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ZaSu Pitts Memorial Orchestra
The ZaSu Pitts Memorial Orchestra was formed in San Francisco by Stephen Ashman, a bass-player. They released several LPs in the 1984-1987 time period and continue to be active. The Orchestra did not have any overt connection to ZaSu Pitts beyond the name. The first version of the band consisted of approximately 15 members (mostly male instrumentalists and female singer-dancers) who performed full band renditions of Motown, soul, R&B and other classic pop songs along with a few original compositions. A mid-1980s New Year's Eve show broadcast by San Francisco PBS station KQED-TV is sometimes shown on public TV in the United States. The Zasu Pitts Memorial Orchestra won a Bammy Award for Best Independent Album of 1985 On June 23, 2008, the semi-original Zasu Pitts Memorial Orchestra lineup reformed for the first time in nearly 23 years for a one- off concert at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco to benefit original Zasu Pitts/Big Bang Beat saxophonist Morey Goldste ...
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San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of 2024, San Francisco is the List of California cities by population, fourth-most populous city in the U.S. state of California and the List of United States cities by population, 17th-most populous in the United States. San Francisco has a land area of at the upper end of the San Francisco Peninsula and is the County statistics of the United States, fifth-most densely populated U.S. county. Among U.S. cities proper with over 250,000 residents, San Francisco is ranked first by per capita income and sixth by aggregate income as of 2023. San Francisco anchors the Metropolitan statistical area#United States, 13th-most populous metropolitan statistical area in the U.S., with almost 4.6 million residents in 2023. The larger San Francisco Bay Area ...
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Bass (instrument)
Bass ( ) (also called bottom end) describes Pitch (music), tones of low (also called "deep") frequency, pitch (music), pitch and range (music), range from 16 to 250 Hz (C0 to middle C4) and bass instruments that produce tones in the low-pitched range (music), range C2-C4. They belong to different families of musical instrument, instruments and can cover a wide range of musical roles. Since producing low pitches usually requires a long air column or string, and for stringed instruments, a large hollow body, the string and wind bass instruments are usually the largest instruments in their families or instrument classes. Musical role When bass notes are played in a musical ensemble such an orchestra, they are frequently used to provide a counterpoint or counter-melody, in a harmony, harmonic context either to outline or juxtapose the progression of the chord (music), chords, or with Percussion instrument, percussion to underline the rhythm. Rhythm section In popular music, the ...
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ZaSu Pitts
ZaSu Pitts (; January 3, 1894 – June 7, 1963) was an American actress who, in a career spanning nearly five decades, starred in many silent film drama film, dramas, such as Erich von Stroheim's 1924 epic ''Greed (1924 film), Greed'', along with comedies, before moving into sound films, mostly comedy roles. She also appeared on numerous radio shows and, later, on television. She was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960 at 6554 Hollywood Blvd. Early life ZaSu Pitts was born in Parsons, Kansas, the third of four children of Rulandus and Nelly (''née'' Shay) Pitts. Her father, who had lost a leg while serving in the 76th New York Volunteer Infantry, 76th New York Infantry in the American Civil War, Civil War, had settled the family in Kansas before ZaSu's birth. The names of her father's sisters, Eliza and Susan, were purportedly the basis for the name "ZaSu", i.e., to satisfy competing family interests. It has been (incorrectly) spelled as Zazu Pitts in some fil ...
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Motown
Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''motor'' and ''town'', has become a nickname for Detroit, where the label was originally headquartered. Motown played a vital role in the racial integration of popular music as an African American-owned label that achieved crossover (music), crossover success with white audiences. In the 1960s, Motown and its main subsidiary labels (including Gordy, Soul) were the most prominent exponents of what became known as the #Motown sound, Motown sound, a style of soul music with a mainstream pop music, pop-influenced sound and appeal. Motown was the most successful soul music label, with a net worth of $61 million in 1988. Between 1960 and 1969, Motown had 79 songs reach the top-ten of the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100. In March 19 ...
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Soul Music
Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in African-American culture, African-American African-American neighborhood, communities throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Catchy rhythms, stressed by handclaps and extemporaneous body movements, are an important hallmark of soul. Other characteristics are a Call and response (music), call and response between the lead and Backing vocalist, backing vocalists, an especially tense vocal sound, and occasional Musical improvisation, improvisational additions, twirls, and auxiliary sounds. Soul music is known for reflecting African-American identity and stressing the importance of African-American culture. Soul has its roots in African-American gospel music and rhythm and blues, and primarily combines elements of gospel, R&B and jazz. The genre emerged from the power struggle to increase black Americans' awareness of their African ancestry, as a newfound consciousness led to the creation of music ...
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Pop Music
Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom.S. Frith, W. Straw, and J. Street, eds, ''iarchive:cambridgecompani00frit, The Cambridge Companion to Pop and Rock'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), , pp. 95–105. During the 1950s and 1960s, pop music encompassed rock and roll and the youth-oriented styles it influenced. ''Rock music, Rock'' and ''pop'' music remained roughly synonymous until the late 1960s, after which ''pop'' became associated with music that was more commercial, wikt:ephemeral, ephemeral, and accessible. Identifying factors of pop music usually include repeated choruses and Hook (music), hooks, short to medium-length songs written in a basic format (often the verse–chorus form, verse–chorus structure), and rhythms or tempos that can be easily danced to. Much of pop music also borrows elements from other styles such as rock, hip hop, urban contemporary, ...
