Cover charge
A cover charge is an entrance fee sometimes charged at bars, nightclubs, or restaurants. The American Heritage Dictionary defines it as an amount added to the bill at a nightclub or restaurant for entertainment or service. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a cover charge as a charge for service added to the charge in a restaurant. Such a charge is made in countries, usually described by the word equivalent to cover. A place-setting at a restaurant, in English and in languages, is often referred to as a cover or equivalent term in other languages. A term sometimes used in the US is table charge, the charge is typically a few US dollars or equivalent. Although the charge is said to be for bread, olives, etc. taken to the table. Restaurants in English-speaking countries sometimes have a menu in French, in these and this term and the related charge, originating in France, has been used with this meaning in English since at least 1899. With which a table is covered or laid, the portion of these appropriated to each guest, the couvert or cover charge has been levied for many years, certainly in English-speaking countries by 1899.
The concept, and term, was used in the US in the 1920s by illegal bars called speakeasies. Manhattan saloonkeeper Tex Guinan, was an example of a bar requiring a cover charge from patrons. In the US the cover charge became a charge where both entertainment and food and drink are provided, and carries the expectation of entertainment. In most countries where restaurant cover charges are made the practice is far from universal, tourist destinations may be more likely to make this charge, which unwary visitors may not anticipate. Tips are usually much lower internationally than the 15-20% typical in restaurants in the USA without cover charge, the term cover charge is used in other cases, and can be confusing. A practice, sometimes called a charge in the USA is to make a flat charge for unlimited food. Restaurants may make a charge to diners who book but fail to show up, children under thirteen may not be charged. This law was put in place to resolve the problem of “secret” cover charges, clubgoers would find this cover charge added to their first drink order.
In Illinois, bars cannot impose a charge unless the fee goes towards the cost of off-setting entertainment costs such as a live band
Pub
A pub, or public house, is an establishment licensed to sell alcoholic drinks, which traditionally include beer and cider. It is a relaxed, social drinking establishment and a prominent part of British, New Zealand, Canadian, in many places, especially in villages, a pub is the focal point of the community. In his 17th century diary Samuel Pepys described the pub as the heart of England, Pubs can be traced back to Roman taverns, through the Anglo-Saxon alehouse to the development of the tied house system in the 19th century. In 1393, King Richard II of England introduced legislation that pubs had to display a sign outdoors to make them easily visible for passing ale tasters who would assess the quality of ale sold, most pubs focus on offering beers and similar drinks. As well, pubs often sell wines and soft drinks, the owner, tenant or manager is known as the pub landlord or publican. The pub quiz was established in the UK in the 1970s and these alehouses quickly evolved into meeting houses for the folk to socially congregate and arrange mutual help within their communities.
Herein lies the origin of the public house, or Pub as it is colloquially called in England. They rapidly spread across the Kingdom, becoming so commonplace that in 965 King Edgar decreed that there should be no more than one alehouse per village. A traveller in the early Middle Ages could obtain overnight accommodation in monasteries, the Hostellers of London were granted guild status in 1446 and in 1514 the guild became the Worshipful Company of Innholders. A survey in 1577 of drinking establishment in England and Wales for taxation purposes recorded 14,202 alehouses,1,631 inns, Inns are buildings where travellers can seek lodging and, usually and drink. They are typically located in the country or along a highway, in Europe, they possibly first sprang up when the Romans built a system of roads two millennia ago. Some inns in Europe are several centuries old, in addition to providing for the needs of travellers, inns traditionally acted as community gathering places. In Europe, it is the provision of accommodation, if anything, the latter tend to provide alcohol, but less commonly accommodation.
