Performing arts
Performing arts are a form of art in which artists use their voices, bodies or inanimate objects to convey artistic expression. It is different from visual arts, when artists use paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Performing arts include a range of disciplines. Theatre, music and object manipulation, other kinds of performances are present in all human cultures; the history of music and dance date to pre-historic times whereas circus skills date to at least Ancient Egypt. Many performing arts are performed professionally. Performance can be in purpose built buildings, such as theatres and opera houses, on open air stages at festivals, on stages in tents such as circuses and on the street. Live performances before an audience are a form of entertainment; the development of audio and video recording has allowed for private consumption of the performing arts. The performing arts aim to express one's emotions and feelings. Artists who participate in performing arts in front of an audience are called performers.
Examples of these include actors, dancers, circus artists and singers. Performing arts are supported by workers in related fields, such as songwriting and stagecraft. A performer who excels in acting and dancing is referred to as a triple threat. Well-known examples of historical triple threat artists include Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Judy Garland. Performers adapt their appearance, such as with costumes and stage makeup, stage lighting, sound. Performing arts may include dance, opera and musical theatre, illusion, spoken word, circus arts, performance art. There is a specialized form of fine art, in which the artists perform their work live to an audience; this is called performance art. Most performance art involves some form of plastic art in the creation of props. Dance was referred to as a plastic art during the Modern dance era. Theatre is the branch of performing arts. Any one or more of these elements is performing arts. In addition to the standard narrative dialogue style of plays. Theater takes such forms as plays, opera, illusion, classical Indian dance, mummers' plays, improvisational theatre, stand-up comedy and non-conventional or contemporary forms like postmodern theatre, postdramatic theatre, or performance art.
In the context of performing arts, dance refers to human movement rhythmic and to music, used as a form of audience entertainment in a performance setting. Definitions of what constitutes dance are dependent on social, aesthetic artistic and moral constraints and range from functional movement to codified, virtuoso techniques such as ballet. There is one another modern form of dance that emerged in 19th- 20th century with the name of Free-Dance style; this form of dance was structured to create a harmonious personality which included features such as physical and spiritual freedom. Isadora Duncan was the first female dancer who argued about “woman of future” and developed novel vector of choreography using Nietzsche’s idea of “supreme mind in free mind”. Dance is a powerful impulse, but the art of dance is that impulse channeled by skillful performers into something that becomes intensely expressive and that may delight spectators who feel no wish to dance themselves; these two concepts of the art of dance—dance as a powerful impulse and dance as a skillfully choreographed art practiced by a professional few—are the two most important connecting ideas running through any consideration of the subject.
In dance, the connection between the two concepts is stronger than in some other arts, neither can exist without the other. Choreography is the art of making dances, the person who practices this art is called a choreographer. Music is an art form which combines pitch and dynamic in order to create sound, it can be performed using a variety of instruments and styles and is divided into genres such as folk, hip hop and rock, etc. As an art form, music can occur in live or recorded formats, can be planned or improvised; as music is a protean art, it co-ordinates with words for songs as physical movements do in dance. Moreover, it has a capability of shaping human behaviors. Starting in the 6th century BC, the Classical period of performing art began in Greece, ushered in by the tragic poets such as Sophocles; these poets wrote plays. The Hellenistic period began the widespread use of comedy. However, by the 6th century AD, Western performing arts had been ended, as the Dark Ages began. Between the 9th century and 14th century, performing art in the West was limited to religious historical enactments and morality plays, organized by the Church in celebration of holy days and other important events.
In the 15th century performing arts, along with the arts in general, saw a revival as the Renaissance began in Italy and spread throughout Europe plays, some of which incorporated dance, which were performed and Domenico da Piacenza credited with the first use of the term ballo instead of danza for his baletti or balli. The term became Ballet; the first Ballet per se is thought to be Balthasar de Beaujoyeulx's Ballet Comique de la Reine. By the mid-16th century Commedia Dell'arte became popular in Europe, introducing the use of improvisation; this period introduced the Elizabethan
MassMutual Center
MassMutual Center is a multi-purpose arena and convention center complex located in downtown Springfield, Massachusetts, in the city's Metro Center across from Court Square. The facility opened in 1972 and serves as western New England's premier mid-sized venue for meetings, sporting events and entertainment. Owned and operated by the City of Springfield and various management groups until 1997, the city transferred ownership of the facility to the Massachusetts Legislature. Shortly after, ownership was given to the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority who in turn began working on plans to renovate and expand the facility; the two-year project, which began in 2003, included renovations to the 8,000 seat arena and the addition of a state-of-the-art convention center. MGM Springfield began operating the venue on behalf of the MCCA in July 2017 in advance of its casino/hotel/retail development opening the next year. In 2005, the venue was renamed when Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company entered into a 15-year naming rights agreement for the arena and convention center.
