1.
Country music
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Country music is a genre of United States popular music that originated in the southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from the genre of United States, such as folk music. Blues modes have been used throughout its recorded history. The term country music is used today to many styles and subgenres. In 2009 country music was the most listened to rush hour radio genre during the evening commute, immigrants to the Southern Appalachian Mountains of North America brought the music and instruments of Europe and Africa along with them for nearly 300 years. Country music was introduced to the world as a Southern phenomenon, Bristol, Tennessee, has been formally recognized by the U. S. Congress as the Birthplace of Country Music, based on the historic Bristol recording sessions of 1927. Since 2014, the city has been home to the Birthplace of Country Music Museum, historians have also noted the influence of the less-known Johnson City sessions of 1928 and 1929, and the Knoxville sessions of 1929 and 1930. Prior to these, pioneer settlers, in the Great Smoky Mountains region, had developed a musical heritage. The first generation emerged in the early 1920s, with Atlantas music scene playing a role in launching countrys earliest recording artists. Okeh Records began issuing hillbilly music records by Fiddlin John Carson as early as 1923, followed by Columbia Records in 1924, many hillbilly musicians, such as Cliff Carlisle, recorded blues songs throughout the 1920s. The most important was the Grand Ole Opry, aired starting in 1925 by WSM in Nashville, during the 1930s and 1940s, cowboy songs, or Western music, which had been recorded since the 1920s, were popularized by films made in Hollywood. Bob Wills was another musician from the Lower Great Plains who had become very popular as the leader of a hot string band. His mix of country and jazz, which started out as dance hall music, Wills was one of the first country musicians known to have added an electric guitar to his band, in 1938. Country musicians began recording boogie in 1939, shortly after it had played at Carnegie Hall. Gospel music remained a component of country music. It became known as honky tonk, and had its roots in Western swing and the music of Mexico. By the early 1950s a blend of Western swing, country boogie, rockabilly was most popular with country fans in the 1950s, and 1956 could be called the year of rockabilly in country music. Beginning in the mid-1950s, and reaching its peak during the early 1960s, the late 1960s in American music produced a unique blend as a result of traditionalist backlash within separate genres
2.
Adult contemporary music
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Adult contemporary is rather a continuation of the easy listening and soft rock style that became popular in the 1960s and 1970s with some adjustments that reflect the evolution of pop/rock music. Adult contemporary tends to have lush, soothing and highly polished qualities where emphasis on melody and it is usually melodic enough to get a listeners attention, and is inoffensive and pleasurable enough to work well as background music. Like most of pop music, its songs tend to be written in a basic format employing a verse–chorus structure, the format is heavy on romantic sentimental ballads which mostly use acoustic instruments such as acoustic guitars, pianos, saxophones, and sometimes an orchestral set. The electric guitars are normally faint and high-pitched, however, recent adult contemporary music may usually feature synthesizers. An AC radio station may play mainstream music, but it excludes hip hop, dance tracks, hard rock, and some forms of teen pop, as these are popular among adults. AC radio often targets the 25–44 age group, the demographic that has received the most attention from advertisers since the 1960s, a common practice in recent years of adult contemporary stations is to play less newer music and more hits of the past. This de-emphasis on new songs slows the progression of the AC chart, over the years, AC has spawned subgenres including hot AC, soft AC, urban AC, rhythmic AC, and Christian AC. Some stations play only hot AC, soft AC, or only one of the variety of subgenres, therefore, it is not usually considered a specific genre of music, it is merely an assemblage of selected tracks from musicians of many different genres. Adult contemporary traces its roots to the 1960s easy listening format, a few offered 90% instrumentals, and a handful were entirely instrumental. Billboard first published the Easy Listening chart July 17,1961, with 20 songs, the chart described itself as not too far out in either direction. Initially, the vocalists consisted of such as Frank Sinatra, Doris Day, Johnny Mathis, Connie Francis, Nat King Cole, Perry Como. The custom recordings were usually instrumental versions of current or recent rock and roll or pop hit songs, some stations would also occasionally play earlier big band-era recordings from the 1940s and early 1950s. After 1965, differences between the Hot 100 chart and the Easy Listening chart became more pronounced, better reflecting what middle of the road stations were actually playing, the composition of the chart changed dramatically. As rock music continued to harden, there was much less crossover between the Hot 100 and Easy Listening chart than there had been in the half of the 1960s. Roger Miller, Barbra Streisand and Bobby Vinton were among the charts most popular performers and these middle of the road stations also frequently included older, pre-rock-era adult standards and big band titles to further appeal to adult listeners who had grown up with those songs. Another big impetus for the evolution of the AC radio format was the popularity of easy listening or beautiful music stations, stations with music specifically designed to be purely ambient, hard rock had been established as a mainstream genre by 1965. From the end of the 1960s, it common to divide mainstream rock music into soft and hard rock. Soft rock was often derived from rock, using acoustic instruments and putting more emphasis on melody
3.
