1.
Album
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Album, is a collection of audio recordings issued as a single item on CD, record, audio tape, or another medium. Albums of recorded music were developed in the early 20th century, first as books of individual 78rpm records, vinyl LPs are still issued, though in the 21st century album sales have mostly focused on compact disc and MP3 formats. The audio cassette was a format used from the late 1970s through to the 1990s alongside vinyl, an album may be recorded in a recording studio, in a concert venue, at home, in the field, or a mix of places. Recording may take a few hours to years to complete, usually in several takes with different parts recorded separately. Recordings that are done in one take without overdubbing are termed live, the majority of studio recordings contain an abundance of editing, sound effects, voice adjustments, etc. With modern recording technology, musicians can be recorded in separate rooms or at times while listening to the other parts using headphones. Album covers and liner notes are used, and sometimes additional information is provided, such as analysis of the recording, historically, the term album was applied to a collection of various items housed in a book format. In musical usage the word was used for collections of pieces of printed music from the early nineteenth century. Later, collections of related 78rpm records were bundled in book-like albums, the LP record, or 33 1⁄3 rpm microgroove vinyl record, is a gramophone record format introduced by Columbia Records in 1948. It was adopted by the industry as a standard format for the album. Apart from relatively minor refinements and the important later addition of stereophonic sound capability, the term album had been carried forward from the early nineteenth century when it had been used for collections of short pieces of music. Later, collections of related 78rpm records were bundled in book-like albums, as part of a trend of shifting sales in the music industry, some commenters have declared that the early 21st century experienced the death of the album. Sometimes shorter albums are referred to as mini-albums or EPs, Albums such as Tubular Bells, Amarok, Hergest Ridge by Mike Oldfield, and Yess Close to the Edge, include fewer than four tracks. There are no rules against artists such as Pinhead Gunpowder referring to their own releases under thirty minutes as albums. These are known as box sets, material is stored on an album in sections termed tracks, normally 11 or 12 tracks. A music track is a song or instrumental recording. The term is associated with popular music where separate tracks are known as album tracks. When vinyl records were the medium for audio recordings a track could be identified visually from the grooves
2.
Herb Alpert
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Herb Alpert is an American musician most associated with the group variously known as Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, Herb Alperts Tijuana Brass, or TJB. Alpert is also an industry executive, the A of A&M Records. Alpert also has created abstract expressionist paintings and sculpture over two decades, which are displayed on occasion. Alpert and wife, Lani Hall, are substantial philanthropists through the operation of the Herb Alpert Foundation, Alperts musical accomplishments include five No.1 albums and 28 albums total on the Billboard Album chart, nine Grammy Awards, fourteen platinum albums, and fifteen gold albums. Alpert has sold 72 million records worldwide, Alpert is the only recording artist to hit No.1 on the U. S. Billboard Hot 100 pop chart as both a vocalist, and an instrumentalist. Herb Alpert was born and raised in the Boyle Heights section of Eastside Los Angeles, California and his family was Jewish, and had come to the U. S. from Radomyshl and Romania. His father, although a tailor by trade, was also a mandolin player. His mother taught violin at a young age and his older brother David was a talented young drummer. Alpert himself began trumpet lessons at the age of eight and played at dances as a teenager, acquiring an early wire recorder in high school, he experimented on this crude equipment. After graduating from Fairfax High School in 1952, he joined the United States Army, after his service in the Army, Alpert tried his hand at acting, but eventually settled on pursuing a career in music. While attending the University of Southern California in the 1950s, he was a member of the USC Trojan Marching Band for two years, in 1956, he appeared in the uncredited role Drummer on Mt. Sinai in the film The Ten Commandments. In 1962, he had a part in a scene in the film Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation where he played in a dance band. In 1957 Alpert teamed up with Rob Weerts, another burgeoning lyricist, a number of songs written or co-written by Alpert during the following two years became Top 20 hits, including Baby Talk by Jan and Dean and Wonderful World by Sam Cooke. In 1960, Alpert began his career as a vocalist at Dot Records under the name of Dore Alpert. Tell It to the Birds was recorded as the first release on the Alpert & Moss label Carnival Records, when Alpert and Moss found that there was prior usage of the Carnival name, they renamed the label A&M Records. Alpert set up a recording studio in his garage and had been overdubbing a tune called Twinkle Star, written by Sol Lake. During a visit to Tijuana, Mexico, Alpert happened to hear a band while attending a bullfight. Alpert adapted the style to the tune, mixed in crowd cheers and other noises for ambience
3.
Jazz
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Jazz is a music genre that originated amongst African Americans in New Orleans, United States, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and developed from roots in Blues and Ragtime. Since the 1920s jazz age, jazz has become recognized as a form of musical expression. Jazz is characterized by swing and blue notes, call and response vocals, polyrhythms, Jazz has roots in West African cultural and musical expression, and in African-American music traditions including blues and ragtime, as well as European military band music. Although the foundation of jazz is deeply rooted within the Black experience of the United States, different cultures have contributed their own experience, intellectuals around the world have hailed jazz as one of Americas original art forms. As jazz spread around the world, it drew on different national, regional, and local musical cultures, New Orleans jazz began in the early 1910s, combining earlier brass-band marches, French quadrilles, biguine, ragtime and blues with collective polyphonic improvisation. In the 1930s, heavily arranged dance-oriented swing big bands, Kansas City jazz, bebop emerged in the 1940s, shifting jazz from danceable popular music toward a more challenging musicians music which was played at faster tempos and used more chord-based improvisation. Cool jazz developed in the end of the 1940s, introducing calmer, smoother sounds and long, modal jazz developed in the late 1950s, using the mode, or musical scale, as the basis of musical structure and improvisation. Jazz-rock fusion appeared in the late 1960s and early 1970s, combining jazz improvisation with rock rhythms, electric instruments. In the early 1980s, a form of jazz fusion called smooth jazz became successful. Other styles and genres abound in the 2000s, such as Latin, the question of the origin of the word jazz has resulted in considerable research, and its history is well documented. It is believed to be related to jasm, a term dating back to 1860 meaning pep. The use of the word in a context was documented as early as 1915 in the Chicago Daily Tribune. Its first documented use in a context in New Orleans was in a November 14,1916 Times-Picayune article about jas bands. In an interview with NPR, musician Eubie Blake offered his recollections of the slang connotations of the term, saying, When Broadway picked it up. That was dirty, and if you knew what it was, the American Dialect Society named it the Word of the Twentieth Century. Jazz has proved to be difficult to define, since it encompasses such a wide range of music spanning a period of over 100 years. Attempts have been made to define jazz from the perspective of other musical traditions, in the opinion of Robert Christgau, most of us would say that inventing meaning while letting loose is the essence and promise of jazz. As Duke Ellington, one of jazzs most famous figures, said, although jazz is considered highly difficult to define, at least in part because it contains so many varied subgenres, improvisation is consistently regarded as being one of its key elements
4.
