PopMatters
PopMatters is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers many aspects of popular culture. PopMatters was founded by Sarah Zupko, who had established the cultural studies academic resource site PopCultures. PopMatters launched in the fall of 1999 as a site providing original essays, reviews. Over time, the site went from a publication schedule to a five-day-a-week magazine format, expanding into regular reviews, features. In the fall of 2005, monthly readership exceeded one million, from 2006 onward, PopMatters produced several syndicated newspaper columns for McClatchy-Tribune News Service. As of 2009, there are four different pop culture related columns each week, the PopMatters Book Imprint published Joss Whedon, The Complete Companion, edited by Mary Money, with Titan Books in May 2012. PopMatters publishes content from contributors located around the globe, based in six continents and its staff includes writers from various backgrounds, ranging from academics and professional journalists to career professionals and first time writers.
Many of its writers are published authorities in various fields of study, notable former contributors include David Weigel, political reporter for Slate, Steven Hyden, staff writer for Grantland and author of Whatever Happened To Alternative Nation. And Rob Horning, executive editor of The New Inquiry, karen Zarker is the senior editor
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, 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 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, 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, Meat Puppets, Dinosaur Jr
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb, by plucking, popping, tapping, thumping, or picking with a plectrum, often known as a pick. The bass guitar is similar in appearance and construction to a guitar, but with a longer neck and scale length. The four-string bass, by far the most common, is tuned the same as the double bass. The bass guitar is an instrument, as it is notated in bass clef an octave higher than it sounds to avoid excessive ledger lines. Like the electric guitar, the guitar has pickups and it is plugged into an amplifier and speaker on stage, or into a larger PA system using a DI unit. Since the 1960s, the guitar has largely replaced the double bass in popular music as the bass instrument in the rhythm section. While types of basslines vary widely from one style of music to another, many styles of music utilise the bass guitar, including rock, heavy metal, punk rock, reggae, blues, symphonic rock, and jazz. It is often a solo instrument in jazz, jazz fusion, funk, progressive rock and other rock, the adoption of a guitar form made the instrument easier to hold and transport than any of the existing stringed bass instruments.
The addition of frets enabled bassists to play in more easily than on acoustic or electric upright basses. Around 100 of these instruments were made during this period, around 1947, Tutmarcs son, began marketing a similar bass under the Serenader brand name, prominently advertised in the nationally distributed L. D. Heater Music Company wholesale jobber catalogue of 1948, the Tutmarc family inventions did not achieve market success. In the 1950s, Leo Fender, with the help of his employee George Fullerton and his Fender Precision Bass, which began production in October 1951, became a widely copied industry standard. This split pickup, introduced in 1957, appears to have been two mandolin pickups, the pole pieces and leads of the coils were reversed with respect to each other, producing a humbucking effect. Humbucking is a design that electrically cancels the effect of any AC hum, the Fender Bass was a revolutionary new instrument, which could be easily transported, and which was less prone to feedback when amplified than acoustic bass instruments.
Monk Montgomery was the first bass player to tour with the Fender bass guitar, roy Johnson, and Shifty Henry with Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five, were other early Fender bass pioneers. Bill Black, playing with Elvis Presley, switched from bass to the Fender Precision Bass around 1957. The bass guitar was intended to appeal to guitarists as well as upright bass players, following Fenders lead, in 1953, Gibson released the first short scale violin-shaped electric bass with extendable end pin, allowing it to be played upright or horizontally. In 1959 these were followed by the more conventional-looking EB-0 Bass, the EB-0 was very similar to a Gibson SG in appearance
Las Vegas Weekly
Las Vegas Weekly is a free alternative weekly newspaper based in Henderson, covering Las Vegas arts, entertainment and news. Las Vegas Weekly is published by Greenspun Media Group, in 1996, Reza partnered with Daniel Greenspun, forming a new company to publish Scope. During this partnership, Reza continued on as Managing Editor, broadening the coverage to a traditional alternative newsweekly style. In 1998, Reza sold his remaining interest in Scope to The Greenspun Corporation, as of December 2009, Las Vegas Weekly had a circulation of 65,000
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is an American biweekly magazine that focuses on popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner, who is still the publisher. It was first known for its coverage and for political reporting by Hunter S. Thompson. In the 1990s, the magazine shifted focus to a readership interested in youth-oriented television shows, film actors. In recent years, it has resumed its traditional mix of content, Rolling Stone magazine was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and Ralph Gleason. To get it off the ground, Wenner borrowed $7,500 from his own family and from the parents of his soon-to-be wife, Jane Schindelheim. The first issue carried a date of November 9,1967. Some authors have attributed the name solely to Dylans hit single, At Gleasons suggestion, Rolling Stone initially identified with and reported the hippie counterculture of the era. In the very first edition, Wenner wrote that Rolling Stone is not just about the music, in the 1970s, Rolling Stone began to make a mark with its political coverage, with the likes of gonzo journalist Hunter S.