Acting
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Acting involves a broad range of skills, including a well-developed imagination, emotional facility, physical expressivity, vocal projection, clarity of speech, and the ability to interpret drama. Acting also demands an ability to employ dialects, accents, improvisation, observation and emulation, mime, many actors train at length in specialist programmes or colleges to develop these skills. The vast majority of actors have undergone extensive training. Actors and actresses will often have many instructors and teachers for a range of training involving singing, scene-work, audition techniques. Most early sources in the West that examine the art of acting discuss it as part of rhetoric, one of the first actors is believed to have been an ancient Greek called Thespis of Icaria. Writing two centuries after the event, Aristotle in his Poetics suggests that Thespis stepped out of the dithyrambic chorus, when Thespis stepped out from the chorus, he spoke as if he was the character. To distinguish between different modes of storytelling—enactment and narration—Aristotle uses the terms mimesis and diegesis. From Thespis name derives the word thespian, a professional actor is someone who is paid to act. Professional actors sometimes undertake unpaid work for a variety of reasons, amateur actors are those who do not receive payment for performances. Not all people working as actors in film, television, or theatre are professionally trained, bob Hoskins, for example, had no formal training before becoming an actor. Conservatories and drama schools typically offer two- to four-year training on all aspects of acting, universities mostly offer three- to four-year programs, in which a student is often able to choose to focus on acting, whilst continuing to learn about other aspects of theatre. Other approaches may include a more physically based orientation, such as that promoted by practitioners as diverse as Anne Bogart, Jacques Lecoq, Jerzy Grotowski. Classes may also include psychotechnique, mask work, physical theatre, improvisation, regardless of a schools approach, students should expect intensive training in textual interpretation, voice, and movement. Applications to drama programmes and conservatories usually involve extensive auditions, anybody over the age of 18 can usually apply. Training may also start at a young age. Acting classes and professional schools targeted at under-18s are widespread and these classes introduce young actors to different aspects of acting and theatre, including scene study. Increased training and exposure to public speaking allows humans to maintain calmer, by measuring a public speaker’s heart rate maybe one of the easiest ways to judge shifts in stress as the heart rate increases with anxiety. As actors increase performances, heart rate and other evidence of stress can decrease and this is very important in training for actors, as adaptive strategies gained from increased exposure to public speaking can regulate implicit and explicit anxiety
4.
Sammy Davis Jr.
