1.
Bellingham, Washington
–
Bellingham is the largest city in and the county seat of Whatcom County in the U. S. state of Washington. The boundaries of the city encompass the towns of Fairhaven, Whatcom, Sehome. Bellingham is the northernmost city in the contiguous United States with a population of more than 50,000 residents and it is acclaimed for its easy access to outdoor opportunities in the San Juan Islands and North Cascades as well as proximity to the cities of Vancouver and Seattle. It is also famous for the quantities of Canadian tourists and shoppers who visit daily to take advantage of relatively cheap gasoline, airfare. The name of Bellingham is derived from the bay on which the city is situated, George Vancouver, who visited the area in June 1792, named the bay for Sir William Bellingham, the controller of the storekeepers account of the Royal Navy. Prior to Euro-American settlement, Bellingham was in the homeland of Coast Salish peoples of the Lummi, the first Caucasian settlers reached the area in 1854. In 1858, the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush caused thousands of miners, storekeepers, Coal was mined in the Bellingham area from the mid-19th to the mid-20th centuries. It was Henry Roeder who had discovered coal off the shore of Bellingham Bay. The mine extended to hundreds of miles of tunnels as deep as 1200 feet and it ran southwest to Bellingham Bay, on both sides of Squalicum Creek, an area of about one square mile. At its peak in the 1920s, the mine employed some 250 miners digging over 200,000 tons of coal annually, Whatcom is todays Old Town area and was founded in 1852. Sehome was an area of downtown founded in 1854, Bellingham was further south near Boulevard Park, founded in 1853, while Fairhaven was a large commercial district with its own harbor, also founded in 1853. In 1890, Fairhaven developers bought Bellingham, Whatcom and Sehome had adjacent borders and both towns wanted to merge, thus they formed New Whatcom. Later, on October 27,1903, the word New was dropped from the name, because the Washington State Legislature outlawed the use of the new in city. At first, attempts to combine Fairhaven and Whatcom failed, Whatcom citizens wouldnt support a city named Fairhaven, and Fairhaven residents would not support a city named Whatcom. They eventually settled on the name Bellingham, which remains today, voting a second time for a final merger of the four towns into a single city, the resolution passed by 2163 votes for and 596 against. In the early 1890s, three railroad lines arrived, connecting the bay cities to a market of builders. The foothills around Bellingham were clearcut after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake to provide the lumber for the rebuilding of San Francisco. In time, lumber and shingle mills sprang up all over the county to accommodate the byproduct of their work, in 1889, Pierre Cornwall and an association of investors formed the Bellingham Bay Improvement Company
2.
Alternative rock
–
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular in the 1990s and 2000s. In this instance, the word refers to the genres distinction from mainstream rock music. The terms original meaning was broader, referring to a generation of musicians unified by their debt to either the musical style or simply the independent. Ethos of punk rock, which in the late 1970s laid the groundwork for alternative music, Alternative rock is a broad umbrella term consisting of music that differs greatly in terms of its sound, its social context, and its regional roots. Most of these subgenres had achieved minor mainstream notice and a few bands representing them, such as Hüsker Dü, with the breakthrough of Nirvana and the popularity of the grunge and Britpop movements in the 1990s, alternative rock entered the musical mainstream and many alternative bands became successful. By the end of the decade, alternative rocks mainstream prominence declined due to a number of events that caused grunge and Britpop to fade, emo attracted attention in the larger alternative rock world, and the term was applied to a variety of artists, including multi-platinum acts. Post-punk revival artists such as Modest Mouse and The Killers had commercial success in the early, before the term alternative rock came into common usage around 1990, the sort of music to which it refers was known by a variety of terms. In 1979, Terry Tolkin used the term Alternative Music to describe the groups he was writing about, in 1979 Dallas radio station KZEW had a late night new wave show entitled Rock and Roll Alternative. College rock was used in the United States to describe the music during the 1980s due to its links to the radio circuit. In the United Kingdom, dozens of small do it yourself record labels emerged as a result of the punk subculture, according to the founder of one of these labels, Cherry Red, NME and Sounds magazines published charts based on small record stores called Alternative Charts. The first national chart based on distribution called the Indie Chart was published in January 1980, at the time, the term indie was used literally to describe independently distributed records. By 1985, indie had come to mean a particular genre, or group of subgenres, at first the term referred to intentionally non–mainstream rock acts that were not influenced by heavy metal ballads, rarefied new wave and high-energy dance anthems. The use of alternative gained further exposure due to the success of Lollapalooza, for which festival founder, in the late 1990s, the definition again became more specific. Defining music as alternative is often difficult because of two conflicting applications of the word, the name alternative rock essentially serves as an umbrella term for underground music that has emerged in the wake of punk rock since the mid-1980s. Alternative bands during the 1980s generally played in clubs, recorded for indie labels. Sounds range from the gloomy soundscapes of gothic rock to the guitars of indie pop to the dirty guitars of grunge to the 1960s/1970s revivalism of Britpop. This approach to lyrics developed as a reflection of the social and economic strains in the United States and United Kingdom of the 1980s, by 1984, a majority of groups signed to independent record labels mined from a variety of rock and particularly 1960s rock influences. This represented a break from the futuristic, hyper-rational post-punk years
3.
