American Art – Part IV of V: Lovell Birge Harrison
In the words of one critic, Lovell Birge Harrison (1854-1929) “was an American genre and landscape painter, teacher, and writer.”
“I remain just one thing, and one thing only, and that is a clown. It places me on a far higher plane than any politician.” – Sir Charles Spencer “Charlie” Chaplin, English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the silent movie era, who was born 16 April 1889.
Some quotes from the work of Charlie Chaplin:
“Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot.”
“A day without laughter is a day wasted.”
“A man’s true character comes out when he’s drunk.”
“I don’t believe that the public knows what it wants; this is the conclusion that I have drawn from my career.”
“To truly laugh, you must be able to take your pain, and play with it!”
“Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself.”
“Life could be wonderful if people would leave you alone.”
“I do not have much patience with a thing of beauty that must be explained to be understood. If it does need additional interpretation by someone other than the creator, then I question whether it has fulfilled its purpose.”
“We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other’s happiness, not by each other’s misery.”
“Man as an individual is a genius. But men in the mass form the headless monster, a great, brutish idiot that goes where prodded.”
“What do you want a meaning for? Life is a desire, not a meaning.”
“I thought I would dress in baggy pants, big shoes, a cane and a derby hat -everything a contradiction: the pants baggy, the coat tight, the hat small and the shoes large.”
“All I need to make a comedy is a park, a policeman and a pretty girl.”
“Despair is a narcotic. It lulls the mind into indifference.”
“In the end, everything is a gag.”
Fancies in Springtime: Wallace Stevens
“I know noble accents
That the blackbird is involved
In what I know.”
A Fourth Poem for Today
“After Work”
They’re heading home with their lights on, dust and wood glue,
yellow dome lights on their metallic long beds: 250s, 2500s—
as much overtime as you want, deadline, dotted line, dazed
through the last few hours, dried primer on their knuckles,
sawdust calf-high on their jeans, scraped boots, the rough
plumbing and electric in, way ahead of the game except for
the check, such a clutter of cans and iced-tea bottles, napkins,
coffee cups, paper plates on the front seat floor with cords
and saws, tired above the eyes, back of the beyond, thirsty.
There’s a parade of them through the two-lane highways,
proudest on their way home, the first turn out of the jobsite,
the first song with the belt off, pure breath of being alone
for now, for now the insight of a full and answerable man.
No one can take away the contentment of the first few miles
and they know they can’t describe it, the black and purple sky.
Nobel Laureate: Anatole France
“The Law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich, as well as the poor, to sleep under the bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread.” – Anatole France, French poet, journalist, novelist, and recipient of the 1921 Nobel Prize in Literature “in recognition of his brilliant literary achievements, characterized as they are by a nobility of style, a profound human sympathy, grace, and a true Gallic temperament,” who was born 16 April 1844.
Some quotes from the work of Anatole France:
“Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.”
“Never lend books, for no one ever returns them; the only books I have in my library are books that other folks have lent me.”
“All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another.”
“To accomplish great things we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.
“To know is nothing at all; to imagine is everything.”
“It is the certainty that they possess the truth that makes men cruel.”
“If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we aren’t really living.”
“The whole art of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural curiosity of the mind for the purpose of satisfying it afterwards.”
“We have never heard the devil’s side of the story, God wrote all the book.”
“If fifty million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing.”
“Of all sexual aberrations, chastity is the strangest.”
“Stupidity is far more dangerous than evil, for evil takes a break from time to time, stupidity does not.”
“It is human nature to think wisely and act in an absurd fashion.”
“An education isn’t how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It’s being able to differentiate between what you do know and what you don’t.”
“Time deals gently only with those who take it gently.”
“A person is never happy except at the price of some ignorance.”
“Wandering re-establishes the original harmony which once existed between man and the universe.”
“Nine tenths of education is encouragement.”
“The books that everybody admires are those that nobody reads.”
“If the path be beautiful, let us not ask where it leads.”
“The average man, who does not know what to do with his life, wants another one which will last forever.”
Fancies in Springtime: John Steinbeck
“I remember my childhood names for grasses and secret flowers. I remember where a toad may live and what time the birds awaken in the summer — and what trees and seasons smelled like — how people looked and walked and smelled even. The memory of odors is very rich.”
Spanish painter Diáz Alamà has a degree in Fine Arts from the University of Barcelona.
From the American History Archives Part II of II: Natural Bridges National Monument
16 April 1908 – President Theodore Roosevelt signs a bill establishing Natural Bridges National Monument.
Below – Owachomo Bridge; Kachina Bridge; Sipapu Bridge.
Fancies in Springtime: Haruki Murakami
“Sometimes, when one is moving silently through such an utterly desolate landscape, an overwhelming hallucination can make one feel that oneself, as an individual human being, is slowly being unraveled. The surrounding space is so vast that it becomes increasingly difficult to keep a balanced grip on one’s own being. The mind swells out to fill the entire landscape, becoming so diffuse in the process that one loses the ability to keep it fastened to the physical self. The sun would rise from the eastern horizon, and cut it’s way across the empty sky, and sink below the western horizon. This was the only perceptible change in our surroundings. And in the movement of the sun, I felt something I hardly know how to name: some huge, cosmic love.”
A Fifth Poem for Today
“Daughter”
A daughter is not a passing cloud, but permanent,
holding earth and sky together with her shadow.
She sleeps upstairs like mystery in a story,
blowing leaves down the stairs, then cold air, then warm.
We who at sixty should know everything, know nothing.
We become dull and disoriented by uncertain weather.
We kneel, palms together, before this blossoming altar.
Fancies in Springtime: Amit Ray
“Life is not always perfect. Like a road, it has many bends, ups and down, but that’s its beauty.”
“I do not know if the people of the United States would vote for superior men if they ran for office, but there can be no doubt that such men do not run.” – Alexis de Tocqueville, French political thinker, historian, and author of “Democracy in America,” who died 16 April 1859:
In addition to “Democracy in America,” students of American history and cultural character should also read “Tocqueville on America after 1840: Letters and Other Writings,” edited and translated by Aurelian Craiutu and Jeremy Jennings. In the words of one critic, “The book points out a clear shift in emphasis especially after 1852 and documents Tocqueville’s growing disenchantment with America, triggered by such issues as political corruption, slavery, expansionism, and the encroachment of the economic sphere upon the political.”
Some quotes from the work of Alexis de Tocqueville:
“There are two things which a democratic people will always find very difficult – to begin a war and to end it.”
“There are many men of principle in both parties in America, but there is no party of principle.”
“As one digs deeper into the national character of the Americans, one sees that they have sought the value of everything in this world only in the answer to this single question: how much money will it bring in?
“The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money.”
“America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.”
“Americans are so enamored of equality, they would rather be equal in slavery than unequal in freedom.”
“When the taste for physical gratifications among them has grown more rapidly than their education . . . the time will come when men are carried away and lose all self-restraint . . . .It is not necessary to do violence to such a people in order to strip them of the rights they enjoy; they themselves willingly loosen their hold. . . .they neglect their chief business which is to remain their own masters.”
“Nothing is more wonderful than the art of being free, but nothing is harder to learn how to use than freedom.”
“It is indeed difficult to imagine how men who have entirely renounced the habit of managing their own affairs could be successful in choosing those who ought to lead them. It is impossible to believe that a liberal, energetic, and wise government can ever emerge from the ballots of a nation of servants.”
“History is a gallery of pictures in which there are few originals and many copies.”
“I cannot help fearing that men may reach a point where they look on every new theory as a danger, every innovation as a toilsome trouble, every social advance as a first step toward revolution, and that they may absolutely refuse to move at all.”
Back from the Territory – Art: Rie Munoz (Part III)
Artist Statement: “My artwork can best be described as expressionism. The term applies to work that rejects camera snapshot realism, and instead, expresses emotion by distortion and strong colors. My paintings reflect an interest in the day-to-day activities of Alaskans such as fishing, berry picking, children at play, crabbing, and whaling. I am also fascinated with the legends of Alaska’s Native people. While I find much to paint around Juneau, most of my material comes from sketching trips taken to the far corners of Alaska. I’ve taught school on King Island in the Bering Sea, traveled and sketched almost every community in Alaska.”
Back from the Territory, I share this with you, before I light out again.
Below – “Mermaid & Walrus”; “Migrating Snow Geese”; “Musher”; “Night on the Balcony”; “Night Sledding, Juneau.”
Fancies in Springtime: Lawrence Durrell
“It is a pity indeed to travel and not get this essential sense of landscape values. You do not need a sixth sense for it. It is there if you just close your eyes and breathe softly through your nose; you will hear the whispered message, for all landscapes ask the same question in the same whisper. ‘I am watching you — are you watching yourself in me?’ Most travelers hurry too much…the great thing is to try and travel with the eyes of the spirit wide open, and not to much factual information. To tune in, without reverence, idly — but with real inward attention. It is to be had for the feeling…you can extract the essence of a place once you know how. If you just get as still as a needle, you’ll be there.”
“Ghost Villanelle”
We never saw the ghost, though he was there—
we knew from the raindrops tapping on the eaves.
We never saw him, and we didn’t care.
Each day, new sunshine tumbled through the air;
evenings, the moonlight rustled in dark leaves.
We never saw the ghost, though: he was there,
if ever, when the wind tousled our hair
and prickled goosebumps up and down thin sleeves;
we never saw him. And we didn’t care
to step outside our room at night, or dare
click off the nightlight: call it fear of thieves.
We never saw the ghost, though he was there
in sunlit dustmotes drifting anywhere,
in light-and-shadow, such as the moon weaves.
We never saw him, though, and didn’t care,
until at last we saw him everywhere.
We told nobody. Everyone believes
we never saw the ghost (if he was there),
we never saw him and we didn’t care.
Fancies in Springtime: Rebecca Solnit
“A lone peak of high point is a natural focal point in the landscape, something by which both travelers and local orient themselves. In the continuum of landscape, mountains are discontinuity — culminating in high points, natural barriers, unearthly earth.”
American Art – Part V of V: Julie Warren
In the words of one writer, Julie Warren graduated from Michigan State University with a BFA. She is a painter, printmaker, photographer, and graphic designer.”
Below – “California Tower, Balboa Park”; “Purple Cityscape”; “Jade Pot”; “OB Pier Triptych”; “Lotus Blossoms”; “Penguins at Home.”
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What was the attendance at the 2002 World Cup Final? | World Cup 2002 in South Korea/Japan - World Cup Brazil 2014 Guide
World Cup Brazil 2014 Guide
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Date: 31 May – 30 July
Final: Germany – Brazil 0-2
3rd place: South Korea – Turkey 2-3
Teams: 32
Top scorer: Ronaldo (Brazil) (8 goals)
World Cup 2002 Background
The 3rd millennium has started in 2001. This probably contributed to a decision that was made on May 31 1996 in Zürich. On that day FIFA decided the 17th World Cup would be hosted in continent Asia. Never in World Cup history a World Cup was hosted in a continent outside Europe, South America or North/Central America. This was not the only unique aspect of the 17th World Cup. Also for the first time in World Cup history, 2 countries would host the 2002 World Cup together: South Korea and Japan.
Initially 3 countries showed interest in hosting the 2002 World Cup and placed a bid. The countries were South Korea, Japan and Mexico. Shortly before the announcement about who would host the World Cup, South Korea and Japan united their bids. As a result FIFA voted unanimously for this special bid.
Another interesting aspect, was the fact that back in 1996 when the announcement was made, Japan never qualified for a World Cup yet. They would however qualify for the 1998 World Cup. Only 2 other countries have been awarded a World Cup without ever having qualified for one. They are Italy which hosted the 1934 World Cup and Qatar which will ( probably ) host the 2022 World cup.
10 host cities in South Korea
10 host cities in Japan
World Cup 2002 Participants
For the 2002 World Cup 199 countries tried to qualify. Only 29 of the 32 places were available since both Japan and South Korea qualified automatically as host countries. France qualified automatically since they won the previous World Cup. This would be the last time however, that the previous World Cup winner would automatically qualify for a World Cup.
13 places for Europe excluding France were allocated to the following countries: Denmark, Spain, Slovenia, Turkey, Portugal, Poland, Germany, Sweden, England, Italy, Croatia, Belgium and Russia. Slovenia qualified for the first time since the breakup of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1992. Turkey qualified for the first time since 1954 and Portugal for the first time since 1986.
5 places for Africa were allocated to the following countries: Senegal, South Africa, Cameroon, Nigeria and Tunisia. Senegal qualified for the first time.
4 places for South America were allocated to the following countries: Paraguay, Ecuador, Brazil and Argentina. Ecuador qualified for the first time.
3 places for North/Central America and Caribbean were allocated to the following countries: Costa Rica, Mexico and United States.
2 places for Asia excluding South Korea and Japan were allocated to the following countries: China PR and Saudi Arabia. China PR qualified for the first time. South Korea became the first country outside Europe, South America and North/Central America and Caribbean to qualify for the 5th World Cup in a row.
2 intercontinental play-offs had to be played by 4 countries which didn’t qualify directly: UEFA country Republic of Ireland against AFC country Iran and CONMEBOL country Uruguay against OFC country Australia.
Both Republic of Ireland and Uruguay won these play-offs and therefore qualified last minute for the 2002 World Cup.
All 7 World Cup winners so far participated together for the first time: Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Germany, Italy and Uruguay. They have all participated before in the 1986 World Cup but France (France ’98 World Cup champion) wasn’t a World Cup champion yet.
2002 World Cup match ball “Fevernova”
World Cup 2002 Groups
The exact same format of the 1998 World Cup was used again. A round-robin format was played meaning all teams in a group had to play against all the other teams in their group. 3 points were rewarded in the group stage for a win, and 1 point for a draw. The last 2 matches per group would be played at the same time.
The 2 best teams per group would advance to the Round of 16 where the knockout stage started. The number 1 team of a group had to play against the number 2 team of another group. If the game ended in a draw, 30 minutes of extra time would have to be played. If the draw continues, the winner would be determined by a penalty shootout. After the Round of 16, teams could advance to the Quarter-Finals and Semi-Finals before reaching the Final.
The 2002 World Cup would already be the last World Cup to use the Golden Goal rule. This was introduced in the previous World Cup in 1998. When a goal was scored in the 30 minutes of extra time, the match ended immediately. The rule was used 3 times in this World Cup and 1 time in the 1998 World Cup.
The 8 seed countries were Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea and Spain. They were kept apart from each other and were placed in different groups.
The groups were as followed:
Group A
2002 World Cup logo
World Cup 2002 Stadiums
Since 2 countries hosted the 2002 World Cup, the amount of stadiums had to be divided. Both South Korea and Japan used 10 cities and 10 stadiums each, which in total would be a record amount of 20 stadiums to host World Cup matches. The majority of all these stadiums were especially built for the World Cup.
The opening match would be hosted in South Korea, in the Seoul World Cup Stadium. Japan in return would host the Final in the International Stadium Yokohama.
The following 10 cities and 10 stadiums were used in South Korea:
Seoul World Cup Stadium
World Cup 2002 Memorable Matches
Group Matches
France – Senegal 0-1
Seoul World Cup Stadium, Seoul – attendance: 62,561
France showed an excellent performance 4 years earlier and earned the FIFA World Cup trophy. But 4 years later they would end up playing 1 of their worst World Cups ever. 0 goals were scored in the group matches and France finished last in Group A. France drew the match against Uruguay and lost the 2 other matches. Their first shocking loss was against Senegal. Senegal played their first World Cup and surprised the world by scoring the winning goal in the first half. Bouba Diop was the goal scorer. The Senegalese players celebrated the first 2002 World Cup goal famously by moving around Diop’s jersey and with some dancing. Senegal drew the 2 other matches against Denmark and Uruguay. Both Senegal and Denmark advanced to the Round of 16.
Group B
Spain – Paraguay 3-1
Jeonju World Cup Stadium, Jeonju – attendance: 24,000
Spain easily survived the group stage and topped the group. In each match they have scored 3 goals. In this match against Paraguay only Spanish players have scored a goal. The match started with an early goal for Paraguay, but this was an own goal by defender Carles Puyol. In the 2nd half the 3 goals for Spain were scored by Fernando Morientes (2x) and Fernando Hierro. Paraguay did advance, but they were very close to become eliminated. South Africa had the same amount of points and goal difference as Paraguay had. But the difference was that Paraguay scored 1 more goal in the group stage than South Africa, which resulted in reaching the next round.
Group C
Brazil – Turkey 2-1
Munsu Cup Stadium, Ulsan – attendance: 33,842
As with Spain, Brazil had no trouble reaching the 2nd round. At least 4 goals have been scored against China PR and Costa Rica. The toughest match was against Turkey. Hasan Şaş scored the first goal of the match in the first half. Ronaldo scored the equalizer and Rivaldo scored a penalty 3 minutes before full time. Rivaldo however was involved in a controversial accident. Turkish defender Hakan Ünsal kicked the ball to Rivaldo who was waiting at the corner flag for a corner. The ball reached his thigh but Rivaldo suddenly fell to the ground grabbing his face. It was obvious though the ball didn’t even come near his face. But the referee gave Hakan Ünsal his 2nd yellow card and was sent off. Brazil won but both countries eventually advanced. They would meet each other again later in the tournament. Turkey advanced, but only because of the goal difference rule. Costa Rica had the exact amount of points as Turkey.
Group D
USA – Portugal 3-2
Suwon World Cup Stadium, Suwon – attendance: 37,306
This match was 1 of the 2002 World Cup surprises. Portugal had known players such as Rui Costa, Luís Figo, João Pinto and Portugal’s current trainer Paulo Bento. It was highly expected from Portugal to survive the group stage, but this didn’t happen. Their first surprising loss was against USA. American midfielder John O’Brien scored for USA where 25 minutes later Portuguese Jorge Costa scored an own goal. both American Brian McBride and Portuguese Beto scored for their countries which ended the first half in 3-1. In the 2nd half it was American defender Jeff Agoos who scored an own goal. This is so far the only World Cup match where 2 own goals have been scored. No goals were scored after that. The United States won and would end up being 2nd of the group. Portugal lost the match against South Korea as well and became eliminated. South Korea topped the group and was about to play 2 controversial matches of the tournament.
Memorable celebration by Ahn Jung-Hwan (South Korea – USA 1-1)
Ahn Jung-Hwan celebrated his equalizer memorably in the match against USA by imitating a speed skater. He referred to the controversial disqualification of Korean short track speed skater Kim Dong-Sung in the 1500 metres at the 2002 Winter Olympics. This allowed American Apolo Ohno to win the gold medal.
Group E
Germany – Saudi Arabia 8-0
Sapporo Dome, Sapporo – attendance: 32,218
Germany started the tournament with an impressive victory: 8-0 against Saudi Aurabia. The good results of the 1994 World Cup haven’t been improved yet by Saudi Aurabia. They never advanced to a next round after USA ’94. In the 2002 World Cup 0 goals have been scored. All 8 goals came from Germany. Miroslav Klose scored a hat-trick with his head! The was the 2nd and last time so far in World Cup history 3 headers have been in scored by a player in 1 match! Other players who have scored are Michael Ballack, Carsten Jancker, Thomas Linke, Oliver Bierhoff and Bernd Schneider. Germany topped the group and advanced together with Republic of Ireland. Irish player Robbie Keane became the only player together with Brazilian Ronaldo (2x), to have scored a goal against Germany. Yes, Oliver Kan has been beaten only 3 times in total in this World Cup.
Group F (Group of Death)
Argentina – England 0-1
Sapporo Dome, Sapporo – attendance: 35,927
As was the case with France, Argentina played 1 of their worst World Cups in 2002. Argentina only won the first match against Nigeria. In this match where the rivals England and Argentina played each other, it was England which was finally able to defeat Argentina. David Beckham scored the only goal which was a penalty. The last time England was able to defeat Argentina in a World Cup was back in 1966. In the 1986 and 1998 World Cups, Argentina ended up being the winner. In comparison to previous encounters, this match didn’t include that bitterness that affected the 1966, 1986 and 1998 encounters. This was the last time so far Argentina and England met in a World Cup. England advanced with Sweden, but both had equal amount of points and goal difference. Sweden did score more goals than England which resulted in topping Group F. Argentina was eliminated in the first round. The last time this happened to Argentina was back in 1962.
Memorable celebration by Julius Aghahowa (Nigeria – Sweden 1-2)
Group G
Mexico – Italy 1-1
Ōita Big Eye Stadium, Ōita – attendance: 39,291
Mexico ended up topping the group. Mexico was the only country which didn’t lose a group match. This match against Italy was their only draw. Jared Borgetti scored the first goal of the match for Mexico. Alessandro Del Piero scored for Italy 5 minutes before full time. Although Italy lost against Croatia, they did advance to the Round of 16 with Mexico. Croatia was unrecognizable in comparison to the powerful Croatian team of 1998. In this World Cup they managed to lose 2 matches against Mexico and Ecuador.
Group H
Japan – Belgium 2-2
Saitama Stadium, Saitama – attendance: 55,256
Japan played a better World Cup than 4 years earlier. Japan didn’t lose a single group match. In this match against Belgium the score ended in a draw. The 4 goals were scored in the 2nd half in a time span of less than 20 minutes. Belgian midfielder Marc Wilmots scored the 1-0. Takayuki Suzuki responded 2 minutes later with Japan’s first goal. Junichi Inamoto scored the 2-1 8 minutes later. Then again 8 minutes later Belgian left back Peter Van Der Heyden scored the final goal of the match. Belgium finished 2nd and advanced to the next round. Host country Japan topped the group and reached the Round of 16 together with the other host country South Korea of Group D. This was the first time Japan reached the Round of 16.
Round of 16
Sweden – Senegal 1-2
Ōita Stadium, Ōita – attendance: 39,747
Senegal already surprised the world by defeating France and by advancing to the next round. But again they pulled of something no one would expect. They defeated Sweden and advanced to the Quarter-Final. Swedish striker Henrik Larsson scored the first goal and striker Henri Camara scored for Senegal. In the 2nd half no goals were scored, resulting in extra time. It was Henri Camara again who scored, but this time it was a Golden Goal. Sweden was immediately eliminated and Senegal advanced to the Quarter-Final for the first time. They became the 2nd country to have accomplished this after Cameroon in 1990.
Spain – Republic of Ireland 1-1 (3-2)
Suwon World Cup Stadium, Suwon – attendance: 38,926
For a long time it seemed Spain would go to the Semi-Final. Fernando Morientes scored in the 8th minute of the match. The 1-0 score didn’t change until the very last minute. Republic of Ireland was awarded a penalty in the 90th minute and was taken successfully by Robbie Keane. Suddenly extra time had to be played but 0 goals were scored. The first of only 2 penalty shootouts had to be taken. Although Republic of Ireland had the advantage of higher level of euphoria due to their last minute goal, they lost. Only Robbie Keane and Steve Finnan scored their penalties. Matt Holland, David Connolly and Kevin Kilbane missed. Fernando Hierro, Rubén Baraja and Gaizka Mendieta scored for Spain. Only Juanfran and Juan Valerón missed. Spain advanced to play against South Korea.
Mexico – USA 0-2
Jeonju World Cup Stadium, Jeonju – attendance: 36,380
Rivals Mexico and USA encountered each other for the first time in World Cup history. Mexico played a more successful group stage than USA so it was expected for USA to lose this Round of 16. But the match didn’t go as planned for Mexico. They were unable to score any goals. American forwards Brian McBride and Landon Donovan scored the only goals of the match. For the 3rd time in a row Mexico couldn’t survive the Round of 16 stage. Unfortunately for Mexico, they haven’t played a Quarter Final yet since 1986. USA had reason to celebrate, this is the first time in World Cup history they reached a Quarter-Final. They did reach the Semi-Final in the very first World Cup back in 1930, but in that World Cup there was no Quarter-Final stage.
South Korea – Italy 2-1
Daejeon World Cup Stadium, Daejeon – attendance: 38,588
A highly controversial match was the Round of 16 match South Korea against Italy. The mistakes which were made by referee Byron Moreno were so controversial, Italian players like striker Francesco Totti and coach Giovanni Trapattoni suggested a conspiracy to eliminate Italy from the tournament. It started with a controversial penalty awarded to South Korea which was missed by Ahn Jung-Hwan. Italian striker Christian Vieri scored an early goal later in the match. Only in 2 minutes before full time, striker Seol Ki-Hyeon scored the equalizer. Extra time had to be played. Italian Damiano Tommasi scored a Golden Goal but this was controversially ruled offside. Another controversial decision by the referee was giving Francesco Totti his 2nd yellow card in extra time since he supposedly dived. 3 minutes before extra time would end, striker Ahn Jung-Hwan scored the Golden Goal: a powerful header. Italy was against all expectations immediately eliminated. References were even made to the infamous 1966 World Cup match Italy against North Korea which Italy lost with 1-0. This time South Korea advanced to the Quarter-Finals.
Quarter-Finals
England – Brazil 1-2
Shizuoka Stadium, Shizuoka – attendance: 47,436
In this exciting match free kick specialist Ronaldinho became the hero of the match. English striker Michael Owen did score the first goal of the match due to a mistake by defender Lúcio, but this ended up being the last for England. Rivaldo equalized in injury time of the first half. 5 minutes in the 2nd half, Ronaldinho took a free kick from a very long distance and surprisingly ended up in the net. Goalkeeper David Seaman was not standing in the right position so it was to late to stop the ball. This became the last goal of the match and Brazil entered the Semi-Final. David Seaman blamed himself for losing to Brazil and missing out the rest of the tournament.
Spain – South Korea 0-0 (3-5)
Gwangju World Cup Stadium, Gwangju – attendance: 42,114
Another controversial match was against Spain. 0 goals were scored by both teams in normal and extra time. However 2 goals were controversially disallowed in normal time. The first was a free kick by Javier de Pedro. The 2nd was Joaquín giving a high pass to Fernando Morientes who scored with a header. The referee thought the ball already crossed the corner line before the given pass but it wasn’t. After 120 minutes the penalty shootout had to decide who advances to the Semi-Final for the very first time. Although Spain did make it to the last round of the 1950 World Cup. After Spain having won the penalty shootout against Republic of Ireland in their previous match, they failed this time. Every South Korean penalty taker scored their penalty successfully. They were Hwang Sun-Hong, Park Ji-Sung, Seol Ki-Hyeon, Ahn Jung-Hwan and Hong Myung-Bo. From Spain Fernando Hierro, Rubén Baraja and Xavi scored a penalty. Joaquín Sánchez missed. Since the last penalty taker Hong Myung-Bo from South Korea scored, the winner was decided. South Korea became the first Asian country in World Cup history to advance to the Semi-Finals. Regarding the controversial decisions in this match and the match between South Korea and Italy, FIFA president Sepp Blatter always denied pro-South Korea conspiracies.
Semi-Finals
Germany – South Korea 1-0
Seoul World Cup Stadium, Seoul – attendance: 65,256
Although previous matches including South Korea are considered as very controversial, South Korea’s chances of becoming world champion ended here. But it was a close call. Only 1 goal decided the outcome of the match. This goal was scored by German midfielder Michael Ballack. No controversial decisions have been made in this match. South Korea had to play the match for the third place and Germany advanced to the Final.
Brazil – Turkey 1-0
Saitama Stadium, Saitama – attendance: 61,058
For a 2nd time they met again. This was the moment for Turkey to revenge themselves for their loss. Turkey lost their first encounter due to a last minute penalty scored by Rivaldo. But in this match Turkey had trouble defeating Brazil again. Only 1 goal was scored by Brazilian striker Ronaldo. Brazil advanced to the Final just like in France ’98. Turkey would play a memorable match for the third place against South Korea.
Match for the third place
South Korea – Turkey 2-3
Daegu World Cup Stadium, Daegu – attendance: 63,483
Both Turkey and South Korea never played a Semi-Final or match for the third place before. In overall this match was played harmonious were Turkey ended up being the winner. The match started with the quickest goal scored in World Cup history. Turkish striker Hakan Şükür scored in the first minute of the match. South Korean midfielder Lee Eul-Yong equalized 9 minutes later. Turkish striker İlhan Mansız scored the 1-2 4 minutes later and the 1-3 in the 32nd minute. The 1-3 score remained for the majority of the 2nd half. Only in the last minutes of injury time, Song Chong-Gug scored the 2nd goal for South Korea. Turkey won the match, but at the end this didn’t matter much. Both countries showed an excellent performance and ended the World Cup by walking together as 1, honouring the crowd. South Korea trainer Guus Hiddink from the Netherlands also became the center of attention. South Korea became the first non-European and non-American country to have made it to a World Cup Semi-Final. So this alone was a unique and legendary achievement already.
World Cup 2002 Final
Brazil and Germany: the most successful teams in World Cup history. Both teams made it to a World Cup Final several times, but this was the first time they encountered each other in World Cup history! They both have played 7 World Cup Finals in total.
After Brazil’s loss of the 1998 World Cup Final, they once again have a chance to become the first country to win 5 World Cups. Brazilian captain and player Cafu has the honour of being the only player so far to have played 3 World Cup Finals (1994, 1998, 2002). Brazil had a smooth road to the Final where every match of the World Cup was won.
The 2002 Brazilian team
After 12 years Germany managed to reach the Final again. This was the first time Germany reached the Final as Germany instead of West Germany. They won most 2002 World Cup matches, including a remarkable 8-0 win in their first match against Saudi Arabia. They drew however against the Republic of Ireland (1-1). A crucial player who would miss the Final was Michael Ballack. He received his first yellow card against Paraguay and his 2nd against South Korea.
On the 30th of June, the Final was held in the International Stadium Yokohama in Japan with an attendance of 69,029. Due to an excellent collaboration between Ronaldo and Rivaldo, Brazil scored in total 2 goals and both were scored by Ronaldo in the 67th and 79th minute. With the first goal, German goalkeeper Oliver Kahn made a mistake by not holding on the ball after Rivaldo’s shot. This resulted in Ronaldo scoring the first goal.
Ronaldo scores his first goal in the Final
Brazil became the first country to win a World Cup 5 times and is to date the most successful country in World Cup history. Ronaldo became top scorer with 8 goals scored in the tournament. The trauma from the 1998 World Cup Final was finally over.
Ronaldo got finally rid of his 1998 World Cup demons
After Germany’s loss, they have the unfortunate record of having lost a World Cup Final 4 times.
Cafu the captain holding the World Cup trophy
Brazil = Yellow (Coach: Luiz Felipe Scolari)
Germany = White (Coach: Rudi Völler)
World Cup 2002 Mascot
2002 World Cup mascot Ato (orange), Kaz (purple) and Nik (blue): The Spheriks
The 2002 World Cup mascot was different and unique in many ways in comparison with the previous mascots. After 2 animal mascots of the 1994 and 1998 World Cups, a fantasy character was introduced like Ciao the 1990 World Cup mascot. Not only was it a fantasy character, the mascot contained a total of 3 fantasy characters and was created by futuristic computer-generated animation. The 3 characters go by the names Ato (orange), Kaz (purple) and Nik (blue) and together they are called the Spheriks. The names were chosen through a vote by football fans from around the world at McDonald’s restaurants in South Korea and Japan. Another unique aspect of the mascot was the detailed story that involved the Spheriks. They live high in the sky on planet Atmozone where they are members of the Atmos team of a fictional sport called Atmoball or Spherikball. Ato is the coach and Kaz and Nik are the key players. Their mission is to create a unique and wonderful atmosphere in the 2002 World Cup. Another unique aspect was the fact the mascot didn’t relate much to the host countries. No colours or attributes could be connected to the host countries. A connection could be the fact that Asia is known for its animation and enchanting ancient myths, characters and stories. In a 2008 FIFA.com poll, The Spheriks took the last place with 12.48% of the most popular World Cup mascot of the last 5 World Cups before South Africa 2010 (1990 – 2006). The Spheriks did become popular during the World Cup and even had their own series consisting of 26 episodes. See below the intro.
World Cup 2002 Songs
As has been introduced in the 1998 World Cup, the 2002 World Cup contained an official anthem. The name is simply Anthem and is produced by famous Greek ‘Conquest of Paradise’ and ‘Chariots of Fire’ composer Vangelis. Anthem is mixed by Japanese composer and producer Takkyu Ishino and has therefore that electronic up-tempo beat. This beat is perfectly suitable, emphasizing on the hype, adrenaline and sensation of an epic World Cup.
The official 2002 World Cup song was a very different type of production in comparison to the anthem and is called Boom. Boom is performed by American singer-songwriter Anastacia. She performed this English song at the opening ceremony of the World Cup. The music video shows legendary moments in World Cup history.
There was another popular song which is also considered as an official World Cup 2002 song. The name is Let’s Get Together Now and is performed by supergroup Voice of Korea/Japan. From South Korea singers Lena Park and Brown Eyes participated, and from Japan singer Sowelu and pop duo Chemistry participated. There exists a Japanese version and a South Korean version, but it is the mixed version that is the tune of the 2002 World Cup. Let’s Get Together Now was also performed at the opening and closing ceremony and has proven to be pretty popular.
World Cup 2002 Records
4 countries qualified for the first time: China, Ecuador, Senegal and Slovenia
First time Slovenia qualified since the breakup of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1992
First World Cup to be hosted in the continent Asia
First and only World Cup so far that has been hosted in 2 countries
Brazil is the only country so far to have won 5 World Cups
Brazil became the only team since Argentina in the 1986 World Cup to win the World Cup without playing extra time and penalty shootouts
Brazil became the 2nd country to play 3 consecutive World Cup Finals (1994, 1998, 2002)
2nd time Brazil won every match before winning the Final (first time: 1970)
6th and last time so far a team has won every match before winning the Final
South Korea became the first country outside Europe, South America and North/Central America to qualify for the 5th World Cup in a row
A low record amount of only 2 penalty shootouts have been taken in this World Cup since the Round of 16 made its introduction in the 1986 World Cup
First time teams from Europe, South America, North America, Asia and Africa reached together the Quarter-Finals
A record amount of stadiums were used in this World Cup: 20 of them
Brazilian captain and player Cafu is the first and only player so far to have played 3 World Cup Finals (1994, 1998, 2002)
France is the 3rd country which didn’t make it to the 2nd round after having won the previous World Cup
Germany has the record of having lost a World Cup Final 4 times
Turkish player Hakan Şükür scored the fastest goal in World Cup history: 11 seconds after the match for the third place kick-off against South Korea
The quickest yellow card in World Cup history which was given to a substitute was South Korean player Cha Du-Ri, who came in the first round match against Poland during injury time and was booked only after 20 seconds
The group match USA – Portugal (3-2) is the first and only World Cup match so far where 2 own goals have been scored (by Jorge Costa and Jeff Agoos)
Argentinian player Claudio Caniggia is the only player in World Cup history to have received the red card from the bench (for cursing at the referee in the match against Sweden)
Germany player Miroslav Klose scored a hat-rick only with his head against Saudi Arabia (8-0), this has happened before only once in World Cup history, where in 1990 Czechoslovakia player Tomáš Skuhravý scored 3 times with the head against Costa Rica (4-1)
German keeper Oliver Kahn is the only keeper in World Cup history to have won the Golden Ball
Brazilian striker Ronaldo is the 3rd and last player so far to have won a Golden Ball (1998) and a Silver Ball (2002) (after the Golden/Silver Ball were retrospectively awarded)
3 matched ended due to the Golden Goal rule: Senegal – Sweden (2-1), South Korea – Italy (2-1) and Turkey – Senegal (1-0)
Italian player Paolo Maldini (1990-2002) ranks 2nd in most matches played in World Cups: (23) after German Lothar Matthäus who played 25 in total
China coach Bora Milutinovic (from Yugoslavia) is the first person to have coached 5 different countries in a World Cup (Mexico in 1986, Costa Rica in 1990, USA in 1994, Nigeria in 1998 and China in 2002). Only China didn’t make it to the next round
China coach Bora Milutinovic is the only coach so far to have taken 4 different teams beyond the first round in a World Cup
Japan was the 2nd country to be chosen as a host country while never having played a World Cup before
Did You Know
Last World Cup that used the Golden Goal rule
Last World Cup where the previous World Cup winner was automatically qualified
Teams were now allowed to include 23 players instead of 22, but 3 keepers had to be included
All the 7 World Cup winners participated together: Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Germany, Italy and Uruguay
Last World Cup so far where the previous World Cup winner played the very first match
Germany and Brazil encountered each other for the first time in the Final
Brazilian player Ronaldo changed his hairstyle during the World Cup since his then young son thought player Roberto Carlos was his dad when seeing him on television, the new look had to avoid such confusion
Cameroon players initially wanted to play with sleeveless shirts as has been done during the 2002 Africa Cup of Nations which they won, but this was not allowed by the FIFA Laws of the Game
1994 Brazilian World Cup player Romario was considered to play the 2002 World Cup, but wasn’t selected due to indiscipline
Nigerian striker Julius Aghahowa celebrated his goal memorably in the match against Sweden by performing 6 perfect backflips
South Korean striker Ahn Jung-Hwan celebrated his equalizer memorably in the match against USA by imitating a speed skater, referring to the controversial disqualification of Korean short track speed skater Kim Dong-Sung in the 1500 metres at the 2002 Winter Olympics, allowing American Apolo Ohno to win the gold medal
Irish key player Roy Keane was sent home since he was not satisfied with the facilities and general preparation, and because he got into a serious fight with then Ireland’s coach Mick McCarthy stating he was a shit player and a shit manager, and said the infamous words “You can stick it up your bollocks”
Senegalese midfielder Khalilou Fadiga was accused of stealing a necklace from a jewelry shop in South Korea, but the Korean Police dropped charges at the request of the shop owner who displayed the necklace worth US$240 in his shop window calling it Fadiga’s necklace
The then 2 weakest teams in the world Bhutan and Montserrat, played a match ‘The Other Final’ against each other a couple of hours before the 2 strongest teams would play against each other in the ‘real’ 2002 World Cup Final (Bhutan won with 4-0)
There were issues with the ticket sales, many matches contained empty seats and it appeared the World Cup Ticketing Bureau had many unsold tickets in possession which were then sold over the phone and internet
English player Steven Gerrard missed this World Cup because of ongoing groin problems
The name of the match ball Fevernova, was unlike other Adidas World Cups balls not related to the host country, the name emphasizes on being a star in the World Cup
Fevernova match ball introduced a unique design, 2 enlarged triads with the colours grey, red and gold and resemble with the shuriken, a Japanese weapon
Fevernova match ball was not traditional white, but more of a champagne colour
The design and colours on the Fevernova are based on Asian culture
Fevernova match ball featured a refined syntactic foam layer, to give the ball superior performance characteristics, and a three-layer knitted chassis allowing for a more precise and predictable flight path
Fevernova match ball was criticized for being to light was blamed for a number of upsets that happened in the knockout stages
World Cup 2002 FIFA Awards
Golden Ball: Oliver Kahn (Germany)
Silver Ball: Ronaldo (Brazil)
Bronze Ball: Hong Myung-Bo (South Korea)
Golden Boot: Ronaldo (Brazil) (8 goals)
Silver Boot: Miroslav Klose (Germany), Rivaldo (Brazil) (5 goals)
Bronze Boot: Jon Dahl Tomasson (Denmark), Christian Vieri (Italy) (4 goals)
Best Young Player Award: Landon Donovan (20 years old) (USA)
FIFA Fair Play Trophy: Belgium
Yashin Award: Oliver Kahn (Germany)
Most Entertaining Team: South Korea
Oliver Kahn (Germany)
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Who played the title roles in the 1986 film The Three Amigos? | World Cup 2002 in South Korea/Japan - World Cup Brazil 2014 Guide
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Date: 31 May – 30 July
Final: Germany – Brazil 0-2
3rd place: South Korea – Turkey 2-3
Teams: 32
Top scorer: Ronaldo (Brazil) (8 goals)
World Cup 2002 Background
The 3rd millennium has started in 2001. This probably contributed to a decision that was made on May 31 1996 in Zürich. On that day FIFA decided the 17th World Cup would be hosted in continent Asia. Never in World Cup history a World Cup was hosted in a continent outside Europe, South America or North/Central America. This was not the only unique aspect of the 17th World Cup. Also for the first time in World Cup history, 2 countries would host the 2002 World Cup together: South Korea and Japan.
Initially 3 countries showed interest in hosting the 2002 World Cup and placed a bid. The countries were South Korea, Japan and Mexico. Shortly before the announcement about who would host the World Cup, South Korea and Japan united their bids. As a result FIFA voted unanimously for this special bid.
Another interesting aspect, was the fact that back in 1996 when the announcement was made, Japan never qualified for a World Cup yet. They would however qualify for the 1998 World Cup. Only 2 other countries have been awarded a World Cup without ever having qualified for one. They are Italy which hosted the 1934 World Cup and Qatar which will ( probably ) host the 2022 World cup.
10 host cities in South Korea
10 host cities in Japan
World Cup 2002 Participants
For the 2002 World Cup 199 countries tried to qualify. Only 29 of the 32 places were available since both Japan and South Korea qualified automatically as host countries. France qualified automatically since they won the previous World Cup. This would be the last time however, that the previous World Cup winner would automatically qualify for a World Cup.
13 places for Europe excluding France were allocated to the following countries: Denmark, Spain, Slovenia, Turkey, Portugal, Poland, Germany, Sweden, England, Italy, Croatia, Belgium and Russia. Slovenia qualified for the first time since the breakup of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1992. Turkey qualified for the first time since 1954 and Portugal for the first time since 1986.
5 places for Africa were allocated to the following countries: Senegal, South Africa, Cameroon, Nigeria and Tunisia. Senegal qualified for the first time.
4 places for South America were allocated to the following countries: Paraguay, Ecuador, Brazil and Argentina. Ecuador qualified for the first time.
3 places for North/Central America and Caribbean were allocated to the following countries: Costa Rica, Mexico and United States.
2 places for Asia excluding South Korea and Japan were allocated to the following countries: China PR and Saudi Arabia. China PR qualified for the first time. South Korea became the first country outside Europe, South America and North/Central America and Caribbean to qualify for the 5th World Cup in a row.
2 intercontinental play-offs had to be played by 4 countries which didn’t qualify directly: UEFA country Republic of Ireland against AFC country Iran and CONMEBOL country Uruguay against OFC country Australia.
Both Republic of Ireland and Uruguay won these play-offs and therefore qualified last minute for the 2002 World Cup.
All 7 World Cup winners so far participated together for the first time: Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Germany, Italy and Uruguay. They have all participated before in the 1986 World Cup but France (France ’98 World Cup champion) wasn’t a World Cup champion yet.
2002 World Cup match ball “Fevernova”
World Cup 2002 Groups
The exact same format of the 1998 World Cup was used again. A round-robin format was played meaning all teams in a group had to play against all the other teams in their group. 3 points were rewarded in the group stage for a win, and 1 point for a draw. The last 2 matches per group would be played at the same time.
The 2 best teams per group would advance to the Round of 16 where the knockout stage started. The number 1 team of a group had to play against the number 2 team of another group. If the game ended in a draw, 30 minutes of extra time would have to be played. If the draw continues, the winner would be determined by a penalty shootout. After the Round of 16, teams could advance to the Quarter-Finals and Semi-Finals before reaching the Final.
The 2002 World Cup would already be the last World Cup to use the Golden Goal rule. This was introduced in the previous World Cup in 1998. When a goal was scored in the 30 minutes of extra time, the match ended immediately. The rule was used 3 times in this World Cup and 1 time in the 1998 World Cup.
The 8 seed countries were Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea and Spain. They were kept apart from each other and were placed in different groups.
The groups were as followed:
Group A
2002 World Cup logo
World Cup 2002 Stadiums
Since 2 countries hosted the 2002 World Cup, the amount of stadiums had to be divided. Both South Korea and Japan used 10 cities and 10 stadiums each, which in total would be a record amount of 20 stadiums to host World Cup matches. The majority of all these stadiums were especially built for the World Cup.
The opening match would be hosted in South Korea, in the Seoul World Cup Stadium. Japan in return would host the Final in the International Stadium Yokohama.
The following 10 cities and 10 stadiums were used in South Korea:
Seoul World Cup Stadium
World Cup 2002 Memorable Matches
Group Matches
France – Senegal 0-1
Seoul World Cup Stadium, Seoul – attendance: 62,561
France showed an excellent performance 4 years earlier and earned the FIFA World Cup trophy. But 4 years later they would end up playing 1 of their worst World Cups ever. 0 goals were scored in the group matches and France finished last in Group A. France drew the match against Uruguay and lost the 2 other matches. Their first shocking loss was against Senegal. Senegal played their first World Cup and surprised the world by scoring the winning goal in the first half. Bouba Diop was the goal scorer. The Senegalese players celebrated the first 2002 World Cup goal famously by moving around Diop’s jersey and with some dancing. Senegal drew the 2 other matches against Denmark and Uruguay. Both Senegal and Denmark advanced to the Round of 16.
Group B
Spain – Paraguay 3-1
Jeonju World Cup Stadium, Jeonju – attendance: 24,000
Spain easily survived the group stage and topped the group. In each match they have scored 3 goals. In this match against Paraguay only Spanish players have scored a goal. The match started with an early goal for Paraguay, but this was an own goal by defender Carles Puyol. In the 2nd half the 3 goals for Spain were scored by Fernando Morientes (2x) and Fernando Hierro. Paraguay did advance, but they were very close to become eliminated. South Africa had the same amount of points and goal difference as Paraguay had. But the difference was that Paraguay scored 1 more goal in the group stage than South Africa, which resulted in reaching the next round.
Group C
Brazil – Turkey 2-1
Munsu Cup Stadium, Ulsan – attendance: 33,842
As with Spain, Brazil had no trouble reaching the 2nd round. At least 4 goals have been scored against China PR and Costa Rica. The toughest match was against Turkey. Hasan Şaş scored the first goal of the match in the first half. Ronaldo scored the equalizer and Rivaldo scored a penalty 3 minutes before full time. Rivaldo however was involved in a controversial accident. Turkish defender Hakan Ünsal kicked the ball to Rivaldo who was waiting at the corner flag for a corner. The ball reached his thigh but Rivaldo suddenly fell to the ground grabbing his face. It was obvious though the ball didn’t even come near his face. But the referee gave Hakan Ünsal his 2nd yellow card and was sent off. Brazil won but both countries eventually advanced. They would meet each other again later in the tournament. Turkey advanced, but only because of the goal difference rule. Costa Rica had the exact amount of points as Turkey.
Group D
USA – Portugal 3-2
Suwon World Cup Stadium, Suwon – attendance: 37,306
This match was 1 of the 2002 World Cup surprises. Portugal had known players such as Rui Costa, Luís Figo, João Pinto and Portugal’s current trainer Paulo Bento. It was highly expected from Portugal to survive the group stage, but this didn’t happen. Their first surprising loss was against USA. American midfielder John O’Brien scored for USA where 25 minutes later Portuguese Jorge Costa scored an own goal. both American Brian McBride and Portuguese Beto scored for their countries which ended the first half in 3-1. In the 2nd half it was American defender Jeff Agoos who scored an own goal. This is so far the only World Cup match where 2 own goals have been scored. No goals were scored after that. The United States won and would end up being 2nd of the group. Portugal lost the match against South Korea as well and became eliminated. South Korea topped the group and was about to play 2 controversial matches of the tournament.