Instrumental music
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An instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics, or singing, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a Big Band setting. The music is primarily or exclusively produced by musical instruments, if the instrumental section highlights the skill, musicality, and often the virtuosity of a particular performer, the section may be called a solo. If the instruments are percussion instruments, the interlude can be called a percussion interlude or percussion break and these interludes are a form of break in the song. One example of a genre in which both vocal/instrumental and solely instrumental songs are produced is blues, another example of a genre in popular culture is Hip Hop, Pop, and R&B. Many upcoming or rising artists in Hip Hop, Pop, and R&B will find an instrumental online on a website, like www. beatsbytoon. com, an instrumental version of a song which otherwise features vocals is also known as a -1. The opposite of instrumental music, that is, music for voices alone, without any accompaniment instruments, is a cappella, an Italian phrase that means in the chapel. In early music, instruments such as trumpet and drums were considered outdoor instruments, a capella music exists in both Classical music choir pieces and in popular music styles such as doo wop groups and Barbershop quartets. Some recordings which include brief examples of the voice are typically considered instrumentals. An ominous statement at the end Inclusion of field recordings which may or may not contain non-lyrical words, a few songs categorized as instrumentals may even include actual vocals, if they appear only as a short part of an extended piece. Falling just outside that definition is Theme From Shaft by Isaac Hayes. com with a sample of each
5.
A&M Records
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A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent label by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989. Today, A&Ms catalog releases are managed by Verve Records, Universal Music Enterprises, A&M Records was formed in 1962 by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss. Their first choice for a name was Carnival Records, under which they released two singles before discovering another label had already taken the Carnival name, the company was subsequently renamed A&M, after Alperts and Mosss initials. From 1966 to 1999, the headquarters were on the grounds of the historic Charlie Chaplin Studios at 1416 North La Brea Avenue. Marc Benno, Liza Minnelli, Rita Coolidge, Wes Montgomery, Paul Desmond, Bobby Tench, Hummingbird, Toni Basil, folk artists Joan Baez, Phil Ochs and Gene Clark also recorded for the label during the 1970s. Billy Preston joined the label in 1971, followed by Andre Popp, in the 1970s, under its manufacturing and distribution agreement with Ode Records, A&M released albums by Carole King and the comedy duo Cheech & Chong. On March 10,1977, A&M signed the Sex Pistols after the band had dropped by EMI. However, A&M dropped the band within a week, within a decade of its inception, A&M became the worlds largest independent record company. A&M releases were issued in the United Kingdom by EMIs Stateside Records label. From 1969, A&M set up their own UK base appointing John Deacon as General Manager - a post he held until 1979, A&M releases were also issued in Australia through Festival Records until 1989. A&M Records Ltd. was established in 1970, with distribution handled by other labels with a presence in Europe, A&M Records of Canada Ltd. was also formed in 1970, and A&M Records of Europe in 1977. In 1979, A&M entered an agreement with RCA Records in the USA. A&M was bought by PolyGram in 1989, Alpert and Moss continued to manage the label until 1993. In 1998, Alpert and Moss sued PolyGram for breach of the integrity clause, in 1991, A&M launched Perspective Records as a joint venture with producing team Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Jam and Lewis stepped down as CEOs of the imprint in 1997, in 1999, the label was absorbed into A&M. In the mid-1990s, A&M began distributing its PolyGram sister label Polydor Records in the USA, ceCe Peniston, Intelligent Hoodlum, Dred Scott, Ridel High and the Gin Blossoms. The company released the soundtracks Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves, The Three Musketeers, Sabrina, The Living Sea, Demolition Man, and Lethal Weapon 3
6.
Record producer
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A record producer or music producer oversees and manages the sound recording and production of a band or performers music, which may range from recording one song to recording a lengthy concept album. A producer has many roles during the recording process, the roles of a producer vary. The producer may perform these roles himself, or help select the engineer, the producer may also pay session musicians and engineers and ensure that the entire project is completed within the record companies budget. A record producer or music producer has a broad role in overseeing and managing the recording. Producers also often take on an entrepreneurial role, with responsibility for the budget, schedules, contracts. In the 2010s, the industry has two kinds of producers with different roles, executive producer and music producer. Executive producers oversee project finances while music producers oversee the process of recording songs or albums. In most cases the producer is also a competent arranger, composer. The producer will also liaise with the engineer who concentrates on the technical aspects of recording. Noted producer Phil Ek described his role as the person who creatively guides or directs the process of making a record, indeed, in Bollywood music, the designation actually is music director. The music producers job is to create, shape, and mold a piece of music, at the beginning of record industry, producer role was technically limited to record, in one shot, artists performing live. The role of producers changed progressively over the 1950s and 1960s due to technological developments, the development of multitrack recording caused a major change in the recording process. Before multitracking, all the elements of a song had to be performed simultaneously, all of these singers and musicians had to be assembled in a large studio and the performance had to be recorded. As well, for a song that used 20 instruments, it was no longer necessary to get all the players in the studio at the same time. Examples include the rock sound effects of the 1960s, e. g. playing back the sound of recorded instruments backwards or clanging the tape to produce unique sound effects. These new instruments were electric or electronic, and thus they used instrument amplifiers, new technologies like multitracking changed the goal of recording, A producer could blend together multiple takes and edit together different sections to create the desired sound. For example, in jazz fusion Bandleader-composer Miles Davis album Bitches Brew, producers like Phil Spector and George Martin were soon creating recordings that were, in practical terms, almost impossible to realise in live performance. Producers became creative figures in the studio, other examples of such engineers includes Joe Meek, Teo Macero, Brian Wilson, and Biddu
7.