London
–
London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area
4.
Regent Street
–
Regent Street is a major shopping street in the West End of London. It is named after George, the Prince Regent and was built under the direction of the architect John Nash, the street runs from Waterloo Place in St Jamess at the southern end, through Piccadilly Circus and Oxford Circus, to All Souls Church. From there Langham Place and Portland Place continue the route to Regents Park, the street was completed in 1825 and was an early example of town planning in England, replacing a number of earlier roads including Swallow Street. Nashs street layout has survived, although all the buildings except All Souls Church have been replaced following reconstruction in the late 19th century. The street is known for its retail stores, including Liberty, Hamleys, Jaeger. The Royal Polytechnic Institution, now the University of Westminster, has based on Regent Street since 1838. Regent Street is approximately 0.8 miles long and begins at a junction with Charles II Street as a continuation of Waterloo Place. It runs north to Piccadilly Circus, where it left before curving round the Quadrant to head north again. It ends at a junction with Cavendish Place and Mortimer Street near the BBC Broadcasting House, with the road ahead being Langham Place, the southern section of the road is one-way northbound and part of the A4, a major road through West London. From Piccadilly Circus northwards, it is numbered A4201, though in common with roads inside the London congestion charging zone, the number does not appear on signs. Nearby tube stations are Charing Cross, Piccadilly Circus and Oxford Circus, the lattermost being one of the busiest underground stations in London, numerous bus routes, such as 6,12, and 13, run along Regent Street. Regent Street was one of the first planned developments of London and it was hoped the road could link Pall Mall and the Haymarket, of which has since declined in quality. A further problem was increased congestion around Charing Cross, which would benefit from road improvements, the street was designed by John Nash, who had been appointed to the Office of Woods and Forests in 1806 and previously served as an adviser to the Prince Regent. He put forward his own plans for the street in 1810 following the death of Fordyce, envisioning broad, architecturally distinguished thoroughfares and public spaces. Nash originally wanted to construct a straight boulevard in the style seen in French cities. The northern section involved demolishing most of the existing Swallow Street, the road was designed to curve east between Oxford Street and Piccadilly so that it did not meet St Jamess Square, and the circuses allowed visual continuity down the street. The central section, known as the Quadrant, was designed for shops appropriated to articles of fashion and taste and it was built with a colonnade made out of cast-iron columns, allowing commuters to walk along the street without having to face bad weather. The road was planned to end outside Carlton House in Pall Mall, Nash insisted that businesses on the new street would be of high-quality, rivalling that of the nearby Bond Street, common trades such as butchers or greengrocers were not allowed
5.