Famous London inns include The George and The Tabard, there is however no longer a formal distinction between an inn and other kinds of establishment. In North America, the aspect of the word inn lives on in hotel brand names like Holiday Inn. The Inns of Court and Inns of Chancery in London started as ordinary inns where barristers met to do business, traditional English ale was made solely from fermented malt. The practice of adding hops to produce beer was introduced from the Netherlands in the early 15th century, alehouses would each brew their own distinctive ale, but independent breweries began to appear in the late 17th century. By the end of the century almost all beer was brewed by commercial breweries, the 18th century saw a huge growth in the number of drinking establishments, primarily due to the introduction of gin
Phonograph
The phonograph is a device invented in 1877 for the mechanical recording and reproduction of sound. In its forms it is called a gramophone. To recreate the sound, the surface is rotated while a playback stylus traces the groove and is therefore vibrated by it. In electric phonographs, the motions of the stylus are converted into an electrical signal by a transducer. The phonograph was invented in 1877 by Thomas Edison, while other inventors had produced devices that could record sounds, Edisons phonograph was the first to be able to reproduce the recorded sound. His phonograph originally recorded sound onto a sheet wrapped around a rotating cylinder. A stylus responding to sound vibrations produced an up and down or hill-and-dale groove in the foil, in the 1890s, Emile Berliner initiated the transition from phonograph cylinders to flat discs with a spiral groove running from the periphery to near the center. Later improvements through the years included modifications to the turntable and its system, the stylus or needle.
The disc phonograph record was the dominant audio recording format throughout most of the 20th century, from the mid-1980s on, phonograph use on a standard record player declined sharply because of the rise of the cassette tape, compact disc and other digital recording formats. Records are still a favorite format for some audiophiles and DJs, vinyl records are still used by some DJs and musicians in their concert performances. Musicians continue to release their recordings on vinyl records, the original recordings of musicians are sometimes re-issued on vinyl. Usage of terminology is not uniform across the English-speaking world, in more modern usage, the playback device is often called a turntable, record player, or record changer. When used in conjunction with a mixer as part of a DJ setup, the term phonograph was derived from the Greek words φωνή and γραφή. The similar related terms gramophone and graphophone have similar root meanings, the roots were already familiar from existing 19th-century words such as photograph and telephone.
In British English, gramophone may refer to any sound-reproducing machine using disc records, the term phonograph was usually restricted to machines that used cylinder records. Gramophone generally referred to a wind-up machine, after the introduction of the softer vinyl records, 33 1⁄3-rpm LPs and 45-rpm single or two-song records, and EPs, the common name became record player or turntable. Often the home record player was part of a system that included a radio and, from about 1960, such a system began to be described as a hi-fi or a stereo. In American English, properly specific to machines made by Edison, was used in a generic sense as early as the 1890s to include cylinder-playing machines made by others
Striptease
A striptease is an erotic or exotic dance in which the performer gradually undresses, either partly or completely, in a seductive and sexually suggestive manner. The person who performs a striptease is commonly known as a stripper or exotic dancer. In Western countries, the venues where stripteases are performed on a regular basis are now usually called strip clubs, though they may be performed in such as pubs, theaters. At times, a stripper may be hired to perform at a bachelor or bachelorette party, in addition to providing adult entertainment, stripping can be a form of sexual play between partners. Striptease involves a slow, sensuous undressing, the emphasis is on the act of undressing along with sexually suggestive movement, rather than the state of being undressed. In the past, the performance often finished as soon as the undressing was finished, the costume the stripper wears before disrobing can form part of the act. In some cases, audience interaction can form part of the act, with audience urging the stripper to remove more clothing and public nudity have been subject to legal and cultural prohibitions and other aesthetic considerations and taboos.