AllMusic
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AllMusic is an online music guide service website. It was launched in 1991 by All Media Guide which later became All Media Network, AllMusic was launched in 1991 by Michael Erlewine of All Media Guide. The aim was to discographic information on every artist whos made a record since Enrico Caruso gave the industry its first big boost and its first reference book was published the following year. When first released onto the Internet, AMG predated the World Wide Web and was first available as a Gopher site, the AMG consumer web properties AllMusic. com, AllMovie. com and AllGame. com were sold by Rovi in July 2013 to All Media Network, LLC. All Media Network, LLC. was formed by the founders of SideReel. com. The following are contributors to AllMusic, as of this date, All Media Network also produced the AllMusic guide series that includes the AllMusic Guide to Rock, the All Music Guide to Jazz and the All Music Guide to the Blues. Vladimir Bogdanov is the president of the series, in August 2007, PC Magazine included AllMusic in its Top 100 Classic Websites list. All Media Network AllGame AllMovie SideReel All Music Guide to the Blues All Music Guide to Jazz Stephen Thomas Erlewine Official website
8.
A Taste of Honey (song)
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A Taste of Honey is a pop standard written by Bobby Scott and Ric Marlow. It was originally a track written for the 1960 Broadway version of the 1958 British play A Taste of Honey. Both the original and a recording by Herb Alpert in 1965 earned the song four Grammy Awards. A vocal version of the song, first recorded by Billy Dee Williams, was recorded by the Beatles for their first album in 1963. Barbra Streisand had performed the song as part of her act during 1962, and recorded it for her debut album The Barbra Streisand Album on Columbia. The original recorded versions of the song A Taste of Honey, A Taste of Honey and A Taste of Honey, appeared on Bobby Scotts 1960 album, also titled A Taste of Honey, the composition won Best Instrumental Theme at the Grammy Awards of 1963. Martin Denny and the Victor Feldman Quartet each scored minor hits in 1962 with their covers, acker Bilk released a version in the UK in January 1963, reaching number 16 in the UK Singles Chart. Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass recorded the most popular version of the song with a cover on their 1965 album. This recording won four awards including Record of the Year at the Grammy Awards of 1966, the instrumental spent five weeks at number one on the easy listening chart, reached number seven on the Billboard Hot 100. A version from this time was released in 1977 on the album Live. at the Star-Club in Hamburg and they also performed A Taste of Honey seven times for BBC radio shows, including Here We Go, Side by Side and Easy Beat. In 1967 McCartney was inspired to compose “Your Mother Should Know” based on a line taken from the screenplay and it was released as a single in September 1962 on the Cadence Records label and included on his 1963 album Since I Fell for You. This version also credits Lee Morris as a writer but it is not known if it was he who provided the lyrics and this credit does not appear on any covers of the song, with only Marlow/Scott credited. Reprise Records, pretending to be Liberty Records, sent fraudulent telegrams to disk jockeys to convince them to play Eddie Canos version of the song instead of Martin Dennys version. Tony Bennett reached #94 in the US with a version for his album The Many Moods of Tony in 1964. The song is used for the theme of the UK comedy series Hardware, the cover version of Herb Alpert is used to ID Tutto il calcio minuto per minuto, an historical live commentary on sports events broadcast by the Italian radio RAI since the 1960s. The tune has begun to be used since the 1990s, the tune is used as an interlude between programmes on Rok Radio. List of number-one adult contemporary singles of 1965 List of songs covered by the Beatles The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 6th Edition,1996
9.
Johnny Mercer
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John Herndon Johnny Mercer was an American lyricist, songwriter and singer. He was also the founder of Capitol Records and he is best known as a lyricist, but he also composed music. He was also a singer who recorded his own songs as well as those written by others. From the mid-1930s through the mid-1950s, many of the songs Mercer wrote and he wrote the lyrics to more than fifteen hundred songs, including compositions for movies and Broadway shows. He received nineteen Academy Award nominations, and won four Best Original Song Oscars, Mercer was born in Savannah, Georgia. Lillians father was a merchant seaman who ran the Union blockade during the U. S. Civil War, Mercer was Georges fourth son, first by Lillian. Mercer was also a distant cousin of General George S. Patton, neither the General, nor Mercer himself, ever lived there. His mothers father was born in Lastovo, Croatia in 1834 to mother Ivana Cucevic, Mercer liked music as a small child and attributed his musical talent to his mother, who would sing sentimental ballads. Mercers father also sang, mostly old Scottish songs and his aunt told him he was humming music when he was six months old and later she took him to see minstrel and vaudeville shows where he heard “coon songs” and ragtime. The family’s summer home “Vernon View” was on the waters and Mercer’s long summers there among mossy trees, saltwater marshes. Mercer’s exposure to music was perhaps unique among the white songwriters of his generation. As a child, Mercer had African-American playmates and servants, and he listened to the fishermen and vendors about him and he was also attracted to black church services. Mercer later stated, “Songs always fascinated me more than anything and he had no formal musical training but was singing in a choir by six and at 11 or 12 he had memorized almost all of the songs he had heard and became curious about who wrote them. He once asked his brother who the best songwriter was, and his brother said Irving Berlin, despite Mercers early exposure to music, his talent was clearly in creating the words and singing, not in playing music, though early on he had hoped to become a composer. In addition to the lyrics that Mercer memorized, he was an avid reader and his attempts to play the trumpet and piano were not successful, and he never could read musical scores with any facility, relying instead on his own notation system. As a teenager in the Jazz Era, he was a product of his age and he hunted for records in the black section of Savannah and played such early black jazz greats as Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Louis Armstrong. His father owned the first car in town, and Mercer’s teenage social life was enhanced by his driving privilege, later, Mercer wrote a humorous song called Arthur Murray Taught Me Dancing in a Hurry. Mercer attended exclusive Woodberry Forest boys prep school in Virginia until 1927, though not a top student, he was active in literary and poetry societies and as a humor writer for the school’s publications
10.
