Back to Basics (Christina Aguilera album)
Back to Basics is the fifth studio album by American singer Christina Aguilera. It was released on August 2006 in the United States through RCA Records as a double album. Serving as executive producer, she enlisted a wide range of producers, including DJ Premier, Rich Harrison, Rob Lewis, Mark Ronson, Linda Perry. Recording sessions began in January 2006 and ended that April, taking place at several studios in the United States and the United Kingdom. Inspired by Aguilera's 1920s–1950s idols, including Billie Holiday, Otis Redding, Etta James, Ella Fitzgerald, Back to Basics was described by Aguilera herself as a fusion of old-school jazz and soul inspirations with a modernized style. A pop and R&B album, its first disc juxtaposes rhythm and blues with hip hop and urban elements with most songs employing samples, while the second contains all original tracks with the exception of "Candyman", which samples "Tarzan & Jane Swingin' on a Vine". Lyrically, the album is inspired by Aguilera's previous life events including her marriage with Jordan Bratman in 2005.
To portray a new persona, Aguilera adopted her new alter ego Baby Jane and made several changes to her public appearance, inspired by classic Hollywood actresses. She promoted the album by performing at concerts from mid-2006 until early 2007, including the 2006 MTV Movie Awards and the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards, it was further promoted with Back to Basics Tour, which visited countries in North America, Europe and Middle East from late 2006 until late 2008. Back to Basics spawned three international singles: "Ain't No Other Man", "Hurt" and "Candyman". Back to Basics received favorable reviews from music critics, who complimented its musical diversity from Aguilera's previous albums while there were others who criticized its length; the album received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Pop Vocal Album, its lead single "Ain't No Other Man" won Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards. It debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 346,000 copies.
Back to Basics achieved similar success internationally, reaching the top of the charts in over fifteen countries including Australia, Germany, Ireland and United Kingdom. The album has sold 1.7 million copies in the United States, over five million worldwide, as of November 2013. At the 46th Annual Grammy Awards on February 8, 2004, Aguilera announced that she was going to work on a follow-up album to Stripped, she stated her main idea for the project was to "evolve as an artist and a visionary", taken from a poem she wrote during The Stripped Tour. In an interview with Billboard magazine, Aguilera expressed dissatisfaction with contemporary music, as technology "has advanced itself so anybody can be a singer". Thus, Aguilera took musical inspirations from old-school jazz and soul records performed by her 1920s–1950s idols, including Billie Holiday, Otis Redding, Etta James and Ella Fitzgerald, which she viewed as "music that had heart". To create a "throwback" with elements of old-school genres combined with "a modern-day twist", Aguilera sent letters to different producers that she hoped could help her with the direction she was taking for the project, encouraging them to experiment and create a modern soul feel.
She planned to condense the album into a single, more "affordable" disc, she expanded Back to Basics as a double album. For the first disc, Aguilera collaborated with hip hop producers including DJ Premier, Rich Harrison, Kwamé, Mark Ronson for the first time. Most songs from the first half incorporate horn samples to create "old" sounds. DJ Premier questioned if Aguilera was familiar with his work, though she had known of his jazz-influenced work with Gang Starr in late-1980s and early-1990s. In response, Aguilera wanted her album to draw inspirations from Premier's song "Jazz Thing" and noted that their collaboration became his first time "venturing into the'pop' world". For the "1920s and 1930s-era vibe"-influenced second disc, Aguilera teamed up with longtime producer Linda Perry, who produced Aguilera's previous album Stripped. In contrast to the first disc, the second one consists of all live recordings without using samples. Recording sessions of the project began in January 2006 and ended that April, taking place at Chalice Recording Studios and The Record Plant in Los Angeles, California, as well as at other studios in the United States and the United Kingdom.
