:: wikimiki.org ::
| Jeff Mangum |
Jeff Mangum
Jeff Mangum was the founder and driving force behind the band Neutral Milk Hotel and one of the cofounders of the Elephant Six Collective. Rob Schneider (of the Apples in Stereo), Will Cullen Hart, Bill Doss (formerly of Olivia Tremor Control and now comprising Circulatory System and The Sunshine Fix, respectively) and Mangum all attended the same high school in Ruston, Louisiana in the early 1990's. The friends shared a passion for bands of the 60's such as The Beach Boys, The Beatles, and The Zombies, as well as an affinity for newer, noisier bands such as Sonic Youth and The Minutemen. They reflected these influences in the tapes they recorded and shared with each other, forming the seeds of what would become the Elephant Six Collective. While Robert Schneider became the "popular" face of the collective with the eventual success of The Apples in Stereo, Mangum would ultimately release some of the collective's most interesting and enduringly popular music.
From the ashes of a band called Synthetic Flying Machine, Olivia Tremor Control was born, with an original line-up of Will and Bill on guitar and bass and Jeff on drums. Around 1995 Jeff decided to leave the group to focus on his own songs. A year of intensive songwriting (some of it accomplished, according to Jeff, while he was living in a haunted closet!) in Denver, Colorado with Rob Schneider at his Pet Sounds studio resulted in his debut album, On Avery Island, released in 1996, which was mostly Rob and Jeff playing Jeff's songs with a few helpful friends. Jeff eventually expanded the line up of Neutral Milk Hotel and in 1998 released what many consider the band's (and indeed, the Elephant Six Collective's) defining album, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea.
The relative success of the album in addition to the pressures of being suddenly thrust into the spotlight took its toll on Mangum, who disbanded Neutral Milk Hotel in 1998 after a tour in support of their latest album. Jeff has kept out of the public eye since then (although not without rabid fans speculating on his whereabouts), rarely if ever playing acoustic sets and concentrating more on his recorded sound and music collages. Most recently he released a compilation of field recordings of Bulgarian folk music called Orange Twin Field Works: Volume I in the summer of 2000, followed by a live album on the Orange Twin label, Live at Jittery Joe's. The set was recorded in 1997 and was put out to squash the exhorbitant sums that Neutral Milk Hotel live albums were selling for on Ebay. The cd features a Quicktime movie of the concert performance, but Mangum is backlit and cannot be seen throughout the video.
On August 2nd, 2005, Jeff Mangum joined Olivia Tremor Control onstage at New York's Bowery Ballroom to sing lead vocals on their songs "I Have Been Floated" and "Shaving Spiders." Accounts say that he was wiping back tears; afterwards, he was pulled to the floor by OTC member Julian Koster and then dogpiled by the rest of the band. He was wearing a baseball cap and a blue button down shirt.
External links
[http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/interviews/n/neutral-milk-hotel-02/ Pitchfork: Jeff Mangum Interview]
Neutral Milk Hotel
Neutral Milk Hotel is an American indie rock band, centering around its chief lyricist and songwriter, Jeff Mangum, who, on the band's two full-length albums, plays with a number of other musicians, notably Jeremy Barnes (drums), Scott Spillane (horns), Julian Koster (banjo/bass guitar/saw) and producer-instrumentalist Robert Schneider. Neutral Milk Hotel is a part of the Elephant Six collective.
The band's sound and approach have been influential in indie rock, drawing comparisons in the music press with later bands such as The Decemberists and The Arcade Fire.
History
Origins
Jeff Mangum was a member of the Olivia Tremor Control, along with his friend Will Cullen Hart and Bill Doss, appearing on their first release, the California Demise 7".
Neutral Milk Hotel began life simply as a recording project for Mangum, in the early 1990's. He produced several demo cassettes, among them 1991's Invent Yourself a Shortcake, 1992's Beauty and 1993's Hype City Soundtrack, along with two more from this period, seemingly unnamed. Although easily found on the internet, these demos capture the project at a very embryonic state: songs are played in between various sound collages and tape experiments, and even, at one point, a six minute conversation between Mangum and Hart.
During this period, Mangum was wandering the country, staying in the closets of friends, and in a state of permanent unemployment. It was in these circumstances that the band's first formal releases took shape. Strictly speaking, however, the 'band' usually consisted of Mangum and whomever else was present at the time. This is obvious on Neutral Milk Hotel's first release, a 7" entitled Everything Is, recorded when Mangum was spending time in Seattle, Washington, released on Cher Doll Records in 1994.
On Avery Island
A full album, On Avery Island, followed, this time recorded mainly in Denver, Colorado, where Mangum was backed by Robert Schneider of the Apples in Stereo, Rick Benjamin of the Perry Weissman Three and Lisa Janssen of Secret Square. It was released by Merge Records in 1996. Despite being overshadowed by their more popular second release, On Avery Island stands on its own as a brilliant meld of folk and lo-fi indie rock. Mangum's unique vocal style and the band's quirky but playful arrangements create a carnival atmosphere of moods ranging from excitement, suspense and melodrama.
After the release of Avery Island, Neutral Milk Hotel became a fully-fledged band, as Julian Koster, Scott Spillane and Jeremy Barnes joined Mangum, the band now being based in New York, and gigging heavily. Soon after this, they moved to Athens, GA, where many of Mangum's friends had began to settle, and the Elephant 6 recording company began to fully take shape. After this, the band went back to Denver, to record a proper followup to On Avery Island.
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
The band's second LP, In the Aeroplane over the Sea, released in 1998, is notable as a critically acclaimed work and a widely popular recording. It is a spiritually motivated work conceptually based on the beauty to be found in the horrific fate of Anne Frank and similarly overwhelming tragedies. (Mangum is reported to have, during a live performance, described some of the songs off this album as based on urgent, recurring dreams he had of a Jewish family during World War II.) The album was highly praised by critics for its wildly inventive instrumentation and Mangum's provocative and impassioned lyrics. Although it met with scant response from the general public when it was released, the recording has continued to gain momentum in indie music circles and has become a cult classic, selling well over 100,000 copies according to Merge Records. However, the record, along with the year of constant touring that succeeded it, obviously took its toll on Mangum, as the band, quite abruptly, went on hiatus, turning down all requests for shows, including a support slot for R.E.M.. All of a sudden, the band appeared to go silent, and very little has been heard from Mangum since.
Hiatus
Although all the members are still active with one another in other projects, it is unknown whether any more Neutral Milk Hotel albums will be released. There were plans to release a Neutral Milk Hotel rarities album on the Orange Twin label; however, after an announcement in 2005 on the Orange Twin website claiming that Jeff Mangum had in fact eventually decided against the project, it is unclear if this will ever happen.
There has, however, been some activity since Aeroplane. First, Orange Twin re-released Everything Is...., complete with extra bonus tracks, as well as Live at Jittery Joe's, a bootleg recording of a show Mangum played in a coffee house in Athens in 1997. The Major Organ and the Adding Machine album, a rather secretive project released by Orange Twin in 2001 and consisting mainly of experimental musical collage, features Mangum, along with Julian Koster, Of Montreal's Kevin Barnes, Elf Power's Andrew Reiger and the Olivia Tremor Control and Circulatory System's Will Cullen Hart and Eric Harris. There was also the release of Orange Twin Field Works, Vol. 1, Mangum's field recording of a Bulgarian folk festival, also on Orange Twin in 2001. Additionally, he plays drums on the first Circulatory System album.