London Underground
–
The London Underground is a public rapid transit system serving London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom. The network has expanded to 11 lines, and in 2015–16 carried 1.34 billion passengers, the 11 lines collectively handle approximately 4.8 million passengers a day. The system has 270 stations and 250 miles of track, despite its name, only 45% of the system is actually underground in tunnels, with much of the network in the outer environs of London being on the surface. In addition, the Underground does not cover most southern parts of Greater London, the current operator, London Underground Limited, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Transport for London, the statutory corporation responsible for the transport network in Greater London. As of 2015, 92% of operational expenditure is covered by passenger fares, the Travelcard ticket was introduced in 1983 and Oyster, a contactless ticketing system, in 2003. Contactless card payments were introduced in 2014, the LPTB was a prominent patron of art and design, commissioning many new station buildings, posters and public artworks in a modernist style. Other famous London Underground branding includes the roundel and Johnston typeface, to prepare construction, a short test tunnel was built in 1855 in Kibblesworth, a small town with geological properties similar to London. This test tunnel was used for two years in the development of the first underground train, and was later, in 1861, the worlds first underground railway, it opened in January 1863 between Paddington and Farringdon using gas-lit wooden carriages hauled by steam locomotives. It was hailed as a success, carrying 38,000 passengers on the opening day, the Metropolitan District Railway opened in December 1868 from South Kensington to Westminster as part of a plan for an underground inner circle connecting Londons main-line termini. The Metropolitan and District railways completed the Circle line in 1884, built using the cut and this opened in 1890 with electric locomotives that hauled carriages with small opaque windows, nicknamed padded cells. The Waterloo and City Railway opened in 1898, followed by the Central London Railway in 1900, the Metropolitan Railway protested about the change of plan, but after arbitration by the Board of Trade, the DC system was adopted. When the Bakerloo was so named in July 1906, The Railway Magazine called it an undignified gutter title, by 1907 the District and Metropolitan Railways had electrified the underground sections of their lines. In January 1913, the UERL acquired the Central London Railway, the Bakerloo line was extended north to Queens Park to join a new electric line from Euston to Watford, but World War I delayed construction and trains reached Watford Junction in 1917. During air raids in 1915 people used the stations as shelters. An extension of the Central line west to Ealing was also delayed by the war, the Metropolitan promoted housing estates near the railway with the Metro-land brand and nine housing estates were built near stations on the line. Electrification was extended north from Harrow to Rickmansworth, and branches opened from Rickmansworth to Watford in 1925, the Piccadilly line was extended north to Cockfosters and took over District line branches to Harrow and Hounslow. In 1933, most of Londons underground railways, tramway and bus services were merged to form the London Passenger Transport Board, the Waterloo & City Railway, which was by then in the ownership of the main line Southern Railway, remained with its existing owners. In the same year that the London Passenger Transport Board was formed, in the following years, the outlying lines of the former Metropolitan Railway closed, the Brill Tramway in 1935, and the line from Quainton Road to Verney Junction in 1936
6.
Indie rock
–
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United States and the United Kingdom in the 1980s. Originally used to independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produced and was initially used interchangeably with alternative rock. In the mid-1980s, the term began to be used to describe the music produced on punk and post-punk labels. Some prominent indie rock record labels were founded during the 1980s, during the 1990s, Grunge bands broke into the mainstream, and the term alternative lost its original counter-cultural meaning. The term indie rock became associated with the bands and genres that remained dedicated to their independent status, by the end of the 1990s indie rock developed subgenres and related styles including lo-fi, noise pop, emo, slowcore, post-rock and math rock. In the 2000s, changes in the industry and in music technology enabled a new wave of indie rock bands to achieve mainstream success. In the early 2000s, a new group of bands played a stripped-down. The commercial breakthrough from these scenes was led by four bands, The Strokes, The White Stripes, The Hives, emo also broke into mainstream culture in the early 2000s. By the end of the 2000s the proliferation of bands was being referred to as indie landfill. The term indie rock, which comes from independent, describes the small and relatively low-budget labels on which it is released, the influences and styles of the artists have been extremely diverse, including punk, psychedelia, post-punk and country. Allmusic identifies indie rock as including a number of varying musical approaches compatible with mainstream tastes, in fact, there is an everlasting list of genres and subgenres of indie rock. Many countries have developed a local indie scene, flourishing with bands with enough popularity to survive inside the respective country. However, there are still indie bands that start off locally, Indie rock has been identified as a reaction against the macho culture that developed in alternative rock in the aftermath of Nirvanas success. However, Cortney Harding pointed out that this sense of equality is not reflected in the number of women running indie labels. The BBC documentary Music for Misfits, The Story of Indie pinpoints the birth of indie as the 1977 self-publication of the Spiral Scratch EP by Manchester band Buzzcocks, Indie pop and indie were originally synonymous. In the mid-1980s, indie began to be used to describe the music produced on post-punk labels rather than the labels themselves. The indie rock scene in the US was prefigured by the rock that dominated college radio playlists. In the United States, the term was associated with the abrasive, distortion-heavy sounds of the Pixies, Hüsker Dü, Minutemen, Meat Puppets, Dinosaur Jr
7.
