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English National Opera

English National Opera (ENO) is a British opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with The Royal Opera. ENO's productions are sung in English.

The company's origins were in the late 19th century, when the philanthropist Emma Cons, later assisted by her niece Lilian Baylis, presented theatrical and operatic performances at the Old Vic, for the benefit of local people. Baylis subsequently built up both the opera and the theatre companies, and later added a ballet company; these evolved into the ENO, the Royal National Theatre and The Royal Ballet, respectively.

Baylis acquired and rebuilt the Sadler's Wells theatre in north London, a larger house, better suited to opera than the Old Vic. The opera company grew there into a permanent ensemble in the 1930s. During the Second World War, the theatre was closed and the company toured British towns and cities. After the war, the company returned to its home, but it continued to expand and improve. By the 1960s, a larger theatre was needed. In 1968, the company moved to the London Coliseum and adopted its present name in 1974.

Among the conductors associated with the company have been Colin Davis, Reginald Goodall, Charles Mackerras, Mark Elder and Edward Gardner. The current music director of the ENO is Martyn Brabbins. Noted directors who have staged productions at the ENO have included David Pountney, Jonathan Miller, Nicholas Hytner, Phyllida Lloyd and Calixto Bieito. The ENO's current artistic director is Annilese Miskimmon. In addition to the core operatic repertoire, the company has presented a wide range of works, from early operas by Monteverdi to new commissions, operetta and Broadway shows.

Foundations
In 1889, Emma Cons, a Victorian philanthropist who ran the Old Vic theatre in a working-class area of London, began presenting regular fortnightly performances of opera excerpts. Although the theatre licensing laws of the day prevented full costumed performances, Cons presented condensed versions of well-known operas, always sung in English. Among the performers were noted singers such as Charles Santley. These operatic evenings quickly became more popular than the dramas that Cons had been staging separately. In 1898, she recruited her niece Lilian Baylis to help run the theatre. At the same time she appointed Charles Corri as the Old Vic's musical director. Baylis and Corri, despite many disagreements, shared a passionate belief in popularising opera, hitherto generally the preserve of the rich and fashionable. They worked on a tiny budget, with an amateur chorus and a professional orchestra of only 18 players, for whom Corri rescored the instrumental parts of the operas. By the early years of the 20th century, the Old Vic was able to present semi-staged versions of Wagner operas.

Emma Cons died in 1912, leaving her estate, including the Old Vic, to Baylis, who dreamed of transforming the theatre into a "people's opera house". In the same year, Baylis obtained a licence to allow the Old Vic to stage full performances of operas. In the 1914–1915 season, Baylis staged 16 operas and 16 plays (13 of which were by Shakespeare). In the years after the First World War, Baylis's Shakespeare productions, which featured some of the leading actors from London's West End, attracted national attention, as her shoe-string opera productions did not. The opera, however, remained her first priority. The actor-manager Robert Atkins, who worked closely with Baylis on her Shakespearean productions, recalled, "Opera, on Thursday and Saturday nights, played to bulging houses."

Vic-Wells
By the 1920s, Baylis concluded that the Old Vic no longer sufficed to house both her theatre and her opera companies. She noticed the empty and derelict Sadler's Wells theatre in Rosebery Avenue, Islington, on the other side of London from the Old Vic. She sought to run it in tandem with her existing theatre.

Baylis made a public appeal for funds in 1925. With the help of the Carnegie Trust and many others, she acquired the freehold of Sadler's Wells. Work started on the site in 1926. By Christmas 1930, a completely new 1,640-seat theatre was ready for occupation. The first production there, a fortnight's run from 6 January 1931, was Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. The first opera, given on 20 January, was Carmen. Eighteen operas were staged during the first season.

The new theatre was more expensive to run than the Old Vic, as a larger orchestra and more singers were needed, and box office receipts were at first inadequate. In 1932, the Birmingham Post commented that the Vic-Wells opera performances did not reach the standards of the Vic-Wells Shakespeare productions. Baylis strove to improve operatic standards, while at the same time fending off attempts by Sir Thomas Beecham to absorb the opera company into a joint enterprise with Covent Garden, where he was in command. At first, the apparent financial security of the offer appeared attractive, but friends and advisers such as Edward J. Dent and Clive Carey convinced Bayliss that it was not in the interests of her regular audience. This view received strong support from the press; The Times wrote:

"The Old Vic began by offering opera of some sort to people who hardly knew what the word meant ... under a wise, fostering guidance it has gradually worked upwards ...Any kind of amalgamation which made it the poor relation of the 'Grand' season would be disastrous."

At first, Baylis presented both drama and opera at each of her theatres. The companies were known as the "Vic-Wells". However, for both aesthetic and financial reasons, by 1934, the Old Vic had become the home of the spoken drama, while Sadler's Wells housed both the opera and a ballet company, the latter co-founded by Baylis and Ninette de Valois in 1930.

Lawrance Collingwood joined the company as resident conductor alongside Corri. With the increased number of productions, guest conductors were recruited, including Geoffrey Toye and Anthony Collins. The increasing success of the new ballet company helped to subsidise the high cost of opera productions, enabling a further increase in the size of the orchestra, to 48 players. Among the singers in the opera company were Joan Cross and Edith Coates. In the 1930s, the company presented standard repertoire operas by Mozart, Verdi, Wagner and Puccini, lighter works by Balfe, Donizetti, Offenbach and Johann Strauss, some novelties, among which were operas by Holst, Ethel Smyth and Charles Villiers Stanford, and an unusual attempt at staging an oratorio, Mendelssohn's Elijah.

In November 1937, Baylis died of a heart attack. Her three companies continued under the direction of her appointed successors: Tyrone Guthrie at the Old Vic, in overall charge of both theatres, with de Valois running the ballet, and Carey and two colleagues running the opera. In the Second World War, the government requisitioned Sadler's Wells as a refuge for those made homeless by air-raids. Guthrie decided to keep the opera going as a small touring ensemble of 20 performers. Between 1942 and the war's end in 1945, the company toured continuously, visiting 87 venues. Joan Cross led and managed the company, and also sang leading soprano roles in its productions when needed. The size of the company was increased to 50, and then to 80. By 1945, its members included singers from a new generation such as Peter Pears and Owen Brannigan, and the conductor Reginald Goodall.

Sadler's Wells Opera
Both Sadler's Wells and the Royal Opera House had presented no opera or ballet since 1939. The Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts (CEMA), the official government body charged with dispensing the modest public subsidy recently introduced, considered its options on the future of opera in Britain. CEMA concluded that a new Covent Garden company should be established, as a year-round, permanent ensemble, singing in English, instead of the shorter international seasons of pre-war years. This was a potential path to merge the two companies, as the modus operandi of the new Covent Garden company was now similar to that of Sadler's Wells. However, David Webster, who was appointed to run Covent Garden, though keen to secure de Valois' ballet company for Covent Garden, did not want the Sadler's Wells opera company. He considered Sadler's Wells to be a worthy organisation, but also "dowdy" and "stodgy". Even with a policy of singing in English, he believed that he could assemble a better company. The management of Sadler's Wells was unwilling to lose its company's name and tradition. It was agreed that the two companies should remain separate.

Divisions within the company threatened its continued existence. Cross announced her intention to re-open Sadler's Wells theatre with Peter Grimes by Benjamin Britten, with herself and Pears in the leading roles. Many complaints resulted about supposed favouritism and the "cacophony" of Britten's score. Peter Grimes opened in June 1945, to both public and critical acclaim; its box-office takings matched or exceeded those for La bohème and Madame Butterfly, which the company was concurrently staging. However, the rift within the company was irreparable. Cross, Britten and Pears severed their ties with Sadler's Wells in December 1945 and founded the English Opera Group. The departure of the ballet company to Covent Garden two months later deprived Sadler's Wells of an important source of income, as the ballet had been profitable and had since its inception subsidised the opera company.

Clive Carey, who had been in Australia during the war, was brought back to replace Joan Cross and rebuild the company. The critic Philip Hope-Wallace wrote in 1946 that Carey had begun to make a difference, but that Sadler's Wells needed "a big heave to get out of mediocrity". In the same year, The Times Literary Supplement asked whether the Old Vic and Sadler's Wells companies would stick to their old bases, "or shall they boldly embrace the ideal of a National Theatre and a National Opera in English?" Carey left in 1947, replaced in January 1948 by a triumvirate of James Robertson as musical director, Michael Mudie as his assistant conductor and Norman Tucker in charge of administration. From October 1948, Tucker was given sole control. Mudie became ill, and the young Charles Mackerras was appointed to deputise for him.

By 1950 Sadler's Wells was receiving a public subsidy of £40,000 a year, whilst Covent Garden received £145,000. Tucker had to give up the option of staging the premiere of Britten's Billy Budd, for lack of resources. Keen to improve the dramatic aspects of opera production, Tucker engaged eminent theatrical directors including Michel Saint-Denis, George Devine and Glen Byam Shaw worked on Sadler's Wells productions in the 1950s. New repertoire was explored, such as the first British staging of Janáček's Káťa Kabanová, at Mackerras's urging. Standards and company morale were improving. The Manchester Guardian summed up the 1950–51 London opera season as "Excitement at Sadler's Wells: Lack of Distinction at Covent Garden" and judged Sadler's Wells to have moved "into the front rank of opera houses".

The company continued to leave Rosebery Avenue for summer tours to British cities and towns. The Arts Council (successor to CEMA) was sensitive to the charge that since 1945, far fewer opera performances had been given in the provinces. The small Carl Rosa Opera Company toured constantly, but the Covent Garden company visited only those few cities with theatres big enough to accommodate it. In the mid-1950s, renewed calls appeared for a reorganisation of Britain's opera companies. There were proposals for a new home for Sadler's Wells on the South Bank of the Thames near the Royal Festival Hall, which fell through because the government was unwilling to fund the building.

Once again, there was serious talk of merging Covent Garden and Sadler's Wells. The Sadler's Wells board countered by proposing a closer working arrangement with Carl Rosa. When it became clear that this would require the Sadler's Wells company to tour for 30 weeks every year, effectively removing its presence on the London opera scene, Tucker, his deputy Stephen Arlen, and his musical director Alexander Gibson resigned. The proposals were modified, and the three withdrew their resignations. In 1960, the Carl Rosa Company was dissolved. Sadler's Wells took over some of its members and many of its touring dates, setting up "two interchangeable companies of equal standing", one of which played at Sadler's Wells theatre while the other was on the road.