Thompson writing for the magazines political section. Thompson first published his most famous work Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas within the pages of Rolling Stone, where he remained a contributing editor until his death in 2005. In the 1970s, the magazine helped launch the careers of prominent authors, including Cameron Crowe, Lester Bangs, Joe Klein, Joe Eszterhas, Patti Smith. It was at point that the magazine ran some of its most famous stories. One interviewer, speaking for a number of his peers, said that he bought his first copy of the magazine upon initial arrival on his college campus. In 1977, the magazine moved its headquarters from San Francisco to New York City, editor Jann Wenner said San Francisco had become a cultural backwater. During the 1980s, the magazine began to shift towards being an entertainment magazine. Music was still a dominant topic, but there was increasing coverage of celebrities in television, the magazine initiated its annual Hot Issue during this time. Rolling Stone was initially known for its coverage and for Thompsons political reporting.
In the 1990s, the changed its format to appeal to a younger readership interested in youth-oriented television shows, film actors
Folk music
Folk music includes both traditional music and the genre that evolved from it during the 20th century folk revival. The term originated in the 19th century, but is applied to music older than that. Some types of music are called world music. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways, as music transmitted orally, music with unknown composers and it has been contrasted with commercial and classical styles. Starting in the century, a new form of popular folk music evolved from traditional folk music. This process and period is called the revival and reached a zenith in the 1960s. This form of music is called contemporary folk music or folk revival music to distinguish it from earlier folk forms. Smaller, similar revivals have occurred elsewhere in the world at other times and this type of folk music includes fusion genres such as folk rock, folk metal, electric folk, and others. Even individual songs may be a blend of the two, a consistent definition of traditional folk music is elusive.
The terms folk music, folk song, and folk dance are comparatively recent expressions and they are extensions of the term folklore, which was coined in 1846 by the English antiquarian William Thoms to describe the traditions and superstitions of the uncultured classes. Traditional folk music includes most indigenous music, despite the assembly of an enormous body of work over some two centuries, there is still no certain definition of what folk music is. Some do not even agree that the term Folk Music should be used, Folk music may tend to have certain characteristics but it cannot clearly be differentiated in purely musical terms. One meaning often given is that of old songs, with no known composers, the fashioning and re-fashioning of the music by the community that give it its folk character. Such definitions depend upon processes rather than abstract musical types, one widely used definition is simply Folk music is what the people sing. For Scholes, as well as for Cecil Sharp and Béla Bartók, Folk music was already. seen as the authentic expression of a way of life now past or about to disappear, particularly in a community uninfluenced by art music and by commercial and printed song.
In these terms folk music may be seen as part of a schema comprising four types, primitive or tribal, elite or art, folk. Music in this genre is often called traditional music. Although the term is only descriptive, in some cases people use it as the name of a genre
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a song recording of fewer tracks than an LP record, an album or an EP record. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats, in most cases, a single is a song that is released separately from an album, although it usually appears on an album. Typically, these are the songs from albums that are released separately for promotional uses such as digital download or commercial radio airplay and are expected to be the most popular, in other cases a recording released as a single may not appear on an album. As digital downloading and audio streaming have become prevalent, it is often possible for every track on an album to be available separately. Nevertheless, the concept of a single for an album has been retained as an identification of a heavily promoted or more popular song within an album collection. Despite being referred to as a single, singles can include up to as many as three tracks on them.