The name change took place on September 29, 2005. The venue is home to the Springfield Thunderbirds of the American Hockey League and American International Yellow Jackets who compete in NCAA Men's Division I Ice Hockey. In the fall of 2003, the renovation project was publicly announced and demolition of the bank sitting next to the building, along with the facility's plaza and exhibit hall began. In the fall of 2005, the $71 million renovation project was completed; the renovation included a new arena floor with new pipelines for the ice rink and new chillers installed. Upgrades to the buildings electrical system as well as the heating and air conditioning system with a new dehumidification system were installed. Audio and Video upgrades were made with a new four-sided center hung scoreboard with video display and a new sound system; the project included a new seating arrangement with 6,455 permanent seats and 222 club seats. New amenities to the arena include a bar and lounge, clubroom, an executive suite, new larger restrooms, 11 newly refurbished concession stands.
The main entrance was relocated from Main Street to Bruce Landon Way where a new box office and lobby were added. The arena was still operational during the two-year project, funded by city and state tax payers and other state funds; the main entrance for the arena is located on Bruce Landon Way. The arena has 3 levels: Event Level: Box Office, Administrative Offices, Thunderbirds Office and Team Store. Concourse Level: Lower and Upper Bowl Seating, Center Grille Restaurant, Breakaway Bar & Lounge. Upper Level: Press Boxes, The Executive Perch. In the summer of 2015 the MCCA approved a multimillion dollar technology upgrade to the venue; this project consisted of a new 18-foot by 12-foot 4 sided center hung LED video board that replaced the existing scoreboard in the arena as well as the replacement of the arena lighting system to new LED lighting. With renovations to the existing arena, a new convention center was added. With 100,000 sq ft, it is the largest convention center in Western Massachusetts.
It includes two exhibition halls, which total over 40,000 sq ft, 3 ballrooms that total 15,000 sq ft with back of house kitchen, 5 meeting rooms that total some 9,000 sq ft, 21,000 sq ft of pre-function space. It connects both arena to add an additional 19,000 sq ft of floor space. Additionally, the pre-function space overlooks the city skyline, including a viewing area known as the glass alcove which gives panoramic views of downtown; the convention center is able to host galas, weddings and trade shows, conventions and many other functions of various sizes. The main entrance for the convention center is located on Bruce Landon Way. There are 2 levels: Event Level: Meeting Rooms 1–5, Exhibition Halls A & B Upper Level: Ballrooms A, B, C, Glass Alcove The arena hosted the Hartford Whalers of the National Hockey League, while the Hartford Civic Center was undergoing renovations, because of a 1978 roof collapse; the arena hosted the 16th edition of the World Wrestling Federation's Saturday Night's Main Event.
It hosted the 19th WWF In Your House pay-per-view in 1997. The center has hosted WWE Monday Night RAW and two WWE SmackDown! shows. The center was where The Mountie defeated Bret "Hitman" Hart for the WWF Intercontinental Championship on January 17, 1992, he would lose the title two days to Rowdy Roddy Piper at the Knickerbocker Arena in Albany, New York at the Royal Rumble. The building has hosted an American Hockey League franchise, since it opened in 1972. Between the 1972–73 AHL season and 1993–94 AHL season, the building hosted the Springfield Indians franchise. Since 1994, the Center was the home of the Springfield Falcons; the Falcons won the Northeast Division Championship in the 2012–13 and 2013–14 seasons while serving as the AHL affiliate of the Columbus Blue Jackets. The team was relocated to Tucson, Arizona; the Falcons were replaced with the Springfield Thunderbirds for the 2016–17 season. The building, located in the "Birthplace of Basketball", has hosted numerous NCAA Men's Division II Basketball Championships, first in 1977 from 1980 to 1994, 2006 through 2011.
