1.
Birmingham, Alabama
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Birmingham is the most populous city in the U. S. state of Alabama and the county seat of Jefferson County. The citys population was 212,237 in the 2010 United States Census, the Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of about 1,128,047 according to the 2010 Census, which is approximately one quarter of Alabamas population. Birmingham was founded in 1871, during the post-Civil War Reconstruction period and it was named for Birmingham, England, one of the UKs major industrial cities. The Alabama city annexed smaller neighbors and developed as an industrial and railroad center, based on mining, the new iron and steel industry. Most of the settlers who founded Birmingham were of English ancestry. From its founding through the end of the 1960s, Birmingham was an industrial center of the southern United States. Its growth from 1881 through 1920 earned its nicknames as The Magic City and its major industries were iron and steel production, plus a major component of the railroading industry. Rails and railroad cars were manufactured in Birmingham. The two primary hubs of railroading in the Deep South have been nearby Atlanta and Birmingham, since the 1860s, the economy has diversified since industrial restructuring in the latter half of the 20th century. Banking, telecommunications, transportation, electrical transmission, medical care, college education. Except for coal mining, the industry has declined in the Birmingham area, Birmingham ranks as one of the most important business centers in the Southeastern United States and as one of the largest banking centers in the nation. In higher education, Birmingham has been the location of the University of Alabama School of Medicine, since that time it has also gained the University of Alabama at Birmingham, one of three main campuses of the University of Alabama System. It is also home to three institutions, Samford University, Birmingham-Southern College, and Miles College. In total, the Birmingham area has major colleges of medicine, dentistry, optometry, physical therapy, pharmacy, law, engineering, the city has three of the states five law schools, Cumberland School of Law, Birmingham School of Law, and Miles Law School. Birmingham is also the headquarters of the Southwestern Athletic Conference, and Southeastern Conference, Birmingham was founded on June 1,1871, by the Elyton Land Company, whose investors included cotton planters, bankers and railroad entrepreneurs. It sold lots near the crossing of the Alabama & Chattanooga and South & North Alabama railroads. The first business at that crossroads was the trading post and country store operated by Marre, the site of the railroad crossing was notable for its proximity to nearby deposits of iron ore, coal, and limestone – the three main raw materials used in making steel. Birmingham is the only place worldwide where significant amounts of all three minerals can be found in close proximity, from the start the new city was planned as a center of industry
2.
Alabama
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Alabama is a state in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Alabama is the 30th-most extensive and the 24th-most populous of the U. S. states. At nearly 1,500 miles, Alabama has one of the nations longest navigable inland waterways, Alabama is nicknamed the Yellowhammer State, after the state bird. Alabama is also known as the Heart of Dixie and the Cotton State, the state tree is the longleaf pine, and the state flower is the camellia. The largest city by population is Birmingham, which has long been the most industrialized city, the oldest city is Mobile, founded by French colonists in 1702 as the capital of French Louisiana. From the American Civil War until World War II, Alabama, like many states in the southern U. S. suffered economic hardship, like other southern states, Alabama legislators disenfranchised African Americans and many poor whites at the turn of the century. Following World War II, Alabama grew as the economy changed from one primarily based on agriculture to one with diversified interests. The state economy in the 21st century is based on management, automotive, finance, manufacturing, aerospace, mineral extraction, healthcare, education, retail, in the Alabama language, the word for a person of Alabama lineage is Albaamo. The word Alabama is believed to have come from the Alabama language, the words spelling varies significantly among historical sources. As early as 1702, the French called the tribe the Alibamon, other spellings of the name have included Alibamu, Alabamo, Albama, Alebamon, Alibama, Alibamou, Alabamu, Allibamou. Sources disagree on the words meaning, some scholars suggest the word comes from the Choctaw alba and amo. The meaning may have been clearers of the thicket or herb gatherers, the state has numerous place names of Native American origin. However, there are no correspondingly similar words in the Alabama language, an 1842 article in the Jacksonville Republican proposed it meant Here We Rest. This notion was popularized in the 1850s through the writings of Alexander Beaufort Meek, experts in the Muskogean languages have not found any evidence to support such a translation. Indigenous peoples of varying cultures lived in the area for thousands of years before the advent of European colonization, trade with the northeastern tribes by the Ohio River began during the Burial Mound Period and continued until European contact. The agrarian Mississippian culture covered most of the state from 1000 to 1600 AD, with one of its major centers built at what is now the Moundville Archaeological Site in Moundville, Alabama. This is the second-largest complex of the classic Middle Mississippian era, after Cahokia in present-day Illinois, Analysis of artifacts from archaeological excavations at Moundville were the basis of scholars formulating the characteristics of the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex. Contrary to popular belief, the SECC appears to have no links to Mesoamerican culture
3.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
4.