Memorable celebration by Ahn Jung-Hwan (South Korea – USA 1-1)
Ahn Jung-Hwan celebrated his equalizer memorably in the match against USA by imitating a speed skater. He referred to the controversial disqualification of Korean short track speed skater Kim Dong-Sung in the 1500 metres at the 2002 Winter Olympics. This allowed American Apolo Ohno to win the gold medal.
Group E
Germany – Saudi Arabia 8-0
Sapporo Dome, Sapporo – attendance: 32,218
Germany started the tournament with an impressive victory: 8-0 against Saudi Aurabia. The good results of the 1994 World Cup haven’t been improved yet by Saudi Aurabia. They never advanced to a next round after USA ’94. In the 2002 World Cup 0 goals have been scored. All 8 goals came from Germany. Miroslav Klose scored a hat-trick with his head! The was the 2nd and last time so far in World Cup history 3 headers have been in scored by a player in 1 match! Other players who have scored are Michael Ballack, Carsten Jancker, Thomas Linke, Oliver Bierhoff and Bernd Schneider. Germany topped the group and advanced together with Republic of Ireland. Irish player Robbie Keane became the only player together with Brazilian Ronaldo (2x), to have scored a goal against Germany. Yes, Oliver Kan has been beaten only 3 times in total in this World Cup.
Group F (Group of Death)
Argentina – England 0-1
Sapporo Dome, Sapporo – attendance: 35,927
As was the case with France, Argentina played 1 of their worst World Cups in 2002. Argentina only won the first match against Nigeria. In this match where the rivals England and Argentina played each other, it was England which was finally able to defeat Argentina. David Beckham scored the only goal which was a penalty. The last time England was able to defeat Argentina in a World Cup was back in 1966. In the 1986 and 1998 World Cups, Argentina ended up being the winner. In comparison to previous encounters, this match didn’t include that bitterness that affected the 1966, 1986 and 1998 encounters. This was the last time so far Argentina and England met in a World Cup. England advanced with Sweden, but both had equal amount of points and goal difference. Sweden did score more goals than England which resulted in topping Group F. Argentina was eliminated in the first round. The last time this happened to Argentina was back in 1962.
Memorable celebration by Julius Aghahowa (Nigeria – Sweden 1-2)
Group G
Mexico – Italy 1-1
Ōita Big Eye Stadium, Ōita – attendance: 39,291
Mexico ended up topping the group. Mexico was the only country which didn’t lose a group match. This match against Italy was their only draw. Jared Borgetti scored the first goal of the match for Mexico. Alessandro Del Piero scored for Italy 5 minutes before full time. Although Italy lost against Croatia, they did advance to the Round of 16 with Mexico. Croatia was unrecognizable in comparison to the powerful Croatian team of 1998. In this World Cup they managed to lose 2 matches against Mexico and Ecuador.
Group H
Japan – Belgium 2-2
Saitama Stadium, Saitama – attendance: 55,256
Japan played a better World Cup than 4 years earlier. Japan didn’t lose a single group match. In this match against Belgium the score ended in a draw. The 4 goals were scored in the 2nd half in a time span of less than 20 minutes. Belgian midfielder Marc Wilmots scored the 1-0. Takayuki Suzuki responded 2 minutes later with Japan’s first goal. Junichi Inamoto scored the 2-1 8 minutes later. Then again 8 minutes later Belgian left back Peter Van Der Heyden scored the final goal of the match. Belgium finished 2nd and advanced to the next round. Host country Japan topped the group and reached the Round of 16 together with the other host country South Korea of Group D. This was the first time Japan reached the Round of 16.
Round of 16
Sweden – Senegal 1-2
Ōita Stadium, Ōita – attendance: 39,747
Senegal already surprised the world by defeating France and by advancing to the next round. But again they pulled of something no one would expect. They defeated Sweden and advanced to the Quarter-Final. Swedish striker Henrik Larsson scored the first goal and striker Henri Camara scored for Senegal. In the 2nd half no goals were scored, resulting in extra time. It was Henri Camara again who scored, but this time it was a Golden Goal. Sweden was immediately eliminated and Senegal advanced to the Quarter-Final for the first time. They became the 2nd country to have accomplished this after Cameroon in 1990.
Spain – Republic of Ireland 1-1 (3-2)
Suwon World Cup Stadium, Suwon – attendance: 38,926
For a long time it seemed Spain would go to the Semi-Final. Fernando Morientes scored in the 8th minute of the match. The 1-0 score didn’t change until the very last minute. Republic of Ireland was awarded a penalty in the 90th minute and was taken successfully by Robbie Keane. Suddenly extra time had to be played but 0 goals were scored. The first of only 2 penalty shootouts had to be taken. Although Republic of Ireland had the advantage of higher level of euphoria due to their last minute goal, they lost. Only Robbie Keane and Steve Finnan scored their penalties. Matt Holland, David Connolly and Kevin Kilbane missed. Fernando Hierro, Rubén Baraja and Gaizka Mendieta scored for Spain. Only Juanfran and Juan Valerón missed. Spain advanced to play against South Korea.
Mexico – USA 0-2
Jeonju World Cup Stadium, Jeonju – attendance: 36,380
Rivals Mexico and USA encountered each other for the first time in World Cup history. Mexico played a more successful group stage than USA so it was expected for USA to lose this Round of 16. But the match didn’t go as planned for Mexico. They were unable to score any goals. American forwards Brian McBride and Landon Donovan scored the only goals of the match. For the 3rd time in a row Mexico couldn’t survive the Round of 16 stage. Unfortunately for Mexico, they haven’t played a Quarter Final yet since 1986. USA had reason to celebrate, this is the first time in World Cup history they reached a Quarter-Final. They did reach the Semi-Final in the very first World Cup back in 1930, but in that World Cup there was no Quarter-Final stage.
South Korea – Italy 2-1
Daejeon World Cup Stadium, Daejeon – attendance: 38,588
A highly controversial match was the Round of 16 match South Korea against Italy. The mistakes which were made by referee Byron Moreno were so controversial, Italian players like striker Francesco Totti and coach Giovanni Trapattoni suggested a conspiracy to eliminate Italy from the tournament. It started with a controversial penalty awarded to South Korea which was missed by Ahn Jung-Hwan. Italian striker Christian Vieri scored an early goal later in the match. Only in 2 minutes before full time, striker Seol Ki-Hyeon scored the equalizer. Extra time had to be played. Italian Damiano Tommasi scored a Golden Goal but this was controversially ruled offside. Another controversial decision by the referee was giving Francesco Totti his 2nd yellow card in extra time since he supposedly dived. 3 minutes before extra time would end, striker Ahn Jung-Hwan scored the Golden Goal: a powerful header. Italy was against all expectations immediately eliminated. References were even made to the infamous 1966 World Cup match Italy against North Korea which Italy lost with 1-0. This time South Korea advanced to the Quarter-Finals.
Quarter-Finals
England – Brazil 1-2
Shizuoka Stadium, Shizuoka – attendance: 47,436
In this exciting match free kick specialist Ronaldinho became the hero of the match. English striker Michael Owen did score the first goal of the match due to a mistake by defender Lúcio, but this ended up being the last for England. Rivaldo equalized in injury time of the first half. 5 minutes in the 2nd half, Ronaldinho took a free kick from a very long distance and surprisingly ended up in the net. Goalkeeper David Seaman was not standing in the right position so it was to late to stop the ball. This became the last goal of the match and Brazil entered the Semi-Final. David Seaman blamed himself for losing to Brazil and missing out the rest of the tournament.
Spain – South Korea 0-0 (3-5)
Gwangju World Cup Stadium, Gwangju – attendance: 42,114
Another controversial match was against Spain. 0 goals were scored by both teams in normal and extra time. However 2 goals were controversially disallowed in normal time. The first was a free kick by Javier de Pedro. The 2nd was Joaquín giving a high pass to Fernando Morientes who scored with a header. The referee thought the ball already crossed the corner line before the given pass but it wasn’t. After 120 minutes the penalty shootout had to decide who advances to the Semi-Final for the very first time. Although Spain did make it to the last round of the 1950 World Cup. After Spain having won the penalty shootout against Republic of Ireland in their previous match, they failed this time. Every South Korean penalty taker scored their penalty successfully. They were Hwang Sun-Hong, Park Ji-Sung, Seol Ki-Hyeon, Ahn Jung-Hwan and Hong Myung-Bo. From Spain Fernando Hierro, Rubén Baraja and Xavi scored a penalty. Joaquín Sánchez missed. Since the last penalty taker Hong Myung-Bo from South Korea scored, the winner was decided. South Korea became the first Asian country in World Cup history to advance to the Semi-Finals. Regarding the controversial decisions in this match and the match between South Korea and Italy, FIFA president Sepp Blatter always denied pro-South Korea conspiracies.
Semi-Finals
Germany – South Korea 1-0
Seoul World Cup Stadium, Seoul – attendance: 65,256
Although previous matches including South Korea are considered as very controversial, South Korea’s chances of becoming world champion ended here. But it was a close call. Only 1 goal decided the outcome of the match. This goal was scored by German midfielder Michael Ballack. No controversial decisions have been made in this match. South Korea had to play the match for the third place and Germany advanced to the Final.
Brazil – Turkey 1-0
Saitama Stadium, Saitama – attendance: 61,058
For a 2nd time they met again. This was the moment for Turkey to revenge themselves for their loss. Turkey lost their first encounter due to a last minute penalty scored by Rivaldo. But in this match Turkey had trouble defeating Brazil again. Only 1 goal was scored by Brazilian striker Ronaldo. Brazil advanced to the Final just like in France ’98. Turkey would play a memorable match for the third place against South Korea.
Match for the third place
South Korea – Turkey 2-3
Daegu World Cup Stadium, Daegu – attendance: 63,483
Both Turkey and South Korea never played a Semi-Final or match for the third place before. In overall this match was played harmonious were Turkey ended up being the winner. The match started with the quickest goal scored in World Cup history. Turkish striker Hakan Şükür scored in the first minute of the match. South Korean midfielder Lee Eul-Yong equalized 9 minutes later. Turkish striker İlhan Mansız scored the 1-2 4 minutes later and the 1-3 in the 32nd minute. The 1-3 score remained for the majority of the 2nd half. Only in the last minutes of injury time, Song Chong-Gug scored the 2nd goal for South Korea. Turkey won the match, but at the end this didn’t matter much. Both countries showed an excellent performance and ended the World Cup by walking together as 1, honouring the crowd. South Korea trainer Guus Hiddink from the Netherlands also became the center of attention. South Korea became the first non-European and non-American country to have made it to a World Cup Semi-Final. So this alone was a unique and legendary achievement already.
World Cup 2002 Final
Brazil and Germany: the most successful teams in World Cup history. Both teams made it to a World Cup Final several times, but this was the first time they encountered each other in World Cup history! They both have played 7 World Cup Finals in total.
After Brazil’s loss of the 1998 World Cup Final, they once again have a chance to become the first country to win 5 World Cups. Brazilian captain and player Cafu has the honour of being the only player so far to have played 3 World Cup Finals (1994, 1998, 2002). Brazil had a smooth road to the Final where every match of the World Cup was won.
The 2002 Brazilian team
After 12 years Germany managed to reach the Final again. This was the first time Germany reached the Final as Germany instead of West Germany. They won most 2002 World Cup matches, including a remarkable 8-0 win in their first match against Saudi Arabia. They drew however against the Republic of Ireland (1-1). A crucial player who would miss the Final was Michael Ballack. He received his first yellow card against Paraguay and his 2nd against South Korea.
On the 30th of June, the Final was held in the International Stadium Yokohama in Japan with an attendance of 69,029. Due to an excellent collaboration between Ronaldo and Rivaldo, Brazil scored in total 2 goals and both were scored by Ronaldo in the 67th and 79th minute. With the first goal, German goalkeeper Oliver Kahn made a mistake by not holding on the ball after Rivaldo’s shot. This resulted in Ronaldo scoring the first goal.
Ronaldo scores his first goal in the Final
Brazil became the first country to win a World Cup 5 times and is to date the most successful country in World Cup history. Ronaldo became top scorer with 8 goals scored in the tournament. The trauma from the 1998 World Cup Final was finally over.
Ronaldo got finally rid of his 1998 World Cup demons
After Germany’s loss, they have the unfortunate record of having lost a World Cup Final 4 times.
Cafu the captain holding the World Cup trophy
Brazil = Yellow (Coach: Luiz Felipe Scolari)
Germany = White (Coach: Rudi Völler)
World Cup 2002 Mascot
2002 World Cup mascot Ato (orange), Kaz (purple) and Nik (blue): The Spheriks
The 2002 World Cup mascot was different and unique in many ways in comparison with the previous mascots. After 2 animal mascots of the 1994 and 1998 World Cups, a fantasy character was introduced like Ciao the 1990 World Cup mascot. Not only was it a fantasy character, the mascot contained a total of 3 fantasy characters and was created by futuristic computer-generated animation. The 3 characters go by the names Ato (orange), Kaz (purple) and Nik (blue) and together they are called the Spheriks. The names were chosen through a vote by football fans from around the world at McDonald’s restaurants in South Korea and Japan. Another unique aspect of the mascot was the detailed story that involved the Spheriks. They live high in the sky on planet Atmozone where they are members of the Atmos team of a fictional sport called Atmoball or Spherikball. Ato is the coach and Kaz and Nik are the key players. Their mission is to create a unique and wonderful atmosphere in the 2002 World Cup. Another unique aspect was the fact the mascot didn’t relate much to the host countries. No colours or attributes could be connected to the host countries. A connection could be the fact that Asia is known for its animation and enchanting ancient myths, characters and stories. In a 2008 FIFA.com poll, The Spheriks took the last place with 12.48% of the most popular World Cup mascot of the last 5 World Cups before South Africa 2010 (1990 – 2006). The Spheriks did become popular during the World Cup and even had their own series consisting of 26 episodes. See below the intro.
World Cup 2002 Songs
As has been introduced in the 1998 World Cup, the 2002 World Cup contained an official anthem. The name is simply Anthem and is produced by famous Greek ‘Conquest of Paradise’ and ‘Chariots of Fire’ composer Vangelis. Anthem is mixed by Japanese composer and producer Takkyu Ishino and has therefore that electronic up-tempo beat. This beat is perfectly suitable, emphasizing on the hype, adrenaline and sensation of an epic World Cup.
The official 2002 World Cup song was a very different type of production in comparison to the anthem and is called Boom. Boom is performed by American singer-songwriter Anastacia. She performed this English song at the opening ceremony of the World Cup. The music video shows legendary moments in World Cup history.
There was another popular song which is also considered as an official World Cup 2002 song. The name is Let’s Get Together Now and is performed by supergroup Voice of Korea/Japan. From South Korea singers Lena Park and Brown Eyes participated, and from Japan singer Sowelu and pop duo Chemistry participated. There exists a Japanese version and a South Korean version, but it is the mixed version that is the tune of the 2002 World Cup. Let’s Get Together Now was also performed at the opening and closing ceremony and has proven to be pretty popular.
World Cup 2002 Records
4 countries qualified for the first time: China, Ecuador, Senegal and Slovenia
First time Slovenia qualified since the breakup of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1992
First World Cup to be hosted in the continent Asia
First and only World Cup so far that has been hosted in 2 countries
Brazil is the only country so far to have won 5 World Cups
Brazil became the only team since Argentina in the 1986 World Cup to win the World Cup without playing extra time and penalty shootouts
Brazil became the 2nd country to play 3 consecutive World Cup Finals (1994, 1998, 2002)
2nd time Brazil won every match before winning the Final (first time: 1970)
6th and last time so far a team has won every match before winning the Final
South Korea became the first country outside Europe, South America and North/Central America to qualify for the 5th World Cup in a row
A low record amount of only 2 penalty shootouts have been taken in this World Cup since the Round of 16 made its introduction in the 1986 World Cup
First time teams from Europe, South America, North America, Asia and Africa reached together the Quarter-Finals
A record amount of stadiums were used in this World Cup: 20 of them
Brazilian captain and player Cafu is the first and only player so far to have played 3 World Cup Finals (1994, 1998, 2002)
France is the 3rd country which didn’t make it to the 2nd round after having won the previous World Cup
Germany has the record of having lost a World Cup Final 4 times
Turkish player Hakan Şükür scored the fastest goal in World Cup history: 11 seconds after the match for the third place kick-off against South Korea
The quickest yellow card in World Cup history which was given to a substitute was South Korean player Cha Du-Ri, who came in the first round match against Poland during injury time and was booked only after 20 seconds
The group match USA – Portugal (3-2) is the first and only World Cup match so far where 2 own goals have been scored (by Jorge Costa and Jeff Agoos)
Argentinian player Claudio Caniggia is the only player in World Cup history to have received the red card from the bench (for cursing at the referee in the match against Sweden)
Germany player Miroslav Klose scored a hat-rick only with his head against Saudi Arabia (8-0), this has happened before only once in World Cup history, where in 1990 Czechoslovakia player Tomáš Skuhravý scored 3 times with the head against Costa Rica (4-1)
German keeper Oliver Kahn is the only keeper in World Cup history to have won the Golden Ball
Brazilian striker Ronaldo is the 3rd and last player so far to have won a Golden Ball (1998) and a Silver Ball (2002) (after the Golden/Silver Ball were retrospectively awarded)
3 matched ended due to the Golden Goal rule: Senegal – Sweden (2-1), South Korea – Italy (2-1) and Turkey – Senegal (1-0)
Italian player Paolo Maldini (1990-2002) ranks 2nd in most matches played in World Cups: (23) after German Lothar Matthäus who played 25 in total
China coach Bora Milutinovic (from Yugoslavia) is the first person to have coached 5 different countries in a World Cup (Mexico in 1986, Costa Rica in 1990, USA in 1994, Nigeria in 1998 and China in 2002). Only China didn’t make it to the next round
China coach Bora Milutinovic is the only coach so far to have taken 4 different teams beyond the first round in a World Cup
Japan was the 2nd country to be chosen as a host country while never having played a World Cup before
Did You Know
Last World Cup that used the Golden Goal rule
Last World Cup where the previous World Cup winner was automatically qualified
Teams were now allowed to include 23 players instead of 22, but 3 keepers had to be included
All the 7 World Cup winners participated together: Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Germany, Italy and Uruguay
Last World Cup so far where the previous World Cup winner played the very first match
Germany and Brazil encountered each other for the first time in the Final
Brazilian player Ronaldo changed his hairstyle during the World Cup since his then young son thought player Roberto Carlos was his dad when seeing him on television, the new look had to avoid such confusion
Cameroon players initially wanted to play with sleeveless shirts as has been done during the 2002 Africa Cup of Nations which they won, but this was not allowed by the FIFA Laws of the Game
1994 Brazilian World Cup player Romario was considered to play the 2002 World Cup, but wasn’t selected due to indiscipline
Nigerian striker Julius Aghahowa celebrated his goal memorably in the match against Sweden by performing 6 perfect backflips
South Korean striker Ahn Jung-Hwan celebrated his equalizer memorably in the match against USA by imitating a speed skater, referring to the controversial disqualification of Korean short track speed skater Kim Dong-Sung in the 1500 metres at the 2002 Winter Olympics, allowing American Apolo Ohno to win the gold medal
Irish key player Roy Keane was sent home since he was not satisfied with the facilities and general preparation, and because he got into a serious fight with then Ireland’s coach Mick McCarthy stating he was a shit player and a shit manager, and said the infamous words “You can stick it up your bollocks”
Senegalese midfielder Khalilou Fadiga was accused of stealing a necklace from a jewelry shop in South Korea, but the Korean Police dropped charges at the request of the shop owner who displayed the necklace worth US$240 in his shop window calling it Fadiga’s necklace
The then 2 weakest teams in the world Bhutan and Montserrat, played a match ‘The Other Final’ against each other a couple of hours before the 2 strongest teams would play against each other in the ‘real’ 2002 World Cup Final (Bhutan won with 4-0)
There were issues with the ticket sales, many matches contained empty seats and it appeared the World Cup Ticketing Bureau had many unsold tickets in possession which were then sold over the phone and internet
English player Steven Gerrard missed this World Cup because of ongoing groin problems
The name of the match ball Fevernova, was unlike other Adidas World Cups balls not related to the host country, the name emphasizes on being a star in the World Cup
Fevernova match ball introduced a unique design, 2 enlarged triads with the colours grey, red and gold and resemble with the shuriken, a Japanese weapon
Fevernova match ball was not traditional white, but more of a champagne colour
The design and colours on the Fevernova are based on Asian culture
Fevernova match ball featured a refined syntactic foam layer, to give the ball superior performance characteristics, and a three-layer knitted chassis allowing for a more precise and predictable flight path
Fevernova match ball was criticized for being to light was blamed for a number of upsets that happened in the knockout stages
World Cup 2002 FIFA Awards
Golden Ball: Oliver Kahn (Germany)
Silver Ball: Ronaldo (Brazil)
Bronze Ball: Hong Myung-Bo (South Korea)
Golden Boot: Ronaldo (Brazil) (8 goals)
Silver Boot: Miroslav Klose (Germany), Rivaldo (Brazil) (5 goals)
Bronze Boot: Jon Dahl Tomasson (Denmark), Christian Vieri (Italy) (4 goals)
Best Young Player Award: Landon Donovan (20 years old) (USA)
FIFA Fair Play Trophy: Belgium
Yashin Award: Oliver Kahn (Germany)
Most Entertaining Team: South Korea
Oliver Kahn (Germany)
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Which soap opera is set in the fictional county of Borsetshire? | The Archers (Radio) - TV Tropes
The Archers
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—Sandi Toksvig, The News Quiz
The Archers is a popular BBC radio Soap Opera , set in the fictional West Midlands county of Borsetshire. It follows the lives of the Archer family, and the other families living in the small, rural village of Ambridge (based on Hanbury in Worcestershire).
It has been broadcast nationally since 1951 after starting its regional run in 1950, making it the longest running current soap opera in radio format and, since the cancelling of Guiding Light , the longest running soap in any format.
This show provides examples of:
Barsetshire : Borsetshire
Crossover : With Gardener's Question Time, of all things. Eric Robson and some of the panel appeared in The Archers, and on Easter Sunday 2011 several Archers characters asked questions on GQT. The odd presenter from other BBC series has turned up As Himself or herself to open the village fete or something as well And the occassional Royal has visited.
Sort-of appeared on Hancock's Half-hour as "The Bowmans"
Edutainment Show : originated as an educational series about agriculture...
Genre Shift :... but long since outgrew that
Loads and Loads of Characters : Pretty much a given, considering how long the show has been going on.
Long-Runners : 60 years and counting
Love Triangle : Ed, Will and Emma
This particular subplot is so long and convoluted that the nice people at The BBC provided a cheat sheet.
It is still ongoing, and practically a Long Runner in its own right - when editor Vanessa Whitburn told an interviewer in 2001 that it would be a major long-term Story Arc she wasn't kidding.
She repeated this claim about the repercussions of the 2nd January 2011's double-length Wham Episode - only time will tell.
The Midlands : West Midlands
Ratings Stunt : one of the very first examples - the death of a major character was broadcast to coincide with the launch of ITV in 1955)
Nigel's death.
Real Life Writes the Plot : Julia's death was written in after her actress, Mary Wimbush, died at the age of 91.
Shown Their Work : even with the series' edutainment roots very much a thing of the past, great care is taken to ensure that it presents an accurate view of the intricacies of farming
There is an urban legend that farmers have been known to write in and complain if they used the wrong animal sound effect ... although the BBC did realise quite early on that they were dealing with a listenership that had expert knowledge, and took pains to ensure the animal sounds were appropriate to the scene. The BBC's library of animal sound effects is now unparelleled, and a large proportion of this is down to the longevitry of this show.
Spin-Off : Ambridge Extra , on Radio 4 Extra, explores storylines, characters and locations that don't get focused on in the main Archer's program. At the moment, it's only 2 episodes a week.
Graphically represented
for your consideration.
Variations on a Theme Song : The Archers always uses the same piece of music ("Barwick Green", a 1924 piece by Yorkshire composer Arthur Wood) as its theme tune, which passage is used depends on whether the episode is ordinary or dramatic.
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Which pop star played Beth in Neighbours between 1991 and 1993? | Borsetshire - Dictionary definition of Borsetshire | Encyclopedia.com: FREE online dictionary
Borsetshire
The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
© The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable 2006, originally published by Oxford University Press 2006.
Borsetshire the county in which the long-running radio soap opera the Archers is set ; the county town is Borchester, and the name is an alteration of Barsetshire .
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As at 2004, which actor is the only member of the original Coronation Street cast who is still in the show? | List of original characters | Coronation Street Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia
List of original characters
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A list of all Coronation Street characters who were seen in the show on a regular basis when it began in 1960 . Sorted by departure date, with most recent first. William Roache was the only cast member to remain until the show's 50th Anniversary in 2010 as Ken Barlow . In May 2011 , Philip Lowrie returned in the role of Dennis Tanner , making Ken not the only surviving original character in the series. This was averted when Dennis had left Coronation Street in July 2014 , and Ken resumed as the only remaining original character 5 days later.
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What is the name of the fictional tube station in Eastenders? | Coronation Street - Wikipedia, Photos and Videos
Coronation Street
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Coronation Street (informally known as Corrie) is a British soap opera created by Granada Television and shown on ITV since 9 December 1960. [1] The programme centres on Coronation Street in Weatherfield , a fictional town based on Salford , [2] its terraced houses , café, corner shop, newsagents, building yard, taxicab office, salon, restaurant, textile factory and The Rovers Return pub . In the show's fictional history, the street was built in the early 1900s and named in honour of the coronation of King Edward VII .
The show typically airs five times a week; Monday and Friday 7.30–8 pm & 8.30–9 pm and Wednesday 7.30–8 pm, however this occasionally varies due to sport or around Christmas and New Year. From late 2017 the show will air 6 times a week. [3] The programme was conceived in 1960 by scriptwriter Tony Warren at Granada Television in Manchester . [4] Warren's initial kitchen sink drama proposal was rejected by the station's founder Sidney Bernstein , but he was persuaded by producer Harry Elton to produce the programme for thirteen pilot episodes. Within six months of the show's first broadcast, it had become the most-watched programme on British television, and is now a significant part of British culture . [5] The show has been one of the most financially lucrative programmes on British commercial television, underpinning the success of Granada Television and ITV.
Coronation Street is made by Granada Television at MediaCity Manchester and shown in all ITV regions, as well as internationally. On 17 September 2010, it became the world's longest-running TV soap opera in production. [6] On 23 September 2015, Coronation Street was broadcast live to mark ITV 's 60th anniversary. [7]
Coronation Street is noted for its depiction of a down-to-earth working class community combined with light-hearted humour , and strong characters. [8]
Contents
1960s[ edit ]
The first episode was aired on 9 December 1960 at 7 pm, and was not initially a critical success; Daily Mirror columnist Ken Irwin claimed the series would only last three weeks. Granada Television had commissioned only 13 episodes, and some inside the company doubted the show would last beyond its planned production run. [9] Despite the criticism, viewers were immediately drawn into the serial, won over by Coronation Street's 'ordinary' characters. [10] The programme also made use of Northern English language and dialect ; affectionate local terms like "eh, chuck?", "nowt" ( /ˈnaʊt/ , from naught, meaning nothing), and "by 'eck!" became widely heard on British television for the first time. [11]
Ken Barlow in the first episode of Coronation Street, 1960
Early episodes told the story of student Kenneth Barlow ( William Roache ), who had won a place at university, and thus found his working-class background something of an embarrassment. [12] The character was one of the few to have experienced life 'outside' of Coronation Street. In some ways this predicts the growth of globalisation , and the decline of similar communities. In an episode from 1961, Barlow declares: "You can't go on just thinking about your own street these days. We're living with people on the other side of the world. There's more to worry about than Elsie Tanner and her boyfriends." [13] Roache is the only remaining member of the original cast, which makes him the longest-serving actor in Coronation Street, and in British and global soap history.
At the centre of many early stories, there was Ena Sharples ( Violet Carson ), caretaker of the Glad Tidings Mission Hall, and her friends: timid Minnie Caldwell ( Margot Bryant ), and bespectacled Martha Longhurst ( Lynne Carol ). The trio were likened to the Greek chorus , and the three witches in William Shakespeare 's Macbeth , as they would sit in the snug bar of the Rovers Return , passing judgement over family, neighbours and frequently each other. [14] Headstrong Ena often clashed with Elsie Tanner, whom she believed espoused a dauntlessly loose set of morals. Elsie resented Ena's interference and gossip, which most of the time had little basis in reality.
In April 1961, Jed Stone made his first appearance and returned the following year in 1962. He left in 1963, but returned three years later in 1966. He left again and then returned 42 years later in 2008.
In March 1961, Coronation Street reached No.1 in the television ratings and remained there for the rest of the year. [15] Earlier in 1961, a Television Audience Measurement (TAM) showed that 75% of available viewers (15 million) tuned into Corrie, and by 1964 the programme had over 20 million regular viewers, with ratings peaking on 2 December 1964, at 21.36 million viewers. [16] [17]
Storylines throughout the decade included: a mystery poison-pen letter received by Elsie Tanner, the 1962 marriage of Ken Barlow and Valerie Tatlock , the death of Martha Longhurst in 1964, the birth of the Barlow twins in 1965, Elsie Tanner's wedding to Steve Tanner and a train crashing from the viaduct (both in 1967), the murder of Steve Tanner in 1968, and a coach crash in 1969.
In spite of rising popularity with viewers, Coronation Street was criticised by some for its outdated portrayal of the urban working class, and its representation of a community that was a nostalgic fantasy. [18] After the first episode in 1960, the Daily Mirror printed: "The programme is doomed from the outset ... For there is little reality in this new serial, which apparently, we have to suffer twice a week." [19] By 1967, critics were suggesting that the programme no longer reflected life in 1960s Britain, but reflected how life was in the 1950s. Granada hurried to update the programme, with the hope of introducing more issue-driven stories, including Lucille Hewitt becoming addicted to drugs , Jerry Booth being in a storyline about homosexuality, Emily Nugent having an out of wedlock child, and introducing a black family, but all of these ideas were dropped for fear of upsetting viewers. [20]
1970s[ edit ]
The show's production team was tested when many core cast members left the programme in the early 1970s. When Arthur Leslie died suddenly in 1970, his character, Rovers' landlord Jack Walker, died with him. [21] Anne Reid quit as Valerie Barlow, and was killed off in 1971, electrocuting herself with a faulty hairdryer. [22] Ratings reached a low of eight million in February 1973, Pat Phoenix quit as Elsie Tanner , Violet Carson ( Ena Sharples ) was written out for most of the year due to illness, and Doris Speed ( Annie Walker ) took two months' leave due to bereavement. [23] The audience of ITV's other flagship soap opera Crossroads increased markedly at this time, as its established cast, such as Meg Richardson ( Noele Gordon ), grew in popularity. [23] These sudden departures forced the writing team to quickly develop characters who had previously stood in the background. The roles of Bet Lynch ( Julie Goodyear ), Ivy Tilsley ( Lynne Perrie ), Deirdre Hunt ( Anne Kirkbride ), Rita Littlewood ( Barbara Knox ), and Mavis Riley ( Thelma Barlow ) were built up between 1972 and 1973 with characters such as Gail Potter ( Helen Worth ), Blanche Hunt ( Patricia Cutts , Maggie Jones ), and Vera Duckworth ( Elizabeth Dawn ) first appearing in 1974. These characters would remain at the centre of the programme for many years. [24] [25]
Comic storylines had been popular in the series in the 1960s, but had become sparse during the early 1970s. These were re-introduced by new producer Bill Podmore who joined the series in 1976. He had worked on Granada comedy productions prior to his appointment. [26] Stan and Hilda Ogden were often at the centre of overtly funny storylines, with other comic characters including Eddie Yeats ( Geoffrey Hughes ), Fred Gee ( Fred Feast ), and Jack Duckworth ( William Tarmey ) all making their first appearances during the decade.
In 1976, Pat Phoenix returned to her role as Elsie Tanner and, after a spate of ill health, Violet Carson returned on a more regular basis as Ena. [27] Coronation Street's stalwart cast slotted back into the programme alongside the newcomers, examining new relationships between characters of different ages and backgrounds: Eddie Yeats became the Ogdens' lodger, Gail Potter and Suzie Birchall moved in with Elsie, Mike Baldwin ( Johnny Briggs ) arrived in 1976 as the tough factory boss, and Annie Walker reigned at the Rovers with her trio of staff Bet Lynch, Betty Turpin , and Fred Gee.
Storylines throughout the decade included: a warehouse fire in 1975, the birth of Tracy Langton in 1977, the murder of Ernest Bishop in 1978, a lorry crashing into the Rovers Return in 1979, and the marriage of Brian Tilsley and Gail Potter (also in 1979).
For eleven weeks, between August and October 1979, industrial action forced Coronation Street and the entire ITV network (apart from the Channel Islands ) off the air. When ITV did return, its first evening schedule included a special "catch-up" edition of Coronation Street. This included storylines which would have taken place during the strike, and they were explained in the form of a narrative chat between Len Fairclough and Bet Lynch. For several weeks the channel had very few fresh episodes to show, and episodes of the game show 3-2-1 were screened in its place. Coronation Street returned to ITV screens with a regular scheduled time closer to the end of 1979.
Coronation Street had little competition within its prime time slot, and certain critics suggested that the programme had grown complacent, moving away from socially viable storylines and again presenting a dated view of working class life. [28]
1980s[ edit ]
Between 1980 and 1989, Coronation Street underwent some of the biggest changes since its launch. By May 1984, Ken Barlow stood as the only original cast member , after the departures of Ena Sharples (in 1980), Annie Walker (in 1983), Elsie Tanner (in 1984) and Albert Tatlock (also 1984). [29] In 1983, antihero Len Fairclough ( Peter Adamson ), one of the show's central male characters since 1961, was killed off, and in 1984, Stan Ogden (Bernard Youens) died. [30] While the press predicted the end of Corrie, H. V. Kershaw declared that "There are no stars in Coronation Street." [31] Writers drew on the show's many archetypes, with established characters stepping into the roles left by the original cast. [32] Phyllis Pearce (Jill Summers) was hailed as the new Ena Sharples in 1982, the Duckworths moved into No.9 in 1983 and slipped into the role once held by the Ogdens, while Percy Sugden ( Bill Waddington ) appeared in 1983 and took over the grumpy war veteran role from Albert Tatlock. [33] [34] The question of who would take over the Rovers Return after Annie Walker's 1983 exit was answered in 1985 when Bet Lynch (who also mirrored the vulnerability and strength of Elsie Tanner) was installed as landlady. In 1983, Shirley Armitage became the first major black character in her role as machinist at Baldwin's Casuals. [32]
Ken Barlow married Deirdre Langton on 27 July 1981. The episode was watched by over 24 million viewers – more ITV viewers than the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana two days later. [35] In the 1980s relationships were cemented between established characters: Alf Roberts ( Bryan Mosley ) married Audrey Potter ( Sue Nicholls ) in 1985, and Kevin Webster ( Michael Le Vell ) married Sally Seddon ( Sally Dynevor ) in 1986. [36] Bet Lynch married Alec Gilroy in 1987, and the marriages of Ivy Tilsley and Don Brennan , and of Derek Wilton and Mavis Riley took place in 1988. [37]
In 1982, the arrival of Channel 4 , and its edgy new soap opera Brookside , was one of the biggest changes for Coronation Street. Unlike Coronation Street, which had a very nostalgic view of working-class life, Brookside brought together working and middle-class families in a more contemporary environment. The dialogue often included expletives and the stories were more hard-hitting, and of the current Zeitgeist. Whereas stories at this time in Coronation Street were largely about family affairs, Brookside concentrated on social affairs such as industrial action , unemployment, and the black market . The BBC also introduced a new prime time soap opera, EastEnders in 1985. [38] Like Brookside, EastEnders had a more gritty premise than Coronation Street, although unlike Brookside it tended to steer clear of blue language and politicised stories.
While ratings for Coronation Street remained consistent throughout the decade, EastEnders regularly obtained higher viewing figures due to its omnibus episodes shown at weekends. [39] With prime time competition, Corrie was again seen as being old fashioned, with the introduction of the 'normal' Clayton family in 1985 being a failure with viewers. [38] Between 1988 and 1989, many aspects of the show were modernised by new producer David Liddiment . A new exterior set had been built in 1982, and in 1989 it was redeveloped to include new houses and shops. Production techniques were also changed with a new studio being built, and the inclusion of more location filming, which had moved the show from being shot on film to videotape in 1988. [40] Due to new pressures, an introduction of the third weekly episode aired on 20 October 1989, to broadcast each Friday at 19:30. [40]
The 1980s featured some of the most prominent storylines in the programme's history, such as Deirdre Barlow 's affair with Mike Baldwin in 1983, the first soap storyline to receive widespread media attention. [41] The feud between Ken Barlow and Mike Baldwin would continue for many years, with Mike even marrying Ken's daughter, Susan. In 1986, there was a fire at the Rovers Return, which attracted an audience of just under 27 million, and between 1986 and 1989, the story of Rita Fairclough 's psychological abuse at the hands of Alan Bradley ( Mark Eden ), and then his subsequent death under the wheels of a Blackpool tram , was played out. The episode of Alan's death under the tram gave Coronation Street its highest ratings ever at 26.9 million, and it is the ninth-most watched UK broadcast of all time.[ citation needed ] Other stories included: the birth of Nicky Tilsley in 1980, Elsie Tanner's departure and Stan Ogden's funeral in 1984, the birth of Sarah-Louise Tilsley in 1987, and Brian Tilsley's murder in 1989.
1990s[ edit ]
In spite of updated sets and production changes, Coronation Street still received criticism. In 1992, chairman of the Broadcasting Standards Council , Lord Rees-Mogg , criticised the low-representation of ethnic minorities , and the programme's portrayal of the cosy familiarity of a bygone era. Some newspapers ran headlines such as "Coronation Street shuts out blacks" ( The Times ), and "'Put colour in t'Street" (Daily Mirror). [42] Patrick Stoddart of The Times wrote: "The millions who watch Coronation Street – and who will continue to do so despite Lord Rees-Mogg – know real life when they see it ... in the most confident and accomplished soap opera television has ever seen". [43] Black and Asian characters had appeared, but it wasn't until 1999 that the show featured its first regular non-white family, the Desai family.
New characters Des and Steph Barnes moved into one of the new houses in 1990, being dubbed by the media as Yuppies . [44] Raquel Wolstenhulme ( Sarah Lancashire ) first appeared in 1991 and went on to become one of the most popular characters. The McDonald family were developed and the fiery relationships between Liz , Jim , Steve and Andy interested viewers. [45] [46] Other newcomers were Maud Grimes ( Elizabeth Bradley ), Roy Cropper ( David Neilson ), Judy and Gary Mallett, as well as Fred Elliot ( John Savident ) and Ashley Peacock ( Steven Arnold ). The amount of slapstick and physical humour in storylines increased during the 1990s, with comical characters such as Reg Holdsworth and his water bed. [47]
In the early 1990s storylines included: the death of newborn Katie McDonald in 1992, Mike Baldwin's wedding to Alma Sedgewick ( Amanda Barrie ) in 1992, Tommy Duckworth being sold by his father Terry in 1993, Deirdre Barlow's marriage to Moroccan Samir Rachid, and the rise of Tanya Pooley ( Eva Pope ) between 1993 and 1994.
In 1995, Julie Goodyear ( Bet Lynch ) left the show. She made brief return appearances in 1999, 2002 and 2003.
In 1997, Brian Park took over as producer, with the idea of promoting young characters as opposed to the older cast. On his first day, he cut the characters of Derek Wilton , Don Brennan , Percy Sugden , Bill Webster , Billy Williams, and Maureen Holdsworth . [48] Thelma Barlow , who played Derek's wife Mavis, was angered by the firing of her co-star and resigned. The production team lost some of its key writers when Barry Hill, Adele Rose and Julian Roach all resigned as well. [48]
In line with Park's suggestion, younger characters were introduced: Nick Tilsley was recast, played by Adam Rickitt , single mother Zoe Tattersall ( Joanne Froggatt ) first appeared, and the Battersbys moved into No.5. Storylines focussed on tackling 'issues', such as drug dealers, eco-warriors, religious cults, and a transsexual woman. [49] Park quit in 1998, after deciding that he had done what he intended to do; he maintained that his biggest achievement was the introduction of Hayley Patterson ( Julie Hesmondhalgh ), the first transsexual character in a British soap. [49]
Some viewers were alienated by the new Coronation Street, and sections of the media voiced their disapproval. Having received criticism of being too out of touch, Corrie now struggled to emulate the more modern Brookside and EastEnders. In the Daily Mirror , Victor Lewis-Smith wrote: "Apparently it doesn't matter that this is a first-class soap opera, superbly scripted and flawlessly performed by a seasoned repertory company." [48]
One of Coronation Street's best known storylines took place in March/April 1998, with Deirdre Rachid being wrongfully imprisoned after a relationship with con-man Jon Lindsay. This episode, when Deirdre was sent to prison, was watched by 19 million viewers, and 'Free the Weatherfield One' campaigns sprung up in a media frenzy. [49] The then Prime Minister Tony Blair even passed comment on Deirdre's sentencing in Parliament. [50] Deirdre was freed after three weeks, with Granada stating that they had always intended for her to be released, in spite of the media interest. [49]
2000s[ edit ]
On 8 December 2000, the show celebrated its fortieth year by broadcasting a live, hour-long episode . The Prince of Wales appeared as himself in an ITV News bulletin report. [51] Earlier in the year, 13-year-old Sarah-Louise Platt ( Tina O'Brien ) had become pregnant and given birth to a baby girl, Bethany , on 4 June. The episode where Gail was told of her daughter's pregnancy was watched by 15 million viewers. [52] In September 2000, Mike Baldwin married Linda Sykes but shortly afterwards, his drunken son Mark confessed he and Linda had been having an affair behind his dad's back. The episode attracted an audience of 16.8 million and in the 2001 British Soap Awards won Best Storyline.
From 1999 to 2001, issue-led storylines were introduced such as Toyah Battersby 's rape, Roy and Hayley Cropper abducting their foster child , Sarah Platt's Internet chat room abduction and Alma Halliwell 's death from cervical cancer . [53] Such storylines were unpopular with viewers and ratings dropped and in October 2001, Macnaught was abruptly moved to another Granada department and Carolyn Reynolds took over. Corrie continued to struggle in the ratings, with EastEnders introducing some of its strongest stories. In 2002, Kieran Roberts was appointed as producer and aimed to re-introduce "gentle storylines and humour", after deciding that the Street should not try to compete with other soaps. [53] In 2002, Gail Platt married Richard Hillman ( Brian Capron ), a financial advisor , who would go on to leave Duggie Ferguson to die, murder his ex-wife Patricia, attempt to murder his mother-in-law, Audrey Roberts, murder Maxine Peacock and attempt to murder Emily Bishop . After confessing to the murder of Maxine and his ex-wife, Hillman attempted to kill Gail, her children Sarah and David , and her granddaughter Bethany, by driving them into a canal. The storyline received wide press attention, and viewing figures peaked at 19.4 million, with Hillman dubbed a "serial killer" by the media. [54] Todd Grimshaw became Corrie's first regular homosexual character. [55] In 2003 another gay male character was introduced, Sean Tully played by Antony Cotton . The character of Karen McDonald ( Suranne Jones ) was developed, with her fiery marriage to Steve and warring with Tracy Barlow . In 2004, Coronation Street retconned the Baldwin family when Mike's nephew Danny Baldwin and his wife Frankie moved to the area from Essex, with their two sons Jamie and Warren . Until this time, Mike Baldwin had been portrayed as an only child , with his father appearing in the programme between 1980 and 1982 confirming the fact. The bigamy of Peter Barlow and his addiction to alcohol, later in the decade, Maya Sharma 's revenge on former lover Devendra Alahan , Charlie Stubbs's psychological abuse of Shelley Unwin , and the deaths of Mike Baldwin , Vera Duckworth and Fred Elliott . In 2007, Tracy Barlow murdered Charlie Stubbs and claiming it was self-defence; the audience during this storyline peaked at 13.3 million. At the 2007 British Soap Awards, it won Best Storyline, and Kate Ford was voted Best Actress for her portrayal. Other storylines included Leanne Battersby becoming a prostitute and the show's first bi-sexual love triangle (between Michelle Connor , Sonny Dhillon , and Sean Tully ). The Connor family were central to many storylines during 2007—the accidental death of a Polish worker at Underworld due to overworking, Michelle's discovery that her brothers Paul and Liam were the cause of her husband's death, Paul's use of an escort service, his kidnapping of Leanne and his subsequent death.
In July 2007, after 34 years in the role of Vera Duckworth , Elizabeth Dawn left the show due to ill health. [56] After conversation between Dawn and producers Kieran Roberts and Steve Frost , the decision was made to kill Vera off. [57] In January 2008, shortly before plans to retire to Blackpool, Vera's husband Jack found that she had died in her armchair.
