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Rays (Michael Nesmith Album)
''Rays'' is an album by Michael Nesmith, originally released in a limited edition of 100 in November 2005, then later released in an unlimited edition in April 2006. Nesmith described the album as a cinematic journey of sound with elements of swing, jazz and instrumental funk that forms what he calls "New Century Modern". Background The album cover is a comic strip drawn by Drew Friedman and features Nesmith "driving" through five stages of his life, with a quest of looking to fill his "appetite": 1) His earlier career in The Monkees, where he is seen driving a Pontiac GTO and wearing his signature knit-cap; 2) His career as the frontman of the First National Band, driving a Jeep; 3) His ''Elephant Parts''-era career, where he is seen driving a pink Cadillac (referring to his song, "Eldorado to the Moon"); 4) His later life as an author, entrepreneur and philanthropist, driving a Rolls-Royce and asking, "where am I?"; 5) And in the center of the cartoon, Nesmith is sitting peac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Nesmith
Robert Michael Nesmith or Mike Nesmith, (December 30, 1942 – December 10, 2021) was an American musician, songwriter, and actor. He was best known as a member of the pop rock band the Monkees and co-star of the TV series ''The Monkees'' (1966–1968). His songwriting credits include "Different Drum," which became a hit for Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Poneys. After the break-up of the Monkees, Nesmith continued his successful songwriting and performing career, first with the seminal country rock group the First National Band, with whom he had a top-40 hit, " Joanne", and then as a solo artist. He often played a custom-built Gretsch 12-string electric with the Monkees and afterwards. Nesmith founded Pacific Arts, a multimedia production and distribution company, in 1974, through which he helped pioneer the music video format. He created one of the first American television programs dedicated to music videos, ''PopClips'', which aired on Nickelodeon in 1980. He was asked to he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
First National Band
The First National Band or Michael Nesmith and The First National Band was a short-lived American collaborative band, led by Monkee Michael Nesmith. During the two active years, The First National Band released three albums in the country rock genre in 1970 and 1971. Pre-First National Band During his time in The Monkees, Nesmith was unhappy with the bubblegum pop records that musical director Don Kirshner was providing for the group, and fought to get his own compositions to be recorded under the Monkees name. Before The Monkees, Nesmith had released a handful of singles under the name "Michael Blessing" which were Bob Dylan/folk rock inspired. In 1968, Nesmith released ''The Wichita Train Whistle Sings'' as a side-project from the Monkees and, due to continued frustration, bought himself out of his Monkees contract altogether in 1970. Forming The First National Band In 1969, before Nesmith had left the Monkees, it was clear to both him and his friend John Ware that The Mo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kurt Wagner (musician)
Kurt Wagner (born 1959) is an American musician, and the singer and songwriter of the Nashville-based alternative country band Lambchop. In 2015 he launched an electronic music project named HeCTA. Early life and education Wagner was born in the South — Nashville, Tennessee — to Northerner parents. As a youth, he wore his hair very long, which set him further as an outcast among his peers. He attended art school in Memphis, Tennessee. Career Wagner worked as a carpenter, laying wooden floors both before the success of Lambchop in the 1990s and afterwards. Personal life He is married to Mary Mancini who was elected Chair of the Tennessee Democratic Party on January 10, 2015 as the second woman to be elected to that position. Previously she ran, unsuccessfully, in the Democratic primary against Jeff Yarbro for Senate District 21, which includes much of West Nashville in 2014. "I tell everybody, if you want to run for office some day and have an incredible fundraising even ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Luis Conte
Luis Conte (born 16 November 1954) is a Cuban percussionist best-known for his performances in the bands of artists including James Taylor, Madonna, Pat Metheny Group, Eric Clapton, Carlos Santana, Phil Collins, Rod Stewart and Shakira. He began his music career as a studio musician for Latin Jazz acts like Caldera. Conte's live performance and touring career took off when he joined Madonna's touring band in the 1980s. Neil Strauss of The New York Times describes Conte's playing as "grazing Latin-style percussion". Conte immigrated to Los Angeles in 1967, where he attended Los Angeles City College studying music, and entrenched himself in the music community. Conte's career includes composing and playing in ABC TV's Dancing with the Stars band, along with many TV and film projects. Early years Conte was born in Santiago de Cuba. As a child, Conte began his musical odyssey playing the guitar. However, he soon switched to percussion, and that has remained his primary instrument e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gregg Bissonette
Gregg Bissonette (born June 9, 1959) is an American jazz and rock drummer and vocalist. He is the brother of bassist Matt Bissonette, with whom he frequently collaborates. He has played on albums by dozens of recording artists, including David Lee Roth's first three solo albums. Career One of Bissonette's first recordings was on jazz trumpet legend Maynard Ferguson's ''Live from San Francisco'' in 1983. Brother Matt was also in the band and on the recording. He later appeared on Brandon Fields' ''The Other Side of the Story'' in 1985. It featured David Garfield on keyboards. A few years later Bissonette would start playing shows with Fields, Garfield and Steve Lukather on guitar and with John Peña on bass as Los Lobotomys. These shows took place at the Baked Potato, a jazz club and restaurant in Los Angeles, California, playing rock, Latin, and jazz. Bissonnette got his big break joining former Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth. The band included guitarist Steve Vai and fut ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rolls-Royce (car)