Movie palace
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A movie palace is any of the large, elaborately decorated movie theaters built between the 1910s and the 1940s. The late 1920s saw the peak of the palace, with hundreds opened every year between 1925 and 1930. With the advent of television, movie attendance dropped and many movie palaces were razed or converted into multiple screen venues or performing arts centers, there are three architectural design types of movie palaces. Paid exhibition of motion pictures began on April 14,1894, at Andrew M. Hollands phonograph store, located at 1155 Broadway in New York City, dropping a nickel in a machine allowed a viewer to see a short motion picture, devoid of plot. The machines were installed in Kinetoscope parlors, hotels, department stores, bars, the machines were popular from 1894 to 1896, but by the turn of the century had almost disappeared as Americans rejected the solitary viewing experience and boring entertainment. Around 1900, motion pictures became a part of vaudeville theatres. It was often used as a chaser—shown as the end of the performance to chase the audience from the theatre and these theatres were designed much like legitimate theatres. The Beaux-Arts architecture of these theatres was formal and ornate and they were not designed for motion pictures, but rather live stage performances. In 1902, the storefront theatre was born at Thomas Lincoln Tallys Electric Theatre in Los Angeles and these theatres exhibited a motion picture at a specific time during the day. Air domes also became popular in warm climates and in the summertime in northern climates, with no roof and only side walls or fences, the air domes allowed patrons to view motion pictures in a venue that was cooler than the stifling atmosphere of the storefront theatre. In 1905, the Nickelodeon was born, rather than exhibiting one program a night, the Nickelodeon offered continuous motion picture entertainment for five cents. By 1910, Nickelodeons grossed $91 million in the United States, the Nickelodeons were like simple storefront theatres, but differed in the continuous showings and the marketing to women and families. The movie house, in a building designed specifically for motion picture exhibition, was the last step before the movie palace, comfort was paramount, with upholstered seating and climate controls. One of the first movie houses was Tallys Broadway Theater in Los Angeles, the movie palace was developed as the step beyond the small theaters of the 1900s and 1910s. As motion pictures developed as an art form, theatre infrastructure needed to change, storefront theatres and Nickelodeons catered to the busy work lives and limited budgets of the lower and middle classes. Motion pictures were only thought to be for the lower classes at that time as they were simple, short. While the middle class began to attend the Nickelodeons by the early 1910s the upperclass continued to attend stage theater performances such as the opera. Nickelodeons could not meet demand as the upperclass feared the moral repercussions of intermingling between women and children with immigrants
5.
Seating capacity
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Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats hundreds of thousands of people. The International Fire Code, portions of which have adopted by many jurisdictions, is directed more towards the use of a facility than the construction. It specifies, For areas having fixed seating without dividing arms and it also requires that every public venue submit a detailed site plan to the local fire code official, including details of the means of egress, seating capacity, arrangement of the seating. Once safety considerations have been satisfied, determinations of seating capacity turn on the size of the venue. For sports venues, the decision on maximum seating capacity is determined by several factors, chief among these are the primary sports program and the size of the market area. Seating capacity of venues also plays a role in what media they are able to provide, in contracting to permit performers to use a theatre or other performing space, the seating capacity of the performance facility must be disclosed. Seating capacity may influence the kind of contract to be used, the seating capacity must also be disclosed to the copyright owner in seeking a license for the copyrighted work to be performed in that venue. Venues that may be leased for private functions such as ballrooms and auditoriums generally advertise their seating capacity, seating capacity is also an important consideration in the construction and use of sports venues such as stadiums and arenas. The seating capacity for restaurants is reported as covers, a restaurant that can seat 99 is said to have 99 covers, seating capacity differs from total capacity, which describes the total number of people who can fit in a venue or in a vehicle either sitting or standing. Use of the term public capacity indicates that a venue is allowed to more people than it can actually seat. Again, the total number of people can refer to either the physical space available or limitations set by law
6.
National Register of Historic Places
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The National Register of Historic Places is the United States federal governments official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation. The passage of the National Historic Preservation Act in 1966 established the National Register, of the more than one million properties on the National Register,80,000 are listed individually. The remainder are contributing resources within historic districts, each year approximately 30,000 properties are added to the National Register as part of districts or by individual listings. For most of its history the National Register has been administered by the National Park Service and its goals are to help property owners and interest groups, such as the National Trust for Historic Preservation, coordinate, identify, and protect historic sites in the United States. While National Register listings are mostly symbolic, their recognition of significance provides some financial incentive to owners of listed properties, protection of the property is not guaranteed. During the nomination process, the property is evaluated in terms of the four criteria for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places, the application of those criteria has been the subject of criticism by academics of history and preservation, as well as the public and politicians. Occasionally, historic sites outside the proper, but associated with the United States are also listed. Properties can be nominated in a variety of forms, including individual properties, historic districts, the Register categorizes general listings into one of five types of properties, district, site, structure, building, or object. National Register Historic Districts are defined geographical areas consisting of contributing and non-contributing properties, some properties are added automatically to the National Register when they become administered by the National Park Service. These include National Historic Landmarks, National Historic Sites, National Historical Parks, National Military Parks/Battlefields, National Memorials, on October 15,1966, the Historic Preservation Act created the National Register of Historic Places and the corresponding State Historic Preservation Offices. Initially, the National Register consisted of the National Historic Landmarks designated before the Registers creation, approval of the act, which was amended in 1980 and 1992, represented the first time the United States had a broad-based historic preservation policy. To administer the newly created National Register of Historic Places, the National Park Service of the U. S. Department of the Interior, hartzog, Jr. established an administrative division named the Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation. Hartzog charged OAHP with creating the National Register program mandated by the 1966 law, ernest Connally was the Offices first director. Within OAHP new divisions were created to deal with the National Register, the first official Keeper of the Register was William J. Murtagh, an architectural historian. During the Registers earliest years in the late 1960s and early 1970s, organization was lax and SHPOs were small, understaffed, and underfunded. A few years later in 1979, the NPS history programs affiliated with both the U. S. National Parks system and the National Register were categorized formally into two Assistant Directorates. Established were the Assistant Directorate for Archeology and Historic Preservation and the Assistant Directorate for Park Historic Preservation, from 1978 until 1981, the main agency for the National Register was the Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service of the United States Department of the Interior. In February 1983, the two assistant directorates were merged to promote efficiency and recognize the interdependency of their programs, jerry L. Rogers was selected to direct this newly merged associate directorate
7.
Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage
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These properties, which may be of national, state, and local significance, are designated by the Alabama Historical Commission. The designation is honorary and carries no direct restrictions or incentives, there are approximately 1421 properties and districts listed on the Alabama Register. Of these, approximately 196 are also listed on the National Register of Historic Places and 5 are designated as National Historic Landmarks, the Alabama Register was created by the Alabama Historical Commission to provide the public with a fast and easy way to bring recognition to historic properties. People interested in historic recognition in Alabama are encouraged to begin with the Alabama Register of Landmarks, nominations may be submitted by anyone to the Alabama Historical Commission. A staff review committee then determines if the property meets the established selection criteria. Property nominations for the Alabama Register also help the Alabama Historical Commission determine whether or not a property is eligible for listing in the National Register and it should also possess integrity of location and construction and convey a feeling for the time and place of construction. Structures that have moved from their original locations, reconstructed historic buildings
8.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
9.
Paramount Pictures
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Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film studio based in Hollywood, California, that has been a subsidiary of the American media conglomerate Viacom since 1994. In 1916, film producer Adolph Zukor contracted 22 actors and actresses and these fortunate few would become the first movie stars. Paramount Pictures is a member of the Motion Picture Association of America, in 2014, Paramount Pictures became the first major Hollywood studio to distribute all of its films in digital form only. Paramount is the fifth oldest surviving studio in the world after the French studios Gaumont Film Company and Pathé, followed by the Nordisk Film company. It is the last major film studio headquartered in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles. Paramount Pictures dates its existence from the 1912 founding date of the Famous Players Film Company, hungarian-born founder, Adolph Zukor, who had been an early investor in nickelodeons, saw that movies appealed mainly to working-class immigrants. With partners Daniel Frohman and Charles Frohman he planned to offer feature-length films that would appeal to the class by featuring the leading theatrical players of the time. By mid-1913, Famous Players had completed five films, and Zukor was on his way to success and its first film was Les Amours de la reine Élisabeth, which starred Sarah Bernhardt. That same year, another aspiring producer, Jesse L. Lasky, opened his Lasky Feature Play Company with money borrowed from his brother-in-law, Samuel Goldfish, the Lasky company hired as their first employee a stage director with virtually no film experience, Cecil B. DeMille, who would find a site in Hollywood, near Los Angeles, for his first feature film. Hodkinson and actor, director, producer Hobart Bosworth had started production of a series of Jack London movies, Paramount was the first successful nationwide distributor, until this time, films were sold on a statewide or regional basis which had proved costly to film producers. Also, Famous Players and Lasky were privately owned while Paramount was a corporation, in 1916, Zukor maneuvered a three-way merger of his Famous Players, the Lasky Company, and Paramount. Zukor and Lasky bought Hodkinson out of Paramount, and merged the three companies into one, with only the exhibitor-owned First National as a rival, Famous Players-Lasky and its Paramount Pictures soon dominated the business. It was this system that gave Paramount a leading position in the 1920s and 1930s, the driving force behind Paramounts rise was Zukor. In 1926, Zukor hired independent producer B. P. Schulberg and they purchased the Robert Brunton Studios, a 26-acre facility at 5451 Marathon Street for US$1 million. In 1927, Famous Players-Lasky took the name Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation, three years later, because of the importance of the Publix Theatres, it became Paramount Publix Corporation. In 1928, Paramount began releasing Inkwell Imps, animated cartoons produced by Max, the Fleischers, veterans in the animation industry, were among the few animation producers capable of challenging the prominence of Walt Disney. The Paramount newsreel series Paramount News ran from 1927 to 1957, Paramount was also one of the first Hollywood studios to release what were known at that time as talkies, and in 1929, released their first musical, Innocents of Paris
10.
Southeastern United States
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The Southeastern United States is the eastern portion of the Southern United States, and the southern portion of the Eastern United States. It comprises 15 states in the southern United States, there is no official Census Bureau definition of the southeastern United States. The OSBO uses the same states, but includes Arkansas and Louisiana, the most populous state in the region is Florida, followed by Georgia, and North Carolina. With tropical air masses influencing the region precipitation is high throughout the year, the tropical air masses do however cause significant hurricanes such as Hurricane Andrew and Hurricane Katrina wreaking havoc and causing significant damage to coastal areas. The winters highly vary depending on latitude and elevation, the Southeast has changed dramatically in the last two generations. Since 1980, there has been a boom in its economy, manufacturing base, high technology industries. Fortune 500 companies having headquarters in the region included 20 in Virginia,16 in Florida,15 in North Carolina and this economic expansion has enabled parts of the South to have of some of the lowest unemployment rates in the United States. In Alabama, there is a manufacturing project owned by the German steel megacorporation Thyssen-Krupp. The Cummings Research Park in the Huntsville, Alabama area is the second largest research complex in the nation, located in Huntsville is the Redstone Arsenal, United States Army Missile Command, the U. S. Space and Rocket Center, NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center and many key government, military. The National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee, Florida is the largest laboratory in the devoted to the study of magnetism. There are a number of universities, with several large research universities which exert influence beyond the region. These include the oldest public universities in the country, the University of Alabama, the region is home to the most historically black colleges and universities in the nation. The three largest in the region are North Carolina A&T University, Florida A&M University, and Jackson State University, on this list New Orleans Refers to the Orleans Parish Population. Therefore the population given is for the entire city excluding other incorporated places lying within the county limits, five Major League Baseball teams play in the Southeast, Washington Nationals, Miami Marlins, Atlanta Braves, Tampa Bay Rays and Baltimore Orioles. The Braves, Nationals and Marlins play in the NL East,4 Major League Lacrosse teams play in the southeast, Chesapeake Bayhawks, Florida Launch, Charlotte Hounds, and the Atlanta Blaze. Seven National Basketball Association teams play in the Southeast, Washington Wizards, Charlotte Hornets, Atlanta Hawks, Memphis Grizzlies, Miami Heat, Orlando Magic and New Orleans Pelicans. The Wizards, Heat, Hornets, Magic and Hawks are in the Eastern Conference, the Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl, Peach Bowl, and Citrus Bowl are notable college football bowls held in Southeastern cities
11.