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Samuel George Sammy Davis Jr. was an American entertainer. Primarily a dancer and singer, he was also an actor of stage and screen, comedian, musician, at the age of 3, Davis began his career in vaudeville with his father and Will Mastin as the Will Mastin Trio, which toured nationally. After military service, Davis returned to the trio, Davis became an overnight sensation following a nightclub performance at Ciros after the 1951 Academy Awards. With the trio, he became a recording artist, in 1954, he lost his left eye in a car accident, and several years later, he converted to Judaism. Daviss film career began as a child in 1933, in 1960, he appeared in the Rat Pack film Oceans 11. After a starring role on Broadway in 1956s Mr Wonderful, he returned to the stage in 1964s Golden Boy, in 1966 he had his own TV variety show, titled The Sammy Davis Jr. Show. Daviss career slowed in the late 1960s, but he had a hit record with The Candy Man in 1972 and became a star in Las Vegas, earning him the nickname Mister Show Business. Davis was a victim of racism throughout his life, particularly during the pre-Civil Rights era, Davis had a complex relationship with the black community, and drew criticism after publicly supporting President Richard Nixon in 1972. One day on a course with Jack Benny, he was asked what his handicap was. This was to become a comment, recounted in his autobiography. After reuniting with Sinatra and Dean Martin in 1987, Davis toured with them and Liza Minnelli internationally and he died in debt to the Internal Revenue Service, and his estate was the subject of legal battles. Davis was awarded the Spingarn Medal by the NAACP and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and he was the recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors in 1987, and in 2001, he was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. During his lifetime, Davis stated that his mother was Puerto Rican, as an infant, he was reared by his paternal grandmother. When he was 3 years old, his parents separated and his father, not wanting to lose custody of his son, took him on tour. Davis learned to dance from his father and his uncle Will Mastin, Davis joined the act as a child and they became the Will Mastin Trio. Throughout his career, Davis included the Will Mastin Trio in his billing, Mastin and his father shielded him from racism. Snubs were explained as jealousy, for instance, when Davis served in the United States Army during World War II, however, he was confronted by strong racial prejudice. He later said, Overnight the world looked different and it wasnt one color any more
5.
Anaheim, California
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Anaheim is a city in Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a population of 336,265, making it the most populous city in Orange County, Anaheim remained largely a rural community until Disneyland opened in the city in 1955. This led to the construction of hotels and motels around the area. The city also developed into a center, producing electronics, aircraft parts. Anaheims city limits extend from Cypress in the west to the Riverside County line in the east and encompass a diverse collection of neighborhoods, Anaheim Hills is a master-planned community located in the citys eastern stretches that is home to many of the citys affluent. Downtown Anaheim has three historic districts, the largest of which is the Anaheim Colony. The Anaheim Resort, a district, includes Disneyland, Disney California Adventure. The Platinum Triangle, a redevelopment district surrounding Angel Stadium, is planned to be populated with mixed-use streets. Finally, Anaheim Canyon is a district north of California State Route 91. Anaheims name is a blend of Ana, after the nearby Santa Ana River, and heim, the city of Anaheim was founded in 1857 by 50 German-Americans who were residents of San Francisco and whose families had originated in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Franconia in Bavaria. For $750 a share, the formed the Anaheim Vineyard Company. Their new community was named Annaheim, meaning home by the Santa Anna River in German, the name later was altered to Anaheim. To the Spanish-speaking neighbors, the settlement was known as Campo Alemán, although grape and wine-making was their primary objective, the majority of the 50 settlers were mechanics, carpenters and craftsmen with no experience in wine-making. The community set aside 40 acres for a center and a school was the first building erected there. The first home was built in 1857, the Anaheim Gazette newspaper was established in 1870, for 25 years, the area was the largest wine producer in California. However, in 1884, a disease infected the grape vines, other crops – walnuts, lemons and oranges – soon filled the void. Fruits and vegetables had become viable cash crops when the Los Angeles – Orange County region was connected to the railroad network in 1887. The famous Polish actress Helena Modjeska settled in Anaheim with her husband and various friends, among them Henryk Sienkiewicz, Julian Sypniewski, while living in Anaheim, Helena Modjeska became good friends with Clementine Langenberger, the second wife of August Langenberger
6.