Victor Schertzinger
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Victor L. Schertzinger was an American composer, film director, film producer, and screenwriter. His films include Paramount on Parade, Something to Sing About with James Cagney, and his two best-known songs are I Remember You and Tangerine, both with lyrics by Johnny Mercer and both featured in Schertzingers final film The Fleets In. Schertzinger was born in Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania, the child of parents of Pennsylvania Dutch descent. As a child of eight, he appeared as a violinist with several orchestras, including the Victor Herbert Orchestra, in his teens, he attended the Brown Preparatory School in Philadelphia, and gave violin performances while touring America and Europe. Schertzinger studied music at the University of Brussels and he continued to distinguish himself as a concert violinist, and then as a symphony conductor. He also worked as a songwriter, adding three songs lyrics by producer Oliver Morosco to L. Frank Baum and Louis F. Gottschalks musical. His first brush with the industry came in 1916, when Thomas Ince commissioned him to compose the orchestral accompaniment for his great silent film Civilization. After the introduction of sound, Schertzinger continued to direct films but also began to compose songs for them, though closely associated with Paramount Pictures, Schertzinger actually spent the thirties as a freelancer. Some of his best films, such as One Night of Love, at some point, Schertzinger married Julia E. Nicklin, to whom he remained married until his death. They had two daughters, Patricia and Paula, in the early 1920s, Schertzinger died unexpectedly from a heart attack in Hollywood at the age of 53, having just finished work on The Fleets In. He had directed 89 films, and had composed music for more than 50 films and he was buried in Forest Lawns Glendale location. The Hollywood Walk of Fame contains a star for Schertzinger at 1611 Vine Street, the marker reads, Violin prodigy who performed with John Philip Sousa and later became a film director and composer. He pioneered the use of film music for films, and his film One Night of Love won best musical score. He composed the pop standard Tangerine, among many films he directed were two of the Hope and Crosby Road movies. He was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Schertzingers two best-known songs, I Remember You and Tangerine, continue to appear in the soundtracks of new films. The following information comes from the Internet Movie Database, all listed films were directed by Schertzinger, unless otherwise noted. Unless otherwise noted, the information comes from the Internet Movie Database. Publicity photo of Victor Schertzinger, circa 1930 Victor Schertzinger at the Internet Movie Database
11.
Allen Toussaint
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He was a producer for hundreds of recordings, among the best known of which are Right Place, Wrong Time, by his longtime friend Dr. John, and Lady Marmalade, by Labelle. His father, Clarence, worked on the railway and played trumpet, Allen Toussaint learned piano as a child and took informal music lessons from an elderly neighbor, Ernest Pinn. In his teens he played in a band, the Flamingos, with the guitarist Snooks Eaglin, a significant early influence on Toussaint was the syncopated second-line piano style of Professor Longhair. His first recording was in 1957 as a stand-in for Fats Domino on Dominos record I Want You to Know and his first success as a producer also came in 1957 with Lee Allens Walking with Mr. Lee. He began performing regularly in Bartholomews band, and he recorded with Fats Domino, Smiley Lewis, Lee Allen, after being spotted as a sideman by the A&R man Danny Kessler, he initially recorded for RCA Records as Al Tousan. The recordings included Toussaint and Tylers composition Java, which first charted for Floyd Cramer in 1962, Toussaint also recorded and co-wrote songs with Allen Orange in the early 1960s. In 1960, Joe Banashak, of Minit Records and later Instant Records, hired Toussaint as an A&R man and he also did freelance work for other labels, such as Fury. The early to mid-1960s are regarded as Toussaints most creatively successful period, notable examples of his work are Jessie Hills Ooh Poo Pah Doo, Ernie K-Does Mother-in-Law, and Chris Kenners I Like It Like That. A two-sided 1962 hit by Benny Spellman comprised Lipstick Traces and the simple, reddings version of the song was also recorded by the Rolling Stones on their second album. In 1964, A Certain Girl was the B-side of the first single release by the Yardbirds, the song was released again in 1980 by Warren Zevon and in 2007 by Mary Weiss, the former lead singer of the Shangri-Las. Toussaint credited about twenty songs to his parents, Clarence and Naomi and these include Fortune Teller, first recorded by Benny Spellman in 1961, and Work, Work, Work, recorded by the Artwoods in 1966. Alison Krauss and Robert Plant covered Fortune Teller on their 2007 album Raising Sand, Toussaint was drafted into the US Army in 1963 but continued to record when on leave. Dorsey had hits with several of Toussaints songs, including Ride Your Pony, Working in the Coal Mine and they later became known as the Meters. Their backing can be heard in such as Dorseys Ride Your Pony and Working in the Coal Mine, sometimes augmented by horns. Toussaint continued to produce the Meters when they began releasing records under their own name in 1969, one of his compositions, Here Come the Girls, recorded by Ernie K-Doe in 1970, formed the basis of the Sugababes 2008 hit Girls. He arranged horn music for the Bands albums Cahoots and Rock of Ages, boz Scaggs recorded Toussaints What Do You Want the Girl to Do. on his 1976 album Silk Degrees, which reached number 2 on the U. S. pop albums chart. The song was recorded by Bonnie Raitt for her 1975 album Home Plate and by Geoff Muldaur, Lowell George, Vince Gill. In 1976 he also collaborated with John Mayall on the album Notice to Appear, in 1973 Toussaint and Sehorn created the Sea-Saint recording studio in the Gentilly section of eastern New Orleans
12.
Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
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Lyricist Jerome Jerry Leiber and composer Mike Stoller were American songwriting and record producing partners. They found initial successes as the writers of such hit songs as Hound Dog. Leiber and Stoller wrote hits for Elvis Presley including Love Me, Jailhouse Rock, Loving You, Dont and they were sometimes credited under the pseudonym Elmo Glick. In 1964, they launched Red Bird Records with George Goldner and, focusing on the group sound. In all, Leiber and Stoller wrote or co-wrote over 70 chart hits and they were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1985 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. After school, Stoller played piano, and Leiber worked in Nortys, a store on Fairfax Avenue. In 1950, Jimmy Witherspoon recorded and performed their first commercial song, Stollers name at birth was Michael Stoller, but he later changed it legally to Mike. Their first hit composition was Hard Times, recorded by Charles Brown, Kansas City, first recorded in 1952 by rhythm & blues singer Little Willie Littlefield, became a No.1 pop hit in 1959 for Wilbert Harrison. In 1952, the partners wrote Hound Dog for blues singer Big Mama Thornton, the 1956 Elvis Presley rock version, which was a takeoff of the adaptation that Presley picked up from Freddie Bells lounge act in Las Vegas, was a much bigger hit. Allen pronounced Presley a good sport, and the Leiber-Stoller song would be linked to Presley. Leiber and Stollers later songs often had more appropriate for pop music, and their combination of rhythm and blues with pop lyrics revolutionized pop, rock and roll. They formed Spark Records in 1953 with their mentor, Lester Sill and their songs from this period include Smokey Joes Cafe and Riot in Cell Block #9, both recorded by The Robins. The label was bought by Atlantic Records, which hired Leiber and Stoller in an innovative deal that allowed them to produce for other labels. This, in effect, made them the first independent record producers, at Atlantic, they revitalized the careers of The Drifters and wrote a number of hits for The Coasters, a spin-off of the Robins. Their songs from this period include Charlie Brown, Searchin, Yakety Yak, Stand By Me, for the Coasters alone, they wrote twenty-four songs that appeared in the US charts. In 1955, Leiber and Stoller produced a recording of their song Black Denim Trousers and Motorcycle Boots with a vocal group. Soon after, the song was recorded by Édith Piaf in a French translation titled, the European royalties from another Cheers record, Bazoom, funded a 1956 trip to Europe for Stoller and his first wife, Meryl, on which they met Piaf. Their return to New York was aboard the ill-fated SS Andrea Doria, the Stollers had to finish the journey to New York aboard another ship, the Cape Ann
13.