Since the breakup of Neutral Milk Hotel, Jeff Mangum has only played live proper again once, under the pseudonym 'World of Wild Beards, Inc.', at the Kings Arms pub in Auckland, New Zealand, at the request of the Tall Dwarfs's Chris Knox. He has also made appearances with Elf Power, and came onstage at the first of the Olivia Tremor Control's New York shows on their 2005 reunion tours, to sing briefly. Further releases from Neutral Milk Hotel, however, are indicated to be unlikely.
The other members are all still releasing material: Julian Koster as The Music Tapes, Scott Spillane as The Gerbils and Jeremy Barnes as A Hawk & A Hacksaw, Bablicon and Marta Tennae.
In 2005, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea saw its re-release by Domino Records in the UK, in a sleeve featuring praise from, among others, Franz Ferdinand and The Arcade Fire, both very much influenced by the band. On Avery Island will be re-released in the US in January of 2006 with live bonus tracks. Mangum has also been fairly creatively busy - following a charity auction on eBay of an acoustic guitar decorated by Mangum himself, more guitars hand-decorated by Mangum were sold via Orange Twin Records for $900 apiece. Also, a number of Mangum's original drawings, this time costing only $10 each, were sold via Neutral Milk Hotel's website.
Discography
Demo Cassettes
- Invent Yourself A Shortcake (Elephant 6; cassette; 1991)
- Beauty (Elephant 6; cassette; 1992)
- Hype City (Elephant 6; cassette; 1993)
- Unknown Demo 1 (cassette)
- Unknown Demo 2 (cassette)
Albums
- On Avery Island (Merge; CD; 1996)
- In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (Merge; CD; 1998)
- Jeff Mangum Live at Jittery Joe's (Orange Twin; CD; 2001)
EPs and singles
- Everything Is (Cher Doll; EP; 1994)
- Everything Is (Fire; EP; 1995)
- Holland, 1945 (Blue Rose; single; 1998)
- Everything Is (Orange Twin; EP; 2001)
Compilation appearances
- Those Pre-phylloxera Years (Box Dog Sound; Vinyl 7"; 1993)
- Periscope: Another Yoyo Compilation (Yoyo; LP/CD; 1994)
- Amazing Phantom Third Channel (Cher Doll; Vinyl 7"; 1994)
- Yoyo A GoGo '94 (Yoyo; LP/CD; 1994)
- Champagne Dancing Party (Cher Doll; EP; 1995)
- Master Pete Capitol and his Magic EP (Ptolemaic Terrascope No. 21) (Ptolemaic Terrascope; Vinyl 7"; 1996)
- Ptolemaic Terrascope No. 21 (Ptolemaic Terrascope; EP; 1996)
- The Basement Tapes, Volume Two: Live Underground (KSPC; CD; 1997)
- Audio CD-29 (Audio Magazine; CD; 1997)
- I Wouldn't Piss On It If It Was On Fire (Fire; CD; 1998)
- 9 O'Clock In The Morning (Blue Rose; CD; 1998)
- More Than You Can Ask Or Imagine (Blue Rose; CD; 1998)
- Oh, Merge: Merge Records 10 Year Anniversary Compilation (Merge; CD; 1999)
- Songs for Summer (Merge; CD; 2000)
- Orange Twin Records Sampler (Orange Twin; CD; 2002)
- Old Enough to Know Better (Merge; CD; 2004)
Books
- Cooper, Kim, 33 1/3: In The Aeroplane Over The Sea (2005); [http://www.scrammagazine.com/nmh.html More info] about Cooper's book
- Azerrad, Michael, Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground 1981-1991 (2002) ISBN 0316787531
- Derogatis, Jim, Turn on Your Mind: Four Decades of Great Psychedelic Rock (2003) ISBN 0634055488
External links
- [http://www.neutralmilkhotel.net/ Neutral Milk Hotel's official website]
- [http://www.knerd.com/~sashwap/ The First NMH fansite on the web! Mp3s, quicktime movies, lyrics, etc.]
- [http://www.elephant6.com/bands/neutral.html The band's page at Elephant 6's website]
- [http://www.scrammagazine.com/nmh.html Latest news about the band's 33 1/3 book]
- [http://communitywalk.com/map/301 Interactive map to Neutral Milk Hotel's psycho-geography]
- [http://www.neutralmilkhotel.net/pt.html Ptolemaic Terrascope biography]
- [http://www.neutralmilkhotel.org/ Full, informative discography, most up to date information]
- [http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/interviews/n/neutral-milk-hotel-02/ Pitchfork: Recent Jeff Mangum Interview]
- [http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/watw/02-08/neutral-milk-hotel.shtml Pitchfork: The Unreleased Recordings of Jeff Mangum and Neutral Milk Hotel]
Category:Alternative musical groups Category:American musical groups
Elephant Six collectiveThe Elephant Six Recording Company is a musical collective founded in Denver, Colorado (but figuratively in Athens, Georgia) by childhood friends Bill Doss, Will Cullen Hart, Jeff Mangum, and Robert Schneider. The four grew up making music and sharing cassette tapes in Ruston, Louisiana. They all started their own bands and pet projects; Doss and Hart with Olivia Tremor Control (then called Synthetic Flying Machine), Mangum with Neutral Milk Hotel, and Schneider with the Apples in Stereo. Several Elephant Six projects began to find commercial success in the late 1990s, including Beulah, Elf Power, The Music Tapes, and Of Montreal, as well as the founding bands mentioned above.
Schneider was the one who actually created the record label when he moved to Denver, Colorado in late 1991 and attended University of Colorado at Boulder. He made friends and started up the Apples in Stereo. Their first EP was finished recording by April 1993, and it became the first release by the recording company.
Back home, Doss had moved to Athens, and joined Hart and Mangum in Synthetic Flying Machine. The band became Olivia Tremor Control, and they released California Demise as their first recording, and E6's second.
From there on in, most of the bands were signed to major record labels and the recording company as an entity slowly deteoriated until the collective called it quits, due to difficulties in recording and lack of organization, in 2002. The bands of the collective have since all moved on to various labels and projects of their own, though many are still friends and even tour together under various guises. Many even live together on the Orange Twin Conservation Community in Athens. The Elephant Six mantra became a symbol for the circle of friends sharing like ideas and goals.
The most characteristic trait of an Elephant Six recording is the eclectic and exotic instrumentation: along with the guitars and drums you can hear, for example, the flugelhorn, singing saw, wandering genie, and one-note piano on Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane over the Sea; the euphonium, selemintan, and magnus organ on Olivia Tremor Control's Black Foliage; the sitar, "magic robot voice", and Nepalese copper shawm on Elf Power's When the Red King Comes; and everything from sarangi to clarinet played by eighteen backup musicians on Beulah's When Your Heartstrings Break. This was the ostensible nature of the Elephant Six collective: instruments, players, and space are divided among and shared among many projects.