Tina O'Brien revealed in the British press on 4 April 2007 that she would be leaving Coronation Street. [58] Sarah-Louise, who was involved in some of the decade's most controversial stories, left in December 2007 with her daughter (who'd been in an ectasy storyline earlier that year), Bethany Platt . In 2008, Michelle learning that Ryan was not her biological son, having been accidentally swapped at birth with Alex Neeson . Carla Connor turned to Liam for comfort and developed feelings for him. In spite of knowing about her feelings, Liam married Maria Sutherland. Maria and Liam's baby son was stillborn in April, and during an estrangement from Maria upon the death of their baby, Liam had a one-night stand with Carla, a story which helped pave the way for his departure. [59] Gail's son David Platt ( Jack P. Shepherd ) pushed her down the stairs. Enraged that Gail refused to press charges, David vandalised the Street and was sent to a young offenders' facility for several months. In May 2008, Gail finally met Ted Page , the father she'd never known and in 2009, Gail's boyfriend, Joe McIntyre became addicted to pain killers, which came to a head when he broke into the medical centre. In August 2008, Jed Stone returned after 42 years. Liam Connor and his ex-sister-in-law Carla Connor gave into their feelings for each other and began an affair. Carla's fiancée Tony discovered the affair and had Liam killed in a hit-and-run in October. Carla struggled to come to terms with Liam's death, but decided she still loved Tony and married him on 3 December, in an episode attracting 10.3 million viewers. In April 2009 it was revealed that Eileen Grimshaw's father, Colin had slept with Eileen's old classmate, Paula Carp while she was still at school, and that Paula's daughter, Julie was in fact also Colin's daughter. In May, Norris Cole received a blast from the past with the reappearance of his estranged brother Ramsay Clegg ( Andrew Sachs ) who wanted a reconciliation. Peter Barlow's battle against alcoholism, Ken Barlow's affair with actress Martha Fraser after his dog Eccles fell in the canal, Maria giving birth to Liam's son and her subsequent relationship with Liam's killer Tony, Steve McDonald's marriage to Becky Granger and Kevin Webster's affair with Molly Dobbs. On Christmas Day 2009, Sally Webster told husband Kevin that she had breast cancer, just as he was about to leave her for lover Molly. [60]
2010s[ edit ]
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Gail Platt married for the fourth time, this time to Joe McIntyre. Molly Dobbs became pregnant, with the father being either Tyrone Dobbs or Kevin Webster ; Molly reconciled with Tyrone and nearly lost her life after a crash in a car which had not been properly repaired by Kevin. Tracy Barlow returned on 7 May 2010, plotting to reduce her sentence by convincing cellmate Gail to confess to Joe's murder. [61] The show's first lesbian storyline developed as Sophie Webster realised her true feelings for her best friend Sian Powers , which proved incredibly popular with the British public. [62] [63] In 2010, Blanche Hunt was written out after the death of actress Maggie Jones on 2 December 2009. ITV honoured Blanche and Maggie with a half-hour special, Goodbye Blanche, which was aired after the funeral episode. [64] On 31 May 2010, the Coronation Street opening sequence was given a revamp. [65] From that date all episodes of the series would be transmitted in High Definition. The change coincided with a week of dramatic storylines known as "Siege Week" being shown on five consecutive nights following Britain's Got Talent. [66] In the story Tony Gordon escaped from prison to seek vengeance on his enemies and enlisting the help of a former cellmate Robbie to kidnap Carla Connor and Hayley Cropper in the Underworld factory with the intent to murder them. Carla and Hayley are bound and gagged in the factory while Tony shoots Robbie. Carla pleads with Tony to release Hayley, which he eventually agrees to do on the condition that he and Carla will die together. The storyline culminated in the dramatic explosion of Underworld, which killed Tony while Carla untied herself and escaped unharmed. Meanwhile, Gail Platt's murder trial took place, with two different verdicts being shown online. [67] However, following the Cumbria shootings , that occurred on 2 June 2010, the soap was temporarily taken off-air, as it was felt that this plot was too similar to real life events. The remaining siege episodes were transmitted the following week instead, in a heavily truncated schedule. [68] [69] On 17 September 2010 Coronation Street entered Guinness World Records as the world's longest-running television soap opera after the American soap opera As the World Turns concluded. William Roache was listed as the world's longest-running soap actor. [6]
The aftermath of the tram crash
Coronation Street's 50th anniversary week was celebrated with seven episodes, plus a special one-hour live episode, broadcast from 6–10 December. The episodes averaged 14 million viewers, a 52.1% share of the audience. The anniversary was also publicised with ITV specials and news broadcasts. In the storyline, Nick Tilsley and Leanne Battersby 's bar—The Joinery—exploded during Peter Barlow 's stag party. As a result, the viaduct was destroyed, sending a Metrolink tram careering onto the street, destroying D&S Alahan's Corner Shop and The Kabin . Two characters, Ashley Peacock and Molly Dobbs , along with an unknown taxi driver, were killed as a result of the disaster. Rita Sullivan survived, despite being trapped under the rubble of her destroyed shop. Fiz Stape prematurely gave birth to a baby girl, Hope, after her husband, John , struck his stalker Charlotte Hoyle with a hammer to silence her. He later attempted to turn off Charlotte's life support machine, having gained access to her bedside by allowing her parents to believe he was her fiancé; they later made the decision themselves. Peter Barlow, believing himself on his deathbed, married Leanne Battersby in an impromptu ceremony, shortly before going into cardiac arrest, although he later rallied and made a slow recovery. The episode of EastEnders broadcast on the same day as Coronation Street's 50th anniversary episode included a tribute, with the character Dot Branning saying that she never missed Coronation Street. [70]
In May 2011, Dennis Tanner returned after 43 years off screen. Beverley Callard [71] and Vicky Entwistle [72] who play Liz McDonald and Janice Battersby , respectively, quit the street. On 15 October 2011, Betty Driver , who had played Betty Williams since 1969, died of pneumonia, aged 91. In 2011, the major storyline of John Stape and his murder spree came to an end in May after he jumped off a hospital roof but left before he could be arrested. He returned in October before Fiz Stape was imprisoned for the murders. Following a car crash, John revealed the details about the murders and how Fiz was not involved. He later died from his injuries on 28 October. In December 2011, the popular Sophie & Sian lesbian relationship storyline came to an end when Sian left Weatherfield after jilting Sophie at their wedding, and later discovering that Sophie had shared a kiss with Dev Alahan's daughter Amber whilst she was away on holiday.
Frank Foster storyline centred on Maria flirting with Frank. Frank forces himself on a frightened Maria who then confides in Carla Connor . Carla is furious and tries to get Maria to go to the police; however, Maria wants to forget all about it and tells Carla to continue doing business with Frank to save the factory. This leads to a relationship between Frank and Carla. They become engaged but Carla calls it off due to her developing feelings for Peter Barlow . Frank is furious and he attacks and rapes Carla. Carla calls Maria to tell her what has happened, and Maria calls the police. Frank was arrested under suspicion of rape but was found not guilty when the case went to court. Frank finds out about Carla and Peter's affair after hiring a private investigator, which helps him win the court case. Frank took over Underworld with the assistance of Sally Webster . One evening Frank gloated about getting away with rape to a terrified Carla whilst the factory was closed, unaware that somebody heard every word. Frank was found dead later that night by the Underworld machinists, he was hit over the head with a bottle of whiskey. A distraught Sally comforted Frank's mother, Anne Foster whilst she was grieving her son's death, but discovered it was Anne herself who murdered her own son. Anne attacked Sally and then attempted to flee the country only to be caught out by Carla and Kevin Webster .
Tyrone Dobbs was also the centre of a domestic abuse storyline when he was introduced to police officer Kirsty Soames whilst on a night out. Tyrone's friends paid Kirsty to flirt with him to cheer him up after his previous wife Molly's death. Tyrone and Kirsty immediately hit it off. Kirsty's temper began to show when she used to become jealous of Tyrone's friends, specifically his friendship with Fiz Stape . Kirsty fell pregnant and her temper soon turned violent as she lashed out at Tyrone on numerous occasions, attacking him with her fists and kitchen appliances. Tyrone hid his injuries from his concerned friends and refused to leave the house. Kirsty gave birth in the Rovers Return after a heated confrontation with Tina, yet Tyrone was absent due to him fixing Fiz's boiler. This made Kirsty secretly leave out Tyrone's name as her newborn daughter Ruby's father on her birth certificate. Kirsty's violent outbursts become more frequent and a terrified Tyrone finally confides in a horrified Fiz about Kirsty's domestic abuse, this leads to Tyrone and Fiz embarking on a secret affair after she confesses her love for him. Fiz and Tyrone conspire a plan together for Tyrone to wed Kirsty then report Kirsty to the police for her domestic abuse, resulting in Kirsty being sent to prison and Tyrone getting full custody of his daughter Ruby. Tyrone proposes to a delighted Kirsty, but Kirsty eventually discovers his affair with Fiz, and their plan. Kirsty eventually reveals Fiz and Tyrone's affair in front of everybody at her and Tyrone's wedding. After the wedding, Kirsty and Tyrone have a blazing row back at their house, resulting in Kirsty falling down the stairs after trying to attack Tyrone. The row is overheard by several neighbours and they think Tyrone has been assaulting Kirsty and call the police. Kirsty lies to the police and makes a false accusation that Tyrone has been beating her for months. This leads to Tyrone's arrest and he is bailed until his appending trial. Whilst on bail, Tyrone flees Weatherfield with Fiz, her daughter Hope and his daughter Ruby causing the police to issue a warrant for his arrest. Tyrone is caught and arrested and is kept in a prison cell until his trial. Kirsty lies again whilst giving evidence at Tyrone's trial by playing the victim to the jury. But whilst struggling being a single mum at home, Kirsty snaps at a screaming Ruby and starts screaming at her child to stop crying. Realising that she doesn't trust herself around her daughter, Kirsty interrupts Tyrone's trial right before the verdict is due and confesses to the judge that it was her who had been assaulting Tyrone and he was innocent. Tyrone gets released and Kirsty gets charged and is sentenced to three years in prison. Tyrone gets full custody of Ruby and starts his new life with his girlfriend Fiz.
Leanne split up with Peter and started a new relationship with Nick. They book their wedding for Christmas Day but Leanne visits Peter after Peter confesses he wants her back. Leanne's sister, Eva Price ( Catherine Tyldesley ) revealed all at the wedding, causing Nick to leave Leanne. That evening, Nick confides in his sister-in-law, Kylie Platt ( Paula Lane ), and she reveals to him that Eva has been quietly causing trouble between him and Leanne. After a heart to heart, they give into temptation and sleep together. However, the next morning, they agree that it was a mistake. Nick and Leanne reconcile and finally marry – just after Kylie announces she is pregnant. Nick encourages Kylie to have an abortion and she nearly goes through with it. David, who is desperate to start a family, discovers Kylie's pregnancy and stops her. Nick and Kylie agree to raise the baby up as David's as there is a chance it could be his. David overhears Kylie talking about her one-night stand with Nick, and begins a vendetta on Nick and Leanne, which includes a poison pen letter to Leanne, stolen money, bad reviews on the internet and watering down the spirits at the Bistro. Nick and David went in the Bistro van and started arguing about the one-night stand with Kylie. David was desperate not to let Nick reveal all to Kylie and Leanne, as David feared losing Kylie if she found out what David had done to take revenge on Nick. David, in a panic, tried to get Nick to stop the van. In the struggle, David removes Nick's seatbelt and stops the van in the middle of the road, which results in the van being hit by a lorry, knocking them both unconscious. David wakes up shortly after with minor injuries, but Nick does not. Nick is left comatose and is taken straight down to theatre to remove a blood clot from his brain. While Nick is in his coma, Kylie gives birth to a baby girl, Lily . When Nick awakes from his coma, he suffers a panic attack when he sees David in front of him. Later, when Nick can talk more fluently, he blackmails David to get Lily a paternity test to see who the father is or he will tell the police and the Platt family how the accident was really caused. David does so, and with his friend Tina, he opens the results, revealing that David is the father of baby Lily. Nick later finds life frustrating when he can't remember simple things. He is discharged from hospital with a walking stick, and goes to live with Leanne so that she can look after him. On the day of Lily's christening everything is revealed. Leanne finds out about Nick and Kylie's one-night stand and the entire Platt clan discover that David caused the car accident. They therefore disown David, but Nick is distraught when Leanne flees Weatherfield. She later comes back, but she splits up with Nick after he shouts at Simon and smacks her across the face at Christmas 2013. On the same day, Kylie goes on a drunken rampage and gets arrested. In January 2014, David and Kylie make up.
In March 2013, Karl Munro starts a fire in the cellar of the Rovers Return killing Sunita Alahan and a female firefighter. This episode attracted over 10 million viewers. Although he gets away with it at first, the truth eventually comes out and Karl is arrested and sentenced to prison later on in the year.
In 2014 Kal Nazir 's family, the street's first Muslim family, was introduced. Burglar Michael Rodwell played by comedian Les Dennis , was introduced through a restorative justice storyline with Gail McIntyre . Three of the show's best-loved characters made their final appearances in 2014: Hayley Cropper , Tina McIntyre and Deirdre Barlow . Hayley was diagnosed with a terminal cancer of the pancreas after a check-up in 2013. Hayley decided to end her life before she succumbs to her illness much to the despair of her husband Roy Cropper . Roy reluctantly agreed to his wife's demands and Hayley drank a concoction of mashed up pills and died in bed of an overdose with her husband lying beside her.
Tina McIntyre embarked on an affair with Peter Barlow after they shared a passionate kiss during Peter and Carla Connor 's wedding reception. Peter lies to Tina, telling her that he'd leave Carla and move away with her to Portsmouth when he was actually committing to Carla after they discovered she was pregnant. The affair causes Peter to relapse and starts drinking again. Carla's brother Rob Donovan discovers the affair and threatens them both that he'll tell Carla if they don't. Tina books a taxi for her and Peter but can't find Peter so she heads to the Rovers Return to find him and Carla celebrating Carla's pregnancy. Feeling crushed, Tina heads back to her flat and is pursued by Peter. They argue and Tina threatens Peter that she's going to reveal all about their affair to Carla, causing Peter to leave her flat and tell a heartbroken Carla about the affair before she does. Peter accidentally leaves Tina's flat door open whilst leaving and Rob notices and enters Tina's flat to confront her about her affair. Rob and Tina argue about her telling Carla about the affair, forcing them both onto her balcony outside. But when Tina threatens Rob about reporting his dodgy dealing at his pawn shop to the police, Rob pushes Tina from the balcony and she plummets to the ground. Rob frantically destroys Tina's flat in an attempt to make it look like a burglary and wipes his fingerprints off of everything he has touched. He heads outside to see a motionless Tina lying on the cobbles, he starts to call for an ambulance when Tina surprisingly is still alive and manages to get back to her feet. Rob tries backtracking his actions and tells Tina that she slipped but Tina goads Rob by saying she'll report him for attempted murder as well as him selling illegal goods. Rob takes desperate measures to shut Tina up so he grabs a lead pipe from a van outside the builder's yard and bludgeons Tina to her death. After Peter's confession, a furious Carla heads on the war path and goes in search of Tina. She notices Tina's door to her flat is open and heads inside to have it out with her. She enters the ransacked flat but doesn't find Tina anywhere, she heads out onto the balcony and looks over to discover Tina's body on the floor below. Tina dies the week later from her injuries.
Carla is in the frame for Tina's murder but after evidence and his outburst at Tina's funeral, Peter is arrested and charged with the murder. While in Highfield Prison, desperate for a drink as he is an alcoholic Peter comes across Jim McDonald who supplies with booze while making Peter get son Steve McDonald and Liz to visit. After Peter fails to Jim's command, Jim stops Peter's provision so Peter finds the booze supply and drinks it all down resulting to him being taken to hospital with internal bleeding. Peter later tells Carla he knew she killed Tina even though he didn't do it he'll take her secret to the grave. Carla considers going to the police but Rob is adamant she doesn't. Peter tells Tracy about Jim after he is beaten by Jim's lackeys so she tells Steve stop visiting and Jim turns nasty. A terrified Deirdre Barlow consults Jim's ex-wife Liz McDonald to have words so she does and Jim leaves Peter alone.
In October 2014, Steve thinks he may have melanoma and gets it checked out but is told he may have depression which he disregards. On the 13th Peter's trial begins and a guilty Steve who knew about the affair fears he has ruined Peter's chances of being released but Carla tells the jury on the 15th she believes Peter's innocent making his chances better. While Peter and newfound cell-mate/confidant Eugene Cleland celebrate, murderer Rob yells at Carla making her feel suspicious. At last all is revealed when new evidence emerges and Tracy lures Rob to a derelict factory claiming that they will flee the country together. It is revealed that Tracy lied and had led the police to their location. Rob refuses to admit defeat but finally gives in and is taken away, Tracy breaking down in the process. His name cleared, Peter decides to depart seeing as how there is nothing keeping him in Weatherfield other than son Simon. Peter leaves in November, leaving behind his family, his past, and Carla.
Because of the stress of the trial, Peter's stepmother Deirdre decided to go away to stay with her friend to get away. Deirdre's portrayer Anne Kirkbride died in January 2015, so the character was written out of the show, with her character dying off screen in July 2015.
It was also revealed this year that Max Turner, son of Kylie and stepson of David Platt, has attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) and he needs medication to control his illness. Kylie ends up getting hooked on to these drugs as the stress that Max is placing on her pushes her to the edge. She then rediscovers Max's biological father, Callum Logan, and he begins harassing the Platts, intent on gambling for custody of the boy. Eventually, Kylie begins reverting to her old ways, and Callum even begins supplying her with illegal highs to ensure he would get custody.
By Christmas 2014, many of the characters' lives are in tatters. David Platt has kicked Kylie out after he learned that she had taken her son's medication. While attempting to enjoy a Christmas dinner as one happy family, Owen ends up losing his cool and breaks Faye's earphones.
In January 2015, while driving the men and women of Underworld to an up class hotel, Steve loses control of their minibus when he is distracted by reckless drivers, and ends up crashing. The vehicle is hanging over the edge of a cliff, and leaving the passengers' lives hanging in the balance. Steve regains consciousness first and abandons the wreckage. While everyone emerges alive from the crash, young Sinead Tinker is left paralysed, potentially for life, and Steve's depression takes a turn for the worse. The episode where the bus crashes was broadcast on the same night actress Anne Kirkbride's death occurred and was announced.
In May 2015, Tracy seeks revenge on Carla and inadvertently starts a massive fire in the Victoria Court flats. A barely conscious Carla is rescued by Leanne. Leanne went back inside to rescue Amy, followed by Kal. The residents are horrified when they find a gas canister on fire. Amy and Leanne make it out safely but Kal is killed after the balcony of the flat explodes. A stray piece from the flaming debris then causes a second explosion at the nearby builders' yard, ignited by a batch of flammable chemicals. This blast hits Maddie as she walks past the yard, and she later dies from her injuries. Carla becomes addicted to a gambling habit and is a mess. She takes Tracy to a cliff and tries to commit suicide but Tracy confesses. As the factory is in tatters, Johnny Connor and son Aidan Connor and sister Kate Connor come to bail her out.
In July 2015, Ken is dealt a blow when Bev arrives to tell him that Deirdre died just before she was due to return home. She explains to the Barlows how she died and says that she was sat on her patio chair in the garden quietly and peacefully, Bev states that the cause of death could've been a brain aneurysm. A party was held for her in the Rovers to celebrate her 60th birthday but turns out to be a wake after everyone is delivered the terrible news by Liz. Ken is also shocked to discover that Deirdre stayed away for so long because of Tracy's recent affair with Tony, Deirdre's funeral was held on 13 July 2015. Tracy met up with her ex-husband Robert Preston at Deirdre's funeral, and he soon moves in.
Callum, who was battling for custody over Max, attacked David and the Platt family for months until one day when, after the Platt's return from a week-long holiday, Sarah Platt , who had returned in March along with her daughter Bethany Platt , was babysitting Max. Whilst they were watching a scary movie, Gemma Winter , Callum's friend, came knocking at the door of Callum's flat. She had been beaten up by a thug. When Max was playing in his room, he found Callum's gun. He threatened to shoot everyone dead but eventually put the gun down. Callum threatened Sarah that if she told anyone about the gun then he would release a video of Bethany dealing and taking drugs to the police. Sarah flees with Max, refused to speak to anyone about it and told Bethany to stay away from him. However, he continued threatening the Platts. Sarah confided in Jason Grimshaw to finish him off. He attacked Callum in the Rovers and told him to stay away. He was then arrested for possession of the gun but was released without charge due to lack of evidence. When Callum arrived at the Platts' house to collect Max, David and Jason prevented him. Furious, Callum and two of his thugs lead Jason into the ginnel and beat him within an inch of his life. Sarah found Jason and called an ambulance. Jason's parents Eileen and Tony were told that he might not walk or talk again. Max, who had witnessed the attack on Jason, told David and Kylie what he saw after he appeared terrified when Callum came to collect him. Max gave a statement to the police. Before Callum was arrested, he spiked Sarah's drink and knocked her unconscious. He threatened Bethany that he would kill Sarah if she didn't lie for him. The day after, on Lily Platt 's 2nd birthday, Bethany revealed to the Platts that she made a statement against Max. The family was disgusted as they knew she was lying. Sarah informed Tony about Callum and the following day, he took matters into his own hands by beating up Callum in the ginnel, only to be stopped by Liz. Callum continued to attack the Platts because he needed money to pay off a dangerous drug dealer. Sarah lures him to the house and records what he is saying. Callum finds her phone and starts attacking Sarah, and Kylie comes in and beats him over the head with a wrench, killing him. They bury his body in a manhole in the garage and Sarah is traumatized.
Rob Donovan reads an article in the newspaper about Johnny at the factory. He then requests a visit from Tracy and tells his prison cellmate that he plans for revenge on Tracy and Carla of how they disowned him and how they called the police and had him jailed. Tracy turned up to visit Rob and wondered why he had chosen to contact her after such time, however Rob confessed to being angry at first but could never stop loving her and he didn't blame her for him being arrested. After Tracy's visit, Rob requested a visit from Johnny, and reveals that he is the father of Carla, as his mother shared the secret with him years ago. He demands £10,000 from Johnny to keep it secret. Johnny told him that Tracy was with Robert Preston. Johnny does everything in his power to ensure that nobody finds out, but steals some of Carla's DNA to perform a paternity test behind her back. Tracy goes to see Rob and misses Amy's violin recital. Rob then sent a visiting order to Robert. He told him about Tracy wanting to start a new relationship with him. Robert was disgusted and stormed out. He then split up with Tracy. Rob sends another visiting order out to Tracy. He reveals to her that everything was a lie and that he still hated her. She then attacked him and was dragged out of prison by security guards. Johnny, feeling the pressure from Rob and the result of the test being positive, reveals all to a disgusted Carla. Carla is furious and, when Johnny started bothering her, she slapped Johnny, however Johnny continues to plead with Carla not to tell Aidan and Kate. With Nick, Roy and Michelle constantly talking about Johnny, Carla heads for a casino where she bumps into Robert, and after gambling with him, Carla has sex with him. She instantly regrets it, and confides in Michelle, who attempts to persuade Carla not to tell Nick. Johnny confronts her and she slaps him, threatening to tell his children the truth unless he moves away, which he doesn't. Upon visiting Rob, where he threatens to tell Aidan and Kate himself about her paternity, Carla reveals that she is their half-sister. Kate and Aidan are distraught and Aidan sees red and punches Johnny. Carla is shocked to find that Robert plans to buy a share in the Bistro. Carla begs him to reconsider, but Robert threatens to reveal their affair to Nick if she does not let him buy into the Bistro. Nick then begins making a fuss about their wedding, and entrusts Robert to organise the meals for their reception. Carla finds it increasingly difficult to keep her deceit under wraps. She also begins bonding with Kate and they plan to get Aidan to talk to Johnny about their familial situation. Carla late tells Nick that she cannot marry him, however after he persuades her, she changes her mind. Upon hearing that Robert is intending on going into business with Nick, Carla goes to the bistro to confront him. As a powercut has forced the restaurant to close early. Carla and Robert engage in a bitter argument, with their one-night stand being mentioned. Unbeknown to the pair, but Tracy, who has recently reconciled with Robert, has overheard their conversation. Robert then leaves, and Carla drowns her sorrows. However, Jamie Bowman (James Atherton), and his friend, Lee, burst into the restaurant and violently attack Carla, pinning her down on the floor and grabbing her hair. Tracy, hearing the commotion, leaves Carla to the mercy of the thugs, feeling envious over Carla's liaison with Robert. After realising that there is no money in the restaurant, Jamie grabs Carla's handbag, causing her to fall over. She rises to her feet abruptly and gives chase. She jumps into the car, leaving the door wide open, wrestling with the thugs for her handbag. As the car drives out of the street, Jamie pushes Carla out of the vehicle, knocking her unconscious. She survived and Tracy pressures her to persuade Nick to sell the Bistro. He eventually sells to Robert, and Carla and Nick make plans to move to Devon.
On the morning of 1 March 2016, Coronation Street creator, Tony Warren ,died, aged 79, after a "short illness" as confirmed by Coronation Street's Twitter account. Tributes were paid by cast members, past and present.
In October 2016, David Platt attempted to get revenge on his wife Kylie's killer Clayton Hibbs by crashing his car into the prison van that killer Clayton was in. In a bid to protect him from himself, Gail and Nick lock him in the cellar of the Bistro. However he fakes his own death and manages to escape his makeshift prison cell. He runs to the garage, (where his car is being repaired) and drives off in it much to his family's horror. However, while driving the car, he sees his daughter Lily in the road and swerves the car and flips over in it. Gary Windass attempted to save Lily but they both ended up trapped under it. When the two are pulled out, the car suddenly catches fire and left Anna Windass with severely injured legs after catching fire due to it spreading.
Main articles: List of Coronation Street characters , List of past Coronation Street characters , and List of Coronation Street actors
Cast of Coronation Street, 1960
Since 1960, Coronation Street has featured many characters whose popularity with viewers and critics has differed greatly. The original cast was created by Tony Warren, with the characters of Ena Sharples ( Violet Carson ), Elsie Tanner ( Patricia Phoenix ) and Annie Walker ( Doris Speed ) as central figures. [73] These three women remained with the show for 20 years or more, and became archetypes of British soap opera, often being emulated by other serials. Ena was the street's busybody, battleaxe and self-proclaimed moral voice. [74] Elsie was the tart with a heart , who was constantly hurt by men in the search for true love. [75] Annie Walker, landlady of the Rovers Return Inn , had delusions of grandeur and saw herself as better than other residents of Coronation Street. [76]
Coronation Street became known for the portrayal of strong female characters, [77] including original cast characters like Sharples, Walker and Tanner, and Hilda Ogden (who first appeared in 1964); who became household names during the 1960s. [78] Warren's programme was largely matriarchal, which some commentators put down to the female-dominant environment in which he grew up. [79] Consequently, the show has a long tradition of psychologically abused husbands, most famously Stan Ogden and Jack Duckworth , husbands of Hilda and Vera, respectively.
Cast at the 50th Anniversary of Coronation Street, 2010
Ken Barlow ( William Roache ) entered the storyline as a young radical, reflecting the youth of 1960s Britain, where figures like The Beatles , The Rolling Stones and the model Twiggy were to reshape the concept of youthful rebellion. Though the rest of the original Barlow family were killed off before the end of the 1970s, Ken, who for 27 years was the only character from the first episode remaining, has remained the constant link throughout the entire series. In 2011, Dennis Tanner ( Philip Lowrie ), another character from the first episode, returned to Coronation Street after a 43-year absence. Since 1984, Ken Barlow had been the show's only remaining original character, although Emily Bishop ( Eileen Derbyshire ) has remained in the series since first appearing in early 1961, when the show was just weeks old, and is the show's longest-serving female character.
Stan Ogden and Hilda Ogden were introduced in 1964, with Hilda ( Jean Alexander ) becoming one of the most famous British soap characters of all time. In a 1982 poll, she was voted fourth most recognisable woman in Britain, after Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother , Queen Elizabeth II and Diana, Princess of Wales . [80] Hilda's best-known attributes were her pinny , hair curlers, and the "muriel" in her living room with three "flying" duck ornaments. Hilda Ogden's final episode on Christmas Day 1987, remains the highest-rated episode of Coronation Street ever, with nearly 27 million viewers. Stan Ogden had been killed off in 1984 following the death of actor Bernard Youens after a long illness which had restricted his appearances towards the end. [81]
Bet Lynch ( Julie Goodyear ) first appeared in 1966, before becoming a regular in 1970, and went on to become one of the most famous Corrie characters. [82] Bet stood as the central character of the show from 1985 until departing in 1995, often being dubbed as "Queen of the Street" by the media, and indeed herself. The character briefly returned in June 2002. [83]
Broadcast format[ edit ]
Between 9 December 1960 and 3 March 1961, Coronation Street was broadcast twice weekly, on Wednesday and Friday. [15] During this period, the Friday episode was broadcast live, with the Wednesday episode being pre-recorded 15 minutes later. [85] When the programme went fully networked on 6 March 1961, broadcast days changed to Monday and Wednesday. [15] The last regular episode to be shown live was broadcast on 3 February 1961.
The series was transmitted in black and white for the majority of the 1960s. Preparations were made to film episode 923, to be transmitted Wednesday 29 October 1969, in colour. This instalment featured the street's residents on a coach trip to the Lake District. In the end, suitable colour film stock for the cameras could not be found and the footage was shot in black and white. The following episode, transmitted Monday 3 November, was videotaped in colour but featured black and white film inserts and title sequence. Like BBC1 , the ITV network was officially broadcast in black and white at this point (though programmes were actually broadcast in colour as early as July that year for colour transmission testing and adjustment) so the episode was seen by most in black and white.
Daran Little, for many years the official programme archivist, claims that the first episode to be transmitted in colour was episode 930 shown on 24 November 1969. [86] The ITV network, like BBC1 , began full colour transmissions on 15 November 1969 and it is therefore possible that the first transmitted colour episode is number 928 shown on 17 November.
In October 1970 a technicians' dispute turned into a work-to-rule when sound staff were denied a pay rise given to camera staff the year before for working with colour recording equipment. The terms of the work-to-rule were that staff refused to work with the new equipment (though the old black and white equipment had been disposed of by then) and therefore programmes were recorded and transmitted in black and white, including Coronation Street [87] The dispute was resolved in early 1971 and the last black and white episode was broadcast on 8 February 1971.
Episode 5191, originally broadcast on 7 January 2002, was the first to be broadcast in 16:9 widescreen format. Coronation Street was the last British soap to make the switch to 16:9 ( Take the High Road remained in 4:3 until it finished in 2003).
From 22 March 2010, Coronation Street was produced in 1080/50i for transmission on HDTV platforms on ITV HD . The first transmission in this format was episode 7351 on 31 May 2010 with a new set of titles and re-recorded theme tune. On 26 May 2010 ITV previewed the new HD titles on the Coronation Street website. Due to copyright reasons only viewers residing in the UK could see them on the ITV site. [88]
Production staff[ edit ]
Coronation Street's creator, Tony Warren , wrote the first 13 episodes of the programme in 1960, and continued to write for the programme intermittently until 1976. [89] He had retained links with Coronation Street up to his death in 2016, often advising on storylines.
Harry Kershaw [90] was the script editor for Coronation Street when the programme began in 1960, working alongside Tony Warren. Kershaw was also a script writer for the programme and the show's producer between 1962 and 1971. He remains the only person, along with John Finch, to have held the three posts of script editor, writer and producer. Kershaw continued to write for the programme until his retirement in January 1988.
Adele Rose was the longest-serving Coronation Street writer, completing 455 scripts between 1961 and 1998. She also created Byker Grove . [91]
Bill Podmore was the show's longest serving producer. By the time he stepped down in 1988 he had completed 13 years at the production helm. Nicknamed the "godfather" by the tabloid press, [92] he was renowned for his tough, uncompromising style and was feared by both crew and cast alike. He is probably most famous for sacking Peter Adamson , the show's Len Fairclough, in 1983.
Kieran Roberts currently, as of 2016 [update] , executively produces the show, with former Emmerdale producer Stuart Blackburn as the series producer. Blackburn was cut from his job in September 2015, with the then-series producer of Emmerdale, Kate Oates , replacing him.
Michael Apted , best known for the Up! series of documentaries was a director on the programme in the early 1960s. This period of his career marked the first of his many collaborations with writer Jack Rosenthal . Rosenthal, noted for such television plays as Bar Mitzvah Boy , began his career on the show, writing over 150 episodes between 1961 and 1969. [93] Paul Abbott was a story editor on the programme in the 1980s and began writing episodes in 1989, but left in 1993 to produce Cracker , for which he later wrote, before creating his own dramas such as Touching Evil and Shameless . [94] Russell T Davies was briefly a storyliner on the programme in the mid-1990s, [95] also writing the script for the direct-to-video special " Viva Las Vegas! " [95] He, too, has become a noted writer of his own high-profile television drama programmes, including Queer as Folk and the 2005 revival of Doctor Who . [96] Jimmy McGovern also wrote some episodes. [97]
Theme music[ edit ]
The show's theme music , a cornet piece, accompanied by a brass band plus clarinet and double bass, reminiscent of northern band music, was written by Eric Spear . [98]
The identity of the trumpeter was not public knowledge until 1994, when jazz musician and journalist Ron Simmonds revealed that it was the Surrey musician Ronnie Hunt. He added, "an attempt was made in later years to re-record that solo, using Stan Roderick, but it sounded too good, and they reverted to the old one." [99] In 2004, the Manchester Evening News published a contradictory story that a young musician from Wilmslow called David Browning played the trumpet on both the original recording of the theme in 1960 and a re-recording in 1964, for a one-off payment of £36. [100] [101] In June 2009, the Mail on Sunday resolved the matter. Browning conceded that Hunt recorded the original in 1960, but believed that his own re-recording in 1964 [102] or 1972 had been used since that date. ITV then confirmed to the Mail that a second version had been recorded in the 1970s, but was only used for a very short while before reverting to Hunt's 1960 recording. In the 1980s the same version was converted to stereo. [103]
Ronnie Hunt said he was paid £6, and found the experience frustrating as Eric Spear insisted on many takes before obtaining the sound that he wanted. After taking a break in a local pub, Hunt achieved the desired mournful sound by playing very close to the microphone. [103]
A new, completely re-recorded version of the theme tune replaced the original when the series started broadcasting in HD on 31 May 2010. It accompanied a new montage-style credits sequence featuring images of Manchester and Weatherfield. [104]
A reggae version of the theme tune was recorded by The I-Royals and released by Media Marvels and WEA in 1983. [105]
Viewing figures[ edit ]
Most episodes in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s rated with over 20 million viewers [106] [107] [108] and during the 1990s and early 2000s 14–16 million per episode would be typical. [109] [110] Like most terrestrial television in the UK, a decline in viewership has taken place and the show posts an average audience of just under 9 million per episode as of 2013 [update] remaining as one of the highest rated programmes in the UK. [111] [112]
The programme rates as one of the most watched programmes on UK television for every day it is aired. Viewership peaked on Christmas Day 1987 when an average of 28.5 million viewers tuned in to see Hilda Ogden leave the street to start a new life as a housekeeper for long term friend Dr Lowther (although there is some confusion as to whether or not this was actually the highest rating episode due to a special omnibus repeat of that week's episodes being combined with the original airing). Since EastEnders began in 1985, the two programmes have constantly battled it out for first place in the ratings.
Main article: Coronation Street sets
Rosamund Street viaduct as seen in 2002 opening credits of Coronation Street
Shot of the former Coronation Street exterior set at Granada Studios. The set is close to Manchester city centre , hence the high rise buildings, which are not part of the programme.
The regular exterior buildings shown in Coronation Street include a row of terrace houses, several townhouses, and communal areas including a newsagents (The Kabin), a café (Roy's Rolls), a general grocery shop (D&S Alahan's), a factory (Underworld) and Rovers Return Inn public house . The Rovers Return Inn is the main meeting place for the show's characters. [22]
Between 1960 and 1968 street scenes were filmed before a set constructed in a studio, with the house fronts reduced in scale to 3/4 and constructed from wood. [113] In 1968 Granada built an outside set not all that different from the interior version previously used, with the wooden façades from the studio simply being erected on the new site. [113] These were replaced with brick façades, and back yards were added in the 1970s.
In 1982 a permanent full-street set was built in the Granada backlot , an area between Quay Street and Liverpool Road in Manchester. [114] The set was constructed from reclaimed Salford brick. [113] The set was updated in 1989 with the construction of a new factory, two shop units and three modern town houses on the south side of the street. [115]
Between 1989 and 1999 the Granada Studios Tour allowed members of the public to visit the set. The exterior set was extended and updated in 1999. This update added to the Rosamund Street and Victoria Street façades, and added a viaduct on Rosamund Street. Most interior scenes are shot in the adjoining purpose-built studio. [115]
In 2008, Victoria Court, an apartment building full of luxury flats, was started on Victoria Street. [116]
In 2014, production moved to a new site at Trafford Wharf, a former dock area about two miles to the east, part of the MediaCityUK complex. [117] The Trafford Wharf backlot is built upon a former truck stop site next to the Imperial War Museum North . It took two years from start to finish to recreate the iconic Street. The houses were built to almost full scale after previously being three-quarter size.
On 5 April 2014, the staff began to allow booked public visits to the old Quay Street set. An advert, with a voiceover from Victoria Wood , appeared on TV to advertise the tour. [118] The tour was discontinued in December 2015.
United Kingdom[ edit ]
For 55 years, Coronation Street has remained at the centre of ITV's prime time schedule. The programme is shown in the UK in five episodes, over three evenings a week on ITV. From Friday 9 December 1960 until Friday 3 March 1961, the programme was shown in two episodes broadcast Wednesday and Friday at 19:00. [15] Schedules were changed and from Monday 6 March 1961 until Wednesday 11 October 1989, the programme was shown in two episodes broadcast Monday and Wednesday at 19:30. [15] The third weekly episode was introduced on Friday 20 October 1989, broadcast at 19:30. [40] From 1996, an extra episode was broadcast at 19:30 on Sunday nights. Aside from Granada, the programme originally appeared on the following stations of the ITV network: Anglia Television , Associated-Rediffusion , Television Wales and the West , Scottish Television , Southern Television and Ulster Television . From episode 14 on Wednesday 25 January 1961, Tyne Tees Television broadcast the programme. That left ATV in the Midlands as the only ITV station not carrying the show. When they decided to broadcast the programme, national transmission was changed from Wednesday and Friday at 19:00 to Monday and Wednesday at 19:30 and the programme became fully networked under this new arrangement from episode 25 on Monday 6 March 1961.
As the ITV network grew over the next few years, the programme was transmitted by these new stations on these dates onward: Westward Television from episode 40 on 29 April 1961, Border Television from episode 76 on 1 September 1961, Grampian Television from episode 84 on 30 September 1961, Channel Television from episode 180 on 1 September 1962 and Teledu Cymru (north and west Wales) from episode 184 on 14 September 1962. At this point, the ITV network became complete and the programme was broadcast almost continuously across the country at 19:30 on Monday and Wednesday for the next twenty-seven years.
From episode 2981 on Friday 20 October 1989 at 19:30, a third weekly episode was introduced and this increased to four episodes a week from episode 4096 on Sunday 24 November 1996, again at 19:30. [119] The second Monday episode was introduced in 2002 and was broadcast at 20:30 to usher in the return of Bet Lynch . [120] The Monday 20:30 episode was used intermittently during the popular Richard Hillman story line but has become fully scheduled since episode 5568 on Monday 25 August 2003. Additional episodes have been broadcast during the weekly schedule of ITV at certain times, notably in 2004 when, between 22 and 26 November, eight episodes were shown. [121]
Older episodes had been broadcast by satellite and cable channel Granada Plus from launch in 1996. The first episodes shown were from episode 1588 (originally transmitted on Monday 5 April 1976) onwards. Originally listed and promoted as Classic Coronation Street, the "classic" was dropped in early 2002, at which stage the episodes were from late 1989. By the time of the channel's closure in 2004, the repeats had reached January 1994.[ citation needed ] In addition to this, "specials" were broadcast on Saturday afternoons in the early years of the channel with several episodes based on a particular theme or character(s) were shown. The latest episode shown in these specials was from 1991. In addition, on 27 and 28 December 2003, several Christmas Day editions of the show were broadcast.
From 23 July 2009 Coronation Street has been broadcast in five weekly instalments, at 19:30 and 20:30 on Mondays and Fridays, and at 20:30 on Thursday. The Thursday episode replaces the former Wednesday show. [122] Occasional late night episodes of Coronation Street begin at 22:00, due to the watershed . Repeat episodes, omnibus broadcasts and specials have been shown on ITV and ITV2 . In January 2008 the omnibus returned to the main ITV channel where it was aired on Saturday mornings/afternoons depending on the schedule and times. In May 2008 it moved to Sunday mornings until August 2008 when it returned to Saturdays. In January 2009 it moved back to Sunday mornings usually broadcasting at around 09:25 until December 2010. In January 2011 the omnibus moved to Saturday mornings on ITV at 09:25. During the Rugby World Cup, which took place in New Zealand, matches had to be broadcast on a Saturday morning, so the omnibus moved to Saturday lunchtimes/afternoons during September and October 2011. However, as of 22 October 2011 the omnibus moved back to Saturday mornings at 09:25 on ITV. From January 2012 the omnibus was no longer broadcast on ITV after four years, however it remains on ITV2.
On 30 June 2011 it was confirmed that Coronation Street would return to its traditional 19:30 timeslot on a Wednesday evening in September 2012. [123]
International[ edit ]
Coronation Street is shown in various countries worldwide.
The programme was first aired in Australia in 1963 on TCN -9 Sydney, GTV -9 Melbourne and NWS -9 Adelaide, and by 1966 Coronation Street was more popular in Australia than in the UK. [124] The show eventually left free-to-air television in Australia in the 1970s. It briefly returned to the Nine Network in a daytime slot during 1994–1995. In 2005 STW -9 Perth began to show episodes before the 18:00 news to improve the lead in to Nine News Perth, but this did not work and the show was cancelled a few months later. [125] In 1996 Pay-TV began and Arena began screening the series in one-hour instalments on Saturdays and Sundays at 18:30 EST. The series was later moved to Pay-TV channel UKTV where it is still shown. In 2015 Coronation Street is shown on weeknights at 18:50 EST. Episodes on UKTV are around four weeks behind the UK. [126] Seven broadcast old episodes daily on 7Two [127] until September 2014.
In Canada, Coronation Street is broadcast on CBC Television . Until 2011, episodes were shown in Canada approximately 10 months after they aired in Britain; however, beginning in the fall of 2011, the CBC began showing two episodes every weekday, in order to catch up with the ITV showings, at 18:30 and 19:00 local time Monday-Friday, with an omnibus on Sundays at 07:30. By May 2014, the CBC was only two weeks behind Britain, so the show was reduced to a single showing weeknights at 18:30 local time. The show debuted on Toronto's CBLT in July 1966. [128] The 2002 edition of the Guinness Book of Records recognises the 1,144 episodes sold to the now-defunct CBC-owned Saskatoon, Saskatchewan , TV station CBKST by Granada TV on 31 May 1971 to be the largest number of TV shows ever purchased in one transaction. [129] The show traditionally aired on weekday afternoons in Canada, with a Sunday morning omnibus. In 2004, CBC moved the weekday airings from their daytime slot to prime time. [128] [130] In light of austerity measures imposed on the CBC in 2012, which includes further cutbacks on non-Canadian programming, one of the foreign shows to remain on the CBC schedule is Coronation Street, according to the CBC's director of content planning Christine Wilson, who commented: "Unofficially I can tell you Coronation Street is coming back. If it didn't come back, something would happen on Parliament Hill ." [131] Kirstine Stewart , the head of the CBC's English-language division, once remarked: "Coronation Street fans are the most loyal, except maybe for curling viewers, of all CBC viewers," [128] In late September 2014, CBC aired extra episodes to become only one week behind the UK in airing of new episodes.
In the Republic of Ireland, Coronation Street is simulcast on UTV Ireland . The show is UTV Ireland's most watched programme with an average of 365,000 people watching each night. The broadcaster relies on a live feed of the soap from the ITV network in London. If there was a breaking newsflash (e.g. about a Royal baby being born) on the UK channel, Coronation Street could not be broadcast. An omnibus is also shown on weekends. The show was first aired in 1978, beginning with episodes from 1976. Ireland eventually caught up with the current UK episodes in 1983. Until 1992 it was broadcast on RTÉ2 and from 1992 to 2001 it was broadcast on RTÉ One . In 2001 Granada TV bought 45 percent of TV3, which resulted in TV3 broadcasting series from 2001 to 2014. In 2006 ITV sold its share of the channel but TV3. TV3 continue to buy the soap until the end of 2014 when it moved to UTV Ireland . Coronation Street has broadcast on each of the main Irish networks, except for the Irish Language Network TG4 . From December 2016, Coronation Street will return to TV3 following Virgin Media acquiring UTV Ireland . [132]
In South Africa,Coronation Street episodes are broadcast three days after UK air date on ITV Choice.
In New Zealand, Coronation Street has been shown locally since 1964, first on NZBC television until 1975, [133] and then on TV One , which broadcasts it in a 4-episode/2-hour block on Fridays from 19:30. Since September 2014, TV One has added a 2-episode/1-hour block on Saturday from 20:30. Because TV One has never upgraded to showing the equivalent of five episodes per week, New Zealand continues to fall further and further behind with episodes, and is 23 months behind Britain (as of 28 March 2014). During the weekday nights of the week ending 11 April 2014 and previous weeks, Coronation Street was the least watched programme on TV One in the 19:30 slot by a considerable margin in comparison to other weeknights, [134] The serial aired on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 19:30 until October 2011, when the show moved to a 17:30 half-hour slot every weekday. The move proved unpopular with fans, [135] and the series was quickly moved into its present prime-time slot within weeks. Episodes 7883, 7884, 7885 and 7886 were screened on 16 May 2014. These were originally aired in the UK between 4 and 11 June 2012.
In the United States, Coronation Street is available by broadcast or cable only in northern markets where CBC coverage from Canada overlaps the border or is available on local cable systems. It was broadcast on CBC's US cable channel, Trio until the CBC sold its stake in the channel to Universal, before it was shut down in 2006. Beginning in 2009, episodes were available in the United States through Amazon.com 's on-demand service, one month behind their original UK airdates. [136] The final series of shows available from Amazon appears to be from November 2012, as no new episodes have been uploaded. On 15 January 2013, online distributor Hulu began airing episodes of the show, posting a new episode daily, two weeks after their original airdates. [137] [138] Hulu's website how states: "New episodes of Coronation Street will be unavailable as of April 7th, 2016", with the same being said for British soap Hollyoaks [139] Coronation Street was also shown on USA Network for an unknown period starting in 1982. [140]
HM Forces and their families stationed overseas can watch Coronation Street on ITV , carried by the British Forces Broadcasting Service , which is also available to civilians in the Falkland Islands . It used to be shown on BFBS1 . [141]
Satellite channel ITV Choice shows the programme in Asia, Middle East, Cyprus, and Malta. In the United Arab Emirates, episodes of Coronation Street are broadcast one month after their UK showing.
Merchandise[ edit ]
Several classic episodes were released on VHS video in the 1980s and 1990s in different sets, while a number of specially recorded feature-length episodes were released exclusively to video (see Coronation Street VHS and DVD releases ).
The Street, a magazine dedicated to the show, was launched in 1989. Edited by Bill Hill, the magazine contained a summary of recent storylines, interviews, articles about classic episodes, and stories that occurred from before 1960. The format was initially A5 size , expanding to A4 from the seventh issue. [142] The magazine folded after issue 23 in 1993 when the publisher's contract with Granada Studios Tour expired and Granada wanted to produce their own magazine. [143]
During the time when the studio tour was operating, a huge amount of branded merchandise was available from an on-site shop—everything from soap, to tea-towels, to model houses. These items gradually became scarce as the tours complex was wound down. Although there were large numbers produced, these items are becoming collectable by fans.
On 25 June 2010 a video game of the show was released on Nintendo DS . Players take the role of a detective as they work through a brand new storyline and befriend the various characters from the street, including Ken, Norris, Maria and Blanche.