Vaudeville
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Vaudeville is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment. It was especially popular in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s, a typical vaudeville performance is made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill. A vaudeville performer is often referred to as a vaudevillian, Vaudeville developed from many sources, including the concert saloon, minstrelsy, freak shows, dime museums, and literary American burlesque. Called the heart of American show business, vaudeville was one of the most popular types of entertainment in North America for several decades, the origin of this term is obscure, but is often explained as being derived from the French expression voix de ville. A second speculation is that it comes from the songs on satire by poet Olivier Basselin. Some, however, preferred the term variety to what manager Tony Pastor called its sissy. Thus, vaudeville was marketed as variety well into the 20th century, with its first subtle appearances within the early 1860s, vaudeville was not initially a common form of entertainment. The form gradually evolved from the saloon and variety hall into its mature form throughout the 1870s and 1880s. This more gentle form was known as Polite Vaudeville, in the years before the American Civil War, entertainment existed on a different scale. Certainly, variety theatre existed before 1860 in Europe and elsewhere, in the US, as early as the first decades of the 19th century, theatregoers could enjoy a performance consisting of Shakespeare plays, acrobatics, singing, dancing, and comedy. As the years progressed, people seeking diversified amusement found a number of ways to be entertained. Vaudeville was characterized by traveling companies touring through cities and towns, a significant influence also came from Dutch minstrels and comedians. Vaudeville incorporated these various itinerant amusements into a stable, institutionalized form centered in Americas growing urban hubs, pastors experiment proved successful, and other managers soon followed suit. B. F. Keith took the step, starting in Boston. Later, E. F. Albee, adoptive grandfather of the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Edward Albee, circuits such as those managed by Keith-Albee provided vaudevilles greatest economic innovation and the principal source of its industrial strength. They enabled a chain of allied vaudeville houses that remedied the chaos of the booking system by contracting acts for regional and national tours. These could easily be lengthened from a few weeks to two years, Albee also gave national prominence to vaudevilles trumpeting polite entertainment, a commitment to entertainment equally inoffensive to men, women and children. Acts that violated this ethos were admonished and threatened with expulsion from the remaining performances or were canceled altogether
12.
Performing arts
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Performing arts are a form of art in which artists use their voices and/or their bodies, often in relation to other objects, to convey artistic expression. It is different from visual arts, which is when artists use paint/canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects, performing arts include several disciplines, each performed in front of a live audience. Artists who participate in performing arts in front of an audience are called performers, examples of these include actors, comedians, dancers, magicians, circus artists, musicians, and singers. Performing arts are supported by workers in related fields, such as songwriting, choreography. A performer who excels in acting, singing, and dancing is commonly referred to as a triple threat, well-known examples of historical triple threat artists include Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, and Judy Garland. Performers often adapt their appearance, such as costumes and stage makeup, stage lighting. Performing arts may include dance, music, opera, theatre and musical theatre, magic, illusion, mime, spoken word, puppetry, circus arts, performance art, recitation and public speaking. There is also a form of fine art, in which the artists perform their work live to an audience. Most performance art also involves some form of art, perhaps in the creation of props. Dance was often referred to as an art during the Modern dance era. Theatre is the branch of performing arts, concerned with acting out stories in front of an audience, using a combination of speech, gesture, music, dance, sound, any one or more of these elements is performing arts. In addition to the standard narrative style of plays. In the context of performing arts, dance generally refers to movement, typically rhythmic and to music. Definitions of what constitutes dance are dependent on social, cultural, aesthetic artistic and moral constraints and range from functional movement to codified, in dance, the connection between the two concepts is stronger than in some other arts, and neither can exist without the other. Choreography is the art of making dances, and the person who practices this art is called a choreographer, music is an art form which combines pitch, rhythm, and dynamic in order to create sound. It can be performed using a variety of instruments and styles and is divided into genres, as an art form, music can occur in live or recorded formats, and can be planned or improvised. Starting in the 6th century BC, the Classical period of performing art began in Greece and these poets wrote plays which, in some cases, incorporated dance. The Hellenistic period began the use of comedy
13.