Restrictions on venues may be through venue licensing requirements and constraints and these laws vary considerably around the world, and even between different parts of the same country. H. L. Gypsy Rose Lee, one of the most famous artists of all time. The origins of striptease as a performance art are disputed and various dates, the term striptease was first recorded in 1932, though stripping, in the sense of women removing clothing to sexually excite men, seems to go back to at least the late 19th century. There is an aspect in the ancient Sumerian myth of the descent of the goddess Inanna into the Underworld. At each of the seven gates, she removed an article of clothing or a piece of jewelry, as long as she remained in hell, the earth was barren. Some believe this myth was embodied in the dance of the seven veils of Salome, although the Bible records Salomes dance, the first mention of her removing seven veils occurs in Oscar Wildes play of Salome, in 1893. In ancient Greece, the lawgiver Solon established several classes of prostitutes in the late 6th century BC, among these classes of prostitutes were the auletrides, female dancers and musicians, noted for dancing naked in an alluring fashion in front of audiences of men.
In ancient Rome, dance featuring stripping was part of the entertainments at the Floralia and she was famous for her striptease performance of Leda and the Swan. From these accounts, it appears that the practice was hardly exceptional nor new and it was, actively opposed by the Christian Church, which succeeded in obtaining statutes banning it in the following century. The degree to which these statutes were subsequently enforced is, of course, what is certain is that no practice of the sort is reported in texts of the European Middle Ages. An early version of strip-tease became popular in England at the time of the Restoration, a strip tease was incorporated into the Restoration comedy The Rover, written by Aphra Behn in 1677
Nightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue and bar which serves alcoholic beverages that usually operates late into the night. Another distinction is that whereas many pubs and sports bars aim at a market, nightclubs typically aim at a niche market of music and dancing enthusiasts. The upmarket nature of nightclubs can be seen in the inclusion of VIP areas in some nightclubs, for celebrities, nightclubs are much more likely than pubs or sports bars to use bouncers to screen prospective clubgoers for entry. Some nightclub bouncers do not admit people with ripped jeans or other clothing or gang apparel as part of a dress code. The busiest nights for a nightclub are Friday and Saturday night, most clubs or club nights cater to certain music genres, such as house music or gothic rock. A nightclub may be called a discothèque, disco, or dance club, from about 1900 to 1920, working class Americans would gather at honky tonks or juke joints to dance to music played on a piano or a jukebox. Webster Hall is credited as the first modern nightclub, being built in 1886 and starting off as a hall, originally functioning as a home for dance.
During Prohibition in the United States, nightclubs went underground as illegal speakeasy bars, with Webster Hall staying open, with rumors circulating of Al Capones involvement and police bribery. With the repeal of Prohibition in February 1933, nightclubs were revived, such as New Yorks 21 Club, Copacabana, El Morocco, in Germany, possibly the first discothèque was Scotch-Club. These discothèques were patronized by anti-Vichy youth called zazous, there were underground discothèques in Nazi Germany patronized by anti-Nazi youth called the swing kids. In Harlem, Connies Inn and the Cotton Club were popular venues for white audiences, before 1953 and even some years thereafter, most bars and nightclubs used a jukebox or mostly live bands. The Whisky à Gogo set into place the elements of the modern post World War II discothèque-style nightclub. At the end of the 1950s, several of the bars in Soho introduced afternoon dancing. In the early 1960s, Mark Birley opened a members-only discothèque nightclub, Annabels, in Berkeley Square, in 1962, the Peppermint Lounge in New York City became popular and is the place where go-go dancing originated.
However, the first rock and roll generation preferred rough and tumble bars and taverns to nightclubs, disco has its roots in the underground club scene. It brought together people from all walks of life and backgrounds and these clubs acted as safe havens for homosexual partygoers to dance in peace and away from public scrutiny. Disco allowed patrons to explore sexuality and push the envelope on the dance floor, disco clubs acted as an escape from such depressing environments and acted as the fantasy marginalized peoples could escape to forget oppression and racism. Disco clubs originally functioned as liberated party spaces and were seen as places of political statement, a smooth mix of long single records to keep people dancing all night long
Accompaniment
Accompaniment is the musical parts which provide the rhythmic and/or harmonic support for the melody or main themes of a song or instrumental piece. There are many different styles and types of accompaniment in different genres and styles of music, in homophonic music, the main accompaniment approach used in popular music, a clear vocal melody is supported by subordinate chords. In popular music and traditional music, the accompaniment parts typically provide the beat for the music, the accompaniment for a vocal melody or instrumental solo can be played by a single musician playing an instrument such as piano, pipe organ, or guitar. A solo singer can accompany herself by playing guitar or piano while she sings, and in rare cases. With choral music, the accompaniment to a vocal solo can be provided by other singers in the choir, accompaniment parts range from so simple that a beginner can play them to so complex that only an advanced player or singer can perform them. An accompanist is a musician who plays an accompaniment part, accompanists often play keyboard instruments (e. g. piano, pipe organ, synthesizer or, in folk music and traditional styles, a guitar.