The tournament moved to the Kentucky suburbs of Cincinnati in 2012 and 2013. It hosted the first six NCAA Wo
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus known as the Ringling Bros. Circus, Ringling Bros. or Ringling was an American traveling circus company billed as The Greatest Show on Earth. It and its predecessor shows ran from 1871 to 2017. Known as Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows, the circus started in 1919 when the Barnum & Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth, a circus created by P. T. Barnum and James Anthony Bailey, was merged with the Ringling Bros. World's Greatest Shows; the Ringling brothers had purchased Barnum & Bailey Ltd. following Bailey's death in 1906, but ran the circuses separately until they were merged in 1919. After 1956 the circus no longer exhibited under their own portable "big top" tents, instead using permanent venues such as sports stadiums and arenas. In 1967, Irvin Feld and his brother Israel, along with Houston Judge Roy Hofheinz bought the circus from the Ringling family. In 1971, the Felds and Hofheinz sold the circus to Mattel, buying it back from the toy company in 1982.
Since the death of Irvin Feld in 1984, the circus had been a part of Feld Entertainment, an international entertainment firm headed by Kenneth Feld, with its headquarters in Ellenton, Florida. With weakening attendance, many animal rights protests, high operating costs, the circus performed their final show on May 21, 2017 at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum and closed after 146 years. Hachaliah Bailey appears to have established the first circus in the United States after he purchased an African Elephant, which he named "Old Bet", around 1806. With it as his star attraction he formed the Bailey Circus, which included a trained dog, several pigs, a horse and four wagons; this was the impetus for what in time evolved into the Bailey component of what became the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. P. T. Barnum, who as a boy had worked as a ticket seller for Hachaliah Bailey's show, had run the Barnum's American Museum from New York City since 1841 from the former Scudder's American Museum building.
Besides building up the existing exhibits, Barnum brought in animals to add zoo-like elements, a freak show. During this time, Barnum took the Museum on road tours, named "P. T. Barnum's Grand Traveling American Museum"; the Museum burned down in July 1865. Though Barnum attempted to re-establish the Museum at another location in the city, it too burned down in 1868, Barnum opted to retire from the museum business. In 1871, Dan Castello and William Cameron Coup persuaded Barnum to come out of retirement as to lend his name, know-how and financial backing to the circus they had created in Delavan, Wisconsin; the combined show was named "P. T. Barnum's Great Traveling Museum, Menagerie and Hippodrome"; as described by Barnum and Coup "had a show, immense, combined all the elements of museum, variety performance, concert hall, circus", considered it to be "the Greatest Show on Earth", which subsequently became part of the circus's name. Independently of Castello and Coup, James Anthony Bailey had teamed up with James E. Cooper to create the Cooper and Bailey Circus in the 1860s.
The Cooper and Bailey Circus became the chief competitor to Barnum's circus. As Bailey's circus was outperforming his, Barnum sought to merge the circuses; the two groups agreed to combine their shows on March 28, 1881. Named "P. T. Barnum's Greatest Show On Earth, And The Great London Circus, Sanger's Royal British Menagerie and The Grand International Allied Shows United", it was shortened to "Barnum and Bailey's Circus". Bailey was instrumental in acquiring Jumbo, advertised as the world's largest elephant, for the show. Barnum died in 1891 and Bailey purchased the circus from his widow. Bailey continued touring the eastern United States; that tour started on December 27, 1897, lasted until 1902. Separately, in 1884, five of the seven Ringling brothers had started a small circus in Baraboo, Wisconsin; this was about the same time that Bailey were at the peak of their popularity. Similar to dozens of small circuses that toured the Midwest and the Northeast at the time, the brothers moved their circus from town to town in small animal-drawn caravans.
Their circus grew and they were soon able to move their circus by train, which allowed them to have the largest traveling amusement enterprise of that time. Bailey's European tour gave the Ringling brothers an opportunity to move their show from the Midwest to the eastern seaboard. Faced with the new competition, Bailey took his show west of the Rocky Mountains for the first time in 1905, he died the next year, the circus was sold to the Ringling Brothers. The Ringlings purchased the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth in 1907 and ran the circuses separately until 1919. By that time, Charles Edward Ringling and John Nicholas Ringling were the only remaining brothers of the five who founded the circus, they decided that it was too difficult to run the two circuses independently, on March 29, 1919, "Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows" debuted in New York City. The posters declared. World's Greatest Shows and the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth are now combined into one record-breaking giant of all exhibitions."