By the late 1950s, Covent Garden was gradually abandoning its policy of productions in the vernacular; such singers as Maria Callas would not relearn their roles in English. This made it easier for Tucker to point up the difference between the two London opera companies. While Covent Garden engaged international stars, Sadler's Wells focused on young British and Commonwealth performers. Colin Davis was appointed musical director in succession to Gibson in 1961. The repertoire continued to mix familiar and unfamiliar operas. Novelties in Davis's time included Pizzetti's Murder in the Cathedral, Stravinsky's Oedipus rex, Richard Rodney Bennett's The Mines of Sulphur and more Janáček. Sadler's Wells's traditional policy of giving all operas in English continued, with only two exceptions: Oedipus rex, which was sung in Latin, and Monteverdi's L'Orfeo, sung in Italian, for reasons not clear to the press. In January 1962, the company gave its first Gilbert and Sullivan opera, Iolanthe, with Margaret Gale in the title role, on the day on which the Savoy operas came out of copyright and the D'Oyly Carte monopoly ended. The production was well received (it was successfully revived for many seasons until 1978) and was followed by a production of The Mikado in May of the same year.

The Islington theatre was by now clearly too small to allow the company to achieve any further growth. A study conducted for the Arts Council reported that in the late 1960s the two Sadler's Wells companies comprised 278 salaried performers and 62 guest singers. The company had experience of playing in a large West End theatre, such as its 1958 sell-out production of The Merry Widow that had transferred to the 2,351-seat London Coliseum for a summer season. Ten years later, the lease of the Coliseum became available. Stephen Arlen, who had succeeded Tucker as managing director, was the primary advocate for moving the company. After intense negotiations and fund-raising, a ten-year lease was signed in 1968. One of the company's last productions at the Islington theatre was Wagner's The Mastersingers, conducted by Goodall in 1968, which 40 years later was described by Gramophone magazine as "legendary". The company left Sadler's Wells with a revival of the work with which it had re-opened the theatre in 1945, Peter Grimes. Its last performance at the Rosebery Avenue theatre was on 15 June 1968.

Coliseum
The company, retaining the title "Sadler's Wells Opera", opened at the Coliseum on 21 August 1968, with a new production of Mozart's Don Giovanni, directed by Sir John Gielgud. Though this production was not well received, the company rapidly established itself with a succession of highly praised productions of other works. Arlen died in January 1972, and was succeeded as managing director by Lord Harewood.

The success of the 1968 Mastersingers was followed in the 1970s by the company's first Ring cycle, conducted by Goodall, with a new translation by Andrew Porter and designs by Ralph Koltai. The cast included Norman Bailey, Rita Hunter and Alberto Remedios. In Harewood's view, among the highlights of the first ten years at the Coliseum were the Ring, Prokofiev's War and Peace, and Richard Strauss's Salome and Der Rosenkavalier. The company's musical director from 1970 to 1977 was Charles Mackerras. Harewood praised his exceptional versatility, with a range "from The House of the Dead to Patience." Among the operas he conducted for the company were Handel's Julius Caesar starring Janet Baker and Valerie Masterson; five Janáček operas; The Marriage of Figaro with pioneering use of 18th century performing style; Massenet's Werther; Donizetti's Mary Stuart with Baker; and Sullivan's Patience. The company took the production of the last to the Vienna Festival in 1975, along with Britten's Gloriana. Sir Charles Groves succeeded Mackerras as musical director from 1978 to 1979, but Groves was unwell and unhappy during his brief tenure. Starting in 1979, Mark Elder succeeded Groves in the post, and described Groves "immensely encouraging and supportive".

A long-standing concern of Arlen and then Harewood was the need to change the company's name to reflect the fact that it was no longer based at Sadler's Wells theatre. Byam Shaw commented "The one major setback the Sadler's Wells Opera Company suffered from its transplant was that unheeding taxi drivers kept on taking their patrons up to Rosebery Avenue".

Harewood considered it an elementary rule that "you must not carry the name of one theatre if you are playing in another one." Covent Garden, protective of its status, objected to the suggestion that the Sadler's Wells company should be called "The British National Opera" or "The National Opera", although neither Scottish Opera nor the Welsh National Opera opposed such a change. Eventually the British government decided the matter, and the title "English National Opera" was approved. The company's board adopted the new name in November 1974. In 1977, in response to demand for more opera productions in English provincial cities, a second company was established. It was based at Leeds in northern England, and was known as ENO North. Under Harewood's guidance, it flourished, and in 1981 it became an independent company, Opera North.

1980–99
In 1982, at Elder's instigation, Harewood appointed David Pountney director of productions. In 1985 Harewood retired, becoming chairman of ENO's board the following year. Peter Jonas succeeded Harewood as managing director. The 1980s leadership team of Elder, Pountney and Jonas became known as the "Powerhouse", initiated a new era of "director's opera". The three of them favoured productions described, contrastingly, by Elder as "groundbreaking, risky, probing and theatrically effective", and by the director Nicholas Hytner as "Euro-bollocks that never has to be comprehensible to anybody but the people sitting out there conceiving." Directors who did not, in Harewood's phrase, "want to splash paint in the face of the public" were sidelined. A 1980s audience survey showed that the two things that ENO audiences most disliked were poor diction and the extremes of "director's opera".

In the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Barry Millington has described the 'Powerhouse' style as "arresting images of dislocated reality, an inexhaustible repertory of stage contrivances, a determination to explore the social and psychological issues latent in the works, and above all an abundant sense of theatricality." As examples, Millington mentioned "Rusalka (1983), with its Edwardian nursery setting and Freudian undertones, and Hansel and Gretel (1987), its dream pantomime peopled by fantasy figures from the children's imagination ... Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District (1987) and Wozzeck (1990) exemplified an approach to production in which grotesque caricature jostles with forceful emotional engagement."

Poor average box-office sales led to a financial crisis, exacerbated by backstage industrial relations problems. After 1983, the company ceased touring to other British venues. Assessing the achievements of the 'Powerhouse' years, Tom Sutcliffe wrote in The Musical Times:

"ENO is not second best to Covent Garden. It is different, more theatrical, less vocal. ... The ENO now follows a policy like Covent Garden's in the early years after the war, when Peter Brook was scandalising the bourgeoisie with his opera stagings. The last two seasons at the ENO have been difficult, or at any rate sentiment has turned against the outgoing regime over the last nine months. Audience figures are well down. ... The presiding genius of the Elder years has, of course, been David Pountney. Not because his productions were all marvellous. Perhaps only a few were. But because, like Elder, he enabled so many other talents to thrive." Productions during the 1980s included the company's first presentations of Pelléas and Mélisande (1981), Parsifal (1986) and Billy Budd (1988). 1980s productions that remained in the repertory for many years included Xerxes directed by Hytner, and Rigoletto and The Mikado directed by Jonathan Miller. In 1984 ENO toured the United States; the travelling company, led by Elder, consisted of 360 people; they performed Gloriana, War and Peace, The Turn of the Screw, Rigoletto and Patience. This was the first British company to be invited to appear at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, where Patience received a standing ovation and Miller's production of Rigoletto, depicting the characters as mafiosi, was greeted with a mixture of enthusiasm and booing. In 1990 ENO was the first major foreign opera company to tour the Soviet Union, performing the Miller production of The Turn of the Screw, Pountney's production of Macbeth, and Hytner's much-revived Xerxes.

The 'Powerhouse' era ended in 1992, when all three of the triumvirate left at the same time. The new general director was Dennis Marks, formerly head of music programmes at the BBC, and the new music director was Sian Edwards. Pountney's post of director of productions was not filled. Marks, inheriting a large financial deficit from his predecessors, worked to restore the company's finances, concentrating on restoring ticket sales to sustainable levels. A new production by Miller of Der Rosenkavalier was a critical and financial success, as was a staging of Massenet's Don Quixote, described by the critic Hugh Canning as "the kind of old-fashioned theatre magic which the hair-shirted Powerhouse regime despised".

Marks was obliged to spend much time and effort in securing the funding for an essential restoration of the Coliseum, a condition on which the ENO had acquired the freehold of the theatre in 1992. At the same time the Arts Council was contemplating a cut in the number of opera performances in London, at the expense of ENO, rather than Covent Garden. By increasing ticket sales in successive years, Marks demonstrated that the Arts Council's proposition was unrealistic. After what The Independent described as "a sustained period of criticism and sniping at the ENO by music critics", Edwards resigned as music director at the end of 1995. Paul Daniel became ENO's next music director. In 1997, Marks resigned. No official reason was announced, but one report stated that he and the ENO board had disagreed about his plans to move the company from the Coliseum to a purpose-built new home. Daniel took over the management of the company until a new general director was appointed.

Daniel inherited from Marks a company thriving artistically and financially. The 1997–1998 season played to 75 per cent capacity and made a surplus of £150,000. Daniel led the campaign against yet another proposal to merge Covent Garden and ENO, which was rapidly abandoned. In 1998 Nicholas Payne, director of opera at Covent Garden, was appointed as ENO's general director. Productions in the 1990s included the company's first stagings of Beatrice and Benedict (1990), Wozzeck (1990), Jenůfa (1994), A Midsummer Night's Dream (1995), Die Soldaten (1996), Doctor Ox's Experiment (1998) and Dialogues of the Carmelites (1999). Co-productions, enabling opera houses to share the costs of joint enterprises, became important in this decade. In 1993 ENO and Welsh National Opera collaborated on productions of Don Pasquale, Ariodante and The Two Widows.

2000–2009
Martin Smith, a millionaire with a finance background, was appointed chairman of the ENO board in 2001. He proved to be an expert fund-raiser, and personally donated £1M to the cost of refurbishing the Coliseum. He and Payne came into conflict over the effect on revenue of the "director's opera" productions that Payne insisted on commissioning. The most extreme case was a production of Don Giovanni directed by Calixto Bieito in 2001, despised by critics and public alike; Michael Kennedy described it as "a new nadir in vulgar abuse of a masterpiece," and other reviewers agreed with him. Payne insisted, "I think it's one of the best things we've done. ... It's exceeded my expectations." In the arts pages of The Financial Times, Martin Hoyle wrote of Payne's "exquisite tunnel vision" and expressed "the concern of those of us who value the true people's opera". Payne remained adamant that opera lovers who came to the ENO for a "nice, pleasant evening ... had come to the wrong place." The differences between Smith and Payne became irreconcilable, and Payne was forced to resign in July 2002.

