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Guts (flying disc game)

Guts or disc guts (sometimes guts Frisbee in reference to the trademarked brand name) is a disc game inspired by dodgeball, involving teams throwing a flying disc (rather than balls) at members of the opposing team.

Game play
One to five team members stand in a line facing the opposing team across the court, with the two teams lined up parallel to each other. Which team begins play is determined by "flipping the disc", an action similar to a coin toss, but using the disc itself. One member of the team is then selected to start play. That member then raises an arm to indicate readiness to throw, at which point the members of the opposing team freeze in position. The thrower then throws the disc as hard as possible at someone on the opposing team. If the thrower misses the "scoring area" (a demarcated area a bit larger than the space occupied by the opposing team), the receiving team scores a point. If a member of the receiving team catches the disc cleanly, neither team scores a point. If the throw is within the scoring area and the receiving team fails to catch, or catches but drops the disc, the throwing team gets a point. The receiving team then picks up the disc and becomes the throwing team.

The receiving team must catch the disc cleanly in one hand, and may not move from position until after the disc leaves the hand of the thrower. The disc may not be trapped between the hand and any other part of the body, including the other hand. This frequently results in a challenging sequence of "tips" or "bobbles", which are rebounds of the disc off receivers' hands or body to slow the disc down and keep it in play until it can be caught. This often involves multiple players on the receiving team.

Play continues until at least 21 points have been scored by one of the teams and there is a difference in score of at least 2 points.

History
The first International Frisbee Tournament was held in Eagle Harbor, Michigan, in 1958. The sport grew from a pastime of the Healy family — specifically, brothers James (Tim), John (Jake), Robert (Boots), & Peter (Beka) — and, in the 1960s, its national profile was increased by Jim Boggio Sr.

As guts evolved during the 1960s, players started throwing faster and faster, until it wasn't unusual to see presumably unbreakable discs traveling at 60 - 70 mph shatter on impact with an unlucky defender's hand. Catching a speeding disc directly was said to really "take guts", thus the name of the game. One tournament player even required fifteen stitches to close a gaping wound across the palm of his hand.

By the early 1970s, the game had spread across the United States and to other countries, with coverage on radio, television, major newspapers, and magazines such as Time.

With over 60 teams at a tournament in the heyday of the game, matches became intensely competitive affairs, seeking the IFT's Julius T. Nachazel Trophy. With radical curving shots, deflected Frisbees bobbled frantically among teammates, and spectacular diving catches, guts had become an extreme sport demanding fast reflexes, physical endurance, and concentration.

Since its rise in the 1970s, when even ABC's Wide World of Sports was televising guts action, and numerous tournaments were springing up, from Toronto to Chicago and Los Angeles, the sport has gradually declined in popularity in America. Guts had been introduced in Asia by the toy company Wham-O in the 1970s, and by the 1990s it had become even more popular in Japan and Taiwan than in the US. Recent years, however, have seen pockets of strong new American players renewing competitive American interest in the game, also drawing some older players out of "retirement".

Organization
The sport's international governing body, as with other major flying disc games, is the World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF). For North America, the more game-specific United States Guts Players Association (USGPA) officiates.

The fiftieth annual International Frisbee Tournament (IFT), held in Hancock, Michigan, June 30 – July 1, 2007, was a large guts disc tournament, drawing players from all over the United States and Canada, and for the first time, two strong teams from Japan – including Katon, the WFDF World Champions.

As of 2007, the USGPA plans to induct some of the most outstanding players into the Guts Hall of Fame, joining Fred Morrison (inventor of the original Pluto Platter flying disc), the Healy brothers (inventors of guts and founders of the IFT), and "Steady Ed" Headrick (IFT champion and inventor of the standard "pole hole" basket used on modern disc golf courses).

Dodge disc
Dodge disc (or dodge Frisbee). In this variant, scoring is achieved not by throwing into a scoring zone, but by hitting opponents, without their successfully catching the disc. Opponents are permitted to move. As in dodgeball, if a player is hit by a disc and fails to catch it, then the player is "out" and exits the field of play. If a player catches the thrown disc without its touching the ground, either before or after being hit by it, or before or after it hits another player, then the player who threw the disc is out instead. The game ends when there is only one player left. The game usually ends with a "shootout" between two players, each with several discs. The final players tend to execute several simultaneous "attacks" until one is hit without catching a disc thrown by the opponent. A variant of the game, Dodgebee, is a trademark of Hero Discs. The Dodgebee disc is very soft, and thus can be thrown very fast without injuring any of the players.

Flutterguts
Flutterguts is a noncompetitive variant of guts. The two teams face each other a few meters apart. The main rule change is that the disc must be thrown such that it does not rotate about its central axis (i.e. it can flip, but it cannot spin). This restriction makes fast throws impossible, but catching is still challenging.

NutDisc
NutDisc is a variation of guts developed as a drinking game to be played around a pool. Two players face off against one another, one standing completely still, holding a drink in their outstretched hand, perpendicular to the body. The other player will throw the disc at them, attempting to hit either the player or their drink while they are not allowed to move. If the player is hit, they take a drink. If the player is hit in the genitals, they must finish their drink. If the beer is hit, the player finishes their drink and jumps into the pool.

title: Guts (flying disc game)


text:
Herborn, Hesse

Herborn is a historic town on the Dill in the Lahn-Dill district of Hesse in Germany. Before World War I, it was granted its own title as Nassauisches Rothenburg. The symbol or mascot of this town is a bear. Scenic attractions include its half-timbered houses; Herborn is located on the German Timber-Frame Road. Herborn hosted the 26th Hessentag state festival in 1986, and the 56th Hessentag in 2016.

Geography
The town's coordinates are 50.68444°N, 8.30417°W. It has an area of 64 km2, of which 28 km2 is forest. Herborn is connected by the A45 motorway (E40/E41) with Siegen, Wetzlar, and Gießen.

Neighbouring communities
Herborn is bordered on the north by the town of Dillenburg, on the northeast by the community of Siegbach, on the east by the community of Mittenaar, on the southeast by the community of Sinn, on the south by the community of Greifenstein, and on the west by the communities of Driedorf and Breitscheid (all in the Lahn-Dill-Kreis).

Constituent communities
Herborn is divided into the communities of Amdorf, Burg, Guntersdorf, Hirschberg, Hörbach, Merkenbach, Schönbach, Seelbach and Uckersdorf as well as the main town of Herborn.

Population
(in each case on 31 December)

 * 1998 - 21,334
 * 1999 - 21,415
 * 2000 - 21,380
 * 2001 - 21,254
 * 2002 - 21,304
 * 2003 - 21,214
 * 2004 - 21,158
 * 2005 - 21,260
 * 2006 - 20,810
 * 2007 - 20,921
 * 2008 - 20,962
 * 2009 - 20,975

History
Herborn had its first documentary mention in 1048, and was granted the privilege of a city in 1251 by the Counts of Nassau.

In 1584 the Herborn Academy, a Reformed (Calvinistic) institution, was founded by John VI of Nassau-Dillenburg, younger brother of William the Silent and namesake of today's Gymnasium Johanneum.

Herborn was where Johannes Piscator published the Reformed Church translation of the Bible into German, in 1602. This work has had a decisive effect in shaping church life among followers of the Reformed movement in Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United States. It was printed in Herborn in the akademische Druckerei von Corvinus, known today as the Corvinsche Druckerei or Paul's Hof, after the Paul family who own it.

In 1626, the town lost 214 houses in a fire started by accident in soldiers' quarters. Soon after, Herborn and the surrounding area were the scene of a number of witch trials.

Towards the end of the Thirty Years' War, the townsfolk were looking after 50 Swedish soldiers, which brought them protection by the Swedish Army, and thereby also a reputation as a "field hospital town" ("Lazarettstadt") that lasted until the end of the Second World War.

After the Congress of Vienna Herborn was in a border area next to Prussia, and its economy suffered due to import tariffs. Hesse-Nassau joined the Zollverein (Customs Union) only in 1836, and in 1866 it was completely annexed by Prussia.