This is a list of Rolls-Royce branded motor cars and includes vehicles manufactured by: *Rolls-Royce Limited (1906–1973) *Rolls-Royce Motors (1973–2003), which was created as a result of the demerger of Rolls-Royce Limited in 1973. Vickers, Vickers plc owned Rolls-Royce Motors between 1980 and 1998. Volkswagen Group, Volkswagen AG acquired Rolls-Royce Motors in 1998 and renamed the firm Bentley, Bentley Motors Limited in 2003. Bentley Motors Limited is the direct successor of Rolls-Royce Motors and its predecessor entities and owns historical Rolls-Royce assets such as the Bentley Crewe, Crewe factory, pre-2003 vehicle designs and the Rolls-Royce – Bentley L Series V8 engine, L Series V8 engine. *Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, a subsidiary of BMW, BMW AG established in 1998 that began production of vehicles in 2003. Vehicles Rolls-Royce Limited vehicles * 1904–06 Rolls-Royce 10 hp, 10 hp * 1905–05 Rolls-Royce 15 hp, 15 hp * 1905–08 Rolls-Royce 20 hp (1905), 20 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elephant Parts
''Elephant Parts'' is a collection of comedy sketches and music videos made in 1981 by Michael Nesmith, formerly of the Monkees. Nesmith produced the video through his company Pacific Arts. ''Elephant Parts'' is one hour long with parody commercials and comedy sketches, and features five full-length music videos, including the popular songs "Rio" and "Cruisin'", which featured wrestler Steve Strong and Monterey-based comic "Chicago" Steve Barkley. Overview There are various comedy sketches between musical numbers: The most notable sketches are "Elvis Drugs", "Neighborhood Nuclear Superiority", "The Tragically Hip" (which was the inspiration for the Canadian band the Tragically Hip and was featured as a pretaped sketch on a season six episode of ''Saturday Night Live''), "Large Detroit Car Company", "Mariachi Translations", recurring comic blackouts that ended with the catchphrase "Just to prove a point!" and several series of bits with a lounge singer and a pirate, as well as a ga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jeep
Jeep is an American automobile marque, now owned by multi-national corporation Stellantis. Jeep has been part of Chrysler since 1987, when Chrysler acquired the Jeep brand, along with remaining assets, from its previous owner American Motors Corporation (AMC). Jeep's current product range consists solely of sport utility vehicles – both crossovers and fully off-road worthy SUVs and models, including one pickup truck. Previously, Jeep's range included other pick-ups, as well as small vans, and a few roadsters. Some of Jeep's vehicles—such as the Grand Cherokee—reach into the luxury SUV segment, a market segment the 1963 Wagoneer is considered to have started. Jeep sold 1.4 million SUVs globally in 2016, up from 500,000 in 2008, two-thirds of which in North America, and was Fiat-Chrysler's best selling brand in the U.S. during the first half of 2017. In the U.S. alone, over 2400 dealerships hold franchise rights to sell Jeep-branded vehicles, and if Jeep were spun off ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pontiac GTO
The Pontiac GTO is an automobile that was manufactured by American automaker Pontiac from 1963 to 1974 for the 1964 to 1974 model years, and by GM's subsidiary Holden in Australia for the 2004 to 2006 model years. The first generation of the GTO is credited as popularizing the muscle car market segment in the 1960s. The Pontiac GTO is considered by some to have started the trend with all four domestic automakers offering a variety of competing models. For the 1964 and 1965 model years, the GTO was an optional package on the intermediate-sized Pontiac Lemans. The 1964 GTO vehicle identification number (VIN) started with 22, while the 1965 GTO VIN started with 237. The GTO became a separate model from 1966 to 1971 (VIN 242...). It became an optional package again for the 1972 and 1973 intermediate LeMans. For 1974, the GTO was an optional trim package on the compact-sized Ventura. The GTO was selected as the ''Motor Trend'' Car of the Year in 1968. The GTO model was revived ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rock Music
Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States and United Kingdom.W. E. Studwell and D. F. Lonergan, ''The Classic Rock and Roll Reader: Rock Music from its Beginnings to the mid-1970s'' (Abingdon: Routledge, 1999), p.xi It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, a style that drew directly from the blues and rhythm and blues genres of African-American music and from country music. Rock also drew strongly from a number of other genres such as electric blues and folk, and incorporated influences from jazz, classical, and other musical styles. For instrumentation, rock has centered on the electric guitar, usually as part of a rock group with electric bass guitar, drums, and one or more singers. Usually, rock is song-based music with a time signature using a verse–chorus form, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Monkees
The Monkees were an American rock and pop band, formed in Los Angeles in 1966, whose lineup consisted of the American actor/musicians Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork alongside English actor/singer Davy Jones. The group was conceived in 1965 by television producers Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the situation comedy series of the same name. Music credited to the band was released on LP, as well as being included in the show, which aired from 1966 to 1968. While the sitcom was a mostly straightforward affair, the music production generated tension and controversy almost from the beginning. Music supervisor Don Kirshner was dissatisfied with the quartet's musical abilities, and he limited their involvement during the recording process, relying instead on professional songwriters and studio musicians. This arrangement yielded multiple hit albums and singles, but it did not sit well with the band members, who were facing a public backlash for not playing on the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drew Friedman (cartoonist)
Drew Friedman is an American cartoonist and illustrator who first gained renown for his humorous artwork and "stippling"-like style of caricature, employing thousands of pen-marks to simulate the look of a photograph. In the mid-1990s, he switched to painting. Friedman's work has appeared in such periodicals as ''Entertainment Weekly'', ''Newsweek'', ''Time'', ''The New York Times'', ''The Wall Street Journal'', ''The New Yorker'', ''The New Republic'', ''The New York Observer'', ''Esquire'', ''RAW'', ''Rolling Stone'', ''The Village Voice'' and '' Mad''. His works have been anthologized in seven collections, and he has illustrated a number of books, including Howard Stern's '' Private Parts'' and ''Miss America,'' as well as books of portraits released under his own name. Biography Since the 1990s, Friedman has provided caricature illustrations for mainstream publications. However, he first attracted public attention in the 1980s producing morbid alternative comics stories, s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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