The successor to Payne was Séan Doran, whose appointment was controversial because he had no experience of running an opera company. He attracted newspaper headlines with unusual operatic events, described by admirers as "unexpected coups" and by detractors as "stunts"; a performance of the third act of The Valkyrie played to 20,000 rock music fans at the Glastonbury Festival. In December 2003, Daniel announced his departure from ENO at the end of his contract in 2005. Oleg Caetani was announced as the next music director, from January 2006.

In 2004, ENO embarked on its second production of Wagner's Ring. After concert performances over the previous three seasons, the four operas of the cycle were staged at the Coliseum in 2004 and 2005 in productions by Phyllida Lloyd, with designs by Richard Hudson, in a new translation by Jeremy Sams. The first instalments of the cycle were criticised as poorly sung and conducted, but by the time Twilight of the Gods was staged in 2005, matters were thought to have improved: "Paul Daniel's command of the score is more authoritative than could have been predicted from his uneven accounts of the previous operas." The production attracted generally bad notices. The four operas were given individual runs, but were never played as a complete cycle.

During the 2000s the company repeated the experiment, previously tried in 1932, of staging oratorios and other choral works as operatic performances. Bach's St. John Passion was given in 2000, followed by Verdi's Requiem (2000), Tippett's A Child of Our Time (2005) and Handel's Jephtha (2005) and Messiah (2009). ENO responded to the increased interest in Handel's operas, staging Alcina (2002), Agrippina (2006) and Partenope (2008). In 2003 the company staged its first production of Berlioz's massive opera The Trojans, with Sarah Connolly as "a supremely eloquent, genuinely tragic Dido".

In 2005, after an internal debate that had been going on since 1991, the ENO announced that surtitles would be introduced at the Coliseum. Surveys had shown that only a quarter of audience members could hear the words clearly. With a few exceptions, including Lesley Garrett and Andrew Shore, ENO singers of the 21st century were considered to have poorer diction than earlier singers such as Masterson and Derek Hammond-Stroud. Harewood and Pountney had been immovably opposed to surtitles, as both believed that opera in English was pointless if it could not be understood. Harewood thought, moreover, that surtitles could undermine the case for a publicly funded opera-in-English company. The editor of Opera magazine, Rodney Milnes, campaigned against surtitles on the grounds that "singers would give up trying to articulate clearly and audiences would cease focusing on the stage". Despite these objections, surtitles were introduced from October 2005.

On 29 November 2005, Doran resigned as artistic director. To replace him, Smith divided the duties between Loretta Tomasi as chief executive and John Berry as artistic director. These elevations from within the organisation were controversial, because they were neither advertised nor cleared at the top level of the Arts Council. Smith received severe press criticism for his action, and in December 2005 he announced his resignation. In the same week, Caetani's appointment as the next ENO music director was cancelled. Berry was at first criticised in the press for his choice of singers for ENO productions, but the appointment of Edward Gardner as music director from 2007 received considerable praise. The Observer commented that Gardner was "widely credited with breathing fresh life into English National Opera".

Attendance figures recovered, with younger audiences attracted by ENO's marketing schemes. The company's finances improved, with £5M in reserve funds in April 2009.

2010–present
Productions in the 2011 season continued the company's traditions of engaging directors with no operatic experience (a well-reviewed The Damnation of Faust staged by Terry Gilliam and set in Nazi Germany) and of drastic reinterpretations (a version of Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream presented by Christopher Alden as a paedophile parable set in a 1950s boys' school, which divided critical opinion). In the 2012–13 season ENO introduced "Opera Undressed" evenings, aimed at attracting new audiences who had thought opera "Too pricey, too pompous, too posh". Operas advertised under this banner were Don Giovanni, La traviata, Michel van der Aa's Sunken Garden (performed at the Barbican) and Philip Glass's The Perfect American.

In January 2014, the ENO announced Gardner's departure as music director at the end of the 2014–15 season, to be succeeded by Mark Wigglesworth. At the time, the ENO had accumulated an £800,000 deficit, exacerbated by reductions in public subsidy; The Times commented that the incoming music director had a reputation for "steely, even abrasive determination" and that he would need it. From late 2014 the company went through a further organisational crisis. The chairman, Martyn Rose, resigned after two years in the post, following irreconcilable differences with Berry. Henriette Götz, the company's executive director, who had a series of public disagreements with Berry, resigned soon after. In February 2015, the Arts Council of England announced the unprecedented step of removing ENO from the national portfolio of 670 arts organisations that receive regular funding, and instead offered "special funding arrangements" because of continuing concerns over ENO's business plan and management. The council recognised that the company was "capable of extraordinary artistic work", but "we have serious concerns about their governance and business model and we expect them to improve or they could face removal of funding." In March 2015 Cressida Pollock, a management consultant, was named the interim CEO of ENO. In July 2015, Berry resigned as artistic director of ENO.

Critical and box-office successes in the company's 2014–2015 season included The Mastersingers, which won an Olivier Award for best new opera production, and  Sweeney Todd, with Bryn Terfel in the title role. New productions announced for 2015–2016 were Tristan and Isolde, with sets by Anish Kapoor; the company's first staging of Norma; and the first London performance for 30 years of  Akhnaten.

In September 2015, Pollock was elevated to formal full-time status as CEO for an additional three years, along with the formalised full appointment of Harry Brünjes as chairman of the ENO. Shortly into his tenure, he expressed his disapproval of proposals by the ENO management for economising measures such as a reduction in the contract of the ENO chorus. On 27 February 2016 the ENO chorus had voted to take industrial action in protest at newly proposed contract reductions, but industrial action was averted on 18 March 2016 after a newly negotiated proposal, at a different level of reduced salary, was reached. In general protest at his view of the situation at ENO, Wigglesworth announced his resignation on 22 March 2016 from the ENO music directorship, effective at the end of the 2015–2016 season.

On 29 April 2016, the ENO appointed Daniel Kramer as its new artistic director, effective 1 August 2016, Kramer's first appointment as director of an opera company. On 21 October 2016, the ENO announced the appointment of Martyn Brabbins as its next music director, with immediate effect, with an initial contract through October 2020. In September 2017, the ENO announced that Pollock is to stand down as its chief executive in June 2018. In March 2018, ENO announced the appointment of Stuart Murphy as its next chief executive, effective 3 April 2018. In April 2019, ENO announced the resignation of Kramer as its artistic director, effective at the end of July 2019. In October 2019, ENO announced the appointment of Annilese Miskimmon as its next artistic director, effective September 2020. In October 2022, ENO announced that Stuart Murphy would leave the company as Chief Executive in September 2023.

In December 2018, ENO started offering free balcony tickets for Under 18s on Saturdays in an attempt to engage more young people with the opera. This scheme was expanded to Under 21s in 2021 to cover performances throughout the week, with free seats in all parts of the audiotorium.

In November 2022, Arts Council England removed ENO from its National Portfolio, effectively cutting its income by £12.5 million a year. ENO initially responded with a statement that it was looking forward to 'creating a new base out of London, potentially in Manchester' in line with suggestions by the Arts Council. ENO later shared a petition to have its funding reinstated and to retain its London base at The London Coliseum. In January 2023, ACE and ENO released a joint statement that funding had been reinstated through to 2024, with an aim to "sustain a programme of work at the ENO’s home the London Coliseum, and at the same time help the ENO start planning for a new base outside London by 2026."

In October 2023, Martyn Brabbins resigned as music director of ENO, with immediate effect, in protest at proposed music personnel reductions to the company's music staff. In December 2023, ENO announced the planned establishment of a "main base" in Greater Manchester by 2029. In May 2024, the company announced the appointment of Jenny Mollica as its next chief executive officer (CEO), with immediate effect. Mollica had served as interim CEO of ENO since August 2023.

Repertoire
The company has aimed to present the standard operatic repertoire, sung in English, and has staged all the major operas of Mozart, Wagner and Puccini, and a wide range of Verdi's operas. Under Mackerras and his successors the Czech repertoire has featured strongly, and a broad range of French and Russian operas has been presented. The company has for decades laid stress on opera as drama, and has avoided operas where vocal display takes precedence over musical and dramatic content. In addition to the operatic staples, ENO has a history of presenting new works, and latterly of commissioning them.

Commissions and premieres
ENO has commissioned more than a dozen operas by composers including Gordon Crosse, Iain Hamilton, Jonathan Harvey, Alfred Schnittke, Gavin Bryars, David Sawer, Asian Dub Foundation and Nico Muhly. The company's best known world premiere was Peter Grimes in 1945. Subsequent world premieres have included The Mines of Sulphur (1965), The Mask of Orpheus (1986), The Silver Tassie (1999), and works by Malcolm Williamson, Iain Hamilton, David Blake, Robin Holloway, Julian Anderson and Stephen Oliver. British stage premieres include operas by Verdi (Simon Boccanegra, 1948), Janáček (Káťa Kabanová, 1951), Stravinsky (Oedipus rex, 1960), Prokofiev (War and Peace, 1972) and Philip Glass (Akhnaten, 1985, among others).

Operetta and musicals
From the beginning, the company interspersed serious opera with lighter works. In the early years the "Irish Ring" (The Bohemian Girl, The Lily of Killarney and Maritana) featured in Old Vic and Sadler's Wells seasons. After the Second World War, the company began to programme operetta, including The Merry Widow (1958), Die Fledermaus (1958), Orpheus in the Underworld (1960), Merrie England (1960), La Vie parisienne (1961), La belle Hélène (1963), and The Gipsy Baron (1964).