In the Second World War, Herborn was mostly spared by the bombers, but its Jewish community was obliterated in 1942, and many of the patients of the psychiatric clinic were deported and murdered.

During much of the Cold War there was a small American military garrison in the community, district Seelbach.

The town became nationally known for a truck disaster that happened on 7 July 1987. After losing control because of faulty brakes, a tanker truck carrying about 34 000 L of fuel ran into a house containing an ice cream parlour and a pizzeria. The escaping fuel flowed into the sewers and exploded, setting several houses on fire. All together, six people lost their lives, and 40 were injured.

Town council
The municipal elections on 26 March 2006 yielded the following results:

Note: FWG is a citizens' coalition.

Twin towns – sister cities
Herborn is twinned with:
 * 🇫🇷 Pertuis, France (1965)
 * 🇦🇹 Guntersdorf, Austria (1970)
 * 🇦🇹 Schönbach, Austria (1996)
 * 🇵🇱 Iława, Poland (1998)
 * 🇺🇸 Post Falls, United States

Museums

 * Museum Herborn in der Hohen Schule (Herborn Museum in the "High School")
 * Heimatmuseum Herborn-Seelbach (local history)
 * Heimat- und Industriemuseum Burg (local history and industry)
 * Heimatstube Hörbach (local history)

Town hall
This was built in the 16th century and built anew after a fire in the 17th century. Particularly worthy of note is the frieze around the building showing local family coats of arms.

Other buildings

 * Evangelical historic town church dating back to at least 1219, even earlier, with many interesting building styles and features like a gothic choir with net-vault, romanic window, renaissance style in the main nave etc.
 * Many half-timbered houses dating from the 15th (oldest house: built in 1445) to 18th century.
 * Market fountain from 1730
 * Paulshof the printing works from Corvin
 * The "High School" (with the local history museum) founded 1584, remodelled in 1645
 * Town wall with many preserved towers (Dill Tower, Speck Tower, Witch Tower, Burgher Tower, Hain Tower and Leonhards Tower) and gates like the Stone Gate (oldest entrance of the town dating back to the city privileges of 1251)
 * Herborn Castle, the stately home (Schloss, inhabited castle).

Parks
The constituent community of Uckersdorf has a widely known attraction with its bird park. You find more information on the web-site

http://www.vogelpark-herborn.de

Natural monuments
The Old Town is not the only attraction in Herborn. The surrounding countryside features the low mountains of the Westerwald range.

Regular events

 * Sommerfest (summer festival), last Saturday each July
 * Rock in the city park (Saturday before Whitsun)
 * Martinimarkt (market), November
 * Ponyfest in Herborn/Schönbach (May/June)
 * Strawberry Sunday (first Sunday in July)
 * wine festival (Friday to Sunday, first weekend every July)

Holiday roads
Herborn lies on the Deutsche Fachwerkstraße, featuring many places with many half-timbered houses, and on the Solmser Straße, a scenic road leading through many historic and artistically important places in Hesse.

Transport
Herborn is served today by two railway stations and four more have been abandoned. Herborn station was opened in 1862 on the Dill Railway. The current station building dates from 1908 and was designed by the church architect Ludwig Hoffmann. In the past the station was served by two other lines: The station is served by Regional-Express trains on the Siegen–Gießen–Frankfurt route (Main-Sieg-Express, RE 40) and Stadt-Express services on the Dillenburg-Frankfurt route (Mittelhessen-Express, SE 40, running as stopping trains between Dillenburg and Gießen). Burg (Dillkr) station was located on the Aar-Salzböde railway (Niederwalgern–Herborn) and had three platform tracks. Burg (Dillkr) Nord station is the other station still in operation and is also located on the Dill Railway and is classified by Deutsche Bahn (DB) as a category 6 station. It is only served by the Mittelhessen-Express. The three stations of Burg (Dillkr) West, Uckersdorf and Amdorf were located on the Westerwaldquer Railway (Herborn–Montabaur) and are now closed.
 * services on the Aar-Salzböde railway from Niederwalgern started and ended here from 1902 to 2001,
 * services on the Westerwaldquer Railway to Montabaur started and ended here from 1906 to 1980.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Herborn, Hesse


text:
New Orleans rhythm and blues

New Orleans rhythm and blues is a style of rhythm and blues that originated in New Orleans. It was a direct precursor to rock and roll and strongly influenced ska. Instrumentation typically includes drums, bass, piano, horns, electric guitar, and vocals. The style is characterized by syncopated "second line" rhythms, a strong backbeat, and soulful vocals. Artists such as Roy Brown, Dave Bartholomew, and Fats Domino are representative of the New Orleans R&B sound.

Characteristics
New Orleans rhythm and blues can be characterized by predominant piano, "singing" horns, and call-and-response elements. Clear influences of Kansas City Swing bands can be heard through the extensive use of trumpet and saxophone solos. A "double" bass line, when the guitar and bass play in unison, was combined with a strong backbeat to make the music easy to dance to. It is also common to hear the influence of Caribbean rhythms such as the mambo, rhumba, and the calypso.

In addition, the usage of blue notes is characteristic. Like most blues, New Orleans R&B typically follows a standard three-stanza form that contains tonic, subdominant, and dominant chords. Within these chords, the three "blue notes", also known as flatted notes, are the third, fifth, and seventh scale degrees. In New Orleans R&B, the flatted third is particularly notable.

Early pioneers
New Orleans rhythm and blues was pioneered by local barrelhouse pianists Champion Jack Dupree, Archibald, and Professor Longhair.

Professor Longhair, otherwise known as "Fess", was considerably influential in the development of the New Orleans R&B sound. Allen Toussaint, an important figure in New Orleans R&B, described him as "The Bach of Rock 'n' Roll". He combined Caribbean and boogie-woogie rhythms to create his signature style. The result was a usage of polyrhythms that he often whistled while playing. Although he was admired by other New Orleans musicians, he did not gain national attention until the end of his career.

During his early career, Longhair visited the Caldonia Inn to listen to Dave Bartholomew's band. When he sat in for Bartholomew's pianist, a large crowd suddenly flooded the venue. He then decided to start his own band called the Four Hairs combo. Soon after, the band recorded their first four tunes at the Hi-Hat club for the Star Talent Label. In 1950, Longhair worked briefly with Mercury Records and recorded "Baldheaded". The song reached No.5 on Billboard's R&B chart. Due to financial complications, his work with Mercury was cut short. During the 1950s, he worked with Atlantic Records and recorded "Tipitina", which at the time was only a local hit, but today is recognized as a New Orleans R&B classic.

Professors and barrelhouse pianists
There were two types of local pianists in New Orleans; "professor" pianists and "barrelhouse" pianists. Professors were often classically trained and understood music theory. They played in a variety of styles in the brothels of Storyville. Because they were more skilled, audiences expected them play any request that was thrown their way. Notable "professor" pianists include Buddy Christian, Clarence Williams, Alton Purnell, Spencer Williams, and Jelly Roll Morton. Barrelhouse pianists were often untrained with little to no background in music theory. They were mostly self-taught and played mostly in a blues style. Barrelhouse pianists were considered semi-professional and played for drinks, food, or tips.

Popular artists
Roy Brown, Dave Bartholomew, Paul Gayten, Smiley Lewis, Fats Domino, Annie Laurie, and Larry Darnell were the primary artists who achieved national fame.

Roy Brown
Roy Brown is considered to be one of the pioneers of the New Orleans Urban Blues as one of the first singers to blend elements of gospel into the blues. His "crying" sound became his signature. In March 1947, Cecil Gant heard Brown sing "Good Rockin' Tonight" during a set break at a club called the Rainbow Room. Cecil enjoyed the song so much that he had Brown sing it over the phone for De Luxe Records. Brown signed a contract with DeLuxe, and recorded the song at J&M Studio. "Good Rockin' Tonight" was an immediate success in New Orleans, and reached the national charts about one year later. It became his biggest hit, and was successful enough for Brown and his band "The Mighty Men" to tour across California and the southwestern United States. "Good Rockin' Tonight," made a reappearance in the charts in 1949 after DeLuxe was sold to King Records, who did their best to promote it, something that was not easy because at the time the word "rock" was a slang for "sex", which many people believed the song implied. In 1950, Brown climbed his way up the charts once again with his song "Hard Luck Blues". Other popular tunes by Roy Brown include "Boogie at Midnight", "Love Don't Love Nobody", "Long About Sundown", "Cadillac Baby", "Party Doll", "Let the Four Winds Blow", and "Saturday Night".