See also: Indie rock and Psych folk
Projects
- The Apples in Stereo
- Bablicon
- Beulah
- Black Swan Network
- Breezy Porticos
- Calvin, Don't Jump!
- Chocolate USA
- Circulatory System
- Dixie Blood Mustache
- Dressy Bessy
- Elf Power
- Essex Green
- Fablefactory
- Frosted Ambassador
- The Gerbils
- Great Lakes
- Gwens
- A Hawk and a Hacksaw
- High Water Marks
- Icy Demons
- The Instruments
- Kingsauce
- Ladybug Transistor
- Late B.P. Helium
- Major Organ and the Adding Machine
- Jeff Mangum
- Marbles
- Marshmallow Coast
- Marta Tennae
- Midget and Hairs
- Minders
- The Music Tapes
- My First Keyboard
- Neutral Milk Hotel
- Of Montreal
- Olivia Tremor Control
- Orchestre Fantastique
- Perry Weissman 3
- Pipes You See, Pipes You Don't
- Ross Beach
- Secret Square
- Sixth Great Lake
- Summer Hymns
- Sunshine Fix
- Thimble Circus
- ulysses
- Visitations
- Von Hemmling
External link
- [http://www.elephant6.com/ Elephant6.com] – An unofficial site about the collective.
Category:American musical groups
Category:Psych folk record labels
Robert SchneiderThis article is about Robert Schneider, the musician. Rob Schneider is also the name of a comedian.
Robert Schneider was the co-founder of the Elephant 6 Recording Company, along with William Cullen Hart and Bill Doss of the Olivia Tremor Control and Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel.
Born in South Africa, Schneider's family moved to Ruston, Louisiana when he was a child. In Louisiana, Schneider befriended Mangum, Hart and Doss and began discovering and playing music with them. After high school, where he was class president, Schneider moved to Denver, Colorado to attend college. He met Hilarie Sidney, whom he later married (although years later, they divorced). With some other musicians, they formed the twee band The Apples (which was changed to The Apples in Stereo). The group's first release "Tidal Wave" was the inaugural release on Elephant 6's imprint.
Schneider also has a project called Marbles, which were lo-fi Beach Boys-esque recordings done with Will Cullen Hart. It was later released in the late 1990s on SpinArt Records.
Schneider's prowess in harnessing the sounds of Elephant 6 bands became apparent with his distinct production style. In addition to producing all of the albums for The Apples in Stereo, he's produced work for the Olivia Tremor Control and the Minders, but is most well-known for his work on Neutral Milk Hotel's critically lauded "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea". The Wall of Sound production style implemented by his heroes like Phil Spector and Brian Wilson were used on these records and cemented Schneider as the recognizable man behind the bands of the Elephant 6 label.
Schneider formed a new band in 2004 called Ulysses and released another Marbles album in 2005.
Perfoming Discography
The Apples in Stereo
Albums
- Fun Trick Noisemaker (1995)
- Tone Soul Evolution (1997)
- Her Wallpaper Reverie (1999)
- The Discovery Of A World Inside The Moone (2000)
- Velocity of Sound (2002)
EP's / Singles
- Apples (1993)
- Hypnotic Suggestion (1994)
- Look Away (2000)
- Everybody Let Up (2000)
- The Bird That You Can't See (2001)
- Let's Go! (2001)
Compilations
- Science Faire (1996)
- Sound Effects (2001)
Marbles
Albums
- Pyramid Landing (And Other Favorites) (1997)
- Expo (2005)
Ulysses
Albums
- 010 (2004)
Producing Discography
- Olivia Tremor Control - Music From the Unrealized Film Script: Dusk at Cubist Castle (1996)
- Neutral Milk Hotel - On Avery Island (1996)
- Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (1997)
- The Minders - Hooray for Tuesday (1998)
- Beulah - When Your Heartstrings Break (1999)
Will Cullen HartWilliam "Will" Cullen Hart is one of the co-founders of the Elephant 6 Collective, as well as the rock band The Olivia Tremor Control. Following the band's breakup, Hart and several other former members regrouped to create Circulatory System.
Hart grew up in Ruston, Louisiana with Bill Doss, Jeff Mangum and Robert Schneider, the founders of the Elephant 6 Recording Company in the early 1990s. Doss and Hart (and even Mangum in its early forms) combined their musical efforts in The Olivia Tremor Control.
Hart and Doss blended their differing musical inclinations for the band: Hart being known as the sonic experimenter, Doss the proponent of pop. This difference is evidently clear in the music produced by each since the end of OTC. Hart's Circulatory System maintains an interest in experimentation, while Doss' Sunshine Fix focuses on the simplicity of Beatlesque pop.
Will Cullen Hart is also an artist. He has created most (if not all) of the artwork for OTC and Circulatory System, as well as individual pieces.
Bill DossBill Doss is among the co-founders of the influential Athens, Georgia, U.S.A. based Elephant 6 Collective, and also one of the key creative forces behind The Olivia Tremor Control, one of the leaders of the collective, and later, following the band's break-up, The Sunshine Fix.
Doss is a native of Ruston, Louisiana, where he befriended Will Cullen Hart, Robert Schneider and Jeff Mangum. Before the Olivia Tremor Control Doss had recorded under the name The Sunshine Fix, and self-released Spiraling World of Pop, which later helped comprise Olivia Tremor Control songs. Doss, Hart and Mangum soon formed what was later to become the Olivia Tremor Control. After Mangum left the band to pursue his own Neutral Milk Hotel, Hart and Doss began to pool their musical influences, Hart being a proponent of experimentalism, Doss of 60's pop such as The Beatles and The Zombies. Before the Olivia Tremor Control, Doss had joined New York based band Chocolate USA before heading back to Athens, Georgia.
After the release of the second Olivia Tremor Control album, Black Foliage, the band broke up, and Doss went on to re-start The Sunshine Fix. His first full length, Age of the Sun, was released in 2002, which was an album that found its roots in traditional pop harmonies owing much to The Zombies and The Beatles.
Since then, Doss has released the less well received Green Imagination with the Sunshine Fix, and currently produces albums in his own studio in Athens.
Olivia Tremor ControlThe Olivia Tremor Control was an Athens, Georgia indie rock band in the mid- to late 1990s and, along with The Apples in Stereo and Neutral Milk Hotel, was one of the three original Elephant Six projects. The band was founded by the remnants of the group Synthetic Flying Machine (Jeff Mangum, Bill Doss, and Will Cullen Hart) in 1994 and was disbanded in 1999.
The band's distinct sound is a mixture of Doss' pop leanings, and Hart's experimental tendencies. This chemistry is evident in their albums given that some tracks are 2-3 minute pop songs, while others are sound collages ranging in length from 2 seconds to 10 minutes, and differing in content from vibrant horns to near silence. The band was influenced by the odd quality inherent in dreams and asked their listeners to send in tapes describing their own, excerpts of which can be heard in the final track of Black Foliage in particular.