Toots Thielemans
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Jean-Baptiste Frédéric Isidor, Baron Thielemans, known professionally as Toots Thielemans, was a Belgian and American jazz musician. He was known for his playing, as well as his guitar, whistling skills. According to jazz historian Ted Gioia, his most important contribution was in championing the humble harmonica and he eventually became the preeminent jazz harmonica player. His first professional performances were with Benny Goodmans band when they toured Europe in 1949 and 1950 and he emigrated to the U. S. in 1951, becoming a citizen in 1957. From 1953 to 1959 he played with George Shearing, and then led his own groups on tours in the U. S. in 1961 he recorded and performed live one of his own compositions, Bluesette, which featured him playing guitar and whistling. Among the film soundtracks that Thielemans recorded are The Pawnbroker, Midnight Cowboy, Cinderella Liberty, The Sugarland Express and his harmonica theme song for the popular Sesame Street TV show was heard for 40 years. He often performed and recorded with Quincy Jones, who called him one of the greatest musicians of our time. In 2009 he was designated a Jazz Master by The National Endowment for the Arts, Thielemans was born in Brussels, Belgium, on 29 April 1922. He began playing music at an age, using a homemade accordion at age three. During the German occupation of Belgium beginning in 1940, he attracted to jazz, but was then playing on full-size accordion or a harmonica. After being introduced to the music of Belgian-born jazz guitarist, Django Reinhardt, he inspired to teach himself guitar. At the time he was a student majoring in math. By the wars end in 1945, he considered himself a full-time musician and he said in 1950, Django is still one of my main influences, I think, for lyricism. He can make me cry when I hear him, during an interview in 1988, he recalled, I guess I was born at the right time to live and adapt and be touched by the evolution in the jazz language. In 1949 he joined a jam session in Paris with Sidney Bechet, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Max Roach and he first heard the faster bebop style of jazz from records by Parker and Dizzy Gillespie after they had reached Belgium after the war. As his small collection of records grew, the music of Benny Goodman. During a visit to the U. S. in 1948, during the tour, Goodman was shocked when he learned that these tours were the first time Thielemans had earned money from his playing. Although Thielemans was hired on as a guitarist, when Goodmans group debuted at the London Palladium, during those years, he also made his first record with fellow band member, tenor saxophonist Zoot Sims
14.
Soul Asylum
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Soul Asylum is an American alternative rock band formed in 1981 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The band began using their name in 1983. The band originally formed in 1981 under the name Loud Fast Rules, with a lineup consisting of Dave Pirner, Dan Murphy, Karl Mueller, Morley was replaced by Grant Young in 1984. The band recorded three albums with Twin/Tone Records and two with A&M Records, with commercial success. In 1992, they released the triple-platinum album Grave Dancers Union, the band played at the inauguration of President Bill Clinton early the next year. They also scored a record with the album Let Your Dim Light Shine three years later. In 1998 they recorded Candy from a Stranger, Mueller was diagnosed with cancer in 2004, and the band organized a benefit concert on his behalf. In 2006 the band released The Silver Lining and their most recent effort is Change of Fortune, released on March 18,2016. The group was an outgrowth of a band, Loud Fast Rules, formed in 1981 by drummer Dave Pirner, guitarist and backing vocalist Dan Murphy. Pirner was moved to lead vocalist, and Pat Morley took his place, as Loud Fast Rules, two of their songs were released on the 1982 Reflex Records cassette compilation Barefoot and Pregnant. On the following Reflex compilation, Kitten, they were billed as Proud Crass Fools, Soul Asylum began performing around the Minneapolis–St. Paul area and quickly developed a following while becoming known for their powerful. Their 1984 debut album, Say What You Will, everything Can Happen was originally released on LP and cassette by local record label Twin/Tone as a nine-song EP. It is out of print but was re-released on CD as Say What You Will, Clarence. Karl Sold the Truck, between the release of Say What You Will and their second album, Grant Young joined the group, taking over the drums from Morley. In 1986, Soul Asylum released three albums, Made to Be Broken, Times Incinerator and While You Were Out, one early review described their sound as some unholy mix of Kiss and Hank Williams thrown under the wheels of a runaway train. All elements contributed to the bands being described as a grunge precursor, despite critical acclaim locally and internationally, they remained unknown to a larger U. S. audience and radio market. The group signed with A&M Records in 1988 and their first offering on that label was Clam Dip & Other Delights, the title and cover art being a parody of Whipped Cream & Other Delights, by A&M Records co-founder Herb Alpert. Hang Time was released in 1988, followed by And the Horse They Rode In On in 1990, because of poor sales and Pirners hearing problems, the group considered disbanding
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Clam Dip & Other Delights
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Clam Dip & Other Delights is the 1989 grab-bag EP from Minneapolis rockers Soul Asylum. The title and cover art are both parodies of Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brasss album Whipped Cream and Other Delights and it was a humorous nod to their new record label, A&M. Bassist Karl Mueller sat in for the original albums model, Dolores Erickson. Dave Ayers, the bands first manager, said that Mueller had to sit for hours in a combination of sour cream, paint, whipped cream. Also, the album makes fun of the A&M logo being under the title of the album, the EP originally was released in Britain featuring three covers, Foreigners Juke Box Hero, Janis Joplins Move Over and Chains, by an obscure Minneapolis group called the Wad. Only Chains was included on the American release, the song P-9 was written to benefit striking Hormel workers in Austin, Minnesota. The album is currently in print on Rykodisc Records, just Plain Evil –3,01 Chains –3,18 Secret No More –2,43 Artificial Heart –3,37 P-9 –2,32 Take It To the Root –3,38
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Pat Cooper