Dave Bartholomew
Dave Bartholomew was a bandleader and trumpet player. In the early stages of his career, between 1939 and 1942, he played on the SS Capitol riverboat with Fats Pichon. Toward the end of his residency, Pichon resigned to take a solo gig at the Old Absinthe House in New Orleans. Bartholomew took over the riverboat band until he was drafted in 1942. While serving in the army, he learned how to arrange music as a member of the 196th AGF band. Upon discovering his passion for arranging and band leading, he was eager to return to New Orleans and make a name for himself. In 1949, Bartholomew and his band recorded the hit song "Country Boy", while signed with DeLuxe. His true calling however, was to be involved with music production. He established himself as a band leader who arranged, produced, and scouted talent. During the 1950s, Bartholomew co-wrote most of the hits coming out of New Orleans.

Paul Gayten
Paul Gayten moved with his trio to New Orleans in his early twenties and established a residency at the Club Robin Hood. In 1947, his band recorded the two R&B hits "True (You Don't Love Me)" and "Since I Fell for You" with singer Annie Laurie for DeLuxe. When DeLuxe Records was bought out by King Records, the Braun brothers placed a new focus on Gayten's production skills. Soon after, he became the director for Chess Records.

Smiley Lewis
Overton Amos Lemons, also known as Smiley Lewis, was known for singing and playing guitar at nearly every venue in New Orleans early in his career. He had an extensive vocal range and a deep voice that could fill a room without any amplification. After the war, he formed a trio with Herman Seals and Tuts Washington. The two became very popular locally. While scouting for talent, the Braun brothers were impressed by Smiley and signed them to DeLuxe in 1947. Three years later, he signed to Imperial Records whom he worked with for ten years. He found moderate success with his songs "I Hear You Knockin'" and "The Bells Are Ringing". He was overshadowed by Fats Domino who was also signed to Imperial and achieved national recognition for his cover of "I Hear You Knockin'". Elvis Presley's hit "One Night (of Love)", was originally recorded by Lewis and was titled, "One Night (of Sin)". Similarly, Gale Storm's cover of "I Hear You Knockin'" made Billboard's Hot 100 Charts.

Fats Domino
In 1949, Dave Bartholomew and Lew Chudd visited the Hideaway Club to listen to Fats Domino sing. They were impressed with his version of "Junkers Blues" and immediately signed him to Imperial Records. That same year, Domino did his first recording session at the J&M studio under the direction of Dave Bartholomew. Of the eight songs that were cut during the session, "The Fat Man" was chosen as Domino's first big hit. A distinguishing element of the R&B hit was Domino's horn-like scat singing.

Following the success of "The Fat Man", Domino toured with Jewel King and Dave Bartholomew's band. When his song "Goin' Home" reached number one in the R&B charts in 1952, his status as a star was confirmed. The biggest hit of his career however, was "Blueberry Hill". Between the years of 1950 and 1955, he continued to make the R&B charts over a dozen times. In 1956, he was the first black artist to make an appearance on the Steve Allen Show. He would later make appearances on the Perry Como Show, The Big Beat, and Dick Clark's American Bandstand.

Domino's voice was a unique blend of creole intonations, nasal scat singing, and a warm tone. He was known for using triplet piano figures in many of his songs. The "New Orleans" sound is heard in his cover of Smiley Lewis's "Blue Monday", with his combination of parade rhythms and barrelhouse blues. Fats Domino was described by Dave Bartholomew as the "cornerstone" of Rock 'n' Roll.

Cosimo Matassa
Cosimo Matassa was the leading record producer in New Orleans between 1940 and 1960. He created the "cosimo sound" with guitar, baritone saxophone, and tenor saxophone doubling the bass line. He also owned J&M Studio and Jazz City studio, where he recorded nearly all R&B hits in New Orleans between 1940-1960.

DeLuxe Records
David and Julian Braun, also known as the Braun brothers, owned an independent record label called "DeLuxe" which was based in Linden, New Jersey. Seeing that New Orleans was overflowing with talent, they decided to visit the city in 1947 with hopes of signing some new artists. DeLuxe signed Dave Bartholomew, Paul Gayten, Smiley Lewis, Roy Brown, and Annie Laurie. In 1949 DeLuxe Records was bought out by Syd Nathan, owner of King Records.

Imperial Records
Lew Chudd founded Imperial Records in 1947. During its early years, the label centered around country music and west coast jump bands. Looking to expand his business, Chudd reached out to Dave Bartholomew. They decided that they would work together and explore the up-and-coming R&B scene. They recorded their first R&B studio session with Jewel King and Tommy Ridgley at J&M studio.

title: New Orleans rhythm and blues


text:
Stride

Stride or STRIDE may refer to:

Computing

 * STRIDE model, used for threat modeling
 * Stride (software), a successor to the cloud-based HipChat, a corporate cloud-based collaboration tool
 * Stride (game engine), a free and open-source 2D and 3D cross-platform game engine
 * STRIDE (algorithm), an algorithm for identifying secondary structures in proteins
 * Stride of an array, in computer programming
 * Stride scheduling, a soft real-time scheduling algorithm
 * System to Retrieve Information from Drug Evidence, a United States Drug Enforcement Administration database used to track the prices of drugs obtained in sting operations

Music

 * Stride (composition), a 2019 orchestral composition by Tania León
 * Stride (music), a type of piano playing
 * "Stride", a song by Avail from their 1992 album Satiate
 * "Stride," a song by Canadian musician Hayden from his 1996 EP Moving Careful

People

 * Stride (surname)

Other uses

 * Stride (gum), a chewing gum produced by Cadbury Adams
 * Stride Rite Corporation, a footwear company
 * Strides, a British & Australian slang term for trousers
 * Strides Pharma, a pharmaceutical company headquartered in India
 * Stride, formerly K12, an online education company

title: Stride


text:
Transrapid

Transrapid is a German-developed high-speed monorail train using magnetic levitation. Planning for the system started in the late 1960s, with a test facility in Emsland, Germany inaugurated in 1983. In 1991, technical readiness for application was approved by the Deutsche Bundesbahn in cooperation with renowned universities.

The last version, the 2007-built Transrapid 09, is designed for a cruising speed of 505 km/h and allows acceleration and deceleration of approximately 1 m/s2.

In 2002, the first commercial implementation was completed – the Shanghai Maglev Train, which connects the city of Shanghai's rapid transit network 30.5 km to Shanghai Pudong International Airport. The Transrapid system has not yet been deployed on a long-distance intercity line.

The system was developed and marketed by Siemens and ThyssenKrupp, as well as other, mostly German companies.

In 2006, a Transrapid train collided with a maintenance vehicle on the German test track, leading to 23 fatalities.

In 2011, the Emsland test track closed down when its operating license expired. In early 2012, demolition and reconversion of the entire Emsland site including the factory was approved, but has been delayed until late 2023 because of concepts for usage as a Hyperloop test track or a maglev track for the Chinese CRRC Maglev.

Levitation
The super-speed Transrapid maglev system has no wheels, no axles, no gear transmissions, no steel rails, and no overhead electrical pantographs. The maglev vehicles do not roll on wheels; rather, they hover above the track guideway, using the attractive magnetic force between two linear arrays of electromagnetic coils—one side of the coil on the vehicle, the other side in the track guideway, which function together as a magnetic dipole. During levitation and travelling operation, the Transrapid maglev vehicle floats on a frictionless magnetic cushion with no mechanical contact whatsoever with the track guideway. On-board vehicle electronic systems measure the dipole gap distance 100,000 times per second to guarantee the clearance between the coils attached to the underside of the guideway and the magnetic portion of the vehicle wrapped around the guideway edges. With this precise, constantly updated electronic control, the dipole gap remains nominally constant at 10 mm. When levitated, the maglev vehicle has about 15 cm of clearance above the guideway surface.