Death Cab for Cutie
–
Death Cab for Cutie is an American alternative rock band, formed in Bellingham, Washington in 1997. The band comprises Ben Gibbard, Nick Harmer, Dave Depper, Zac Rae, in 2014, founding guitarist and producer Chris Walla announced that he would be departing from the band after recording their eighth studio album, Kintsugi. The band was originally a project by Ben Gibbard, when he released the demo album You Can Play These Songs with Chords to positive reception. This led to a deal with Barsuk Records. The band released their sixth album Narrow Stairs in 2008, which served as a departure for the group. Their seventh album, 2011s Codes and Keys, featured the bands first number one single and their eighth studio album Kintsugi, the last to feature Walla, was released on March 31,2015. Death Cab for Cuties music has been labeled as indie rock, indie pop and it is noted for its use of unconventional instrumentation, as well as Gibbards distinctive voice and unique lyrical style. Since their formation, the band has released eight studio albums, four EPs. Death Cab for Cutie began as a project of Ben Gibbard in 1997, while he was the guitar player for the band Pinwheel. As Death Cab for Cutie, Gibbard released a cassette titled You Can Play These Songs with Chords the same year, many of the early songs were recorded in the basement of an Ellis Street home Gibbard lived in with several roommates in Bellingham. The four released their debut studio album, Something About Airplanes. The album was reviewed in the independent music scene. In 1998 the band met their long-term manager Jordan Kurland. Kurland had heard good things about them, and after an attempt to see them play at South By Southwest finally hooked up with them when touring with his then client. The band released their second album, We Have the Facts and Were Voting Yes. Nathan Good left the band at some point during this albums production, Gibbard played drums on the majority of the album, with Goods playing on “The Employment Pages” and “Company Calls Epilogue” being kept on the final release. Tolzdorf-Larson was later replaced by Michael Schorr, who would first appear on The Forbidden Love EP, in 2001, Death Cab for Cutie released their third album, The Photo Album. Limited editions of this album contained three tracks, which were later released separately as The Stability EP. C
8.
The Postal Service
–
The Postal Service was an American indie band from Seattle, Washington, formed in 2001. The band consisted of vocalist Ben Gibbard, producer Jimmy Tamborello, the band released their debut album, Give Up, in 2003 on Sub Pop Records, to mostly positive reviews. The album reached number 114 on the US Billboard 200 album chart, the Postal Service remained largely inactive from 2005 until 2013, when they reunited for a tour, and released a re-issue of Give Up to celebrate its tenth anniversary. Laura Burhenn joined the lineup throughout the tour to provide vocals and instruments. On August 3,2013, Gibbard announced that the band would disband permanently after the last show of their reunion tour. The group formed after Ben Gibbard contributed vocals for a song by Jimmy Tamborello called The Dream of Evan and Chan, the bands name was chosen due to the way in which it produced its songs. The bands debut album, Give Up, was released on February 18,2003, several songs on the album feature guest vocals from Lewis, as well as vocals from indie rock musician Jen Wood. Tamborello and Gibbards Death Cab for Cutie bandmate Chris Walla produced the album, with Walla also playing the guitar, Give Up received gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America in March 2005, and later receiving platinum certification in October 2012. The album was Sub Pops most successful release after Nirvanas debut album, the album produced three singles, the most well-known single being Such Great Heights, which was released as Give Ups lead single. The song featured in advertisements for UPS, Kaiser Permanente, and M&Ms, a cover of the song by Iron and Wine was featured on the soundtrack for the 2004 film Garden State. It was also covered by Amanda Palmer, Ben Folds, The Scene Aesthetic, Brack Cantrell, Streetlight Manifesto, Confide. Confide would later release a video for their cover of Such Great Heights. The second single, The District Sleeps Alone Tonight, was featured in the soundtrack of the 2004 film D. E. B. S. The third and final single, We Will Become Silhouettes, was covered by The Shins, in August 2003, the United States Postal Service sent the band a cease and desist letter, citing the bands name as an infringement of its trademark on the phrase postal service. After negotiations, the USPS relented, allowing the use of the trademark in exchange for promotional efforts on behalf of the USPS. Additionally, at one point the USPS website sold the bands CDs, in 2007, Such Great Heights appeared in the background of the whiteboard advertising campaign for one of the federal establishments private competitors, the United Parcel Service. In January 2006, Josh Melnick and Xander Charity, who had produced the Such Great Heights music video, created a commercial for Apple Computer, while strikingly similar to the music video, the commercial did not contain imagery of the band or a recording of its music. We did not approve this commercialization and are disappointed with both parties that this was executed without our consultation or consent
9.