A number of classical pianists have found success as accompanists rather than soloists, arguably the best known example is Gerald Moore, the accompaniment instrumentalists and/or singers can be provided with a fully notated accompaniment part written or printed on sheet music. This is the norm in Classical music and in most large ensemble writing, chord-playing musicians can improvise chords, fill-in melodic lines and solos from the chord chart. It is rare for chords to be written out in music notation in pop. Some guitarists and other stringed instrumentalists read accompaniment parts using tabulature, drummers can play accompaniment by following the lead sheet, a sheet music part in music notation, or by playing by ear. In some cases, an arranger or composer may give a bassist a bass part that is written out in music notation. Comping Counter-melody Figure Figured bass Guitar picking Hauptstimme Strum The dictionary definition of accompaniment at Wiktionary
Pseudonym
A pseudonym or alias is a name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which can differ from their original or true name. Historically, they have taken the form of anagrams, Graecisms. Pseudonyms should not be confused with new names that replace old ones, actors and other performers sometimes use stage names, for example, to mask their ethnic backgrounds. A collective name or collective pseudonym is one shared by two or more persons, for example the co-authors of a work, such as Ellery Queen, the term is derived from the Greek ψευδώνυμον, literally false name, from ψεῦδος, falsehood and ὄνομα, name. A pseudonym is distinct from an allonym, which is the name of another person and this may occur when someone is ghostwriting a book or play, or in parody, or when using a front name, such as by screenwriters blacklisted in Hollywood in the 1950s and 1960s. See pseudepigraph, for falsely attributed authorship, sometimes people change their name in such a manner that the new name becomes permanent and is used by all who know the person.
This is not an alias or pseudonym, but in fact a new name, in many countries, including common law countries, a name change can be ratified by a court and become a persons new legal name. He changed his name again to Malik El-Shabazz when he converted to Islam, likewise some Jews adopted Hebrew family names upon immigrating to Israel, dropping surnames that had been in their families for generations. The politician David Ben-Gurion, for example, was born David Grün in Poland and he adopted his Hebrew name in 1910, when he published his first article in a Zionist journal in Jerusalem. Criminals may use aliases, fictitious business names, and dummy corporations to hide their identity, a pen name, or nom de plume, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. Some female authors used male pen names, in particular in the 19th century, the Brontë family used pen names for their early work, so as not to reveal their gender and so that local residents would not know that the books related to people of the neighbourhood.