The Transrapid maglev vehicle requires less power to hover than it needs to run its on-board air conditioning equipment.

In Transrapid vehicle versions TR08 and earlier, when travelling at speeds below 80 km/h, the vehicle levitation system and all on-board vehicle electronics were supplied with power through physical connections to the track guideway. At vehicle speeds above 80 km/h, all on-board power was supplied by recovered harmonic oscillation of the magnetic fields created from the track's linear stator. (Since these oscillations are parasitic, they cannot be used for vehicle propulsion). A new energy transmission system, version TR09, has since been developed for Transrapid, in which maglev vehicles now require no physical contact with the track guideway for their on-board power needs, regardless of the maglev vehicle speed. This feature helps to reduce on-going maintenance and operational costs.

In case of power failure of the track's propulsion system, the maglev vehicle can use on-board backup batteries to temporarily power the vehicle's levitation system.

Propulsion
The Transrapid maglev system uses a synchronous longstator linear motor for both propulsion and braking. It works like a rotating electric motor whose stator is "unrolled" along the underside of the guideway; instead of producing torque (rotation) it produces a linear force along its length. The electromagnets in the maglev vehicle which lift it also work as the equivalent of the excitation portion (rotor) of this linear electric motor. Since the magnetic travelling field works in only one direction, if there were to be several maglev trains on a given track section, they would all travel in the same direction thereby reducing the possibility of collision between moving trains.

Energy requirements
The normal energy consumption of the Transrapid is approximately 50 to 100 kW per section for levitation and travel, and vehicle control. The drag coefficient of the Transrapid is about 0.26. The aerodynamic drag of the vehicle, which has a frontal cross section of 16 m2, requires a power consumption, at 400 km/h or 111 m/s cruising speed, given by the following formula:

$$ P = c_w \cdot A_{\rm Front} \cdot v^3 \cdot (\mbox{density of surrounding air})/2 $$

$$ \begin{matrix} P &=& 0{.}26 \cdot 16\,\mathrm{m}^2 \cdot (111\,\mathrm{m}/\mathrm{s})^3 \cdot 1{.}24\,\mathrm{kg}/\mathrm{m}^3 /2 \\ P &=& 3{.}53\cdot10^6\,\mathrm{kg}\cdot\mathrm{m}^2/\mathrm{s}^3 = 3{.}53\cdot10^6\,\mathrm{N}\cdot\mathrm{m}/\mathrm{s} = 3{.}53\,\mathrm{MW} \end{matrix} $$

Power consumption compares favourably with other high-speed rail systems. With an efficiency of 0.85, the power required is about 4.2 MW. Energy consumption for levitation and guidance purposes equates to approximately 1.7 kW/t. As the propulsion system is also capable of functioning in reverse, energy is transferred back into the electrical grid during braking. An exception to this is when an emergency stop is performed using the emergency landing skids beneath the vehicle, although this method of bringing the vehicle to a stop is intended only as a last resort should it be impossible or undesirable to keep the vehicle levitating on back-up power to a natural halt.

Market segment and historical parallels
Compared to classical railway lines, Transrapid allows higher speeds and gradients with less weathering and lower energy consumption and maintenance needs. The Transrapid track is more flexible, and more easily adapted to specific geographical circumstances than a classical train system. Cargo is restricted to a maximum payload of 15 t per car. Transrapid allows maximum speeds of 550 km/h, placing it between conventional high speed trains (200 –) and air traffic (720 –). The magnetic field generator, an important part of the engine being a part of the track, limits the system capacity.

From a competition standpoint, the Transrapid is a proprietary solution. The track being a part of the engine, only the single-source Transrapid vehicles and infrastructure can be operated. There is no multisourcing foreseen concerning vehicles or the highly complicated crossings and switches. Unlike classical railways or other infrastructure networks, as jointly administrated by the Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur) in Germany, a Transrapid system does not allow any direct competition.

Ecological impact
The Transrapid is an electrically driven, clean, high-speed, high-capacity means of transport able to build up point-to-point passenger connections in geographically challenged surroundings. This has to be set in comparison with the impact on heritage and or landscape protection areas (compare Waldschlösschen Bridge). Any impact of emissions has to take into account the source of electrical energy. The reduced expense, noise and vibration of a people-only Transrapid system versus a cargo train track is not directly comparable. The reuse of existing tracks and the interfacing with existing networks is limited. The Transrapid indirectly competes for resources, space and tracks in urban and city surroundings with classical urban transport systems and high speed trains.

Track construction cost
The fully elevated Shanghai Maglev was built at a cost of US$1.33 billion over a length of 30.5 km including trains and stations. Thus the cost per km for dual track was US$43.6 million, including trains and stations. This was the first commercial use of the technology. Since then conventional fast rail track has been mass-produced in China for between US$4.6 and US$30.8 million per kilometer, mostly in rural areas. (See High-speed rail in China).

In 2008 Transrapid Australia quoted the Victoria State Government A$34 million per kilometer for dual track. This assumed 50% of the track was at grade and 50% was elevated. In comparison, the 47 km Regional Rail Link built in Victoria cost around A$5 billion, or A$105 million per kilometer, including two stations.

From the above it is not possible to say whether Transrapid or conventional fast rail track would be cheaper for a particular application.

The higher operating speed of the maglev system will result in more passengers being delivered over the same distance in a set time. The ability of the Transrapid system to handle tighter turns and steeper gradients could heavily influence a cost comparison for a particular project.

Train purchase cost
In 2008, Transrapid Australia quoted the Victorian State Government between A$16.5 million (commuter) and A$20 million (luxury) per trains section or carriage. Due to the 3.7 m width of the Transrapid carriages they have a floor area of about 92 m2. This works out at between A$179,000 and A$217,000 per square meter.

In comparison, InterCityExpress which are also built by Siemens cost about A$6 million per carriage. Due to the 2.9 m width of the ICE carriages they have a floor area of about 72 m2. This works out at about A$83,000 per square meter.

This shows Transrapid train sets are likely to cost over twice as much as ICE 3 conventional fast rail train sets at this time. However, each Transrapid train set is more than twice as efficient due to their faster operating speed and acceleration according to UK Ultraspeed. In their case study only 44% as many Transrapid train sets are needed to deliver the same number of passengers as conventional high-speed trains.

Operational cost
Transrapid claims their system has very low maintenance costs compared to conventional high speed rail systems due to the non-contact nature of their system.

China

The only commercial implementation so far was in 2000, when the Chinese government ordered a Transrapid track to be built connecting Shanghai to its Pudong International Airport. It was inaugurated in 2002 and regular daily trips started in March 2004. The travel speed is 431 km/h, which the Maglev train maintains for 50 seconds as the short, 30.5 km track only allows the cruising speed to be maintained for a short time before deceleration must begin. The average number of riders per day (14 hours of operation) is about 7,500, while the maximum seating capacity per train is 440. A second class ticket price of about 50 RMB (renminbi) (about 6 euro) is four times the price of the airport bus and ten times more expensive than a comparable underground ticket.

The project was sponsored by the German Hermes loans with DM 200 million. The total cost is believed to be $1.33 billion.

A planned extension of the line to Shanghai Hongqiao Airport (35 km) and onward to the city of Hangzhou (175 km) has been repeatedly delayed. Originally planned to be ready for Expo 2010, final approval was granted on 18 August 2008, and construction was scheduled to start in 2010 for completion in 2014. However the plan was cancelled, possibly due to the building of the high speed Shanghai–Hangzhou Passenger Railway.

Germany
The Emsland test facility was the only Transrapid track in Germany. It has been deactivated, and is scheduled to be disassembled. Nevertheless, there are plans to either use it as a test facility for the CRRC 600 or to reconstruct it in order to serve as a Hyperloop track.