The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)
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The film stars Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale. Notable for its use of Technicolor, fantasy storytelling, musical score and it was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, but lost to Gone with the Wind. It did win in two categories, including Best Original Song for Over the Rainbow and Best Original Score by Herbert Stothart. However, the film was a box office disappointment on its release, earning only $3,017,000 on a $2,777,000 budget. It was MGMs most expensive production at that time, and did not completely recoup the studios investment and turn a profit until theatrical re-releases starting in 1949. The film was named the most-viewed motion picture on television syndication by the Library of Congress, designation on the registry calls for efforts to preserve it for being culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant. It is also one of the few films on UNESCOs Memory of the World Register, the Wizard of Oz is often ranked on best-movie lists in critics and public polls. It is the source of many quotes referenced in popular culture. It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming, noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but uncredited contributions were made by others. The songs were written by Edgar Yip Harburg and Harold Arlen, the musical score and the incidental music were composed by Stothart. The film begins in Kansas, which is depicted in a sepia tone, Dorothy Gale lives with her dog Toto on the farm of her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry. Dorothys dog gets in trouble with a neighbor, Miss Almira Gulch. However, Dorothys family and the farmhands are all too busy to pay attention to her, Miss Gulch arrives with permission from the sheriff to have Toto euthanized. She takes him away, but he escapes and returns to Dorothy and they meet Professor Marvel, a phony but kindly fortune teller, who realizes Dorothy has run away and tricks her via his crystal ball into believing that Aunt Em is ill so that she must return home. She races home just as a tornado strikes. Unable to get into her familys storm cellar, she seeks safety in her bedroom, a wind-blown window sash hits her in the head, knocking her out. The house is picked up and sent spinning in the air by the twister, the farmhouse crashes in Munchkinland in the Land of Oz, where the film changes to Technicolor. Glinda the Good Witch of the North and the Munchkins welcome her as their heroine, as the house has landed on and killed the Wicked Witch of the East, leaving only her stocking feet exposed
7.
Gunsmoke
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Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, the central character is lawman Marshal Matt Dillon, played by William Conrad on radio and James Arness on television. When aired in the UK, the series was initially titled Gun Law. The radio series ran from 1952 to 1961, John Dunning wrote that among radio drama enthusiasts, Gunsmoke is routinely placed among the best shows of any kind and any time. The television series ran for 20 seasons from 1955 to 1975, at the end of its run in 1975, Los Angeles Times columnist Cecil Smith wrote, Gunsmoke was the dramatization of the American epic legend of the west. Our own Iliad and Odyssey, created from elements of the dime novel and the pulp western as romanticized by Buntline, Harte. It was ever the stuff of legend, robinson instructed his West Coast CBS Vice President, Harry Ackerman, who had developed the Philip Marlowe series, to take on the task. Ackerman and his scriptwriters, Mort Fine and David Friedkin, created a script called Mark Dillon Goes to Gouge Eye based on one of their Michael Shayne radio scripts. Two auditions were created in 1949, CBS liked the Culver version better, and Ackerman was told to proceed. A complication arose, though, Culvers contract as the star of Straight Arrow would not allow him to do another Western series, the project was shelved for three years, when producer Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston discovered it while creating an adult Western series of their own. Macdonnell and Meston wanted to create a radio Western for adults, in contrast to the prevailing juvenile fare such as The Lone Ranger, Gunsmoke was set in Dodge City, Kansas, during the thriving cattle days of the 1870s. Dunning notes, The show drew critical acclaim for unprecedented realism, the radio series first aired on CBS on April 26,1952 with the episode Billy the Kid, written by Walter Newman, and ended on June 18,1961. The show stars William Conrad as Marshal Matt Dillon, Howard McNear as Doc Charles Adams, Georgia Ellis as Kitty Russell, Dillon was played on radio by William Conrad and on TV by James Arness. Conrad was one of the last actors to audition for the role of Marshal Dillon, with a resonantly powerful and distinctive voice, Conrad was already one of radios busiest actors. Though Meston championed him, Macdonnell thought Conrad might be overexposed, during his audition, however, Conrad won over Macdonnell after reading only a few lines. Dillon as portrayed by Conrad was a lonely, isolated man, Macdonnell later claimed, Much of Matt Dillons character grew out of Bill Conrad. Meston relished the upending of cherished Western fiction clichés and felt that few Westerns gave any inkling of how brutal the Old West was in reality. Many episodes were based on mans cruelty to man and woman, inasmuch as the womans life
8.