Charles E. Ringling died in 1926. John Ringling had the circus move its headquarters to Sarasota, Florida in 1927. In 1929, the American Circus Corporation signed a contract to perform in New York City. John Ringling purchased owner of five circuses, for $1.7 million. In 1938, the circus made a lucrative offer to Frank Buck, a well-known adventurer and animal collector, to tour as their star attraction and to enter the show astride an elephant, he refuse
Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza
Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza is an 8,050-seat multi-purpose arena located in Wilkes-Barre Township, Luzerne County, just south of the city of Wilkes-Barre, managed by SMG. Built in 1998 due to the instrumental work of Pennsylvania Governor Robert P. Casey, Sr. and his successor, Tom Ridge, due to the dedication and support of State Representative Kevin Blaum, built on land given by the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber, the arena was named the Northeastern Pennsylvania Civic Arena and Convention Center. In 2000, the naming rights were sold to First Union Bank, becoming First Union Arena, until the summer of 2003, when First Union Bank merged into Wachovia, at which point it became Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza. On January 20, 2010, the arena became Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza, as part of a 10-year naming rights contract with the Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs racetrack and casino, it has been home to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, of the AHL since 1999, the former home of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers, of the AF2 League.
In January 2012 it was planned to be the home to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Shamrocks of the North American Lacrosse League, but the league had folded. The Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza has been recognized by many entertainment magazines as one of the best in the country for arenas under 10,000 in capacity for its attendance and ease of show setup and teardown; the Penguins hold the American Hockey League record for most sellouts in a season, selling out all 40 home games in 2002–2003 and 2003–2004, ran a streak of 90 consecutive sellouts between March 2002 and October 2004, 54 from December 2000 to February 2002. Other than Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins hockey games, other events that occur at the arena include circus performances, an annual Christmas-time Trans-Siberian Orchestra performance, professional ice-skating shows, Harlem Globetrotters, the annual graduation ceremonies for nearby Crestwood High School, Penn Foster High School, King's College, University of Scranton, Luzerne County Community College, Marywood University.
The arena has hosted professional wrestling since 2000. The first event was WCW Monday Nitro on January 31, 2000; the first WWE live event was on July 2000 and headlined by The Undertaker vs. Kurt Angle; the arena hosted the 2007 WWE Draft on June 11, 2007, the final WWE Monday Night Raw appearance for the late Chris Benoit. On November 15, 2016, the arena hosted the 900th episode of WWE Smackdown which saw the return of The Undertaker; some notable concerts include Bob Dylan, The Dead, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Foo Fighters, Elton John and The Eagles. President George W. Bush spoke at the arena on October 22, 2004, during his campaign for re-election to the presidency of the United States. Republican nominee Donald Trump had rallies at the arena on April 25, 2016 and on October 9th, 2016, in his successful campaign for President. President Donald Trump returned to campaign for Lou Barletta running for the Senate on August 2nd, 2018 On October 9, 2003, the New York Knicks and New Jersey Nets played a preseason game at the arena.
Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American rock band formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, their friend Al Jardine. Distinguished by their vocal harmonies and early surf songs, they are one of the most influential acts of the rock era; the band drew on the music of jazz-based vocal groups, 1950s rock and roll, black R&B to create their unique sound, with Brian as composer, producer, de facto leader, they incorporated classical elements and unconventional recording techniques in innovative ways. The Beach Boys began as an early garage band managed by the Wilsons' father Murry. In 1963, the band gained national prominence with a string of top-ten singles reflecting a southern California youth culture of surfing and romance dubbed the "California Sound". After 1964, they abandoned beachgoing themes for ambitious orchestrations. In 1966, the Pet Sounds album and "Good Vibrations" single raised the group's prestige as rock innovators and established the band as symbols of the nascent counterculture era.