The company has produced most of Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas. After the successful Iolanthe and The Mikado in 1962 and Patience in 1969, the last much revived in the UK, the U.S. and on the continent, a second production of The Mikado in 1986 starred the comedian Eric Idle in a black-and-white setting moved to a 1920s English seaside hotel. It has been regularly revived over 25 years. A 1992 production of Princess Ida directed by Ken Russell was a critical and box office disaster, ran briefly, and was not revived. The Pirates of Penzance was produced in 2005. A highly coloured production of The Gondoliers opened in 2006; the press pointed out that the company's diction had declined to the point that the recently introduced surtitles were essential. In 2015 the film director Mike Leigh directed a new production of The Pirates of Penzance; the critical consensus was disappointment that Leigh had chosen one of the supposedly weaker operas in the Savoy canon, Clements, Andrew. "The Pirates of Penzance review", The Guardian, 11 May 2015, p. 14; Christiansen, Rupert. "Mike Leigh's operatic debut is jolly good - but will it pull the crowds?", The Daily Telegraph, 11 May 2015, p. 27; Church, Michael. "Leigh debut is fresh and witty, but it's no Mikado", The Independent, 11 May 2015; and Coghlan, Alexandra. "Do you see me laughing? Mike Leigh’s Pirates of Penzance at the ENO reviewed", The Spectator, 16 May 2015 but the show provided a box-office hit. The cinema live broadcast of the production broke all previous box-office records for UK opera cinema-event releases. Cal McCrystal directed Iolanthe (2018) and H.M.S. Pinafore (2021). The company produced The Yeomen of the Guard in 2022.

From the 1980s the company has experimented with Broadway shows, including Pacific Overtures (1987), Street Scene (1989), On the Town (2005), Kismet (2007), and Candide (2008). In many of ENO's lighter shows, the size of the Coliseum has been a problem, both in putting across pieces written for much more intimate theatres and in selling enough tickets. In 2015 a new business plan for the ENO included making money from a West End musical partnership with the impresarios Michael Grade and Michael Linnit.

Recordings
Recordings of individual scenes and numbers were made by Sadler's Wells singers from the company's earliest days. In 1972 an LP set was issued bringing together many of these recordings, prefaced with a tribute to Lilian Baylis recorded in 1936. Among the singers in the set are Joan Cross, Heddle Nash, Edith Coates, Joan Hammond, Owen Brannigan, Peter Pears, Peter Glossop and Charles Craig. The conductors include Lawrance Collingwood, Reginald Goodall and Michael Mudie.

After the Second World War, the Sadler's Wells company made a 78 r.p.m. set of excerpts from Simon Boccanegra (1949), but made no more recordings until the stereo LP era. In the 1950s and 1960s, the company recorded a series of abridged sets of operas and operettas for EMI, each occupying two LP sides. All were sung in English. The opera sets were Madame Butterfly (1960), Il trovatore (1962), and Hansel and Gretel (1966). The abridged operetta recordings were Die Fledermaus (1959), The Merry Widow (1959), The Land of Smiles (1960), La vie parisienne (1961), Orpheus in the Underworld (1960), Iolanthe (1962), La belle Hélène (1963) and The Gypsy Baron (1965). A complete recording of The Mikado was released in 1962.

Excerpts from the company's Twilight of the Gods were recorded in German under Mackerras (1972) and in English under Goodall (1973). EMI recorded the complete Ring cycle during public performances at the Coliseum between 1973 and 1977. Chandos Records has since reissued the cycle on CD, and also produced the first official release of a live 1968 recording of the company's The Mastersingers, in a 2008 release.

In the CD era, ENO was featured as part of a series of operatic recordings, sung in English, released by Chandos Records. Some were reissues of Sadler's Wells Opera or ENO recordings originally issued by EMI: Mary Stuart (recorded in 1982) and Julius Caesar (1985), both starring Janet Baker, and La traviata (1981), starring Valerie Masterson. Newer recordings, made specifically for the Chandos series, whilst having no official connection with the ENO, featured many past and present members of the company. Conductors include Sir Charles Mackerras, Sir Mark Elder and Paul Daniel. Those in which the chorus and orchestra of the ENO appear are Lulu, The Makropoulos Affair, Werther, Dialogues of the Carmelites, The Barber of Seville, Rigoletto, Ernani, Otello and Falstaff, as well as the live recordings of The Ring and The Mastersingers.

Education
In 1966, under the company's head of design, Margaret Harris, Sadler's Wells Theatre Design Course was founded; it later became Motley Theatre Design Course. ENO Baylis, founded in 1985, is the education department of the ENO; it aims to introduce new audiences to opera and "to deepen and enrich the experience of current audiences in an adventurous, creative and engaging manner." The programme offers training for students and young professionals, and also workshops, commissions, talks and debates, which is now called ENO Engage.

Musical directors

 * Charles Corri (1898–1935)
 * Lawrance Collingwood (chief conductor, 1931–1941, musical director 1941–1946)
 * James Robertson (1946–1954)
 * Alexander Gibson (1957–1959)
 * Colin Davis (1961–1965)
 * Mario Bernardi (1966–1968) and Bryan Balkwill (1966–1969), joint musical directors
 * Charles Mackerras (1970–1977)
 * Sir Charles Groves (1978–1979)

Music directors

 * Mark Elder (1979–1993)
 * Sian Edwards (1993–1995)
 * Paul Daniel (1997–2005)
 * Edward Gardner (2007–2015)
 * Mark Wigglesworth (2015–2016)
 * Martyn Brabbins (2016–2023)

Artistic directors

 * John Berry (2005–2015)
 * Daniel Kramer (2016–2020)
 * Annilese Miskimmon (2020–present)

title: English National Opera


text:
East Coast Greenway

The East Coast Greenway is a 3000 mi pedestrian and bicycle route between Maine and Florida along the East Coast of the United States. The nonprofit East Coast Greenway Alliance was created in 1991 with the goal to use the entire route with off-road, shared-use paths;, over 1000 mi of the route (35%) meets these criteria. In 2020, the Greenway received over 50 million visits.

History
In 1991, a group of cyclists and long-distance trail enthusiasts met in New York City and formed a national non-profit organization, the East Coast Greenway Alliance (ECGA), to plan and promote a greenway linking existing and planned trails into a contiguous "spine route" between Atlantic coast cities.

In summer 1992, the ECGA sent nine cyclists from Boston, New York City, Vermont, and Washington, D.C., on a 30-day "exploratory" cycle tour.

In 1993, tours went along the route to explore options and promote the idea of the greenway. In 1994, the first promotional tour took place from Maine to Washington, D.C. "East Coast Greenway" became a trademark in 1995.

The first five trail segments were designated in 1996. These segments were the Baltimore & Annapolis Trail in Maryland, the Charter Oak Greenway in Connecticut, the Coventry Greenway in Rhode Island, the Farmington Canal Greenway in Connecticut, and the Delaware & Raritan Canal Trail in New Jersey. These trails make up 56 mi of the greenway.

Between 1997 and 2000, about 150 mi of trail segments were designated throughout the region. In 2000, Amtrak became a partner, helping to open access to various parts of the route. Between February and June 2000, the ECG Wave non-motorized relay carried a bottle of seawater from Key West to Canada along the route of the ECG. From 2001 to 2004, another 173 mi were designated, and multiple states stepped in to help finalize their section of the route. This brought in more partnerships with government organizations, such as NJDOT, that would be essential for trail development. In 2003, members of the House of Representatives and the Senate signed letters to President Bush in support of the greenway.

In 2004, seven cyclists rode the entire route, from Key West to Calais, in 55 days. Later that year, the first Maine-to-Florida tour was held; four cyclists completed the event in 52 days, raising $75,000. In the following years, more people would complete the ride outside of ECG events. A 2005 GQ magazine article about a ride by Wil Hylton brought national attention to the greenway.

The entire spine route was finalized and mapped in 2008. The accessibility of the trail expanded with support of the states, and more events were held each year.

In 2020, the route reached over 1000 mi of completed off-road greenway. Efforts to increase the amount of off-road routes are continuing. In 2020 the greenway received over 50 million visits.

On June 25, 2021, the North Carolina General Assembly passed a law adding the state's section of the greenway as its tenth State Trail.

Route
Major cities connected by the spine route are:

Other cities may be connected by an alternate route in some locations.
 * 1) Calais, Maine
 * 2) Bangor, Maine
 * 3) Augusta, Maine
 * 4) Portland, Maine
 * 5) Portsmouth, New Hampshire
 * 6) Newburyport, Massachusetts
 * 7) Boston, Massachusetts
 * 8) Worcester, Massachusetts
 * 9) Providence, Rhode Island
 * 10) Hartford, Connecticut
 * 11) New Haven, Connecticut
 * 12) Bridgeport, Connecticut
 * 13) Norwalk, Connecticut
 * 14) Stamford, Connecticut
 * 15) New Rochelle, New York
 * 16) New York, New York
 * 17) Jersey City, New Jersey
 * 18) Newark, New Jersey
 * 19) New Brunswick, New Jersey
 * 20) Trenton, New Jersey
 * 21) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
 * 22) Wilmington, Delaware
 * 23) Baltimore, Maryland
 * 24) Annapolis, Maryland
 * 25) Washington, District of Columbia
 * 26) Richmond, Virginia
 * 27) Durham, North Carolina
 * 28) Raleigh, North Carolina
 * 29) Fayetteville, North Carolina
 * 30) Wilmington, North Carolina
 * 31) Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
 * 32) Charleston, South Carolina
 * 33) Savannah, Georgia
 * 34) Brunswick, Georgia
 * 35) Jacksonville, Florida
 * 36) St. Augustine, Florida
 * 37) Daytona Beach, Florida
 * 38) Titusville, Florida
 * 39) Melbourne, Florida
 * 40) Fort Pierce, Florida
 * 41) West Palm Beach, Florida
 * 42) Boca Raton, Florida
 * 43) Fort Lauderdale, Florida
 * 44) Miami, Florida
 * 45) Key West, Florida

Active segments
As of 2016, designated trails and locations of the East Coast Greenway include:

Maine
Travelers start in Calais, Maine, at the Canada–US border, and pedal southwest through Ellsworth, where they can stay on the inland spine route through Bangor or veer off along a 150 mi coastal route. The routes rejoin north of Portland, then head on towards Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The route through Maine is 350 mi long, and 39% of that is currently off-road.
 * Calais Waterfront Walkway – Calais
 * Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge Trail – Baring
 * Downeast Sunrise Trail – Washington & Hancock counties
 * Kennebec River Rail Trail – Augusta, Hallowell, Farmingdale, to Gardiner
 * Rotary Centennial Trail – Benton
 * Lewiston Riverside Trail – Lewiston
 * Lisbon Trail – Lisbon
 * Topsham Trail – Topsham
 * Androscoggin River Bicycle Path – Brunswick
 * Beth Condon Memorial Pathway – Yarmouth
 * Martin's Point Bridge – Falmouth to Portland
 * Eastern Promenade/Connector/Back Cove Trail – Portland
 * South Portland Green Belt – South Portland
 * Eastern Trail – Scarborough, Saco, to Old Orchard Beach

New Hampshire
Riders enter the state on the Memorial Bridge in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and follow the coastline to Seabrook and then on to the Massachusetts border. New Hampshire has the shortest portion of the greenway: about 17 mi, all on-road.