Members
- Bill Doss - guitar, cornet, percussion, songwriting, vocals (1994-1999)
- Peter Erchick - keyboards (1996-1999)
- John Fernandes - bass guitar, violin, saxophone, clarinet (1995-1999)
- Eric Harris - drums, theremin, guitar (1995-1999)
- Will Cullen Hart - guitar, vocals, songwriting (1994-1999)
- Jeff Mangum - drums, guitar, vocals (1994-1995)
Discography
- California Demise EP (1994)
- The Giant Day EP (1996)
- The Opera House EP (1996)
- Music From The Unrealized Film Script "Dusk At Cubist Castle" LP (1996) †
- Explanation II: Instrumental Themes and Dream Sequences LP (1998)
- Black Foliage: Animation Music Volume 1 LP (1999)
- Peel Sessions LP (2000)
- Singles and Beyond LP (2000)
† The Flydaddy 017 release was reissued as a double album with Explanation II as the second disc. The most recent Cloud Recordings reissues do not include the extra disc.
External link
- [http://www.elephant6.com/bands/olivia.html "The Olivia Tremor Control" at Elephant6.com]
Circulatory system:This is an article about circulation in animals. For transport in plants, see Vascular tissue. For the band, see Circulatory System.
The circulatory system or cardiovascular system is the organ system which circulates blood around the body of most animals.
Types of circulatory systems
Open circulatory system
The circulatory system of arthropods and most mollusks is open, meaning that there are no capillaries and veins: one or more hearts pump the blood (more properly called hemolymph in this case) through the arteries to spaces called sinuses which surround the organs, allowing the tissues to exchange materials with the hemolymph. The hemolymph is drawn back into the heart as the heart relaxes.
Closed circulatory system
The circulatory systems of all vertebrates, as well as of annelids (for example, earthworms) and cephalopods (squids and octopuses) are closed, meaning that the blood never leaves the system of blood vessels consisting of arteries, capillaries and veins.
The systems of fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals show various stages of evolution.
In fish, the system has only one circuit, with the blood being pumped through the capillaries of the gills and on to the capillaries of the body tissues. This is known as single circulation. The heart of fish is therefore only a single pump (consisting of two chambers).
In amphibians and reptiles, a double circulation is used, but the heart is not always completely separated into two pumps. Amphibians have a three-chambered heart.
Birds and mammals show complete separation of the heart into two pumps, for a total of four heart chambers; it is thought that the four-chambered heart of birds evolved independently of that of mammals.
No circulatory system
An example of an animal with no circulatory system is the flatworm (class Turbellaria). They have a mouth leading into a digestive system. The digestive system is very branched, and because the worm is so flat, digested materials can be diffused to all the cells of the flat worm. Oxygen can diffuse from water into the cells of the flatworm. Thus every cell is able to obtain nutrients, water and oxygen without the need of a transport system.
Measurement techniques
- Electrocardiogram
- Sphygmomanometer
- Pulse meter
Health and disease
- See heart disease
History of discovery
The valves of the heart were discovered by a physician of the Hippocratean school around the 4th century BC. However their function was not properly understood then. Because blood pools in the veins after death, arteries look empty. Ancient anatomists assumed they were filled with air and that they were for transport of air.
Herophilus distinguished veins from arteries but thought that the pulse was a property of arteries themselves. Erasistratus observed that arteries that were cut during life bleed. He ascribed the fact to the phenomenon that air escaping from an artery is replaced with blood that entered by very small vessels between veins and arteries. Thus he apparently postulated capillaries but with reversed flow of blood.
Galen in the 2nd century AD knew that blood vessels carry blood and identified venous (dark red) and arterial (brighter and thinner) blood, each with distinct and separate functions. Growth and energy were derived from venous blood created in the liver from chyle, while arterial blood gave vitality by containing pneuma (air) and originated in the heart. Blood flowed from both creating organs to all parts of the body where it was consumed and there was no return of blood to the heart or liver. The heart did not pump blood around, the heart's motion sucked blood in during diastole and the blood moved by the pulsation of the arteries themselves.
Galen believed that the arterial blood was created by venous blood passing from the left ventricle to the right by passing through 'pores' in the interventricular septum, air passed from the lungs via the pulmonary artery to the left side of the heart. As the arterial blood was created 'sooty' vapors were created and passed to the lungs also via the pulmonary artery to be exhaled.
Ibn Nafis in 1242 was the first person to accurately describe the process of blood circulation in the human body. Contemporary drawings of this process have survived. In 1552 Servetus described the same and Realdo Colombo proved the concept. All these results were not widely accepted however.
Finally William Harvey, a pupil of Hieronymus Fabricius (who had earlier described the valves of the veins without recognizing their function), performed a sequence of experiments and announced in 1628 the discovery of the human circulatory system as his own and published an influential book about it. This work with its essentially correct exposition slowly convinced the medical world. Harvey was not able to identify the capillary system connecting arteries and veins; these were later described by Marcello Malpighi.
See also
- Cardiology
- Lymphatic system
- Blood vessels
External links
- [http://www.emc.maricopa.edu/faculty/farabee/BIOBK/BioBookcircSYS.html The Circulatory System], a comprehensive overview
- [http://www.ncvc.go.jp/english/res/Car_Dyn_A.html Studies on Hemodynamics and Coronary Circulation]
- [http://www.invisionguide.com/heart The InVision Guide to a Healthy Heart] An interactive website
References
- Iskandar, Albert Z. [http://www.islamset.com/isc/nafis/iskandar.html "Comprehensive Book on the Art of Medicine by Ibn al-Nafis"]. Retrieved May 2 2005.
Category:Cardiovascular system
simple:Circulatory system
Ruston, LouisianaThe city of Ruston is the parish seat of Lincoln Parish, in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 20,546. Ruston is home to Louisiana Tech University and rests on the eastern border of the Ark-La-Tex. Ruston's economy is built around Louisiana Tech and caters to its college population. As of the year 2000, the official student enrollment to Louisiana Tech University was approximately 10,000. Adding several thousand personnel employed by the university, the total university population appears to rival the city itself.
Geography
Ark-La-Tex
Ruston is located at 32°31'47" North, 92°38'26" West (32.529674, -92.640466).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 47.0 km² (18.2 mi²). 46.8 km² (18.1 mi²) of it is land and 0.2 km² (0.1 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 0.44% water.
Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there are 20,546 people, 7,621 households, and 4,244 families residing in the city. The population density is 438.8/km² (1,136.4/mi²). There are 8,397 housing units at an average density of 179.3/km² (464.5/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 56.94% White, 38.92% African American, 0.17% Native American, 2.41% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.63% from other races, and 0.90% from two or more races. 1.29% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There are 7,621 households out of which 26.7% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 36.0% are married couples living together, 16.3% have a female householder with no husband present, and 44.3% are non-families. 30.8% of all households are made up of individuals and 9.9% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.32 and the average family size is 2.98.
In the city, the population is spread out with 20.8% under the age of 18, 31.6% from 18 to 24, 21.3% from 25 to 44, 14.9% from 45 to 64, and 11.3% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 24 years. For every 100 females there are 92.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 89.7 males.
The median income for a household in the city is $23,001, and the median income for a family is $37,394. Males have a median income of $33,408 versus $20,413 for females. The per capita income for the city is $14,573. 32.1% of the population and 22.1% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 34.1% of those under the age of 18 and 17.6% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.