All songs from Back to Basics were recorded using Pro Tools HD3 program and done with a SSL J9000 console with ninety-six inputs. Aguilera's vocals were recorded using a Telefunken ELAM 251 microphone in conjunction with an Avalon M-5 pre-amp. Producer Scott Storch, who contributed to Aguilera's previous studio album Stripped, was asked to return for the production of Back to Basics. However, he refused the offer when Aguilera declined to pay airfare for him and his entourage to fly out to Los Angeles, which led to a breakdown of their relationship. Subsequently, Aguilera included the song "F. U. S. S." on the album, which Storch viewed as "pathetic". According to Aguilera and the production team, Back to Basics draws influences from 1920s–1940s jazz and soul music. However, music critics identified the record as a pop and R&B album with similarities to 1960s, 1970s and 1980s albums. Dorian Lyskey writing for The Guardian thought that the album's concept "is so wide as to be meaningless", while Serene Dominic from Phoenix Ne
Bad Boy Records
Bad Boy is an American record label founded in 1993 by Sean Combs. It operates as an imprint of a division of Sony Music. One of its most popular artists was The Notorious B. I. G. After his climb from a non-paid internship to becoming an A&R executive at Uptown, Sean "Puffy" Combs was fired in 1993 by Andre Harrell. Combs soon founded Bad Boy Records in 1993; the label’s first release was "Flava in Ya Ear" by Craig Mack, followed by Mack's debut album, Project Funk da World in 1994. On the heels of these releases came "Juicy" and Ready to Die, the lead single and debut album from The Notorious B. I. G. Released the same year. While Mack's album went Gold, Ready to Die achieved multi-platinum success. Dominating the charts in 1995, B. I. G. became one of the genre's biggest names of Bad Boy's premier star. In 1995, the label continued its success with platinum releases by Total and Faith Evans. Bad Boy, staffed a bevy of in-house writer/producers, including: Easy Mo Bee, Chucky Thompson and D Dot—all of whom were instrumental in producing many of Bad Boy’s most noted releases during this time.
The rapid success of Notorious B. I. G. and Bad Boy as a company, raised some tensions with the Los Angeles-based Death Row. For 2 years leading up to 1995, West Coast hip hop, dominated by Death Row, had been preeminent in mainstream Rap. Suge Knight, CEO of Death Row, held Sean Combs responsible for the shooting death of his friend Jake Robles at the hands of Sean Combs' bodyguard. Tensions were heightened when Death Row signed 2Pac, who alleged that Bad Boy, notably The Notorious B. I. G. and Puff Daddy, had been complicit in the November 1994 shooting of him in the lobby of Quad Studios in Times Square. After the June 1996 release of 2Pac's "Hit'Em Up", smearing Bad Boy, tensions escalated. 2Pac was shot in Las Vegas, Nevada on September 7, 1996, died September 13. Bad Boy issued a statement of condolences. On March 9, 1997, while Bad Boy were preparing the release of The Notorious B. I. G.'s double album Life After Death, he was killed in California. Their deaths left many to speculate; the police investigations were criticized by judicial sources.
Both cases remain unsolved. Posthumously, Biggie’s Life After Death reached number one on the Billboard Top 200, its first two singles, "Hypnotize" and "Mo Money, Mo Problems" topped the singles charts. The album sold over 10 million copies in the U. S. alone, is one of the highest selling rap albums in the U. S.. In 1996, Puff Daddy had begun recording his own solo debut album; the 1st single, "Can't Nobody Hold Me Down," peaked at #1 on the Rap, R&B, pop charts that spring. In response to Biggie’s death, the label rush-released a Puff Daddy tribute song, "I'll Be Missing You", which featured Biggie's widow, Faith Evans, Bad Boy's R&B singing group 112; the single topped the charts for eleven weeks and became the hasty second single from Combs’ album, No Way Out, released in the summer and sold 7 million copies in the U. S.. Mase, Combs’ newest protégé, in the meantime was thrust into the void that The Notorious B. I. G. Left, his own debut album, Harlem World released the same year, would go Quadruple Platinum.
Due to the successive successes of Life After Death, No Way Out and Harlem World, by the end of 1997, Bad Boy as a label and brand name had hit a commercial peak. During this time, the label began to promote its latest signing The L. O. X., prominently featured on various Bad Boy releases that year. Anticipated, their 1998 debut album, Power & Respect was certified Platinum by the RIAA. Shortly thereafter, the group departed the label and entered into a long-standing publishing dispute with Combs over the latter receiving 50% of their publishing that would continue until 2005. In 1998, Combs decided to expand Bad Boy's roster to genres other than hip-hop and R&B, subsequently signed Fuzzbubble to the label as its 1st rock act; the group appeared on the rock remix of Puff Daddy's "It's All About the Benjamins", but parted ways with the label before releasing a full-length album. In the years to follow, Bad Boy saw a commercial decline. In 1999, Mase became religious and abruptly retired from the business, leaving a serious dent in the company since his 2nd album had just been released.
