Happy Town (album)
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Happy Town (album)
''Happy Town'' is the third album by the American singer-songwriter Jill Sobule, released in 1997. The album contains the singles "Bitter" and "When My Ship Comes In" as well as "Half a Heart" and the satirical social commentary "Soldiers of Christ", where Sobule sings from the point of view of a Christian Conservative to illustrate the existence of homophobia in religion. The album sold 24,000 copies in the US within the first year of its release. "Bitter" peaked at No. 74 on the Australian ARIA singles chart in June 1997. The album peaked at No. 83 on the Australian ARIA albums chart during the same month. Sobule was dropped by Atlantic after the release of ''Happy Town''. The album cover illustration, which initially featured a Prozac pill, was changed to show a pair of test tubes when Wal-Mart refused to carry the album in its stores. The company asserted that the original image promoted drug abuse. Critical reception ''The Spokesman-Review'' called the album "a bold step fo ...
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Jill Sobule
Jill Sobule (born January 16, 1961) is an American singer-songwriter best known for the 1995 single "I Kissed a Girl (Jill Sobule song), I Kissed a Girl", and "Supermodel (Jill Sobule song), Supermodel" from the soundtrack of the 1995 film ''Clueless (film), Clueless''. Her folk-inflected compositions alternate between ironic, story-driven character studies and emotive ballads, a duality reminiscent of such 1970s American songwriters as Warren Zevon, Harry Nilsson, Loudon Wainwright III, Harry Chapin, and Randy Newman. Autobiographical elements, including Sobule's Jewish heritage and her adolescent battles with anorexia nervosa, anorexia and depression, frequently occur in Sobule's writing. In 2009, she released ''California Years'', an album funded entirely by fan donations, making her an early pioneer of crowdfunding. Since 2020, she has acted as musician-in-residence at the Bayard Rustin Center for Social Justice, an LGBTQIA community center. History and studio recordings T ...
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Wal-Mart
Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas. The company was founded by Sam Walton in nearby Rogers, Arkansas in 1962 and incorporated under Delaware General Corporation Law on October 31, 1969. It also owns and operates Sam's Club retail warehouses. Walmart has 10,586 stores and clubs in 24 countries, operating under 46 different names. The company operates under the name Walmart in the United States and Canada, as Walmart de México y Centroamérica in Mexico and Central America, and as Flipkart Wholesale in India. It has wholly owned operations in Chile, Canada, and South Africa. Since August 2018, Walmart held only a minority stake in Walmart Brasil, which was renamed Grupo Big in August 2019, with 20 percent of the company's shares, an ...
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Chris Carmichael (musician)
Chris Carmichael is a musician and arranger born in San Antonio, Texas on July 6, 1962. The son of an Air Force fighter pilot, he moved extensively before taking up the violin while living in Hampton, Virginia. After moving to Bowling Green, Kentucky in 1975, he entered into more formal training - studying violin with Western Kentucky University professor Betty Pease (a former student of Ivan Galamian) for eight years. While in the university environment, he also studied music theory, composition, orchestral and chamber performance under teachers; Dr. David Livingston (a former student of composer Roy Harris), Vsevolod Lezhnev, (principal cellist with the Moscow Philharmonic and Pittsburgh Symphony orchestras) and Leon Gregorian (head of Michigan State University's conducting program). After his formal training, he began a career as a touring musician for various artists in several genres including outlandish entertainers Joe Savage and Jason D. Williams (RCA). After moving to Na ...
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Cornet
The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B, though there is also a soprano cornet in E and cornets in A and C. All are unrelated to the Renaissance and early Baroque cornett. History The cornet was derived from the posthorn by applying rotary valves to it in the 1820s, in France. However, by the 1830s, Parisian makers were using piston valves. Cornets first appeared as separate instrumental parts in 19th-century French compositions.''Encyclopædia Britannica'', Micropedia, Volume III, William Benton, Chicago Illinois, 1974, p. 156 The instrument could not have been developed without the improvement of piston valves by Silesian horn players Friedrich Blühmel (or Blümel) and Heinrich Stölzel, in the early 19th century. These two instrument makers almost simultaneously invented valves, though it is likely th ...
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Tuba
The tuba (; ) is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece. It first appeared in the mid-19th century, making it one of the newer instruments in the modern orchestra and concert band. The tuba largely replaced the ophicleide. ''Tuba'' is Latin for "trumpet". A person who plays the tuba is called a tubaist, a tubist, or simply a tuba player. In a British brass band or military band, they are known as bass players. History Prussian Patent No. 19 was granted to Wilhelm Friedrich Wieprecht and Johann Gottfried Moritz (1777–1840) on September 12, 1835 for a "bass tuba" in F1. The original Wieprecht and Moritz instrument used five valves of the Berlinerpumpen type that were the forerunners of the modern piston valve. The first tenor tuba was invented in 1838 by Carl Wilhelm Moritz (1810–1855), son of Johann Gottfried Moritz. The addition of valves made it po ...