Social Life
The social life in Ruston is somewhat mixed. For people of ages 18-28 (roughly), primary activities involve finding something to do with Louisiana Tech. There are many shops downtown that one can visit, construction of Chili's has increased the level of activities in the city of Ruston. Moreover the city is heavily anticipating the installation of a new ten-screen Celebrity Theater, with which it can take back a lot of revenue that has for years traveled down I-20 to Monroe which is about 30 miles away. There have been a few famous residents of Ruston; Robert Schneider, Jeff Mangum, Bill Doss(actually a native of nearby Dubach) and Will Cullen Hart, the founding members of the Elephant 6 music collective grew up there. Ruston is also home to numerous athletic figures, the most famous being Bert Jones, Dub Jones, and Patrick Ramsey. Bert and Dub Jones were the first father-son duo to be in the NFL record books at the same time. Patrick Ramsey is a Quarterback for the Washington Redskins.
One of the most notable places located in Ruston is the Louisiana Center for the Blind, a training center for blind teenagers and adults operated by the National Federation of the Blind. Due to the activities of the students at the center and the relatively large number of blind students at Louisiana Tech, Ruston has a larger population of blind people than most other towns in the United States.
Points of interest
- Louisiana Tech University
- Louisiana Tech University Arboretum
External links
- [http://la.allpages.com/ Ruston Directory]
Category:Cities in Louisiana
Category:Lincoln Parish, Louisiana
Louisiana
|
|
Louisiana State Quarter (reverse)
|
|
Louisiana (pronounced or ) (French: Louisiane, pronounced Image:ltspkr.png) is a Southern state of the United States of America.
It uses the U.S. postal abbreviation LA. The state is bordered to the west by the state of Texas, to the north by Arkansas, to the east by the state of Mississippi, and to the south by the Gulf of Mexico. Among the states, Louisiana has a unique culture, owing to its French colonial heritage. While the state has no declared "official language," its law recognizes both English and French. Today, English is by far the main language of everyday life, but French is spoken by nearly 5% of the population and its influence can be seen in local dialects and in many place names.
History
Louisiana was long inhabited by Native American tribes before the arrival of Europeans. The lasting mark of the Native Americans can be seen even today in the names used in Louisiana, such as Atchafalaya, Natchitouches (now spelled Natchitoches), Caddo, Houma, Tangipahoa, and Avoyel (Avoyelles Parish).
What follows is a partial list, using current parish boundaries as rough approximations of locations.
- The Atakapa were found in southwestern Louisiana in the parishes of Vermilion, Cameron, Lafayette, Acadia, Jefferson Davis, and Calcasieu.
- The Chitimachas occupied the southeastern parishes of Iberia, Assumption, St Mary, Lower St. Martin, Terrebone, LaFourche, St. James, St. John the Baptist, St. Bo St. Charles, Jefferson, Orleans, St. Bernard, and Plaquemines.
- The Bayougoula, part of the Choctaw nation, were found in points directly north of the Chitimachas, in the parishes of St. Helena, Tangipahoa, Washington, East and West Baton Rouge, Livingston, and St. Tammany.
- The Houma tribe, was found in East and West Feliciana, and Pointe Coupee parishes; Ironically about 100 miles north of current location of the town named after them.
- Portions of Avoyelles and Concordia parishes along the Mississippi River were home to the Avoyel, part of the Natchez nation.
- The northeastern parishes of Tensas, Madison, and East and West Carroll were occupied by the Tunica tribe.
- The remainder of current day central and north Louisiana was home to a substantial portion of the Caddo nation.
The first European explorers to visit what is now Louisiana were a 1528 Spanish expedition (led by Panfilo de Narváez) that located the mouth of the Mississippi River. Some 13 years later Hernando de Soto's expedition crossed through the region. Thereafter the region was long neglected by the Spanish authorities, and the next explorers were French. Louisiana was named by the French explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle in honor of Louis XIV in 1682. The first permanent settlement, Fort Maurepas at what is now Ocean Springs, Mississippi, near Biloxi, was founded by Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville in 1699.
The French colony of Louisiana originally claimed a great region of land on both sides of the Mississippi River and north to Canada.The settlement of Natchitoches (located along the Red River in present day North West Louisiana) was established in 1714 by Louis Juchereau de St. Denis, making it the oldest permanent settlement in the Louisiana Purchase territory. The French settlement had two purposes; to establish trade with the Spanish in Texas, and at the same time, to deter Spanish advances into Louisiana. Also the northern terminus of theOld San Antonio Road (sometimes called El Camino Real, or Kings Highway)was at Natchitoches, Louisiana. Natchitoches soon became a flourishing river port and crossroads, giving rise to vast cotton kingdoms along the river. Planters built magnificent plantations down river and built fine homes in town for social events. Most of the other settlements concentrated along the banks of the Mississippi and its major tributaries, with trading outposts and mission settlements in the Illinois Country, as far north as Peoria, Illinois and a number of settlements in the area around near present-day Saint Louis, Missouri. See also: French colonization of the Americas
Initially Mobile, Alabama and Biloxi, Mississippi functioned as the capital of the colony; from 1722 on New Orleans fulfilled that role.
Most of the territory to the east of the Mississippi was lost to Great Britain in the French and Indian War, except for the area around New Orleans and the parishes around Lake Pontchartrain. The rest of Louisiana became a colony of Spain by the Treaty of Fontainebleau of 1762.
During the period of Spanish rule, several thousand French-speaking refugees from the region of Acadia made their way to Louisiana following British expulsion; settling largely in the southwestern bayous, they became known as the Cajuns.
In 1800, France's Napoleon Bonaparte re-acquired Louisiana from Spain in the Treaty of San Ildefonso, although this was kept secret for some two years.
In 1803, the United States purchased the French province of Louisiana (see Louisiana Purchase) and divided it into two territories: the Orleans Territory (which became the state of Louisiana in 1812) and the District of Louisiana (which consisted of all the land not included in Orleans Territory). The Florida Parishes were annexed from Spanish West Florida by proclamation of President James Madison in 1810. The western boundary of Louisiana with Spanish Texas remained in dispute until the Adams-Onís Treaty in 1819, with the Sabine Free State serving as a neutral buffer zone as well as a haven for criminals.
There are still remnants of its former status as a possession of France, including: the use of a civil law legal system, based on the Louisiana Civil Code, which is similar to (and often confused with) the Napoleonic Code (like France, and unlike the rest of the United States, which uses a common law legal system derived from England), the term "parishes" being used to describe the state's sub-divisions as opposed to "counties", etc.
In 1849 the capital moved from New Orleans to Baton Rouge. Donaldsonville, Opelousas, and Shreveport have also briefly served as the seat of governments of Louisiana.
Louisiana was a slave state. It did, however, have one of the largest free black populations in the United States. Many of the freed slaves in Louisiana in turn purchased their own slaves, which led to the state having one of the largest numbers of slave owning blacks in America, if not the largest.
In the American Civil War, Louisiana seceded from the Union on January 26, 1861. New Orleans was captured by Federal troops on April 25, 1862. As significant portions of the population had Union sympathies, the Federal government took the unusual step of recognizing the areas of Louisiana under Federal control as a state within the Union with elected representatives who were sent to the congress in Washington, D.C. throughout the rest of the war.