The Brontës used their neighbours as inspiration for characters in many of their books, anne Brontë published The Tenant of Wildfell Hall under the name Acton Bell. Charlotte Brontë published Shirley and Jane Eyre under the name Currer Bell, emily Brontë published Wuthering Heights as Ellis Bell. A well-known example of the former is Mary Ann Evans, who wrote as George Eliot, Another example is Amandine Aurore Lucile Dupin, a 19th-century French writer who used the pen name George Sand. In contrast, some twentieth and twenty first century male romance novelists have used pen names. A few examples of male authors using female pseudonyms include Brindle Chase, Peter ODonnell and Christopher Wood. A pen name may be used if a real name is likely to be confused with the name of another writer or notable individual. Authors who write both fiction and non-fiction, or in different genres, may use different pen names to avoid confusing their readers, in some cases, an author may become better known by his pen name than his real name
Public address system
Simple PA systems are often used in small venues such as school auditoriums and small bars. Intercom systems, installed in buildings, have both speakers throughout a building, and microphones in many rooms allowing the occupants to respond to announcements. Sound reinforcement systems and PA systems may use some similar components, Sound reinforcement systems are for live music or performance, whereas PA systems are primarily for reproduction of speech. A short time the Automatic Enunciator Company was established in Chicago in order to market the new device, in August 1912 a large outdoor installation was made at a water carnival held in Chicago by the Associated Yacht and Power Boat Clubs of America. Seventy-two loudspeakers were strung in pairs at intervals along the docks. The system was used to announce race reports and descriptions, carry a series of speeches about The Chicago Plan, and provide music between races. Four years later, in 1915, they built a dynamic loudspeaker with a 1-inch voice coil, a 3-inch corrugated diaphragm, the electromagnet created a flux field of approximately 11,000 G.
Their first experiment used a carbon microphone, when the 12 V battery was connected to the system, they experienced one of the first examples of acoustic feedback. They placed the loudspeaker on the roof, and claims say that the amplified human voice could be heard 1 mile away. Jensen and Pridham refined the system and connected a phonograph to the loudspeaker to be able to broadcast recorded music and this demonstration was official presentation of the working system, and approximately 100,000 people gathered to hear Christmas music and speeches with absolute distinctness. The first outside broadcast was one week later, again supervised by Jensen. Jensen oversaw the governor using the microphone while Pridham operated the loudspeaker, the following year and Pridham applied for a patent for what they called their Sound Magnifying Phonograph. Over the next two years developed their first valve amplifier. In 1919 this was standardized as a 3-stage 25 watt amplifier, wilsons speech was part of his nationwide tour to promote the establishment of the League of Nations.
It was held on September 9,1919 at City Stadium, as with the San Francisco installation, Jensen supervised the microphone and Pridham the loudspeakers. Wilson spoke into two large horns mounted on his platform which channelled his voice into the microphone, similar systems were used in the following years by Warren G. Harding and Franklin D. Roosevelt. By the early 1920s, Marconi had established a department dedicated to public address, in 1925, George V used such a system at the British Empire Exhibition, addressing 90,000 via six long-range loudspeakers. This public use of loudspeakers brought attention to the possibilities of such technology, the 1925 Royal Air Force Pageant at Hendon Aerodrome used a Marconi system to allow the announcer to address the crowds, as well as amplify the band
Harrisonburg, Virginia
Harrisonburg is an independent city in the Shenandoah Valley region of Virginia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 48,914, Harrisonburg is the county seat of Rockingham County, although the two are separate jurisdictions. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Harrisonburg with Rockingham County for statistical purposes, Harrisonburg is home to James Madison University and Eastern Mennonite University. Harrisonburg is the city of the Harrisonburg, Virginia Metropolitan Statistical Area. Harrisonburg, previously known as Rocktown, was named for Thomas Harrison, in 1779, Harrison deeded 2.5 acres of his land to the public good for the construction of a courthouse. In 1780, Harrison deeded an additional 50 acres and this is the area now known as Historic Downtown Harrisonburg. In 1849, trustees chartered a mayor–council form of government, although Harrisonburg was not officially incorporated as an independent city until 1916, today, a council–manager government administers Harrisonburg.
When the slaves of the Shenandoah Valley were freed in 1865 and this settlement was eventually annexed by the independent city of Harrisonburg some years later, probably around 1892. Today, the old city of Newtown is still the home of the majority of Harrisonburgs predominantly black churches, such as First Baptist, the modern Boys and Girls Club of Harrisonburg is located in the old Lucy Simms schoolhouse used for the black students in the days of segregation. This effort, called Project R4, focused on the city blocks east of Main, north of Gay, west of Broad, and south of Johnson. According to Bob Sullivan, an intern working in the city office in 1958. Newtown, a low socioeconomic status housing area, was declared a slum, federal law mandated that the city needed to have a referendum on the issue before R4 could begin. The vote was close with 1,024 votes in favor and 978 against R4, after the vote, the Harrisonburg Redevelopment and Housing Authority was formed. All of the members were white men, the project began and, due to eminent domain, the government could force the people of Newtown to sell their homes.