Bad Boy found some success with Shyne, a young rapper from Brooklyn, who garnered mixed reviews for his deep voice and slow flow—which many considered to be too reminiscent to, a rip-off of The Notorious B. I. G. Meanwhile, Combs' albums failed to generate the same kind of acclaim that his debut had. In an attempt to further market himself, he underwent several name changes, but with the split of the group he abruptly returned to "Diddy." As the 2000s emerged, Bad Boy had noticeably floundered. Many of its more noted acts would vacate the label, while those who remained saw their album sales dwindle as time went on. In spite of continually releasing new material, various attempts at building artists to the status of Bad Boy’s The Notorious B. I. G. Few proved as successful. Southern rap duo 8Ball & MJG released an album called Living Legends to some success in 2004, prompting the creation of Bad Boy South—which would house acts such as Yung Joc. In 2002, Combs’ participated in MTV's Making The Band 2, which spun off the Bad Boy assembled act, Da Band.
Their MTV exposure lead to a Gold selling debut album. At this time, the label signed a rapper named Aasim, whose Bad Boy debut still has n
Neon Indian
Neon Indian is an American electronic music band from Denton, Texas. The music is composed by Mexican-born Alan Palomo, known for his work with the band Ghosthustler, as the solo artist VEGA; the project has been characterized as defining the 2000s music genre known as chillwave. The band's debut studio album, Psychic Chasms, was released in October 2009 to favorable reviews. Rolling Stone named Neon Indian one of the best new bands of 2010, their second studio album, Era Extraña, was released followed by Vega Intl.. Night School in October 2015. Palomo was born in Monterrey and moved to San Antonio, Texas at the age of 5, he relocated to Texas for college at the University of North Texas. Palomo had been writing and performing music before the inception of Neon Indian, in his projects Ghosthustler and VEGA, through much of his high school years. Shortly before the release of Psychic Chasms, Palomo said he planned on releasing another album as VEGA, although this did not happen. In an interview, Palomo cites his father as a musical influence, "just because that's how he makes his living—he had a brief stint in the late 70s and early 80s as a Mexican pop star."
Palomo said that he sampled some of his father's material in his work with Neon Indian. The name Neon Indian was conceived by an ex-girlfriend of Palomo's, Alicia Scardetta, the subject of their song "Should Have Taken Acid with You"; the song was presented as a musical apology for a missed acid date. Her positive reaction to the song spurred Palomo to continue writing more songs as Neon Indian. Neon Indian's debut album, Psychic Chasms, was released on October 2009 by Lefse Records; the album was designated Best New Music by Pitchfork, Spin magazine praised it as a "dreamy collage of samples and synth tones". Pitchfork named Psychic Chasms the 14th best album of 2009, while including the songs "Deadbeat Summer" and "Should Have Taken Acid with You" at numbers 13 and 74 on its list of Top 100 Tracks of 2009; the project was associated with the 2000s lo-fi style alternately known as chillwave, glo-fi and hypnagogic pop, while incorporating synth-pop. Psychic Chasms was re-released in September 2010, including a set of bonus remixes titled Mind Ctrl: Psychic Chasms Possessed.
In the United Kingdom, the reissue contains "Sleep Paralysist" as a bonus track. Recorded in Helsinki, Finland during the winter of 2010, Neon Indian's second studio album, Era Extraña, was released September 13, 2011 by Mom + Pop Music and Palomo's Static Tongues imprint. Soon after the album's release, the band embarked on a North American tour, featuring Purity Ring and Com Truise as opening acts. A short video filmed in Helsinki was released on April 20, 2011, featuring an excerpt from the track "Heart: Attack", the first of a three-part instrumental piece that appeared on the album, it was followed by "Heart: Decay" and "Heart: Release". On September 4, 2011, the album was made available to stream in full on NPR's "First Listen" for a limited time; the extended play Errata Anex was released on April 9, 2013, containing remixes of five tracks from Era Extraña by Optimo, Boyd Rice, Patten and Twin Shadow. Palomo said of the EP, "These remixes are a small collection found along the way of my year on the road while we were touring Era Extraña.