Nickelodeon (movie theater)
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The nickelodeon was the first type of indoor exhibition space dedicated to showing projected motion pictures. Usually set up in converted storefronts, these small, simple theaters charged five cents for admission, Nickelodeon was concocted from nickel, the name of the U. S. For unknown reasons, in 1949 the lyricist of a popular song, incorporated the refrain Put another nickel in, in the nickelodeon…, evidently referring to either a jukebox or a mechanical musical instrument such as a coin-operated player piano or orchestrion. The meaning of the word has been muddied ever since, the earliest films had been shown in peep show machines or projected in vaudeville theaters as one of the otherwise live acts. Nickelodeons drastically altered film exhibition practices and the habits of a large segment of the American public. Although they were characterized by continuous performances of a selection of short films, film historian Charles Musser wrote, It is not too much to say that modern cinema began with the nickelodeons. The name Nickelodeon was first used in 1888 by Austins Nickelodeon, however, the term was popularized by Harry Davis and John P. Harris, who opened their small storefront theatre with that name on Smithfield Street in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on June 19,1905. They called it the Nickelodeon, joining nickel with the Greek word for an enclosed theater adopted by the 18th-century Odéon in Paris. Although it was not the first theater to show films, in 1919 a news article stated that it was the first theater in the world devoted exclusively to exhibition of moving picture spectacles, larger nickelodeons sometimes had the capacity for well over 1000 people. Other well-known nickelodeon owners were the Skouras Brothers of St. Louis, nickelodeons radically altered the mode of representation that corresponded with changes in the modes of distribution and the types of films being made. Around 1903, longer multi-shot films became prevalent, and this shift brought about important innovations in the distribution of films with the establishment of film exchanges. Film exchanges would buy films from manufacturers and then rent them out to exhibitors, with a steady supply of different films, exhibitors finally had the possibility to open venues where films were the central attraction. They did not have to worry about finding new audiences because the audience would return again and again to watch different films. Exhibition practices greatly varied and programs lasted anywhere from ten minutes to an hour, often, programs ran continuously and patrons would join a program already in progress when they arrived and stay as long as they liked. While some nickelodeons only showed films, others offered shows that combined films with vaudeville acts or illustrated songs, the desirability of longer films, which enabled nickelodeons to grow the way they did, was the result of a number of factors. For one, economic competition between film production companies put pressure on them to more elaborate, and often longer, films. Also, longer films were more attractive as the price paid by exhibitors depended on a length and the longer a film. Directors had a desire to make longer films because it meant greater artistic innovation as they tried to find new ways to engage audiences
14.
Wurlitzer
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The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to as simply Wurlitzer, is an American company started in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1853 by German immigrant Rudolph Wurlitzer. In 1880 the company began manufacturing pianos, over time, Wurlitzer acquired a number of other companies which made a variety of loosely related products including kitchen appliances, carnival rides, player piano rolls, and radios. Wurlitzer also operated a chain of stores where the companys products were sold. Wurlitzers jukebox operations were sold and moved to Germany in 1973, the Wurlitzer piano and organ brands and U. S. manufacturing facilities were acquired by the Baldwin Piano & Organ Co. in 1988 and most piano manufacturing was moved overseas. The Baldwin Co. including its Wurlitzer assets, was acquired by the Gibson Guitar Corporation in about 1996. Baldwin ceased making Wurlitzer-brand pianos in 2009, Vending machines are still manufactured in Germany using the Wurlitzer name under Gibson ownership. The company ceased manufacturing jukeboxes in 2013, but still sells replacement parts, Wurlitzers rare and historic stringed instrument department was independently directed by Rudolph Wurlitzers grandson, Rembert Wurlitzer, from 1948 until his death in 1963. Remberts shop on 42d Street in New York City was an international center for rare. Wurlitzer was founded in Cincinnati in 1853 by German Franz Rudolph Wurlitzer from Schöneck and it was directed successively by his sons Howard, Rudolph, and Farny. In 1880 Wurlitzer started manufacturing its own pianos which the company sold through its retail outlets in Chicago, in 1896 Wurlitzer manufactured its first coin-operated pianos. In the late 1800s, fairs were very popular and, as crowds grew and mechanical rides began to appear, Eugene DeKleist of North Tonawanda, NY was an early builder of such organs for use in carousels. Wurlitzer bought into DeKleists North Tonawanda Barrel Organ Factory in 1897, eventually Wurlitzer bought out the entire operation and moved all Wurlitzer manufacturing operations from Ohio to New York. In 1909 the company began making innovative harps that were far more durable than European prototypes, the Mighty Wurlitzer theatre organ was introduced in late 1910 and became Wurlitzers most famous product. Wurlitzer theatre organs are installed all over the world in a variety of theatres, museums, churches, Wurlitzer also took over production of Lyric brand radios from the All American Mohawk Radio Company in Chicago. Lyric radios were a very high-end console radio which retailed for as much as $425 in 1929, in addition to business acquisitions, Wurlitzer also entered into several joint ventures with James Armitage, George Herschell, and other businessmen from the area. Amusement rides, particularly carousels, were assembled at the facility. Starting in about 1933, the Wurlitzer name gradually became more and more associated with jukeboxes than with actual musical instruments. In 1942, organ production at the North Tonawanda factory ceased, after the war, normal production efforts resumed but with more focus on radios, jukeboxes, and small electronic organs for private homes
15.
Theatre organ
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A theatre organ is a distinct type of pipe organ originally developed to provide music and sound effects to accompany silent films during the first 3 decades of the 20th century. Theatre organs are usually identified by the distinctive horseshoe-shaped arrangement of stop tabs above, in organs installed in the UK, a common feature was large translucent surrounds extending from both sides of the console, with internal colored lighting. A spectacular original example is the so-called Rhinestone Barton, installed in 1928 in the former RKO Iowa Theatre, another original example is the 3/13 Barton from Ann Arbors historic Michigan Theatre. The organ was installed in 1927 and is currently played five nights during a week before most film screenings. As the concept of the organ was embraced, theatre organs began to be installed in other types of venues, such as civic auditoriums, sports arenas, private residences. One of the largest theatre ever built was the 6 manual 52 rank Barton installed in the massive Chicago Stadium. There were over 7,000 such organs installed in America and elsewhere from 1915 to 1933, many organ builders supplied instruments to theatres. Many of the elements of the theatre organ simply allowed it to do its job better than anything else could. Although not all of these originated with Robert Hope-Jones, he was the first to successfully employ. Earlier church instruments used a linkage of rods and wires to connect the keys to the pipes. Unification Previously, each rank of pipes could be played on one manual at one pitch level. In other words, there was one pipe for each key on the keyboard, with the advent of unification, ranks were extended by adding more pipes and made playable at different pitch levels, and on different manuals. Thus, fewer ranks could be used in a variety of combinations and pitches. Horseshoe console To turn the pipe ranks on and off, the organ console used drawknobs placed on panels on both sides of the manuals. Using electricity, Robert Hope-Jones substituted tongue-shaped tabs arranged on a curved panel around and these stop tabs could be quickly and easily flipped up or down to select or deactivate any ranks of pipes. Traps, toy counter, and effects Real musical instruments, not previously associated with the organ, were installed in the pipe chambers to be pneumatically operated at will by the organist. Such instruments as piano, drums, cymbals, xylophone, marimba, orchestra bells, chimes, castanets, woodblock, and even tuned sleigh bells could be played from the organ keyboards. Sound effects such as train and boat whistles, car horns, sirens, bird whistles, the fronts of these chambers were covered with a set of swell shades which opened and closed like venetian blinds
16.