Discography[ edit ]
In 1995, to commemorate the programme's 35th anniversary, a CD called The Coronation Street Album was released, featuring cover versions of modern songs and standards by contemporary cast members. [144]
An album featuring songs sung by some of the cast was released for the show's 50th anniversary. The singers include William Roache , Betty Driver , Kevin Kennedy and Katherine Kelly . The album is titled Rogues, Angels, Heroes & Fools. [145]
Spin-offs and specials[ edit ]
Granada launched one spin-off in 1965, Pardon the Expression , following the story of clothing store manager Leonard Swindley ( Arthur Lowe ) after he left Weatherfield. Swindley's management experience was tested when he was appointed assistant manager at a fictional department store , Dobson and Hawks. Granada produced two series of the spin-off, which ended in 1966. [146]
In 1967, Arthur Lowe returned as Leonard Swindley in Turn Out the Lights , a short-lived sequel to Pardon the Expression. It ran for just one series of six episodes before it was cancelled. [147]
The German TV series Lindenstraße took Coronation Street as the model. Lindenstraße started in 1985.
In 1985, a sister series, Albion Market was launched. It ran for one year, with 100 episodes produced.
On 8 December 2000 and 9 December 2010, live episodes were aired to mark the 40th and 50th anniversaries of the show. The plot of the first dealt with Vera Duckworth in hospital and the campaign to save the cobbles. The second concerned events following the tram crash.
Coronation Street: Family Album was several documentaries about various families living on the street.
"Farewell ..." was several documentaries featuring the best moments of a single character who had recently left the series—most notably, Farewell Blanche (Hunt), Farewell Jack (Duckworth), Farewell Mike (Baldwin), Farewell Vera (Duckworth), Farewell Janice (Battersby), Farewell Liz (McDonald), Farewell Becky (McDonald), and Farewell Tina (McIntyre). Most of these were broadcast on the same day as the character's final scenes in the series.
On 21 December 2008, a web-based miniseries ran on ITV.com; called Corrie Confidential; the first episode featured the characters Rosie and Sophie Webster in Underworld.
Stars on the Street was aired around Christmas 2009. It featured actors from the soap talking about the famous guest stars who had appeared in the series including people who were in it before they were famous.
In 2010, several actors from the show appeared on The Jeremy Kyle Show as their soap characters: David Platt ( Jack P. Shepherd ), Nick Tilsley ( Ben Price ) and Tina McIntyre ( Michelle Keegan ). In the fictional, semi-improvised scenario, David accused Nick (his brother) and Tina (his ex-girlfriend) of sleeping together. [148]
On 21 December 2012, Coronation Street produced a Text Santa special entitled A Christmas Corrie which featured Norris Cole in the style of Scrooge, being visited by the ghosts of dead characters. The ghosts were Mike Baldwin , Maxine Peacock , Derek Wilton and Vera Duckworth . Other special guests include Torvill and Dean , Lorraine Kelly and Sheila Reid . The episode concluded with Norris learning the error of his ways and dancing on the cobbles. The original plan for this feature was to have included Jack Duckworth , along with Vera, but actor Bill Tarmey died before filming commenced. In the end a recording of his voice was played. [149]
On 3 February 2014, another web-based miniseries ran on ITV.com; called Streetcar Stories. It showed what Steve and Lloyd get up to during the late nights in their Streetcar cab office. The first episode shows Steve and Lloyd making a cup of tea with The Stripper playing in the background, referencing Morecambe and Wise's Breakfast Sketch . The second episode involves the pair having a biscuit dunking competition.
Corrie Extra![ edit ]
ITV.com launched a small spin-off drama series called 'Gary's Army Diaries' which revolves around Gary Windass's experiences in Afghanistan and the loss of his best friend, Quinny. [150] Due to their popularity, the three five-minute episodes were recut into a single 30-minute episode, which was broadcast on ITV2. [151]
William Roache and Anne Kirkbride starred as Ken and Deirdre in a series of ten three-minute internet 'webisodes'. The first episode of the series titled, Ken and Deirdre's Bedtime Stories was activated on Valentine's Day 2011. [152]
In 2011, an internet based spin-off starring Helen Flanagan as Rosie Webster followed her on her quest to be a supermodel. [153]
Main article: Corrie!
In August 2010, many Coronation Street characters were brought to the stage in Jonathan Harvey 's comedy play Corrie! . The play was commissioned to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the TV series and was presented at The Lowry in Salford, England [154] by ITV Studios and Phil McIntyre Entertainments. Featuring a cast of six actors who alternate roles of favourite characters including Ena Sharples, Hilda Ogden, Hayley and Roy, Richard Hillman, Jack Duckworth, Bet Lynch, Steve, Karen and Becky, the play weaves together some of the most memorable moments from the TV show. It toured UK theatres between February 2011 and July 2011 with guest star narrators including Roy Barraclough, Ken Morley and Gaynor Faye. [155]
Films[ edit ]
Over the years Coronation Street has released several straight-to-video films. Unlike other soaps which often used straight-to-video films to cover more contentious plot lines that may not be allowed by the broadcaster, Coronation Street has largely used these films to reset their characters in other locations.
In 1995, Coronation Street: The Cruise also known as Coronation Street: The Feature Length Special was released on VHS to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the show. ITV heavily promoted the programme as a direct-to-video exclusive but broadcast a brief version of it on 24 March 1996. The Independent Television Commission investigated the broadcast, as viewers complained that ITV misled them. [156]
In 1997, following the controversial cruise spin-off, Coronation Street: Viva Las Vegas! was released on VHS, featuring Jack Duckworth , Vera Duckworth , Fiona Middleton and Maxine Peacock on a trip to Las Vegas.
In 1999, six special episodes of Coronation Street were produced, following the story of Steve McDonald , Vicky McDonald , Vikram Desai , Bet Gilroy and Reg Holdsworth in Brighton. [157] This video was titled Coronation Street: Open All Hours and released on VHS.
In 2008, ITV announced filming was to get underway for a new special DVD episode, Coronation Street: Out of Africa , following the Battersby-Brown family, which included the temporary return of Cilla Battersby-Brown .
In 2009, another DVD special, Coronation Street: Romanian Holiday , was released. The feature-length comedy drama followed Roy , Hayley and Becky as they travelled to Romania for the wedding of a face from their past. [158]
On 1 November 2010, Coronation Street: A Knight's Tale was released. Reg Holdsworth and Curly Watts returned in the film. [159] Mary tries to take Norris to an apparently haunted castle where she hoped to seduce him. Rosie gets a job there and she takes Jason with her. Brian Capron also guest starred as an assumed relative of Richard Hillman . He rises out of a lake as a comedic "wink to the audience" after Hillman drowned in 2003.
50th anniversary (2010)[ edit ]
The BBC commissioned a one-off drama called The Road to Coronation Street , about how the series first came into being. Jessie Wallace plays Pat Phoenix ( Elsie Tanner ) with Lynda Baron as Violet Carson ( Ena Sharples ), Celia Imrie as Doris Speed ( Annie Walker ) and James Roache as his own father William Roache ( Ken Barlow ). It was broadcast on 16 September 2010 on BBC Four . [160]
In December 2010, ITV made a few special programmes to mark the 50th anniversary. Coronation Street Uncovered: Live, hosted by Stephen Mulhern was shown after the episode with the tram crash was aired on ITV 2. On 7 and 9 December a countdown on the greatest Corrie moments, Coronation Street: 50 Years, 50 Moments, the viewers voted "The Barlows at Alcoholics Anonymous" as the greatest moment. On 10 December Paul O'Grady hosted a quiz show, Coronation Street: The Big 50 with three teams from the soap and a celebrity team answering questions about Coronation Street and other soaps. Also, Come Dine with Me and Celebrity Juice aired Coronation Street specials in the anniversary week.
Coronation Street and rival soap opera EastEnders had a crossover for Children in Need in November 2010 called " East Street ". EastEnders stars that visited Weatherfield include Laurie Brett as Jane Beale , Charlie G. Hawkins as Darren Miller , Kylie Babbington as Jodie Gold , Nina Wadia as Zainab Masood and John Partridge as Christian Clarke . [161]
Coronation Street: Viva Las Vegas! also included some characters from Emmerdale .
Corrie in popular culture[ edit ]
The British rock band Queen produced a single " I Want to Break Free " in 1984 which reached number 3 position in UK charts and which is largely known for its music video for which all the band members dressed in women's clothes, which parodied the characters and is considered as a homage to the show. [162] The video depicts Mercury as a housewife, loosely based on Bet Lynch , who wants to "break free" from his life. Although Lynch was a blonde in the soap opera, Mercury thought he would look too silly as a blonde and chose a dark wig. May plays another, more relaxed housewife based on Hilda Ogden . [163]
Sponsorship[ edit ]
Cadbury was the first sponsor of Coronation Street beginning in July 1996. [164] The original sponsorship had a chocolate-like version of the street (which can be seen in place at the Cadbury World museum in Bournville, Birmingham) with chocolate characters resembling some of the actual Coronation Street characters.[ citation needed ] In the summer of 2006, Cadbury Trebor Bassetts had to recall over one million chocolate bars, due to suspected salmonella contamination, and Coronation Street stopped the sponsorship for several months. In late 2006, Cadbury did not renew their contract, but agreed to sponsor the show until Coronation Street found a new sponsor. [165]
In July 2007, an ITV press release announced that Harveys was the new sponsor of Coronation Street on the ITV Network. Harveys' sponsorship began on 30 September 2007. [166] In the Coronation Street: Romanian Holiday film, Roy and Hayley Cropper are filmed in front of a Harveys store. In Coronation Street: A Knights Tale, a Harveys truck can be seen driving past Mary Taylor's motor-home to further promote the brand. On 11 April 2012, it was announced that Harveys had decided not to renew their contract and ceased sponsorship in December 2012. [167] Compare The Market were named as the new sponsor. [168]
In November 2011 a Nationwide Building Society ATM in Dev and Sunita Alahan's shop became the first use of paid-for product placement in a UK primetime show. [169]
Hyundai are the current sponsor since January 2015 in the Republic of Ireland, aired on TV3 HD .
Producers[ edit ]
This section does not cite any sources . Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed .
(February 2010)
See List of Coronation Street producers
The first producer was Stuart Latham , from December 1960 to July 1961. In the 1960s and 1970s, most producers did stints of about one year. Longer-running producers included Eric Prytherch (May 1972 – April 1974); Bill Podmore (September 1977 – July 1982); Carolyn Reynolds (1991–1993); and Sue Pritchard (1993–1996). From 2008 until Summer 2010 the soap was produced by Kim Crowther, who was replaced by Phil Collinson (producer of Doctor Who from 2005 to 2009). Collinson left the job in 2013, with Stuart Blackburn replacing him. Kate Oates was announced as Blackburn's successor in September 2015.
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In Brookside, which character murdered her father and buried him under the patio and was also involved in the first lesbian kiss in a UK soap opera? | The Friel Deal: All About Anna Friel!
The Friel Deal: All About Anna Friel!
"I play a character every day of my life, and I don't want to play a character as myself. They can judge me as an actress, not as a person. I'm not a spokeswoman for Anna."
- Anna Louise Friel
This blog is dedicated to one hell of a lady. She is brilliant, beautiful, talented, charismatic, loving, funny, hard-working, determinded, inspirational and that doesn't even begin to scratch the surface.
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Anna Friel as Dr. Eve Wright in Sky Living’s new drama The Psychopath Next Door. It shows just what happens when true evil moves in next door.
Anna Friel as Molly Foster/Graham.
Umm… YEAH!
[ x ]
What do you call a lesbian dinosaur? A lickalotopus.
About the jokester: Anna Friel wants you to know that she told Esquire another, far dirtier joke. It involved a bottle of custard and two “completely stark bollocks-naked” men. We couldn’t print it, but we were impressed by the Pakistani accent she employed. If you want to hear her American accent (which she says makes her sound “a little bit wanky, like I’m a bit up myself”), tune in to Fox’s strugglingThe Jury (still hanging on as of press time). Though this is her first U.S. series, Friel is a TV veteran on the other side of the Atlantic. At 17, she gave Britain its first-ever onscreen lesbian kiss as the star of the popular soap opera Brookside. (“I still get lots of nice roses from pretty girls.”) Up next for the 28-year-old: the CBS TV movie Perfect Strangers, in which she does some “snogging”
I saw both The Jury and Perfect Strangers, and both were excellent, in my opinion.
Anna Friel’s Many Faces (1/?) : Beth Jordache - Brookside (1993 - 1995)
“Why don’t you use the right word, Mom? Go on, say it. Say Lesbian.”
The infamous channel-four soap opera lesbian who murdered her abusive father and buried him under the patio. Beth Jordache was the role that put Anna’s name on the map, and it seems it was the role that put Brookside on the map as well. At the age of merely sixteen, Anna couldn’t have understood the drastic impact taking on such a role would have. She was one half of the first on-screen lesbian kiss in British public television history. That’s a pretty big deal.
When one thinks about the impact this role had on Anna’s life, it doesn’t seem like much. It seems like she played this troubled girl who was tortured and ridiculed because of her sexuality, and then she got to go back to being the beautiful, straight, and amazing actress she is once she left set. But this role follows her to this day. She started a lesbian rights movement, and she talks about how she was called names and ridiculed for the role she played. She was only sixteen, too.
Anna’s acting in this role made Beth Jordache real. That’s why when she was killed off there were rallies and petitions, because she brought Beth to life. She was strong and independent. She was sure of herself. That takes gits to pull off. I believe this is still one of her best roles to date.
| List of Brookside characters |
First shown on the station's launch night, what is Channel 5's first original soap opera called? | Emmerdale's Ken Farrington who plays Tom King
Brood awakening; Annie will add spice to Family Affairs.(Features)
Daily Record (Glasgow, Scotland); 3/29/1997; Smith, Aidan
One of Brookside's tragic mums and a former Coronation Street bad boy and are set to spice up Britain's newest soap opera.
Annie Miles - who plunged to her death trying to escape Brookie's Barry Grant six years ago - will play the sexy screen siren in Channel 5's Family Affairs.
She quickly starts tongues wagging by dumping her toy boy for the show's resident dirty old man played by Ken Farrington, best- remembered as Corrie's Billy Walker.
Family Affairs, British TV's first daily soap, follows three generations of the Hart family of Maidenhead in Berkshire.
And because the show goes out at 6.30pm, there will be no wife-beating, no incest, no lesbian love scandals and no bodies buried under the patio.
However there will be some sex and 38-year-old Annie is delighted about that.
She said: "Brookside's Sue Sullivan was a provincial housewife with a terrible dilemma. So it's great to be playing a strong, sexy woman who has a toy boy.
"My character, Maria Simmons, runs a restaurant.
"She doesn't suffers fools, wears her heart on her sleeve and dresses to kill.
"A lot of thirtysomething women will relate to her."
Maria thinks she's found Mr Right in Duncan Hart, played by Rocky Marshall. But while she wants commitment and kids, he just wants to live it up.
Annie added: "Maria jilts him for Jack `Pearly' Gates. He's Jack the Lad, but more charming and mature."
In real life Annie is married to her Scots stage sound-man Bobby Aitken, and is the proud mum of one-year-old daughter Ellie.
The couple married in Barbados last year after a 15-year courtship and Annie reckons Ellie is the best thing that has ever happened to her.
Annie, who starred in Back Up after quitting Brookie in 1991, said: "Ellie has changed my perspective on things.
"My life is no longer about me, me, me. After two decades of concentrating on my career, it's lovely to devote myself to something other than work.
"It was my decision to quit Brookside. I played Sue for three and a half years and it was great to go out in a blaze of glory.
"The 7.7 million viewers who witnessed my death was the show's second- highest audience.
"My career is still very important, but when I go for a part now I'm torn between wanting it and secretly hoping I miss out so I can rush home to see Ellie."
Ken Farrington, 61, is making his soap comeback after a Street stint which, on and off, lasted a quarter of a century.
The pressures of fame as Annie Walker's son cost Ken his marriage to actress Patricia Heneghan.
But, after a 12-year break, Ken has been lured back to telly soaps to play a crumbly Casanova.
Ken, whose partner now is actress Sandra Dixon, says: "Jack Gates is a dirty old man.
"His success owes a lot to the motto of Michael Caine's Alfie - `Get a bird laughing and you're half way there'.
"There are plenty of women who don't go for looks. They want a man who'll make them laugh."
Former Brookside supremo Mal Young and Morag Bain, the Scots producer who was in at the start of EastEnders, are the brains behind Family Affairs.
And Morag believes the show will be a ratings winner.
She said: "Family Affairs is bright, energetic, funny and very 90s. There are characters who have the potential to be telly icons.
"On EastEnders, no-one had great expectations for Den and Angie Watts - but look what happened."
Hospital - Channel 5
Dashing Greg Wise won over thousands of female fans when he sizzled in Sense And Sensibility.
But the heart-throb, who stars in Channel 5's opening night, was almost scared out of acting by the poisoned pen of a Scots critic.
Greg, 30, who's also the man in Emma Thompson's life, spent his student years in Edinburgh, studying architecture.
And at nights he would dabble in amateur dramatics.
He recalled: "Angus MacFadyen, who went on to play Robert the Bruce in Braveheart, was one of my chums and we did these dreadful Star Trek spoofs.
"During one Edinburgh Festival, I played the comedian Lenny Bruce.
"A critic said that I had `all the verve and wit of a mortuary attendant' and that caused me to climb up Calton Hill at midnight and scream at the universe!"
But Greg persevered and got his big break in Sense And Sensibility. He followed that with another period drama, The Moonstone, but takes a break from breeches and big hair for the one- off comedy, Hospital!
He said: "I play a sexy neurosurgeon who wants to start a new life with his fiancee on an ostrich farm in Oz.
"But Julian Clary, Nicholas Parsons, Caprice and a Fatal Attraction-type bunny boiler all conspire against him!"
Greg is glad of the chance to show his wacky side again after fearing he might end up typecast as a costume- drama cad.
He added: "I think I'm lukewarm rather than hot just now - but that's not a bad thing."
COPYRIGHT 1997 Scottish Daily Record & Sunday
SERIAL SOAP SWAPPERS; Channel hopping stars just won't die.(Features)
Sunday Mail (Glasgow, Scotland); 2/20/2000; Barr, Noreen
YOU only live twice, or, in soap land, three or four times.
For the chances are that a character who dies horribly in one series will soon be resurrected elsewhere.
Gabrielle Glaister is the latest to overhaul her image.
She was snooty Patricia Farnham in Brookside. Now she has another persona in Coronation Street, as Debs Brownlow, the working- class sister of Rovers' landlady Natalie Barnes (Denise Welsh).
As if that's not enough, along strolls David Roper, in the guise of Councillor Bob Bradshaw.
In 1994 and 1995, he was Geoff Barnes and falling for Michelle Fowler in EastEnders. Back in 1991 he was Sam Bishop in Brookside and, even further back in 1974, he was PC Sadler on Coronation Street.
And you can bet your bottom dollar that battleaxe Pat Evans in EastEnders, played by Pat St Clement since 1986, has never told hubby Roy that in 1978 she moonlighted as Home Farm's housekeeper, Mrs Eckersley, in Emmerdale.
Scot Ross Davidson is at it, too. He started in EastEnders as Andy O'Brien and was mown down by a lorry. Then he popped up in High Road as bed- hopping psycho Peter O'Dell, who committed murder and killed himself.
It didn't stop Ross coming back from the dead to join Hollyoaks as father of four Andy Morgan.
As BBC tonight celebrate 15 years of EastEnders, we have compiled a list of born-again soap stars and their multiple lives.
EASTENDERS
ROSS KEMP made female viewers swoon as Grant Mitchell from 1990 until last October. Back when he had a full head of hair, he was in Emmerdale as Dolly Skilbeck's illegitimate son, Graham Lodsworth.
Michael Melia is best known for his role as Eddie Royle, the Queen Vic landlord who lived in the Square before being murdered by evil Nick Cotton in 1991. But Michael also acted in Coronation Street for a few episodes back in 1979, as Sergeant Cummings, who struggled to control the pickets outside Mike Baldwin's factory.
CORONATION STREET
STIRLING-BORN Jaqueline Pirie joined the Street in 1998 as femme fatale Linda Sykes, who has captured Mike Baldwin's heart while she romps with his son Mark. Perhaps the locals should have been warned. Jaqueline also played man-mad Tina Dingle in Emmerdale between 1994 and 1996. The actress made her TV debut, aged 11, in Crossroads.
Linda's official man, Mike Baldwin, arrived in 1976. Actor Johnny Briggs had spent three years as taxi firm gaffer Clifford Leyton in Crossroads.
Her unofficial man, Mark, played by Paul Fox, turned up in the Street last October. Paul spent the previous two years in Emmerdale, as weedy Will Cairns.
Sue Nicholls played gad-about Audrey Roberts off and on from 1979, becoming a regular in 1985.
Earlier, Sue found fame in Crossroads, where she played waitress Marilyn Gates from 1964 to 1970 - and she even released a Top 20 single, Where Will You Be, on the back of the role.
Bryan Mosley made a one-off appearance in 1961 as Alf Roberts, returning full-time between 1968 and January 1999. Brian died in February 1999 but do you remember his earlier soap role, as Denis Rutledge in Crossroads?
BROOKSIDE
SINCE 1991, Sue Jenkins has played long-suffering Jackie Corkhill. Sue appeared as barmaid Gloria Todd in Coronation Street for four years until 1989.
Marji Campi has playedJessi Shadwick in Brookside since 1998. This is her second coming on The Close - in the late 80s, she spent two years as Betty Hunt.
Marji was also Dulcie Froggatt, Jack Duckworth's fancy woman, in Coronation Street.
Scot Gerard Kelly terrorised Brookside as extortionist gangster Callum Finnegan between 1997 and 1999. He played another baddie, Jimmy, in EastEnders for three months in 1994.
Anna Friel played Beth Jordache, who helped bury her dad under the patio, between 1993 and 1995.
She also appeared in Emmerdale in 1992 as Poppy Bruce, who had a crush on Joe Sugden, and appeared in one episode of Coronation Street in 1991 as Vicky McDonald's pal Belinda Johnson.
Alan Rothwell was drug addict Nicholas Black in 1986. From 1960, he was Coronation Street's David Barlow, who married Irma Ogden and emigrated to Australia in 1968.
The unjust jailing of George Jackson in 1994 sparked a national campaign to free him.
Actor Cliff Howells had already been a plumber in Emmerdale and in 1991 he turned up in Corrie as Terry Seymour, whose car was smashed up by a moonlighting Kevin Webster.
For a year, Judith Barker was Audrey Manners, who died of the virus that hit the close in 1995. In the 70s, she was in Corrie as Ken Barlow's second wife, Janet Reid.
Sue Johnston portrayed mum-of-four Sheila Grant between 1982 and 1992. She was also in a few 1982 episodes of Corrie as Mrs Chadwick, who abandoned Annie Walker's beloved Rover in Wigan.
Lawrence Mullin had a short stint in Brookside in 1993 as Steve Mathews. From 1976 to 1979, he played Steve Fisher, Mike Baldwin's right-hand-man in Corrie.
EMMERDALE
ROBERT BECK has only just quit his nine-month role as two-timing Gavin Ferris in Emmerdale. He had already played Peter Harrison, who was cleared of raping Diana Corkill, in Brookside for two years.
For four years, until 1998, Roberta Kerr was hard- working Jan Glover. But Roberta had a shocking past - as Wendy Crozier, whose 1989 affair with Ken Barlow broke up his third marriage to Deirdre. Earlier still, she played Sally Haynes, whose baby died in Brookside.
FAMILY AFFAIRS
ACTRESS Nicola Duffett has been fiery Cat Matthews in Family Affairs since 1998. She was also in EastEnders, between 1992 and 1995, as poor Debbie Bates, who married fashion- disaster Nigel before being killed by a car.
Since 1997, Annie Miles has starred as Maria Simons, who is so desperate for a baby she even tried to snatch one last year. From 1988 till 1991, she was Sue Sullivan from Brookside who plunged to her death trying to escape Barry Grant.
David Easter's pub-owning character, Pete Callan, is a nasty piece of work. Since joining in 1997, he has been involved in drug dealing and protection rackets. Previously he was an angel, playing Brookside's heart-throb nurse Pat Hancock for three years.
From 1997 to 1998, Ken Farrington played Jack Gates, who killed his wife and committed suicide.
Long before, as Billy Walker in Coronation Street, he had a long string of girlfriends before running off to Jersey in 1985.
For three months, Dominic Taylor was Jon Tylor, who was accused of rape and has just been dragged off to jail. He was also in EastEnders in 1998 as Cindy Beale's boyfriend, Nick Holland.
HIGH ROAD
MIKE HAYWARD was Alun Morgan for five years until the character left in disgrace in 1995 after an affair with the minister's wife.
In 1977, Hayward was in Coronation Street as the man who ran off with Ken Barlow's second wife, Janet. Last year he sneaked back into Corrie as the owner of a campsite.
COPYRIGHT 2000 Scottish Daily Record & Sunday
| i don't know |
In which year did Emmerdale Farm become Emmerdale? 1989, 1992 or 1995? | Emmerdale - Events of 1989
A conforntation with a stranger pushes Matt into taking the law into his own hands, while Dolly delivers a bombshell.
EMMERDALE (EPISODE 1405)
21/11/1989
Kim Tate makes herself comfortable at Home Farm as new lady of the manor. Chris Tate's first episode!
The new owner of Home Farm reveals himself, and Jack discovers that when Sarah says 'no', she really means 'yes'.
EMMERDALE (EPISODE 1406)
23/11/1989
A letter from Dolly's solicitor has Matt spoiling for a fight, and he's not the only one - David Hughes is no mood for explanations when he catches Peter Whiteley with Rachel.
EMMERDALE (EPISODE 1407)
28/11/1989
"I can't believe it, Rachel. I can't believe I'm listening to my little girl." Kate's in for a shock when Rachel tells her the truth about her affair.
EMMERDALE (EPISODE 1408)
30/11/1989
While Jack gets involved in some fishy business, Alan Turner thinks he's got it made - until a surprise visitor throws a spanner in the works.
EMMERDALE (EPISODE 1409)
05/12/1989
Amos tries to interest Frank Tate in showbiz. Nick tries to blackmail Turner, and Kate is waylaid by her ex-husband.
EMMERDALE (EPISODE 1410)
07/12/1989
The battle between Joe and Jack for control of the farm reaches a climax, but it's Matt who saves the day with a surprise of his own.
EMMERDALE (EPISODE 1411)
Zoe Tate's first episode
Jack's got an offer for Sarah that she can't refuse. Amos bumps into two young ladies and discovers he's lost his touch.
EMMERDALE (EPISODE 1412)
14/12/1989
Amos sets off to curry favour with the Tates and ends up being interviewed for a job! Meanwhile bad news on the farm finds Kate and Joe on a collision course.
EMMERDALE (EPISODE 1413)
19/12/1989
Frank Tate sets out to get his own back over the stolen Christmas trees. Amos's cast are revolting and Nick Bates tries hard to impress.
EMMERDALE (EPISODE 1414)
21/12/1989
"You can't tell me who I can or can't meet. I've got rights too." Joe's determined to lay the down the law over David Hughes, but Kate's got her own ideas.
EMMERDALE (EPISODE 1415)
| 1989 |
At the first British Soap Awards in 1999, which Eastenders actress won the sexiest female award? | Amos Brearly | Emmerdale Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia
Edit
Amos was Beckindale 's local gossip, he was at the centre of all the local news, in The Woolpack . In 1973 , Amos was convinced that the brewery liked couples to run pubs and Amos saw a decent woman in Annie Sugden . Annie turned Amos down gently, later he went into business with Henry Wilks and they ran the pub together until Amos retired. In 1976 The Woolpack premises had to be moved when it was found to be suffering from subsidence. In 1978 while closing up The Woolpack Amos and Mr Wilks were threatened by burglars and were locked in the cellar all night. However, later that year he was proud to give his barmaid Dolly Acaster away when she married Matt Skilbeck .
In summer 1980 , gamekeeper Seth Armstrong switched from The Malt Shovel to The Woolpack - Seth continuously irritated Amos.
Amos gained an allotment in 1980, and this was the scene of much rivalry between himself and Seth for many years. In late 1980, Amos's aunt Emily turned up for a visit. Amos was terrified of her. She fled from The Woolpack on discovering that Amos had written-up a report on UFOs spotted locally, stating that he was tampering with unknown forces. A couple of years later, she returned to announce that Amos's uncle Arthur had died. Aunt Emily thought she stood to gain from Arthur's will, but she was only bequeathed some old junk, including an elephant's foot umbrella stand.
In 1981 , Amos set up his own village newsletter - The Beckindale Bugle . It was short-lived.
In 1983 , Amos sought upward mobility by cultivating the friendship of NY Estates boss Alan Turner . He was distressed to hear Alan criticising him to a golfing pal. From then on, Amos treated Alan frostily, insisting on calling him "Mr Turner".
Amos had a brother Ezra Brearly .. He also mentioned another brother who had died young.
Amos's rivalry with Ernie Shuttleworth of The Malt Shovel public house took on a new intensity during the '80s, as each tried to outdo the other with various ventures, including happy hours, juke boxes and dominoes tournaments. In 1984 , Ernie was thrilled to get Amos a ticking off from the local police by tampering with The Woolpack clock so the pub was caught serving drinks after hours.
In 1988 , Amos seemed set to marry Gloria Pinfold , an old sweetheart of his from many years before. She was a strong-willed woman who moved into The Woolpack and interfered with Henry's book keeping and the diet of the two men, insisting that full English breakfasts were not to be eaten because of cholesterol and fat content. Finally, she had a better offer from another man and left Amos.
In the summer of 1989 , Henry got hay fever and drove Amos mad with his sneezing. Amos also discovered a crop circle at Home Farm and was convinced that aliens had landed in Beckindale . Sadly, by the time Amos took a local expert to see the fantastic spectacle, the field had been harvested.
In July 1990 , while celebrating friend Annie's 70th birthday, Amos suffered a stroke. Shortly after he decided to retire to Spain in January 1991 handing the pub over to Alan Turner, he returned to the village in October for Henry's funeral. He made a brief return in 1992 . In 1993 he returned for a few months from May to October and was present when Annie married Leonard Kempinski , whom she had met a year earlier while staying with Amos in Spain.
He made several appearances throughout 1994 , first returning for the funeral of the Plane Crash victims where he did the same reading he had done at Wilks funeral two years previously. In February he served as best man when Alan Turner married former prostitute Shirley Foster . He returned again in May for Jack and Sarah 's wedding, at the reception - held in a barn at Emmerdale Farm - he made the announcement that the residents of Beckindale had decided to rename the village Emmerdale in honour of Annie Sugden. He returns once again in December for the first anniversary of the Plane Crash.
Amos made his last visit to the village thus far, when he came home with Annie for her son Joe Sugden 's funeral. Joe had died in a car crash while staying with Amos and Annie in Spain. Amos later remarked that one night while enjoying a drink with Joe in Spain, Joe had asked Amos to make sure that if anything was to happen to him that there would be a few free drinks given in The Woolpack after the funeral. Amos thought that this request to him was strange considering that Joe was more likely to outlive him, hinting that Joe's death may not have been an accident.
Following the funeral, Annie contemplating life alone shocked Amos by proposing but Amos told her he would have to think about it and Annie, feeling embarrassed, told him to forget about it. After Amos discussed it with Alan, he proposed to Annie, 23 years after his first proposal. This time Annie accepted. Sarah then waved them off as they left Emmerdale Farm, returning to their home in Spain. Amos was never seen in the village again. Him and Annie married, away from the village, on 5th November 1995 .
Amos was not present for his stepson Jack Sugden's funeral in 2009 . As of 2013 it is not known whether Amos is still alive, though it has been implied that Annie lives alone in Spain.
Personality
"You'll know you're in the day when somebody starts running you down and Amos takes your part." - Henry Wilks
To be added.
| i don't know |
Which actress played Arwen in the trilogy of films? | Arwen | The One Wiki to Rule Them All | Fandom powered by Wikia
Voice
Character
"For I am the daughter of Elrond. I shall not go with him when he departs to the Havens: for mine is the choice of Lúthien, and as she so have I chosen, both the sweet and the bitter."
—
The Return of the King, " Many Partings "
Arwen was the Half-Elven daughter of Elrond and Celebrían . She was often called Arwen Undómiel or "Evenstar".
In marrying Aragorn II Elessar after the War of the Ring , she became Queen of the Reunited Kingdom of Arnor and Gondor , and like Beren and Lúthien before her, she united Elf and Man in peaceful love and harmony, and became mortal.
Contents
Edit
Aragorn and Arwen "plight their troth."
During Aragorn's twentieth year he met Arwen for the first time in Rivendell , where he lived under Elrond's protection. Arwen, then over 2700 years old, had recently returned to her father's home after living for a while with her grandmother Galadriel in Lórien . Aragorn fell in love with Arwen at first sight, and at first mistook her for Lúthien, thinking he had fallen into a dream.
About thirty years later, the two were reunited in Lórien, where Arwen reciprocated Aragorn's love and they "plighted their troth" (promised themselves to each other) on the mound of Cerin Amroth , choosing to become mortal and to stay in Middle-earth with Aragorn, and giving up the chance to sail over the sea and live forever in the Blessed Realm. Arwen never broke faith with Aragorn, even when he went to war. While the War in the South raged on, Arwen wove a banner for Aragorn, which would become his standard after he became king.
Aragorn, having been given Arwen's Evenstar brooch
Before taking the Paths of the Dead , Aragorn was met by a group consisting of Dúnedain , and Arwen's brothers, Elladan and Elrohir . They brought to him a banner of black cloth: a gift made by Arwen, and a sign that encouraged him to take the difficult path. [4] When the banner was unfurled at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields to reveal the emblem of Elendil in Mithril , gems , and gold , it was the first triumphant announcement of the King's return.
After the War
Edit
Arwen arrived at Minas Tirith after Aragorn had become King of Gondor and Arnor , and they married on Midsummer's Day in the year TA 3019 , after the end of the War of the Ring . She became Queen of the Reunited Kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor. After marrying Aragorn , she bestowed upon Frodo Baggins a gift: Her place on the ships to Valinor. She bore Aragorn's son, Eldarion , and several unnamed daughters, some time during the Fourth Age .
Fourth Age
Edit
Queen Arwen and King Aragorn Elessar are wed in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
In the year 121 of the Fourth Age , after Aragorn's death, Arwen died of a broken heart at Cerin Amroth in Lórien, [2] and was buried there one year after the death of Aragorn, to whom she had been wedded for 122 years. She was 2901 years old.
Lineage
Edit
Arwen was the youngest child of Elrond and Celebrían ; her elder brothers were the twins Elladan and Elrohir . Through her father, she was the granddaughter of Eärendil the Mariner (the second of the Half-Elven ), great-granddaughter of Tuor of Gondolin , and therefore a direct descendant of the ancient House of Hador . Arwen was also a descendant of King Turgon of the Ñoldor through her great-grandmother, Idril . Through her mother, she was the granddaughter of Lady Galadriel and the great-granddaughter of Finarfin . Éomer of Rohan said that the Lady Arwen was more fair than the Lady Galadriel of Lórien , but Gimli son of Glóin thought differently. Through both of her parents Arwen was a direct descendant of the ancient Elven House of Finwë . Furthermore, Arwen was a descendant of Beren and Lúthien Tinúviel, whose story resembled hers. Indeed, Arwen was held to be the reappearance in likeness of her ancestress Lúthien, fairest of all the Elves , who was called Nightingale (Tinúviel).
Lord Elrond learns of Arwen's choice to stay a mortal.
Arwen was a very distant relative of her husband Aragorn . Aragorn's ancestor, Elros Tar-Minyatur, the first King of Númenor , was her father Elrond's brother, who chose to live as a man rather than one of the Eldar . This means that Aragorn also has very distant Elvish ancestry. Elros died in SA 442 , some 3240 years before Arwen was born.
Arwen eventually became Queen of the Reunited Kingdom of Arnor and Gondor when she married Aragorn, who was of the line of the Kings of Arnor .
After the War of the Ring ended, Arwen and Aragorn produced the future heir of the throne, Eldarion .
By Arwen and Aragorn's marriage, the long-sundered lines of the Half-elven were joined. Their union also served to unite and preserve the bloodlines of the Three Kings of the High Elves ( Ingwë , Finwë , and the brothers Olwë and Elwë ) as well as the only line with Maiarin blood through Arwen's great-great-great grandmother, Melian , Queen of Doriath , and also on Aragorn's side, through the line of kings of Arnor and Númenor to Elros, Elrond's brother, whose great-great-grandmother was also Melian.
But Arwen went forth from the House, and the light of her eyes was quenched, and it seemed to her people that she had become cold and grey as nightfall in winter that comes without a star. Then she said farewell to Eldarion, and to her daughters, and to all whom she had loved; and she went out from the city of Minas Tirith and passed away to the land of Lórien, and dwelt there alone under the fading trees until winter came. Galadriel had passed away and Celeborn was also gone, and the land was silent.
There at last when the mallorn-leaves were falling, but spring had not yet come, she laid herself to rest upon Cerin Amroth; and there is her green grave , until the world is changed, and all the days of her life are utterly forgotten by men that come after, and elanor and niphredil bloom no more east of the Sea.
― The Lord of the Rings , Appendix A , "The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen"
Etymology
The name Arwen means "Noble Maiden", from the Sindarin word ar(a) ("royal, noble") and wen ("maiden"). Her epessë Undómiel means "Evenstar", from the Quenya Undómë ("evening twilight") and el ("star"). [5]
Age
Edit
Arwen was born in the year 241 of the Third Age, and her age was 2710 years when she met Aragorn in TA 2951 . Thus, she was 2690 years older than Aragorn, who was born on March 1st TA 2931 . Her age was 2777 or 2776 at the time of the Council of Elrond. She died at the age of 2901 in SR 1541 ( FO 121 ).
Character
Edit
Arwen is famed as the most beautiful of all living beings. Her hair is as dark as a river at night, her eyes of an unearthly blue.
In the middle of the table, against the woven cloths upon the wall, there was a chair under a canopy, and there sat a lady fair to look upon, and so like was she in form of womanhood to Elrond that Frodo guessed that she was one of his close kindred. Young she was and yet not so. The braids of her dark hair were touched by no frost, her white arms and clear face were flawless and smooth, and the light of stars was in her bright eyes, grey as a cloudless night; yet queenly she looked, and thought and knowledge were in her glance, as of one who has known many things that the years bring.
Arwen was described to be the most beautiful of the last generation of High Elves in Middle-Earth, and was even said to bear a remarkable resemblance to her ancestress, Lúthien .
Line of the Half-elven
—Arwen to Aragorn in The Fellowship of the Ring (film)
Arwen takes up the task of taking Frodo to Rivendell.
Arwen Undomiel was portrayed in The Fellowship of the Ring [6] , The Two Towers [7] , and The Return of the King by the American actress Liv Tyler . [8] In the Fellowship of the Ring film, it was she who met Frodo at the ford instead of Glorfindel and wielding the sword Hadhafang , which does not appear in the books.
She was not mentioned or featured in Ralph Bakshi 's The Lord of the Rings .
Behind the Scenes
Edit
Arwen at Helm's Deep.
In The Two Towers movie by Peter Jackson , Arwen was originally supposed to appear with the host of Elves and fight at Helm's Deep alongside her lover, Aragorn . This was later cut from the film.
Other appearances
| Liv Tyler |
At which English university was J. R. R. Tolkein a professor when he wrote The Lord Of The Rings? | 10 Things You Didn't Know About 'The Lord of the Rings' Movies
10 Things You Didn't Know About 'The Lord of the Rings' Movies
September 19, 2012 @ 1:04 PM
Warner Bros.
It’s “Tolkien Week,” which means people all around the world are celebrating that literary genius who gave us ‘ The Hobbit ’ and ‘ The Lord of the Rings ’ book series, and therefore the corresponding movie adaptations. Aside from that, though, it’s the 75th anniversary of ‘The Hobbit’s’ original date of publication, and September 22 is the annual “Hobbit Day.” So, there’s a lot of J.R.R. Tolkien action to be had.
Peter Jackson already played his part for the special occasion by revealing an all-new trailer for ‘ The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey .' While we’re waiting patiently for 'The Hobbit' to hit theaters on December 14 and for "Hobbit Day" to officially kick off, we’re celebrating Tolkien Week in our own way by looking back at ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and revealing a few facts you probably didn’t know about Jackson’s movie trilogy and Tolkien himself.
1
Consider a ‘LOTR’ Starring The Beatles With Stanley Kubrick Directing
Fan Art by Dean Reeves
An entire major movie franchise with The Beatles in the lead roles? Sounds like a made-for-TV movie along the lines of ‘KISS Saves Christmas,’ doesn’t it?
1969 was the year the rights to ‘The Lord of the Rings’ were acquired by United Artists, of whose music label worked with The Beatles. Once the iconic band heard the news, they immediately wanted a part of it and decided Stanley Kubrick, with his past work ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ as an example, was the perfect guy to helm a movie adaptation. If all had gone as planned, John Lennon would have played Gollum, Paul McCartney would have been Frodo, Ringo Starr would have been Sam and George Harrison would have been Gandalf. Too bad (or maybe it’s a good thing) the director didn’t feel the same way -– he told Lennon the book was unfilmable, referring to the exhausting task of condensing all that material for the screen.
2
The Cast That Could Have Been
Sony Pictures/Getty Images/Warner Bros.
If things had gone differently for ‘The Lord of the Rings’ casting, we would have had an extremely different “Fellowship of the Ring.” For one, Sean Connery was supposed to play Gandalf, but he turned down the role for a couple reasons. The first, which is the most understandable of the two, was the lengthy filming time frame of 18 months; but it’s his second reason that’ll make you laugh –- “I didn’t understand the script.”
Christopher Lee, the man who became Saruman the White, also wanted the part of Gandalf and in fact states in the commentary that it was a “decades-long dream” of his to play the wizard. If it wasn’t for the physical requirements of the role -– horseback riding, the wizard fight scene, etc. –- he might’ve won it, but his self-proclaimed age limitations ultimately made him a better fit for Saruman.
Stuart Townsend was another would-be ‘Lord of the Rings’ star, but his original role of Aragorn was taken away from him by Peter Jackson himself after realizing literally one day into shooting that Townsend was too young and too ill-equipped as a physical actor for the part. Viggo Mortensen wasn’t even sure he could handle the part, being that he never read the books or met Jackson, but ultimately accepted after getting a needed push from his son Henry.
3
Cast Bonding Exercises
Warner Bros.
Due to the extreme time length needed for filming all three movies at once, the cast had to find some ways to hang out, which often meant listening to hip-hop and playing pranks on each other. Ironically, though, none of this horse play really caused any trouble with their actual work, but the one thing that did was surfing. The nine black riders were known around the set for their love of surfing and each had their own black wetsuit. When Mortensen tried it, though, he got hit in the face with his surfboard, which was why you saw so many profile shots of him during the Mines of Moria/Balin's Tomb scene. If the camera had shot him at any other angle, you would've seen his swollen face and black eye. "Viggo, being the cool guy that he is, said that he fell down the stairs or trod on a frog or something like that and we got away with it," said his partner in crime Dominic Monaghan (Merry), citing the additional fact that all the actors were barred from participating in active sports in the likely event an injury should occur.
4
The Injuries Not Seen on the Big Screen
Warner Bros.
Speaking of injuries, Mortensen's previously mentioned surfing accident was not his only one. The actor also broke his toe while filming the scene where he stumbles on the Uruk-hai massacre and kicks the helmet in anger. (Note: that's why he falls to his knees and screams.) He had to run with the injury in the early scenes of 'The Two Towers,' and later, in an unrelated moment, Mortensen almost drowned during the scene where he floats down the river after getting pushed off a ledge during the Warg attack. Oh yeah, and he lost a tooth during one of the battle scenes. Speaking to the latter, he said, "There were a lot of people who got hurt worse than me. We all had pulled muscles and twisted this and that, and broken toes." He's referring in part to Orlando Bloom's fall off his horse that cracked his rib, a Gimli size double's dislocated shoulder, and the real Gimli's near drowning experience after his boat capsized during the canoe scene in 'Fellowship.'
5
The Actors You Didn’t Know About
Warner Bros.
After the lead cast members of ‘The Lord of the Rings’ were cast, they turned into immediate superstars following the premiere of the first film and will forever be linked to their roles in the film franchise. But there were some other not-so-familiar faces you’ll be interested to know had their own parts to play.
We mentioned earlier about Aragorn’s son in real life, Henry, getting his dad to accept the role, but did you also know that Henry himself appears in the movie? The first orc that Aragorn kills at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields in ‘The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King’ was played by Mortensen Jr., who (as a side note) was also tasked with researching when Thorin’s map appears in ‘The Hobbit’ so as to find a plausible way to have it appear in ‘LOTR’). Then there’s that cloaked ringwraith who demands to know where “Shire… Baggins” is in the first film. We’ll give you a hint -– the same guy who voiced that line had another major, not-so-“precious”-looking part. Yup, Gollum (aka Andy Serkis) lent his voice for that five-second-ish moment.
Another father-son duo that made a really minor cameo in the movies was Peter Jackson and his son Billy. The director appeared in the first movie as a rain-soaked, shadowed man in Bree chewing a carrot. He was originally supposed to smoke a pipe, but it made him sick so he switched to the veggie. He then appears down the road in ‘The Two Towers’ as a Helm’s Deep soldier chucking a spear at an orc. Billy, on the other hand, was one of the little hobbit kids listening intently to Bilbo’s story during the birthday party scene at the beginning of ‘Fellowship.’ He was the only one of the children who didn’t have to wear a wig for the scene because he, funny enough, had “ perfect hobbit hair .”
6
%22On Location%22 Is an Understatement
Warner Bros.
Most semi-interested fans know that all three ‘Lord of the Rings’ movies were filmed at the same time over an 18-month time span, but as far as where they were filmed, New Zealand is a just a generalization. More than 350 sets were utilized for the over 100 different shooting sites, which meant bad news for one cast member in particular. As far as getting to these locations, the cast and crew were transported by helicopter, and our buddy Boromir (played by Sean Bean) didn’t like flying (and probably still doesn’t). It was after shooting the scene where he tries to take the ring from Frodo in ‘Fellowship’ that pushed him over the edge, and from then on he refused to fly in the helicopter. So to get to the remote locations, he sometimes had to climb uphill for miles at a time in full Boromir attire. The only other major snag was shooting outside the Black Gate of Mordor, of which the area in real life was the site of a military testing ground and had to be cleared of unexploded ammo.
Other sets weren’t so difficult to film, fortunately. Fangorn, for example, was created through a combination of miniature pieces, CGI and set designs. Then there was Osgiliath, which was only 25-by-30-feet wide in real life. The majority of it was made of polystyrene and was so lightweight that the entire thing blew away at one time due to high winds.
7
Hobbit Feet Were Bigger Than You Think
‘The Lord of the Rings’ trilogy earned a slew of awards for directing, effects, music and, perhaps most impressive of all, costume and makeup. With the help of Weta Workshop, the costume and makeup teams produced 1,000 full suits of armor (not even including the full number of non-armored costumes) and 10,000 facial prosthetics. What landed 'The Lord of the Rings' in the Guinness Book of World Records, however, was the record number of 1,800 hobbit feet, most of which went to the main actors. The material was so flimsy that once the players took them off their feet, the fake moldings fell apart, hence the high volume of hairy feet.