Iran
In 2007, Iran and a German company reached an agreement on using maglev trains to link the cities of Tehran and Mashhad. The agreement was signed at the Mashhad International Fair site between Iranian Ministry of Roads and Transportation and the German company. Munich-based Schlegel Consulting Engineers said they had signed the contract with the Iranian ministry of transport and the governor of Mashad. "We have been mandated to lead a German consortium in this project," a spokesman said. "We are in a preparatory phase." The next step will be to assemble a consortium, a process that is expected to take place "in the coming months," the spokesman said. The project could be worth between 10 billion and 12 billion euros, the Schlegel spokesman said. Siemens and ThyssenKrupp, the developers of a high-speed maglev train, called the Transrapid, both said they were unaware of the proposal. The Schlegel spokesman said Siemens and ThyssenKrupp were currently "not involved" in the consortium.

Switzerland
SwissRapide AG in co-operation with the SwissRapide Consortium is developing and promoting an above-ground magnetic levitation (Maglev) monorail system, based on the Transrapid technology. The first projects planned are the lines Bern–Zürich, Lausanne–Geneva as well as Zürich–Winterthur.

Colorado I-70
Transrapid is one of a number of companies seeking to build a 120 mi high speed transit system parallel to the I-70 Interstate in the US state of Colorado. Submissions put forward say that maglev offers significantly better performance than rail given the harsh climate and terrain. No technology has been preferred as of November 2013, though construction slated to begin in 2020.

Los Angeles to Las Vegas
The California–Nevada Interstate Maglev project is a proposed 269 mi (433 km) line from Las Vegas, Nevada to Anaheim, California. One segment would run from Las Vegas to Primm, Nevada, with proposed service to the Las Vegas area's forthcoming Ivanpah Valley Airport. The top speed would be 310 mph (500 km/h). In August 2014 the backers of the scheme were seeking to revive interest in it.

Other
There have been several other evaluations conducted in the US including Washington DC to Baltimore, Chattanooga to Atlanta and Pittsburgh to Philadelphia. So far no project has started construction. See list of maglev train proposals in the United States.

Canary Islands
A two line, 120-kilometers (75-mile) long system has been proposed for the island of Tenerife, which is visited by five million tourists per year. It would connect the island capital Santa Cruz in the north with Costa Adeje in the south and Los Realejos in the northwest with a maximum speed of 270 km/h (169 mph). The estimated cost is €3 billion. Transrapid has advantages over a conventional rail plans which would require 35% of its route in tunnels because of the steep terrain on the island.

High-speed competition
The Transrapid originated as one of several competing concepts for new land-based high-speed public transportation developed in Germany. In this competition, the Transrapid primarily competed with the InterCityExpress (ICE), a high-speed rail system based on "traditional" railway technology. The ICE “won” in that it was adopted nationwide in Germany, however Transrapid development continued. A number of studies for possible Transrapid lines were conducted after the ICE had entered service, including a long-distance line from Hamburg to Berlin.

Munich link
The most recent German Transrapid line project, and the one that came closest to being built, having previously been approved, was an airport connection track from Munich Central Station to Munich Airport, a 40 km project. The connection between the train station and airport was close to being built, but was cancelled on 27 March 2008 by the German government, due to a massive overrun in costs. Prior to the cancellation, the governing party, the Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU), faced internal and local resistance, in particular from communities along the proposed route. The CSU had planned to position Transrapid as an example of future technology and innovation in Bavaria. German federal transport minister Wolfgang Tiefensee announced the decision after a crisis meeting in Berlin at which industry representatives reportedly revealed that costs had risen from €1.85 billion to well over €3 billion ($4.7 billion). This rise in projected costs, however was mostly due to the cost estimates of the construction of the tunnel and related civil engineering after the designated operator Deutsche Bahn AG shifted most of the risk-sharing towards its subcontractors - and not due to the cost of the maglev technology.

United Kingdom
The Transrapid was rejected in 2007 by the UK government for a maglev link called UK Ultraspeed between London and Glasgow, via Birmingham, Liverpool/Manchester, Leeds, Teesside, Newcastle and Edinburgh.

September 2006 accident
On 22 September 2006, a Transrapid train collided with a maintenance vehicle at 170 km/h on the test track in Lathen, Germany. The maintenance vehicle destroyed the first section of the train, then lifted off the track to complete two full rotations before landing in a pile of pre-exploded debris. This was the first major accident involving a Transrapid train. The news media reported 23 fatalities and that several people were severely injured, these being the first fatalities on any maglev. The accident was caused by human error with the first train being allowed to leave the station before the maintenance vehicle had moved off the track. This situation could be avoided in a production environment by installing an automatic collision avoidance system.

SMT fire accident
On 11 August 2006, a Transrapid train running on the Shanghai Maglev Line caught fire. The fire was quickly put out by Shanghai's firefighters. It was reported that the vehicle's on-board batteries may have caused the fire.

Alleged theft of Transrapid technology
In April 2006, new announcements by Chinese officials planning to cut maglev rail costs by a third stirred some strong comments by various German officials and more diplomatic statements of concern from Transrapid officials. Deutsche Welle reported that the China Daily had quoted the State Council encouraging engineers to "learn and absorb foreign advanced technologies while making further innovations." The Chinese deny any technology plagiarism. The China Aviation Industry Corporation has said the new Chinese "Zhui Feng" magnetic train is not dependent on foreign technology. It is much lighter than the Transrapid product, the company said, and features a much more advanced design.

title: Transrapid


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West Coast blues

West Coast blues is a type of blues music influenced by jazz and jump blues, with strong piano-dominated sounds and jazzy guitar solos, which originated from Texas blues players who relocated to California in the 1940s. West Coast blues also features smooth, honey-toned vocals, frequently crossing into rhythm and blues territory.

Texas and the West Coast
The towering figure of West Coast blues may be the guitarist T-Bone Walker, famous for the song "Call It Stormy Monday (But Tuesday Is Just as Bad)", a relocated Texan, who made his first recordings in the late 1920s. In the early 1940s, Walker moved to Los Angeles, where he recorded many enduring sides for Capitol, Black & White, and Imperial. Walker was a crucial figure in the electrification and urbanization of the blues, probably doing more to popularize the electric guitar in the form than anyone else. Much of his material had a distinct jazzy jump blues feel, an influence that would characterize much of the most influential blues to emerge from California in the 1940s and 1950s.

Other Texas bluesmen followed: the pianist and songwriter Amos Milburn, the singer Percy Mayfield (who would later become famous for the song "Hit the Road Jack"), and Charles Brown moved to Los Angeles. The guitarist Pee Wee Crayton divided his time between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Lowell Fulson, from Texas by way of Oklahoma, moved to Oakland.

Little Willie Littlefield was a R&B and boogie-woogie pianist and singer whose early recordings helped forge a vital link between boogie-woogie and rock and roll.

title: West Coast blues


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Oltenia

Oltenia (, also called Lesser Wallachia in antiquated versions, with the alternative Latin names Wallachia Minor, Wallachia Alutana, Wallachia Caesarea between 1718 and 1739) is a historical province and geographical region of Romania in western Wallachia. It is situated between the Danube, the Southern Carpathians and the Olt river.

Ancient times
Initially inhabited by Dacians, Oltenia was incorporated in the Roman Empire (106, at the end of the Dacian Wars; see Roman Dacia). In 129, during Hadrian's rule, it formed Dacia Inferior, one of the two divisions of the province (together with Dacia Superior, in today's Transylvania); Marcus Aurelius' administrative reform made Oltenia one of the three new divisions (tres Daciae) as Dacia Malvensis, its capital and chief city being named Romula. It was colonized with veterans of the Roman legions. The Romans withdrew their administration south of the Danube at the end of the 3rd century and Oltenia was ruled by the foederati Germanic Goths. In the late 4th century Oltenia came under the rule of the Taifals before invasion by the Huns.

Middle Ages
From 681, with some interruptions, it was part of the Bulgarian Empire (see Bulgarian lands across the Danube). In 1233, the Kingdom of Hungary formed the Banate of Severin in the western part of the region that would persist until the 1526 Battle of Mohács.