Heritage Documentation Programs
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These programs were established to document historic places in the United States. Records consist of measured drawings, archival photographs, and written reports, in 1933, NPS established the Historic American Buildings Survey following a proposal by Charles E. Peterson, a young landscape architect in the agency. It was founded as a constructive program for architects, draftsmen. Guided by field instructions from Washington, D. C. the first HABS recorders were tasked with documenting a representative sampling of Americas architectural heritage, by creating an archive of historic architecture, HABS provided a database of primary source material and documentation for the then-fledgling historic preservation movement. Earlier private projects included the White Pine Series of Architectural Monographs, notable HABS photographers include Jack Boucher, who worked for the project for over 40 years. The Historic American Engineering Record program was founded on January 10,1969, by NPS, HAER documents historic mechanical and engineering artifacts. Since the advent of HAER, the program is typically called HABS/HAER. Today much of the work of HABS/HAER is done by student teams during the summer, eric DeLony headed HAER from 1971 to 2003. In October 2000, NPS and the American Society of Landscape Architects established a sister program, a predecessor, the Historic American Landscape and Garden Project, recorded historic Massachusetts gardens between 1935 and 1940. That project was funded by the Works Progress Administration, but was administered by HABS, the permanent collection of HABS/HAER/HALS are housed at the Library of Congress, which was established in 1790 as the replacement reference library of the United States Congress. It has since expanded to serve as the National Library of the United States, U. S. publishers are required to deposit a copy of every copyrighted and published work, book monograph. As a branch of the United States Government, its works are in the public domain in the US. Many images, drawings, and documents are available through the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog, including proposed, demolished, and existing structures, locales, projects, and designs. Jack Boucher, former HABS/HAER photographer Jet Lowe, former HAER photographer National Register of Historic Places HAER,30 Years of Recording Our Technological Heritage, IA, The Journal of the Society for Industrial Archeology. Documenting Complexity, The Historic American Engineering Record and Americas Technological History, IA, The Journal of the Society for Industrial Archeology. National Park Service−NPS, official Heritage Documentation Programs website
17.
American Theatre Organ Society
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The American Theatre Organ Society is an American non-profit organization, dedicated to preserving and promoting the theatre pipe organ and its musical art form. ATOS consists of regional member-chapters, and is led by elected leaders. There are currently over 75 local chapters of ATOS, and membership is made up of musicians, technicians, hobbyists, educators, the ATOS Board of Directors is the main governing body. Theatre organs took the place of the orchestra when installed in theatres during the heyday of silent films. After the introduction of films in the late 1920s, the production of theater organs started decreasing. However, the music and sound of the theater continued to remain popular with a number of enthusiasts. And in 1955, ATOS was founded to promote and preserve the heritage of theater organs, ATOS was founded as a group called the American Theatre Organ Enthusiasts, by Richard Simonton. Simonton was a Hollywood businessman and entrepreneur, and as a tremendous fan of theatre organ music, he arranged a gathering at his home on February 8,1955, where he and several other organ enthusiasts founded what would later become ATOS. ATOS hosts a convention every year, held at various locations across the country. Many regional events are sponsored and organized by local chapters, ATOS has an extensive outreach to young musicians, and funds several musical scholarships for youth members. ATOS sponsors an annual Young Theatre Organist Competition, ATOS sponsors ATOS Theatre Organ Radio, an internet radio station dedicated to the theatre organ. It can be streamed through the ATOS Website,24 hours per day, there were over 7,000 theater organs installed in American theatres from 1915 to 1933. Theater organs are instruments that require periodic maintenance. Repair and restoration services can be costly, especially when refurbishing non-working instruments, the Atos Website maintains a list of venues with theater organs, organized by location. Due to a limited but steady demand for organs, a few companies manufacture modern Digital Theater Organs. Despite the availability of new digital theater organs, there is still a market of original pipe instruments and parts
18.