The artists were chosen by whatever most blared out of my headphones". Neon Indian contributed their song "Change of Coast" to the soundtrack to the video game Grand Theft Auto V, released on September 24, 2013, their song "Polish Girl" was added to the Xbox One, Playstation 4 and PC versions of the game. On December 30, 2014, Palomo announced via his Instagram account that he was working on a new album, slated to be released sometime in 2015; the idea of Vega is intended to be just dance music. Just true, one-speed — a clean, solid version of poppy, dance electronic music. It’s gonna have more groovy bass lines, more straightforward drums." On May 26, 2015, the single "Annie" was released. On August 13, 2015, Palomo revealed. Night School, released on October 16. At the same time, he released "Slumlord", the second single off that album. Third single "The Glitzy Hive" was released on October 8. In March 2016, Downtown Music Publishing and indie label Mom + Pop Music announced a joint publishing venture.
The first signing as part of the new partnership was a publishing deal with Neon Indian. In an April 2016 interview, Palomo said, "If Neon Indian were to continue at all, it would have to undergo some aesthetic overhaul to remain interesting to me", that his immediate focus after touring behind Vega Intl. Night School would be filmmaking. In March 2017, Palomo appeared in director Terrence Malick's film Song to Song, opposite Rooney Mara. In 2017, Palomo composed the score for the science fiction film; when performing, Palomo is joined on stage by a live band, which consisted of Jason Faries, Leanne Macomber and Lars Larsen. Ronald Gierhart played guitar and sang in the live group prior to 2011, leaving to finish college and begin a solo project called Ronnie Heart. On February 11, 2010, Neon Indian made their live television debut on NBC's Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, performing a medley of the songs "Terminally Chill" and "Ephemeral Artery". Palomo revised the live lineup, with only Faries remaining from the original backing band.
Added were keyboardist Drew Erickson and synth player Max Townsley, Palomo's brother, bassist Jorge Palomo
Sean Combs
Sean John Combs known by the stage names Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, Puffy and Love is an American rapper, record executive, record producer, entrepreneur. Combs was born in New York City but raised in Mount Vernon, New York, he worked as a talent director at Uptown Records before founding his own record label, Bad Boy Entertainment, in 1993. Combs' debut album, No Way Out has been certified seven times platinum. No Way Out was followed by successful albums such as The Saga Continues... and Press Play. In 2009, Combs formed the musical group Diddy – Dirty Money and released the critically well-reviewed and commercially successful album Last Train to Paris. Combs has won three Grammy Awards and two MTV Video Music Awards, is the producer of MTV's Making the Band. In 2018, Forbes estimated his net worth at $825 million, making him the second-richest hip hop recording artist. Sean John Combs was born on November 4, 1969 in Manhattan's Harlem in New York City and was raised in Mount Vernon, New York, his mother, was a model and teacher's assistant and his father, Melvin Earl Combs, served in the U.
S. Air Force and was an associate of convicted New York drug dealer Frank Lucas. At age 33, Melvin was shot to death while sitting in his car on Central Park West, when Combs was 2 years old. Combs graduated from the Roman Catholic Mount Saint Michael Academy in 1987, he played football for the academy and his team won a division title in 1986. Combs said that he was given the nickname Puff as a child, because he would "huff and puff" when he was angry. Combs left after his sophomore year. In 2014, he returned to Howard University to receive an Honorary Doctorate in Humanities and deliver the University's 146th Commencement Address. Combs became an intern at New York's Uptown Records. While talent director at Uptown, he helped develop Mary J. Blige. In his college days Combs had a reputation for throwing parties, some of which attracted up to a thousand participants. In 1991, Combs promoted an AIDS fundraiser with Heavy D held at the City College of New York gymnasium, following a charity basketball game.