Around 1247, a polity emerged in Oltenia under the rule of Litovoi. The rise of the medieval state of Wallachia followed in the 14th century, and the voivode (Prince of Wallachia) was represented in Oltenia by a ban - "the Great Ban of Craiova" (with seat in Craiova after it was moved from Strehaia). This came to be considered the greatest office in Wallachian hierarchy, and one that was held most by members of the Craiovești family, from the late 15th century to about 1550. The title would continue to exist up until 1831.

During the 15th century, Wallachia had to accept the Ottoman suzerainty and to pay an annual tribute to keep its autonomy as a vassal. From the Craiovești family, many bans cooperated with the Turks. However, many rulers, including the Oltenian-born Michael the Brave, fought against the Ottomans, giving Wallachia brief periods of independence.

Modern times
After 1716, the Ottomans decided to cease choosing the voivodes from among the Wallachian boyars, and to appoint foreign governors. As the governors were Orthodox Greeks living in Phanar, Constantinople, this period is known as the Phanariote regime.

Two years later, in 1718 under the terms of the Treaty of Passarowitz, Oltenia was split from Wallachia and annexed by the Habsburg monarchy as the Banat of Craiova (de facto, it was under Austrian occupation by 1716); in 1737, it was returned to Wallachia under Prince Constantine Mavrocordatos (see Austro-Turkish War of 1716–1718 and Austro-Russian–Turkish War (1735–1739)). Under the occupation, Oltenia was the only part of the Danubian Principalities (with the later exception of Bukovina) to experience Enlightened absolutism and Austrian administration, although these were met by considerable and mounting opposition from conservative boyars. While welcomed at first as liberators, the Austrians quickly disenchanted the inhabitants by imposing rigid administrative, fiscal, judicial and political reforms which were meant to centralize and integrate the territory (antagonizing both ends of the social spectrum: withdrawing privileges from the nobility and enforcing taxes for peasants).

In 1761, the residence of Bans was moved to Bucharest, in a move towards centralism (a kaymakam represented the boyars in Craiova). It remained there until the death of the last Ban, Barbu Văcărescu, in 1832.

In 1821, Oltenia and Gorj County were at the center of Tudor Vladimirescu's uprising (see Wallachian uprising of 1821). Vladimirescu initially gathered his Pandurs in Padeș and relied on a grid of fortified monasteries such as Tismana and Strehaia.

Symbols
The traditional heraldic symbol of Oltenia, also understood to represent Banat, is part of the coat of arms of Romania (lower dexter): on gules field, an or lion rampant, facing dexter, holding a sword, and standing over an or bridge (Apollodorus of Damascus Bridge at Drobeta Turnu Severin) and stylised waves.

Since its promulgation on 13 April 2017, Oltenia Day is officially celebrated on 21 March.

Geography
Oltenia is part of the Sud - Vest development region. It entirely includes the counties of Gorj and Dolj and parts of the counties of Mehedinți (mainly in Oltenia, but the western part belongs to Banat), Vâlcea (part east of the Olt river is in Muntenia, a small part in the north-east lies in Transylvania), Olt (the western half, the former Romanați county) and Teleorman (only the commune Islaz).

Oltenia's main city and seat for a majority of the late Middle Ages is Craiova. The first medieval seat of Oltenia was Turnu Severin, anciently called Drobeta, in the Banate of Severin. That city is located near the site of Trajan's Bridge, built by Apollodorus of Damascus for Emperor Trajan in his conquest of the region.

title: Oltenia


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Surf music

Surf music (also known as surf rock, surf pop, or surf guitar) is a genre of rock music associated with surf culture, particularly as found in Southern California. It was especially popular from 1958 to 1964 in two major forms. The first is instrumental surf, distinguished by reverb-heavy electric guitars played to evoke the sound of crashing waves, largely pioneered by Dick Dale and the Del-Tones. The second is vocal surf, which took elements of the original surf sound and added vocal harmonies, a movement led by the Beach Boys.

Dick Dale developed the surf sound from instrumental rock, where he added Middle Eastern and Mexican influences, a spring reverb, and rapid alternate picking characteristics. His regional hit "Let's Go Trippin', in 1961, launched the surf music craze, inspiring many others to take up the approach.

The genre reached national exposure when it was represented by vocal groups such as the Beach Boys and Jan and Dean. Dale is quoted on such groups: "They were surfing sounds [with] surfing lyrics. In other words, the music wasn't surfing music. The words made them surfing songs. ... That was the difference ... the real surfing music is instrumental."

At the height of its popularity, surf music rivaled girl groups and Motown for the top American popular music trend. It is sometimes referred to interchangeably with the "California sound". During the later stages of the surf music craze, many of its groups started to write songs about cars and girls; this was later known as "hot rod rock".

Form
Surf music emerged in the late 1950s as instrumental rock and roll music, almost always in straight 4/4 (common) time, with a medium to fast tempo. The sound was dominated by electric guitars, which were particularly characterized by the extensive use of the "wet" spring reverb that was incorporated into Fender amplifiers from 1963, and was meant to emulate the sound of waves. The outboard separate Fender Reverb Unit that was developed by Fender in 1961 (as opposed to reverb that was incorporated as a built-in amp feature) was the actual first "wet" surf reverb tone. This unit is the reverb effect heard on Dick Dale records, and others such as "Pipeline" by the Chantays and "Point Panic" by the Surfaris. It has more of a wet "drippy" tone than the "built-in" amp reverb, due to different circuitry.

Guitarists also made use of the vibrato arm on their guitars to bend the pitch of notes downward, electronic tremolo effects and rapid (alternating) tremolo picking. Guitar models favored included those made by Fender (particularly the Jazzmaster, Jaguar and Stratocaster), Mosrite, Teisco, or Danelectro, usually with single coil pickups (which had high treble in contrast to double-coil humbucking pickups). Surf music was one of the first genres to universally adopt the electric bass, particularly the Fender Precision Bass. Classic surf drum kits tended to be Rogers, Ludwig, Gretsch or Slingerland. Some popular songs also incorporated a tenor or baritone saxophone, as on the Lively Ones' "Surf Rider" (1963) and the Revels' "Comanche" (1961). Often an electric organ or an electric piano featured as backing harmony.

History
By the early 1960s, instrumental rock and roll had been pioneered successfully by performers such as Link Wray, Nokie Edwards and the Ventures and Duane Eddy. This trend was developed by Dick Dale, who added Middle Eastern and Mexican influences, the distinctive reverb (giving the guitar a "wet" sound), and the rapid alternate picking characteristic of the genre (influenced by Arabic music, which Dale learnt from his Lebanese uncle). His performances at the Rendezvous Ballroom in Balboa, California, during the summer of 1961, and his regional hit "Let's Go Trippin' later that year, launched the surf music craze, which he followed up with hits like "Misirlou" (1962).

While Dick Dale was crafting his new sound in Orange County, the Bel-Airs were crafting their own in the South Bay region of Los Angeles County. The band was composed of five teen-aged boys. In 1959 they were still learning to play their instruments: Dick Dodd on drums, Chas Stuart on saxophone, Jim Roberts on piano, and Eddie Bertrand and Paul Johnson on guitars. Said Johnson of his relationship with Bertrand, "Learning the guitar became a duo experience versus a solo thing. We learned to play by playing together, one guy would play the chords, the other would play the lead. This sound would become the basis for the Bel-Airs." They recorded their first single, "Mr. Moto", in June 1961 (with Richard Delvy on drums instead of Dodd) and the song received radio airplay that summer. Dale was older, played louder, commanded a larger audience, and usually gets credit for creating surf music, but the Bel-Airs lay claim to having the first surf music single.

Like Dale and his Del-Tones, most early surf bands were formed in Southern California, with Orange County in particular having a strong surf culture, and the Rendezvous Ballroom hosted many surf-styled acts. Groups such as the Bel-Airs (whose hit "Mr. Moto", influenced by Dale's earlier live performances, was released slightly before "Let's Go Trippin), the Challengers (with their album Surfbeat) and then Eddie & the Showmen followed Dale to regional success.