Broadway theatre
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Along with Londons West End theatres, Broadway theatres are widely considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English-speaking world. The Theater District is a popular tourist attraction in New York City, the great majority of Broadway shows are musicals. They presented Shakespeare plays and ballad operas such as The Beggars Opera, in 1752, William Hallam sent a company of twelve actors from Britain to the colonies with his brother Lewis as their manager. They established a theatre in Williamsburg, Virginia and opened with The Merchant of Venice, the company moved to New York in the summer of 1753, performing ballad operas and ballad-farces like Damon and Phillida. The Revolutionary War suspended theatre in New York, but thereafter theatre resumed in 1798, the Bowery Theatre opened in 1826, followed by others. Blackface minstrel shows, a distinctly American form of entertainment, became popular in the 1830s, by the 1840s, P. T. Barnum was operating an entertainment complex in lower Manhattan. In 1829, at Broadway and Prince Street, Niblos Garden opened, the 3, 000-seat theatre presented all sorts of musical and non-musical entertainments. In 1844, Palmos Opera House opened and presented opera for four seasons before bankruptcy led to its rebranding as a venue for plays under the name Burtons Theatre. The Astor Opera House opened in 1847, booth played the role for a famous 100 consecutive performances at the Winter Garden Theatre in 1865, and would later revive the role at his own Booths Theatre. Other renowned Shakespeareans who appeared in New York in this era were Henry Irving, Tommaso Salvini, Fanny Davenport, lydia Thompson came to America in 1868 heading a small theatrical troupe, adapting popular English burlesques for middle-class New York audiences. Thompsons troupe called the British Blondes, was the most popular entertainment in New York during the 1868–1869 theatrical season, the six-month tour ran for almost six extremely profitable years. Theatre in New York moved from downtown gradually to midtown beginning around 1850, in 1870, the heart of Broadway was in Union Square, and by the end of the century, many theatres were near Madison Square. Broadways first long-run musical was a 50-performance hit called The Elves in 1857, New York runs continued to lag far behind those in London, but Laura Keenes musical burletta The Seven Sisters shattered previous New York records with a run of 253 performances. It was at a performance by Keenes troupe of Our American Cousin in Washington, the production was a staggering five-and-a-half hours long, but despite its length, it ran for a record-breaking 474 performances. The same year, The Black Domino/Between You, Me and the Post was the first show to call itself a musical comedy, Tony Pastor opened the first vaudeville theatre one block east of Union Square in 1881, where Lillian Russell performed. Comedians Edward Harrigan and Tony Hart produced and starred in musicals on Broadway between 1878 and 1890, with book and lyrics by Harrigan and music by his father-in-law David Braham. They starred high quality singers, instead of the women of repute who had starred in earlier musical forms. Plays could run longer and still draw in the audiences, leading to better profits, as in England, during the latter half of the century, the theatre began to be cleaned up, with less prostitution hindering the attendance of the theatre by women
19.
National Park Service
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It was created on August 25,1916, by Congress through the National Park Service Organic Act and is an agency of the United States Department of the Interior. As of 2014, the NPS employs 21,651 employees who oversee 417 units, the National Park Service celebrated its centennial in 2016. National parks and national monuments in the United States were originally individually managed under the auspices of the Department of the Interior, the movement for an independent agency to oversee these federal lands was spearheaded by business magnate and conservationist Stephen Mather, as well as J. Horace McFarland. With the help of journalist Robert Sterling Yard, Mather ran a publicity campaign for the Department of the Interior and they wrote numerous articles that praised the scenic and historic qualities of the parks and their possibilities for educational, inspirational, and recreational benefits. This campaign resulted in the creation of a National Park Service, Mather became the first director of the newly formed NPS. On March 3,1933, President Herbert Hoover signed the Reorganization Act of 1933, the act would allow the President to reorganize the executive branch of the United States government. It wasnt until later that summer when the new President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President Roosevelt agreed and issued two Executive orders to make it happen. In 1951, Conrad Wirth became director of the National Park Service, the demand for parks after the end of the World War II had left the parks overburdened with demands that could not be met. In 1952, with the support of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, he began Mission 66, New parks were added to preserve unique resources and existing park facilities were upgraded and expanded. In 1966, as the Park Service turned 50 years old, emphasis began to turn from just saving great and wonderful scenery, Director George Hartzog began the process with the creation of the National Lakeshores and then National Recreation Areas. Since its inception in 1916, the National Park Service has managed each of the United States national parks, Yellowstone National Park was the first national park in the United States. In 1872, there was no government to manage it. Yosemite National Park began as a park, the land for the park was donated by the federal government to the state of California in 1864 for perpetual conservation. Yosemite was later returned to federal ownership, at first, each national park was managed independently, with varying degrees of success. In Yellowstone, the staff was replaced by the U. S. Army in 1886. Due to the irregularities in managing these national treasures, Stephen Mather petitioned the government to improve the situation. In response, Secretary of the Interior Franklin K. Lane challenged him to lobby for creating a new agency, Mather was successful with the ratification of the National Park Service Organic Act in 1916. Later, the agency was given authority over other protected areas, the National Park System includes all properties managed by the National Park Service
20.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
21.
16th Street Baptist Church
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The 16th Street Baptist Church is a Baptist church in Birmingham, Alabama, that is frequented predominantly by African Americans. In 1963, the church was the target of the racially motivated bombing that killed four girls in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement. The church is still in operation and is a landmark in the Birmingham Civil Rights District. It was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 2006, since 2008 it has also been on the UNESCO list of tentative World Heritage Sites. The 16th Street Baptist Church was organized as the First Colored Baptist Church of Birmingham in 1873 and it was the first black church to organize in Birmingham, which was founded just two years before. The first meetings were held in a building at 12th Street. A site was acquired on 3rd Avenue North between 19th and 20th Street for a dedicated building. In 1880, the church sold that property and built a new church on the present site on 16th Street and 6th Avenue North. The new brick building was completed in 1884 under the supervision of its pastor, William R. Pettiford, the present building, a modified Romanesque and Byzantine design by the prominent black architect Wallace Rayfield, was constructed in 1911 by the local black contractor T. C. The cost of construction was $26,000, in addition to the main sanctuary, the building houses a basement auditorium, used for meetings and lectures, and several ancillary rooms used for Sunday school and smaller groups. As one of the institutions in the black community, the 16th Street Baptist has hosted prominent visitors throughout its history. Du Bois, Mary McLeod Bethune, Paul Robeson and Ralph Bunche all spoke at the church during the first part of the 20th century. On Sunday, September 15,1963, Thomas Blanton, Bobby Frank Cherry and Robert Edward Chambliss, members of the Ku Klux Klan, planted 19 sticks of dynamite outside the basement of the church. At 10,22 a. m. they exploded, killing four young girls - Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley and Denise McNair - and they were there preparing for the churchs Youth Day. A funeral for three of the four victims was attended by more than 8,000 mourners, white and black and this was one of a string of more than 45 bombings within the decade. The neighborhood of Dynamite Hill was the targeted area during this time. The bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church increased Federal involvement in Alabama, president Johnson passed the 1964 Civil Rights Act the following year, and in 1965 the voting rights act was passed, making literacy tests and poll taxes illegal. Following the bombing, more than $300,000 in unsolicited gifts were received by the church, the church reopened on June 7,1964
22.