The event was oversold, a stampede occurred in which nine people died. In 1993, after being fired from Uptown, Combs established his new label Bad Boy Entertainment as a joint venture with Arista Records, taking then-newcomer The Notorious B. I. G. with him. Both The Notorious B. I. G. and Craig Mack released hit singles, followed by successful LPs Notorious B. I. G.'s Ready to Die. Combs signed more acts to Bad Boy, including Carl Thomas, Faith Evans, 112, Father MC; the Hitmen, his in-house production team, worked with Jodeci, Mary J. Blige, Lil' Kim, TLC, Mariah Carey, Boyz II Men, SWV, Aretha Franklin, others. Mase and the Lox joined Bad Boy just as a publicized rivalry with the West Coast's Death Row Records was beginning. Combs and Notorious B. I. G. were criticized and parodied by Tupac Shakur and Suge Knight in songs and interviews during the mid-1990s. During 1994–1995, Combs produced several songs for TLC's CrazySexyCool, which finished the decade as number 25 on Billboard's list of top pop albums of the decade.
In 1997, under the name Puff Daddy, Combs recorded his first commercial vocal work as a rapper. His debut single, "Can't Nobody Hold Me Down", spent 28 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at number one, his debut album, No Way Out, was released on July 1997, through Bad Boy Records. Titled Hell up in Harlem, the album underwent several changes after The Notorious B. I. G. was killed on March 9, 1997. Several of the label's artists made guest appearances on the album. No Way Out was a significant success in the United States, where it reached number one on the Billboard 200 in its first week of release, selling 561,000 copies; the album produced five singles: "I'll Be Missing You", a tribute to The Notorious B. I. G. was the first rap song to debut at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Four other singles. Combs collaborated with Jimmy Page on the song "Come with Me" for the 1998 film Godzilla; the album earned Combs five nominations at the 40th Grammy Awards in 1998, winning the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album.
On September 7, 2000, the album was certified septuple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of over 7 million copies. In 1997, Combs was sued for landlord neglect by Inge Bongo. Combs denied the charges. By the late 1990s, he was being criticized for watering down and overly commercializing hip hop, for using too many guest appearances and interpolations of past hits in his new songs. In April 1999 Combs was charged with assault as a result of an incident with Steve Stoute of Interscope Records. Stoute was the manager for Nas, with whom Combs had filmed a video earlier that year for the song "Hate Me Now". Combs was concerned that the video, which featured a shot of Nas and Combs being crucified, was blasphemous, he asked for his scenes on the cross to be pulled, but after it aired unedited on MTV on April 15, Combs visited Stoute's offices and injured Stoute. Combs was charged with second-degree assault and criminal mischief, was sentenced to attend a one-day anger management class.
Forever, Combs' second solo studio album, was released by Bad Boy Records on August 24, 1999, in North America, in the UK on the following day. It reached number two on the Billboard 200 and number one on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, where it remained for one
Cut Copy
Cut Copy are an Australian new wave music band formed in 2001 by DJ Dan Whitford. A home-recording project, the band now includes Tim Hoey, Ben Browning and Mitchell Scott. So far they have released an EP and a number of singles and remixes, they achieved breakthrough success in 2008 In Ghost Colours. Some of their most well-known singles include "Lights & Music", "Hearts on Fire" and "Take Me Over". Cut Copy was established in 2001 in Melbourne, Australia as the solo project of Dan Whitford, a DJ and graphic designer. Whitford was educated at Scotch College and studied graphic design at Monash University. During his studies he began DJing while hosting a radio-show. Around this time he bought a sampler and keyboards to experiment with. Musically he was "inspired by indie low-fi stuff as much as dance". Upon graduating Whitford co-founded the design-agency Alter, who continue to produce all of the graphical material for the band. Whitford began producing music at his home-studio and submitted a demo-tape to Modular Recordings, who subsequently signed him sometime in the first half of 2001.
He enlisted the help of veteran guitarist Harry Howard to record the debut single "1981", released on vinyl only. According to Whitford, the band's name was a random choice: "I was in the edit menu and I moved down in the document to the few words that didn't make sense together, at that particular day and time the words'cut' and'copy' stood out to me. At the time it felt like a abstract choice but now it feels tied in with what we do"; the name is displayed as one word with a forward slash in between: Cut/Copy. With Howard filling in on guitar, Whitford asked his childhood friend Bennett Foddy to join on bass with the view to release an EP; the band was assisted by Robbie Chater of The Avalanches who produced the seven instrumental tracks that were leaning on samples. I Thought of Numbers was spurred a number of remixes on vinyl; the following year saw. Their live debut at the 2003 Livid festival was described by Foddy as "our first show was in front of 5,000 people at a festival, sort of terrifying".