8
Breaking Down Elvish
Warner Bros.
Liv Tyler (aka Arwen) pointed out many times that the majority of her dialogue in the ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy was in Elvish, referencing the daunting task of learning a made-up language. Fortunately, she had an Elvish coach by her side to help walk her through the pronunciation, and for all those lines the two collectively couldn’t decipher, an expert was stationed in the US for translating duties.
It was no trouble for Tolkien when he first made it up, though, considering the process of creating new languages was a hobby of his. Some of his poems and songs were even written in thought-up and universally extinct languages. Pretty much all the ones he wrote, including Elvish, were generated by the basic principles and dialects of existing languages. The Elvish you hear in ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and read in the books, for example, is actually two dialects –- Sandarin, which most of the characters speak, and Quenya. Christopher Lee broke it down in an interview a while back, saying, “Sindarin is, basically, Welsh” and “Quenya is Finnish” … more or less.
9
All About Gollum
Warner Bros.
It's no secret that the character of Gollum was nearly all CGI-ed with his movements based off of Andy Serkis, but we say "nearly" because there were certain moments where parts of the actor stuck out. Most of the filming was done with Serkis in a black bodysuit to record his facial expressions and body motions, which were then digitally copied onto the screen. Other times, though, he was filmed in the scene opposite his castmates, and his appearance was then digitally switched out for the computer-generated version. It's with this latter technique that Serkis' actual drool was able to appear in the movie.
You might've noticed that the original image of Gollum in the first film where he's stalking the "Fellowship" was not how he ended up looking later on. That's because after the pre-corrupted scene of Smeagol in 'Return of the King' (portrayed by the non-computerized Serkis) was filmed, the crew wanted to redesign his image into the monstrous version we all know and love, so as to make him look more like his hobbit self.
10
Don’t Think J.R.R. Tolkien Would’ve Liked the ‘LOTR’ Franchise Much
Picture Post
It’s funny to think how many people are at the level of ‘Lord of the Rings’ fandom where they learn to read and speak Elvish, and dress up in Middle Earth garb on a regular basis, especially when Tolkien himself didn’t hold his fantasy works on the same level as his other intellectual property. More important to him were his criticisms of ‘Beowulf’ and translation of ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.’ In fact, he was somewhat shocked to realize the fan base springing up as a result of ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings.’ As for the fans themselves, he didn’t care for them much, thinking them incapable of truly grasping what his books were really about. Sorry, guys.
| i don't know |
How many Black Riders are there? 3, 7, 5 or 9? | Revelation Road: The Black Rider (2014) - IMDb
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Revelation Road: The Black Rider ( 2014 )
The Black Rider: Revelation Road (original title)
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The Rapture has come and gone. In it's wake, a wasteland filled with desperate bandits. Josh McManus, a drifter with a knack for fighting, must find the mysterious "Shepherd" - a dangerous mission that will put his faith to the test.
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Storyline
The rapture has come and gone! In this third installment of the Revelation Road saga, the beleaguered mayor sends Josh McManus on a vital mission to find the mysterious and elusive "Shepherd." With the aid of another survivor, can Josh find the man - and determine if he's a prophet or a pariah? Written by Anonymous
7 October 2014 (USA) See more »
Also Known As:
Revelation Road: The Black Rider See more »
Company Credits
Did You Know?
Trivia
Filmed in Happy, Texas located in the Texas panhandle 45 miles south of Amarillo, Texas. See more »
Quotes
Honcho : Where I'm from, you learn straight off you can't make no money off of a dead man.
Honcho's Man : Hey, one of these days you're gonna tell me where you're from, right?
(Portland, OR, USA) – See all my reviews
"Black Rider: Revelation Road" is to the Mad Max series what "Christian Rock" is to Rock and Roll. If you're feeling generous (or desperate) you might say it was better than nothing. On the down side, there is way more religious talk than you're going to want to hear unless you're already an Xtian believer. The plot is repetitive, and ultimately nonsensical, even when the Xtian prophetic angle is taken into account. The soundtrack is bombastic crap that is absolutely awful. On the plus side, there are a few halfway decent fight scenes and some of the actors are competent, if not exactly inspired. David A.R. White, who plays the "Black Rider", can actually talk almost as well as he can kick so that's something I suppose.
Bottom line, this movie is not worth wasting time on. Rating 3/10
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What was the name of Gollum before he committed murder to obtain the ring? | scripture
scripture
View all books of the Bible
CHAPTER 6 *
The First Six Seals. 1 * Then I watched while the Lamb broke open the first of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures cry out in a voice like thunder, “Come forward.” 2I looked, and there was a white horse, and its rider had a bow. * He was given a crown, and he rode forth victorious to further his victories. a
12 * Then I watched while he broke open the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; the sun turned as black as dark sackcloth * and the whole moon became like blood. e 13The stars in the sky fell to the earth like unripe figs * shaken loose from the tree in a strong wind. 14Then the sky was divided * like a torn scroll curling up, and every mountain and island was moved from its place. f 15The kings of the earth, the nobles, * the military officers, the rich, the powerful, and every slave and free person hid themselves in caves and among mountain crags. 16They cried out to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, g 17because the great day of their * wrath has come and who can withstand it?”
* [ 6:1 – 16:21 ] A series of seven disasters now begins as each seal is broken ( Rev 6:1 – 8:1 ), followed by a similar series as seven trumpets sound ( Rev 8:2 – 11:19 ) and as seven angels pour bowls on the earth causing plagues ( Rev 15:1 – 16:21 ). These gloomy sequences are interrupted by longer or shorter scenes suggesting the triumph of God and his witnesses (e.g., Rev 7 ; 10 ; 11 ; 12 ; 13 ; 14 ).
* [ 6:1 – 17 ] This chapter provides a symbolic description of the contents of the sealed scroll. The breaking of the first four seals reveals four riders. The first rider (of a white horse) is a conquering power ( Rev 6:1 – 2 ), the second (red horse) a symbol of bloody war ( Rev 6:3 – 4 ), the third (black horse) a symbol of famine ( Rev 6:5 – 6 ), the fourth (pale green horse) a symbol of Death himself, accompanied by Hades (the netherworld) as his page ( Rev 6:7 – 8 ). Rev 6:8b summarizes the role of all four riders. The breaking of the fifth seal reveals Christian martyrs in an attitude of sacrifice as blood poured out at the foot of an altar begging God for vindication, which will come only when their quota is filled; but they are given a white robe symbolic of victory ( Rev 6:9 – 11 ). The breaking of the sixth seal reveals typical apocalyptic signs in the sky and the sheer terror of all people at the imminent divine judgment ( Rev 6:12 – 17 ).
* [ 6:1 – 8 ] The imagery is adapted from Zec 1:8 – 10 ; 6:1 – 8 .
* [ 6:2 ] White horse,bow: this may perhaps allude specifically to the Parthians on the eastern border of the Roman empire. Expert in the use of the bow, they constantly harassed the Romans and won a major victory in A.D. 62; see note on Rev 9:13 – 21 . But the Old Testament imagery typifies the history of oppression of God’s people at all times.
* [ 6:4 ] Huge sword: this is a symbol of war and violence; cf. Ez 21:14 – 17 .
* [ 6:5 ] Black horse: this is a symbol of famine, the usual accompaniment of war in antiquity; cf. Lv 26:26 ; Ez 4:12 – 13 . The scale is a symbol of shortage of food with a corresponding rise in price.
* [ 6:6 ] A day’s pay: literally, “a denarius,” a Roman silver coin that constitutes a day’s wage in Mt 20:2 . Because of the famine, food was rationed and sold at an exorbitant price. A liter of flour was considered a day’s ration in the Greek historians Herodotus and Diogenes Laertius. Barley: food of the poor ( Jn 6:9 , 13 ; cf. 2 Kgs 7:1 , 16 , 18 ); it was also used to feed animals; cf. 1 Kgs 5:8 . Do not damage: the olive and the vine are to be used more sparingly in time of famine.
* [ 6:8 ] Pale green: symbol of death and decay; cf. Ez 14:21 .
* [ 6:9 ] The altar: this altar corresponds to the altar of holocausts in the temple in Jerusalem; see also Rev 11:1 . Because of the witness,word of God: literally, “because of the word of God and the witness they had borne.”
* [ 6:10 ] Holy and true master: Old Testament usage as well as the context indicates that this is addressed to God rather than to Christ.
* [ 6:12 – 14 ] Symbolic rather than literal description of the cosmic upheavals attending the day of the Lord when the martyrs’ prayer for vindication ( Rev 6:10 ) would be answered; cf. Am 8:8 – 9 ; Is 34:4 ; 50:3 ; Jl 2:10 ; 3:3 – 4 ; Mt 24:4 – 36 ; Mk 13:5 – 37 ; Lk 21:8 – 36 .
* [ 6:12 ] Dark sackcloth: for mourning, sackcloth was made from the skin of a black goat.
* [ 6:13 ] Unripe figs: literally, “summer (or winter) fruit.”
* [ 6:14 ] Was divided: literally, “was split,” like a broken papyrus roll torn in two, each half then curling up to form a roll on either side.
* [ 6:15 ] Nobles: literally, “courtiers,” “grandees.” Military officers: literally, “commanders of 1,000 men,” used in Josephus and other Greek authors as the equivalent of the Roman tribunus militum. The listing of various ranks of society represents the universality of terror at the impending doom.
* [ 6:17 ] Their: this reading is attested in the best manuscripts, but the vast majority read “his” in reference to the wrath of the Lamb in the preceding verse.
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What is Frodo's second name? | Frodo Baggins | The One Wiki to Rule Them All | Fandom powered by Wikia
Childhood
Bilbo talking to Frodo before he goes off to meet with Gandalf the Grey
Much of Frodo's youth was spent at Brandy Hall in Buckland , the ancestral home of the Brandybuck family, including his mother ( Primula Brandybuck ). Frodo was known as something of a rascal, befriending Meriadoc (Merry) Brandybuck and Peregrin (Pippin) Took and causing trouble wherever they went. They would often steal mushrooms from Farmer Maggot 's farm Bamfurlong .
In TA 2980 , when Frodo was only 12 years old, his parents drowned in a boating accident on the Brandywine River . An only child, Frodo stayed in Brandy Hall until his 99-year-old "uncle" Bilbo Baggins adopted him in TA 2989 . Bilbo took Frodo to live with him in his home at Bag End and made him his heir.
Frodo with Bilbo during his 111th birthday
The two grew very close in the following years; Frodo learned much of the Elvish language during his time with Bilbo, as well as much of the lore of Middle-earth. The two shared the same birthday, September 22 by Shire Reckoning (around September 12–14 of our calendar), [1] and a party of special magnificence was held at the beginning of The Fellowship of the Ring when Frodo came of age of thirty-three and Bilbo hit the peculiar year of 111.
Bilbo gave a memorable Birthday Speech before playing a joke on his fellow hobbits by using the One Ring to disappear, at which Gandalf quickly reacted and used his staff to create a blinding flash where Bilbo had been standing. The hobbits at the Party were left confused and disgruntled, and Bilbo was never again seen in the Shire.
Before departing for his journey to Rivendell, Bilbo had a long conversation with Gandalf, who finally persuaded him to voluntarily surrender the One Ring. Bilbo left it on the fireplace mantel with a note for Frodo, who would now become the next Ring-bearer.
Coming of Age and Quest Beginning
Gandalf telling Frodo the story about the One Ring
After the party finished, Frodo returned home and discovered that he was now the master of Bag End and the recipient of Bilbo's magic ring. Gandalf , ever more curious about the ring's origin, power, and purpose (but not yet positive it was the One Ring), advised the young hobbit against the using the ring. For the next seventeen years, Frodo complied with the wizard 's request and hid the Ring in a safe place. However, on April 12 , 3018 , Gandalf returned to Bag End and warned Frodo that the Ring was actually the One Ring, which the evil lord Sauron needed to rule over Middle-earth. Realizing that Sauron would be looking for the Ring, Gandalf advised the Hobbit to secretly follow Bilbo's journey to Rivendell.
After Frodo's discussion with Gandalf, a rumor started that he was running out of money. This rumor, although not begun by Frodo, was encouraged by him. Merry helped Frodo to purchase a small house at Crickhollow . With the exception of his gardener Sam Gamgee , who had agreed to accompany him to Rivendell , Frodo told the other Hobbits of the Shire that he intended to move to Buckland . He sold his home to the Sackville-Baggins , and, on the September 23, 3018, the day after his fiftieth birthday, Frodo left from Bag End, taking with him Sam and Pippin. They left in the early morning for Bree , and just in time, as Sauron's most powerful servants, the nine Nazgûl , had entered the Shire dressed as Black riders searching for a hobbit with the name of Baggins.
To Bree
Frodo was unable to find much information about his pursuers from his conversations with the High Elves and Farmer Maggot , but what they were told was less than encouraging. When Frodo arrived at Buckland, where Merry was waiting, he found that Merry and Pippin already knew about Frodo's "secret" journey. Frodo was left with no alternative but to bring the two youngsters with him. They cut through the Old Forest and the Barrow-downs in hopes of losing the Black Riders, which did succeed. They met other troubles in those places though, at the hands of Old Man Willow and the Barrow-Wights , but were rescued twice by Tom Bombadil , a mysterious being who dwelled in a glade in the middle of the Old Forest.
Strider
Frodo meeting Strider in The Prancing Pony
In Bree, the hobbits stayed at The Prancing Pony , an old inn. Frodo went by the name of Mr. Underhill , attempting to raise as little suspicion as possible. When he noticed a mysteriously cloaked Man sitting in the shadows and smoking a long-stemmed pipe, Frodo asked the innkeeper, Barliman Butterbur , who the man was. The innkeeper referred to the man, a Ranger , as Strider .
That night, black riders arrived in Bree and attacked the inn in search of Frodo and the One Ring, but Strider had managed to hide the Hobbits from them in time. Having gained their trust, Strider introduced himself as Aragorn to Frodo and the others, to whom he also revealed the backstory of the black riders, also called Nazgûl or Ringwraiths . With a pony named Bill that the Hobbits had acquired at Bree, Strider led Frodo and his companions into the Wild. Aragorn would be their guide to Rivendell, and he would lead them through the Midgewater Marshes and to the top of Weathertop .
Weathertop
Frodo is stabbed by the Witch-King 's Morgul-blade
On the night of October the sixth, the Hobbits were attacked by five of the nine Ringwraiths at the hill of Weathertop . In the presence of the Nazgûl, Frodo made the mistake of putting on the Ring. He was able to resist their attempt to take him by drawing his sword and invoking the name of one of the Valar , Elbereth Gilthoniel . Unfortunately, the leader of the Nazgûl, the Witch-king of Angmar , stabbed Frodo in the shoulder (he would have stabbed his heart) with a Morgul-blade . If it had caught him in the heart, Frodo would have become like the Nazgûl, only weaker and under their control. The Ringwraiths were driven away by the appearance of Aragorn and his martial skill; also because he had torches, one of their few weaknesses.
Though Aragorn was a skilled healer, he could not heal Frodo's wound. A fragment of the Ringwraith's blade remained in Frodo's flesh, where it continued to move towards his heart. Near death (or worse), Frodo was rescued by Glorfindel , an Elf-lord, who put the injured Hobbit upon his horse, named Asfaloth . They were pursued by the Nazgûl as Asfaloth carried Frodo to the Ford of Bruinen , at the entrance to the valley of Rivendell . Once they had crossed the River Bruinen , Frodo turned and saw the Nine Ringwraiths on the other side. They ordered him to give up the Ring, but Frodo refused.
The Hobbits reuniting in Rivendell
Subsequently, the Ringwraiths were washed away in a flood called up by Elrond , the leader of Rivendell. He was healed in Rivendell by Elrond, although both of them knew that the wound would never fully heal, as it was as spiritual as it was physical. On the 24th of October 3018, Frodo awoke in Rivendell and was reunited with Bilbo, Gandalf, Aragorn, Sam, Merry, and Pippin. Although Elrond had healed his wound, it continued to bother him for as long as he lived in Middle-earth .
Quest of the Ring
Council of Elrond
Frodo placing the One Ring before the Council of Elrond
After his healing, Frodo was summoned to a great Council that Elrond had organized. Representatives of all the Free Peoples of Middle-earth discussed the history of the Rings of Power and decided that the One Ring must be destroyed. As the ring was shown and tempers flared, argument broke out as to who should carry the Ring on this mission , until Frodo bravely volunteered to take the Ring to Mordor and cast it into the fires of Mount Doom . A member of each of the Free Peoples offered to join Frodo in his quest, thus forming the Fellowship of the Ring .
The Fellowship consisted of Frodo, Samwise, Merry, Pippin, Aragorn, Gandalf, Boromir of Gondor , Legolas of the Woodland Realm , and Gimli of the Dwarves . Before leaving Rivendell , Bilbo gave Frodo his dwarf-made coat of mithril mail and his elven blade Sting . The mithril coat had been given to Bilbo by Thorin after the events of The Hobbit , and Sting had been taken by Bilbo from the den of a troll. On December 25 , the Fellowship of the Ring departed from Rivendell and headed south.
Moria
The Hobbits of the Fellowship of the Ring prepare to battle against goblins in Moria
On January 11 , 3019 , the Fellowship attempted to cross the Misty Mountains (specifically the Pass of Caradhras ), but were unable to due to a snowstorm. They instead traveled through the underground city of Moria at the urging of Gimli.
Moria (also named Khazad-dum), was the most ancient and grand of Dwarven cities, but was deserted when the dwarves uncovered a Balrog , known only as Durin's Bane , beneath the city, and had been defeated by legions of goblins. When they entered the Chamber of Mazarbul , the Fellowship was attacked by Orcs and a cave-troll . Frodo helped to defeat the troll before he was stabbed by an orc captain, his mithril shirt saving him from a deadly blow. The Fellowship ran through Moria to the Bridge of Khazad-dum , where Gandalf fell while confronting Durin's Bane. Once outside Moria, while the Fellowship was grieving, Gimli took Frodo and Sam to look upon the Mirrormere , even in their great hurry.
Lothlórien
Frodo meeting with Galadriel
Deeply grieved by their loss, the Fellowship journeyed to the Elven kingdom of Lothlórien , where they met the Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn . Galadriel showed Frodo a vision of the future in her Mirror . Frodo offered her the One Ring, but she resisted the temptation to take it, passing the test that was laid before her, and accepting the diminishing of the power of the elves. Before the Fellowship departed from Lothlórien, Galadriel gave each member a gift. To Frodo, she gave a phial with the light of the star Eärendil captured inside; this gift would prove hugely important later on in the quest. They were also provided with elven way-bread , other supplies, and ships for their voyage down the Anduin River.
The Breaking of the Fellowship
Frodo puts on the One Ring to hide from Boromir
The Fellowship continued their journey south to Amon Hen . There, Boromir , a Man of Gondor and a member of the Fellowship, attempted to convince Frodo to bring the Ring to Minas Tirith and regroup from there. When the hobbit asked for an hour alone to consider his options, Boromir followed him. Seeing that Frodo did not intend to take the suggested course of action, Boromir tried to take the Ring from him by force.
Frodo put on the Ring and escaped to the Seat of Seeing , where he watched as war brewed across Middle-Earth and the Eye of Sauron searching for him as he traveled.
Frodo and Sam journey towards Mordor
Taking off the Ring, he decided to take the item to Mordor alone, without telling the other members of the Fellowship. However, he was joined by his friend Samwise Gamgee, who felt it was necessary that he should protect and guide Frodo. Frodo gave in to Sam's protests, and although reluctant to lead anyone else to his fate, was glad to have Sam's company.
The two hobbits continued toward Mordor, dividing the Fellowship. Here Boromir was killed by uruk-archers while defending Merry and Pippin; the two young hobbits were then captured by Uruk-hai , and were to be taken to Isengard . Instead of following Samwise and Frodo to Mordor, the Three Hunters decided it more important to rescue Merry and Pippin from their captors. The breaking of the Fellowship was now complete.
Emyn Muil
After leaving what remained of the Fellowship at Amon Hen , Frodo and Sam tried to navigate through the winding paths of the Emyn Muil . After getting lost several times, they were found by Gollum , who at first tried to take the One Ring , but was captured by Sam (with Frodo's help) and tied up with the elven rope. Frodo, now pitying the creature, decided not to slay Gollum, but forced him to swear an oath of servitude to the master of the precious. Gollum then led them out of the maze and into the Dead Marshes .
The Dead Marshes
Frodo in the Dead Marshes
The Dead Marshes followed the razor-sharp rocks of Emyn Muil, and were just as disorienting, if not more so. There was thought to be no route through the marshes, as orcs marched for miles around, although Gollum had secretly discovered a path when out on one of his many errands. He led Frodo and Sam on a safe pathway through the marshes, warning them not to follow what seemed like small torches in the water.
Ithilien
Gollum led the two Hobbits to the Black Gate of Mordor , as Frodo had desired, but stopped the Hobbits from passing its doors, as the danger was too great. He then explained about a secret way into Mordor, 'Up the stairs and through the tunnel'. The Hobbits once again found themselves being led by Gollum . After venturing into Ithilien , and witnessing a skirmish between a company of warriors from Haradrim (along with Oliphaunts ) and rangers from Gondor, they were apprehended by the ranger's captain, Faramir . When the skirmish had ended, Faramir blindfolded the ring-bearer and his companions and led them to Henneth Annûn , the Window on the West. Upon much interrogation, Samwise foolishly misspoke, and gave away that Frodo was indeed carrying the One Ring. Realizing the importance of the quest, Faramir proved his quality, unlike his brother, Boromir, and let the ring-bearer go free. Later, Gollum was captured in the Forbidden Pool and forcibly taken into the hidden lair. Frodo begged for his safety, and he was not killed, although the rift between master and servant had once again begun to open.
Minas Morgul and Shelob's Lair
Shelob following Frodo
Gollum led the Hobbits past the lair of the Witch-King of Angmar , Minas Morgul , and up the stairs into 'The Tunnel'. When they arrived at the top though, they were abandoned by Gollum . They cautiously travelled through the tunnel, and managed to get to the end only to find their way barred by Shelob 's great web. Whilst attempting to cut through the webbing, Frodo bravely stood up to Shelob and forced her back further into the tunnels giving him and Sam time enough to hack through the threads and escape. Upon escaping the tunnels, Frodo thought himself safe; however, Shelob, through one of her many tunnels, managed to sneak out and jab him with her stinger. As he was being encased in Shelob's webbing, Samwise was able to draw her into single combat wherein he, using Sting and the Phial of Galadriel , was able to mortally wound her and drive her back into her caves. Sam took the Ring from around Frodo's neck upon hearing Orcish voices, and hid behind some nearby rocks. He overheard the orcs speaking of Frodo, and Sam realized that his master was not dead, but merely paralyzed. Frodo was then taken to the tower of Cirith Ungol to await further torture and questioning.
Cirith Ungol
Frodo was taken to the utmost top of Cirith Ungol and imprisoned. He was stripped of all his clothes and all the things he carried. Squabbling over his mithril vest , fighting broke out amongst the two lead orcs and their battalions, killing almost all the orcs and Uruk-hai in the tower. Sam arrived at the gate of Cirith Ungol, only to find his way blocked by the Two Watchers ; he eventually overcame them, journeyed to the tower where Frodo was held, and rescued his master. They fled the tower, having to pass the Watchers again (although this time destroying them), and entered Mordor.
Mordor and Mount Doom
Frodo and Sam crawled onward through the empty plains of Mordor , as the orcs had been sent to the Black Gate to stop the Men of the West's army, and, after falling in and out of a company of Orcs, started to climb Mount Doom . They journeyed on for many days with hardly any food or water, and Frodo became progressively weaker as the Ring's power over him grew the closer they came to Orodruin. Frodo was eventually unable to go on, and Sam was forced to carry him a fair distance while his master rested upon his back. It was then that Gollum decided to reappear, and after a brief struggle, Sam cut Gollum in the stomach, and Frodo fled up the mountain.
Sam and Frodo on top of Mount Doom
Frodo missing a finger
Inside the Crack of Doom, Frodo finally had the chance to destroy the ring, and rid himself of his burden, but the power of the ring was at its strongest, due to the proximity of the cracks. It was here that Frodo finally yielded to the temptation and power of the ring. Sam yelled for Frodo to destroy the Ring, but Frodo was overcome by its power and claimed the Ring for himself. Gollum attacked Sam, who fell and hit his head on a rock, temporarily knocking him unconscious. When he came to he saw Gollum fighting with an unseen foe (Frodo, having put on the Ring). Then Gollum bit off Frodo's finger, Ring and all, and was reunited with his treasure for a short time, until dancing with joy he toppled off the brink and fell into the depths, destroying himself and the One Ring .
The two hobbits tried to escape as the volcano erupted. Just as it looked as though they were doomed, Gwaihir the Lord of Eagles saw them, and with his Eagle companions Landroval and Meneldor rescued Sam and Frodo and flew them to safety.
The End of the War and the Departure of Frodo
The Scouring of the Shire
Merry, Frodo, Sam and Pippin attend Aragorn's coronation
After recovering in Minas Tirith , and witnessing the coronation of King Aragorn, Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin all returned to the Shire . When they arrived though, they found it under the control of a man named Sharkey (later revealed to be Saruman ) and his forces. Saruman was ruling the Shire from Bag End , although he was later murdered by Grima Wormtongue . Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin however, started to gather all the Shirriffs and townsfolk in the Shire, and they successfully defeated the Ruffians employed by Sharkey at the Battle of Bywater .
Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin at the pub
Frodo wasn't directly involved in the fighting at the Battle of Bywater; instead, he made sure that no Hobbits were harmed (saying that no Hobbit had ever intentionally harmed another in the Shire and that it was not going to begin there), and also that any ruffians that surrendered were not harmed.
The Fourth Age
Frodo gazes fondly at his friends as he bids them farewell at the Grey Havens
Frodo briefly served as Deputy Mayor of the Shire , but soon realized that he still bore the wounds of his quest, and so retired. He was also in continual pain from his shoulder wound, which pained him each anniversary of their stay on Weathertop. On 22 September SR 1421 ( Fourth Age ), at the age of 53, Frodo joined Bilbo , Gandalf , Elrond , Galadriel , and Círdan aboard an Elven ship. He was allowed passage across the sea to the Undying Lands , as he was a ring-bearer, with the hope of healing the damage to his spirit that bearing the Ring had caused. Sometime after the year 61 in the Fourth Age, fellow ring-bearer and best friend Samwise Gamgee, reunited with Frodo in the undying lands where it was presumed they lived out the remainder of their days.
Characteristics
Frodo, as described by Gandalf, was "taller than some and fairer than most, (with) a cleft in his chin: perky chap with a bright eye." (The Fellowship of the Ring, Chapter 10, "Strider".) He had thick, curly brown hair like most other hobbits, and had lighter-than-usual skin due to his Fallohide ancestry through his Brandybuck mother. Frodo is described as appearing thirty-three, even when he is fifty, due to the influence of the Ring. Bilbo and Frodo shared a common birthday on September 22, but Bilbo was 78 years Frodo's senior. At the opening of The Fellowship of the Ring, Frodo and Bilbo were celebrating their thirty-third and eleventy-first (111th) birthdays, respectively. Frodo, like Bilbo, was considered by many others in Hobbiton to be a little odd. His interests in the outside world, fascination with Elves and faraway places (like those to which Bilbo travelled in The Hobbit ) did not fit the general content personality of most Hobbits. This curiosity was also attributed to his Took ancestry. He was very compassionate, pitying Gollum and allowing him to guide him and Sam to Mordor despite Sam's distrust of the creature. This act of kindness later proved to be a factor in the quest's success in destroying the Ring. The influence of the Ring and the wound by the Morgul-Blade seems combined to have given him the ability to see into the spirit world, for instance he sees faraway events in his dreams on several occasions. He also can see the ring of power worn by Galadriel and he seems to be able to sense danger.
Weapons and Attire
Frodo was dressed in typical Hobbit-fashion when he left the Shire: knee breeches, shirt, waistcoat, jacket, and cloak. Colors such as bright green and yellow were typical for Shire-folk. He was unarmed, save for a pocketknife.
When his little group was waylaid by Barrow-wights, he lost his summer-weight clothing and was wearing a burial shrift when rescued by Tom Bombadil. When their pack-ponies returned, he was forced to put on heavier woollen clothing intended for colder weather. The Hobbits found several long Dúnedain daggers in the wight's treasure. These served as short-swords for the Hobbits, but Frodo's was broken when he resisted the Witch-king at Weathertop. At Imladris, he removed his Hobbit clothing upon finding new Elven clothes that fitted him perfectly. Therefore, throughout his quest, he wore a green silk tunic, trousers together with cloaks made of fur for the first stages of the quest, and then towards Mordor he shed them to wear his tunic and trousers in the warmer weather. Later, his Uncle Bilbo gave him both Sting, a magic Elven dagger, and a coat of mithril chain mail. The mail saved his life twice, first when it deflected a spear-point in the Mines of Moria, and second when it turned aside the dagger that Saruman used to try and kill him.
As with the other members of the Fellowship of the Ring, Frodo received a special cloak from Galadriel in Lórien, which allowed him to blend in with natural surroundings. Upon being betrayed by Gollum and captured by Orcs at Cirith Ungol, Frodo lost all of his clothing and most of his possessions. Sam Gamgee saved Sting, however. After the two tribes of orcs had slain each other in the tower of Cirith Ungol, Frodo dressed himself in Orc-garb. This successfully fooled the Mordor-Orcs they encountered, but he dropped the Orc mail and helmet as he and Sam approached Mount Doom.
Combat
Sword
Frodo used Bilbo's famed short sword Sting for melee combat, it was also put to great use as it warns him of nearby orcs and goblins by glowing blue.
Appearances
The Return and Departures of Frodo and Sam
The Days of Rohan
Orson Bean voiced Frodo in the Rankin/Bass The Return of the King film.
The Lord of the Rings film trilogy
There are several differences between Peter Jackson's Film Trilogy and the book The Fellowship of the Ring . In the movies, Frodo seems to have owned the Ring for only a few days or perhaps a few months before Gandalf returned, as opposed to the seventeen years of the book. Frodo never sells Bag End, but sets out early next morning with Sam. Merry and Pippin run into the pair at the farm of Farmer Maggot and are pulled into the journey. The Hobbits are pursued by the Black Riders all the way to Bucklebury Ferry on the borders of Buckland. There the Black Riders are forced to ride to the Brandywine Bridge while the Hobbits make for Bree. The movies remove several parts of the journey as well. These include their encounters with the High Elves, Farmer Maggot, and Tom Bombadil, as well as their visit to Buckland, the Old Forest, and the Barrow-downs.
Arwen , Elrond 's daughter, leads Frodo to Rivendell instead of Glorfindel. The Cave-Troll inflicts the wound on Frodo in Moria, instead of the orc captain. In the novel, Faramir declared right from the first that he wanted no part of the One Ring , but in the film Faramir at first follows what he believes is his duty to bring the Ring back to Minas Tirith . But while travelling with Frodo, Sam, and Gollum through the city of Osgiliath , the city is attacked by a Nazgûl and the forces of Mordor , and Faramir realizes he should not take the Ring after he sees the effect it has on Frodo.
Other
He is also portrayed by Taneli Mäkelä in the Finnish 1993 production Hobbit.
Radio
Frodo was voiced by Oliver Burt in The Lord of the Rings (1956 radio series) , James Arrington in The Lord of the Rings (1979 radio series) , Ian Holm in The Lord of the Rings (1981 radio series) , Nigel Planer in Tales from the Perilous Realm (1992 radio series) , Elijah Wood in Lord of the Rings film trilogy , and Steve Staley in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (video game) .
Parodies
Frodo was portrayed by Lauren Lopez in a parody of Lord of the Rings by the group Team Starkid.
Appearances in movies
| List of hobbit families |
Who played Saruman in Peter Jackson's Lord Of The Rings films? | Elijah Wood - IMDb
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Elijah Wood is an American actor best known for portraying Frodo Baggins in Peter Jackson 's blockbuster Lord of the Rings film trilogy. In addition to reprising the role in The Hobbit series, Wood also played Ryan in the FX television comedy Wilfred (2011) and voiced Beck in the Disney XD animated television series TRON: Uprising (2012). Born ... See full bio »
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In which year did J. R. R. Tolkein die? | J.R.R. Tolkien Biography - Tolkien's life
Tolkien Biography
Philologist, author, mythmaker and creator of "Middle Earth"
Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford University, a brilliant philologist, and a self-described "hobbit," J.R.R. Tolkien created two of the best-loved stories of the 20th century, " The Hobbit " and " The Lord of the Rings ", recently made into a multiple award-winning movie by the director Peter Jackson for New Line Cinema.
Early Life
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born on January 3, 1892, in Bloemfontein, South Africa, to English parents. At the age of three his mother brought him and his younger brother, Hilary, back to England. Tolkien's father died soon afterwards in South Africa, so the family stayed in England and by the summer of 1896 his mother found them a home in the hamlet of Sarehole, just outside the city Birmingham.
Tolkien's family lived in genteel poverty, eventually moving to Moseley a suburb of Birmingham, just north west of Sarehole. When he was 12, Tolkien's mother died, and he and his brother were made wards of a Catholic priest. They lived with aunts and in boarding homes thereafter. The dichotomy between Tolkien's happier days in the rural landscape of Sarehole and his adolescent years in the industrial centre of Birmingham would be felt strongly in his later works.
Education
The young Tolkien attended King Edward's School in Birmingham in the years 1910 and 1911, where he excelled in classical and modern languages. There are six known contributions he made in the King Edward's School Chronicle. In 1911 he went to Exeter College, Oxford, where he studied Classics, Old English, Germanic languages, Welsh, and Finnish. He quickly demonstrated an aptitude for philology and began to create his own languages. In 1913 Tolkien published his very first poem, called 'From the many-willow'd margin of the immemorial Thames', in the Stapeldon Magazine of Exeter college.
The Great War
By the time Tolkien had completed his degree at Oxford in 1915, World War I had erupted across Europe. Tolkien enlisted and was commissioned in the Lancashire Fusiliers, but he did not see active duty for months. In this period he wrote the poem 'Gobin Feet' which got published in ' Oxford Poetry 1915 '. When he learned that he would be shipped out in March 1916, he married his longtime friend Edith Bratt, the girl the poem was written for.
Tolkien was sent to the Western Front and fought in the Somme offensive. Almost all of his closest friends were killed. After four months in and out of the trenches, he contracted a typhus-like infection and was sent back to England, where he served for the rest of the war.
Academic Career
Tolkien's first job was as a lexicographer on the New English Dictionary (helping to draft the Oxford English Dictionary). Tolkien wrote 'A Middle English Vocabulary', but it was not published until 1922, but after it was published some copies were bound with 1st impressions of Sisam’s book, 'Fourteenth Century Verse and Prose' which was published one year before. During this time he began serious work on creating languages that he imagined had been spoken by elves. The languages were based primarily on Finnish and Welsh. He also began his "Lost Tales" a mythic history of men, elves, and other creatures he created to provide context for his "Elvish" languages. He made the first public presentation of his tales when he read "The Fall of Gondolin" to an appreciative audience at the Exeter College Essay Club.
Tolkien then became a professor in English Language at the University of Leeds, where he collaborated with E. V. Gordon on the famous edition of 'Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'. Tolkien remained at Leeds until 1925, when he took a position teaching Anglo-Saxon at Oxford University. In Leeds Tolkien found the time to make a lot of contributions on various Magazines and books like, Gryphon Magazine, Microcosm, TLS, Yorkshire Poetry, Leeds University Verse, e.o.
Tolkien at Oxford
Tolkien spent the rest of his career at Oxford, retiring in 1959. Although he produced little by today's "publish or perish" standards, his scholarly writings were of the highest caliber. One of his most influential works is his lecture "Beowulf, the Monsters and the Critics."
At Oxford Tolkien became a founding member of a loose group of like-minded Oxford friends "The Inklings" who met for conversation, drinks, and readings from their works-in-progress. Another prominent member was C. S. Lewis, who became one of Tolkien's closest friends.
Tolkien, a devout Catholic, and Lewis, an agnostic at the time, frequently debated religion and the role of mythology. Unlike Lewis, who tended to dismiss myths and fairy tales, Tolkien firmly believed that they have moral and spiritual value. Said Tolkien, "The imagined beings have their inside on the outside; they are visible souls. And Man as a whole, Man pitted against the Universe, have we seen him at all till we see that he is like a hero in a fairy tale?"
"In a hole in the ground . . ."
It was also during his years at Oxford that Tolkien would scribble an inexplicable note in a student's exam book: "In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit." Curious as to what exactly a "Hobbit" was and why it should live in a hole, he began to build a story about a short creature who inhabited a world called Middle-earth. This grew into a story he told his children, and in 1936 a version of it came to the attention of the publishing firm of George Allen and Unwin (now part of HarperCollins), who published it as The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, in 1937. It become an instant and enduring classic.
Lord of the Rings
Stanley Unwin, the publisher, was stunned by The Hobbit's success and asked for a sequel, which blossomed into a multivolume epic. While The Hobbit hinted at the history of Middle-earth that Tolkien had created in his "Lost Tales" (which he was now calling "The Silmarillion"), the sequel drew heavily upon it. So determined was Tolkien to get every detail right that it took him more than a decade to complete the 12-book "Lord of the Rings." He often left off writing the story for months to hash out a linguistic problem or historical inconsistency.
The Lord of the Rings appeared in 1954-1955 in three parts: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King. While the book was eagerly received by the reading public, critical reviews were everything but neutral. Some critics, such as Philip Toynbee, deplored its fantasy setting, archaic language, and utter earnestness. Others, notably W. H. Auden and C. S. Lewis, lauded it for its straightforward narrative, imagination, and Tolkien's palpable love of language.
The Lord of the Rings did not reach the height of its popularity until it finally appeared in paperback. Tolkien disliked paperbacks and hadn't authorized a paperback edition. In 1965, however, Ace Books exploited a legal loophole and published an unauthorized paperback version of The Lord of the Rings. Within months Ballantine published an official version (with a rather cross note about respecting an author's wishes). The lower cost of paperbacks and the publicity generated by the copyright dispute boosted sales of the books considerably, especially in America where it was quickly embraced by the 60s counterculture.
Nearly 50 years after its publication, Tolkien's epic tale has sold more than 100 million copies and been translated into more than 25 languages.
Tolkien's Legacy
The Lord of the Rings is a singular, contradictory work. Written in an almost archaic form, packed with strange words and obsure historical details, and lacking the modern emphasis on the "inner life," it is unabashedly antimodern. But at the same time its melancholy environmentalism and fully realized alternative world are very modern. It has often been read, among as other things, as an allegory of World War II or the Cold War, but Tolkien himself denied any such interpretation, maintaining it was simply a story to be taken on its own terms.
Its enduring appeal, however, lies not in its literary oddness or straightforward action, but in its beautifully realized world and themes of loss, self-sacrifice, and friendship. In its wake, Tolkien's work left not only a host of sword-and-sorcery imitators and devoted fans, but a lasting legacy in the hundreds of virtual worlds that have come to life in books and films since.
Middle-earth after J.R.R.
J.R.R. Tolkien died on September 2, 1973. His death did not mark the end of Middle-earth for readers, though. After Tolkien's death his son Christopher endeavored to complete his father's life work. He edited The Silmarillion and saw it published in 1977. In 1980 he began to publish the rest of his father's incomplete writings, culminating in the 12-volume History of Middle-earth series.
“Biography: John Ronald Reuel Tolkien” 26 Jun 02
Carpenter, Humphrey. J R R Tolkien: A biography. Glasgow, 2002, Harper Collins.
Carpenter, Humphrey. The Inklings: C S Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams and their friends. Glasgow, 1997, Harper Collins.
Hammond, Wayne G and Christina Scull. J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator. London, 1998, Harper Collins.
The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. Edited by Humphrey Carpenter. Glasgow, 1995, Harper Collins.
Photo Credits:
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien: Carpenter, Humphrey. J R R Tolkien: A biography. Photo by Billy Porter
Edith Bratt: Carpenter, Humphrey. J R R Tolkien: A biography. Edith Bratt in 1906, age seventeen.
J R R and his children: Carpenter, Humphrey. J R R Tolkien: A biography. Family group in the garden at Northmoor Road circa 1936.
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Which of The Simpsons can play the saxophone? | Brief Biography of J.R.R Tolkien -Biography Online
Brief Biography of J.R.R Tolkien
Early Life J.R.R. Tolkien
J.R.R. Tolkien was born in 1892, Bloomfontein, South Africa. After three years in South Africa, he returned to England with his Mother Mabel; unfortunately his father died one year later, leaving him with little memory of his father. His early childhood was, by all accounts, a happy one; he was brought up in the Warwickshire countryside (many regard this idealised upbringing as the basis for the Shire in Lord of the Rings).
In 1904, when John was just 12, his mother Mabel died from diabetes leaving a profound mark on him and his brother. After his mother’s passing, he was brought up by the family’s Catholic priest, Father Francis Morgen. From an early age, J.R.R. Tolkien was an excellent scholar, with an unusually specialised interest in languages. He enjoyed studying languages especially Greek, Anglo Saxon, and later at Oxford, Finnish.
Although a scholar at King Edward VI school, he initially failed to win a scholarship to
Oxford. This was partly due to falling in love with his childhood sweatheart Edith. On finding out of this romance, his guardian, Father Francis Morgan, prohibited John from seeing Edith until he was 21 and no longer under his care. Father Morgen, made John promise not to see Edith, and John reluctantly agreed to his request. John faithfully waited until his 21st birthday, and on this date he renewed his contact with Edith, and successfully persuaded her to marry him. It is a testament to his belief in faithfulness and honesty, that he was willing to wait several years to meet his wife; such sentiments of nobility appear frequently in his writings; for example, the magnificent love story of Beren and Luthien.
J.R.R.Tolkien in Oxford
From an academic point of view, his separation from Edith seemed to do the trick,
and a year later he won an exhibition to Exeter College, Oxford where he would study classics. John did not particularly shine in this subject and grew to enjoy the pleasures of University life, though his meagre income made it difficult to keep up with the spending habits of more affluent students. Uninspired by the classics, John was able to switch to his real love English literature. He was a competent scholar, but a lot of his time was spent researching other languages in the Bodleian library. It was here in Oxford that he became fascinated with Finnish, a language which would form the basis for Quenya; a language he would later give to his Elves. His love of languages remained with Tolkien throughout his life; in particular, he began developing his own languages, a remarkable undertaking. In fact, in later commented that languages lied at the heart of his writings; the Silmarillion and Lord of the Rings. He actually said, the stories existed to provide an opportunity to use the languages. Devotees of the book may not agree, but it does illustrate the profound importance he attached to the use of languages.
J.R.R.Tolkien First World War
At the outbreak of the First World War, J.R.R. Tolkien decided to finish off his degree before enlisting in 1916. Joining the Lancashire fusiliers, he made it to the Western Front just before the great Somme offensive. At first hand, J.R.R. Tolkien witnessed the horrors and carnage of the “Great War”; he lost many close friends, tellingly he remarked “By 1918 all but one of my close friends were dead”. J.R.R. Tolkien survived, mainly due to the persistent reoccurrence of trench fever, which saw him invalided back to England. He rarely talked about his experiences directly, but the large-scale horrors of war, will undoubtedly have influenced his writings in some way. Perhaps the imagery for the wastelands of Mordor may have had birth in the muddy horrors of the Western Front.
It was back in England, in 1917, that J.R.R Tolkien began working on his epic – “The Silmarillion“. The Silmarillion, lies at the heart of all Tolkien’s mythology, it is a work he continually revised, until his death in 1973. The Silmarillion makes hard reading, in that, it is not plot driven, but depicts the history of a universe, through an almost biblical overview. It moves from the Creation of the Universe, to the introduction of evil and the rebellion of the Noldor. It is in the Silmarillion that many roots from the Lord of the Rings stem. It gives the Lord of the Rings the impression of a real epic. It becomes not just a story, but also the history of an entire world and peoples.
Writing the Hobbit
Initially J.R.R Tolkien’s writings on the Silmarillion were known by very few. He found his time absorbed in teaching and other duties of being a professor. He also found time to write important papers on medieval literature. These included seminal works on, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and Beowulf. In 1945, he was given the Merton professorship, and gained additional duties of teaching and lecturing.
It was sometime after 1930 that Tolkien gained an unexpected inspiration to start
writing the Hobbit. It was whilst marking an examination paper, that he jotted in the margins of a paper the immortal words “In a hole in the ground lived a hobbit.” Unlike the Silmarillion, the Hobbit was a simple fairy tale and adventure for children. Hinting at evil things, it still ends in a happy ending for all and is primarily concerned with a triumph of good over evil. In the course of the next few years, friends including C.S. Lewis, read his manuscript and gave good reviews. In the course of time the publisher, Allen and Unwin, got to read it; with a glowing reference from, Rayner Unwin, the 10 year old son of Mr Unwin; the book was published to commercial success.
J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis
J.R.R.Tolkien was good friends with C.S. Lewis and together they were key members of the ‘Inklings’ an informal Oxford literary club, where writers met together to read out poetry and short stories. Tolkien had a strong Catholic faith throughout his life; he often discussed religion with C.S.Lewis .Lewis later said that his conversations with Tolkien were a key factor in his decision to embrace Christianity. However, their relationship cooled over the years. There was a little friction over C.S.Lewis relationship with Joy Davidson, but they remained firm friends and C.S.Lewis was always a stout literary defender of Tolkien’s work.( Though Tolkien was somewhat less enthusiastic about the work of C.S.Lewis.)
Lord of the Rings
Due to the success of The Hobbit, Allen and Unwin, encouraged J.R.R. Tolkien to write a sequel. Thus over a period of many years, J.R.R. Tolkien began writing the Lord of the Rings. This soon became quite different to the hobbit, both in scope and dimension. Putting its roots into the Silmarillion, it became an epic of unprecedented depth. No longer was Tolkien writing a simplistic adventure story; the triumph of good over evil is no longer so complete. Even in the mission’s success there is no obvious happy ending. There is a feeling of permanent change; nothing can remain as it is. As well as being a fascinating story line, the book deals with many issues of how people respond to certain choices and the influence of power and ego. It can be read in many ways, but it does offer an underlying moral and spiritual dimension, which is inherent in the development of the story.
Due to the sheer scope and length of the book, the publishers Allen and Unwin, were wary of publication. They worried about whether it would be a commercial success. Eventually they decided to publish the book, but split it up intosix sections; they also offered no payment to J.R.R Tolkien, until the book moved into profit. The first edition was published in 1954, and soon became a good seller. However, it was in 1965 when the book was published in America, that it really took off becoming an international bestseller. Somehow the book managed to capture the mood of the 1960s counter culture, and it became immensely popular on American campuses. Tolkien, became a household name, and Lord of the Rings would soon become renowned as the most popular book of all time.