Alabama Splash Adventure
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Alabama Splash Adventure is a water park and amusement park, located off Interstate 20/59 in Bessemer, Alabama, just west of Birmingham and east of Tuscaloosa. It is owned by Koch Family Parks, which consists of members of the family that own Holiday World & Splashin Safari, originally known as VisionLand, the park was built largely as a result of efforts by Fairfield mayor Larry Langford. Eleven cities came together to form the West Jefferson Amusement and Public Park Authority and with help from the Alabama Legislature, construction began in March 1997, and the park opened for business on May 23,1998. The park opened with four areas, including Celebration City Theme Park, Steel Waters Water Park, a childrens area called Marvel City. In 1999, the expanded, adding Wild River Gorge. Dino Domain, a walk through exhibit featuring animatronic dinosaurs, was built in the woods behind Main Street, in 2001, Wild River Gorge reopened with minor adjustments along with Stratosfear Screamer, an S&S Power twin tower attraction. The park filed Chapter 9 bankruptcy in 2002, and only operated Steel Waters, the park was then purchased by Southland Entertainment Group for $5.25 million, a loss of approximately $26 million in public funds. In 2003, Visionland reopened with Magic Adventure Theme Park, Splash Beach Water Park, Marvel City, Magic Adventure received a scrambler attraction called Wild Scrambler and Splash Beach received a wave pool named Kahuna Waves and a nine-story-tall free fall slide called Acapulco Drop. Starting that season park guests had the option to buy tickets to either the amusement park or the park or a combo ticket to both parks. Splash Beach received a new attraction called Splashdown. A toilet bowl-style ride in 2004, in 2005, Magic Adventure opened the first new roller coaster since the parks opening named Zoomerang, a Vekoma Boomerang roller coaster relocated from Sydney, Australia. The park also re-opened one of the former attractions named Cahaba Falls and it was later known as Woodchuck Run. The park held naming contests for both attractions on its website, Magic Adventure was renamed Magic City USA to reflect the new theming strategy. The park also announced plans for a concert series, featuring popular musical acts and artists. The number of visitors to Alabama Adventure rose to more than 388,000 and it was the winner of Alabamas 2007 Attraction of the Year. The summer concert series returned to the park and became an annual event, Southland Entertainment sold the park to Adrenaline Family Entertainment, a group of former executives of Six Flags in 2008. Southland concentrated on developing the remaining acreage that it owns adjacent to the park, with plans for hotels, an RV park, in 2009, the park announced the first major expansion since 2005, and the first to Splash Beach since 2004. The expansion included a new attraction from WhiteWater West called UpSurge, a 216-foot flume slide with a vertical half pipe ending in a 25, 000-gallon splash pool
23.
Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame
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It is located in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. The museum contains more than 2,200 square feet of exhibits, the Jazz Hall of Fame also sponsors jazz performances around the city and brings jazz to many local students with school visits from musicians. It contains memorabilia such as paintings, quilts, instruments, and personal effects of such artists as Ella Fitzgerald, Handy, and offers a tour guided by Frank Adams. Every Saturday morning since 1999, the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame has offered free classes to any resident of the state of Alabama. These classes are taught by a faculty of professionals, organized by Director of Student Jazz Programs Ray Reach, collectively, the members of the faculty form a performing ensemble known as the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame All-Stars. These free classes are supported by grants from the Cultural Alliance of Greater Birmingham, in these classes, students learn to read and improvise jazz. Graduates of the AJHoF classes have received scholarships to prestigious jazz studies programs, such as the ones offered by the University of New Orleans and New School University in New York City. Directed by Ray Reach, the AJHoF Student All-Star band is a group chosen by auditioning students from the Birmingham Jefferson County. The group performs at concerts and events all over the Birmingham metro area, on December 19,2010, the group opened for Grammy Award-winning vocal group Take 6 at Old Car Heaven in Birmingham. Beginning in 2006, founder Ray Reach and a faculty of jazz professionals have presented free one-hour lessons introducing jazz through live performance, the program, which was originated under the auspices of the University of Alabama at Birminghams Alys Stephens Center, includes four unique presentations. Every year, the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame sponsors the Student Jazz Festival, open to school, high school. The festival is non-competitive, and bands are invited to play, awards for Band of Distinction and Outstanding Soloist are made in each of the categories, Middle School, High School, Junior College and College. Among these is a called the Neo Jazz Collective. A group of students, exhibiting the skills they learned at the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, created this ensemble. The group is directed by Lud Yisrael, the group started their own school in Fairfield, Alabama, and is fast becoming a popular Nu-Jazz ensemble in the Birmingham area. During the fall of each year, the Taste of 4th Avenue Jazz Festival takes place, jointly sponsored by the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, AJHoF offers free jazz workshops, clinics and masterclasses. Past guest clinicians include Lou Marini, Eric Marienthal, Bill Goodwin, T. S. Monk, every year, the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame accepts contributions of used, but repairable, instruments. Numerous instruments have been donated, many by famous musicians such as Lou Marini, Erskine Hawkins, Sammy Lowe and these recycled instruments are put to use by students of the AJHoF educational programs