Massachusetts
The greenway enters the state near Salisbury, Massachusetts, and heads south towards Boston and then to Waltham. Next, it travels on from Worcester to the Rhode Island border. The route travels along the Charles River and past the birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution.
 * Border to Boston Trail – Salisbury, Newburyport, Wenham, Danvers, to Peabody
 * Peabody Independence Greenway – Peabody
 * Salem Bike Path – Salem
 * Lynn Beach Promenade – Lynn
 * Lynnway Sidepath – Lynn
 * Northern Strand Community Trail – Malden to Everett
 * Everett Bike Path – Everett
 * North Bank Park Path – Boston to Cambridge
 * Charles River Bike Path – Boston, Watertown, Newton, to Waltham
 * Mass Central Rail Trail – Boston to Cambridge
 * Mass Central Rail Trail - Wayside – Weston to Wayland
 * Upper Charles Trail – Holliston to Milford
 * Blackstone River Bikeway – Worcester to Millbury & Uxbridge to Blackstone

Rhode Island
The greenway enters from Massachusetts on the Blackstone River Bikeway and follows the historic Blackstone Canal. It travels down to Pawtucket and then into Providence, where it goes around India Point Park at Narragansett Bay, and then on to Cranston. This 49 mi section of greenway is 52% off-road, with another 30% being developed.
 * Blackstone River Greenway – Woonsocket, Cumberland, to Lincoln
 * East Bay Bike Path – East Providence to Warren
 * Providence Riverwalk in Waterplace Park – Providence
 * Washington Secondary Rail Trail, which combines:
 * Cranston Bike Path – Cranston
 * Warwick Greenway – Warwick
 * West Warwick Greenway – West Warwick
 * Coventry Greenway and Trestle Trail – Coventry

Connecticut
Connecticut has the most rural stretch of trail in the region. It runs through historic mill towns, such as Willimantic, and major cities like Hartford, New Haven, Bridgeport, and Stamford. Users can travel on the Farmington Canal Greenway to get to New Haven from Simsbury and then ride along the Long Island Sound as they exit the state. Currently, 28% of the 198 mi route is off-road, with an additional 28% in development.
 * Moosup Valley State Park Trail – Plainfield
 * Quinebaug River Trail – Killingly
 * Tracy Road Smart Parks Trail – Killingly to Putnam
 * Air Line State Park Trail North – Windham County
 * Veterans Memorial Greenway – Willimantic
 * Hop River State Park Trail - Willimantic to Bolton
 * Charter Oak Greenway – Manchester to East Hartford
 * Founders Bridge Path – Hartford to East Hartford
 * Phoenix Plaza – Hartford
 * Travelers Plaza – Hartford
 * Bushnell Park Path – Hartford
 * Farmington Canal Heritage Trail – Simsbury, Avon, Farmington, Southington, Cheshire, Hamden, to New Haven
 * Savin Rock Trail – West Haven
 * Long Wharf Nature Preserve Trail – New Haven
 * Silver Sands State Park Path – Milford

New York
The New York segments starts in Westchester County and heads south into New York City through the Bronx and Manhattan. The route travels down sections of Broadway and along the Hudson River, which travelers can cross via the George Washington Bridge or by taking a NY Waterway ferry into New Jersey. New York is home to 44 mi of greenway, with 62% of the route, the highest percentage on the greenway, being off-road. In Manhattan, 90% of the trail is off-road. Part of the New York City segment is concurrent with the Empire State Trail, which also goes up the west side of Manhattan but diverges from the East Coast Greenway in the Bronx, heading northward through the state instead of towards Connecticut.
 * Shore Road Greenway – Bronx
 * Pelham Parkway Greenway – Bronx
 * Bronx Park Greenway – Bronx
 * Bronx River Pathway – Bronx
 * Mosholu Parkway Greenway – Bronx
 * Van Cortlandt Park Greenway – Bronx
 * Hudson River Greenway – Manhattan
 * Randall's Island Greenway – Manhattan
 * 103rd Street Footbridge – Manhattan
 * East River Esplanade – Manhattan
 * NY Waterway Ferry – Manhattan to Jersey City, NJ

New Jersey
The New Jersey section of the greenway is accessed from New York across the Hudson River by the George Washington Bridge or ferry, and from Pennsylvania by the Calhoun Street Bridge across the Delaware River. The route travels through Jersey City, Newark, New Brunswick, and Trenton while also traveling through rural areas. New Jersey has the second-highest percentage of off-road trails at 54%.
 * Hudson River Waterfront Walkway – Hudson Waterfront – Fort Lee to Jersey City
 * Local streets – Jersey City
 * Lincoln Park Path – Jersey City
 * Lincoln Highway Hackensack River Bridge and Passaic River Bridge (Wittpenn Bridge, once completed c. 2022)
 * Newark Riverfront Trail – Newark
 * Weequahic Park – Newark
 * Rahway River Parkway – Union County
 * Black Brook Park Path – Kenilworth
 * Lenape Park Path – Union County
 * Nomahegan Park Path – Cranford
 * Roosevelt Park Path – Metuchen
 * Merrill Park Path – Middlesex County
 * Middlesex Greenway – Middlesex County
 * Donaldson Park Path – Middlesex County
 * Johnson Park Path – Piscataway
 * Landing Lane Bridge Path – Piscataway & New Brunswick
 * D&R Canal Trail – New Brunswick & Trenton
 * D&R Canal Towpath – Hamilton & Bordentown
 * Calhoun Street Bridge – Trenton, New Jersey, to Morrisville, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania
The greenway travels through the smaller towns of Bucks County, then through the city of Philadelphia, where it passes numerous historical landmarks and travels over Spring Garden Street, which has bike lanes going both ways. The route follows the Schuylkill River Trail south towards Delaware. The 67 mi route is 31% off-road, but there is a third of the trail that has no route yet. Planning is being done to close the gaps.
 * Delaware Canal State Park Trail – Bucks County
 * Bristol Spur Line Park Trail – Bristol
 * Pennypack Creek Park Trail – Philadelphia
 * Port Richmond Trail – Philadelphia
 * K&T Trail at Lardner's Point Park – Philadelphia
 * Penn Street Trail – Philadelphia
 * Schuylkill River Trail – Philadelphia
 * Bartram's Gardens Trail – Philadelphia
 * Grays Ferry Crescent – Philadelphia
 * Cobbs Creek Trail – Philadelphia
 * 58th Street Connector – Philadelphia
 * Heinz NWR Trail – Philadelphia
 * Route 291 Sidepath – Eddystone
 * Chester Riverwalk – Chester

Delaware
The greenway runs for 43 mi through Delaware. Greenway users travel down the Northern Delaware Greenway to historic Wilmington and continue on to the Christina Riverwalk. Next, travelers head to historic New Castle and ride along the New Castle Riverfront before reaching Newark and heading west towards Maryland.
 * Northern Delaware Greenway – New Castle County
 * Christina Riverwalk – Wilmington
 * Jack A. Markell Trail – New Castle
 * New Castle Riverfront Greenway – New Castle
 * Penn Farm Trail – New Castle
 * Churchmans Road sidepath – New Castle County
 * Delaware Route 4 sidepath – New Castle County
 * Library Road sidepath – Newark
 * James F. Hall Trail – Newark

Maryland
The route starts in Elkton, Maryland, and heads west to Perryville and the Susquehanna River. Travelers pass the Perry Point VA Medical Center and have great views of the Chesapeake Bay. They cross the Susquehanna at the Thomas J. Hatem Memorial Bridge, but they are limited to crossing between dawn and dusk on weekends, holidays, and special events that have been arranged in advance, and they must be at least 18 years old or have a valid driver's license. Havre de Grace is after the bridge, followed by Harford County, Monkton, and Cockeysville. Next, riders travel south through Baltimore and then on to Annapolis before finishing the 166 mi stretch of greenway in Hyattsville and entering Washington, D.C. About 32 percent of the route is off-road.
 * Torrey C. Brown Rail Trail – MD border to Ashland (Cockeysville)
 * Jones Falls Trail – Baltimore
 * Gwynns Falls Trail – Baltimore
 * BWI Trail – BWI Airport
 * Baltimore & Annapolis Trail – Glen Burnie to Annapolis
 * Colonial Annapolis Maritime Trail System – Annapolis
 * South Shore Trail – Anne Arundel County
 * Odenton Road Bicycle Path – Odenton
 * Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis Trail – Anne Arundel County
 * Anacostia Tributary Trail System – Prince George's County

District of Columbia
The trail splits in Bladensburg, Maryland, just before it reaches Washington, D.C. Travelers can follow the Metropolitan Branch Trail, which runs past Washington Union Station, or the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail, which follows the Anacostia River past the Washington Navy Yard. The two trails rejoin at the National Mall, the ECG's official midpoint, then head for Virginia via the Arlington Memorial Bridge over the Potomac River. Just under half of the 8 mi segment through the District is off-road; the downtown area offers no off-road option.
 * Metropolitan Branch Trail
 * Anacostia Riverwalk Trail
 * National Mall Path

Virginia
Leaving Washington, D.C., travelers pick up the Mount Vernon Trail to Mount Vernon, head towards Fredericksburg on the Potomac Heritage Trail, and continue on to the state capital of Richmond. At this point, the greenway splits: the 300 mi spine route (16% off-road) continues southwest to the Piedmont region of North Carolina. The alternate route, the 140 mi Historic Coastal Route (46% off-road), travels southeast through Jamestown and Williamsburg, then towards Wilmington, North Carolina.
 * Mount Vernon Trail – Arlington Memorial Bridge, Washington, D.C., to Mount Vernon
 * Silverbrook Road Multi-use Trail – Fairfax County
 * Ox Road Multi-use Trail – Fairfax County
 * Richmond Highway Multi-use Trail – Fairfax County
 * Telegraph Road Multi-use Trail – Fairfax County
 * Fairfax County Parkway Multi-use Trail – Fairfax County
 * Grist Mill Park Multi-use Trail – Fairfax County
 * Virginia Central Railway Trail – Fredericksburg
 * Ashland Railside Park Trail – Ashland
 * Cannon Creek Greenway – Cannon Creek Greenway
 * Belle Isle Bridge – Richmond
 * Belle Isle Trail – Richmond
 * Lower Appomattox River Trail – Petersburg
 * Tobacco Heritage Trail – Lawrenceville, La Crosse, to Brodnax
 * Virginia Capital Trail – Richmond to Williamsburg