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Pat Cooper is an American actor and comedian. Cooper started performing in the 1950s, originally for primarily Italian-American audiences and his big break came in 1963 on The Jackie Gleason Show. Afterwards, he played the top such as the 500 Club, Latin Casino, Palumbos, Atlantic City and Las Vegas Hotels. Cooper would appear on the shows as Frank Sinatra, Jimmy Durante, Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, Sergio Franchi, Sammy Davis Jr. Connie Francis, Bobby Darin, Tony Martin. On May 2,1969, Cooper and singer Jimmy Roselli premiered in their show at Broadways Palace Theatre. Cooper played fictional mobster Salvatore Masiello in the film Analyze This and in the sequel Analyze That, as well as playing lawyer and he has also guest-starred on television series such as Vega$, Charlies Angels, Its a Living and L. A. Law. He was a contributor to Colin Quinns late-night show on Comedy Central. In 2005, he released a DVD called Youre Always Yelling and in 2010, he co-authored with Steve Garrin and Rich Herschlag his autobiography called How Dare You Say How Dare Me. His father, Michael Caputo, was a bricklayer from Mola di Bari, Italy and his mother, Louise Gargiulo was born in Brooklyn, New York, Cooper often makes reference to his Italian heritage in his stand up comedy routines. Cooper has been married twice, he has two children from his first marriage and one adopted daughter from his marriage to singer Patti Prince. He is estranged from members of his family and former close friends. Pat Cooper at the Internet Movie Database Kliph Nesteroff interviews Pat Cooper, February 16,2011 - Part One Kliph Nesteroff interviews Pat Cooper, February 16,2011 - Part Two
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Peter Nero
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Peter Nero is an American pianist and pops conductor. Born in Brooklyn, New York, as Bernard Nierow, he started his music training at the age of seven. He studied piano under Frederick Bried, by the time he was fourteen, he was accepted to New York Citys High School of Music & Art and won a scholarship to the Juilliard School of Music. Constance Keene, his teacher and mentor, once wrote in an issue of Keyboard Classics and he graduated from Brooklyn College in 1956. Nero recorded his first album under the name of Bernie Nerow in July 1957 under the Mode label MOD-LP117 which shows his virtuosity in the jazz genre. Nero recorded an album in 1961, and won a Grammy Award that year for Best New Artist, since then, he has received another Grammy, garnered ten additional nominations and released 67 albums. Neros early association with RCA Victor produced 23 albums in eight years and his subsequent move to Columbia Records resulted in a million-selling single and album – Summer of 42. His first major national TV success came at the age of seventeen when he was chosen to perform Gershwins Rhapsody in Blue on Paul Whitemans TV Special. He subsequently appeared on many top variety and talk shows including 11 guest appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, hailed as one of the premier interpreters of Gershwin, Nero starred in the Emmy Award-winning NBC Special, SWonderful, SMarvelous, SGershwin. Other TV credits include performances on PBS-TV Piano Pizzazz and with the National Symphony in Washington, Nero served as music director and pianist for the PBS-TV special The Songs of Johnny Mercer, Too Marvelous for Words with co-stars Johnny Mathis, Melissa Manchester and many members of The POPS. In 1963 Nero composed and performed the score for the major motion picture Sunday in New York. The title song has been recorded by two dozen vocalists and the score was nominated for both a Golden Globe and Hollywood Reporter Award. He also made an appearance in the film alongside Jane Fonda, Rod Taylor, in the film, Jane Fondas character gave her brother a Nero recording, in what was probably a form of product placement. Nero has worked with a long list of musicians including Frank Sinatra, Mel Torme, Andy Williams, Ray Charles, Dizzy Gillespie, Diane Schuur, Johnny Mathis, Roger Kellaway. Neros recordings include albums with symphony orchestras, On My Own, Classical Connections and he recorded Peter Nero and Friends where he collaborated with Mel Torme, Maureen McGovern and Doc Severinsen and others. Neros latest albums, Love Songs for a Rainy Day and More in Love, by popular demand, four of his earlier recordings have been reissued. He most recently appeared on Rod Stewarts album As Time Goes By, The Great American Songbook, in a Keyboard Magazine interview, Ray Charles was asked who his favorite pianist was. Art Tatum could play anything he wanted to, Charles replied. and he is also included on historic Walks of Fame in Philadelphia and Miami, Florida
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The Dating Game
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The Dating Game is an ABC television show. It first aired on December 20,1965 and was the first of many shows created and packaged by Chuck Barris from the 1960s through the 1980s, ABC dropped the show on July 6,1973, but it continued in syndication for another year as The New Dating Game. The program was revived three times in syndication afterwards. The first revival premiered in 1978 and ran until 1980, the second ran from 1986 until 1989, Jim Lange hosted The Dating Game for its entire ABC network run and the 1973 and 1978 syndicated editions. The 1986 revival was hosted by Elaine Joyce for its first season, when the show was revived with a different format in 1996, Brad Sherwood was named as its host. Chuck Woolery took over in 1997 when the format was reinstated and hosted for the last two seasons. Beginning in 1966, The Dating Game was often paired with The Newlywed Game and this was especially true when the two shows entered syndication, in fact, in 1996 the revivals of both The Dating Game and The Newlywed Game were sold as a package called The Dating-Newlywed Hour. Typically, a bachelorette would question three bachelors, who were hidden from her view, at the end of the questioning period, she would choose one to go out with on a date paid for by the show. Before becoming famous, Farrah Fawcett, Suzanne Somers, Yvonne Craig, Lindsay Wagner, Leif Garrett, Tom Selleck and Lee Majors appeared as contestants on the show in the 1960s and early 1970s. Serial killer Rodney Alcalas episodes were shown during his murder spree, one standard trademark was that at the end of each episode, the host and winning contestants would blow a kiss to the viewers. Generally the bachelorette would ask questions written in advance on cards to each of the three hidden bachelors, the same question could be asked to multiple bachelors. This continued until time ran out, the bachelorette would make her choice based solely on the answers to her questions. Occasionally, the contestant was a bachelor who would ask questions to three bachelorettes, certain kinds of questions were off-limits, such as name, age, occupation, and income. When the original returned to the syndicated revival in 1997. For the first season of the 1996 revival, The Dating Game used a different format, a notable change was that the prospective bachelor/bachelorette knew what the first names of his or her potential dates were at all times. Instead of asking questions of their date, the bachelor/bachelorette was presented with two pun-laden statements, each pertaining to one of the potential dates. When chosen, a new statement replaced the old statement and the potential date explained the reason why that fact pertained to them, play continued until time expired, after which the bachelor/bachelorette gave their choice. In several weeks of episodes aired at various times throughout the season
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The Wrecking Crew (music)