The Chantays scored a top-ten national hit with "Pipeline", reaching number four in May 1963. Probably the single-most famous surf tune hit was "Wipe Out" by the Surfaris, with its intro of a wicked laugh; the Surfaris were also known for their cutting-edge lead guitar and drum solos, and "Wipe Out" reached number two on the Hot 100 in August 1963 and number 16 in October 1966. The group also had two other global hits, "Surfer Joe" and "Point Panic".

The growing popularity of the genre led groups from other areas to try their hand. These included the Astronauts, from Boulder, Colorado; the Trashmen, from Minneapolis, Minnesota, who reached number four with "Surfin' Bird" in 1964; and the Rivieras, from South Bend, Indiana, who reached number five in 1964 with "California Sun". the Atlantics, from Sydney, Australia, were not exclusively surf musicians, but made a significant contribution to the genre, the most famous example being their hit "Bombora", in 1963. Also from Sydney were the Denvermen, whose lyrical instrumental "Surfside" reached number one in the Australian charts. Another Australian surf band who were known outside their own country's surf scene were the Joy Boys, backing band for singer Col Joye; their hit "Murphy the Surfie" from 1963 was later covered by the Surfaris.

European bands around this time generally focused more on the style played by British instrumental rock group the Shadows. A notable example of European surf instrumental is Spanish band Los Relámpagos' rendition of "Misirlou". The Dakotas, who were the British backing band for Merseybeat singer Billy J. Kramer, gained some attention as surf musicians with "Cruel Sea", in 1963, which was later covered by the Ventures, and eventually other instrumental surf bands, including the Challengers and the Revelairs.

Distinctions

In Matt Warshaw's The Encyclopedia of Surfing, he notes: "Surf music is divided into two categories: the pulsating, reverb-heavy, 'wet'- sounding instrumental form exemplified by guitarist Dick Dale, and the smooth-voiced, multitracked harmonized vocal style invented by the Beach Boys. Purists argue that surf music is by definition instrumental."

This second category of surf music was led by the Beach Boys, a group whose main distinction between previous surf musicians was that they projected a world view. In 1964, the group's leader and principal songwriter, Brian Wilson, explained: "It wasn't a conscious thing to build our music around surfing. We just want to be identified with the interests of young kids." A year later, he would express: "I hate so-called "surfin music. It's a name that people slap on any sound from California. Our music is rightfully 'the Beach Boy sound'—if one has to label it."

Vocal surf can be interpreted as a regional variant of doo-wop music, with tight harmonies on a song's chorus contrasted with scat singing. According to musicologist Timothy Cooley, "Like instrumental surf rock with its fondness for the twelve-bar blues form, the vocal version of Surf Music drew many key elements from African-American genres ... what made the Beach Boys unique was its ability to capture the nation's and indeed the world's imagination about the emerging New Surfing lifestyle now centered in Southern California, as well as the subtle songwriting style and production techniques that identify the Beach Boys' sound." In 1963, Murry Wilson, Brian's father, who also acted as the Beach Boys' manager, offered his definition of surf music: "The basis of surfing music is a rock and roll bass beat figuration, coupled with raunch-type weird-sounding lead guitar, an electric guitar, plus wailing saxes. Surfing music has to sound untrained with a certain rough flavor in order to appeal to teenagers. ... when the music gets too good, and too polished, it isn't considered the real thing."

Hot rod rock
"Hot rod music" or "hot rod rock" evolved from surf music. Dick Dale recalled how surf music was re-imagined as hot rod music by a record company-inspired move to capture a larger market. According to The Ultimate Hot Rod Dictionary, by Jeff Breitenstein: "While cars and, to a lesser degree, hot rods have been a relatively common and enduring theme in American popular music, the term hot rod music is most often associated with the unique 'California sound' music of the early to mid-1960s ... and was defined by its rich vocal harmonies, amplified (generally Fender brand) electric guitars, and youth-oriented lyrics (most often celebrating hot rods and, more broadly, surfing and 'girls')."

Author David Ferrandino wrote that "the Beach Boys' musical treatments of both cars and surfboards are identical", whereas author Geoffrey Himes elaborated on "subtle" differences: "Translating the surf-music format into hot-rod tunes wasn't difficult... If surf music was a lot of Dick Dale and some Chuck Berry, hot-rod music was a little more Berry and a little less Dale — i.e. less percussive staccato and more chiming riffs. Instead of slang about waxes and boards, you used slang about carburetors and pistons; instead of name-dropping the top surfing beaches, you cited the nicknames for the top drag-racing strips; instead of warning about the dangers of a 'wipe out', you warned of 'Dead Man's Curve'."

Popularity
In late 1961 the Beach Boys had their first chart hit, "Surfin', which peaked at number 75 on the Billboard Hot 100, In mid-1962, the group released their major-label debut, "Surfin' Safari", which hit number 14 and helped turn the surf rock craze into a national phenomenon. Next, the Beach Boys released "Surfin' U.S.A." (1963), a Top 3 hit, and "Surfer Girl" (1963), which reached the top 10. Breitenstein writes that hot rod rock gained national popularity beginning in 1962 with the Beach Boys' "409", which is often credited with initiating the hot rod music craze, which lasted until 1965. Several key figures  led the hot rod movement beside Wilson, including songwriter-producer-musician Gary Usher and songwriter-disc jockey Roger Christian.

Wilson then co-wrote "Surf City" in 1963 for Jan and Dean, and it spent two weeks at the top of the Billboard top 100 chart in July 1963. In the wake of the Beach Boys' success, many singles by new surfing and hot rod groups were produced by Los Angeles groups. Himes notes: "Most of these weren't real groups; they were just a singer or two backed by the same floating pool of session musicians: often including Glen Campbell, Hal Blaine and Bruce Johnston. If a single happened to click, a group would be hastily assembled and sent out on tour. It was an odd blend of amateurism and professionalism." One-hit wonders included Bruce & Terry with "Summer Means Fun", the Rivieras with "California Sun", Ronny & the Daytonas with "G.T.O.", and the Rip Chords with "Hey Little Cobra". The latter two hits both reached the top ten, but the only other act to achieve sustained success with the formula was Jan & Dean. Hot rod group the Fantastic Baggys wrote many songs for Jan and Dean and also performed a few vocals for the duo.

Decline
Like all other rock subgenres of this period, the surf music craze, along with the careers of nearly all surf acts, was effectively ended by the British Invasion beginning in early 1964. Hot rod music also ceased to be prominent that year. The emerging garage rock, folk rock, blues rock and later psychedelic rock genres also contributed to the decline of surf rock. The Beach Boys survived the invasion by diversifying their approach to music. Brian explained to Teen Beat: "We needed to grow. Up to this point we had milked every idea dry ... We had done every possible angle about surfing and then we did the car routine. But we needed to grow artistically." After the decline of surf music, the Beach Boys continued producing a number of hit singles and albums, including the sharply divergent Pet Sounds in 1966. Subsequently, they became the only American rock or pop group that could rival the Beatles. The band only sparingly returned to the hot rod and surfing-themed music, beginning with 1968's "Do It Again".

Influence and revival
Instrumental surf rock style guitar was used in the James Bond Theme of the first Bond film Dr. No in 1962, recorded by Vic Flick with the John Barry Seven. The theme became a signature for Bond films and influenced the music of spy films of the 1960s. Surf music also influenced a number of later rock musicians, including Keith Moon of the Who, East Bay Ray of the Dead Kennedys, and Pixies guitarist Joey Santiago. During the mid-to late 1990s, surf rock experienced a revival with surf acts, including Dick Dale recording once more, partly due to the popularity of the movie Pulp Fiction in 1994, which used Dale's "Misirlou" and other surf rock songs in the soundtrack.