On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck and devastated a vast area of the state. Southeastern Louisiana was one of the hardest hit areas, and New Orleans was hit particularly hard, and didn't begin to reopen until October. Estimates are that more than two million people were displaced by the hurricane and thousands are feared dead. Widespread looting and violence was reported, especially in New Orleans. The next month, the Southwestern corner of the state was hit by Hurricane Rita. These dual disasters will cost the state tens of billions of dollars immediately, and the long term economic repercussions can only be guessed.
Law and government
The capital of Louisiana is Baton Rouge. Its governor is Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (Democrat) and its two U.S. senators are Mary Landrieu (Democrat) and David Vitter (Republican). Louisiana has seven Members of Congress, five Republicans and two Democrats.
Louisiana is the only state whose legal system is based on Roman, Spanish, and French civil law as opposed to English common law. Technically, it is known as "Civil Law," or the "Civilian System." It is often incorrectly referred to as the "Code Napoléon" or The Napoleonic Code. It is important to note that the Louisiana Civil Code and the French Civil Code, often referred to as the Napoleonic Code, came into existence at roughly the same time. Louisiana was never governed by the Napoleonic Code.
Great differences still exist between Louisiana Civil Law and the Common Law found in her 49 sister states. While some of these differences have been bridged due to the strong influence of the Common Law in the United States,[http://www.kinsellalaw.com/publications/kinsella_civil-common-law-dictionary.pdf] it is important to note that the "Civilian" tradition is still deeply rooted in all aspects of Louisiana law. Property, contractual, and family law are still mostly based on traditional Roman legal thinking and have little in common with English law.
Louisiana is unique among U.S. states in its method for state, local, and congressional elections. All candidates, regardless of party affiliation, run in an open primary on Election Day. If no candidate has more than 50% of the vote, the two candidates with the highest vote total compete in a runoff election approximately one month later. This runoff does not take into account party identification; therefore, it is not uncommon for a Democrat to be in a runoff with a fellow Democrat or a Republican to be in a runoff with a fellow Republican. All other states use the First Past the Post electoral system to elect Senators, Representatives, and statewide officials.
In 2001, Louisiana had the highest incarceration rate in the world, with 1% of the population of Louisiana imprisoned (1013 inmates per 100,000 people).
Geography
First Past the Post electoral system
Topography
The surface of the state may properly be divided into two parts, the uplands, and the alluvial and coast and swamp regions. The alluvial regions, including the low swamps and coast lands, cover an area of about 20,000 square miles; they lie principally along the Mississippi River, which traverses the state from north to south for a distance of about 600 miles and ultimately emptying into the Gulf of Mexico, the Red River, the Ouachita River and its branches, and other minor streams. The breadth of the alluvial region along the Mississippi is from 10 to 60 miles, and along the other streams it averages about 10 miles. The Mississippi flows upon a ridge formed by its own deposits, from which the lands incline toward the low swamps beyond at an average fall of six feet per mile. The lands along other streams present very similar features. These alluvial lands are never inundated save when breaks occur in the levees by which they are protected against the floods of the Mississippi and its tributaries. These floods, however, do not occur annually, and they may be said to be exceptional. With the maintenance of strong levees these alluvial lands would enjoy perpetual immunity from inundation. The uplands and contiguous hill lands have an area of more than 25,000 square miles, and they consist of prairie and woodlands. The elevations above sea-level range from 10 feet at the coast and swamp lands to 50 and 60 feet at the prairie and alluvial lands. In the uplands and hills the elevations rise to Driskill Mountain the highest point in the state at only 535 feet (163 m) above sea level, located in northwest Louisiana.
Besides the navigable rivers already named (some of which are called bayous), there are the Sabine, forming the western boundary, and the Pearl, the eastern boundary, the Calcasieu, the Mermentau, the Vermilion, the Teche, the Atchafalaya, the Boeuf, the Lafourche, the Courtableau, the D'Arbonne, the Macon, the Tensas, the Amite, the Tchefuncte, the Tickfaw, the Natalbany, and a number of other streams of lesser note, constituting a natural system of navigable waterways, aggregating over 4,000 miles in length, which is unequalled in the United States and probably in the world. The state also has 1,060 square miles of land-locked bays, 1,700 square miles of inland lakes, and a river surface of over 500 square miles.
Geology
The underlying strata of the state are of Cretaceous age and are covered by alluvial deposits of Tertiary and post-Tertiary origin. A large part of Louisiana is the creation and product of the Mississippi River. It was originally covered by an arm of the sea, and has been built up by the silt carried down the valley by the great river.
Near the coast, there are many salt domes, where salt is mined and oil is often found.
Owing to the extensive flood control measures along the Mississippi river and to natural subsidence, Louisiana is now suffering the loss of coastal land area. State and Federal government efforts to halt or reverse this phenomenon are under way; others are being sought.
Highways
Interstate highways:
- Interstate 10
- Interstate 12
- Interstate 20
- Interstate 49
- Interstate 55
- Interstate 59
There are proposed plans to extend Interstate 69 to the Texas/Mexico border, which will go through north-eastern Louisiana. Also, Interstate 49 is slated to be expanded north into Arkansas and east along Interstate 10 to New Orleans, replacing part of U.S. Highway 90.
United States highways:
Economy
The total gross state product in 2003 for Louisiana was $140 billion. Its Per Capita Personal Income was $26,312, forty-third in the nation. The state's principal agricultural outputs include seafood (It is the biggest producer of crawfish/crayfish in the world), cotton, soybeans, cattle, sugarcane, poultry and eggs, dairy products, and rice. Its industrial outputs include chemical products, petroleum and coal products, food processing, transportation equipment, paper products, and tourism.
Demographics
As of 2003, the state's population was 4,496,334, including approximately 215,000 native French-speakers.
The racial makeup of the state is:
- 62.5% White
- 32.5% Black
- 2.4% Hispanic
- 1.2% Asian
- 0.6% Native American
- 1.1% Mixed race
- 99.9% Homosexuals
The five largest ancestries in the state are: African American (32.5%), French/French Canadian (16.2%), American (10.1%), German (7.1%), Irish (7%).
Blacks, who long made up the majority of the state's population in slavery days, dominate much of the southeast, central, and northern parts of the state, particularly those parishes along the Mississippi river valley. But, in recent years, the percentage of whites has experienced a growth due to all of the predominantly white senior citizens that have begun to relocate there because of the friendly atmosphere, mild winters, and beautiful scenery. Creoles of French and Spanish ancestry and Cajuns of French-Canadian ancestry are dominant in much of the southern part of the state. Whites of Southern U.S. background predominate in the hillier areas of northern Louisiana.
As of 2000, 91.2% of Louisiana residents age 5 and older speak English at home and 4.8% speak French. Spanish is the third most spoken language at 2.5%, followed by Vietnamese at 0.6% and German at 0.2%.