General Mills
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General Mills, Inc. is an American multinational manufacturer and marketer of branded consumer foods sold through retail stores. It is headquartered in Golden Valley, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis and its brand portfolio includes more than 89 other leading U. S. brands and numerous category leaders around the world. The company can trace its history to the Minneapolis Milling Company, cadwallader C. Washburn acquired the company shortly after its founding and hired his brother William D. Washburn to assist in the companys development. In 1866 the Washburns got into the business themselves, building the Washburn B Mill at the falls, at the time, the building was considered to be so large and output so vast that it could not possibly sustain itself. However, the company succeeded, and in 1874 he built the even bigger Washburn A Mill, in 1877 the mill entered a partnership with John Crosby to form the Washburn-Crosby Company, producing Winter Wheat Flour. That same year Washburn sent William Hood Dunwoody to England to open the market for spring wheat, Dunwoody was successful and became a silent partner. In 1878 the A mill was destroyed in a flour dust explosion along with five nearby buildings, the ensuing fire led to the death of 18 workers. Construction of a new mill began immediately, not only was the new mill safer but it also was able to produce a higher quality flour after the old grinding stones were replaced with automatic steel rollers, the first ever used. In 1880 Washburn-Crosby flour brands won gold, silver and bronze medals at the Millers International Exhibition in Cincinnati, in 1924 the company stepped in to take over a failing Twin Cities radio station, WLAG, renaming it WCCO. General Mills itself was created in June 1928 when Washburn-Crosby President James Ford Bell directed his company to merge with 26 other mills, in 1928, General Mills acquired the Wichita Mill and Elevator Company of the industrialist Frank Kell of Wichita Falls, Texas. With the sale, Kell acquired cash plus stock in the corporation, the coupons and the catalog were discontinued by the company in 2006. A similar program, Box Tops for Education, in which coupon icons clipped off various General Mills products can be redeemed by schools for cash, General Mills became the sponsor of the popular radio show The Lone Ranger in 1941. The show was brought to television, and, after 20 years. Beginning in 1959, General Mills sponsored the Rocky and His Friends television series, until 1968, Rocky and Bullwinkle were featured in a variety of advertisements for General Mills. General Mills was also a sponsor of the Saturday-morning cartoons from the Total TeleVision productions studio, the company also was a sponsor of the ABC western series The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, starring Hugh OBrian. In 1946 General Mills established their Aeronautical Research Division with chief engineer Otto C and this division developed high altitude balloons in conjunction with the United States Navy Office of Naval Research, such as the Skyhook balloon. The General Mills Electronics division developed the DSV Alvin submersible, which is notable for being used in investigating the wreck of the Titanic among other deep-sea exploration missions, the first venture General Mills took into the toy industry was in 1965. The company bought Rainbow Crafts, which was the manufacturer of Play-Doh, General Mills purchase of the company was substantial because it brought production costs down and tripled the revenue
9.