Surf punk
Surf punk is a revival of the original surfing sound combining surf rock with punk rock. It was initiated in the late 1970s and early 1980s by groups and artists such as the Ramones, who released their seminal surf-punk album Rocket To Russia in 1977, featuring a prominent cover of "Surfin' Bird" by The Trashmen (a cover of which as served as The Cramps' debut single in 1978). Other early surf punk artists included Johnny Thunders, who opened his debut solo album So Alone with an instrumental cover of The Chantays' song, "Pipeline"; the Forgotten Rebels from Canada, who released "Surfin' on Heroin" in 1981; and Agent Orange, from Orange County, California, who recorded punk cover versions of surf classics such as "Misirlou", "Mr. Moto", and "Pipeline", with AllMusic's Greg Prato calling the band "influential" and "a step ahead of the rest of the punk/hardcore pack". The genre is related to skate punk, which rose to prominence at the same time in the Orange County beach towns that nurtured the first wave of surf musicians.

Production
Herb Alpert played a part in the genre, producing for Jan & Dean. With Lou Adler, Alpert produced Jan & Dean's first Top Ten single, "Baby Talk". Tony Hilder who owned the Impact label was a prolific surf music producer, whose status as a producer was still recognized many years later. His name as publisher, producer etc., appears on many records, both 45s and albums. If not for the poor crediting on the budget releases his name would have appeared on more. Gary Usher was a producer, arranger and writer. His work included the Surfaris and the Hondells. He also co-wrote "409" and "In My Room", which were hits for the Beach Boys. In later years, Sundazed Records would release the Barefoot Adventure: The 4 Star Sessions 1962-66 compilation album. The notes say  Gary Usher was a primary architect of the sound of the early-sixties West Coast; cars, girls, sun and surf!. Terry Melcher was a producer, noted for his part in shaping the sound of surf music as well as folk. He worked closely with the Beach Boys and was responsible for some of their chart success. Outside Brian Wilson's work with the Beach Boys, one of the acts he produced was Bob & Sheri with their 1962 single, "Surfer Moon".

Los Angeles session musicians, The Wrecking Crew played on many surf music recordings.

title: Surf music


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Loincloth

A loincloth is a one-piece garment, either wrapped around itself or kept in place by a belt. It covers the genitals and sometimes the buttocks. Loincloths which are held up by belts or strings are specifically known as breechcloth or breechclout. Often, the flaps hang down in front and back.

History and types
Loincloths are worn in societies where no other clothing is needed or wanted. Loincloths are commonly used as an undergarment or swimsuit by wrestlers and by farmers in paddy fields in both Sri Lanka and India, where it is called Kovanam in Tamil, ambudaya in Sinhala and kaupinam or langot.

The loincloth, or breechcloth, is a basic form of dress, often worn as the only garment. Men have worn a loincloth as a fundamental piece of clothing which covers their genitals, not the buttocks, in most societies which disapproved of genital nakedness throughout human history. The loincloth is in essence a piece of material, bark-bast, leather, or cloth, passed between the legs and covering the genitals. Despite its functional simplicity, the loincloth comes in many different forms.

The styles in which breechcloths and loincloths can be arranged are myriad. Both the Bornean sirat and the Indian dhoti have fabric pass between the legs to support a man's genitals.

A similar style of loincloth was also characteristic of ancient Mesoamerica. The male inhabitants of the area of modern Mexico wore a wound loincloth of woven fabric. One end of the loincloth was held up, the remainder passed between the thighs, wound about the waist, and secured in back by tucking.

In Pre-Columbian South America, ancient Inca men wore a strip of cloth between their legs held up by strings or tape as a belt. The cloth was secured to the tapes at the back and the front portion hung in front as an apron, always well ornamented. The same garment, mostly in plain cotton but whose aprons are now, like T-shirts, sometimes decorated with logos, is known in Japan as etchu fundoshi.

Some of the culturally diverse Amazonian indigenous still wear an ancestral type of loincloth.

Until World War II, Japanese men wore a loincloth known as a fundoshi. The fundoshi is a 35 cm piece of fabric (cotton or silk) passed between the thighs and secured to cover the genitals.

Australia
Worn by adult males in some Aboriginal cultures. Called naga, narga, nargar (etc) from Yulparija dialect of the Western Desert.

India
Unsewn Kaupinam and its later-era sewn variation langot are traditional clothes in India, worn as underwear in dangal held in akharas especially wrestling, to prevent hernias and hydrocele. Kacchera is mandatory for Sikhs to wear.

Japan
Japanese men and women traditionally wore a loincloth known as a fundoshi. The fundoshi is a 35 cm (14 in.) wide piece of fabric (cotton or silk) passed between the thighs and secured to cover the genitals. There are many ways of tying the fundoshi.

Native American
In most Native American tribes, men used to wear some form of breechcloth, often with leggings. The style differed from tribe to tribe. In many tribes, the flaps hung down in front and back; in others, the breechcloth looped outside the belt and was tucked into the inside, for a more fitted look. Sometimes, the breechcloth was much shorter, and a decorated apron panel was attached in front and behind.

A Native American woman or teenage girl might also wear a fitted breechcloth underneath her skirt, but not as outerwear. However, in many tribes' young girls did wear breechcloths like the boys until they became old enough for skirts and dresses. Among the Mohave people of the American Southwest, a breechcloth given to a young female symbolically recognizes her status as hwame.

Philippines

In the Philippines, loincloths of any sort are generally called bahág. It is often a single, long, rectangular cloth that is not tied with a belt or string and were made from either barkcloth or hand-woven textiles. The design of the weave is often unique to a specific tribe, while colors may denote the wearer’s social rank, such as plain white for commoners.

Throughout the pre-colonial period, the bahág was the normative dress for commoners and the servile class (the alipin caste). It survives today among some indigenous tribes of the Philippines, most notably the various Cordilleran peoples in the mountains of inland northern Luzon.

The bahág was also favoured by the pre-colonial noble (tumao) and warrior (timawa) classes of the Visayan people, as it showed off their elaborate, full-body tattoos (batok) that advertised combat prowess and other significant achievements:

"The principal clothing of the Cebuanos and all the Visayans is the tattooing of which we have already spoken, with which a naked man appears to be dressed in a kind of handsome armor engraved with very fine work, a dress so esteemed by them they take it for their proudest attire, covering their bodies neither more nor less than a Christ crucified, so that although for solemn occasions they have the marlotas (robes) we mentioned, their dress at home and in their barrio is their tattoos and a bahag, as they call that cloth they wrap around their waist, which is the sort the ancient actors and gladiators used in Rome for decency's sake."

One method of wrapping the bahág involves first pulling the long rectangular cloth (usually around 2 to 3 m) in between the legs to cover the genitals, with a longer back flap. This back flap is then twisted across the right leg, then crossed at the waist in an anti-clockwise direction. It then goes under the front flap, then across the left leg. It is twisted back across the back loop, above the buttocks. The result is the two rectangular ends hanging in front of and behind the waist, with a loop around the legs resembling a belt.

The native Tagalog word for "rainbow", bahagharì, literally means "loincloth of the king".

Europe
Some European men around wore leather breechcloths, as can be seen from the clothing of Ötzi. Ancient Romans wore a type of loincloth known as a subligaculum.

The use of breechcloths took on common use by the Metis and Acadians and are mentioned as early as the 1650s. In the 1740s and 50s they were issued to the Canadien as part of their war uniform and in 1755 they even tried to issue them to soldiers from France.

"During their travels across Canada, the French [canadiens] dress as the Indians; they do not wear breeches. Many nations imitate the French customs; yet I observed, on the contrary, that the French in Canada, in many respects, follow the customs of the Indians, with whom they converse everyday. They make use of the tobacco pipes, shoes, garters, and girdles of the Indians." "Those who go to war receive a capot, two cotton shirts, one breechclout, one pair of leggings, one blanket, one pair of souliers de boeuf, a wood-handled knife, a worm and a musket when they do not bring any. The breechclout is a piece of broadcloth draped between the thighs in the Native manner and with the two ends held by a belt. One wears it without breeches to walk more easily in the woods." "During the week the men went about in their homes dressed much like the Indians, namely, in stockings and shoes like theirs, with garters, and a girdle about the waist; otherwise the clothing was like that of other Frenchmen." "The French familiarized themselves with us, Studied our Tongue, and Manners, wore our Dress, Married our Daughters, and our Sons their Maids"

title: Loincloth