Although the book has received the most powerful popular acclaim, it has not always received the same commendation from the literary world. In 1972, Oxford University conferred on Tolkien the honorary degree of, Doctor of Letters. This was not for his writing, but his researches on linguistic studies. Tolkien, however, would have taken no offence at this award. For him his linguistic studies were as important if not more so than his fictional literary endeavours.
He did not particularly enjoy the fame that came from his literary success, and in 1968 he moved to Poole to gain a little more privacy. His beloved wife, Edith, died in 1971, and J.R.R.Tolkien died a couple of years later in 1973. After his death his creations gained increased popularity and sales. Even before the release of the Lord of the Rings films, the book, “Lord of the Rings” was often voted as best loved book of all time. His son, Christopher Tolkien, carefully went through all his manuscripts, and published posthumously several histories of middle earth, encompassing various early drafts of stories and histories.
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Which famous singer and actress would you associate with the perfume Glow? | Celebrity Perfume, Women’s Fragrances, Discount Perfume | Perfume.com
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In the last couple of years the fragrances world has shifted and there has been more and more celebrity perfumes and celebrity colognes from your favorite music, television and movies stars. Now perfume houses are starting to associate their name with a celebrity signature scent which creates better marketing and exposure and thus more sales to the fragrance lines and now celebrity fragrances are more popular than ever. The recent launches by Katy Perry, Fergie, Rihanna and Kim Kardashian all support the claim that celebrity women’s perfumes are here to stay.
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In which American city was John Lennon shot? | Urban Dictionary: Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lopez
1. A person who has no talent. 2. Someone who is full of herself 3. Someone who, unfortunately, became famous because of her role in "Selena." Let's face it, that movie made her. Note: The real Selena was a beloved Mexican singer and, unfortunately, Jennifer Lopez became famous by association. Also, when "Selena" originally came out, many Mexicans and Selena fans were outraged that Lopez, a puerto rican, was picked for the role. (Puerto Ricans and Mexicans hate each other). 4. A sell-out. For playing the role of a Mexican.
I can't believe they picked that puerto rican ho, Jennifer Lopez, over all those Mexican actresses for thee role of Selena! If you're a sell-out, you're a Jennifer Lopez.
jennifer lopez
Jennifer Lopoez also known as JLO,is a succesful puerto rican "superstar" singer/actress/and business woman.She's is hated by many people because of her many failed relationships. A lot of people say she isnt a good singer or actress but shes is making millions and is known worldwide.Shes has her own production company called 'Nuyorican Productions' & clothing line company 'JLE'(Jennifer Lopez Enterprise)by the way her clothing is line is one of the most succesful clothing line if history of celebrity clothing lines and her perfumes sale really well all over the world. This days JLO is one of the most famous and richest women in entertainment and richest latina in hollywood according to Forbes magazine.
accomplishments :
-most famous hispanic person in the world
-richest latina in Hollywood
-one of the richest women in entertaiment
-Lopez is the first actress and singer to have a film (The Wedding Planner) and an album (J. Lo) at number one in the same week.
-Lopez's perfume, "Glow", made history in 2001, by being the number-one perfume in more than nine countries in less than four months.
-Lopez has five number-one hits in the U.S. and a combined twenty weeks at number one.
-Lopez appeared on the 2007 Guinness World Records as the most powerful actress.
and has many more accomplishments although a lot of haters deny or accept it.
bob: jennifer lopez isnt talented shes got a big ass! bla bla
randy: well then i dont know whats going on because she is making millions and is famous worldwide and youre just hating and are a nobody just hating like people on urbandictionary.com...*smiles*
bob:.......*keeps hating*
Jennifer Lopez
A actress/singer with an amazing ass, tits and all round perfect body. there is not a single man on this earth that wouldn't take the chance to fuck her hard. she is so amazingly hot that she can make even teenagers get boners. most teens have wet dreams about their faces getting shoved in that bouncing gorgeous booty of hers. they also have wet dreams about eating her out. she truly is the definition of sex and milf. she has incredible acting and singing ability and also the ability to turn a man on with her orgasmic body.
i really wanna fuck Jennifer Lopez!!!
Jennifer Lopez
One of the most successful women in entertainment; an actress, singer, dancer, and incredible business woman. Jennifer Lopez has branded a multi-million dollar empire throughout her career. She is often referred to as J.Lo in the media. Her films include Selena , The Wedding Planner , Maid In Manhattan , Monster-in-Law , and What to Expect When You're Expecting . Jennifer Lopez is the highest-paid Latina actress in Hollywood . She's a phenomenal Grammy Award winning recording artist who has released seven albums, including the first number one remix album to top the charts in the United States. Jennifer Lopez has a slue of endorsement deals, a successful line of perfumes, as well as a lucrative fashion line. She has become one of the biggest fashion icons. Jennifer Lopez is the first female artist to have both a number one album and number one movie at the same time. In 2011, she was crowned by People Magazine as The Most Beautiful Woman in the World. In 2012, Jennifer Lopez topped Forbes list of the 100 Most Powerful and Influential Celebrities in the World.
Did you know that Jennifer Lopez is also known as J.Lo ?
Jennifer Lopez
A personality in Hollywood who continues to make millions despite an appalling lack of talent.
Her dancing abilities are laughable, so I can't understand why people call her a good dancer. She basically does the same move over and over (shake her gigantic ass and huge thighs) with an occasional dip thrown in.
Her singing skills are questionable as her screechy voice is most unpleasant, sort of like giving a cat a high colonic. Similar to Celine Dion (who sounds like someone tossed a cat into a washing machine on spin cycle.)
Her acting skills are possibly the worst. Compare to Nicole Kidman's complete lack of acting ability. Wooden and contrived, she couldn't carry a movie if they put it in a basket for her. See "Maid in Manhattan," "The Wedding Planner," and "Enough" if you dare. And I'm not even counting "Gigli."
She's shaping up to be the next Elizabeth Taylor, except without the class or acting ability. I mean just in the sense that she's a serial divorcee. She's already on her third husband to The Crypt Keeper - er, I mean Marc Anthony - a man she stole while he was still married.
She should really make the decision to retire from show business to stay home and concentrate on her family. No, really. She really, really should.
I'm getting tired of waiting for Jennifer Lopez to realize she has no talent, and that she should just go disappear somewhere with the Crypt Keeper and never bother us again.
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Who did Bill Clinton famously admit to having an affair with during his time as President of the USA? | Monica Lewinsky breaks silence on affair with Bill Clinton | New York Post
Monica Lewinsky breaks silence on affair with Bill Clinton
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Monica Lewinsky works in a White House office as President Bill Clinton looks on. Getty Images
Monica Lewinsky has penned a new tell-all about her affair with President Bill Clinton in which she describes how his powerful political machine ruthlessly made her a “scapegoat” to save his presidency.
Lewinsky, 40, says she decided to tell her story now because of the suicide of Tyler Clementi, the 18-year-old Rutgers freshman who jumped from the George Washington Bridge in September 2010 after he was secretly caught on a Webcam kissing another man in his dorm room.
Clementi’s suicide, she wrote, made her mother, Marcia Lewis, frantic because it dredged up memories of her fears for her own daughter after the scandal broke.
Lewinsky during her 1999 deposition.AP
“She was reliving 1998, when she wouldn’t let me out of her sight. She was replaying those weeks when she stayed by my bed, night after night, because I, too, was suicidal. The shame, the scorn, and the fear that had been thrown at her daughter left her afraid that I would take my own life — a fear that I would be literally humiliated to death,” Lewinsky wrote.
The former White House intern — dubbed the “portly pepperpot” for her full figure and undisguised lust for the married president — said she never tried to kill herself but had suicidal thoughts as the seamy details of their tawdry tryst emerged.
“My own suffering took on a different meaning. Perhaps by sharing my story, I reasoned, I might be able to help others in their darkest moments of humiliation. The question became: How do I find and give a purpose to my past?” she wrote.
An excerpt of the article appeared Tuesday on the Web site of Vanity Fair magazine , which will publish Lewinsky’s full story May 13. Additional quotes came from a press release about her story.
Lewinsky admits the timing of her tell-all could prove awkward for the Clintons — with Hillary mulling a 2016 presidential run while facing renewed questions over her role in the Benghazi bloodbath.
Hillary Clinton looks at her husband, President Bill Clinton, immediately following an address in 1999.REUTERS/Win McNamee
But she said she’d remained silent during previous Clinton campaigns and decided now was the time to speak out.
“I remained virtually reclusive, despite being inundated with press requests. I put off announcing several media projects in 2012 until after the election. (They were subsequently canceled — and, no, I wasn’t offered $12 million for a salacious tell-all book, contrary to press reports.)
“And recently I’ve found myself gun-shy yet again, fearful of ‘becoming an issue’ should she decide to ramp up her campaign. But should I put my life on hold for another 8 to 10 years?” she wrote.
Lewinsky also brought up the files of Hillary Clinton’s close pal, Diane Blair, in which the first lady called Lewinsky a “narcissistic loony toon” and in part blamed herself for Bubba’s philandering.
“Yes, I get it. Hillary Clinton wanted it on record that she was lashing out at her husband’s mistress. She may have faulted her husband for being inappropriate, but I find her impulse to blame the Woman — not only me, but herself — troubling. Courageous or foolish, maybe, but narcissistic and loony?” she wrote.
“If that’s the worst thing she said, I should be so lucky,” Lewinsky wrote.
Lewinsky — who once boasted to a pal that she was bringing her “presidential kneepads” to the White House — wrote that her Oval Office affair with the Horndog in Chief was consensual.
Lewinsky at an event in 2011.Patrick McMullan
“Sure, my boss took advantage of me, but I will always remain firm on this point: it was a consensual relationship. Any ‘abuse’ came in the aftermath, when I was made a scapegoat in order to protect his powerful position,” Lewinsky wrote.
“The Clinton administration, the special prosecutor’s minions, the political operatives on both sides of the aisle, and the media were able to brand me. And that brand stuck, in part because it was imbued with power.”
She also whines about how the Internet magnified the story after it broke in 1998 in a way that would not have been possible just years earlier.
“Thanks to the Drudge Report, I was also possibly the first person whose global humiliation was driven by the Internet,” she wrote, adding that she wants “to get involved with efforts on behalf of victims of online humiliation and harassment and to start speaking on this topic in public forums.”
She also said her decade-long silence fueled suspicions that she’d had been paid off to keep her yap shut.
“The buzz in some circles has been that the Clintons must have paid me off; why else would I have refrained from speaking out? I can assure you that nothing could be further from the truth,” she wrote.
Instead, she says, it’s all about her deciding that the time was ripe to revisit the scandal that led to Bill Clinton’s impeachment and almost destroyed his presidency.
“It’s time to burn the beret and bury the blue dress,” she says about her trademark topper and the infamous dress that was found to be stained by the president’s semen.
The dress came up in a suggestion she had for Beyoncé, who alluded to the affair on her single “Partition,” from her new album.
“Thanks, Beyoncé, but if we’re verbing, I think you meant ‘Bill Clinton’d all on my gown,’ not ‘Monica Lewinsky’d,” Lewinsky cracked.
“Tiptoeing around my past — and other people’s futures. I am determined to have a different ending to my story. I’ve decided, finally, to stick my head above the parapet so that I can take back my narrative and give a purpose to my past. (What this will cost me, I will soon find out),” Lewinsky wrote.
The scandal, she says, ruined her chance at a normal career and life.
President Clinton and Lewinsky at the White House in 1995.AP Photo/OIC
“I turned down [job] offers that would have earned me more than $10 million, because they didn’t feel like the right thing to do,” she wrote.
After getting her master’s degree in social psychology at the London School of Economics, she bounced around Los Angeles, New York and Portland, Ore., looking for work.
“Because of what potential employers so tactfully referred to as my ‘history,’” she wrote, “I was never ‘quite right’ for the position. In some cases, I was right for all the wrong reasons, as in ‘Of course, your job would require you to attend our events.’ And, of course, these would be events at which press would be in attendance.”
Lewinsky wrote that people recognize her on the street every day and that her name is frequently in the media.
She also adds in a girlish style that she does regret the whole thing.
“I, myself, deeply regret what happened between me and President Clinton. Let me say it again: I. Myself. Deeply. Regret. What. Happened.”
President Bill Clinton whispers to first lady Hillary Clinton during an event at the White House on Feb. 5, 1999.REUTERS/Win McName
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| Monica Lewinsky |
In what year were the first modern Olympic Games held? | BILL CLINTON'S CRIMINAL BACKGROUND
BILL CLINTON'S CRIMINAL BACKGROUND
Most people think that the biggest felony made by Bill Clinton might be that he swore falsely under oath in the Lewinsky affair. But this is peanuts compared to the real crimes, yet undetected by most American people.
THE OXFORD DAYS
It was in Oxford as a student Clinton came to hear about the One World Government for the first time, and what was required to be a member of this New World Order. In an interview in 1994 Clinton said that he'd known about the "Shadow-government" already in his youth, and had been very enthusiastic to get an entrance into the "Inner Circle" and from there have the opportunity to participate in decisions regarding the future of the world.
He succeeded! The "President-maker" David Rockefeller met Clinton in the mid 80's in Arkansas to prepare him for what was to come. The State of Arkansas, by the way, is a major seat for the Brotherhood elite. The south branch of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry has its center here, and from this area Albert Pike (33 degree Freemason) created the Ku Klux Klan.
THE CORRUPTED GOVERNOR OF ARKANSAS
Clinton worked himself up rapidly and became a governor of Arkansas. As a governor Bill Clinton committed a series of high crimes, related to his Illuminati connection. He became the leader of a gigantic network which dealt with drug-smuggling, laundering of drug-money and corruption in general.
A good friend of Clinton from Arkansas, Larry Nichols, was interviewed in a film. Clinton thought that Nichols would keep his mouth shut, but he didn't. He was hired by Clinton and had found out that Clinton's firm, "Arkansas Development Finance Authority" (ADFA), laundered drug-money. Cocaine to a value of $10.000.000 (ten million dollars!) a week was flown in from Mena Airport in Arkansas. The money was laundered via ADFA to a bank in Florida, to a bank in Georgia, to Citycorp in New York, and from there it was transferred out of the country. All this regarding to Larry Nichols.
Clinton's best friend, Dan Lasater, led the operations. Lasater and Bill Clinton's brother, Roger Clinton, later spent time in jail due to drug related crimes.
The Chief of Police in Arkansas at that time, Doc Delaughter, said he had gathered information from many persons in Lasater's surroundings, how he smuggled drugs and abused young girls sexually. During those investigations Doc was harassed by persons from his own police department, paid by Clinton.
Bill Clinton created new laws that helped "Tyson Foods" to be the biggest company in Arkansas. The owner, Don Tyson, received a loan from the Clinton-owned ADFA, but never had to pay back. Doc says he has evidence enough against Tyson to start an investigation regarding illegal drug-trade. Nichols says in the film:
The first loan ADFA approved was to "Park-O-Meter" ... When I investigated the company, I found that the Directive Secretary and cashier was Webb Hubbell ... Guess who wrote the law proposition ... which made ADFA possible. Webb Hubbell. Guess who drove the law proposition which looked into- and admitted (Park-O-Meter's) request. "Rose Law Firm" (owned by Hillary Clinton). Who signed the admittance? Webb Hubbell and Hillary Clinton.
Nichols said that when journalists started investigating the loans to "Park-O-Meter", they discovered that the company did not make parking meters, but removable airplane nose-cones, delivered to the air-field in Mena. The equipment was used to smuggle narcotics into the country, and with this Clinton and his companions participated heavily to the pushing of street-drugs in the USA.
Nichols says further that Clinton most of the time was involved in drug trade and the people he surrounded himself with followed him all the way to the White House.
When Clinton became President he elected Webb Hubbell as the Minister of Justice(!). Hubbell had to go back to Arkansas, though, to plead guilty to having cheated customers of the "Rose Law Firm" on $500.000.
Maybe the largest drug smuggling event in the USA history started in 1982 on Mena Airport by Barry Seale, pilot for the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA!!!). He had had problems with the authorities in Louisiana, so he moved his dirty business to Arkansas, where he could work un-disturbed. Seale said later in a police investigation that he had used nose-cones to smuggle drugs (Park-O-Meter).
STRANGE DEATHS CONNECTED TO CLINTON
So what did Bill Clinton do, when he came to power in the White House? Just like the drug trading president before him, Freemason-Brother George Bush, he started a war against drugs(!).
The interesting part is, though, that when different people have started talking about Clinton's affairs, they have suddenly and mysteriously died. One of them was Barry Seale, the drug smuggler. He was killed in February 1987.
By that time, several murders were committed in Arkansas.
Two young boys were out walking late one night in the surroundings of Mena Airport. They were found dead on a railroad track. The examining doctor, sent by Clinton, said it was an accident. But their parents didn't agree. Later it was found that the boys had been stabbed and got their heads crushed.
Six other persons, who had talked to the police regarding the murder of the boys, were killed themselves! Some of them had said to their families they had to leave town urgently, as they knew too much about the murders, but they were all traced and shot to death. All this happened while Clinton was the governor of Arkansas and used Mena Airport for drug smuggling.
To make research on, or accuse Clinton has too often showed to be a lethal business.
Danny Casoloro, who investigated Clinton's involvement in stock frauds, was found dead in West Virginia.
A lawyer from Washington, Paul Wilcher, who had made an appointment with Casoloro's former attorney, was found dead in his apartment.
Prosecutor Charles Black wanted more money from governor Clinton to be able to continue the investigations regarding drug smuggling on Mena Airport. He got no money, but Black's mother was killed.
The director for Clinton's Finance-campaign Committee, Ed Willke, was shot with a hail-gun.
John Wilson, politician in Washington, threatened to reveal Clinton's dirty business. He was found swinging from a rope in 1993.
Kathy Furguson, police in Arkansas and Clinton's bodyguard, said that Clinton was promiscuous. She was found dead with a gun in her hand. Her husband Danny denies all sex-scandals related to Clinton. He is still alive.
Jon Parnel Walker, one of the investigators in the Whitewater affair, "fell" from a balcony in Virginia.
C. Victor Raider II had an argument with Clinton. Raider and his son Montgomery died when their sport plane crashed.
Mr. Friday, member of Raider's committee, and a known skilled pilot, died when his plane exploded.
Dentist Ronald Rogers was about to meet a journalist and give information regarding Clinton when his plane crashed in clear weather.
Luther Parks had gathered information regarding Clinton's sex habits. Clinton owed him $81.000 for security during his election campaign. He threatened Clinton to go public if he didn't get the money back. He was shot September 26th 1993.His son Gary said he had all the evidence at home and proof of Bill and Roger Clinton's drug abuse. The information was stolen shortly thereafter.
Vincent Foster was a good friend of Clinton since childhood. His "suicide" occurred during the Whitewater investigation. The "suicide" couldn't have been such. He still had the gun in his hand when found, which is impossible after the reaction from the bullet. Also, he held the gun in his right hand, though he was left-handed! At the same time employees at "Rose Law Firm" started to destroy documents.
In Arkansas there is a law saying that autopsy is not necessary if the diseased through a court-order can be classified to have committed suicide. This law was written by Bill Clinton. Almost every death around his person has been classified as suicide.
The crimes just don't stop! During the Whitewater investigations Patsy Thomason, Clinton's companion, searched through Foster's office the same night Foster died(!). It was justified under the means of "national security". Patsy Thomason, by the way, is in the police reports for drug related crimes, and it was she who stopped the drug tests on employees in the White House.
Gary Johnson, a lawyer, wanted to reveal the money laundering and corruption in Clinton's business ADFA. Johnson was a neighbor of Gennifer Flowers, one of the ladies Clinton has denied having a sexual relationship with. Johnson had a camera outside his house, and it caught Clinton on his way into Flower's apartment. He had his own key. Johnson had it on film and could prove that Clinton lied. He was then attacked in his home and badly wounded. The intruders also stole the film.
But why hasn't Clinton been thoroughly investigated and put to trial when so many people knew about the crimes? Larry Nichols might have the answer:
Many people wonder how Bill Clinton could lead a whole state in the size of Arkansas with the ultimate power he expressed. It's not that hard. After 12 years, after having "made friends" with the rich, Clinton was in charge of the constitutional laws, the judges, the lawyers and the banks.
When Clinton moved into the White House, he continued as before. He is just one more of the top controlled Presidents, whose purpose is to make way for the New World Order and the new slave community. When Richard Nixon resigned in the 70's the Brotherhood took over the USA with the help of Henry Kissinger and Nelson Rockefeller. Since then there haven't been any true democratic elections in the USA. The Presidents have all been selected carefully by the Illuminati, with David Rockefeller on top. The "free" elections are just something for to keep people busy and to make them think there is a choice. As a matter of fact, no candidate will make it to Presidency if he hasn't got the support from the Illuminati. Such candidates will be ridiculed, lied about or financially overthrown already early in the campaign.
Another peculiar thing about Clinton has to do with Hot Springs, Arkansas. Hot Springs is a city that has 47 thermal springs which has brought the jet set from all over the world. The mafia with their night clubs made the city a hot bed of vice, gambling and prostitution. During the 1920's the territory was so popular with organized crime, that the criminals considered the area to be "neutral ground" like they did Hollywood. In the early 60's Hot Springs had the largest illegal gambling operations in the entire USA. Clinton's uncle Roy was a politician in Arkansas's legislature connected to all the named mess. And Bill's uncle Raymond Clinton, who had a Buick dealership, was tied to all this corruption. Bill and his brother Roger's cocaine habits are well known by people who were connected with them, but how many knows about Bill's and Hillary's connection with the Illuminati? Hillary is sometimes called the "dragon lady" behind her back - for good reasons. Now it seems like the Illuminati is laying their cards on her to make a real politician out of her. She has been the "poor victim" for Bill's sexual behaviors and got the American people's sympathy and envy, as she seems to be a very strong and loyal woman. In fact she is as much involved as her husband and we can only hope she won't be the first female president of the United States. The only person to feel sympathy for in the Clinton family is their poor daughter, who has to live with this viciousness.
Also, Bill is closely connected with Charles "Chip" Whitmore, who is a Satanist and Programmer for the Illuminati and probably has MPD. Bill and Chip have often met on a weekly basis over the years. They still do; when Bill was in England Chip was there too, when Bill went to Florida so did Chip. Chip was also a drummer for Jerry Lee Lewis, who also is a Satanist and a programmer. He was also a friend of Jack Ruby. Chip had a programmed girl murder a man, and then the Illuminati Network got him off his murder charges. He has also been in charge of assassinations in his area, and controls the local law enforcement in Arkansas.
So it doesn't matter if Clinton resigns or not, as the next representative of the White House will be just another of the many Illuminati-created Presidents. In the background the current Vice President Al Gore is preparing himself to take over after Brother Bill - Gore being a 33:d degree Freemason of the Scottish Rite and with a doubtful background ...Or will we all be surprised by having Hillary Clinton as a candidate? Time will show ...
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In what year did Steve Redgrave win his first gold medal at the Olympics? | Steve Redgrave - Motion in Action - Great Olympic Heroes, Stories and Inspirational Sportsmen and Women
Steve Redgrave - Motion in Action
Sometimes it is not any one individual feat that defines someone’s “greatness” as much as it is the culmination of the many accomplishments they have made as a whole. Sir Stephen Geoffrey Redgrave is one such example that exemplifies this very scenario.
Stephen Redgrave (Now known as Sir Stephen Redgrave after receiving the prestigious Knighthood during the 2001 New Year’s Honors List) was born on March 23rd of 1962 in Marlow, England. While he does not publicly speak much about his past, his incredible list of records speaks for itself.
Steve Redgrave was a British Rower in his earlier years. This at least, is what brought him international fame and recognition. His feats and capabilities as a coxswain manifested themselves early on, but he will likely always be best remembered for his Olympic accomplishments. Steve Redgrave first arrived on the Olympic scene during the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles , California .
He won his first Olympic Gold Medal during the Coxed fours events. He again appeared in the Olympic rowing competitions in during the 1988 Olympic Games held in Seoul , South Korea and won another Gold Medal, this time in the coxless-pairs event. He also managed a second medal. He won a Bronze medal in the coxed-pairs events as well.
Anybody who is an avid follower of the Olympics knows that scoring two gold medals in consecutive Olympic Games is an amazing accomplishment, but Sir Stephen was not finished, at this point he had barely even started his amazing list of Olympic deeds.
His third Olympic appearance was in the 1992 Olympics held in Barcelona, Spain. During the 1992 games he managed to win a Gold medal in the coxless pairs again. Three consecutive gold medals is an accomplishment which is almost unheard of, but still he was not done.
During the 1996 Olympic games in Atlanta, Georgia he scored yet again. Once again, his strongest competition was the coxless pairs and he won his fourth gold medal in four consecutive Olympic Games. He vowed never to compete again in the Olympics after he had won the gold in Atlanta, but shortly afterwards decided that he had chosen his words prematurely.
He did indeed participate in the 2000 Olympics held in Sydney, Australia. Could this (now) aging coxswain still compete with the world’s best competitors though?
The Olympic Competition in Sydney, like all Olympic competitions, is between what are arguably the best athletes in the world from any given sport. Sir Stephen had seen his better days. Recent problems with his health led many people to doubt his ability to be truly competitive in such a gathering of exceptional athletes.
He still worked very hard in his chosen field though, and he always had the encouragement and found the motivation to excel in whatever endeavor he chose to undertake. During the Sydney Olympics he went on to win his fifth consecutive Gold medal, this time in the coxless fours event.
This made him the first Olympic rower in history to accomplish such an amazing record. Never before in Olympic history had any rower racked up Gold in five consecutive Olympic challenges. His receiving the Knighthood and his title was a direct result of the hard work and effort he put forth in his Olympic competition.
While this in itself is Olympic history and one of the great all time moments in Olympic sports, Sir Steve still was not done. His love of sports and athletic competition did not stop with rowing. Sir Stephen was also a member of the British National Bobsleigh team in the 1989-1990 season.
To this day he has held numerous world records and still holds an Olympic record. His personal effort and thoughtlessness perhaps, make an even larger picture of Sir Stephen possible. These also help to include him among the ranks of the “best-of-the-best” among historic Olympic figures.
While his Olympic and athletic prowess is beyond question, his personal endeavors are even more impressive. He continues to raise large amounts of money for charity, raising most of the money for children’s charities. He has his own charitable organizations which he promotes selflessly. He is very active not only in the world of sports, but the business world as well. His continued efforts beyond his sports ability alone truly separate Sir Stephen from other, more common heroes.
His approach to life makes a greater impact on more people than most people believe is humanly possible. While he should not only be remembered for his accomplishments in the sporting world, Sir Stephen Redgrave could (And should) indeed be a role-model for just about anybody, making him a true spotlight in time to be remembered from the Olympics.
Career Highlights
2000 Sydney Olympic Games – Gold
1996 Atlanta Olympic Games – Gold
1992 Barcelona Olympic Games – Gold
1988 Seoul Olympic Games – Gold, Bronze
1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games – Gold
| 1984 |
In which American state were the 1996 Olympic Games held? | Steven REDGRAVE - Olympic Rowing | Great Britain
Steven REDGRAVE
STEVEN REDGRAVE IS WIDELY CONSIDERED TO BE THE GREATEST ROWER OF ALL TIME, WINNING GOLD MEDALS AT FIVE SUCCESSIVE EDITIONS OF THE OLYMPIC GAMES
FIRST GOLD MEDAL
The extraordinary tally of Redgrave’s Olympic medals started in Los Angeles in 1984. With Martin Cross, Richard Budgett, Andy Holmes and Adrian Ellison, he won the coxed fours event. He continued in partnership with Holmes, winning gold four years later in Seoul in the coxless pairs.
A NEW PARTNER
After the Games in Seoul, Redgrave teamed up with Matthew Pinsent. They were to become formidable partners, winning gold at the Olympic Games in Barcelona in 1992. The pair continued to dominate this event and went on to win the following three world championships. At the Olympic Games Atlanta 1996, they had a significant lead of 3.04 seconds halfway through the final race, which they won comfortably. This was their 100th race together.
PERMISSION TO SHOOT
After his victory in Atlanta, Redgrave announced on television: “Anybody who sees me in a boat has my permission to shoot me.” This did not last long, however. Teaming up this time not only with Pinsent, but also with Cracknell and Foster, he earned a fifth gold medal after a suspense-filled race, in the coxless fours at the Olympic Games Sydney 2000.
THE GREATEST ROWER OF ALL TIME
Steven Redgrave is one of the five Olympians to have won at least one gold medal at five successive editions of the Olympic Games, and is widely considered to be the greatest rower in history.
pair-oared shell with coxswain men
G 6:36.84
four-oared shell with coxswain men
In the news
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If you had a beard you would not be allowed to compete in the Olympics at what sport? | What changed the Olympics forever - CNN.com
What changed the Olympics forever
By Bob Greene, CNN Contributor
updated 11:43 AM EDT, Mon July 23, 2012
Jim Thorpe was stripped of his gold medals, won in the 1912 Olympics, because he had once been in semi-pro baseball.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Bob Greene: For decades, the Olympic Games banned professional athletes
He says the decision to admit pros changed the nature of the games
Greene: Having pro athletes compete increases potential for games to make money
He says as long as the Olympics are televised, pros will be there to compete
Editor's note: CNN Contributor Bob Greene is a best-selling author whose 25 books include "Chevrolet Summers, Dairy Queen Nights" and "Hang Time: Days and Dreams with Michael Jordan." He appears on "CNN Newsroom" Sundays during the 5 p.m. ET hour.
(CNN) -- For all the cheers, roars and ovations in all the Olympic stadiums and arenas over all the years, perhaps the most significant Olympic sound heard in the last quarter-century was a yawn.
Because a yawn, symbolically, was how the public greeted what might have been the most controversial change in rules that the International Olympic Committee ever instituted.
The one firm rule that always governed the Olympic Games was that amateur athletes were permitted to compete. Professional athletes were not.
That's what made the Olympics the Olympics.
Until it didn't.
And the fans, far from protesting in outrage at the change, didn't care. In fact, they seemed to like it a lot.
In the Olympic eras before television, athletes who accepted money for their performances might as well have been lepers, in the eyes of the IOC. If it was discovered that you got paid for playing, or that you accepted commercial endorsements, you were shunned, banished, cast to the cold winds.
'An iconic test of strength and skill'
A look back: London Olympics in 1948
Lady boxer breaks Olympic glass ceiling
Olympic athlete on pressures of competing
In the most famous example of the inflexibility of the Olympic organizers, Jim Thorpe, perhaps America's finest athlete of all time, had his gold medals in the decathlon and pentathlon in the 1912 Olympics stripped, and his achievements nullified, because he had once accepted small amounts of money for playing semi-pro baseball during his college summers. It broke his heart. The medals were reinstated in 1983 -- 30 years after his death, 30 years after the moment could have given him any comfort.
Torch starts final leg before London Olympics open
It may be hard for young viewers of this summer's London Olympics to imagine, but all the sponsorships, advertisements and marketing hoopla that are a standard part of big-dollar contemporary Olympic Games were thought to be an insult to the Olympic spirit not so long ago. The Olympics were supposed to be about love of sport, not love of money.
Then came TV.
The president of the IOC during the years of television's phenomenal growth was an American, Avery Brundage, and the guiding principle of his reign (1952-1972) was what was called the "amateur code." He was unbendable on the subject. In a 1955 speech, Brundage said:
"We can only rely on the support of those who believe in the principles of fair play and sportsmanship embodied in the amateur code in our efforts to prevent the Games from being used by individuals, organizations or nations for ulterior motives."
Meaning: to make money.
But once Brundage was gone, the floodgates opened. The IOC, after his regime, realized that commercial interests could turn the Olympics into a bottomless goldmine. And to bring in viewers, it was determined that an effective lure would be the presence of the greatest and most famous athletes in the world. Many of whom are professionals.
"The pros are there for a reason," the esteemed sports journalist Ron Rapoport, who has covered six Olympics, told me the other night. "People will tune in to watch athletes they know. The pro athletes are pre-sold to the public, which means increased viewership."
What made it an easy sell was the suspicion that athletes from certain Eastern Bloc nations were de facto professionals anyway: They were supported full-time by their governments to train and compete. So, by the end of the 1980s, the move toward professionalization of the Olympics had gained full steam.
Which seemed to be just fine with the fans. If the best athletes were paid for their skills, or for granting endorsements, why not? The concept of "selling out" -- once such a pejorative -- had become almost meaningless. Making a lot of money for being good at a sport was a badge of honor.
When the Dream Team of National Basketball Association players from the United States went to the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, the transformation was complete. If you spent any time around the members of the Dream Team in the months leading up to the Olympics, you couldn't help noticing that they were not exactly a bundle of nerves. They were going to win, and they knew it -- Michael Jordan spent much of his time in Barcelona either playing in all-night card games or getting in 36 holes of golf a day. The Olympics were a very successful business trip for U.S. basketball interests; the real dream was the one realized by David Stern, the NBA commissioner. The 1992 Olympics were the best global marketing tool the NBA ever had.
If you spent any time around the members of the Dream Team in the months leading up to the Olympics, you couldn't help noticing that they were not exactly a bundle of nerves.
Bob Greene
(Many people point to the fact that the Dream Team won their games by an average of almost 44 points as the most remarkable statistic of those Olympics. I've always thought that there was an even more extraordinary one: The Dream Team was so good that its head coach, Chuck Daly, did not call a single timeout during the entire Olympic tournament.)
Of course the problem with the Dream Team, and its successors representing the United States in Olympic basketball, is that they are automatic overdogs. The world outside the United States would love to see them lose -- it's "Break up the Yankees," on a planetary scale. The amateur U.S. ice hockey team at Lake Placid in the 1980 Winter Olympics -- the "Do you believe in miracles?" team -- was cherished because they won when they were said to have no chance. No Olympic team of U.S. basketball pros will ever know that feeling; the "Do you believe in miracles?" emotion will be reserved for teams who are trying to knock them off.
The size and scope and riches of the 21st century Olympics are a far cry from how the games began, and there's no going back. Few people seem to want to. The spectacle is hypnotic.
There would be a sure-fire way to restore what was seen as the purity, and the love of competition for competition's sake, of the early Olympics -- a way to drive the marketers and merchandisers and global sponsors away so that the Games would simply be games again. All the IOC would have to do is add a short sentence to the Olympic Charter:
"The Olympic Games shall not be televised."
That would do it.
Meanwhile, back in the real world, the opening ceremonies in London will be held on Friday.
Rumor has it that they'll be on television.
| Boxing |
Which English football team are nicknamed the Tractor Boys? | Ancient Olympics in Olympia Greece
Elefteria (Freedom)
Irini (Peace)
For an Athlete, only a life with honor was worth living. An honorable man was a man with self-discipline and respect for himself, the gods and the lows of the city. He took pride in carryng out his duty towards his family and his town. He valued moral rewards more than profit.
The athlete who was well-respected by his fellow athletes and citizens was the one who aspired to be the best. He showed respect for his fellow competitors and followed the rules of the Games. Such an athlete exhibited restrain and avoided over zealous behavior. A noble competitor accepted both defeat and victory gracefully.
Olympics
Day 1 of the Ancient Olympics
In the morning, athletic competitors and their trainers went to the vouleutirion, or council building in Olympia. Ten Hellanodikai (Olympic Judges) and organizers with the olympic Oath.
Next the competitors would proceed to the Altis a sacred olive-grove and go to one of the many alters. The men would make offerings to a god Zeus, Hermes, Apollo, or Hercules. They would pray for victory.
Then only competitions on the first day were running, wrestling and boxing for boys.
The afternoon was free for contestnts to explore Olympia Especially exciting was the Temple of Zeus with the famous statue of Zeus, considered of the seven wonders of the Ancient World.
Day 2 of the Ancient Olympics
Day two began with a procession of horses, riders and chariots into the hippodrome, or horse racing arena. This day was the day of chariot and horse rases. The chariot races were one of the most exciting and dangerous events of the games. There were both four-horse chariot and two-horse chariot races with distances ranging from 2,5 miles up to 8 miles. Horse races were just after the chariot rases and were often much shorter in length.
In the afternoon the competitions moved to the stadium for the pentathlon, which incluted five events: running wrestling, long jump, discus and javelin. The first athlete to win tree events was crowned the victor.
At the end of the day crowns gathered at the shrine of the hero Pelops, winner of the first chariot race. Funeral ceremonies were reenacted around the Altis and specially written hymns were sung in honor of victors. The day ended with feasts and celebrations.
Day 3 of the Ancient Olympics
The most important religious event of the whole Olympic festival started on the day tree of the Games -and was the sacrifice to Zeus. All gathered at the entrance to the Altis. Ambassadors from the Greek states brought symbols of their cities to be shared at this celebrations. The Hellanodikai arrived and the procession began around the Altis passing the Temple of Hera, the tomb the hero Pelops, the Temple of Rhea (mother of Zeus) and the treasure houses of Greek states around the Mediterranean. The procession concluded at the Temple of Zeus, where priests made animal sacrifices.
In the afternoon runners ran a long race called the dolichos, whitch ranged in lenght from 2,25 miles to 2,75 miles. Next came the sprints or stades which were arount 630 feet in distance. The sprints finished at the western end of the stadium, were competitors would be facing the Altis.
In the evening, a great public banqued was held where athletes brought their families and other guests. They feasted on meat and enjoyed the lavish foods the Greek city representatives had brought.
Day 4 of the Ancient Olympics
The fourth day of competition was mainly for contact sports. The first sport of the day was whrestling. The were no rounds and whrestlers employed a variety of holds, lifts and other movements to make their opponents fall. Three falls and the man falling was declared the loser. In Greek myths, heroes were often especially good at whrestling. At midday, boxing began Boxers were often severely hurt, cut and disfigured and in extreme cases even killed. Boxers often went for their opponents head and face so fast footwork was essential for the competitors to avoid too many punches.
The final combat event of the day was the pagration, meaning "all-strength" in Greek. This sport compined boxing and wrestling. The goal for the athletes was to make their opponent give up and concede defeat.
The last event of this day was the hoplitodromos or race in armor. The race servend as a reminder that one purpose of athletics was prepare men to fight in battle. Competitors carried shields and wore helmets as they ran two lengths of the stadium.
Day 5 of the Ancient Olympics
Day five was the final day of the Olympics. This day was a day to celebrate the accomplishements of the victors. Spectators, trainers and athletes made their way, procession style, to Temple of Zeus for the final time, with the winners leading the way.
Before the festival a boy was chosen to cut a leafy branch from the ancient wild olive tree sacred to Zeus. The leaves were then woven into wreaths. When the procession reached the front of the temple, the winners would come forward and the Hellanodikai placed a wreath on the head of each winner.
The reast of the day and evening was spent feasting. There was a big public banquet as well as many private parties. The parties often lasted ate into the night.
Role of woman in the Ancient Olympic Games
Woman were not technically allowed to compete in the Olympic Games. However, woman could be declared winners in equestrian events as owners of the horses or the chariots. Kyniska a daughter of king of Sparta, won great fame as the first woman to train horses that won in the Games.
Married women were not allowed access to the stadium during the games. Only the priestess of Demeter was permitted to watch the games seated by the altar in the stadium.
Women had their own special competition known as the Heraia. The competition honored the goddess Hera and took place in the non-Olympiad years. The officials organizers and athletes were unmarried womans.
The Heraia was made up of tree sprint races along the stadium track, specially reduced in length by one-sixth. The competitors were divided into age groups, beginning with the youngest women. The winners were crowned with garlands of olive leaves and given a share of a cow sacrificed to Hera.
Who could participate in the ancient olympics?
Not everyone in Ancient Greece was eligible to compete in the Olympics. Only Greek and boys, who were free citizens, not criminals, and whose city states agreed to participate in the Olympic truce of the games, were allowed to compete.
The truce was written on a bronge discus kept in the Temple of Hera. It stated that all states taking part in the games were forbidded to go to war, carry on a dispute in the court of law or excute criminals.
Olympic Truce
Truce bearers from the state of Elis traveled to all participating Greek cities states taking part in the games in order to announce the terms of the truce.
Each athlete had to take an oath that he had trained for ten months prior to the games. Thirty days prior to the olympic games athletes were required to gather at Elis for preliminary traing and trials. This was to make sure that all athletes were fit and received equal treatment. It was also to determine which athletes would participate in the official Games.
| i don't know |
Which European football team play there home matches at the Delle Alpi? | The fans are to blame for the reduced capacity
The fans are to blame for the reduced capacity
Click on the pictures to see them in full size.
Juventus plan to rebuild the Delle Alpi stadium and many Juventus fans have complained about the fact that the capacity will be heavily reduced. The Juventus directors want the stadium sold out for every match, and they have the statistics on their side when they have decided for this heavily reduced capacity. The sad fact is that Juventus only have around 30 000 spectators for the majority of their Serie A home games each year. The average attendance has dropped every year in the last six seasons. From a good average attendance of 47 000 in the 1997-1998 season to a very poor average attendance of 35 000 in the 2003-2004 season. In the last three succesful seasons when Juventus were crowned Italian champions two times, the Delle Alpi Stadium was sold out only for three games. When you watch Juventus games in TV you always see thousands of empty seats. Therefore it is not difficult to understand that the Juventus board want to reduce the capacity from 69 000 to a more fitting capacity.
So how come doesn't the most popular club in Italy with over 11 million fans in the country manage to get more spectators to their home games? The Turin population are known to be cold, demanding and not easy to satisfy. In the 1994-95 season Juventus played two UEFA cup games against Borussia Dortmund and Parma in Milano, and the stadium was sold out both times, 85 000 spectators were present. Had those games been played in Turin not more than 40-50 000 spectators would have gone to the games. Juventus have also played two official games in Palermo in front of a sold out stadium, and one time in Bologna also in front of a sold out stadium. Another well known fact is that almost every away game Juventus play in the Serie A is sold out, and Juventus enjoy a huge support in their away games in Italy.
The San Siro stadium in Milano was sold out for both games Juventus played there in the 1994-95 season.
When I spoke to the owner of one of the shops in Turin who sell tickets for the Juventus games, he told me that he rarely sell tickets to people coming from Turin. Almost all the tickets he sell goes to people from other Italian cities and foreign fans. Another thing that has to be mentioned is that to each home game Juventus play, statistically almost 50% of the fans come from outside of Turin to watch the game. Switzerland and France are always well represented, and thousands of fans travel from Milano and the other Northern Italian cities every week to watch Juventus. Regions like Lombardia, Veneto, Emilia Romagna, Liguria, Marche and Sicilia always contribute with many fans. Juventus have huge support in Milano and the fans living there would like Juventus to move away from Turin. They mean that Juventus would fill up their stadium if they moved closer to Milano, for example to Novara. And they always argue with the Juventus fans from Turin about why they have to come to Turin to see the games, when instead the fans from Turin could come to Milano where Juventus enjoy a bigger support.
It is very strange that Juventus doesn't manage to fill up their stadium coming from a big city like Turin with 900 000 innhabitants. To the big and important games when the spectators present rise to around 50-55 000, the majority of the extra spectators come from other Italian cities and from other countries to watch the games.
Many reasons have been given to explain the poor spectator numbers on the Juventus games. The Delle Alpi stadium is one. The stadium is very unpopular because it is placed on the outskirts of Turin, and the spectators are divided from the picth by a huge and useless athletics pitch. The visibility is poor from the stands and the fans are very distant from the players. The athletic pitch will be removed and the stadium will have a more intimate atmosphere when the new stadium is ready in 2007.
Bad weather and poor pitch conditions is not unusual in Turin.
This picture is taken before a Champions League game against Basel.
Another important reason is that the Turin population is known to be cold and not very passionate. The teams from Roma and Milano have a much bigger attendance, but the two cities are also bigger than Turin. The economic situation in Turin is not good and big factories like Fiat have huge problems. The population has also decreased in the last years. The high costs of season tickets and regular tickets to the stadium keeps people away from the stadium, and many fans prefer to watch the games on Pay-TV instead. Both Juventus and Torino have suffered a sharpe decline in season tickets and in their average attendance in the last years. Torino F.C only sold 7 820 season tickets last season and had an average attendance of 11 087. Both clubs expect to have fewer season ticket holders and a new drop in the average attendance also in the 2004-2005 season. The only logical solution for the two clubs remains to drop the costs of the tickets in order to bring more people to the stadium. That a famous and strong club like Juventus has such a low average attendance is a real shame. In the 2004-2005 season Juventus have repeatedly dropped the ticket prices, but it still hasn't helped. The average attendance is still much lower than in the 2003-2004 season.
Despite the myth, recent figures show that more people in Turin support Juventus than Torino F.C. The difference is that Juventus fans are often Italian and non-Italian immigrants to Turin, while the long-established Torinese tend to support Torino. Torino F.C who is the most popular team among the regular Torinese, now only have an average attendance of about 11 000 in their home games. And unlike Juventus, Torino F.C don't have fans who come from outside the city to watch their games. This clearly shows that very few football fans in Turin go to the stadium and the Turin derby is rarely sold out. The last Turin derby which was played in the 2002-2003 season only had 19 000 spectators!
Here are the number of season tickets sold by Juventus since 1985:
Season:
12 840
- 10 199
Juventus beat their all time record when they sold over 43 000 season tickets in the 1998-99 season. The fans were deligthed by the excellent and succesful 1997-98 season, and bought season tickets like never before. The season after the number suffered a sharpe decline, and in the following four seasons Juventus sold an average of 35 000 season tickets. A strange fact is that only 28 000 fans bought season tickets in the 2003-2004 season, specially since Juventus were crowned Italian champions two times in a row. This should have waked the enthusiasm of the fans, instead the number suffered a decline of almost 5 000 season tickets from the previous season. The number of season ticket holders has suffered another sharp decline in the 2004-2005 season. Only 17 000 Juventus fans bought a season ticket even if great players were bought by the club in the summer of 2004. The scaring tendency in Turin now is that in the last seasons almost only season ticket holders go to the games. Juventus rarely sell more than 2 000 tickets for a regular home game. It is only for the big matches that travelers to Turin contribute to rising the spectator numbers.
Here is the average attendance of Juventus since 1969:
Season:
18 085
- 12 367 (Serie B, Stadio Olimpico)
The average attendance of Juventus has dropped every season in the last 6 years, a scaring tendency. While the average attendance was 47 000 in the 1997-98 and 1998-99 seasons, the average attendance has dropped to 35 000 in the 2003-2004 season. Juventus didn't have more than 31 000 spectators for the majority of their home games last season, but the number of spectators in the big matches contribute to rise the average attendance. So when we see that the average attendance of last season was only 35 000, then we can also understand that the Juventus directors do not want to build a stadium with a bigger capacity than 42 000.
The only problem is that it will be more difficult for fans from abroad and other Italian cities to get tickets for the games, since almost only season ticket holders will get seats in the new stadium. It is the Juventus fans in Turin who are to blame for the reduced capacity, not the Juventus directors. Had 60 000 fans gone to see Juventus every game, then Juventus would have built a new stadium with a 60 000 capacity.