In 2003, Howard was replaced by Tim Hoey, a student at the Victoria College of Art after he and Whitford began exchanging demo tapes. Drummer Mitchell Scott joined shortly after, explaining that "we were just in the same circle of friends, Tim was sort of roped in because he could play guitar and Dan's sampler had broken down, which kind of brought on the need to find a new way of thinking about a live show". Prior to Hoey and Scott joining, a Cut Copy performance was Whitford together with Joel McKenzie doing a DJ set that included sampling their own material. Throughout their career, the band has continued to do DJ remixes for others. Whitford began working on the band's debut album in early 2003 and had written half a dozen songs when during a DJ gig, one of their samplers broke down. Together with Hoey and Foddy he began reinterpreting the material. In the year Whitford gathered all the recordings and travelled to Paris to mix the album with Phillippe Zdar and his team and found that he had "two different versions of the recordings, so I started taking parts from both of those, putting them together".
In April 2004, Cut Copy released their debut LP, Bright Like Neon Love to moderate success and supported by the singles "Saturdays" and "Future". The four-piece began to play'a garage band version' of the material. At this stage Foddy left the group to study for his Ph. D, the band continued as a three-piece. In 2005, the trio toured internationally for the first time, as support to international acts such as Franz Ferdinand, The Presets, Junior Senior, Bloc Party and Mylo while playing a number of European festivals. By playing a large number of shows their fan-base grew and three members became more proficient in their instruments. In contrast to previous occasions, Whitford began songwriting with the others in the band. A third single, "Going Nowhere", was released in January 2006. In the first half of 2006, Whitford was asked to produce a mix for the Fabric label, which included a number of Cut Copy mixes, it was released in August 2006 as FabricLive.29 and described as "collection of indie, hip-hop and straight up rock".
He did the same for the American clothing company Triple 5 Soul in the same year, which Modular released as a podcast. In December 2007, the group toured Australia with Daft Punk on the Nevereverland tour, the Sydney leg of which attracted a crowd of 50,000 people. For much of 2006, Whitford had been working on the second album using the three-piece template, touring the world. Towards the end of September, he had much of the album complete in demo form; these recordings were sent to Tim Goldsworthy. In early 2007 the band travelled to New York. Whitford commented on Goldsworthy's contribution that "he was like an extra member of the band and gave us feedback on things that were working and things that he thought we could change. On top of that he has an incredible wealth of experience with what he's done with other records and brought some of those recording techniques to our music". After some mixing in Los Angeles, the album was finalised at the band's homebase in Melbourne. In May 2007, the band decided to play a small Australian tour while Modular Recordings released the single "Hearts o
Atlanta Hawks
The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division; the team plays its home games at State Farm Arena. The team's origins can be traced to the establishment of the Buffalo Bisons in 1946 in Buffalo, New York, a member of the National Basketball League owned by Ben Kerner and Leo Ferris. After 38 days in Buffalo, the team moved to Moline, where they were renamed the Tri-Cities Blackhawks. In 1949, they joined the NBA as part of the merger between the NBL and the Basketball Association of America, had Red Auerbach as coach. In 1951, Kerner moved the team to Milwaukee. Kerner and the team moved again in 1955 to St. Louis, where they won their only NBA Championship in 1958 and qualified to play in the NBA Finals in 1957, 1960 and 1961; the Hawks played the Boston Celtics in all four of their trips to the NBA Finals. The St. Louis Hawks moved to Atlanta in 1968, when Kerner sold the franchise to Thomas Cousins and former Georgia Governor Carl Sanders.