They were offered rock bottom prices for their homes, many people couldnt afford a new home and had to move into public housing projects and become dependent on the government. Likewise, many of the businesses of Newtown that were bought out could not afford to reestablish themselves, klines, a white-owned business, was actually one of the few businesses in the area that was able to reopen. The city sold the land to commercial developers, in early 2002, the Harrisonburg community discussed the possibility of creating a pedestrian mall downtown. Public meetings were held to discuss the merits and drawbacks of pursuing such a plan, the community decided to keep its Main Street open to traffic
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument played using a keyboard. The most common of these are the piano and various keyboards, including synthesizers. Other keyboard instruments include celestas, which are struck idiophones operated by a keyboard, and carillons, the term keyboard often refers to keyboard-style synthesizers. Another important use of the keyboard is in historical musicology. Particularly in the 18th century, the harpsichord, the clavichord, and the piano were in competition. Hence in a phrase like Mozart excelled as a player the word keyboard is usefully noncommittal. The earliest known keyboard instrument was the Ancient Greek hydraulis, a type of pipe organ, the keys were likely balanced and could be played with a light touch, as is clear from the reference in a Latin poem by Claudian, who says magna levi detrudens murmura tactu. Intent, that is “let him thunder forth as he presses out mighty roarings with a light touch”, from its invention until the fourteenth century, the organ remained the only keyboard instrument.
Often, the organ did not feature a keyboard at all, almost every keyboard until the fifteenth century had seven naturals to each octave. The clavichord and the harpsichord appeared during the 14th century—the clavichord probably being earlier, the harpsichord and clavichord were both common until widespread adoption of the piano in the 18th century, after which their popularity decreased. The piano was revolutionary, because a pianist could vary the volume of the sound by varying the vigor with which each key was struck. The pianos full name is gravicèmbalo con piano e forte meaning harpsichord with soft and loud but can be shortened to piano-forte, which means soft-loud in Italian. In its current form, the piano is a product of the late 19th century, in fact, the modern piano is significantly different from even the 19th-century pianos used by Liszt and Brahms. See Piano history and musical performance, keyboard instruments were further developed in the early twentieth century. Early electromechanical instruments, such as the Ondes Martenot, appeared early in the century and this was a very important contribution to the keyboards history.
Much effort has gone into creating an instrument that sounds like the piano but lacks its size, the electric piano and electronic piano were early efforts that, while useful instruments in their own right, did not convincingly reproduce the timbre of the piano. Electric and electronic organs were developed during the same period, more recent electronic keyboard designs strive to emulate the sound of specific make and model pianos using digital samples and computer models. Concerns celebrated keyboard players and the various instruments used over the centuries
Soundcheck
Soundchecks are especially important for popular music bands and rock music shows, and other musical genres that rely heavily on sound reinforcement systems. A soundcheck is usually done when a venue is empty, so that the audience does not have to hear the process, soundchecks are usually conducted prior to audience entry to the venue. The sound check may start with the section, and go on to the melody section. After technical adjustments have been completed by the crew, the performers leave the stage. If there is more than one artist performing, soundchecks can be more complicated, some acts will do multi-track audio recordings of one or more soundchecks. Those recordings will be used as the sources for future soundchecks. Such virtual soundchecks are used to tune the PA system to accommodate the acoustics of a new venue. Artists sometimes perform light-hearted or off-beat numbers during soundchecks, some such as Paul McCartney include a few of these on their live albums, devoted fans sometimes try to sneak into or otherwise gain knowledge of soundchecks, to gain a foreshadowing of show surprises to come