North Carolina
The Greenway's spine route travels south through rural North Carolina into the Research Triangle Region, passing through Durham, Raleigh, and Cary. This section is on the American Tobacco Trail, which runs past the East Coast Greenway Alliance Headquarters in Durham. The route continues southwest through the Sandhills region and into Fayetteville before following the Cape Fear River into Wilmington and traveling along the coast. Alternatively, the Historic Coast Route, entering from southeastern Virginia, moves onto the Dismal Swamp Canal Trail and follows the coast down through Greenville and Jacksonville before reaching Wilmington where the routes connect. The 372 mi spine route is 25% off-road at this time. The state designated the greenway as a part of its State Trail System.
 * Ellerbe Creek Trail – Durham
 * South Ellerbee Creek Trail – Durham
 * Downtown Trail – Durham
 * American Tobacco Trail – Durham County, Chatham County, to Wake County
 * Black Creek Greenway – Cary
 * White Oak Greenway – Cary, Apex
 * Umstead State Park Trail – Wake County
 * Reedy Creek Greenway – Raleigh
 * Walnut Creek Trail – Raleigh
 * Rocky Branch Trail – Raleigh
 * Pullen Park Trail – Raleigh
 * Little Rock Trail – Raleigh
 * Lower Walnut Creek Trail – Raleigh
 * Chavis Way Sidepath – Raleigh
 * Central Raleigh Trail – Raleigh
 * Neuse River Trail – Raleigh & Clayton
 * Buffalo Creek Greenway – Smithfield
 * Dunn-Erwin Trail – Dunn & Erwin
 * South Tar River Greenway - Greenville
 * Cape Fear River Trail – Fayetteville
 * Jacksonville Rail-Trail – Jacksonville
 * Greenfield Lake Path – Wilmington
 * Wilmington Riverwalk – Wilmington
 * Cross-City Greenway – Wilmington
 * Dismal Swamp Canal Trail – South Mills
 * Carolina Beach Greenway – Carolina Beach
 * North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher Trail – Kure Beach
 * Southport to Fort Fisher Ferry
 * Emerald Path – Emerald Isle

South Carolina
The 270 mi trail travels along South Carolina's coast through Myrtle Beach, Georgetown, Charleston, and Beaufort. The route is 15% off-road, with 20% more in development.
 * North Myrtle Beach Greenway, Barefoot Resort Segment – North Myrtle Beach
 * Colonel Robert Bell Pass Trail – Myrtle Beach
 * Grissom Parkway Trail – Myrtle Beach
 * Harrelson Boulevard Trail – Myrtle Beach
 * King's Highway Trail – Myrtle Beach
 * Waccamaw Neck Bikeway – Litchfield, Murrells Inlet, to Pawleys Island
 * Ben Sawyer Boulevard Sidepath – Mount Pleasant to Sullivan's Island
 * Garret P. Wonders Memorial Bike/Ped Lane – Charleston to Mount Pleasant
 * East Bay Trail – Charleston
 * West Ashley Greenway – Charleston
 * New River Trail – Bluffton

Georgia
Greenway riders in Georgia will use the Coastal Georgia Greenway to travel from South Carolina to Florida. The route travels through Savannah, Richmond Hill, Midway, Riceboro, Darien, Brunswick, Woodbine, Kingsland, and St. Marys. The 160 mi route is only 6% off-road but has another 14% in development. There are 41 mi of gaps, but efforts are being made to connect the route.
 * Belles Ferry – Savannah
 * Tom Triplett Park Trail – Savannah
 * Chief Of Love Trail – Chatham County
 * Canebrake Road Sidepath – Chatham County
 * Highlander Trail – Darien
 * Marshes of Glynn Trail – Brunswick
 * White Oak Trail – White Oak
 * Woobine Riverwalk – Woodbine
 * St. Mary's Downtown Trail – St. Marys

Florida
The Florida section of the ECG starts in Fernandina Beach and travels south along the coast through small beach towns and major cities, such as Jacksonville and Miami. The route continues down through islands and bridges to the southernmost point of the continental United States, Key West. This segment of greenway is 600 mi long, the longest of the ECG, and is 31% off-road. There is another 13% in development and another 38% in public control and is to be developed. There are some gaps.
 * Amelia Island Trail – Nassau County
 * River to Sea Trail – Flagler County
 * Jacksonville North Bank Riverwalk – Jacksonville
 * St. Johns River Ferry – Ft. George to Mayport
 * Timucuan Trail – Jacksonville
 * Palatka–St. Augustine State Trail – St. Johns County
 * Mickler Trail – St. Augustine Beach
 * Halifax River Trail – Holly Hill to Daytona Beach
 * Spring-to-Spring Trail – Volusia County
 * East Coast Central Regional Rail Trail – Volusia County
 * A1A Sidepath – Brevard County
 * Prima Vista Blvd Sidepath – St. Lucie County
 * Walton Rd Sidepath – St. Lucie County
 * Green River Parkway Trail – Martin County to Port St. Lucie
 * Seabranch Trail – Martin County
 * Jupiter Riverwalk – Jupiter
 * West Palm Beach Trail – West Palm Beach
 * A1A Sidepath – Boca Raton
 * Hollywood Broadwalk – Hollywood
 * Atlantic Greenway – Miami Beach
 * M Path Trail / The Underline – Miami-Dade County
 * South Dade Rail Trail – Miami-Dade County
 * Overseas Heritage Trail – Key Largo to Key West

East Coast Greenway Alliance
The East Coast Greenway Alliance (ECGA) is a nonprofit organization that oversees, but does not own, the greenway. The Alliance is based in Durham, North Carolina, next to the American Tobacco Trail. Six Greenway coordinators work remotely in their regions.

The Alliance coordinates the Greenway's growth by working with local, state, regional, and national organizations and agencies. The Alliance is in charge of designating new trail segments and finding routes for the greenway, posting signs designating the path, spreading awareness of the project, and providing maps and information about the greenway.

ECGA advocates for safe access to bike paths on roadways and bridges, as well as convenient access to public transportation for cyclists. In addition, the Alliance promotes the use of alternate transportation, such as use of greenways.

Awards

 * Named one of the National Millennium Trails by the White House in 1999
 * Kodak American Greenway Award in 1999 by The Conservation Fund in Washington, DC, by the National Geographic Society
 * GoSmart Golden Modes Community Impact Award in 2015
 * GSK IMPACT Award in 2015
 * Bicycle Friendly Business for 2016 – 2020 by the League of American Bicyclists

title: East Coast Greenway


text:
Pringles

Pringles is an American brand of stackable potato-based chips invented by Procter & Gamble (P&G) in 1968 and marketed as "Pringle's Newfangled Potato Chips". It is technically considered an extruded snack because of the manufacturing process. The brand was sold in 2012 to Kellogg's.

Pringles were sold in more than 140 countries. In 2012, Pringles were the fourth most popular snack brand after Lay's, Doritos, and Cheetos (all manufactured by Frito-Lay), with 2.2% market share globally.

History
In 1956, Procter & Gamble assigned a task to chemist Fredric J. Baur (1918–2008): to develop a new kind of potato chip to address consumer complaints about broken, greasy, and stale chips, as well as air in the bags. Baur spent two years developing saddle-shaped chips from fried dough, and selected a tubular can as the chips' container. The saddle-shape of Pringles chips is mathematically known as a hyperbolic paraboloid. However, Baur could not figure out how to make the chips palatable, and was pulled off the task to work on another brand.

In the mid-1960s another P&G researcher, Alexander Liepa of Montgomery, Ohio, restarted Baur's work and succeeded in improving the taste. Although Baur designed the shape of the Pringles chip, Liepa's name is on the patent. Gene Wolfe, a mechanical engineer and author known for science fiction and fantasy novels, helped develop the machine that cooked them.

In 1968, P&G first marketed Pringles in Indiana. The earliest mention in an advertisement was on October 3, 1968, where a newspaper in Evansville, Indiana advertised "Pringle Potato Chips" as being "New at Kroger". Afterward, they were gradually distributed around the rest of the country and by 1975, were available across most of the US. By 1991, Pringles were distributed internationally.

There are several theories behind the origin of the product's name. One theory refers to Mark Pringle, who filed a US Patent 2,286,644 titled "Method and Apparatus for Processing Potatoes" on March 5, 1937. Pringle's work was cited by P&G in filing their own patent for improving the taste of dehydrated processed potatoes. Another theory suggests that two Procter advertising employees lived on Pringle Drive in Finneytown (north of Cincinnati, Ohio), and the name paired well with "potato chips". Another theory says that P&G chose the Pringles name from a Cincinnati telephone book. Another source says that the name Pringles was "chosen out of a hat" to promote a family name appeal.

The product was originally known as Pringle's Newfangled Potato Chips, but other snack manufacturers objected, saying Pringles failed to meet the definition of a potato "chip" since they were made from a potato-based dough rather than being sliced from potatoes like "real" potato chips. The US Food and Drug Administration weighed in on the matter, and in 1975 they ruled Pringles could only use the word "chip" in their product name within the phrase: "potato chips made from dried potatoes". Faced with such a lengthy and unpalatable appellation, Pringles eventually renamed their product potato "crisps", instead of chips.

In July 2008, in the London High Court, P&G lawyers successfully argued that Pringles were not crisps even though labelled "Potato Crisps" on the container as the potato content was only 42% and their shape, P&G stated, "is not found in nature". This ruling, against a United Kingdom value added tax (VAT) and Duties Tribunal decision to the contrary, exempted Pringles from the then 17.5% VAT for potato crisps and potato-derived snacks. In May 2009, the Court of Appeal reversed the earlier decision. A spokesman for P&G stated it had been paying the VAT proactively and owed no back taxes.