Following the dissolution of the group's Smile project in 1967, Brian ceded production and songwriting duties to the rest of the band, reducing his input because of mental health and substance abuse issues. The group's commercial momentum subsequently faltered, despite efforts to maintain an experimental sound, they were dismissed by early rock critics as the archetypal "pop music cop-outs". Carl took over as the band's musical leader until the late 1970s, during which they rebounded as an successful live concert draw. Personal struggles, creative disagreements, the overshadowing success of the band's greatest hits albums precipitated their transition into an oldies act. Since the 1980s, much-publicized legal wrangling over royalties, songwriting credits and use of the band's name transpired. Dennis drowned in 1983 and Carl died of lung cancer in 1998. After Carl's death, the group and its corporation, Brother Records Inc, permitted Love to lead a touring band under the "Beach Boys" name. Though they have not performed together since their 2012 reunion tour, Brian and Love remain a part of BRI and as official members of the band.
The Beach Boys are one of the most critically acclaimed, commercially successful, influential bands of all time. They were one of the earliest self-contained rock bands and one of the few US bands who maintained their success before and after the 1964 British Invasion. Between the 1960s and 2010s, they had over eighty songs chart worldwide, thirty-six of them in the US Top 40, four reaching number-one on the Billboard Hot 100, they have sold in excess of 100 million records worldwide, making them one of the world's best-selling bands of all time, are ranked number 12 on Rolling Stone magazine's 2004 list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". In 2017, a study of AllMusic's catalog indicated the Beach Boys as the sixth most cited artist influence in its database; the core quintet of the three Wilsons and Jardine was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. At the time of his sixteenth birthday on June 20, 1958, Brian Wilson shared a bedroom with his brothers and Carl – aged thirteen and eleven – in their family home in Hawthorne.
He had watched his father, Murry Wilson, play piano, had listened intently to the harmonies of vocal groups such as the Four Freshmen. After dissecting songs such as "Ivory Tower" and "Good News", Brian would teach family members how to sing the background harmonies. For his birthday that year, Brian received a reel-to-reel tape recorder, he learned how to overdub, using those of Carl and their mother. Brian played piano with Carl and David Marks, an eleven-year-old longtime neighbor, playing guitars they had each received as Christmas presents. Soon Brian and Carl were avidly listening to Johnny Otis' KFOX radio show. Inspired by the simple structure and vocals of the rhythm and blues songs he heard, Brian changed his piano-playing style and started writing songs. Family gatherings brought the Wilsons in contact with cousin Mike Love. Brian taught a friend harmonies. Brian and two friends performed at Hawthorne High School. Brian knew Al Jardine, a high school classmate. Brian suggested to Jardine that they team up with his brother Carl.
Love gave the fledgling band its name: "The Pendletones", a pun on "Pendleton", a style of woolen shirt popular at the time. Dennis was the only avid surfer in the group, he suggested that the group write songs that celebrated the sport and the lifestyle that it had inspired in Southern California. Brian finished the song, titled "Surfin'", with Mike Love, wrote "Surfin' Safari". Murry recalled, "They had written a song called'Surfin',' which I never did like and still don't like, it was so rude and crude."Murry Wilson, a sometime songwriter, arranged for the Pendletones to meet his publisher Hite Morgan. He said: "Finally, agreed to hear it, Mrs. Morgan said'Drop everything, we're going to record your song. I think it's good.' And she's the one responsible." On September 15, 1961, the band recorded a demo of "Surfin'" with the Morgans. A more professional recording was made at World Pacific Studio in Hollywood. David Marks was not present at the session. Murry brought the demos to Herb Newman, owner of Candix Records and Era Records, he signed the group on December 8.
When the single was released a few weeks the band found that they had been renamed "the Beach Boys". Candix wanted to name the group the Surfers until Ru
Dwayne Johnson
Dwayne Douglas Johnson known by his ring name The Rock, is an American actor and semi-retired professional wrestler. Johnson was a college football player for the University of Miami, with whom he won a national championship in 1991. After aspiring for a professional career in football, Johnson began training as a professional wrestler in the summer of 1995, after being cut from the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League. In 1996, Johnson secured a contract with the WWE when it was known as the World Wrestling Federation and was promoted as the first third-generation wrestler in the company's history as he is the son of Rocky Johnson and grandson of Peter Maivia, he gained mainstream fame after developing a charismatic persona of a boastful trash-talking wrestler named The Rock. He won his first WWF Championship in 1998 and subsequently ushered the WWF, alongside fellow mainstream industry star Stone Cold Steve Austin, as the principal leaders of the Attitude Era, a boom period in company business in the latter 1990s and early 2000s which still hold professional wrestling records for television ratings.