The Hawks own the second-longest drought of not winning an NBA championship at 60 seasons. The franchise's lone NBA championship, as well as all four NBA Finals appearances, occurred when the team was based in St. Louis. Meanwhile, they went 48 years without advancing past the second round of the playoffs in any format, until breaking through in 2015. However, the Hawks are one of only four NBA teams that have qualified to play in the NBA playoffs in 10 consecutive seasons in the 21st century, they achieved this feat between 2008 and 2017. The other teams that have made it to at least 10 consecutive playoff appearances in the 21st century are the San Antonio Spurs, Denver Nuggets, Dallas Mavericks; the origins of the Atlanta Hawks can be traced to the Buffalo Bisons franchise, founded in 1946. The Bisons were a member of the National Basketball League, played their games at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium; the club was coached by Nat Hickey. Their first game – a 50–39 victory over the Syracuse Nationals – was played on November 8, 1946.
On the team was William "Pop" Gates, along with William "Dolly" King, was one of the first two African-American players in the NBL. The team, which needed to draw 3,600 fans per game to break struggled to draw 1,000 fans per game to the Auditorium; the franchise lasted only 38 days in Buffalo when, on December 25, 1946, Leo Ferris, the team's general manager, announced that the team would be moving to Moline, which at that time was part of an area known as the "Tri-Cities": Moline, Rock Island and Davenport, Iowa. Upon relocation to Moline, the team was renamed the Tri-Cities Blackhawks, played their home games at Wharton Field House, a 6,000-seat arena in Moline; the team featured guard/forward and coach Deanglo King, was owned by Leo Ferris and Ben Kerner. Pop Gates remained on the Blackhawks roster, finished second on the team in scoring behind future 1948 NBL MVP Don Otten. A Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame member, Gates helped to integrate the league and become the first African-American coach in a major sports league, coaching Dayton in 1948.
In 1949 the Blackhawks became one of the National Basketball Association's 17 original teams after a merger of the 12-year-old NBL and the three-year-old Basketball Association of America. They reached the playoffs in the NBA's inaugural year under the leadership of coach Red Auerbach; the following season, they drafted three-time All-American Bob Cousy, but they were unable to reach a deal and traded him to the Chicago Stags. The Blackhawks missed the playoffs. By it was obvious that the Tri-Cities area was too small to support an NBA team. After the season, the franchise relocated to Milwaukee and became the Milwaukee Hawks. In 1954, the Hawks drafted Bob Pettit, a future NBA MVP. Despite this, the Hawks were one of the league's worst teams, in 1955 the Hawks moved, this time to St. Louis, Milwaukee's rival in the beer industry, became the St. Louis Hawks. In 1956, the St. Louis Hawks drafted legendary Bill Russell in the first round, they traded Russell to the Boston Celtics for Cliff Hagan and Ed Macauley, both Hall of Fame members.
In 1957, the Hawks finished four games under.500. However, the Western Division was weak that year, they won the division title and a bye to the division finals after defeating the Minneapolis Lakers and Fort Wayne Pistons in one-game tiebreakers. They defeated the Lakers in the division finals to advance to the Finals, losing to the Boston Celtics in a double-overtime thriller in game seven. In 1958, after tallying their first winning record, they again advanced to the Finals, where they avenged their defeat against the Celtics from the previous year, winning the series 4–2 and giving the Hawks their first and only NBA Championship. Bob Pettit scored 50 points in the final game of the series; the Hawks remained one of the NBA's premier teams for the next decade. In 1960, under coach Ed Macauley, the team advanced to the Finals, but lost to the Celtics in another game seven thriller; the following year, with the acquisition of rookie Lenny Wilkens, the Hawks repeated their success, but met the Celtics in the Finals again and lost in five games.
They would remain contenders for most of the 1960s, advancing deep into the playoffs a
Anna Sun
"Anna Sun" is a song by American rock band Walk the Moon for their 2010 album I want! I want!. The song was written by band members Adrian Galvin, Nick Lerangis, Nicholas Petricca and Adam Reifsnyder, it was included on the band's 2012 major-label debut album, Walk the Moon. It was released as a commercial single on February 7, 2012. "Anna Sun" peaked at number 10 on the Billboard Alternative chart and number 20 on the Billboard Rock Songs chart. Written by lead vocalist Nicholas Petricca and New York-based singer/songwriter Nick Lerangis, along with the help of their 8 year old neighbor Jake Will Young, towards the end of their college career, the song is named after their professor from Kenyon College and is meant to symbolize youth. "It's about college, about maintaining that little bit of being a kid," Petricca said. "Don't be afraid to play."The band's self-released album I Want! I Want! was recorded by Chris Schmidt and Ben Cochran at Soap Floats Recording Studio in their hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio.