In April 2011, P&G agreed to the US$2.35 billion sale of the brand to Diamond Foods of California, a deal which would have more than tripled the size of Diamond's snack business. However, the deal fell through in February 2012 after a year-long delay due to issues over Diamond's accounts. On May 31, 2012, Kellogg's officially acquired Pringles for $2.695 billion as part of a plan to grow its international snacks business. The acquisition of Pringles makes Kellogg the second-largest snack company in the world.

As of 2015, there are five Pringles factories worldwide: in Jackson, Tennessee; Mechelen, Belgium; Johor, Malaysia; Kutno, Poland; and Fujian, China.

Ingredients
Pringles have about 42% potato content, the remainder being wheat starch and flours (corn and rice) combined with vegetable oils, an emulsifier, salt, and seasoning. Other ingredients can include sweeteners such as maltodextrin and dextrose, monosodium glutamate (MSG), disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate, sodium caseinate, modified food starch, monoglyceride and diglyceride, autolyzed yeast extract, natural and artificial flavorings, malted barley flour, wheat bran, dried black beans, sour cream, cheddar cheese, etc.; Pringles varieties vary in their ingredients.

Pringles also produces several "tortilla" and "multi-grain" varieties which have some of their base starch ingredients replaced with corn flour, rice, wheat bran, black beans, and barley flour. At one point in the early 1990s, "Corn Pringles" were available; the canister was black and had cartoon images of corn. The chips were made of corn and resembled a corn chip in flavor and texture. Rice Pringles were also available in the UK although they have since been discontinued.

Nutrition
One serving of about 16 Pringles (Original flavor) contains 150 kilocalories, 2.5 g of saturated fat, 150 mg of sodium, 110 mg of potassium, and 1 g of protein.

Flavors
Pringles are available in several flavors. Until the 1980s, only the original flavor was available in the US. Standard flavors in the US include original, salt and vinegar, sour cream and onion, cheddar cheese, ranch dressing, barbecue, hot and spicy, and loaded baked potato. Some flavors are distributed only to limited market areas; for example, prawn cocktail, wasabi, and curry flavors have been available in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.

Occasionally, P&G has produced limited edition runs. Seasonal flavors, past and present, include ketchup, zesty lime and chili, chili cheese dog, "pizzalicious", paprika, Texas BBQ sauce, buffalo wing, and cajun. A "low-fat" variety was also sold. Examples of limited edition flavors include jalapeño, honey mustard, cheesy fries, onion blossom, mozzarella cheese stick, screamin' dill pickle, and Mexican-layered dip. In 2012, the seasonal flavors "peppermint white chocolate", cinnamon sugar, and "pumpkin pie spice" were introduced. Other examples of limited runs only in certain parts of the world include mozzarella stick with marinara in North America and jalapeño in Latin America, also soft-shelled crab, grilled shrimp, seaweed, "blueberry and hazelnut", and "lemon and sesame" in Asia in early 2010s. The grilled shrimp chips are pink in color, while seaweed is colored green.

Two limited-market flavors, cheeseburger and "Taco Night", were recalled in March 2010 as a safety precaution after Salmonella was found in a Basic Food Flavors plant which produced the flavor-enhancing hydrolyzed vegetable protein used in those flavors.

Marketing
Pringles is advertised in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and Ireland with the slogan "Once you pop, the fun don't stop" along with the original slogan "Once you pop, you can't stop!"

The original Pringles television commercials were written, produced and directed by Thomas Scott Cadden (composer of the original Mr. Clean jingle) in 1968, while working at Tatham-Laird and Kudner Advertising Agency in Chicago.

Throughout its history, Pringles used its print and television advertising campaigns to compare their products to conventional potato chips. In its early years, they were marketed as "Pringles Newfangled Potato Chips" and had a small silver pull-top to open the can. Unlike the current advertising, they only mentioned that, with their pull-top cans (which have been replaced with foil tops since the late 1980s), their chips remain fresh and unbroken, the can holds as many chips as a typical large bag, and their curvy shape allows them to be stackable; thus inspiring the slogan, "Other potato chips just don't stack up."

By the 1980s, the company launched the "Pringle Jingle", whose lyrics were "Once you taste the flavor ("It's a deep-fried taste!"), then you get the fever ("With a crispy crunch!"), then you've got the fever for the flavor of a Pringle!"

Beginning in the late 1990s and continuing today, Pringles advertising has returned to comparing their product to bagged chips, which they view as greasy and broken. In a typical ad, a group of people are enjoying Pringles, while a lone person is eating a bag of generic potato chips (the bags themselves resemble either Lay's or Ruffles, depending on the Pringles variety marketed in the ad). They dump out some broken potato chips into their hand, only to find they are greasy, and end up wiping the grease on their clothing.

Pringles, as a product brand, is especially known for its packaging, a tubular paperboard can with a foil-lined interior (until the 1980s, the cans also contained a removable pleated paper liner which held the chips in place) and a resealable plastic lid, which was invented by Fredric J. Baur, an organic chemist and food storage technician who specialized in research and development and quality control for Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble. Baur's children honored his request to bury him in one of the cans by placing part of his cremated remains in a Pringles container in his grave.

The can has been criticized for being difficult to recycle due to the multiple materials used in its construction.

In 2013, Lucasfilm and Pringles jointly commissioned crowdsourcing video studio Tongal for a commercial, with a total of $75,000 in prize money distributed to seven finalists.

In January 2021, a Pringles campaign took the character Frank out of the Raw Fury video game West of Dead in a live Twitch stream. Leahviathan, a gaming influencer, was playing the game and Frank reached through the screen, entered the real world and interacted with players.

The aerodynamics of Pringles chips (as well as other consumer products) have been optimized for food processing using supercomputers. Kellogg's has used this fact in a 2022 Pringles advertisement campaign.

Julius Pringles
The Pringles logo is a stylized cartoon caricature of the head of a male figure (officially known as "Julius Pringles" or abbreviated as "Mr. P" ) designed by Louis R. Dixon, with a large mustache and parted bangs (until 2001, the character had eyebrows and his bow tie framed the product name; in 1998, the bangs and lips were removed from the logo, and his head was widened a little). In 2020, the character was again revised with a minimalistic approach.

The mascot's name originated with a Wikipedia hoax; in 2006, an editor inserted the then-hoax "Julius" into the Pringles Wikipedia article, which was subsequently picked up by other news outlets. The editors supported and promoted their claim through creating a Facebook page to raise awareness of Julius Pringles being his name. Prior to this the mascot was officially known only as "Mr. P", no first name. By 2013, the name had spread and in a case of citogenesis-turned-real, Kellogg formally acknowledged Julius Pringles.

title: Pringles


text:
Theodor Wulf

Theodor Wulf (28 July 1868 – 19 June 1946) was a German physicist and Jesuit priest who was one of the first experimenters to detect excess atmospheric radiation.

Theodor Wulf became a Jesuit priest at the age of 20, before studying physics with Walther Nernst at the University of Göttingen. He taught physics at Valkenburg, a Jesuit University from 1904 to 1914 and 1918-1935. He designed and built an electrometer which could detect the presence of energetic charged particles (or electromagnetic waves). Since natural radiation sources on the ground were detected by his electrometer, he predicted that if he moved far enough away from those sources he would detect less radiation.

To test his hypothesis, in 1910 he compared the radiation at the bottom and the top of the Eiffel Tower. He found that the ionisation fell from 6 ions cm−3 to 3.5 ions cm−3 as he ascended the Eiffel Tower (330m). If the ionisation had been due to γ-rays originating at the surface of the Earth, the intensity of ions should have halved in 80m. Energy was coming from outside the Earth's atmosphere and being detected by his device; this radiation was from cosmic rays. He published a paper in Physikalische Zeitschrift detailing the results of his four days of observation on the Eiffel Tower. His results were not initially accepted.

Publications

 * Uber den Einfluss des Druckes auf die elektromotorische Kraft der Gaselektroden. Physikalische Zeitschrift Chemie
 * About the radiation of high penetration capacity contained in the atmosphere. Physikalische Zeitschrift
 * Einstein's relativity theory, 1921.
 * Text book of physics, 1926.
 * Electrostatic attempts with application of the universal electroscope, 1928.
 * The oscillatory movement, 1931.
 * The Thread Electrometers, 1933.
 * The Components of the Body World, 1935.

title: Theodor Wulf


text:
Legendary Stardust Cowboy

Norman Carl Odam (born September 5, 1947, in Lubbock, Texas), known professionally as the Legendary Stardust Cowboy, is an outsider performer who is considered one of the pioneers of the genre that came to be known as psychobilly in the 1960s.

Early life
Odam was interested in space travel from early childhood, recalling that at kindergarten age he "used to look at the moon and [tell himself] that some day man will go to the moon." As a teenager he combined his interests in outer space and the American west to create the name "Stardust Cowboy", adding the word "legendary" because "I am a legend in my own time." The fact that the initials of "Legendary Star Dust", LSD, referred to a popular drug at the time was coincidental; he claims to have adopted the name in 1961, before the drug was popularized.

Odam took up music in his high school years as a means toward popularity and impressing girls. Inspired by Chet Atkins, he learned guitar and also taught himself to play the bugle. After high school he briefly attended college, majoring in electronics.

"Paralyzed"
While in college Odam had the idea of "writing a wild song that would captivate everybody." This led to his writing of a song, "Paralyzed", which he performed at local talent contests. He recorded "Paralyzed" in 1968 in what was apparently a moment of spare time in a recording studio in Fort Worth, Texas. He played dobro and bugle, while T-Bone Burnett played drums. The track features unintelligible snarls, growls, and similar vocalisms, surrounded by frantic strumming on acoustic guitar, Burnett's equally frantic drumming, and occasional slurred yelps of the song's title, "Paralyzed!" The words that are uttered change with each performance, and are occasionally somewhat intelligible; the song's main storyline centers on Odam's unrequited love for a real-life "beautiful cheerleader from Lubbock."

Five hundred copies of the single were initially pressed and were released on Odam's own Psycho-Suave label. The song gained some regional popularity and was picked up by a major label, Mercury Records. The song's popularity earned "the Ledge" (as he is known by fans) an appearance on NBC's Rowan and Martin's Laugh-in comedy television series, in which he dressed in his trademark buckskin jacket, boots and spurs, and ten-gallon hat. He performed "Paralyzed" and its B-side, "Who’s Knocking On My Door". During the latter song the Laugh-In cast began cavorting and clowning around him. The Ledge, in his words, "got mad and ran off the set. That wasn't part of the act." The song also made an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon during the show's 'Do Not Play' sketch.