The biggest digital music distributor, iTunes, accepts as many as three tracks less than ten minutes each as a single, as well as popular music player Spotify following in this trend. Any more than three tracks on a release or longer than thirty minutes in total running time is either an Extended Play or if over six tracks long. The basic specifications of the single were made in the late 19th century. Gramophone discs were manufactured with a range of speeds and in several sizes. By about 1910, the 10-inch,78 rpm shellac disc had become the most commonly used format, the inherent technical limitations of the gramophone disc defined the standard format for commercial recordings in the early 20th century.26 rpm. With these factors applied to the 10-inch format and performers increasingly tailored their output to fit the new medium, the breakthrough came with Bob Dylans Like a Rolling Stone. Singles have been issued in various formats, including 7-inch, 10-inch, less common, formats include singles on digital compact cassette, DVD, and LD, as well as many non-standard sizes of vinyl disc.
Some artist release singles on records, a more common in musical subcultures. The most common form of the single is the 45 or 7-inch. The names are derived from its speed,45 rpm. The 7-inch 45 rpm record was released 31 March 1949 by RCA Victor as a smaller, more durable, the first 45 rpm records were monaural, with recordings on both sides of the disc. As stereo recordings became popular in the 1960s, almost all 45 rpm records were produced in stereo by the early 1970s
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, officially the City of Los Angeles and often known by its initials L. A. is the cultural and commercial center of Southern California. With a census-estimated 2015 population of 3,971,883, it is the second-most populous city in the United States, Los Angeles is the seat of Los Angeles County, the most populated county in the United States. The citys inhabitants are referred to as Angelenos, historically home to the Chumash and Tongva, Los Angeles was claimed by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo for Spain in 1542 along with the rest of what would become Alta California. The city was founded on September 4,1781, by Spanish governor Felipe de Neve. It became a part of Mexico in 1821 following the Mexican War of Independence, in 1848, at the end of the Mexican–American War, Los Angeles and the rest of California were purchased as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, thereby becoming part of the United States. Los Angeles was incorporated as a municipality on April 4,1850, the discovery of oil in the 1890s brought rapid growth to the city.
The completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, delivering water from Eastern California, nicknamed the City of Angels, Los Angeles is known for its Mediterranean climate, ethnic diversity, and sprawling metropolis. Los Angeles has an economy in culture, fashion, sports, education, medicine. A global city, it has been ranked 6th in the Global Cities Index, the city is home to renowned institutions covering a broad range of professional and cultural fields, and is one of the most substantial economic engines within the United States. The Los Angeles combined statistical area has a gross metropolitan product of $831 billion, making it the third-largest in the world, after the Greater Tokyo and New York metropolitan areas. The city has hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 1932 and 1984 and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics and thus become the second city after London to have hosted the Games three times. The Los Angeles area hosted the 1994 FIFA mens World Cup final match as well as the 1999 FIFA womens World Cup final match, the mens event was watched on television by over 700 million people worldwide.
The Los Angeles coastal area was first settled by the Tongva, a Gabrielino settlement in the area was called iyáangẚ, meaning poison oak place. Gaspar de Portolà and Franciscan missionary Juan Crespí, reached the present site of Los Angeles on August 2,1769, in 1771, Franciscan friar Junípero Serra directed the building of the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, the first mission in the area. The Queen of the Angels is an honorific of the Virgin Mary, two-thirds of the settlers were mestizo or mulatto with a mixture of African and European ancestry. The settlement remained a small town for decades, but by 1820. Today, the pueblo is commemorated in the district of Los Angeles Pueblo Plaza and Olvera Street. New Spain achieved its independence from the Spanish Empire in 1821, during Mexican rule, Governor Pío Pico made Los Angeles Alta Californias regional capital
TiVo Corporation
TiVo Corporation is an American technology company. The company holds over 6,000 pending and registered patents, the company provides analytics and recommendation platforms for the video industry. In 2016, Rovi acquired digital video recorder maker TiVo Inc. Macrovision Corporation was established in 1983. The 1984 film The Cotton Club was the first video to be encoded with Macrovision technology when it was released in 1985, by the end of the 1980s, most major Hollywood studios were utilizing their services. John O. Ryan and William A. Krepick led the company through an IPO in 1997 priced at $9.00 a share. In July 2005, the company hired Alfred J. Amoroso as chief officer and president to succeed William A. Krepick. Macrovision acquired Gemstar-TV Guide on May 2,2008, in a deal worth about $2.8 billion. The combined company would seek to be “the homepage for the TV experience, the divestiture of the software business unit closed on April 1,2008, becoming Acresso Software. Macrovision ultimately sold off parts of Gemstar-TV Guide not focused on entertainment, including TryMedia, eMeta, TV Guide Magazine, TV Guide Network.