Religion
Like the other Southern states, Louisiana is mostly Protestant; however there is also a large native Catholic population in the state, particularly in the southern part of the state, which makes Louisiana unique among Southern states. The current religious affiliations of the people of Louisiana are shown in the table below:
- Christian — 90%
- Protestant — 60%
- Baptist — 38%
- Methodist — 4%
- Pentecostal — 2%
- Other Protestant – 16%
- Roman Catholic — 30%
- Other Christian — 1%
- Other Religions — <1%
- Non-Religious — 10%
The New Orleans area has a small but significant Jewish community.
Cities and towns
Cities with a population of over 10,000:
Ten richest places in Louisiana
Ranked by per capita income
#Mound: $92,200 (population 12, as of the 2000 census)
#Oak Hills Place: $34,944
#Elmwood: $34,329
#Eden Isle: $31,798
#Gilliam: $30,264
#Shenandoah: $29,722
#Westminster: $28,087
#River Ridge: $27,088
#Prien: $26,537
#Mandeville: $26,420
Education
Colleges and universities
Bossier Parish Community College
Professional sports teams
As of 2005 Louisiana is nominally the least populous state with more than one major professional sports league franchise. However, the effects of Hurricane Katrina have forced the National Basketball Association's New Orleans Hornets to play their games in Oklahoma City for the 2005-06 season. The National Football League's New Orleans Saints are playing most of their 2005 regular season games in Baton Rouge, however the long-term future of that franchise is also uncertain.
Football
- New Orleans Saints
- New Orleans VooDoo
NWFL
- New Orleans Spice
NIFL
- Southwest Louisiana Swashbucklers (Lake Charles) - NIFL
AF2
- Bossier-Shreveport Battle Wings - AF2
SAFL
- Baton Rouge Riverboat Bandits - SAFL
- Lake Charles RiverKats - SAFL
- Minden RoughRiders - SAFL
- Lafayette Bayou Bulls - SAFL
- Ruston Rage - SAFL
- Shreveport Steamers - SAFL
- Greater New Orleans Gladiators - SAFL
- Hammond Headhunters - SAFL
- Louisiana (Houma) Blazing Bulldogs - SAFL
- Central Louisiana Warriors - SAFL
- Slidell Steelsharks - SAFL
Defunct teams
- Shreveport Bombers - IPFL
- Louisiana Bayou Beast - IPFL
Baseball
- Minor League baseball teams
- New Orleans Zephyrs
- Shreveport Sports
- Alexandria Aces
- Baton Rouge River Bats
- Houma Hawks
- New Orleans Pelicans (1887-1959)
- New Orleans Creoles (Negro League) (dates?)
Basketball
- National Basketball Association:
- New Orleans Jazz (1974) team moved to Salt Lake City and became the Utah Jazz in 1979
- The Charlotte Hornets moved to New Orleans in 2002 to become the New Orleans Hornets - Now known as The New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets (at least for 2005-06).
Hockey
- Minor League Hockey
- Louisiana IceGators (1995 - 2005) - ECHL
- Baton Rouge Kingfish (1996 - 2003) - ECHL
- New Orleans Brass (1997 - 2003) - ECHL
- Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs - CHL
Miscellaneous information
- State dog : Catahoula Leopard Dog
- State bird : Eastern Brown Pelican
- State flower : Magnolia
- State fossil : Petrified palmwood
- State tree : Bald Cypress
- State mammal : Louisiana Black Bear
- State wildflower : Louisiana Iris
- State reptile : American Alligator
- State insect: Honeybee
- State crustacean : Crawfish
- State amphibian: Green Tree Frog
- State food: Gumbo
- State songs: "You Are My Sunshine," "Every Man a King," and "Give Me Louisiana"
- [http://www.csbr.org/latartan1.htm State Tartan]
- State drink: Milk
- State instrument: Diatonic Accordian
- State freshwater fish: Sac-au-Lait
- State Gemstone: Agate
- State Soil: Ruston
- State Colors: Blue, White, Gold
- State Pledge: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the state of Louisiana and to the motto for which it stands: A state, under God, united in purpose and ideals, confident that justice shall prevail for all of those abiding here.
The ancestors of Creoles generally came to Louisiana directly from France, Spain, or from the French colonies in the Caribbean and settled in New Orleans or in South Eastern Louisiana.
The ancestors of the Cajuns are the Acadians, a French-descended people of what are now New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, Canada. When the British won the French and Indian War, the British forced all of the citizens to take a pledge of allegiance. Most Acadians declined and emigrated from Canada, most of them fleeing to the southwestern portion of Louisiana, centered in the region around Lafayette.
There is also a distinct Spanish-descended group in Louisiana. The Islenos are direct descendants of Canary Islanders forced to migrate by the Spanish King beginning in the mid-1770s. There were intended to help guard the eastern approaches to New Orleans from invasion by the British. They settled in what is modern-day St. Bernard Parish, in the river passes east of the city, along an old mouth of the Mississippi River which they named Terre aux Boeufs (literally "Land of Cattle" for the cattle living there). Many of their descendants remained insulated from the city, and continued to speak an archaic version of Spanish well into the 20th Century. They still maintain contacts with the Canary Islands, and have an annual "Caldo" festival named for a native dish.
For almost 20 years there was only one small amusement park in Louisiana, called Hamel's Amusement Park in Shreveport, which is now mostly closed. There is now a Six Flags in New Orleans East.
Since Louisiana is under constant threat from hurricanes, the Louisiana State Police are sponsoring a contraflow lane reversal program in order to evacuate the New Orleans metropolitan area as quickly as possible.
Louisiana's license plates include the motto "Sportsman's Paradise," which emphasizes the state's opportunities for hunting, fishing, and other outdoor activities. The motto is often used in state tourism campaigns.
References
#Sturdevent, William C. (1967): [http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/united_states/early_indian_east.jpg Early Indian Tribes, Cultures, and Linguistic Stocks], Smithsonian Institution Map (Eastern United States).
- Yiannopoulos, A.N., The Civil Codes of Louisiana (reprinted from Civil Law System: Louisiana and Comparative law, A Coursebook: Texts, Cases and Materials, 3d Edition; similar to version in preface to Louisiana Civil Code, ed. by Yiannopoulos)
- Rodolfo Batiza, The Louisiana Civil Code of 1808: Its Actual Sources and
Present Relevance, 46 TUL. L. REV. 4 (1971); Rodolfo Batiza, Sources of the Civil Code of
1808, Facts and Speculation: A Rejoinder, 46 TUL. L. REV. 628 (1972); Robert A. Pascal, Sources of the Digest of 1808: A Reply to Professor Batiza, 46 TUL. L. REV. 603 (1972);
Joseph M. Sweeney, Tournament of Scholars Over the Sources of the Civil Code of 1808,46
TUL. L. REV. 585 (1972).
