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Ben Folds
Benjamin Scott Folds (born September 12, 1966) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and composer, who is the first artistic advisor to the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., since May 2017. Folds was the frontman and pianist of the alternative rock trio Ben Folds Five from 1993 to 2000, and again in the early 2010s during their reunion. He has recorded a number of solo albums and performed live as a solo artist. He has also collaborated with musicians such as William Shatner, Regina Spektor, "Weird Al" Yankovic, and yMusic, and undertaken experimental songwriting projects with authors such as Nick Hornby and Neil Gaiman. Folds has frequently performed arrangements of his music with uncommon instrumentation, including symphony orchestras and a cappella groups. In addition to contributing music to the soundtracks of the animated films '' Hoodwinked!,'' and '' Over the Hedge'', Folds has produced several albums, including Amanda Pal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Winston-Salem is a city and the county seat of Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States. In the 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the second-largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region, the 5th most populous city in North Carolina, the third-largest urban area in North Carolina, and the 90th most populous city in the United States. With a metropolitan population of 679,948 it is the fourth largest metropolitan area in North Carolina. Winston-Salem is home to the tallest office building in the region, 100 North Main Street, formerly known as the Wachovia Building and now known locally as the Wells Fargo Center. In 2003, the Greensboro-Winston-Salem-High Point metropolitan statistical area was redefined by the OMB and separated into the two major metropolitan areas of Winston-Salem and Greensboro-High Point. The population of the Winston-Salem metropolitan area in 2020 was 679,948. The metro area covers over 2,000 square miles and spans the five co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ben Folds Five
Ben Folds Five is an American alternative rock trio formed in 1993 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The group comprises Ben Folds (lead vocals, piano), Robert Sledge (bass guitar, backing vocals) and Darren Jessee (drums, backing vocals). The group achieved success in the alternative, indie and pop music scenes. Their single "Brick" from the second album, ''Whatever and Ever Amen'' (1997), gained airplay on many mainstream radio stations. During their first seven years, the band released three studio records, a compilation of B-sides and outtakes, and eight singles. They also contributed to a number of soundtracks and compilations. Ben Folds Five disbanded in October 2000. They reunited in 2011, and released their fourth album, '' The Sound of the Life of the Mind'', in 2012. History 1993–2000 Ben Folds Five was formed in 1993 in Chapel Hill by Ben Folds. They were a trio in spite of their name, and the primary motivation behind the name, apart from the band's well-known use o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Life Of Music And Cheap Lessons
A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes''. It is similar in shape to the Ancient Greek letter alpha, from which it derives. The uppercase version consists of the two slanting sides of a triangle, crossed in the middle by a horizontal bar. The lowercase version can be written in two forms: the double-storey a and single-storey ɑ. The latter is commonly used in handwriting and fonts based on it, especially fonts intended to be read by children, and is also found in italic type. In English grammar, " a", and its variant " an", are indefinite articles. History The earliest certain ancestor of "A" is aleph (also written 'aleph), the first letter of the Phoenician alphabet, which consisted entirely of consonants (for that reason, it is also called an abjad to distinguish it f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Sing-Off
''The Sing-Off'' was an American television singing competition featuring a cappella groups. It debuted on NBC on December 14, 2009, and was produced by Sony Pictures Television and Outlaw Productions, with Mark Burnett's One Three Media (for a time called United Artists Media Group) being added for the fourth season. A fifth season aired as a holiday special in December 2014. Summary It was hosted by Nick Lachey (from the boy band 98 Degrees), with judges Ben Folds, Shawn Stockman (of the rhythm-and-blues vocal group Boyz II Men), and originally Nicole Scherzinger, later replaced by Sara Bareilles. Bareilles left the show after the third season and was replaced by Jewel for the fourth season. Several members of the show's music staff have come from the a cappella community, including Deke Sharon (music director/vocal producer), Bill Hare, Ed Boyer, Ben Bram, Robert Dietz, Christopher Diaz, and Nick Girard. A cappella groups from the United States, including Puerto Rico, we ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amanda Palmer
Amanda MacKinnon Gaiman Palmer (born April 30, 1976) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and performance artist who is the lead vocalist, pianist, and lyricist of the duo The Dresden Dolls. She performs as a solo artist and was also a member of the duo Evelyn Evelyn, and the lead singer and songwriter of Amanda Palmer and the Grand Theft Orchestra. She has gained a cult fanbase throughout her career, and was one of the first musical artists to popularise the use of crowdfunding websites. Early life Palmer was born Amanda MacKinnon Palmer in New York City's Mount Sinai Hospital, and grew up in Lexington, Massachusetts. Her parents divorced when she was one year old, and as a child she rarely saw her father. She attended Lexington High School, where she was involved in the drama department, and later attended Wesleyan University where she studied theater and was a member of the Eclectic Society. In 1999, Palmer founded the Shadowbox Collective, a performance group ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Over The Hedge (film)
''Over the Hedge'' is a 2006 American computer-animated comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation SKG and distributed by Paramount Pictures (marking Paramount's first collaboration with DreamWorks). It is loosely based on the comic strip of the same name by Michael Fry and T. Lewis. Directed by Tim Johnson and Karey Kirkpatrick (in the latter's feature directorial debut) from a screenplay by Len Blum, Lorne Cameron, David Hoselton, and Kirkpatrick, the film stars an ensemble cast featuring the voices of Bruce Willis, Garry Shandling, Steve Carell, William Shatner, Wanda Sykes, and Nick Nolte. The film's plot follows a raccoon named RJ who must reclaim food for a bear, ultimately manipulating a group of animals that had recently awakened from hibernation in order to speed up the process. ''Over the Hedge'' was released in the United States on May 19, 2006. It received generally positive reviews from critics, and grossed $340 million on an $80 million budget. Plot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hoodwinked!