After pursuing an acting career full-time in 2004, he went on a seven-year hiatus from WWE and returned in 2011 as a part-time performer until 2013. Considered to be one of the greatest professional wrestlers and biggest draws of all-time, The Rock headlined the most bought professional wrestling pay-per-view event of all-time, WrestleMania XXVIII, was featured in some of the most watched WWE Raw and WWE SmackDown television episodes ever, he has won several championships in his career, being a two-time Intercontinental Champion, a five-time world tag team champion, a ten-time world champion. He is a Royal Rumble match winner and a Triple Crown champion. Johnson has attained success as an actor and writer. In 2000, he released an autobiography titled The Rock Says... which debuted at number one on The New York Times Best Seller list. Johnson played his first lead acting role in The Scorpion King and went on to star in numerous other films, including The Rundown, The Other Guys and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.
His most successful box office role has been a recurring role as Luke Hobbs in The Fast and the Furious franchise. In 2012, he founded his production company, Seven Bucks Productions, which has since produced several films. Ranked among the world's highest paid actors, Johnson was named by Time as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2016. Johnson was born on May 2, 1972, in Hayward, California, to Ata Johnson and former professional wrestler Rocky Johnson. Growing up, Johnson lived in New Zealand with his mother's family, where he attended Richmond Road Primary School in Grey Lynn before returning to the United States of America, he attended Shepherd Glen Elementary School and Hamden Middle School in Hamden, Connecticut. Johnson spent his high school years in Honolulu, Hawaii at President William McKinley High School, in Nashville, Tennessee at Glencliff High School and McGavock High School, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania at Freedom High School, he was arrested several times for theft during this time.
Johnson began playing sports, joining his high schools' gridiron football and field and wrestling teams. Johnson was a promising football prospect and received offers from many Division I collegiate programs, he decided on a full scholarship from the University of Miami where he played defensive tackle. In 1991, he was on the Miami Hurricanes' national championship team. After suffering a number of injuries, he was replaced the in the starting lineup by future Pro Football Hall of Famer Warren Sapp. After Johnson graduated in 1995 with a Bachelor of General Studies in criminology and physiology, he signed with the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League as a linebacker, he was cut two months into the season. After his football career, Johnson declared his intent to become a professional wrestler. Veteran wrestler Pat Patterson got Johnson several tryout matches with the World Wrestling Federation in 1996. Under his real name, he defeated The Brooklyn Brawler at a house show and lost matches to Chris Candido and Owen Hart.
After wrestling at Jerry Lawler's United States Wrestling Association as Flex Kavana and winning the USWA World Tag Team Championship twice with Bart Sawyer in the summer of 1996, Johnson signed a WWF contract. He received additional training alongside Achim Albrecht and Mark Henry. Johnson made his WWF debut as Rocky Maivia, a combination of his father and grandfather's ring names, although his real name was acknowledged by the announcers, he was reluctant to take this ring name but was persuaded by Vince McMahon and Jim Ross. He was given the nickname "The Blue Chipper" and his lineage was played to on TV, where he was hyped as the WWF's first third-generation wrestler. Maivia, a clean-cut face character, was pushed from the start despite his wrestling inexperience, he debuted on Monday Night Raw as a member of Marc Mero's entourage on November 4, 1996 and had his first match at Survivor Series on November 17, in an eight-man elimination tag match. On February 13, 1997, he won the Intercontinental Championship from Hunter Hearst Helmsley on Monday Night Raw.
Maivia defended the title at In Your House 13: Final Four against Hunter Hearst Helmsley and at WrestleMania 13 against The Sultan. He defeated Bret Hart by disqualification in a title defense on March 31. Behind the scenes, Hart m
Adirondack Bank Center
The Adirondack Bank Center at the Utica Memorial Auditorium is a 3,860-seat multi-purpose arena in Utica, New York, with a capacity of 5,700 for concerts. Nicknamed the Aud, it is the home arena of the Utica Comets, the AHL affiliate of the NHL's Vancouver Canucks; the Utica Memorial Auditorium was conceived by then-Utica mayor John T. McKennan, who believed that the city needed a place for entertainment and sporting events. McKennan and the administration that he hired to plan out the process, led by Frank M. Romano hired Gilbert Seltzer, a well known architect at that time, to draw up plans for the building. A site was found along the old Erie Canal, groundbreaking took place April 15, 1957; the arena was constructed using the world's first pre-stressed dual cable roof system, designed by Lev Zetlin with "struts" between the cables. John A. Roebling's Sons Company developed the tensioning method for the project. Zetlin's design became the predecessor to the many modern dome designs seen today, has since influenced many other tensile structures including Madison Square Garden.