United Service Organizations
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The United Service Organizations Inc. is a nonprofit organization that provides programs, services and live entertainment to United States service members and their families. Since 1941, it has worked in partnership with the Department of Defense, relying heavily on contributions and on funds, goods. Although it is congressionally-chartered, it is not a government agency, the USO operates 160 centers worldwide. During World War II, the USO became the GIs home away from home and began a tradition of entertaining the troops that continues today. Involvement in the USO was one of the ways in which the nation had come together to support the war effort. After it was disbanded in 1947, it was revived in 1950 for the Korean War, during the Vietnam War, USOs were sometimes located in combat zones. The organization became famous for its live performances, called Camp Shows. Hollywood in general was eager to show its patriotism, and many celebrities joined the ranks of USO entertainers. They entertained in military bases at home and overseas, sometimes placing their own lives in danger, the USO has over 160 locations around the world in 14 countries and 27 states. Its motto is Until everyone comes home, the USO was founded in 1941 by Mary Ingraham in response to a request from President Franklin D. Roosevelt to provide morale and recreation services to U. S. uniformed military personnel. Roosevelt was elected as its honorary chairman and they were brought together under one umbrella to support U. S. troops. Roosevelt said he wanted these private organizations to handle the on-leave recreation of the men in the armed forces. According to historian Emily Yellin, The government was to build the buildings, the first national campaign chairman was Thomas Dewey, who raised $16 million in the first year. The second chairman was future senator Prescott Bush, the USO was incorporated in New York on February 4, with the first facility erected in DeRidder, Louisiana,1941. More USO centers and clubs opened around the world as a “Home Away from Home” for GIs. The USO club was a place to go for dances and social events, for movies and music, for a place to talk or write a letter home, or for a free cup of coffee. The USO also brought Hollywood celebrities and volunteer entertainers to perform for the troops, according to movie historian Steven Cohan, most of all. In taking home on the road, it equated the nation with showbiz, USO camp shows were designed in their export to remind soldiers of home
10.
Knott's Berry Farm
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Knotts Berry Farm Buena Park is a 160-acre amusement park in Buena Park, California, owned by Cedar Fair. It was the twelfth most visited park in North America in 2015. The park features 39 rides including roller coasters, family rides, childrens rides, water rides, and historical rides, the theme park sits on the site of a former berry farm established by Walter Knott, Cordelia Knott, and their family. Beginning around 1920, the Knott family sold berries, berry preserves, in 1934, the Knotts began selling fried chicken dinners in a tea room on the property, and the Knotts built several shops and other attractions to entertain visitors. In 1940, Walter Knott began constructing a replica Ghost Town on the property, Knott added several other attractions over the years, and began charging admission to the attractions in 1968. In 1983, Knotts Berry Farm added Camp Snoopy, which began the parks present-day association with the Peanuts characters, Cedar Fair has continued to expand the theme park, adding Knotts Soak City in 1999 and adding new rides to the original park. The theme park sits on the site of a berry farm established by Walter Knott. Beginning around 1920, the Knott family sold berries, berry preserves, in 1934, the Knotts began selling fried chicken dinners in a tea room on the property, later called Mrs. Knotts Chicken Dinner Restaurant. The dinners soon became a major tourist draw, and the Knotts built several shops, in 1940, Walter Knott began constructing a replica Ghost Town on the property, the beginning of the present-day theme park. The idea of an amusement park really picked up in the 1950s when Walter Knott opened a summer-long county fair, in 1968, for the first time, an admission price was required to get into the park, originally set at 25 cents. The Calico log ride was added in 1969, on April 12,1974, Cordelia Knott died. Sky Tower was built to support two attractions, the Parachute Sky Jump and the Sky Cabin, Parachute Sky Jump boarded one or two standing riders anticipating the thrill of the drop into baskets beneath a faux parachute canopy. From the top, eight arms supported the cable tracks of wire rope which lifted the baskets. The Sky Cabin ringed the support pole with a floor of seats that are enclosed behind windows. The Sky Cabin ring revolves slowly as it rises to the top, Sky Cabin is very sensitive to weather and passenger motion, such as walking, which is prohibited during the trip. During winds 25 mph+ or rain it is closed, one or two riders straddled each Indian motorcycle attraction vehicle. The tubular steel monorail track closely followed dips and bumps in the road, Gasoline Alley, an electric steel-guiderail car ride below, was built together and intimately intertwined, which enhanced ride-to-ride interaction thrill value. Motorcycle Chase/Wacky Soap Box Racers was removed 1996 for a dueling loop coaster Windjammer Surf Racers and now Xcelerator, on December 3,1981, Walter Knott died, survived by his children who would continue to operate Knotts as a family business for another fourteen years