- Kinsella, N. Stephan, [http://www.kinsellalaw.com/publications/kinsella_civil-common-law-dictionary.pdf A Civil Law to Common Law Dictionary], 54 Louisiana Law Review 1265 (1994)
See also
- Louisiana Superdome
- Avery Island
External links
- [http://www.state.la.us Official State of Louisiana website]
- [http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/22000.html U.S. Census Bureau]
- [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/America/United_States/Louisiana/home.html History of Louisiana]
- [http://www.terragalleria.com/america/south-east/louisiana Photos of Louisiana - Terra Galleria]
- [http://www.lavoted.com Louisiana Politics & News]
-
Category:States of the United States
ko:루이지애나 주
ja:ルイジアナ州
simple:Louisiana
The Beatles
The Beatles were a British pop and rock group from Liverpool, England. The group shattered many sales records and charted more than 50 top 40 hit singles, including 20 #1 hits in the USA alone, becoming arguably the most famous musical act of the 20th century. EMI Records estimates that the band has sold over a billion records worldwide[http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/gwr5/content_pages/record.asp?recordid=50910]. The band's songs covered many genres, from ballads to reggae, and from psychedelic music to blues to heavy metal, and opened the door for many new musical styles. The Beatles influence extended beyond music into the social and cultural revolutions of the '60s.
Dubbed "The Fab Four", The Beatles were John Lennon (1940 - 1980), (James) Paul McCartney (born 1942), George Harrison (1943 - 2001), and Ringo Starr (born Richard Starkey in 1940). Lennon and McCartney were the principal songwriters, with Harrison making a significant contribution, particularly in the band's later years. After giving the group their first break as a recording outfit, George Martin went on to produce all of The Beatles' seminal recordings; in this role, his influence in their musical development was of critical importance.
The Beatles created a sensation in late 1963 in the UK (the phenomenon was dubbed "Beatlemania" by the British press), notable for the hordes of screaming and swooning young women the group inspired. Beatlemania came to North America in early 1964, and the band's popularity extended across much of the world. Like many of the so-called "British Invasion" bands, they started by covering songs by American rock 'n' roll and R&B pioneers. They admired both white artists such as Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly and Carl Perkins, and black musicians such as Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Ray Charles. Their own compositions in their early days emulated the musical styles of their heroes. After a while their own innate musical ideas started to emerge and their music developed its own distinctive hallmarks. Within the space of five years, their music evolved from the simple exuberance of their early hits (such as "She Loves You" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand") to artistically ambitious suites of songs (such as the albums Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Abbey Road). By writing their own songs, exploring the possibilities of the recording studio, and striving for unprecedented quality in every recording they released, The Beatles had far-reaching effects on popular music. The Beatles starred in two feature films. They were subjected to unprecedented press scrutiny which included criticism of their later role as symbols of 1960s youth counterculture. The group disbanded in 1970. Thirty-five years later, in 2005, the American entertainment industry magazine Variety named them the most iconic entertainers of the 20th century.
History
20th century", "Help!", "In My Life", "Strawberry Fields Forever", and "Across the Universe".]]
Main article: History of the Beatles
John Lennon formed a group, The Quarrymen, in March 1957. On July 6 that year, John met Paul McCartney while playing at the Woolton Parish Church Garden Fete, and the two were soon playing music together, with Colin Hanton on drums, and Len Garry on "Tea-Chest" bass. In February of 1958 the young guitarist George Harrison joined the group, which played under a variety of names, including, "The Blackjacks". Recordings of John, Paul and George from that year still exist. During this period, members constantly joined, and left the line up. John, Paul and George were the only, constant members. Hanton left in 1959.
The first regular gigs for the group were at a club created by Mona Best in the basement of her family's home, a large Victorian House with a vast complex of cellars at 8 Haymans Green in the West Derby area of Liverpool. Mona had noticed the number of young friends visiting her son, Pete, at the house and decided to turn part of the cellar into a private club. A more ambitious plan - a club for young people with live groups - developed. It was one of the first cellar clubs in Liverpool to present rock 'n' roll groups exclusively, as opposed to the strict policy of jazz for venues such as the Cavern and the Cat A Coombs. The Casbah Coffee Club opened in August 1959, and the resident group was the Quarrymen - John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ken Brown, who would soon be cast off.
The Quarrymen went through a progression of names: Johnny and The Moondogs, The Silver Beetles, eventually arriving at The Beatles. The Beatles, dreamed up by John Lennon who said,"a man in a flaming pie appeared and said you shall be Beetles with an a". In 1960 their manager, Allan Williams, arranged for them to perform in clubs on the Reeperbahn in Hamburg, Germany. In August 1960, McCartney invited Pete Best to become the group's drummer. In Hamburg (particularly at the infamous Kaiserkeller club) they honed their skills as performers and broadened their reputation. Stuart Sutcliffe was part of the group in 1960-61 and influenced their appearance and sense of style. While in Hamburg, The Beatles were recruited by singer Tony Sheridan to act as his backing band on a series of recordings for the German Polydor Records label, produced by famed bandleader Bert Kaempfert. Kaempfert signed the group to its own Polydor contract at the first session in June 1961. On October 23 Polydor published the song "My Bonnie (Mein Herz ist bei dir nur)", which made it into the German charts (#5, according to a Paul McCartney interview). They were deported from Germany on one occasion in 1960, when their work permits had expired, and it was discovered that George was under age.
Upon their return from Hamburg the group was enthusiastically promoted by Sam Leach, who presented them over the next year and a half on various stages in Liverpool 49 times, including the famed “Operation Big Beat in 1961”, at which 3000 people paid to see The Beatles perform along with Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, Kingsize Taylor and the Dominoes, Gerry and the Pacemakers and others at the Tower Ballroom, New Brighton.
Brian Epstein, manager of the record department at NEMS, his family's furniture store, took over as the group's manager in 1962 and intensified The Beatles' quest for a British recording contract. After one last session for Polydor in May 1962, Epstein and Kaempfert jointly agreed to cancel the group's contract with the German label. On June 6th, and having been rejected by almost every other record company in the UK, he brought the quartet to London's Abbey Road studios, having secured the interest of George Martin, principal producer with EMI's Parlophone label, then noted for its production of novelty records. After considerable thought he decided to grant The Beatles their first UK recording contract. Pete Best was fired in favour of Ringo Starr. It was rumoured that this was because Pete was the best looking member of the group, and was receiving too much attention from the female following. The reason given at the time was that, whilst he looked the part, his drumming was poor. This did not convince his army of fans back home in Liverpool. The new line-up recorded their first broadcast interview on the hospital station Radio Clatterbridge. The Beatles' first sessions in September 1962 produced a minor UK hit, "Love Me Do", which likely charted in part because Epstein had ordered a large quantity of the singles from EMI for his family's stores, a relatively common practise among pop artist managements in the UK in that era. ("Love Me Do" subsequently reached the top of the US singles chart in May 1964.) This was swiftly followed by the recording of their second single Please Please Me. Three months later they recorded their first album (also titled Please Please Me), a mix of original songs by Lennon and McCartney along with some covers. The band's first televised performance was on a programme called People and Places broadcast live from Manchester by Granada Television on 17 October 1962 and presented by Bill Grundy (who John 'dubbed' "Big Grunty" in his first book of poetry and prose, "In His Own Write").
Beatlemania reached a new crescendo in Britain on 13 October 1963 with a televised appearance at the London Palladium. Although the band experienced great popularity in the record charts in Britain from early 1963 onwards, Parlophone's American counterpart, Capitol Records (which was owned by EMI), refused to issue the singles "Love Me Do", "Please Please Me" and "From Me To You" in the United States, partly because no British act had ever had a sustained impact on Ame | | |