If we look at the figures for the spectators in the Champions League and Coppa Italia then the figures get horrible. The worst example was the second group stage of the Champions League 2001-2002, Juventus had 4 000 spectators against Bayer Leverkusen, 17 000 spectators against Deportivo La Coruna and 7 000 spectators against Arsenal! These numbers are a disgrace and a scandal. In the Coppa Italia 2001-2002, Juventus beat their all time negative record when only 239 spectators watched the home game against Sampdoria. In the 2002-2003 season only 400 watched the game against Reggina and 800 watched the game against Perugia! In the 2003-2004 Champions League Juventus had an average attendance of 17 000 spectators in their four home games. The average attendance at home in the Coppa Italia last season was also only 17 000 spectators.
Average attendance and average season tickets of the 5 biggest clubs + Torino in the last 6 seasons (1998-2004)
Squad:
17 692
10 848
Many people like me who live a long way from Turin, get angered by the fact that the innhabitants of Turin don't watch the Juventus games. While I and thousands of other fans spend huge sums of money to travel from abroad to see our team, the innhabitants of Turin think they are real fans watching the games on the TV. Many Juventus fans have said that it is a pitty that Juventus come from Turin and not another city, and that it is a disgrace that the Turin innhabitants don't show their team more support. Juventus is the most popular team in Italy, but Milan, Inter, Roma and Lazio have much more spectators on their home games.
In the last 5 years the Juventus directors have often threatened to leave Turin in anger over the stadium problem, but after my opinion it has also been in anger for the poor support and attendance in their own city. As i mentioned before, in every city Juventus play the stadium is almost always sold out, except for Turin. Therefore the Juventus directors also took in consideration a few years ago to become a globetrotter team playing their home games in many different Italian cities. For example the Italian Supercup final between Juventus and Parma two seasons ago, was rescheduled from Turin to Tripoli in Libya to have a bigger number of spectators. Last seasons Italian Supercup final between Juventus and Milan was played in New York.
Juventus enjoy the best support of all Italian teams when they play away in the Serie A. It has to be said that only few supporters from Turin travel to the away games in the Serie A. The reason for the massive support when they play away are the more than 1000 Juventus Clubs all over Italy. These clubs are good at organizing away trips. To the away games in the Serie A no more than a few hundred travel from Turin, while many thousands come from all over Italy. Unfortunately few Juventus supporters travel abroad to see Juventus in their away games in the Champions League.
Juventus enjoy huge support when they play away in the Serie A.
This picture is taken in Rome in 2002.
A thing that has to be said after so much frustration over the Turin population, is that the fans who go to the games do a fantastic job and give their team great support. The supportergroup Fighters is considered to be one of the best supportergroups in Italy, and they create a good atmosphere in the stadium. Watching a Juventus game in Turin is a fantastic experience, and is highly recommended. The problem is that the stadium is almost always half empty.
My opinion is that Juventus should build the new Delle Alpi stadium with a capacity of 50 000 spectators. This way the stadium will have a capacity worthy of a big club like Juventus, and it will be possible for Juventus fans living abroad and in other Italian cities to get tickets for the game. The stadium will also not look so empty against the smaller teams. We have looked at an half empty stadium in almost every Juventus home game for 12 years now, it's time to fill up the stadium. I also think that a new and popular stadium in Turin will bring more people to the games. Juventus supporters all over the world started a petition last summer against the reduced capacity on the new Delle Alpi stadium, but when the season ticket holders and the average attendance have declined another time the Juventus directors have proven they are right.
When clubs all over the World build new stadiums the season ticket holders and the average attendance always rise in the first seasons. When Juventus moved from the Stadio Comunale to the Stadio Delle Alpi in 1990, the season ticket holders rose by more than 11 000 in the first season. The average attendance rose with more than 9 000. In the second season of the Stadio Delle Alpi, the season ticket holders had increased by 21 000 persons from the 1989-90 season at the Stadio Comunale. In the same period the average attendance had increased with 18 000 spectators. The scaring thing when Juventus now build their new stadium, is that the Juventus directors won't allow this well known attendance boom effect as the capacity could be smaller than their current average attendance. I think that if the new stadium looks nice, is intimate, the prices aren't too high and the visibility of the game is good, then Juventus could have increased their average attendance dramatically in the years to come.
The visibility was also poor at the old Stadio Comunale.
The situation worsened in the 2004-2005 season
In the 2004-2005 season the attendance problem for Juventus worsened. Juventus have many spectators in front of the Television screens, but very few at the Delle Alpi stadium. Most of the Serie A teams have gotten a lower average attendance in the last couple of years, but the situation is worst for Juventus. In the summer of 2004 Juventus lost 11 000 season ticket holders, from 28 000 in the 2003-2004 season to 17 000 this season. This is dramatic considering that Juventus bought several star players that summer, and considering that few years ago Juventus had more than 43 000 season ticket holders. Juventus has traditionally been the club in Italy that sell most season tickets after the Milano and Rome clubs. In the 2004-2005 season also Palermo, Messina, Fiorentina and Sampdoria sold more season tickets than Juventus, putting Juventus in 9th place of season tickets sold in the Serie A.
For the Juventus-Roma game in the 2004-2005 season Juventus only sold 8 000 tickets, 4 000 of them to the Roma supporters. The big game between Juventus and Bayern Munich was only seen by 18 000 spectators, while the two other group games againts Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ajax were only seen by 6 000 spectators. Even the big game againts Milan in December 2004 didn't sell out the stadium. 54 000 spectators were present for this game, and this was the first time in the 2004-2005 season that Juventus had more than 29 000 spectators. The Juventus directors tried to introduce mini-season tickets for the games against Roma-Chievo and Fiorentina, but also this project failed as only 1098 mini-season tickets were sold.
The Juventus fans in Milano gave massive support when Juventus played away against Inter in the 2004-2005 season.
In Oktober 2004 the Juventus directors surprised everyone by lowering their ticket prices and admitting that the prices had been too high. Tickets to see Juventus are indeed much more expensive than for example tickets to see Inter and Milan, and the Juventus fans have complained much about this fact. Therefore Juventus announced before the game agsinst Messina that month that they would lower the price of all tickets. Before they lowered the prices the cheapest ticket for Juventus-Messina was 25 Euros, after it was 20 Euros. But the Juventus fans dissapointed once again as even lower ticket prices didn't bring more spectators to the stadium. Only 29 000 spectators were present at the Delle Alpi stadium for this game between Juventus and Messina. And 8 000 of these spectators were Messina fans. Only 4 000 Juventus fans bought a ticket to this game, so the initiative was a huge failure.
In the game against Brescia in January 2005 the Juventus fans set a new negative record. It was in fact the first time since the Delle Alpi stadium opened in 1990 that a Juventus Serie A home game was seen by less than 20 000 spectators. Only 19 338 spectators were present for the game which was played on a sunny day and with Juventus topping the table.
Some journalists think that part of the cause for the worsened attenance crisis are the innovative methods used by the Juventus directors. From the 2004-2005 season the season tickets are named and the fans have to show their identy card to enter the stadium. While previuosly a group of friends or the many Juventus clubs bought season tickets together and shared them. The new methods of the directors now makes this method impossible. Juventus were also criticised for selling their season tickets over the internett and that the cheapest tickets for the Serie A home games cost 20 or 30 Euros. Former Juventus goalkeeper Michelangelo Rampulla has been given the task to lead Centro Juventus Club and to bring the fans back to the stadium. So far the popular Rampulla hasn't managed to do this. Many fans believe that the Juventus directors prefer to sell season tickets to SKY televison instead of selling them to the Delle Alpi stadium.It isn't a big surprise that Juventus is the team with most fans holding season tickets to SKY television.
More than 54 000 spectators were present for the game between Juventus and Milan in December 2004.
The stadium looks spectacular when it is filled up.
2005-2006: Only 19 Euros for a season ticket
The sale of season tickets for 2005-2006 officially opened on the 18th of July with many surprises for the fans. First of all, prices were not any higher than last season�s, the other way round they had been reduced. Juventus have made a really unique offer dedicated to female fans and to children under 13: in sections East 1, East 3, East 4 (level 1 and 3) and West 3, 7,500 season tickets have been reserved at the incredible price of 1� per match, 19� for the whole season. Also, heads of the family buying two discount tickets (for women or under 13) can buy their own ticket with a 50% reduction. And for those willing to live the emotional Champions League adventure, Juventus have reserved a mini season ticket package at a favourable price to attend the first three Champions League home matches. Juventus got the idea of the reduced prices after their succesful experiences selling tickets for 1 Euro for the games againts Parma and Cagliari last season. A family of three who last season had to pay 1500 Euros for their season tickets now only have to pay 288 Euros. Juventus hope that this special offer will bring the families back to the stadium as in England and Spain.
The five main reasons for the problem
The reasons for the low attendance at the Juventus home games are the following:
1. The Turin population are cold and not very passionate.
2. Statistically almost 50% of the fans come from outside of Turin to watch the game, few Juventus supporters in Turin go to the stadium.
3. The Delle Alpi stadium is very unpopular because it is placed on the outskirts of Turin, and the spectators are divided from the picth by a huge and useless athletics pitch. The visibility of the game and the players is very poor.
4. The economic situation in Turin is not good and big factories like Fiat have huge problems.
5. The high costs of season tickets and regular tickets to the stadium keeps people away from the stadium, and many fans prefer to watch the games on Pay-TV instead. In the 2004-2005 season Juventus have repeatedly dropped the ticket prices, but it still hasn't helped.
Only 4 800 spectators saw the Coppa Italia game between Juventus and Atalanta in January 2005.
Lower football interest in Italy
The football interest in Italy is decreasing every season. Lower attendances at the stadiums and fewer spectators in front of the TV are now a sad reality for Italian football. The once football crazy country is not longer so interested in football. Italian Serie A has almost always had an average attendance of over 30 000. And for many years Serie A was the most visited ligue in the world. In 1999 the average attendance dropped down to 29 000 and in 2001 it dropped down to 25 000. And since then the average attendance has been between 25 000 and 26 000. The Serie A has been relegated until fourth position on the table of the most visted ligues in the world. England, Spain and Germany now have a much bigger average attendance than Italy. Other examples of the decreasing football interest is that in the 1984-85 season, Serie A had an average attendance of 38 871 and in the 1991-92 season it was 34 205.
The same goes for the Italian Serie B who had an average attendance of 13 822 in the 1980-81 season. Then it stabilized around an average of 10 000 for many years, before it dropped down to 6 538 last season. So what are the reasons: 1. Old and ugly stadiums with poor visibility and poor facilities, 2. Too much violence before, under and after the games, 3. Too much focus in the press on the negative things in Italian football: Scandals, referees, penalties, violence, corruptions and the poor financial situation, 4. Lower football interest in the country.
For Juventus last season was terrible regarding the average attendance. Juventus have almost always had an average attendance of 35 000, but last season the average attendance dropped to 26 429. The lowest average attendance since the 1966-67 season. I love Italian football, but when people talk about football crazy Italy it just makes me laugh. Because when almost all ligues in Europe are experiencing a sharp rise in the average attendances, fewer and fewer people go to games in Italy. The first Serie A round in the 2004-2005 season had an average attendance of 26 000, the first round this season had an average attendance of 21 000.
Average attendance in Italy and Europe
Here is the average attendance in the Serie A from 1990 to 2003:
90/91 : 33255
10161 Sweden
10013 Belgium
From these two figures we can see that the average attendance has dropped in Italy the last four seasons. We can also see that while Italy in the past always had the top average attendance in Europe, they are now fourth behind England, Germany and Spain. A important reasons for the drop in the average attendance in Italy are the old and uncomfortable stadiums in the country. While English and German teams have build new and modern stadiums, Italian teams still have the old stadiums with running pitches and poor visibility.
I would like to hear your opinion on this matter, so send me your opinion via E-Mail and I will publish the best and most serious opinions under this article. Remember to write your name, city and country.
Send me your opinion on this subject
Here are the opinions of other Juventus fans
Alex Jordanov, France
Fan of Juve since Platini played, and living in Paris, it's sad to see what's going on in Turin with the stadium. I think they should remodel from scratch the Communale. It's in the city, with easy access. Because the most important thing is to bring back the locals to the matches. Make the Communale a comfortable, retractable roof, heated pitch, luxury boxes. Amsterdam Arena, or Shalke 04 style. 40 000 to 45 000 seats. That way it will not look empty, when 21 000 come to watch Empoli in a freezing February mid-week game. Always remind people, especially the locals, through ad campaigns, that they are looking at one of the top 5 greatest teams in football history. That no matter what year, they are usually impeccably coached and field a team of world class players. Always. Whether it's the Platini, Zoff, Boniek days, the Zidane, Henry, Deschamps days, the Baggio, Del Piero days or the Trezeguet, Nedved, Buffon, in Serie B days. There is always a Golden Ball, or a world champion wearing the stripes jersey.
Andrew Cecere, Australia
As a migrant originally from Italy and a mad Juve supporter, it is unacceptable that a club with the size and prestige of Juve can only muster crowds of only 26,000 to some of the more important games, and can only achieve full capacity to only 3 or 4 special games per season. I have analysed so many comments e-mailed from all over the world and its clear that Juve's main support base is outside Torino, therefore a reduction of the stadium capacity makes sense or a relocation of a new state of the art stadium would be preferable around the 50-55k. Whilst much of the problems are based around unfriendly viewing stadium or the location or its unique climatic factor of Torino, it appears to me that the club has not marketed itself in manner suitable to the clubs strengths. There are many clubs from all over the world who have poor facilities yet attract more impressive crowds. Juve should employ a heavy weight of the marketing world preferably outside of Italy which has no ties with the locals and put together a marketing strategy that will bring fans back, if they once attracted large crowds, what has changed over the past 10 or 15 years, rather than first spend billions of dollars to redevelop / rebuild or whatever and then find out the same problems still exist, analyse then act, remember prevention is better than cure.
Marco Vella, Malta
Whenever I notice that in a second division match in an other country, the attendance is over 15,000, and the stadium is full, and then I realise that we bianconeri nearly fill one third of the stadium...it is a shame. Napoli, playing in serie C, have more interested supporters and bigger attendances. I think we shall either restore the Delle Alpi and make it without the Athlethic pitch, or build an other stadium in a better site and thus fill the stadium with 60,000 suporters. I think it is a shame that tickets are expensive, because the Torinese are not rich people. I think a solution would be of having a project of Juventus promotion in Turin and the nearby cities, to let people love footbal and to set lower ticket prices. Another solution would be to change the team and to offer spectacular football. We have to purchase players of quality like Messi, Riquelme, Joaquin and make our football more elegant.
Massimo Vassalle, USA
Every person who responded to your website has a good point in favour or against the new stadium. The bottom line is net operating profit for any business. Juventus has decided to reduce their stadium capacity to 42,000 and in my opinion this is the correct way to go. Juventus will have a new state of the art stadium with the seats close to the pitch. Good move. However, they have to do more. Here are some things Juventus can do: 1 - More identification between players and fans as one person wrote on your website. That is true. 2 - Don't rename the stadium after a sponsor. 3 - Get the seats filled with families not fans throwing dangerous flares. 4 - Open up the new stadium to free tours to fans once a week. (Like on a Saturday morning). 5 - Get a few home grown players on the pitch. It is amazing how much of an international following Juventus has and yet it struggles to fill the stadium. The management at Juventus have their work cut out for them. Forza Juventus!
Tim Bosschem, Belgium
Everytime I see Juventus playing in a nearly empty stadium it kind of breaks my heart. As a passionate Juventus fan it worries me a lot. I can�t help the feeling that, if I were a top football player with no special passion for Juventus, I would definitely prefer other clubs above Juventus because of the small attendance at the Delle Alpi. It scares me a lot. Thus, i was very delighted when I heared about the building plans for a new stadium inside the Delle Alpi, assuming the capacity would be about 50 000. Right now i�m even more worried. A 35 000 capacity would be a real shame. I accept that there are less Juventus fans in Turin than anywhere else in Italy (and maybe over the whole world), but I do think that the attendance will be doubled when we have a stadium like, for example, Liverpool have. I�m sure that if the �35 000 � stadium� will be built, we just create new problems in the future. As Juventus will be a succesful club owning a stadium with an awesome atmosphere (because of being so close to the players), the fans will come back again encouraging their idols. The directors will see a sold-out stadium every week and will realize that Juventus could catch more money if it had a stadium with a �normal� capacity for a top club. I do believe that the Delle Alpi is the real problem and not Turin which I would call a sad coincidence. If it�s true that these days thousands of people travel from Milano and elsewhere to Turin to have a bad view on a football match, than this number will only increase if you know you will be in a stadium where the players do hear you if you shout their names.
Tom Hughes, England
I had previously read of this paradox regarding Juve's attendances, having the country's largest fanbase yet struggling to fill the stadium in recent years. I think it is essential that the club does not pursue the reduced capacity policy. Many clubs in the UK did the same in the 90's and have had to spend massively to continually enlarge to meet demand. Smaller capacity has been a false economy for clubs like Man Utd (stopped at 45,000 initially now expanding to 75,000 at great expense), Newcastle achieved all seater status with 36,000 seats and have had to expand upto 53,000, and Liverpool currently trapped in 45,000 seater Anfield when a little foresight could've easily yielded 55-60,000 on the same site, now they're struggling to find money to relocate..... So Juventus should think long and hard before restricting themselves in this way. Personally, I believe they should be looking for a minimum of 55,000 capacity within a tightly packed configuration, with two large end stands preferably single tier and of approximately 80 rows, bending around the corners to join with double decker similar height stands on the sides. This should easily give the required capacity, but also help generate the type of atmosphere that will bring the fans back.
Stadio Delle Alpi is a great athletics arena��. End of discussion. Simple solution, turn the pitch through 90 degrees, and knock the existing curves down, building new side stands, preferably 2 tiered to join the existing 3 tiered stands, have these close to the pitch. A capacity of less than 50-55,000 for Juventus is surely ridiculous regardless of recent trends. Someone mentioned Everton FC in one of their earlier posts��. I am an Evertonian, and other than Man Utd and now Newcastle, we were the last English club to average over 50,000 hopefully indicating our former status. Liverpool�s success of the 70�s and 80�s and the city�s general decline helped severely erode our support, but we are hoping one day for a new 50,000+ stadium. In a nutshell��. A capacity of 42,000 for Juventus will be a big mistake, if not short term then certainly long term�.. it�s plain to see. Attendance trends are cyclic, the crowds will return when they get sick of their armchairs�. It�s happened in the UK, it will happen in Italy. But then Juventus fans wont be able to get a seat in their new stadium!
Folkert Mulder, Holland
I think it�s not an easy question why the Delle Alpi is only half filled. I�ve been in the Delle Alpi and it�s not ideal compared to stadiums in Britain, Germany and my country Holland but it�s not dramatic. In my opinion it�s more an Italian problem than a Juventus problem, because when you take a look at the attendances of the other Italian clubs, you�ll see that those clubs have an average of 20.000 to 30.000 empty seats per game. So I�m very curious for the reasons why fans don�t go to the stadiums to support their teams. Maybe the design, in the stadium in my hometown in Holland I can touch the players if I want to. But the San Siro stadium in Milano has also the �Western European� design but they�ve even got an average of 55.000 to 58.000.
Maybe there is �too much� football on television but I don�t think that�s the reason either. In other countries there is lots of football on television and attendances are still increasing. And I can go on like this. But my conclusion is that the image of football in Italy, when most people talk about Italian football they aren�t positive, teams play too defensive, there�s no action etc. I don�t know if this image also exists in Italy, but when a team has an attacking play style fans will be more enthusiast, even if the team loses once in a while. But off course a new stadium also will improve the situation unless the directors are trying to make a cinema instead of a football stadium, because the special football spirit in stadium is a very important part of football.
If someone has other conclusions or solutions, please mail me [email protected]
Richard Arkless, Scotland
I am a Glasgow Celtic fan and write this article as a fanatical lover of football. Juventus face a potentially crippling decline in their home attendence and are looking to downsize their stadium whilst searching for reasons as to explain why this has happened. First i would like to offer my opinions on why I think it has happened. Celtic have always played on the same ground, it has been owned by us since our formation and became the physical location to which we entrust our passion. We feel ownership in our ground, it is where Celtic has and always will be. We call it Paradise. The best way to compare it is to a church, it is the centre of our faith, every home game is like an obligatory pilgramige. To be there there is to be a supporter,to watch it on TV is like praying at home instead of the church. I feel by what i read that Juventus supporters do not share this sense of ownership in the focal point of their club which is their stadium. It as if Juventus is an ideology and not a place (which is admirable as every great club is more than where it is) but it needs to be on top of its roots to survive. There seems to be conflicting views as to what and where its roots are. I feel decline of attendences is a result of this.
I visited the Delle Alpi in Italia 90 to watch Scotland lose to Brazil and agree with all the views expressed that the stands are too far from the pitch which impacts seriously on the atmosphere. But this is game atmosphere, the atmosphere created by ownership and a sense of belonging in the place outweighs the atmosphere created due to how the place is constructed. If Juve supporters viewed their home ground in this sacred light then the fact that the view from the stands is not as good as it could be, would not be as big a factor that led supporters to watch it on TV. I feel Juve needs a new stadium to attempt to correct this. They need to own the place first and foremost. It could still be the Delle Alpi, but it needs to be the centre of Juventus and not just where they play. The club needs to find a way to connect the support of this mighty club to the place where the players ply their trade. How to do this is the problem. Consult the supporters, issue bonds to buy seats for life, reduce prices, black and white seats, community involvement (schools etc), seats closer to pitch, no designated areas for ultras.
On the subject of Ultras. If you never had a designated area for them and dispersed them round the stadium more families and people would come back to the ground. The very same thing has happened in the UK with all seated stadiums after the Hillsbourough disaster. With no terracing the hooligans found it hard to organise and (despite my considerable doubts at the time) families and others came back to games in their thousands because they felt safe. Kids love football more than anyone and you need to create an environment where parents and kids feel that going to a footballl game will be a good experience instead of a risky one. Believe me, i know it feels as though you will be losing tradition and your passionate base, but people will flock to the new stadium if they feel a safer/cleaner atmosphere in a place that is Juventus. Consult the fans to design the place and to where it should be to attempt to create the ownership connection. If your serious commercial goal is to attract more people to home games then this close consultation with the fans who are Juventus needs to happen. A club the size and stature of the old lady deserves a large and full stadium.
The irony and contrast is that:
- While you have empty stadiums ours are bursting to capacity.
- While Juve consistently reach the later stages of the Champions League in front of small crowds, Celtic have failed to reach the second stages in front of bursting passionate stadiums ( a perfect example was a 4-3 vicory over an already qualified Juve, to go out by a point 3 years ago).
- While we know who we are and where we belong, Juve seems to be a burning identity that doesn't know its home.
- While we play infront of full stadiums and recieve little TV money (�2m for a complete domestic season, �10m for group stages of Champions League) Juve play in front of poor crowds and rely on substantial TV money, four times the maximun we can earn as a minimum.
- While Juve sign world-class performers on world class wages to play in front of empty stadiums we have little annual budget for transfer fees but can pay semi-world class wages for average players due to substantial season ticket sales to play in packed stadiums.
- It is fair to say that we wish we had your qualities and you are searching for the qualities we have. IRONIC!
Fabian Miceli, Australia
I believe that Juventus should not reduce the capacity of their stadium to less than 55,000 people. The reasons are that i believe that the attendence is low because of the poor visibility in the stadium. I have never been to the delle alpi but after reading a few different sources of information it sounds like people are fed up with the absolute shocking view from the stands in the delle alpi. So if Juventus were to build a better stadium without the running track, like the stadiums in the premier league, then people will come back in droves. There is nothing like watching a game of football when you are close to the players. Juventus have never had a stadium were the fans are close to the players.
The old Communale had the running track and therefore the fans were far from the players as well. So how do you think the fans will react when they finally get a stadium were you can actually see the players!! It will be like a dream come true and i think that the 42,000 seats will not be enough and then they will have to build another stadium as it will always be sold out. On the other hand if i lived in Torino i would watch every Juve game, for Juve is in my heart and i would feel like i would be betraying the team if i didnt go. So one has to consider that those people who don't go to the games should be ashamed to say that they are Juve fans. How can you watch the game on tv if you live in Turin? Dont you all realise that teams like Milan and Inter are laughing at the support that Juve get?
I think that their should be a survey on Juve Supporters living in torino. The survey should consist of these questions.
1. Would you come to the new stadium if we guarentee excellent views of the field and players?
2. If you dont watch games at the delle alpi, what are the reasons?
3. Would you still subscribe to sky when the new stadium is built?
4. What improvements would you like to see in the new stadium?
I think that these four questions are critical and this will pretty much determine the attendences when the new stadium is built(bearing in mind that the Juventus board keep ticket prices competitive). Without the fans having some sort of say and input in the new stadium the Juventus board will be making critical errors. To all Juve supporters living in Torino do not abbandon your team when they play. How do you think the players feel when there are empty seats everywhere? Look at what Juve did to Real Madrid in 2003 when the stadium was full. It gives the players a great boost so going to the stadium will only boost Juves chances of winning the scudetto and the trophy weve all been dreaming about since 1996 (the champions league). Dont forget:
C'E UNA STELLA IN CIELO CHE INDICA IL CAMMINO, FORZA JUVE VINCERE E' IL TUO DESTINO.
Richie Dee, England
Oh! where do I start. As a training architect that would like to specialise in the development of stadiums I have many points on this issue. It has long been noted by myself to the lack of support for the club known as the `old lady`, and like other people agree that a key factor is the poor design of the stadium. Though the main factor is passion of the Turin fans as I understand. Why do Italian stadium designs usually consist of a pointless athletics track? is it ever used? I dont think so. What needs to be looked at here are a number of issues, but first research into other countries attendances must be carried out to discover the main causes for the problem. The highest attendances of any sport you will find in the world is at College football games in the USA, with the Michigan Wolverines averaging 111,008 over a College season. Other College teams have sold out capacities of 83,000 every game for 50 years (Notre Dame). The reason for this is the fact that the fans are more involved in the team as they attend the College and consider it a part of them. This is what first needs to be re-established, a means of identity. How this can be done is difficult to explain without several pages.
The NFL also has sell out crowds most games and is more fairly comparrible to club football as the supporters are connected to the team by a liking to the team instead of been a part of it, like it is in College football. Other than the Americans been a very passionate nation this also shows that the spectacular stadiums go a long way to attracting the supporters. An NFL game is not just a game but a show aswell almost like a cinema attraction, with things like cheers leaders, waiting service etc. I think European football should be more like this in general, you may disagree. But this would go a long way to attracting support. The following developments to a stadium would definately increase the crowd dramatically:
- The stadium needs to be built as close to the pitch as possible for more intimacy.
- The first tier should be situated about 2m above the level of the pitch to give an over looking ampertheatre feel.
- The angle of the tiers should be as steep as possible for a more intimate and intimidating atmosphere.
- An audio tanoy system which encourages the fans to sing the famous songs. This will make the fans feel a part of the experience.
- Pre match build up on the pitch in the form of possibly cheer leaders or something more suitably European.
- Hyping up the stadium and games through media channels within the complex.
I could go on but these are just some of the key issues that need to be considered. I believe football should be taken forward this way and especially needs to be adopted by the mighty Juve. I believe that the stadium should be at least 70,000 to represent their stature. The sections that are not filled at first could easily be disguised with flags etc and then removed the more popular it became. I also think another problem could also be the fact that Italien football is also defensive which may deter some supporters, but true fans stick with their team regardless. Anyway I hope my points may be considered for a better live supported future for Juve and football.
Sebastian Kath, Germany
I personally think that it is right to reduce the capacity of the stadium. All above the club will benefit more from playing in a sold out stadium. The whole match atmosphere will become more attractive and that's also important for potential sponsors. Would you spend money in a club when you see it on TV and in the background you can only recognize gray concrete? Blaming the club for these actions is ridiculous. The Turin fans had their chance to show that it would be worth to maintain the capacity. They didn't. I have been once in the Delle Alpi stadium, but I have to admit the view isn't so bad as it is always moaned about. Nevertheless I am looking forward to see the new one.
Karem Perez, Guatemala
I read all the articles that I, of course, could understand; and there's a little bit of truth in every one of them, I guess if we put it together, one of the many conclusions would be, first the idea of changing the stadium it's ok, but they have to think why do they really want to do it, they know that doing something against the fans is the worse way to go, and that's exactly what they're doing by not asking the crowd, they could do polls through the internet the same way you're doing, I'm pretty sure fans would come up with great ideas for this rearrengement of the stadium, fans are the ones who are going to use it, aren't they? and if they want to make people get closer to the stadium and by these get closer to the team they should make people feel involved.
I know it's a very difficult thing to do, but not impossible, they have time and they of course have the means to do so. I get pretty upset when I watch a game and I hear the comments almost jokes about the emptiness of the stadium and that emptiness makes Juventus seem a lousy team, a team that hasn't done or doesn't do something to deserve an audience and I guess that's not the reason. I'm very far away from Italy, I dream of going there at least once in my life and I could dare to say that probably Juve needs some great leaders in different fan clubs inside Torino, leaders of fan clubs who could really make people go and be there for this beloved team, someone who could make everyone feel the passion of being a fan, I guess by having 2 or 3 fan clubs that would be willing to go everywhere, there could be arrangements that would benefit the team, the fans and everyone involved. JUVE IS NOT A TRADEMARK, it's a group of very talented men who are living a dream and that makes the rest of us be part of it!
Marco Lombardo, Italy
I'm Marco, an italian supporter of Juventus. I've read your comments about the stadium problem and i think you are right, but you've to explain me - why in the recent past when Juventus had Ancelotti as a trainer, and not such a good team as now, we had 45000 supporters in the Delle Alpi? Or why the Juventus directors, like Giraudo, Bettega and Moggi, don't want to build a stadium about 50/55000 seats? Is this only because of the attendance of the last 2/3 years? I don't think so... They want to delete the Juventus ultras groups because their ideal stadium has to be occupied only by families, so that the father watch the football game whith his son while the mother goes with her daughter in the cinema or in the other entertainment spaces. Then after the match all the family takes a trip to the Juventus museum and/or megastore to buy a special souvenir of this lucky day. This is the real intention that "triade" has. I remember a "delle Alpi" often sold out in the past, in match vs Fiorentina, Torino, Manchester Utd, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Ac Milan,Internazionale but also against Roma.
I used to go to the Delle Alpi since I was only 8 years, but i remember easily a "Delle Alpi" extremely full. I think that many problems send away supporter from the stadium, first of all Sky and pay tv in general. Two nights ago(23.11.2004 against Ajax) we were only 6000 in the stands, and that was the first time in my life that many people didn't sing in la Curva Scirea, but I believe that with the new Arena(my dream is at least about 50000 seats) the situation will be better. Why in Milano, Juventus move more than 60/70000 supportes in your opinion? Of course because of Lombardia is the first region for Juventus supporters, but Milano is 110 km from turin, it's not so far, and so also because of the stadium, that's the best one in Italy. So Giraudo, Moggi and Bettega: please make us a spectacular stadium and after that Juventus supporters will answer.
Alessandro Lodi, Italy
Premettendo che sono stato diverse volte al delle alpi, � a s.siro e altri stadi italiani, vorrei porre l'accento sulle responsabilit� della societ� riguardo alla scarsa affluenza allo stadio. Senza nulla togliere al fatto che i tifosi di torino sono senza dubbio freddi(sia granata che juventini) vorrei porvi un paio di numeri che fanno riflettere e che vi fanno capire perch� reputo la societ� la prima responsabile: un juve-atalanta da 33.000 spettatori incassa circa il 10-20% in piu` di un milan -atalanta da 55.000, a questo punto la societ� si trova con un buon incasso, minori problemi di sicurezza � ordine pubblico. Quindi alla triade questo va benissimo e dal punto di vista manageriale si trova in una situazione perfetta che non ha interesse a cambiare. � vi ricordo che nonostante l'incasso a s.siro, con 55.000 spettatori si assiste ad uno spettacolo fantastico che in un circolo virtuoso fa arrivare ancora piu' gente per le successive partite.
In un juve-atalanta con 33.000 ci si trova in uno spettacolo desolante, con il portafoglio vuoto � con pochissima voglia di tornare al delle alpi(che � davvero fuori mano specialmente per chi abita a torino e in questo senso c'� anche un discorso di scarsa raggiungibilit� proprio per chi � di torino). Tutto sommato in questo scenario la scelta della societ� risulta quasi perfetta, il nuovo stadio sar� sicuramente stupendo sotto molti, se non tutti i punti di vista, con il nuovo polo commerciale ci sar� sicuramente una migliore raggiungibilit� e un avvaloramento di una zona davvero triste, ed un probabile potenziamento dei mezzi di trasporto, � ci sar� sempre piu' gente (anche in coppa italia). Ho detto quasi perfetto per due motivi uno perch� la capienza sarebbe stata meglio con 50.000, due perch� prima di sparare a zero ricordiamo che andare in tribuna nello bellissimo old trafford di manchester costa meno che andare in curva a torino, in uno stato in cui tutto il resto costa di pi� che in italia.
Mikkel Rehdin, Denmark
I think it is a problem that Juventus will reduce the stadium capacity. I have several good points why they should build a 50.000 seater stadium. First of all more people would come to see them play without the running tracks. The supporters would enjoy a more intense atmosphere with "an almost soldout" stadium with 40.000 supporters and a capacity of 50.000 seats. Better facilities would mean more people present in the stadium. More people in the stadium would generate more people to come - the opposite of a vicious circle. What will Juventus do if sudddendly more than 40.000 people would like to watch every game? Rebuild the stadium once again? It would cost more money than if they made the capacity 50.000 from the beginning. I am from Denmark and there we have a team who enjoyed 3000 supporters in an old stadium on average - then they built a new one and now almost 12.000 come to the stadium each time. Doesn't the Juventus directors think that 50.000 spectators would come at least once in a while if the stadium would be improved like for instance the new one in Hamburg?
Michael Schmidt, Denmark
Sono sbalordito dal fatto che la dirigenza juventina pensi sul serio di fare uno stadio nuovo con una capienza bassissima di 41 mila spettatori (che in realt� diventa ancora minore, visto che almeno 3-4 mila posti vengono persi per questioni di sicurezza!). Mi sembra uno brutto scherzo. Ma, sul serio, come si fa a pensare che una societ� mondiale come la Juve possa accontentarsi di uno stadio da squadra provinciale che lotta per non retrocedere. Mi sembra troppo ridicolo gi� il fatto di pensarci! Sar� pure possibile che Torino sia una citt� un pochino fredda (a me � parsa per� una citt� bellissima, molto pi� affascinante della sua discutibile reputazione di citt� grigia e industriale!), ma quando la Juve gioca in casa contro i rivali storici, come Milan, Inter, Roma e Torino, molto spesso lo stadio si riempie comunque, o quasi. E sia contro il Real, sia contro il Manchester, c�� stato il pienone. Insomma, nonostante la media sia di poco inferiore ai 40 mila, quando la posta in palio � veramente importante, la gente bianconera viene sempre allo stadio.
Ridurre la capienza a la met� di quella attuale, mi sembra un insulto nei confronti dei tifosi che vengono da lontano per sostenere la propria squadra. Per esempio, se la capienza fosse di solo 37-38 mila (facendo il conto anche con i posti persi per motivi di ordine pubblico...), io, vivendo a quasi 2 mila chilometri da Torino (a Copenaghen), non avrei mai nessunissima possibilit� di andare a vedere la Juve in casa in una sfida di vertice. Perch� in questi casi, tutti i posti sarebbero gi� riservati agli abbonati locali col seggiolino numerato. Anche i tifosi italiani residenti per esempio in Sicilia andrebbero incontro a queste medesime difficolt�. Ma vi sembra giusto?! A me no! Alla dirgenza bianconera vorrei dare questo messaggio: prima di prendere questa decisione troppo affrettata e troppo sbagliata, pensateci pi� di due volte. Altrimenti, temo che vi dovrete rammaricare tantissimo in futuro per una decisione molto penalizzante per tutta la juventinit� del mondo!
Robert, Vienna (Austria)
Please make the Delle Alpi have at least a capacity of 55.000! Building the Delle Alpi like it is today in the late eighties was a disaster. Building a new stadium with a too low capacity would be the next disaster. After my opinion there are various reasons for the low attendance the last seasons: There are few Italian players in the Juventus team and few local players. Therefore there is no identification for the local supporters. The current Delle Alpi stadium is a horrible stadium. In the first seasons of the Delle Alpi the stadium had an average attendance of 50.000 spectators, only because they thought they had a new and beautiful stadium. After a couple of years the people of Turin recognised that the Delle Alpi was not a stadium for football. The Italians were crazy in 1990 building an renewing the vast majority of the World Cup stadiums with pitches dividing the spectators from the players. It made no sense for future trends! That the Germans did so in 1974 I understand, because at that time pitches were "in" worldwide!
So the Italians made a big mistake when they renewed their stadiums. Other reasons for the low attendance are bad promotion and too much football on TV. Our local rivals Torino are in Serie B, the same as our historic enemy Fiorentina. It seems like Italians are a little bit tired of football. Reasons for this may be that there is too big difference in the potential of big teams and smaller teams, this was not the fact 10 years ago. There are only two teams from the south in the Serie A, that means no north-south competition. And the "Azzurri" has not taken a big title since 1982. All these facts have bad influence on the average attendance! I am sure that this can change rapidly! The attendances in England and Germany will not grow into heaven. Italy just needs a new impact (World Cup or Euro Cup title by the Azzurri, Champions League title to Roma for a change, or a local Piemontese Superstar at Juventus).
Antonio Marciano, Philadelphia (USA)
I think the head people at juventus are going about this the wrong way. really all there doing by reducing the seat capacity from 70,000 to 40,000 is making them look better on t.v. it will look like there fans actually show up when its really the same amount of people at the stadium. here they are spending hundreds of millions of dollars and the only good it will do is the annoying track near the field will be gone. ive been to torino and i agree they are really cold fans. the ones that support them 100% on the other hand are great fans. but the other ones arent even real fans. i heard them saying that "us fans deserve better" and they should win every year if not whats the point of going to watch their games if they wont win the scudetto.
I really think instead of spending all this money to make less seats they should really go on an italian tour for 1 or 2 seasons for their home games and play all around italy and even outside of italy where they are really popular. this way those horrible fans wont take them for granted anymore. i know the loyal great fans that support them every week will have to suffer a little bit, but there great fans and they'll show up once again. going back home after those one or two seasons will see for sure sold out stadium in every home game. Us passionate fans tend to make an excuse for those empty stadiums like the weather or they are playing against a crappy team but we all know its the fans in torino, shame on them. if cities like roma and milano can constantly fill up there stadiums every week by both teams then for sure Juventus can!!!
Roberto Colalillo, Australia
Ciao Tutti, My name is Roberto Colalillo and I live in Perth, Western Australia. This topic about Juventus and their stadium has angered me ever since I was made aware by television pictures and reports that the Delle Alpi Stadium is nearly empty in Juve's home matches. It is unthinkable that Juventus - one of the world's most popular teams - can't even fill it's stadium! Here in Perth our population is the same as Torino's and as with other cities in Australia, soccer is definitely not the number one sport. We have one team competing in the national league - Perth Glory - and despite soccer's low popularity they still manage to get about 20 000 people to their home games. Therefore, how is it possible that the home city of Juventus can't even manage to fill its stadium, when soccer is clearly Italy's number one sport and Juve is the Serie A's number one club. A lot of the blame has been put on the fact that the Delle Alpi is an ugly stadium and is too big for regular Serie A matches. This is partly true as the stadium was built for Italia `90 where big crowds were guaranteed. Though this can not explain the huge emptiness the "concrete bowl" stadium experiences week in week out. True fans would go anywhere to see there team play. It's definitely time Juventus redevelops the Delle Alpi into a a more suitable stadium but who's to say the local fans will appreciate it?? They should also assure fans from abroad that they won't be left out by a redeveloped stadium. It hurts me to think that I - who lives 13 000 kms away from Torino - may not see a live Juventus match for a few years and the locals who have access to matches whenever, are abusing their privileges!
That's my piece, Roberto Colalillo Perth, Western Australia.
Alessandro Wong, Hong Kong
Ciao, i'm Alessandro, a JUVENTUS fans from HONG KONG ( a city in China). I feel angry & disappointed when i read this article about our beloved JUVENTUS' new stadium. I simply can't understand why there is no one support our team when they are fighting hard on the pitch. Whenever i watch JUVE's match broadcast, i already noticed that really few audience in our stadium, but i can not imagine it is only half of the full capacity.
When you see other teams match across Europe, REAL MADRID- has more than 76000 spectators at the Bernabeu, Barcelona--has more than 90000 at the Nou Camp. Some small clubs like Aston Villa, Everton also has nearly FULL capacity when they play thier league game at home. For a such big club like JUVE, no more than 50000 to70000 fans in the home game can be described as a shame for us.......
However, i can't agreed the club's decison to build a stadium with only 35000 seaters. It is simply not a BIG CLUB's figure, we are the BEST in italy, & among the world. So i suggest our new stadium should have about 50000 seats at least. When you know that clubs like Arsenal, Newcastle also plan to build a stadium more than 50000 seats, you must agree with me. Although the number of spectators drop drastically, i think the extra seats apart from the season ticket holders can be sold to other fans around Italy & Europe.
Since it sounds JUVE enjoys a sold out stadium when they play away games. I think JUVE should consider playing some of thier home game in other city, for example, when we have home match against the lower profile teams, we can try it. Since we enjoy more support in other city rather than in Turin. Remember !! JUVENTUS is the image & represent Turin, JUVENTUS can last without Turin, but Turin can't lose JUVE. I'm sure most fans all over the world, like me, will NEVER know Turin until we find our JUVENTUS.
I'm Alessandro Wong, my email is [email protected] , i live in Hong Kong.
Anton Nikitin, Israel
This is unacceptable that our Juve will play in front of 35 000 (at max) crowd at home. The shame will be very painfull, every Juve fan must protest and act against this kind of future. Of course the Delle Alpi should be resolved, but this is not a solution. A real solution will be building a brand new stadium inside the city that will be both inviting and big enough, at least 60 000. We all know that the problem isn't the number of the fans, the problem is the grey, cold and so remote Delle Alpi. The reconstruction as it was proposed is a disgrace for Juventus F.C.
I call for all our fans in Italy to demand a real solution, we must leave the management no other choice then building a new grand stadium for our team. And how? By filling the Delle Alpi! If we will fill it just once and bring relevant banners, we will make a big impression. I'ts all we need! 69 000 just once! Please, all who have influence on the fans in Italy, unite fot the sake of Juve!
I'm from Israel, Ashkelon, and i have no time for a trip in the next 2.5 years, but then i will make the trip, i hope i will find a real home there Juve will thrive.
[email protected]
Alex, Russia
I am Alex from Moscow(Russia). In spite of the fact that i live in Moscow my native country is Georgia. Every time when i watch a Juventus match from the Delle Alpi my soul becomes sad. It is very unpleasant situation to see Juve`s game, for every match at home only 35.000 supporters come to the game. I suppose that the main reason is the Delle Alpi, in particular it`s arrangement and design. From the appearance it looks nice and elegant, but this stadium doesn`t carry out the overall objective that is to deliver convenience and pleasure to the Juve fans. Perhaps the moment that Juventus arent the most popular team in Turin matters a lot, but remember the 1/4 of Champions League season 1995/1996 against Real Madrid. That day the Delle Alpi was sold out! In my opinion Moggi, Bettega, Chuisano and co. should build a completely new stadium on another location with a capacity over 75 000. Sempre forza Juve!
Massimo Bazzani, Italy
In merito al problema pubblico e stadio secondo me vi sono tutta una serie di fattori che hanno inciso e incidono sulla mancanza di pubblico. Premessa: sono un abbonato della curva sud, e sono di Certaldo (Fi) e quindi mi sobbarco insieme ai miei amici un bel tragitto per vedere la juve. Fatta la premessa secondo me la mancanza di spettatori � dovuta allo stadio, e secondo alla lontanza tra la societ� e i tifosi. Lo stadio � freddo, tiene i tifosi lontani dalla squadra, non ha una buona acustica, non ha una buona visuale. Ma la cosa che secondo me incide di pi� � la considerazione che la societ� ha dei tifosi: in un calcio che ragiona sempre di pi� con la testa al portafoglio (giustamente anche) � pi� importante il business del cuore ed ecco che i giocatori non vengono mai ad accogliere l'abbraccio del pubblico (tranne rari casi come nedved), non si permette l'invasione di campo all'ultima giornata, non si organizzano feste per scudetti vinti in circostanze storiche (vedi 5 maggio).
Il tifoso sente la squadra lontana, non si sente partecipe della societ� e quindi non si sobbarca spese a volte difficili. Il fatto che la societ� voglia fare uno stadio ridicolo per numero di posti sta a dimostrare questo: meglio avere 10000 posti in meno allo stadio, ma 10000 abbonamenti televisivi in pi�. Infatti il problema non � la scarsa affluenza di pubblico che ha indotto la societ� a questa scelta ridicola, ma solo un freddo calcolo economico. Si sarebbe potuto scegliere di fare uno stadio da 50000 posti e mettere in piedi una politica di immagine e di cura per il tifoso e credimi con uno stadio bello, visuale ed acustica buona si sarebbero sfiorati i 40000 abbonamenti, due-tremila posti per gli ospiti, 3000 paganti e lo stadio sarebbe stato comunque pieno. Domanda alla triada se pensano di andare a giocare a San Siro una eventuale futura sfida Juve-Real o Juve-Manchester. Staremo a vedere, io sono sfiduciato verso questi dirigenti che pensano solo e soltanto alle esigenze di bilancio senza preoccuparsi dei propri tifosi che permettono loro di "mangiare". Io continuer� a sostenere la squadra, ad essere critico con i dirigenti e con il signor Lippi che giustamente dopo aver perso 5 finali europee su sette se ne deve tornare a Viareggio e lasciare il posto a qualcuno che le palle per vincere ce l'ha, con tutto il rispetto per Marcello che ci ha fatto vincere tanto ma che per l'europa evidentemente non � adeguato.
| Juventus F.C. |
In which year was the Charity Shield first contested? | Peter Corrigan: Fingers on the mutual destruction button | The Independent
Peter Corrigan: Fingers on the mutual destruction button
Sunday 24 March 2002 00:00 BST
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The Independent Football
While Juventus and Arsenal were playing out their eventually meaningless Champions' League match in Turin on Wednesday night, the incessant barking of a dog could be clearly heard echoing around the deserted stands of the Stadio delle Alpi.
While Juventus and Arsenal were playing out their eventually meaningless Champions' League match in Turin on Wednesday night, the incessant barking of a dog could be clearly heard echoing around the deserted stands of the Stadio delle Alpi.
If it was a black dog it would reinforce the symbolism of a week that should serve as a portent to a game that is continually advancing in the wrong direction.
The success of a tournament involving Europe's best teams is assured only if the games mean anything and the transformation of the European Cup into a league structure in its early stages is not going to have lasting value if last week was an indication.