According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Universal Music Publishing Group, "Anna Sun" is written in the time signature of common time, with a moderate tempo of 72 beats per minute. It is composed in the key of B♭ major and the melody spans a tonal range of G4 to B♭5. "Anna Sun" received positive reviews from critics. In their review of the Walk the Moon album, Dani Beck and Derrick Robertson called the song "sunny, carefree electronic pop" and noted that it was one of the few highlights in a negative album review. Dulce Rosales of recultured.com noted that while "the lyrics are somewhat repetitive, the simplicity helps hook listeners and causes them to sing along after a single listen." Brian Benton of MVRemix.com was critical on the length of the song, saying that "it’s five and a half minutes long, when it could be just as effective in three.""Anna Sun" was named the song of the summer in a 2011 Esquire article "30 Summer Songs Every Man Should Listen To". Additionally, the single was named song of the summer by MTV and Seventeen, as well as one of the best songs of the year by Amazon.
In an article from Kenyon's Her Campus, Professor Sun was said to have "immediately liked it" the first time she heard it. She further gave her opinion: “The song is about Kenyon life, it has nothing to do with me, so I thought ‘sure, use my name for the chorus,’” she said. "Anna Sun" first appeared on Billboard's Hot Singles Sales chart at number seven on March 10, 2012. On March 24, 2012, the song debuted at number thirty-nine on the Alternative Songs chart, it reached its peak at number ten on July 2012 after spending 18 weeks on the chart. Despite this, the song never charted on the Rock Airplay chart. "Anna Sun" entered the Hot Rock Songs chart at number forty-six on April 14, 2012. On August 4, 2012, the song peaked at number twenty, giving Walk the Moon their first top twenty hit on the chart. "Anna Sun" managed to obtain some success on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart, peaking at number eighteen on September 15, 2012. The song experienced its highest peak on the Adult Alternative Songs chart, reaching number three on October 27, 2012.
Outside the United States, the song became a minor hit on the UK Singles Chart, debuting at number eighty-two on its first week. It appeared on Belgium's Ultratip Flanders chart, where it reached number eight. On Billboard's Mexico Ingles Airplay chart, the song peaked at number forty-six; the music video for "Anna Sun" was produced by Patrick Meier of Contrast Productions. It was recorded in Cincinnati and was filmed from August 31-September 1, 2010; the video includes original choreography from Kim Popa, the executive director of the local Cincinnati based dance troupe Pones Inc. After meeting with the band, she decided that the vibe should be "the intangible feeling of being a kid...then maintaining that whimsy into adulthood." Popa said that she was inspired by ceremonial African dances as well as Michael Jackson moves from her childhood when designing the dance moves. At one point during the video, dancers can be seen wearing bodysuits and leotards, reminiscent of 80s aerobics. According to bassist Kevin Ray, the first half of the video was shot 22 times.
However, only the third take was used. The video begins with a 2 and a half minute long take, shot inside the Mockbee building in the brewery district of Cincinnati; the camera follows lead singer Petricca as he walks through the labyrinth of rooms, encountering numerous partiers. At one point during the shot, Petricca plays the keytar. Petricca finds a room full of dancers before engaging in a group dance. After the dance, Petricca opens a door; the second part of the video consists of jump cuts between Petricca singing while directly looking at the camera and more party goers, covered in face paint, preparing for battle. Including a young boy a younger version of Petricca; the partiers prepare for battle, before they continue partying. At the end of the video, the young boy runs back to the door, used to transport Petricca to the new location; the boy paints the word Anna along with a drawing of a sun on the door. Petricca noted that, the tradition of wearing face paint during their live performances evolved from the video.
MTV Hive called the video a "hilariously choreographed, neon-colored and awesomely shot in one take" production. "Anna Sun received numerous remixes, two of which were by Trouble Productions. The TV show. Clothing retailer American Eagle Outfitters added "Anna Sun" to their video rotation in May 2011; the song has been covered by Australian indie rock band The Griswolds, YouTube personal