The company bought two companies providing entertainment metadata, All Media Guide on November 6,2007, and substantially all the assets of Muze, on July 16,2009, Macrovision Solution Corporation announced the official change of its name to Rovi Corporation. Rovi announced its first product on January 7,2010 – TotalGuide, on March 16,2010, Rovi acquired MediaUnbound for an undisclosed amount. MediaUnbound had helped build static and dynamic personalization and recommendation engines for such as Napster, eMusic. On June 16,2010, the announced the Rovi Advertising Network which bundled guide advertising. On December 23,2010, the announced its intention to acquire Sonic Solutions. Sonic provided digital video processing and distribution technologies and owned RoxioNow an OTT technology provider, on March 1,2011, Rovi announced its acquisition of online video guide SideReel. The company announced Amorosos intention to retire on May 26,2011, tom Carson, formerly the executive vice president of sales and marketing, was appointed CEO and President in December 2011.
Continuing on this path, the made a similar announcement in January 2014 indicating its intent to sell the DivX. On April 1,2013, Rovi acquired Integral Reach, a provider of predictive analysis services, the technology would be integrated into Rovis audience analysis services
Piano
The piano is an acoustic, stringed musical instrument invented around the year 1700, in which the strings are struck by hammers. It is played using a keyboard, which is a row of keys that the performer presses down or strikes with the fingers and thumbs of both hands to cause the hammers to strike the strings. The word piano is a form of pianoforte, the Italian term for the early 1700s versions of the instrument. The first fortepianos in the 1700s had a sound and smaller dynamic range. An acoustic piano usually has a wooden case surrounding the soundboard and metal strings. Pressing one or more keys on the keyboard causes a padded hammer to strike the strings. The hammer rebounds from the strings, and the continue to vibrate at their resonant frequency. These vibrations are transmitted through a bridge to a soundboard that amplifies by more efficiently coupling the acoustic energy to the air, when the key is released, a damper stops the strings vibration, ending the sound. Notes can be sustained, even when the keys are released by the fingers and thumbs and this means that the piano can play 88 different pitches, going from the deepest bass range to the highest treble.
The black keys are for the accidentals, which are needed to play in all twelve keys, more rarely, some pianos have additional keys. Most notes have three strings, except for the bass that graduates from one to two, the strings are sounded when keys are pressed or struck, and silenced by dampers when the hands are lifted from the keyboard. There are two types of piano, the grand piano and the upright piano. The grand piano is used for Classical solos, chamber music and art song and it is used in jazz. The upright piano, which is compact, is the most popular type, as they are a better size for use in private homes for domestic music-making. During the nineteenth century, music publishers produced many works in arrangements for piano, so that music lovers could play. The piano is widely employed in classical, jazz and popular music for solo and ensemble performances, with technological advances, amplified electric pianos, electronic pianos, and digital pianos have been developed. The electric piano became an instrument in the 1960s and 1970s genres of jazz fusion, funk music.
The piano was founded on earlier technological innovations in keyboard instruments, pipe organs have been used since Antiquity, and as such, the development of pipe organs enabled instrument builders to learn about creating keyboard mechanisms for sounding pitches
Paste (magazine)
Paste is a monthly music and entertainment digital magazine published in the United States by Wolfgangs Vault. Its tagline is Signs of Life in Music and Culture, the magazine began as a website in 1998. It ran as a print publication from 2002 to 2010 before converting to online-only, the magazine, headquartered in Avondale Estates, Georgia. It was founded as a quarterly in July 2002 by Josh Jackson, Nick Purdy and it switched to a bimonthly format. In 2005, Paste fulfilled remaining subscriptions for the competing magazine Tracks, Paste became a monthly with its August 2006 issue. For two years in the mid-2000s, Paste had a segment on CNN Headline News called Paste Picks. In October 2007, the magazine tried the Radiohead experiment, offering new, amidst an economic downturn, Paste began to suffer from lagging ad revenue, as did other magazine publishers in 2008 and 2009. On May 14,2009, Paste editors announced a plan to save the magazine, by pleading to its readers, cost-cutting by the magazine did not stem the losses.