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The Wrecking Crew was a loose-knit circle of Los Angeles top studio session musicians whose services were constantly in demand during their heyday in the 1960s and early 1970s. Usually playing collectively in varying configurations, often anonymously, they backed dozens of acts on numerous top-selling hits of the era. They are now considered one of the most successful session recording units in music history. The Wrecking Crews contributions on so many hit recordings of the era went largely unnoticed until the publication of Blaines memoir, keyboardist Leon Russell and guitarist Glen Campbell later became popular solo acts, while Blaine is reputed to have played on over 140 top ten hits. In 2008, they were the subject of the documentary The Wrecking Crew, the name Wrecking Crew was popularized by drummer and member Hal Blaine in his 1990 memoir, Hal Blaine and the Wrecking Crew. According to biographer Kent Hartman, Some of the studio musicians I interviewed swear they heard it applied to themselves as early as 1963, one says it was never used at all. Blaines memoirs, and the attention that followed, cast new light on the Wrecking Crews role in many famous recordings, guitarist and bassist Carol Kaye has disputed Blaines account of the name and stated, We were never known as that. Sometimes we were called the Clique, but a Hal Blaine invented name for his own self-promotion in 1990, regarding the matter, Songfacts stated, We couldnt find any references to The Wrecking Crew in any publications from the era. In response to Kayes contention that Blaine invented the moniker to sell his book, Blaine denied that anyone had heard the name The Clique. At the time, multi-tracking equipment, though common, was less elaborate, musicians had to be available on call when producers needed a part to fill a last-minute time slot. Songs had to be recorded quickly in the fewest possible takes, the Wrecking Crew were the go to session musicians in Los Angeles during this era. The Wrecking Crews members were musically versatile but typically had formal backgrounds in jazz or classical music, the origins of the Wrecking Crew can be traced to the late 1950s with a group headed by bassist and guitarist Ray Pohlman, sometimes referred to as the First Call Gang. Earl Palmer was originally from New Orleans and had recorded on many of the Crescent City rhythm and blues classics, such as with Fats Domino, often recorded at Cosimo Matassas J&M Studio. Along with Pohlman and Palmer, some of the members of the unit in the late 1950s were Barney Kessel, Mel Pollen, Bill Aken. Their home base at the time was Hollywoods General Service Studio, in 1962, Spector started a new label, Philles Records, and set about recording the song Hes a Rebel, which would be credited to the Crystals. He enlisted the aid of his friend, saxophonist Steve Douglas. Douglas helped him corral the backing unit, which included Pohlman, guitarists Howard Roberts, Bill Aken, and Tommy Tedesco, pianist Al De Lory, upright bassist Jimmy Bond, and Hal Blaine on drums. They booked Studio A at Gold Star Studios, known for its deeply reverberant echo chambers, Spectors records backed by the Wrecking Crew usually featured arrangements by Jack Nitzsche
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Hal Blaine
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Hal Blaine is an American drummer and session musician. He is most known for his work with the Wrecking Crew in California and he has played on 40 number one hit singles,150 top ten hits and has performed on, by his own accounting, over 35,000 recorded tracks. He is widely regarded as one of the most prolific drummers in rock and roll history, Blaine is a member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum, and the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 2010, Blaine was born to Jewish Eastern European immigrants, Meyer and Rose Belsky, in Holyoke, Massachusetts. Hal Blaine Strikes Again is a stamp used by Blaine to mark music scores and places where he has played. Drummer and author Max Weinberg, in his introduction to the chapter on Blaine in his book, writes, Eleven years later our band played Wembley Arena, after the show, while we were relaxing backstage, Bruce asked me to come into his dressing room. I went in, he pointed to the wall and said, I looked at the wall but didnt see anything except peeling wallpaper. Finally, I got right down on the spot he was pointing to, and right there, in a crack in the paper, rubber stamped to the wall, it said HAL BLAINE STRIKES AGAIN. When asked to explain about the stamp Blaine replied, I always stamp my charts, and theres a reason why I started that, it wasnt all ego. He went on to describe that occasionally he would need to find a particular chart amidst five hundred pieces of music in a pile and he needed some mark to do so. Eventually I had a stamp made up, and from that day on Ive always stamped every piece of music I play. Hal was getting so many studio dates he actually had a stamp made. Robinson and 1971 for Bridge over Troubled Water, The 5th Dimension in 1970 for Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In,1963 Deuces, Ts, Roadsters and Drums 1966 Drums. A Go Go 1967 Psychedelic Percussion 1968 Have Fun, with Irene Kral Wonderful Life Hal Blaines drums can be heard as part of the Wall of Sound on the Ronettes 1963 No.2 hit Be My Baby, produced by Phil Spector at Hollywoods Gold Star Studios. Max Weinberg wrote, If Hal Blaine had played only on the Ronettes Be My Baby, his name would still be uttered with reverence. Rolling Stone magazine listed the song as No.22 on The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, in March 2000, Hal Blaine was one of the first five sidemen inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Some of the musicians with whom Blaine has worked include
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Leon Russell
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Leon Russell was an American musician and songwriter who was involved with numerous bestselling pop music records over the course of his 60-year career. His genres included pop, rock, blues, country, bluegrass, standards, gospel and he was awarded six gold records. His collaborations rank as some of the most successful in music history and he recorded 33 albums and at least 430 songs. He wrote Delta Lady, recorded by Joe Cocker, and organized and performed with Cockers Mad Dogs and his A Song for You has been recorded by more than 200 artists, and his This Masquerade by more than 75. As a pianist, he played in his years on albums by the Beach Boys. On his first album, Leon Russell, in 1970, the musicians included Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, One of his biggest early fans, Elton John said Russell was a mentor and inspiration. They recorded their album The Union in 2010, which earned them a Grammy nomination, Russell produced and played in recording sessions for Bob Dylan, Frank Sinatra, Ike & Tina Turner, the Rolling Stones, and others. He wrote and recorded the hits Tight Rope and Lady Blue and he performed at the Concert for Bangladesh in 1971 along with Dylan and Eric Clapton. In 2011, he was inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame, Russell was born in Lawton, Oklahoma. He began playing the piano at the age of four and he attended Will Rogers High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Also at Will Rogers High School were Anita Bryant, who was two years older, and in the same 1959 class, David Gates, Russell and Gates played and recorded together as the Fencemen. Another student at Will Rogers at the time was Elvin Bishop, during this time Russell was already performing at Tulsa nightclubs. He took the name Leon from a friend who lent him a fake ID to get into clubs he was too young to perform in. After moving to Los Angeles in 1958, Russell became a session musician, by the late 1960s, he had diversified, becoming successful as an arranger and songwriter. By 1970, he had become a recording artist. After performing country music under the name Hank Wilson in the 1970s and 1980s, Russell re-emerged in 2010 when Elton John called on him to record the album that became The Union. The album, which included contributions from Brian Wilson and Neil Young, brought renewed popularity to Russell, Russell was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 14,2011. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in June 2011, according to his wife, Jan Bridges, Russell died quietly in his sleep at his suburban Nashville home on the morning of November 13,2016, at the age of 74
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Shout! Factory
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Factory is an American home video and music company founded in 2003. Its video releases include previously released films, classic and contemporary TV series, animation, live music. Factory also owns and operates Timeless Media Group, Biograph Records, Majordomo Records, HighTone Records, Factory was founded in 2003 by Bob Emmer, Garson Foos, and Richard Foos, three principals from Rhino Records. After selling Rhino to Warner Bros. the three set out to launch a new pop culture label. Their first releases included blues and jazz CDs from the Biograph label, with the release of Freaks & Geeks in 2004, Shout. hit its stride and shifted towards a reputable and celebrated TV on DVD company. That same year, they released a brand-new CD with actor William Shatner, in 2004, Shout. got the rights to Cartoon Network staple Home Movies and released each season set, and ultimately a complete series box. 1, Sweet himself was also added as a solo artist. Still earning a reputation for classic TV, Shout. acquired the rights to Americas Funniest Home Videos, That Girl, Punky Brewster, Factory obtained the rights to Herb Alperts catalog, launching the Herb Alpert Signature Series of CDs. These included The Lonely Bull, South of the Border, Lost Treasures, Whipped Cream & Other Delights and others. They also got the rights to show host Dick Cavetts library and started releasing theme sets focused on rock icons, Ray Charles, John Lennon and Yoko Ono. They also jumped into childrens animation with a deal with DiC Entertainment, the Animated Series and Heathcliff And the Catillac Cats were the first releases from that deal. On the sports side, they entered into a deal with Major League Baseball, releasing themed. By 2007, classic TV on DVD was a focus, with season sets of McHales Navy, Ironside, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. Meanwhile, they started releasing Mickey Harts catalogs. In 2008, Shout. bought the Hightone Records catalog and added artists Tom Russell, Joe Ely, at the same time, the company was ramping up its place as a childrens animation destination and continuing with a TV on DVD schedule. It took over the Mystery Science Theater 3000 DVD series and released a 20th Anniversary set and have continued to put out box sets of episodes never before released on DVD. In 2009, Shout. reached another milestone when it struck a deal with childrens TV producers Hasbro, releasing the original Transformers and that same year, it released the first My Little Pony DVD, My Little Pony, Twinkle Wish Collection. Continues to release several Hasbro properties, including the series My Little Pony, in 2012, Shout. started releasing titles by both Saban and Marvel
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The Big Lebowski
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The Big Lebowski is a 1998 American crime comedy film written, produced, and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. It stars Jeff Bridges as Jeffrey The Dude Lebowski, a Los Angeles slacker and he is assaulted as a result of mistaken identity, after which The Dude learns that a millionaire also named Jeffrey Lebowski was the intended victim. Julianne Moore and Steve Buscemi also star, with David Huddleston, John Turturro, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Sam Elliott, Tara Reid, David Thewlis, the film is loosely inspired by the work of Raymond Chandler. The original score was composed by Carter Burwell, a collaborator of the Coen brothers. The Big Lebowski was a disappointment at the U. S. box office, in 2014, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, being deemed culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant. A spin-off based on Turturros character, titled Going Places, is filming, with Turturro also acting as writer. The two soon realize they have attacked the wrong Jeffrey Lebowski and leave, but not before one of them urinates on the Dudes rug, the Dude meets his bowling friends, the timid Donny and the temperamental Vietnam War veteran Walter Sobchak. Encouraged by Walter, the Dude approaches the other Jeffrey Lebowski, the eponymous Big Lebowski, the Dude subsequently meets Bunny, Lebowskis young trophy wife. Days later, Lebowski contacts the Dude stating that Bunny has been kidnapped, Lebowski wants the Dude to deliver a briefcase containing a million-dollar ransom and see if he can recognize the culprits. Later, a different pair of thugs appear in the Dudes apartment, knock him unconscious, when Bunnys kidnappers call to arrange delivery of the ransom, Walter suggests they give the kidnappers a fake ransom instead, namely a briefcase filled with dirty underwear. The kidnappers grab the fake ransom and leave, later that night, the Dudes car is stolen, with the real ransom money briefcase still inside. Jeffrey Lebowskis adult daughter Maude contacts the Dude and reveals she took the rug and she reckons that Bunny kidnapped herself and asks the Dude to recover the ransom which her father illegally withdrew from the familys foundation. Lebowski is angry that the Dude failed to deliver the money and shows him a severed green-painted toe, allegedly belonging to Bunny. Later, a gang of German nihilist musicians invade the Dudes apartment and threaten him, Maude says the German nihilists are actually Bunnys friends. The Dudes car is found by the police without the ransom money, later, while cruising around in the car, The Dude finds the homework assignment of a high school student named Larry inside. Taking this to mean that Larry was the one who stole the car, Walter and The Dude go to his house, when Larry refuses to respond to Walter and the Dudes threats, Walter wrecks a new sports car parked outside which they assume Larry bought with the money. However, a neighbor rushes outside, reveals himself as having just bought the car and angrily wrecks The Dudes car in revenge, the Dude is forcibly brought before Treehorn, who asks about the whereabouts of Bunny and says he wants the money she owes him. He drugs the Dudes White Russian cocktail, causing The Dude to have a sequence involving Maude
