April 6, 2012
Squidward Tentacles is a fictional character on the television cartoon series ‘SpongeBob SquarePants.’ He is voiced by Rodger Bumpass. Squidward appears in 270 episodes of the series, second only to SpongeBob’s 305. Unlike most characters in the series, Squidward is generally grumpy, tactless, short-tempered, sarcastic, and narcissistic. He dislikes many things, including his consistently annoying neighbors SpongeBob and Patrick, his job at the Krusty Krab, and is constantly aloof towards the citizens of Bikini Bottom. He is very open about his dissatisfaction with his job, and has frequently displayed unprofessional behavior such as sleeping at his counter, failing to clean his workplace, and reading art magazines instead of attending to customers.
Squidward enjoys playing his clarinet (at an elementary level with frequent missed notes and poor intonation, though Squidward considers himself a brilliant musical prodigy), modern dance, abstract art, relaxing, public radio, select television programs, and just about anything else that he considers ‘fancy.’ He does not like anyone, except his mother. Although Squidward likes to consider himself as above the mundane and often immature activities of his peers, he has constantly exhibited an unhealthy obsession with and dedication to such activities when exposed to them.
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April 6, 2012
Artists and repertoire (A&R) is the division of a record label that is responsible for talent scouting and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists. It also acts as a liaison between artists and the record label; every activity involving artists to the point of album release is generally considered under the purview of, and responsibility of, A&R. The A&R division is responsible for discovering new recording artists and bringing them to the record company.
They are expected to understand the current tastes of the market and to be able to find artists that will be commercially successful. For this reason, A&R people are often young and many are musicians, music journalists or record producers. An A&R executive is authorized to offer a record contract, often in the form of a ‘deal memo’: a short informal document that establishes a business relationship between the recording artist and the record company. The actual contract negotiations will typically be carried out by rival entertainment lawyers hired by the musician’s manager and the record company.
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April 6, 2012
The Troubadour is a nightclub located in West Hollywood, founded in 1957 by Doug Weston. It was a major center for folk music in the 1960s, and subsequently for singer-songwriters and rock.
The Troubadour played an important role in the careers of Elton John, Linda Ronstadt, Hoyt Axton, the Eagles, The Byrds, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Carole King, Bonnie Raitt, J.D. Souther, Jackson Browne, Van Morrison, Buffalo Springfield and other prominent and successful performers, who played performances there establishing their future fame.
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April 6, 2012
Clinamen [klyn-ah-mun] is the Latin name Roman philosopher Lucretius gave to the unpredictable swerve of atoms, in order to defend the atomistic doctrine of ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus. According to Lucretius, the unpredictable swerve occurs ‘at no fixed place or time’:
‘When atoms move straight down through the void by their own weight, they deflect a bit in space at a quite uncertain time and in uncertain places, just enough that you could say that their motion has changed. But if they were not in the habit of swerving, they would all fall straight down through the depths of the void, like drops of rain, and no collision would occur, nor would any blow be produced among the atoms. In that case, nature would never have produced anything.’
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April 6, 2012
‘Minnie the Moocher‘ is a jazz song first recorded in 1931 by Cab Calloway and His Orchestra, famous for its nonsensical ad libbed (‘scat’) lyrics. In performances, Calloway would have the audience participate by repeating each scat phrase in a form of call and response. Eventually Calloway’s phrases would become so long and complex that the audience would laugh at their own failed attempts to repeat them. The song is based both musically and lyrically on Frankie ‘Half-Pint’ Jaxon’s 1927 ‘Willie the Weeper’ (Bette Davis sings this version in ‘The Cabin in the Cotton’).
The lyrics are heavily laden with drug references. The character ‘Smokey’ is described as ‘cokey’ meaning a user of cocaine; the phrase ‘kicking the gong around’ was a slang reference to smoking opium. It was followed two years later by Lonnie Johnson’s ‘Winnie the Wailer.’
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April 6, 2012
Bromo-DragonFLY is a psychedelic hallucinogenic drug related to phenethylamine (a chemical found in chocolate, which like amphetamine, causes the release of norepinephrine and dopamine in the brain). It is considered an extremely potent hallucinogen, only slightly less potent than LSD, with a normal dose in the region of 200 μg to 800 μg, and it has an extremely long duration (up to several days).
It is explicitly illegal only in Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, although it may be considered a controlled substance analogue under US and Australian drug laws. The compound was first synthesized in the lab of American pharmacologist David E. Nichols in 1998. As with the earlier and less potent dihydrofuran series of compounds nicknamed FLY, Bromo-DragonFLY was named after its superficial structural resemblance to a dragonfly.
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April 6, 2012
Erowid is an online library of information about psychoactive plants and chemicals and other topics on altered states of consciousness such as meditation and lucid dreaming. It provides information about legal and illegal substances, including their desired and adverse effects. The site is organized by substance, ranging from well-known substances like alcohol, to obscure ones such as Bromo-DragonFLY (a hallacuinogen only slightly less potent than LSD, but which lasts for several days).
The information on the site is gathered from diverse sources including published literature, experts in related fields, and the experiences of the general public. Erowid acts as a publisher of new information as well as a library for the collection of documents and images published elsewhere.
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