''Hoodwinked!'' is a 2005 computer-animated musical comedy mystery film. It retells the folktale ''Little Red Riding Hood'' as a police procedural, using backstories to show multiple characters' points of view. It was produced independently by Blue Yonder Films with Kanbar Entertainment, directed and written by Cory Edwards along with Todd Edwards, and Tony Leech, and produced by Katie Hooten, Maurice Kanbar, David K. Lovegren, Sue Bea Montgomery, and Preston Stutzman. The film features the voices of Anne Hathaway, Glenn Close, Jim Belushi, Patrick Warburton, Anthony Anderson, David Ogden Stiers, Xzibit, Chazz Palminteri, and Andy Dick. ''Hoodwinked!'' was among the earliest computer-animated films to be completely independently funded. Working apart from a major studio allowed the filmmakers greater creative control, but also restrained them economically. Due to the film's low budget, its animation was produced in the Philippines, with a less realistic design inspired by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Cappella
''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato musical styles. In the 19th century, a renewed interest in Renaissance polyphony, coupled with an ignorance of the fact that vocal parts were often doubled by instrumentalists, led to the term coming to mean unaccompanied vocal music. The term is also used, rarely, as a synonym for '' alla breve''. Early history A cappella could be as old as humanity itself. Research suggests that singing and vocables may have been what early humans used to communicate before the invention of language. The earliest piece of sheet music is thought to have originated from times as early as 2000 B.C. while the earliest that has survived in its entirety is from the first century A.D.: a piece from Greece called the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orchestra
An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, and double bass * woodwinds, such as the flute, oboe, clarinet, saxophone, and bassoon * Brass instruments, such as the horn, trumpet, trombone, cornet, and tuba * percussion instruments, such as the timpani, snare drum, bass drum, cymbals, triangle, tambourine, and mallet percussion instruments Other instruments such as the piano, harpsichord, and celesta may sometimes appear in a fifth keyboard section or may stand alone as soloist instruments, as may the concert harp and, for performances of some modern compositions, electronic instruments and guitars. A full-size Western orchestra may sometimes be called a or philharmonic orchestra (from Greek ''phil-'', "loving", and "harmony"). The actual number of musici ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neil Gaiman
Neil Richard MacKinnon GaimanBorn as Neil Richard Gaiman, with "MacKinnon" added on the occasion of his marriage to Amanda Palmer. ; ( Neil Richard Gaiman; born 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, nonfiction, audio theatre, and films. His works include the comic book series '' The Sandman'' and novels '' Stardust'', ''American Gods'', ''Coraline'', and '' The Graveyard Book''. He has won numerous awards, including the Hugo, Nebula, and Bram Stoker awards, as well as the Newbery and Carnegie medals. He is the first author to win both the Newbery and the Carnegie medals for the same work, ''The Graveyard Book'' (2008). In 2013, '' The Ocean at the End of the Lane'' was voted Book of the Year in the British National Book Awards. It was later adapted into a critically acclaimed stage play at the Royal National Theatre in London, England that '' The Independent'' called "...theatre at its best". Early life Gaiman's fami ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nick Hornby
Nicholas Peter John Hornby (born 17 April 1957) is an English writer and lyricist. He is best known for his memoir '' Fever Pitch'' and novels '' High Fidelity'' and '' About a Boy'', all of which were adapted into feature films. Hornby's work frequently touches upon music, sport, and the aimless and obsessive natures of his protagonists. His books have sold more than 5 million copies worldwide as of 2018. In a 2004 poll for the BBC, Hornby was named the 29th most influential person in British culture. He has received two Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay nominations for '' An Education'' (2009), and ''Brooklyn'' (2015). Early life and education Hornby was born in Redhill, Surrey, the son of Sir Derek Hornby, the chairman of London and Continental Railways, and Margaret Audrey Withers. He was brought up in Maidenhead, and educated at Maidenhead Grammar School and Jesus College, Cambridge, where he read English. His parents divorced when he was eleven. Prior to h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
YMusic
yMusic is an American sextet Chamber music, chamber ensemble from New York City. Consisting of a trumpet, flute, clarinet, violin, viola, and cello, the group was formed in Brooklyn by trumpeter CJ Camerieri and violinist Rob Moose in 2008. Career The ensemble has released three studio albums of original compositions written for the group, and has toured extensively with artists such as José González (singer), José González, Bon Iver and Paul Simon. In 2015, yMusic collaborated with Ben Folds on his album ''So There (Ben Folds album), So There'', and toured with him in support. yMusic made their Carnegie Hall debut in 2016, premiering a piece by Caroline Shaw and one by Chris Thile. The ensemble performs with The Staves on that group's 2017 release ''The Way Is Read''. In 2019, yMusic was credited on four tracks of Bruce Hornsby's album Absolute Zero (Bruce Hornsby album), ''Absolute Zero''. Personnel * Alex Sopp – flute * CJ Camerieri – trumpet * Gabriel Cabezas – ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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