The main crux cited for the financial troubles is the lack of advertiser spending, in 2009, Paste launched an hour-long TV pilot for Halogen TV called Pop Goes the Culture. On August 31,2010, Paste suspended the print magazine, on May 28,2011, Paste announced it was bringing back its weekly subscription services in a digital layout. The digital magazine now covers music, movies, TV, books, video games, tech, each issue includes a digital version of the Paste Sampler with seven new songs each week. Although Pastes focus was music, covering a variety of genres with an emphasis on adult alternative and indie rock. Each issue originally included a CD music sampler but was dropped in favor of digital downloading as a Going-Green initiative, many of these artists contributed to the Campaign to Save Paste. In 2005, Paste was listed at #21 on the Chicago Tribunes list of 50 Best Magazines, Paste was named Magazine of the Year by the PLUG Independent Music Awards in 2006,2007 and 2008. In 2008,2009 and 2010, Paste was nominated for a National Magazine Award in the category of General Excellence, and in 2010, associate editor Rachael Maddux writings were nominated for Best Reviews
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the worlds oldest Sunday newspaper, the first issue, published on 4 December 1791 by W. S. Bourne, was the worlds first Sunday newspaper. Believing that the paper would be a means of wealth, Bourne instead soon found himself facing debts of nearly £1,600, though early editions purported editorial independence, Bourne attempted to cut his losses and sell the title to the government. When this failed, Bournes brother made an offer to the government, as a result, the paper soon took a strong line against radicals such as Thomas Paine, Francis Burdett and Joseph Priestley. In 1807, the decided to relinquish editorial control, naming Lewis Doxat as the new editor. Seven years later, the brothers sold The Observer to William Innell Clement, the woodcut pictures published of the stable and hayloft where the conspirators were arrested reflected a new stage of illustrated journalism that the newspaper pioneered during this time.
Clement maintained ownership of The Observer until his death in 1852, during that time, the paper supported parliamentary reform, but opposed a broader franchise and the Chartist leadership. After Doxat retired in 1857, Clements heirs sold the paper to Joseph Snowe, under Snowe, the paper adopted a more liberal political stance, supporting the North during the American Civil War and endorsing universal manhood suffrage in 1866. These positions contributed to a decline in circulation during this time, in 1870, wealthy businessman Julius Beer bought the paper and appointed Edward Dicey as editor, whose efforts succeeded in reviving circulation. Though Beers son Frederick became the owner upon Juliuss death in 1880, henry Duff Traill took over the editorship after Diceys departure, only to be replaced in 1891 by Fredericks wife, Rachel Beer, of the Sassoon family. Though circulation declined during her tenure, she remained as editor for thirteen years, combining it in 1893 with the editorship of The Sunday Times, upon Fredericks death in 1901, the paper was purchased by the newspaper magnate Lord Northcliffe.
After maintaining the editorial leadership for a couple of years. Garvin quickly turned the paper into an organ of political influence, yet the revival in the papers fortunes masked growing political disagreements between Garvin and Northcliffe. These disagreements ultimately led Northcliffe to sell the paper to William Waldorf Astor in 1911, during this period, the Astors were content to leave the control of the paper in Garvins hands. Under his editorship circulation reached 200,000 during the interwar years, politically the paper pursued an independent Tory stance, which eventually brought Garvin into conflict with Waldorfs more liberal son, David. Their conflict contributed to Garvins departure as editor in 1942, after which the paper took the step of declaring itself non-partisan. Ownership passed to Waldorfs sons in 1948, with David taking over as editor and he remained in the position for 27 years, during which time he turned it into a trust-owned newspaper employing, among others, George Orwell, Paul Jennings and C. A.
Lejeune. Under Astors editorship The Observer became the first national newspaper to oppose the governments 1956 invasion of Suez, in 1977, the Astors sold the ailing newspaper to US oil giant Atlantic Richfield who sold it to Lonrho plc in 1981