Extended play
–
An extended play is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single, but is usually unqualified as an album or LP. EPs generally do not contain as many tracks as albums, and are considered less expensive, an EP originally referred to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play and LP, but it is now applied to mid-length CDs and downloads as well. Ricardo Baca of The Denver Post said, EPs—originally extended-play single releases that are shorter than traditional albums—have long been popular with punk, in the United Kingdom, the Official Chart Company defines a boundary between EP and album classification at 25 minutes of length or four tracks. EPs were released in various sizes in different eras, the earliest multi-track records, issued around 1919 by Grey Gull Records, were vertically cut 78 rpm discs known as 2-in-1 records. These had finer than usual grooves, like Edison Disc Records, by 1949, when the 45 rpm single and 33 1⁄3 rpm LP were competing formats, seven-inch 45 rpm singles had a maximum playing time of only about four minutes per side. Partly as an attempt to compete with the LP introduced in 1948 by rival Columbia, RCA Victor introduced Extended Play 45s during 1952. Their narrower grooves, achieved by lowering the levels and sound compression optionally. These were usually 10-inch LPs split onto two seven-inch EPs or 12-inch LPs split onto three seven-inch EPs, either separately or together in gatefold covers. This practice became less common with the advent of triple-speed-available phonographs. Some classical music albums released at the beginning of the LP era were distributed as EP albums—notably the seven operas that Arturo Toscanini conducted on radio between 1944 and 1954. These opera EPs, originally broadcast on the NBC Radio network and manufactured by RCA, in the 1990s, they began appearing on compact discs. During the 1950s, RCA published several EP albums of Walt Disney movies and these usually featured the original casts of actors and actresses. Each album contained two seven-inch records, plus an illustrated booklet containing the text of the recording, so that children could follow along by reading. Some of the titles included Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, and what was then a recent release, because of the popularity of 7 and other formats, SP records became less popular and the production of SPs in Japan was suspended in 1963. In the 1950s and 1960s, EPs were usually compilations of singles or album samplers and were played at 45 rpm on seven-inch discs. Record Retailer printed the first EP chart in 1960, the New Musical Express, Melody Maker, Disc and Music Echo and the Record Mirror continued to list EPs on their respective singles charts. The Beatles Twist and Shout outsold most singles for some weeks in 1963, when the BBC and Record Retailer commissioned the British Market Research Bureau to compile a chart it was restricted to singles and EPs disappeared from the listings. In the Philippines, seven-inch EPs marketed as mini-LPs were introduced in 1970, with tracks selected from an album and this mini-LP format also became popular in America in the early 1970s for promotional releases, and also for use in jukeboxes
10.
Chris Walla
–
Christopher Ryan Walla is an American musician, producer, and film music composer, best known for being a former guitarist and songwriter for the band Death Cab for Cutie. Walla is a producer in the indie rock community, having earned production credits on dozens of albums. Walla regularly performed at shows, as well as serving as MC. One performance by Chris included a song by PJ Harvey and these early Open Microphone shows proved popular and continued for over twenty years, moving from Bothell High School to Inglemoor High School when teacher Drumheller transferred there. Walla was in a band called The Wallflowers. Later, in 2001, he was an member of the Seattle band The Long Winters. Walla joined Death Cab for Cutie in 1997, while attending Western Washington University in Bellingham, eventually releasing seven albums, four EPs and two live EPs with band, he co-wrote many of their hit songs, including Title and Registration and I Will Possess Your Heart. Wallas last performance with the band occurred on September 13,2014 at the Rifflandia Music Festival in Victoria, Walla has recorded a variety of solo material and released his debut solo album, Field Manual, in 2008 on Barsuk Records. The song Sing Again became available for download from Barsuks website. Before the release of Field Manual, it was reported that two tracks recorded for Death Cab for Cuties 2005 album, Plans, would be featured, but this is unconfirmed. Some of Wallas solo work has been released using the name Martin Youth Auxiliary, for example, one cassette was recorded and released in 1999 on Elsinor Records. In the past, Walla has stated plans to release a Martin Youth Auxiliary record, much of the solo material consists of quick, low-quality recordings, which have never been intended for release. A new solo album, titled Tape Loops, was released on October 16,2015. In addition to being a musician Walla has a career as producer, earning production, engineering. His first credit was as the producer for Death Cab for Cuties debut album, Something About Airplanes, released in 1998. Walla has produced all releases by Death Cab for Cutie to date, with the exception of the 1997s You Can Play These Songs with Chords EP. However, Walla earned production credits on the 2002 re-release of You Can Play These Songs with Chords and it was announced via Kelly Porters Facebook Page Walla would be doing guitar work for her upcoming recording work. Walla founded his own recording studio, located within his home in Portland, Oregon, in 2012, Walla began rebuilding the Hall of Justice after moving back to Seattle