Juventus, already out of the competition, stuffed their team with reserves and attracted only 7,000, many of whom were from London. Arsenal could have made it interesting but they weren't up to it and the resulting fare was far from prime-time material. Even Coronation Street would have been preferable.
Sparta Prague, also out, drew 10,000 for their match against Porto while Panathinaikos, already through, had 13,000 to witness them play Real Madrid. On the same night, Burnley had a capacity 19,000 to see Paul Gascoigne's debut; the moral being that if you want people to watch a football match you have to give them a convincing reason to do so.
The further the Champions' League moves away from the old knockout format, the more duff games they are going to produce and television might learn to be a little more selective of the matches they buy live.
However, it was not the fault of the product that caused ITV Digital to attempt to renege on their £315m deal with the Football League. I wondered at the time whether the bright sparks at ITV had ever seen a Third Division match but buying football in all its manisfestations was the frenzy at that time and it has come horribly unstuck purely for the reason that so very few people are hooked up to the channel. I presume that, one day, television coverage of football will have advanced to the stage at which it will be feasible for supporters to be able to pay-to-view their team play an away fixture.
I couldn't even guess what the economics of that would be but local loyalty, even to the lowly teams in the League, could provide an income via television.
But you can't buy what you can't see and that is hardly the fault of the clubs. To be robbed of the remaining two years' instalments of that fee would put most of them in trouble. Many club owners have ideas above their station but make genuine attempts to plan their club's futures. That they often do so with a reckless optimism is understandable because fierce competition ensures that if you don't try to go forward you'll go backwards.
The money contained in the agreement with ITV Digital at least offered some incentive for the investment required to make upward progress. The annual £150,000 for Third Division clubs rises to £200,000 in the Second Division and, more dramatically, to £2m in the First. The fact that three or four times more clubs are budgeting for those increments than can actually step up to receive them carries its own destruction button is no fault of ITV Digital. Nevertheless, it is a situation that the television company created and one from which it cannot be permitted to walk away.
The threat to clubs is not being exaggerated. In the past month Bury have joined Queen's Park Rangers in administration, owing over £2m, and Notts County only narrowly avoided it. Swansea City have a creditors' meeting tomorrow to explain how they are going to meet their £1.7m debts. The television income is part of the budget they are presenting so how are their creditors going to react to this latest development?
The situation is not totally divorced from the activities at the top level. The more they clamour for more Champions' League action, the smaller the priority they place on domestic competitions. The Worthington Cup is fast losing its importance because of the increasing number of large clubs, Arsenal for one, whose attitude attacks its credibility.
Yet, if treated seriously by one and all, it could offer life-saving finance to lower clubs who do well in it. The plight of our lower League teams may be of peripheral interest to the major clubs but they benefit from the game's strength in depth and should be reminded of that by the Football Association.
Sadly, the FA is an organisation that concentrates what imagination it has upon the national team and seems to have little to spare for the guardianship of the domestic scene. No matter how small, the death of a club is a warning for all. As the man said: do not send to hear for whom the bell tolls...
The not so beautiful south
There's more riding on Cambridge United's visit to Cardiff's Millennium Stadium today than the LDV Vans Trophy; as important as that is to them and to the other finalists, Blackpool.
Cambridge are occupying the south end of the stadium which has rapidly acquired hoodoo status. There have been eight finals played at the new stadium since it took over Wembley's role as the FA's and Football League's main cup and play-off venue last year and on each occasion the team allocated the south end has lost.
The last victims were Tottenham who were beaten by underdogs Blackburn Rovers in the Worthington Cup final a month ago. That result has since proved to be the start of a major slump by Spurs rather than a one-off jinx but the supersitious nature of football is likely to be seriously roused if the trend continues.
Millennium Stadium officials have dismissed it all as a statistical anomaly but, to be on the safe side, they've hired a feng shui expert, Paul Darby, to lay the curse to rest. He visited the stadium last Wednesday and discovered too much negative energy in the south dressing room and in the south stands.
With help of incense, a Tibetan bell, a scattering of liberal handfuls of sea salt and a horse called Lincoln, Mr Darby performed a ceremony which, he stressed, would remove the disruptive energy but wouldn't make any team play better.
As the bottom side in the Second Division, Cambridge are already up against it form-wise but shouldn't be surprised if they, and not favourites Blackpool, get the local support. If they break the bogy they will be ever remembered with gratitude. If they don't, the next big football match at the stadium is the FA Cup final and, whoever they are, neither of the two finalists is likely to take kindly to the haunted end.
Perhaps, the only fair way would be for both teams to use the north dressing room. This might cause friction in the bath after the game and the referee and his two assistants would also have to bathe with them, using yellow and red tablets of soap to keep the peace. But that's probably taking it too far.
Video ref's pulling power
Cricket's experiment with a dedicated television umpire who can be consulted by his on-field colleagues over difficult decisions ought to be studied by football. It is not feasible, as in cricket, to keep stopping a match to check the video but it should be possible to appoint an off-pitch referee to conduct a surveillance of certain offences with a view to punishing peristent offenders later.
Shirt-pulling, for instance, is particularly furtive and irritating and most of it takes place out of sight of the referee. As if Arsenal's game against Juventus on Wednesday wasn't frustrating enough to watch, the amount of tugging going on, particularly between Edgar Davids and Patrick Vieira, was staggering. It is frustrating to see players of such quality continually cheating in this manner and I'm sure it could be stamped out if a TV shirt-watch was mounted.
This service needn't cost anything. I'm sure someone like Umbro would be delighted to sponsor it.
| i don't know |
Which gift is traditionally given on a 15th wedding anniversary? China, Crystal or Tin? | Wedding Anniversary Meanings - The Lore and Wisdom Behind the Symbols
Wedding Anniversary Meanings
[Below you will find the wedding anniversary meanings for the gifts traditionally associated with each year of marriage.]
No one knows precisely when wedding anniversaries were first celebrated. But the tradition is believed to go back at least to the Middle Ages. At that time in the Germanic regions of Europe, a husband crowned his wife with a silver wreath on the 25th anniversary of their wedding day. If the couple was fortunate to live long enough, the husband presented his wife a gold wreath on their 50th wedding anniversary.
By the beginning of the 20th century, an additional 6 anniversaries were celebrated - the 1st, 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th, and 75th year for a total of 8.
In 1922 Emily Post published Etiquette in which she identified symbolic gifts associated with each of these 8 milestone anniversaries: paper, wood, tin, crystal, china, silver, gold, and diamond.
15 years later, the Jewelers of America expanded her list to include materials for every one of the first 20 years of marriage and every 5 years thereafter. Thus was born the traditional list of gifts and wedding anniversary meanings we have today.
But why were the various materials chosen as gifts to symbolize specific anniversaries?
To a certain extent, the reasons are clouded in mystery. However, it is generally believed that increasingly durable gifts were chosen for successive years to represent the progressive strengthening of the marriage relationship. As the years go by, the gifts increase in strength and worth from paper to diamond.
Would you like to know the wedding anniversary meanings behind the gifts for each anniversary year?
Look no further. The meaning, symbolism, and lore for each are described below.
Paper
The first year of marriage is like a clean sheet of paper, a new beginning upon which to write your passage through the years together. Also like paper, it is fragile and can easily rip, not having yet been tried by the fires of adversity and the storms of life.
Cotton
Like the interwoven fibers of cotton, the second year of marriage brings a couple closer together as their lives become increasingly intertwined. And as cotton is at the same time both strong and soft, the couple is learning how to be flexible and adapt to each other's needs.
Leather
Leather has traditionally symbolized protection and covering; our ancestors covered and protected themselves from the elements with the leather hides of animals. The bonds of marriage offer security and shelter as each partner takes care of the other. Now in its third year, the growing relationship is becoming a source of stability for the married couple.
Fruit & Flowers
During the fourth year of marriage, the budding relationship is beginning to blossom like a flower and ripen like fruit. Just as fruit nourishes the body and flowers the soul, so the deepening commitment and nurturing love of the couple brings refreshment and renewal to the marriage.
Wood
In ancient times, trees symbolized strength and wisdom. By the fifth year of marriage, the married couple is developing strong, deep roots like a venerable oak tree and is gaining insight and understanding from the mistakes and stumblings of the first five years. The pair has learned the most important lesson of all and the secret to a successful marriage: forgiveness.
Candy
As candy is to the taste, so romance is to marriage: sugary sweet. Celebrating the sixth year of marriage offers a time to rekindle the flames of love and passion that brought the two of you together. In older times, iron also symbolized the sixth anniversary. A strong and sturdy metal that brings good luck, may good fortune shine on your marriage all the days of your life.
Copper & Wool
Both copper and wool are known for producing heat. Therefore they represent warmth, comfort, safety, and security - necessary ingredients for a healthy and stable marriage. Reflect on these traits as you celebrate seven years together.
Bronze
The gifts for wedding anniversaries tend to increase in substance and value over time as marriage itself should grow and strengthen over time. Bronze is stronger than both iron and copper, symbols of earlier years of marriage, because it is a blend of two metals (copper and tin). This mixture represents the union of two lives and the strength resulting from combining time with perseverance.
Pottery & Willow
A potter molds a lump of clay, shaping it on the potter's wheel, and then fires it in the oven, creating something both rich and beautiful. So too, the marriage of two people is molded and shaped by choices and experiences, fired in the oven of adversity, and over time, something beautiful emerges.
Tin
Tin symbolizes preservation and longevity. At one time, food was stored in tin-plated iron cans. The tin protected the iron from rust and corrosion, preserving the food inside, potentially forever. A couple at the milestone anniversary of ten years has the ability to go the distance. Therefore, the tenth anniversary should be celebrated with special honor.
Steel
Steel is one of the strongest, most durable metals in the world, and therefore a fitting symbol for the eleventh anniversary. The cord binding the marriage together can no longer be easily broken, if it ever could. Strength and permanence define this milestone anniversary.
Silk
A couple that reaches twelve years of marriage has, undoubtedly, sailed through many rough waters and overcome a great many obstacles in their relationship. Having been strengthened by enduring difficulties, they now eagerly anticipate that the road ahead will be smooth as silk. It is time to enjoy the finer things in life. Celebrate this anniversary by taking time to indulge in luxury and pleasure.
Lace
As lace signifies refined beauty and elegance, so a marriage of thirteen years exemplifies polished and perfected love. The passage of time has created a delicate but strong object of beauty.
Ivory
Ivory symbolizes purity and innocence. Rare and beautiful, this precious commodity signifies the integrity and fidelity of the marriage relationship and the extraordinary sense of commitment two people must have to make a marriage last fourteen years. Loyalty and devotion are qualities worthy of commemoration.
Crystal
Crystal is the first truly expensive gift in the traditional anniversary list. The costliness of crystal is representative of the sacrifice and investment the couple has made to the marriage over the past fifteen years. Crystal also symbolizes clarity and transparency, reflecting the state of the couple's relationship. They now know each other better than they know themselves.
China
China symbolizes the beautiful, elegant, and fragile nature of love. It is a reminder not to take your marriage for granted, but to continue to care for it so your love will flourish. In addition, just as China, although fragile, is also durable and long-lasting, so a twenty-year marriage has withstood the test of time.
Silver
Silver is one of the most precious metals known to man. It has always been prized the world over and considered very valuable. It is therefore an appropriate symbol for the twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. Like silver, may your marriage continue to shine in splendor and radiance all of your days as you grow old together.
Pearl
Lying hidden deep inside the shell of an oyster is one of the most exquisite and treasured gems imaginable: the pearl. Symbolizing hidden beauty, the pearl reminds the maturing couple that true beauty comes from within and that what is most valuable is the shared experience of life with another.
Coral
Coral has often been called the "garden of the sea" because it covers the ocean floor. In ancient times it was considered sacred and believed to contain magical properties of protection from sickness and harm. It was also thought to represent the life-force due to its blood-red appearance. Like coral, loyalty and commitment are the lifeblood of a good marriage and love the shield that protects the union.
Ruby
Symbolizing love and passion, the ruby is one of the most coveted gemstones of all. Within the heart of this stone is thought to lie a flame of fire that grows brighter with each passing year, just like the flame of a forty-year marriage.
Sapphire
For long ages the stone of royalty, the sapphire is the perfect gem to honor a forty-five year marriage. Two people together for this length of time are a shining example to all married couples. Theirs is a union worthy of admiration and respect.
Gold
Only one gift can rightly capture the crowning achievement of lifelong love: gold. Symbolizing prosperity, strength, and wisdom, it represents the essence of what a fifty-year marriage should be. Congratulations. Here's to many more years of health and wedded bliss. Cheers!
| Crystal |
In which 1980s American TV show are the two main characters called Christine and Mary Beth? | Anniversaries | Reference.com
Anniversaries
What is the 60th wedding anniversary called?
A:
The 60th wedding anniversary is known as the diamond anniversary. The anniversary got its name because of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, which also made the 60th wedding anniversary popular.
Q: What is a good way to celebrate your parents' 50th wedding anniversary?
A: Good ideas for celebrating parents' 50th wedding anniversary include holding a vows renewal ceremony, throwing a big party for family and friends, taking the parents on a special vacation or having a simple family dinner at a favorite restaurant. The children should choose an idea that both reflects the parents' interests and tastes but also fits the budget.
Q: What is the 15th wedding anniversary known as?
A: The 15th wedding anniversary is known as the crystal anniversary. It has a traditional gift option and a modern gift option. The traditional gift is that of a crystal item, such as a bowl or candlestick. The modern gift for the 15th wedding anniversary is a watch.
Q: What does each wedding anniversary represent?
A: While most married couples only celebrate certain years, like the 25th or 50th wedding anniversary, each wedding anniversary is represented by a symbolic gift. Traditionally, gifts given or exchanged during the early years of marriage are practical household things to help the newlyweds to create a better home. While traditional gifts are still given nowadays, a more contemporary gift set is devised to be on a par with modern times.
Q: What is the traditional gift for a seventh wedding anniversary?
A: The traditional gift for a seventh wedding anniversary is either copper or wool. Some suggestions for wool gifts are a scarf, sweater, rug or suit. Anyone choosing to give a copper gift could present his spouse with a vase, desk accessories, a clock or some artwork.
Q: What is the gift for the 36th wedding anniversary?
A: The gift given for the 36th wedding anniversary is bone china. Bone china is a type of porcelain made from the bones of cows, as well as feldspar and clay, which is noted for its strength and durability. Giving a long lasting china symbolizes a long lasting marriage.
Q: What is the traditional gift for an 80th anniversary?
A: Oak is the traditional gift for an 80th anniversary, while diamonds or pearls are a more modern gift. Traditionally, oak is used in place of gems or precious metals because the oak tree takes a long period of time and commitment to reach full maturity, which is a direct reflection of the hard work and dedication that is necessary to sustain an 80-year marriage.
Q: What traditions surround a 20th wedding anniversary?
A: Many traditions surround 20th wedding anniversaries, including several for gifts. The customary offering is china, which symbolizes lasting and magnificent love. This includes vases, dinner sets, tea sets, photo frames or personalized plates. As of 2014, contemporary presents are made from platinum since it is strong and enduring.
Q: What is the symbol for each year of marriage?
A: Traditionally, eight anniversaries were associated with a material: years one, five, 10, 15, 20, 25, 50 and 75. Respectively, the associated traditional objects are paper, wood, tin, crystal, china, silver, gold and diamond. In 1937, Jewelers of America expanded the list to include every year up to year 15 and then every subsequent five years until year 50.
Q: What are the modern anniversary gifts by year?
A: Modern anniversary gifts by year include clocks for the first anniversary, china for the second, diamond jewelry for the 10th and platinum for the 20th. Silver remains steadfast as a 25th anniversary gift, as does ruby for a 40th anniversary.
Q: What are common prayers said during a wedding anniversary?
A: Common prayers said during a wedding anniversary include, "May God bless you and grant you joy. May He deepen your love for each other" and "Lord, we thank you for this couple and for all of the years that they have had together." In the Catholic Book of Blessings, blessing numbers 94-106, 115-131 and 132-134 are used for anniversaries. Matthew 19:5,6 and Corinthians 13:4-8 are also incorporated into anniversary celebrations.
| i don't know |
Cable-stayed, Pontoon and Suspension are all types of what? | Cable-stayed bridges | Structurae
Cable-stayed bridges
In cable-stayed bridges the deck is supported by diagonal cables from a pylon.
Most Important Structures in this Category
entry with pictures
Note: the above table may include entries associated with subcategories while the full list does not include these subcategories.
Subcategories
AFPC Ponts suspendus et à haubans. Cable-stayed and suspension bridges (Vol. 1) , Association française pour la construction, Bagneux (France)
Abbas, Sajid & Scordelis, Alex Nonlinear analysis of cable-stayed bridges presented at Ponts suspendus et à haubans. Cable-stayed and suspension bridges, Deauville, 12.-15.10.1994.
Abdel-Ghaffar, Ahmed M. Seismic behavior of cable-stayed and suspension bridges presented at Ponts suspendus et à haubans. Cable-stayed and suspension bridges, Deauville, 12.-15.10.1994.
Aschrafi, Mehdi Control of wind-induced vibrations of cable-stayed bridges presented at Ponts suspendus et à haubans. Cable-stayed and suspension bridges, Deauville, 12.-15.10.1994.
Aschrafi, Mehdi Comparative investigations of suspension bridges and cable-stayed bridges for spans exceeding 1000 m presented at Long-Span and High-Rise Structures, IABSE Symposium, Kobe, 1998.
Astiz, Miguel A. & Fernández Troyano, Leonardo & Manterola Armisén, Francisco Javier Evolution of design trends in cable-stayed bridges presented at IABSE Conference, Malmö 1999 - Cable-stayed bridges. Past, present and future.
Biliszczuk, Jan & Wójcicki, Zbigniew & Pakos, Wojciech Analytical and Experimental Dynamical Analysis of a Cable-Stayed Footbridge Model presented at 4th International Conference Footbridge 2011, 6-8 July 2011, Wroclaw, Poland.
Billington, David P. & Nazmy, Aly History and Aesthetics of Cable-Stayed Bridges in "Journal of Structural Engineering (ASCE)", October 1991, n. 10 v. 117
Biondini, Fabio & Frangopol, Dan M. Some Aspects of the Life-Cycle Reliability of the Twin Cable-Stayed Bridges presented at 17th IABSE Congress, Creating and Renewing Urban Structures – Tall Buildings, Bridges and Infrastructure, Chicago, September 17-19, 2008.
Bruer, Arne & Pircher, Heinz & Bokan, Heinz Computer based optimising of the tensioning of cable-stayed bridges presented at IABSE Conference, Malmö 1999 - Cable-stayed bridges. Past, present and future.
Bruno, Domenico & Grimaldi, Antonio & Leonardi, Angelo Deformability of long-span cable-stayed bridges for railways presented at IABSE Conference, Malmö 1999 - Cable-stayed bridges. Past, present and future.
Bruno, Domenico & Leonardi, Angelo Aerodynamic instability of long-span cable-stayed bridges presented at Long-Span and High-Rise Structures, IABSE Symposium, Kobe, 1998.
Carlucci, Alberto & Pahisa, Mariona An innovative methodology to determine the partial load factor for prestressing in cable supported bridges presented at Challenges in Design and Construction of an Innovative and Sustainable Built Environment, 19th IABSE Congress Stockholm, 21-23 September 2016.
Chatterjee, P. K. & Datta, T. K. Vibration of Cable-Stayed Bridges under Moving Vehicles in "Structural Engineering International", May 1994, n. 2 v. 4
Chen, Dewei A new method to assign initial forces for prestressed concrete cable-stayed bridges presented at IABSE Conference, Malmö 1999 - Cable-stayed bridges. Past, present and future.
Cheng, Jin & Liu, Xiao-Luan & Xiao, Ru-Cheng System Reliability Evaluation of Long-Span Cable-Stayed Bridges presented at IABSE Symposium, Large Structures and Infrastructures for Environmentally Constrained and Urbanised Areas, Venice, 22-24 September 2010.
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Conversy, François & Bougon, Sébastien & Boutillon, Laurent The pre-tensioned cable-stayed bridge presented at Ponts suspendus et à haubans. Cable-stayed and suspension bridges, Deauville, 12.-15.10.1994.
Corven, John A. Durability in the design of American precast segmental cable-stayed bridges presented at Extending the Lifespan of Structures, IABSE Symposium, San Francisco, August 1995.
Cremer, Jean-Marie & de Ville de Goyet, Vincent Some innovative cable-stayed bridges presented at Ponts suspendus et à haubans. Cable-stayed and suspension bridges, Deauville, 12.-15.10.1994.
Ewert, Sven Schrägseilbrücke aus Fertigteilen in Saudi-Arabien mit einer Hauptspannweite von 405 m in "Bautechnik", March 1999, n. 3 v. 76
Fan, L. C. & Chen, D. W. & Tham, L. G. New developments of erection control for prestressed concrete cable-stayed bridges presented at IABSE Conference, Malmö 1999 - Cable-stayed bridges. Past, present and future.
Fan, Li-Chu & Hu, Shi-de Seismic behaviour of long-span cable-stayed bridges presented at Long-Span and High-Rise Structures, IABSE Symposium, Kobe, 1998.
Feige, Adolf The Evolution of German Cable-Stayed Bridges in "Acier = Stahl = Steel", December 1966, n. 12 v. 31
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Fujino, Yozo & Nagai, Masatsugu Steel cable-stayed bridges - with emphasis on Japanese bridges presented at Ponts suspendus et à haubans. Cable-stayed and suspension bridges, Deauville, 12.-15.10.1994.
George, Hany W. Influence of Deck Material on Response of Cable-Stayed Bridges to Live Loads in "Journal of Bridge Engineering (ASCE)", May 1999, n. 2 v. 4
Gimsing, Niels J. Cable-Supported Bridges (2nd edition), John Wiley & Sons, New York (USA), 1997
Gimsing, Niels J. History of Cable-stayed bridges presented at IABSE Conference, Malmö 1999 - Cable-stayed bridges. Past, present and future.
Gimsing, Niels J. & Georgakis, Christos Cable Supported Bridges (3rd edition), John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken (USA), ISBN 0470666285, 2012
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Hildebrand, Maciej & Biliszczuk, Jan Monitoring System for a Cable-Stayed Bridge in Plock presented at 17th IABSE Congress, Creating and Renewing Urban Structures – Tall Buildings, Bridges and Infrastructure, Chicago, September 17-19, 2008.
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Hong, Namhee-Kim & Koh, Hyun-Moo & Hong, Sung-Gul Typology of Contemporary Cable Bridges toward Bridge Aesthetics presented at Structural Engineering: Providing Solutions to Global Challenges, IABSE Conference Geneva, September 2015.
Hou, Yincheng New concept used in construction of concrete cable-stayed bridges presented at Bridges — Interaction between construction technology and design, IABSE Symposium, Leningrad, USSR 1991.
Hyttinen, E. & Välimäki, J. & Järvenpää, Esko Cable-stayed bridges, effect of breaking of a cable presented at Ponts suspendus et à haubans. Cable-stayed and suspension bridges, Deauville, 12.-15.10.1994.
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Javor, Tibor The stress-strain analysis during construction of three cable-stayed prestressed concrete bridges (river Elba crossing bridge near Podebrady, bridge over the railway station in Prague, bridge over the lake Jordan near Tabor) (Slovakia) presented at Ponts suspendus et à haubans. Cable-stayed and suspension bridges, Deauville, 12.-15.10.1994.
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Jose Arenas, Juan & Capellán, Guillermo Design and Erection of Two Recent Urban Cable-stayed Bridges in Spain presented at 17th IABSE Congress, Creating and Renewing Urban Structures – Tall Buildings, Bridges and Infrastructure, Chicago, September 17-19, 2008.
Kalny, Milan & Kvasníeka, V. Cable-stayed bridge over the Labe River at Nymburk hybrid and efficient solution in given context presented at Improving Infrastructure Worldwide, IABSE Symposium, Weimar, 19-21.09.2007.
Kanok-Nukulchai, Worsak & Yiu, P. K. A. Mathematical Modelling of Cable-Stayed Bridges in "Structural Engineering International", May 1992, n. 2 v. 2
Karoumi, Raid Nonlinear dynamic analysis of cable-stayed bridges excited by moving vehicles presented at IABSE Conference, Malmö 1999 - Cable-stayed bridges. Past, present and future.
Kazakevych, Mykhailo L. & Kulyabko, Volodymyr V. Stabilization of a cable-stayed footbridge presented at Extending the Lifespan of Structures, IABSE Symposium, San Francisco, August 1995.
Keil, Andreas & Wenger, Philipp Mehrfeldrige Schrägseilbrücken in "Brückenbau", 2009- 2010, n. 4-1
Kim, Ho-Kyung & Kim, Gwon-Teak Un balanced Application of Wind Stabilizing Cables for the Free Cantilevered Construction of a Cable-Stayed Bridge presented at IABSE Symposium, Large Structures and Infrastructures for Environmentally Constrained and Urbanised Areas, Venice, 22-24 September 2010.
Kim, Young-Min & Kwak, Younghak Aerodynamic Characteristics of a Cable-Stayed Bridge with a Span of 1,200m presented at 35th Annual Symposium of IABSE / 52nd Annual Symposium of IASS / 6th International Conference on Space Structures, London, September 2011.
Kimura, Kichiro & Nakamura, Shozo Buffeting analysis for cable-stayed bridges during constuction in yawed wind presented at Ponts suspendus et à haubans. Cable-stayed and suspension bridges, Deauville, 12.-15.10.1994.
Kisin, S. & Ravic, N. & Kovacevic, J. First Cable-Stayed Bridge in Bosnia and Herzegovina in "Structural Engineering International", August 2003, n. 3 v. 13
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Lodoli, Diego Cable Stayed Footbridge Over Sile River in Treviso, Italy presented at Footbridge 2008 - Footbridges for Urban Renewal, Third International Conference on Footbridges, 2-4 July 2008, Porto, Portugal.
Lozano Galant, Jose Antonio & Nogal, Maria Dealing with the peculiarities of the structural system identification of cable-stayed bridges by observability techniques presented at Structural Engineering: Providing Solutions to Global Challenges, IABSE Conference Geneva, September 2015.
Lozano-Galant, Jose Antonio & Ruiz-Ripoll, Lidia Calculation of the Objective Service State in Cable-Stayed Bridges presented at 35th Annual Symposium of IABSE / 52nd Annual Symposium of IASS / 6th International Conference on Space Structures, London, September 2011.
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Manterola Armisén, Francisco Javier Cable-stayed concrete bridges presented at Ponts suspendus et à haubans. Cable-stayed and suspension bridges, Deauville, 12.-15.10.1994.
Meister, Rainer & Borowski, Michael Die A 281 in Bremen – Eine städtebauliche Herausforderung mit einer Schrägseilbrücke in Verbundbauweise presented at 17. Dresdner Brückenbausymposium, Dresden, 13. März 2007.
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Miyachi, Kazuhiro & Nakamura, Shunichi Risk Assessment of Corroded Bridge Wires using 3D Laser Scanner presented at Challenges in Design and Construction of an Innovative and Sustainable Built Environment, 19th IABSE Congress Stockholm, 21-23 September 2016.
Miyazaki, Masao Aerodynamic and structural dynamic control system of cable-stayed bridge for wind induced vibration presented at IABSE Conference, Malmö 1999 - Cable-stayed bridges. Past, present and future.
Mohareb, Sherif & Goldack, Arndt & Schlaich, Mike Simple Model for Contact Stress of Strands Bent over Circular Saddles presented at Challenges in Design and Construction of an Innovative and Sustainable Built Environment, 19th IABSE Congress Stockholm, 21-23 September 2016.
Monaco, Pietro & Locorotondo, Giovanni Multistayed cable-stayed bridges with girder in steel and light prestressed concrete presented at Ponts suspendus et à haubans. Cable-stayed and suspension bridges, Deauville, 12.-15.10.1994.
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Morgenthal, Guido Aerodynamic Behaviour of Very Long Cable-Stayed Bridges during Construction presented at IABSE Symposium, Large Structures and Infrastructures for Environmentally Constrained and Urbanised Areas, Venice, 22-24 September 2010.
Okimoto, Masayuki & Tominaga, Tomonori Long-span composite cable-stayed bridge with new hybrid girder presented at Long-Span and High-Rise Structures, IABSE Symposium, Kobe, 1998.
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Park, J. I. & Byun, H. K. & Seo, J. W. Control system and postprocessing in erection of composite cable-stayed bridge presented at Ponts suspendus et à haubans. Cable-stayed and suspension bridges, Deauville, 12.-15.10.1994.
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Pellegrino, Carlo & Pipinato, Alessio Arranging Geometric Configuration of Cable-Stayed Bridges Taking Fatigue into Account presented at IABSE Symposium, Large Structures and Infrastructures for Environmentally Constrained and Urbanised Areas, Venice, 22-24 September 2010.
Pielach, Przemysław & Malinowski, Dariusz Realization of a Recreational Pier on the Vistula River in Płock presented at 4th International Conference Footbridge 2011, 6-8 July 2011, Wroclaw, Poland.
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Rachmantio, Honorius Planning and construction of the first cable-stayed bridge in Indonesia presented at Long-Span and High-Rise Structures, IABSE Symposium, Kobe, 1998.
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Robert, Florent & Lamarque, Claude-Henri Non-linear vibrations of simplified cable-stayed bridges presented at Ponts suspendus et à haubans. Cable-stayed and suspension bridges, Deauville, 12.-15.10.1994.
Robert, Florent & Lamarque, Claude-Henri Non-linear vibrations of a simplified cable-stayed bridge presented at Ponts suspendus et à haubans. Cable-stayed and suspension bridges, Deauville, 12.-15.10.1994.
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Straupe, Verners & Paeglitis, Ainars Mathematical Bases of Interaction between Elements in Cable Stayed Bridges presented at 35th Annual Symposium of IABSE / 52nd Annual Symposium of IASS / 6th International Conference on Space Structures, London, September 2011.
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Sun, Limin & Xie, Wen & Wei, Jun Seismic Damage Control of Long Span Cable-stayed Bridges by Energy Dissipating Subsidiary Piers presented at 35th Annual Symposium of IABSE / 52nd Annual Symposium of IASS / 6th International Conference on Space Structures, London, September 2011.
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| Bridge |
As at September 2004, which footballer is the all time top scorer in the English Premiership who doesn't normally play as a striker? | Brantacan 2016 | UK bridges | - Cable Stayed
Two terminal piers
Four anchorages
Both types of bridge have two towers and a suspended deck structure. Whether the towers are equivalent may become apparent. There is a difference in the deck structures. The deck of a suspension bridge merely hangs from the suspenders, and has only to resist bending and torsion caused by live loads and aerodynamic forces. The cable-stayed deck is in compression, pulled towards the towers, and has to be stiff at all stages of construction and use.
A great advantage of the cable-stayed bridge is that it is essentially made of cantilevers, and can be constructed by building out from the towers. Not so a suspension bridge. Once the towers have been completed, steel cables have to be strung across the entire length of the bridge. These are used to support the spinning mechanism, used since the time of Roebling and the Brooklyn bridge, which takes thousands of strands of steel wire across the bridge.
Because the cable-stayed bridge is well-balanced, the terminal piers have little to do for the bridge except hold the ends in place and balance the live loads, which may be upward or downward, depending on the positions of the loads. A suspension bridge has terminal piers too, unless the ends are joined directly to the banks of the river.
The cables often pass over these piers and then down into the ground, where they are anchored, and so the piers have to redirect the tension. The four anchorages of a suspension bridge have to withstand the tension of the four cable-ends, and are often massive constructions. If the bridge is built on difficult ground, as in the case of the Humber bridge, the anchorage can present a fearsome problem.
The deck of a suspension bridge is usually suspended by vertical hangers, though, some bridges, following the example of the Severn bridge, use inclined ones to increase stability. But the structure is essentially flexible, and great effort must be made to withstand the effects of traffic and wind. If, for example, there is a daily flow of traffic across a bridge to a large city on one side, the live load can be asymmetrical, with more traffic on one side in the morning, and more traffic on the other side in the evening. This produces a periodic torsion, and the bridge needs to be strong enough to resist the possible effects of fatigue.
Great attention needs to be paid to aerodynamic stability in suspension bridges. The effects of wind are much better understood than they used to e, and the advent of the streamlined deck, used first in the Severn bridge, have reduced the cost of suspension bridges. The box-section of the Severn bridge contributes not only to aerodynamic stability, but to torsional stiffness. This and the inclined hangers owe much to the ingenuity and imagination of Fritz Leonhardt.
The greater inherent rigidity of the triangulated cable-stayed bridges, compared with the suspension type, makes life easier for their designers and builders. On the other hand, if a cable-stayed bridge is built by the cantilever method, it is very vulnerable when the structure is very long but has not yet been joined together.
Although the popularity of the cable-stayed bridge is a fairly recent phenomenon, the principle is not new.
The great Brooklyn Bridge combines cable-stays with conventional suspension cables, while other bridges have used stays, even below the deck, to resist aerodynamic forces. To see a really beautiful picture of Brooklyn bridge by Anney Bonney, click here . The Albert Bridge, a small suspension bridge across the river Thames in London, also employs some stay-bars as well as a suspension chain.
The diagram below shows graphs of the bending moments along a cantilever caused by point loads at nine different distances from the point of attachment at the left. The free end of the cantilever is at the right. The moment at the attachment clearly increases as the load moves out. This principle is used in the steelyard.
In fact, if we consider a cantilever of constant depth, we can learn about the moments caused by its dead weight by adding together a lot of these graphs.
Instead of building a rigid cantilever we can use a set of cables to support the deck.
We could in fact consider a deck as being composed of a large number of equal weights. What could be more natural than to support them by series of parallel cables, automatically giving the required increase in moment for the more distant weights, while keeping all the tensions the same.
In fact, many cable-stayed bridges have other arrangements of the cables. Some smaller bridges even have only one or two cables per half-span. Some examples are shown below.
The penalty for the sloping cables is the compression induced in the deck. This very simple arrangement is, as usual, not the whole story: Very long cables oscillating in their fundamental mode can store a great deal of energy, so the larger bridges are equipped with light cables that run across the planes of main cables and connect them all together, and eventually to the deck.
Ail Groesfan Hafren - Second Severn Crossing
The most southerly bridge over the river Severn is the viaduct and cable-stayed bridge which carries the motorway M4 between Wales and England. It offers an alternative to the earlier suspension bridge, which carries the earlier motorway M4, now called M48. The designers made use of a large area of hard rocks on the western side of the channel, which are exposed at low tide, to enable a viaduct to be built. The main channel, called The Shoots, is spanned by the actual cable-stayed bridge.
The bridge is not far from the line of the Severn tunnel, which was a great feat of engineering, built from 1874 to 1886. Huge pumps were, and are, needed to remove water, and very large fans were installed to provide ventilation. The construction of the tunnel is described in "Track Topics - A Book of Railway Engineering for Boys of All Ages", by W G Chapman. This book also provides insights into some famous bridges of the Great Western Railway, and includes a drawing by W Heath Robinson depicting the assembly of Saltash bridge.
This new Severn bridge is quite close to the ferry crossing that was used by the Romans in the days of the empire, illustrating, as many Severn bridges do, that the number of good crossing points is limited, and that people will use them during long periods of time. There is a visitor centre near the eastern end of the bridge. It offers video films, pictures, models, and descriptions of past and present crossings and local history.
The bridge has high baffles on each side to deflect the wind. This greatly reduces the number of occasions on which any type of vehicle has to be banned from the bridge because of high winds.
Click for big JPEG.
The large tidal range exerted a big influence on the construction work. Timing was crucial in operations such as floating out and raising sections of the bridge. Positioning of floating equipment was achieved using signals from navigational satellites
The picture at left was taken at a late stage in construction. On this occasion the tide was low, revealing the the English Stones, a large area of rocks on the eastern side of the channel. The cable-stayed bridge was complete, and the last few approach spans remained to be added.
The approach spans are based on post-tensioned hollow beams, made from 3.5-metre match-cast sections which were floated out on a barge at high tide. The periods of high enough tides were very short, so timing was critical.
There is an interesting visitor centre at the end of Shaft Road, off Green Lane, Severn Beach, near the east end of the Second Severn Crossing. There are video films about the building of the new bridge. There are models of bridges. There are illustrations about the bridges and about the history of the area. A 24-page booklet is available, describing the construction of the new bridge. From the visitor centre it is a short walk to the Binn Wall, from which there are views of both bridges. You should telephone (01454 633511) before going, to make sure that it is open. There is also a good visitor centre near the Clifton Suspension bridge near Bristol.
Here are some facts and figures about the new bridge. The total length is just over 5000 metres, with a main span of 456 metres in a main bridge of 947 metres length. The number of approach spans is 45, divided between the Welsh end, 22, and the English end, 23. The bridge was built from 1992 to 1996.
It is so well integrated into the motorway that it is very easy to reach the cable-stayed section without realising that you have already crossed a long approach viaduct.
The next picture shows a small part of the Severn cable-stayed bridge. The picture has been tilted and compressed horizontally to show that, although the cables look straight, they sag. There are few perfectly straight lines in engineering, with the possible exception of verticals. Every part that is not vertical will sag a little, though of course "rigid" struts will not deflect visibly. The truth is that there are no rigid bodies. You can also see that two of the cables (the fifth on each side) are not evenly spaced with the others.
How can we measure the tension in a cable during construction? We could measure the curvature using surveying equipment. We could make the cable vibrate and measure the frequency. The frequency only varies as the square root of the tension, but it works. The method has also been used in setting up wire chambers for use in elementary particle physics. We could pull the cable sideways with a known force and see how much it deflects. Can you think of another method?
Here is a koto, one of the many musical instruments which comprise a sound-box, some strings, and one or more bridges to space them away from the box. The violin family, derived from the arabian rebec, is a well known example, along with derivatives like the hurdy-gurdy. They all use the principle that the string represents one half a wavelength of the oscillation (unless the player makes a harmonic by touching the string). The frequency depends on the tension and the mass per unit length of the string, as well as on the wave length. Many instruments have bridges that are not moved, but those of the koto are moved, even during a performance, to retune the instrument to a different scale. A note can be changed while sounding by pressing on the string in the non-vibrating part.
In the case of an amplified instrument such as an electric guitar, positive feedback can be used to prolong a sound, even to the point where it continues unaided by the performer. The converse, negative feedback, is used in amplifiers to reduce distortion of signals. In fact, negative feedback has been used in some very large structures in order to reduce the effect of wind. Some very tall buildings have massive pieces of metal at the top, which are moved in response to amplified signals from acceleration sensors. While the Pont de Normandie was being built, concern about the possible motions of the nearly completed spans was such that moving masses were seriously considered. But they were in fact never needed.
The differences between these stringed musical instruments and bridges are these -
Firstly, the strings of the instrument should oscillate: those of the bridge should not. In instruments like kotos and sitars, with long heavy strings, the oscillation may be long-lived, giving the possibility of subtle changes to the sound after the string has been plucked. In large cable-stayed bridges, the main cables are often provided with transverse wires that connect them all together. Given that the resonant frequencies of all the main cables are different (how do we know?) the effect will be to damp any resonances. In suspension bridges, small dampers may be provided a strategic points on the cables. The examples shown below are from the Severn suspension bridge, before and after refurbishment.
Dampers may be added to stringed instruments such as violins, and wind instruments such as trumpets. These are called mutes.
Secondly, the box of a musical instrument must be strong enough to support the tension in the strings. But the bridge deck is connected to the ground in several places, providing a significant contribution to its rigidity. Because of the modern tendency to play more loudly than in the past, many old violins have had to be modified to take the higher tension in the strings, rather as old bridges have to be strengthened to take modern heavy traffic. Chamber music is now often played in quite large halls, and in a concerto, the violin has to contend with modern orchestral playing, which is louder than of old. If the response of the hearing system were not logarithmic, violin concertos would probably never have evolved.
In a picture of two women and a koto by Suzuki Harunobu, the irregular line of bridges is likened by the artist to a skein of homing geese. The picture is called "Homing geese of the koto."
North of the Severn cable-stayed bridge, just upstream of the mouth of the River Wye, a smaller cable-stayed bridge with a main span of 770 feet takes the M48 (ex M4) across that river, at the Welsh end of the Severn suspension bridge. Here are some pictures.
The second picture has been squashed sideways by a factor of a quarter, to show the undulations in the steel deck, which sags between the supports. The high points are at the anchorages of the bundled cables into the deck, and at the towers, and are marked by horizontal black lines. Each cable contains twenty spiral strands, arranged in a triangular cross section with five layers, with 6, 5, 4, 3 and 2 strands per layer, respectively. The flat bottom of the section allows the cables to rest on the flat tops of the towers, held by simple clamps, avoiding the need for specially shaped saddles.
The stiffness of the box girder span is used to transmit torsional forces to the abutments, which are the only supports that are not on the centre line. This technique is used in many modern concrete spans and steel spans, supported either by piers or cables, because the simplicity provides a cost saving that is not overcome by the cost of the torsional stiffness. For box girders on piers, the potential untidiness of two rows of piers is avoided.
The towers are also of steel box construction.
Note the light traffic on this road, the motorway M4 which runs from London into Wales. These pictures were taken almost thirty years ago. As traffic built up, it became clear that a new crossing was needed. This has been described above. The road over the earlier crossing was renamed M48, and the M4 now follows the new route. It is much harder now to take pictures with no vehicles, and to avoid the vibration which persists after vehicles have passed.
Sabrina Foot-Bridge at Worcester
This beautiful and interesting little footbridge is found to the north of the railway bridge in Worcester, joining Le Vesinet Promenade to the west bank of the river. It is an asymmetrical cable-stayed bridge with one tower at the west end. An ingenious feature is the use of hinges where the cables join the deck.
This allows the use of rigid trusses without the necessity for extremely precise setting of the cable lengths. With a through truss, imprecise cable lengths would produce uneven tension in the cables, and unwanted bending stress in the deck.
The next picture shows that the cables are not perfectly straight. They cannot be straight, because of their weight. Each one follows a part of a catenary.
The use of long, highly stressed cables has the effect during construction that the shape of the bridge may vary significantly. All structures, of course, change during construction. Box girders being cantilevered may sag measurably until the span is joined in the middle. Suspension bridge decks may curve quite alarmingly.
The diagram below shows two stages in the construction of a cable-stayed bridge. In the first picture the last cable supports half the weight of the last deck section, but in the second it supports two halves, and so it must stretch and straighten. We are ignoring the stiffness of the deck, which will spread the load to other cables, but the general effect is similar.
If only bridge design were as simple as making a diagram like the ones below, for two tower designs and one tower designs. Do you think that any of these designs have advantages or disadvantages compared with the others?
Appearance of Cable-Stayed Bridges
The cables can be parallel or fanned from a point, or arranged in an intermediate pattern. They can be reduced to only two in number, or even one, per side. And instead of two planes of cables, a bridge can be furnished with a single set along the centre line. There are even examples where the plane of the wires is far from vertical.
If the cables fan from a point, as seen from the side, they must originate from a horizontal line. However short this is, it will affect the appearance from certain angles, because the cables are not coplanar. In fact, in most cable-stayed bridges, the multiplicity of sloping cables is liable to lead to a disordered appearance unless care is taken.
In the left picture above, the view from the road shows a somewhat disordered appearance of the cables. This can be even worse if the cables are fanned out from a horizontal row of holes in the pylon.
To achieve a vertical plane of cables, the second arrangement can be used, but now the tower is not elegant. Another solution is to abandon the idea of a vertical plane and make an A-frame, as in the right hand pair of diagrams. An A-frame is very rigid.
A third way is to use only a single plane of cables, relying on the deck to provide stiffness against torsion.
The picture below shows a part of the Sabrina bridge in Worcester. Although this is an elegant bridge, this view shows the difficulty of maintaining a tidy and ordered appearance from all directions. The suspension bridge, with its clear distinction between the dominant main cable and the thin hangers, does not suffer from this problem.
In this picture you can see another cable-stayed bridge with one tower - this time a road bridge.
On entering upon a suspension bridge, you will generally be confronted with an orderly view, comprising the graceful sweep of the thick main cables, and the parallel lines of the thin hangers.
Oscillation of Cable-Stayed Bridges
Although the cable-stayed bridge is inherently stiffer than a suspension bridge, the relationship is reversed during construction. Construction of the deck of a suspension bridge does not begin until the cables are complete, and so all parts of the bridge are connected, however tenuously. But the cable-stayed span is built out in stages from each tower, and when the span is almost complete, the long cantilevers are at the mercy of the wind.
The diagrammatic plan view below, showing a part of a bridge, suggests what might happen. The amplitude is exaggerated. The deck could also oscillate in other modes with higher frequencies. In principle there could be horizontal oscillations allowed by torsion in the towers, and vertical ones allowed by bending of the towers.
The lower diagram suggests that when the two halves of the span have been joined, the resultant rigidity reduces the amplitude of any oscillations. It also increases the frequency. We can see this from the shorter wavelength, about equal to the span.
In principle an active damping system could be created using movable masses near the ends of the cantilevers during construction. Small signals from sensors on the deck would be amplified and used to control hydraulic or electric motors to move the masses. The system would require emergency power generators in case of a power supply failure. Such a system has been used in tall narrow buildings. Because the moving mass is much smaller than the effective mass of the structure it must move more quickly.
Upside Down Cable-Stayed Bridge
In the paraglider the deck has become a wing, supported by the air, with many threads converging below to carry the load, the pilot. The high-winged monoplane with struts from wing to fuselage also recalls an upside-down cable-stayed bridge in flight. But the wings of the third aircraft resemble cable-stayed cantilevers when on the ground.
The rotary clothes line is like a bridge which has three self-anchored spans. If the clothes are hung on the cords, which is the normal usage, the system is like a suspension bridge, but if heavy clothes were hung on the struts, it would be more like a cable-stayed bridge. The second picture shows numerous newly hatched caterpillars; a moth must have mistaken the line for a plant stem. Another kind of endless span is a childrens' roundabout which consists of a polygonal seat suspended from a pivot by a conical array of stays.
Invisible Cable-Stayed Bridges
Before the invention of steel-framed buildings, people sometimes wanted to build a library on an upper floor in a large building. To take the great weight of many shelves of books, cables or rods were used. The shelves were built back to back, at right angles to the walls.
The cables sloped down from the wall to the floor between the shelves, and were invisible. The inward pull of the cables at the top of the wall was taken by the beams in the ceiling. Thus the appearance of the room was not spoiled by the engineering.
Visible Cable-Stays
During the 1980s and the 1990s, highly visible cable-stays and tie-bars were very popular with architects. These two examples are at Gloucester Docks and the Indoor Arena near Birmingham Airport, seen in the middle picture and at the far right of the third picture.
During those decades the classical ideal of hiding certain things was dropped by many designers. The Pompidou centre is a well-known example. This type of construction does not always create a restful feeling.
Here is a type of crane which can be seen on almost any large building site. The truss provides lightness. The stays allow a longer reach than the truss alone could support.
If you got this far, try a superb game about bridge building - http://firingsquad.gamers.com/games/pontifex/default.asp .
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