Seltzer would take the most pride in constructing "The Aud", saying, "This was the first successful use of cables for a roof structure." "The Aud" was one of the first stadiums to have telescopic seats. Telescopic bleachers were common in stadiums, but Zetlin requested more comfortable seating for the arena. Work continued through 1958 and into 1959; when the Auditorium was completed, it became one of just three arenas built without obstructed views. The arena opened on March 13, 1960, with the Greater Utica Industrial Exposition its first event, running three evenings from March 16–19. 96 exhibitors took part in the presentation which drew an attendance of some 45,000. In 1962, it hosted the NCAA Division I Men's Hockey Championship. Scenes from the 1977 film Slap Shot starring Paul Newman were shot at the Auditorium; the original center-hung scoreboard, as seen in the movie, was unusual in that the game time was kept by a digital clock, while the penalty time was kept by analog clocks. This was replaced by a center-hung scoreboard designed by Eversan, which includes a one-line messageboard.
"The Aud" has the distinction of being the location of one of the last scheduled Elvis Presley concerts. The concert was scheduled to be on Friday, August 19, 1977, three days after Presley's death on August 16. In 2011, the Utica Memorial Auditorium was designated as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers in recognition of its innovative cable suspended roof. On June 14, 2013 it was announced that the Peoria Rivermen, the AHL farm team of the National Hockey League's Vancouver Canucks would be relocating to the Utica Memorial Auditorium for the 2013-2014 season as the Utica Comets; as the AHL has a strong presence in Western and Central New York State, the league agreed to the move, citing the move would further boost the league's strength in the Northeast while further cutting down on travel expenses. Travis Green was named as the first head coach in team history on July 23, 2013, joining the Comets from the Portland Winterhawks of the WHL.
The Comets played their first game in franchise history on October 11, 2013 at Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, losing 4-1 to the Rochester Americans. The first Comet goal was scored by Pascal Pelletier at 13:28 of the third period. On October 23, 2013, the Comets played at "The Aud" for the first time, losing 4-1 to the Albany Devils in front of a sold-out crowd. Frank Corrado scored the first Comet goal on home ice with 6:48 remaining. Green named Colin Stuart the first captain in team history on October 30, 2013. Today, in addition to the Comets, the Auditorium plays host to the Utica College Pioneers men's and women's ice hockey teams which play in the United Collegiate Hockey Conference of the NCAA Division III, The Skating Club of Utica, The Jr. Comets Youth Hockey Program and several high school varsity ice hockey teams, it has been the former home for the Mohawk Valley Comets of the North American Hockey League,the Mohawk Valley Stars/Comets of the Atlantic Coast Hockey League, the Utica Devils of the American Hockey League, the Utica Bulldogs/Blizzard and Mohawk Valley Prowlers of the United Hockey League, the Mohawk Valley IceCats of the North Eastern Hockey League.
Both Pioneer hockey teams boast the highest average attendance for a Division III hockey team in the United States, with regular season games selling out. In recent years, "The Aud" has earned high rankings from various hockey circles, earning the #8 spot in "The 10 Coolest Hockey Rinks in the World" list by Complex Magazine, the #8 rank for best AHL arena by Stadium Journey, #4 in the Pure Hockey Blog's list of the top 6 places to skate for hockey. Photos and renderings of the Utica Memorial Auditorium are on permanent display at New York's Museum of Modern Art; the museum's collection honors the auditorium as an architectural landmark. On September 27, 2017, the Upper Mohawk Valley Memorial Auditorium Authority announced a 10-year naming rights deal with locally based Adirondack Bank, amending "The Aud"'s official name to Adirondack Bank Center at the Utica Memorial Auditorium. In November of 2017, work was completed on the 26,000-square-foot expansion that added a new entrance, a half-dozen executive suites, a new women’s bathroom, a building-wide sprinkler system and other a
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