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New Year's Eve
In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve refers to the evening, or commonly the entire day, of the last day of the year, 31 December, also known as Old Year's Day. In many countries, New Year's Eve is celebrated with dancing, eating, drinking, and watching or lighting fireworks. Many Christians attend a watchnight service to mark the occasion. New Year's Eve celebrations generally continue into New Year's Day, January 1, 1 January, past midnight. The local time zone determines the advent of the New Year; the first places to welcome the New Year are west of the International Date Line: the Line Islands (part of Kiribati), Samoa and Tonga, in the Pacific Ocean. In contrast, American Samoa, Baker Island and Howland Island (part of the United States Minor Outlying Islands) are among the last. By region Africa Algeria In Algeria, New Year's Eve is usually celebrated with family and friends. In the largest cities, there are fireworks at midnight. The Martyrs' Memorial, Algiers, Ma ...
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Public Broadcasting System
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educational television, educational programs to public television stations in the United States, distributing shows such as ''Nature (TV program), Nature'', ''Nova (American TV program), Nova'', ''Frontline (American TV program), Frontline'', ''PBS News Hour'', ''Masterpiece (TV series), Masterpiece'', ''Mister Rogers' Neighborhood'', ''Sesame Street'', ''Barney & Friends'', ''Arthur (TV series), ''Arthur'''' and ''American Experience''. Certain stations also provide spillover service to Canada. PBS is funded by a combination of List of PBS member stations, member station dues, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, pledge drives, and donations from both Private foundation (United States), private foundations and indivi ...
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KQED-TV
KQED (channel 9) is a PBS member television station licensed to San Francisco, California, United States, serving the San Francisco Bay Area. The station is owned by KQED Inc., alongside fellow PBS station KQEH (channel 54) and NPR member KQED-FM (88.5). The three stations share studios on Mariposa Street in San Francisco's Mission District and transmitter facilities at Sutro Tower. KQET (channel 25) in Watsonville operates as a full-time satellite of KQED, serving the Santa Cruz– Salinas–Monterey market. This station's transmitter is located at Fremont Peak, near San Juan Bautista. History KQED was organized and founded by veteran broadcast journalists James Day and Jonathan Rice on June 1, 1953, and first signed on the air on April 5, 1954, as the fourth television station in the San Francisco Bay Area and the sixth public television station in the United States, debuting shortly after the launch of WQED in Pittsburgh. The station's call letters, ''Q.E.D.'', are ...
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Bammy Awards
''BAM'' (short for ''Bay Area Music'') was a free bi-weekly music magazine founded and published by Dennis Erokan in the San Francisco Bay Area from January 1976 until June 1999. History ''Bay Area Music'' magazine was first published in January 1976. It was a free bi-weekly magazine that was funded by advertisers. In the mid-1980s the magazine reached its largest circulation of 130,000 biweekly throughout California, after opening an office in Los Angeles. After the opening of the Los Angeles office, separate Northern and Southern editions of ''BAM'' were published. In October 1994, the magazine got a new publisher, Earl Adkins. Adkins resigned in spring 1995. In 1995, Bam magazine's parent company, Bam Media, bought the copyright to the Seattle ''Rocket'' music magazine. The final edition of the print magazine was published in June 1999. The paper's circulation at the time of closing was 55,000. The ''BAM'' logo was used as the music section of ''This Week'', another Bam M ...
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Great American Music Hall
The Great American Music Hall is a concert hall in San Francisco, California. It is located on O'Farrell Street in the Tenderloin neighborhood on the same block as the Mitchell Brothers O'Farrell Theatre. It is known for its decorative balconies, columns, and frescoes and for its history of unique entertainment, which has included burlesque dancing as well as jazz, folk music, and rock and roll concerts. The capacity of the hall is 470 people. History Blanco's and Music Box The hall was established in 1907 during the period of rebuilding that followed the 1906 earthquake. Its interior was designed by a French architect. It was originally called Blanco's, after a notorious Barbary Coast house of prostitution. In 1936, Sally Rand, known for her fan dance and bubble dance acts, acquired the property and branded it the Music Box. It closed with the end of World War II, reopened in 1948 as a jazz club that reused the name Blanco's, and in the 1950s the building was used by me ...
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Booker T
Booker T or Booker T. may refer to * Booker T. Washington (1856–1915), African American political leader at the turn of the 20th century ** List of things named after Booker T. Washington, some nicknamed "Booker T." * Booker T. Jones (born 1944), American musician and frontman of Booker T. and the M.G.'s ** Booker T. & the M.G.'s, American band * Booker T (wrestler) (Booker T. Huffman Jr., born 1965), American professional wrestler * Booker T. Bradshaw (1940–2003), American record producer, film and TV actor, and executive * Booker T. Laury (1914–1995), American boogie-woogie and blues pianist * Booker T. Spicely (1909–1944) victim of a racist murder in North Carolina, United States * Booker T. Whatley (1915–2005) agricultural professor at Tuskegee University * Booker T. Washington White (1909–1977), American Delta blues guitarist and singer known as Bukka White * Booker T. Boffin, pseudonym of Thomas Dolby on Def Leppard's album ''Pyromania'' * "Booker T" ...
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