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Vibraphone
The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist,'' or ''vibist''. The vibraphone resembles the steel marimba, which it superseded. One of the main differences between the vibraphone and other keyboard percussion instruments is that each bar suspends over a resonator tube containing a flat metal disc. These discs are attached together by a common axle and spin when the motor is turned on. This causes the instrument to produce its namesake tremolo or vibrato effect. The vibraphone also has a sustain pedal similar to a piano. When the pedal is up, the bars produce a muted sound; when the pedal is down, the bars sustain for several seconds or until again muted with the pedal. The vibraphone is commonly used in jazz music, in which it often plays a featured role, and was a defining element ...
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Ivy Jo Hunter
George Ivy Hunter (August 28, 1940 – October 6, 2022), known as Ivy Jo Hunter, was an American R&B songwriter, record producer and singer, most associated with his work for Motown in the 1960s. Life and career Raised in Detroit, Michigan, Hunter was trained in orchestral music — primarily trumpet and keyboards. After a stint in the United States Army, Hunter began performing as a singer in the proto-soul venues around Detroit, where he became friends with songwriter Hank Cosby. Cosby introduced him to Motown's first A&R man, William "Mickey" Stevenson. Hunter played keyboards on Motown sessions before Stevenson began working with him as a songwriter. He became a principal in the Motown Records house band, and began to write some of the most significant hits of the early Motown years. Hunter's songs included The Spinners' " Truly Yours" and "Sweet Thing"; The Temptations' " Sorry Is a Sorry Word"; The Isley Brothers' " Behind a Painted Smile" and "My Love Is Your ...
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Marvin Gaye
Marvin Pentz Gay Jr., who also spelled his surname as Gaye (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), was an American singer and songwriter. He helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo artist with a string of successes, earning him the nicknames "Prince of Motown" and "Prince of Soul". Gaye's Motown songs include "Ain't That Peculiar", "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)", and "I Heard It Through the Grapevine". Gaye also recorded duets with Mary Wells, Kim Weston, Tammi Terrell, and Diana Ross. During the 1970s, Gaye recorded the albums '' What's Going On'' and ''Let's Get It On'' and became one of the first artists in Motown to break away from the reins of a production company. His later recordings influenced several contemporary R&B subgenres, such as quiet storm and neo soul. "Sexual Healing", released in 1982 on the album ''Midnight Love'', won him his first two Grammy Awards. Gaye's last televised appearances we ...
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Mark Goldenberg
Mark Goldenberg (born April 10, 1952) is an American guitarist and songwriter, noted for his session work and composition of successful songs for Linda Ronstadt, the Pointer Sisters, and others. Biography Early career Raised in Chicago, Illinois, Goldenberg studied at the Music Conservatory at the Chicago College of Performing Arts and the Chicago Musical College. When Eddie Boy Band, the band he was in signed a record deal with MCA, Goldenberg moved to California. Though the band broke up, he remained in California as a singer-songwriter. In 1976, Goldenberg began playing guitar with Al Stewart. After playing with Wendy Waldman (who had been Stewart's opening act), Goldenberg started the band the Cretones with bassist Peter Bernstein. Linda Ronstadt covered three of their songs on her '' Mad Love'' album, and the band served as Linda Ronstadt's backup band for a time, and recorded two albums: ''Thin Red Line'' and ''Snap! Snap!''. Then Goldenberg formed the band Our Town, wh ...
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Richard Barone
Richard Barone is an American rock musician who first gained attention as frontman for the Bongos. He works as a songwriter, arranger, author, director, and record producer, releases albums as a solo artist, tours, and has created concert events at Carnegie Hall, Hollywood Bowl, SXSW, and New York's Central Park. He serves on the Board of Governors for The Recording Academy (Grammys) and the Board of Advisors for Anthology Film Archives, and is affiliated with the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at New York University and The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. Biography Richard Barone was born in Tampa, Florida, and began his career at age seven on local top-40 radio station WALT (now known as WTIS) as the Littlest DJ. By age sixteen he was producing local bands and recorded the idiosyncratic performer Tiny Tim (musician), Tiny Tim after the two met following a Tampa performance. It was Tiny Tim who first suggested to Barone that he should live in Greenwich Villa ...
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The Baltimore Sun
''The Baltimore Sun'' is the largest general-circulation daily newspaper based in the U.S. state of Maryland and provides coverage of local and regional news, events, issues, people, and industries. Founded in 1837, it is currently owned by Tribune Publishing. The ''Baltimore Sun's'' parent company, '' Tribune Publishing'', was acquired by Alden Global Capital, which operates its media properties through Digital First Media, in May 2021. History ''The Sun'' was founded on May 17, 1837, by printer/editor/publisher/owner Arunah Shepherdson Abell (often listed as "A. S. Abell") and two associates, William Moseley Swain, and Azariah H. Simmons, recently from Philadelphia, where they had started and published the '' Public Ledger'' the year before. Abell was born in Rhode Island, became a journalist with the ''Providence Patriot'' and later worked with newspapers in New York City and Boston.Van Doren, Charles and Robert McKendry, ed., ''Webster's American Biographies''. (Springfiel ...
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