In 1973, NASA used the song to wake up members of its space crew. The crew was allegedly so distracted from the shock over the course of the day that NASA forbade the use of the song for that purpose ever again, effectively banning the song from space.

In the 1994 book The New Book of Rock Lists, writers Dave Marsh and James Bernard name "Paralyzed" the "Worst Song Issued by a Major Label". They write that the Legendary Stardust Cowboy was "a one-man band incapable of playing any instrument, singing in tune, or keeping in time even with himself," but note that "certain outlaw country fans consider ['Paralyzed'] a camp classic." Conversely, critic Toby Creswell includes the song in his book 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time and the Artists, Stories and Secrets Behind Them (2005). In 1976, "Paralyzed" ranked 15th in the first ever Festive Fifty, a top 50 list documenting the favourite songs of listeners of John Peel's radio show. Classical pianist Paul Lewis considers the song his guilty pleasure.

Later career
Odam was invited to appear on other programs but these were canceled because of a musicians' strike that halted live television performances. By the time the strike was over, his 15 minutes of fame had lapsed. Historian Rob Weiner of Texas Tech University considers Odam's musical career "a product of desperation," a result of the adage that "there is nothing to do in Lubbock". "Paralyzed" went on to be featured on several Doctor Demento compilations, and it often appears prominently in lists of the worst recordings ever made.

Odam has continued recording intermittently since "Paralyzed" and released several albums and singles. "I Took a Trip on a Gemini Spaceship"—an LSD-tinged satire of "I Thought About You"—was covered by longtime fan David Bowie on his Heathen album. Odam, who was largely oblivious to Bowie's fandom of his work, returned the compliment by recording his version of "Space Oddity". Bowie himself said that the term "stardust" in "Ziggy Stardust" is taken from The Legendary Stardust Cowboy. On a live online chatroom in his own ISP, BowieNet, Bowie was asked where he had discovered the Legendary Stardust Cowboy, to which he replied: "When I first joined Mercury Records in the late 60s, he was one of the only other artists they had. And they gave me his entire catalogue, which at the time was three singles. I immediately fell in love with his music. Well actually, the IDEA of his music. As the music itself wasn't too recognizable as being such." Bowie has often mentioned his love for Odam's music.

A documentary of Odam's career, entitled ''Cotton Pickin’ Smash! The Story of the Legendary Stardust Cowboy'', was prepared during the late 1980s. It remains unreleased commercially but is occasionally viewed non-commercially.

Odam currently resides in San Jose, California. In keeping with his passion for space, he has worked for a private contractor that works with NASA and still performs regularly. Since the late 1990s, Odam has played with a backing band called the Altamont Boys, which includes bassist Klaus Flouride  (of Dead Kennedys), guitarist Jay Rosen (of The Better Beatles), and drummer Joey Meyers. In May 2007, he played at the David Bowie High-Line festival in New York City at Bowie's invitation. Weiner said that Odam has never returned to perform in Lubbock, having believed that his hometown, where he first gained experience by playing in parking lots to draw an audience, offered him little encouragement.

College radio station KMSU in Mankato, Minnesota flew the Legendary Stardust Cowboy and his band to Mankato in May 2010 for a show, at which the mayor declared, officially, that May 21 is "Legendary Stardust Cowboy Day" in Mankato. Mankato has emerged as a "Mecca" for Legendary Stardust Cowboy fans, perhaps second only to San Francisco, California.

In 2010, Odam played himself in the independent film Rainbows End, a mockumentary about a band traveling from Texas to California to record an album with him.

In late 2011, The Legendary Stardust Cowboy released an anthology of his life's work, a double CD on Cherry Red Records from England, titled For Sarah, Raquel, and David: An Anthology. The names refer to Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York; Raquel Welch, actress; and performing artist David Bowie, all longtime fans of The Ledge's work. Rumors of a European tour abound.

In 2020, Jeff Feuerzeig began work on a documentary on Odam's life, which will feature interviews with Odam interspersed with animations based on interviews of people close to him. It is being developed in the vein of Feuerzeig's previous film The Devil and Daniel Johnston. No release date was set, as production had been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Singles

 * 1968: "Paralyzed"/"Who's Knocking on My Door", Psycho-Suave; Mercury
 * 1968: "I Took a Trip (On a Gemini Spaceship)"/"Down in the Wrecking Yard", Mercury
 * 1968: "Kiss and Run"/"Everything's Gettin' Bigger But Our Love", Mercury
 * 1989: "Standing in a Trashcan"/"My Underwear Froze to the Clothesline", Spider
 * 1991: "Relaxation"/"I Ride a Tractor", Norton
 * 1992: "I Hate CDs"/"Linda", Norton
 * 2005: "Hot Tub Teddy", Classic Bar Music split With The Altamont Boys / The Western Dark
 * 2017: "'Twas the Night Before Christmas (flexi disc with Christmas card)", Vollmond Flexis

EP

 * 1969: Donna Plus Apollo, Crazed Bop Records

Albums

 * Rock-It to Stardom (1984), Luna/Amazing
 * Retro Rocket Back to Earth (1986), Spider/New Rose
 * The Legendary Stardust Cowboy Rides Again (1989), New Rose
 * Retro Rocket Back to Earth / Rides Again (1991, two albums combined on one CD), New Rose
 * Live in Chicago (1998), Pravda
 * Tokyo / The Legendary Stardust Cowboy and The Altamont Boys (2003), Cracked Piston Records
 * Paralyzed! His Vintage Recordings 1968-81 (2006), EM Records
 * For Sarah, Raquel, and David, An Anthology (2011), (2-CD) Cherry Red Records
 * Oh What a Strange Trip It’s Been on a Gemini Spaceship (2016), Impetus Records

title: Legendary Stardust Cowboy


text:
Nicu Covaci

Nicolae (Nicu) Covaci (born 19 April 1947 in Timișoara, Romania) is a Romanian guitarist, painter, and music composer. He is best known as the leader and founding member of Romanian rock and cult band Phoenix, for which he is vocalist and guitar player, with more than 50 years of activity.

Biography
Nicolae Covaci was born in Timișoara, on 19 April 1947. He took up playing guitar at the age of 15 and in 1962 he, together with Florin "Moni" Bordeianu, founded a band called Sfinții (The Saints).

1960s

 * 1962: Nicolae Covaci founds the student band "Sfinții" (The Saints) in Timișoara. The band wins the second prize at the Bucharest Student Festival. From the very beginning the band is criticized for having a western European influence.
 * 1963: The band's recordings of their own compositions first receive radio air play.
 * 1965: The Saints are banned. The authorities accuse the band of spreading religious propaganda, and the band is forced to change its name. PHOENIX is born. Under their new name, the band plays three times a week at the School of Engineering cantina, and later at "Lola", the club of the Construction Industry Union in Timișoara.
 * 1968: PHOENIX wins the Grand-Prix of the Romanian Festival in Iasi. The band receives its first recording contract and makes regular appearances on radio and TV. PHOENIX releases its first record "Vremuri"(Times), an EP with four songs.
 * 1969: The band wins prizes for creativity and interpretation at the Romanian student festival at the School of Architecture in Bucharest. Their second four-song EP called "Floarea stincilor" (The flower of the rocks) is released.

1970s

 * 1970: PHOENIX again wins a prize at the Romanian student festival at the School of Architecture in Bucharest- this time for originality.
 * 1971: The band changes its style and finds its own direction, inspired by pre-Christian rites and customs of the Balkans. Their third EP "Mesterul Manole" is released with three songs. PHOENIX is invited to play at the "Bratislava Lyra" and "Sopot" festivals in Czechoslovakia and Poland-the band is a big hit.
 * 1972: Cei ce ne-au dat nume (The Ones Who Gave us the Name), the band's first LP is released. After the release of the second LP with the metaphoric title Mugur de fluier (Flute bud) the authorities ban PHOENIX from appearing in Romania.
 * 1973: Cantafabule is released. It is their first double LP and a milestone in Romanian music history.
 * 1974: PHOENIX plays concerts with the ensemble "The Drummers from Brănești", a group of 25 men from a small village in the Carpathians, who play traditional rhythms on different drums.
 * Leaving 1976: Nicu Covaci renounces his Romanian citizenship and leaves Romania for Amsterdam. Nicu Covaci founds a new band with musicians of different nationalities.
 * 1977: Covaci returns to Romania and helps the members of his band escape. They hide in the band's Marshall speakers and are smuggled across four borders to Germany.

1980s – The New Phoenix

 * 1978: The band breaks up. The band members leave Covaci and try to make it on their own under the name "Madhouse".
 * 1981: PHOENIX releases its first production in English, the LP Transsylvania Phoenix. The band disintegrates again.
 * 1983: Nicu Covaci plays with Dzidek Marcinkiewicz as a duo.
 * 1986: Nicu Covaci and Erlend Krauser contribute to the production of Evita in Osnabrück.
 * 1987: "The Lark" + "Ballade for You". Nicu Covaci contributes to the production of Jesus Christ Superstar in Osnabrück.
 * 1988: Release of the single "Tuareg" + "Mr. G's promises".

1990s – Covaci returns to Romania

 * 1990: PHOENIX launches a gigantic come-back in Romania. The band raffles off 5000 singles of "Ciocârlia".

Tours in Romania
PHOENIX releases a new 3 song maxi-CD with Numai Una, Iovano, and Ora-Hora and performs November concerts in Germany at "Works" and "Erdbeerblau" in Osnabrück, and in the "Osterfeldhalle" in Esslingen
 * 1992: Nicolae Covaci produces the CD Symphoenix with the Romanian choir "Song" and the Radio Bucharest Symphonic Orchestra.
 * 1993: The CD version of Cantafabule is released.
 * 1994–1997: Various tours in Romania.
 * 1997: The CD Aniversare 35 (35th Anniversary) is released. Vremuri – Anii 60 is released on CD.
 * 1998: PHOENIX is going on big Romania-Tour with the mamut-show Cantafabule.
 * 1999: Cei ce ne-au dat nume and Mugur de fluier are released on CD.

2000s

 * 2000: Spring tour in Romania. For the first time in history, a free CD is given with each ticket purchased. 35,000 maxi-CDs are given as gifts.
 * 2000: The CD In the Shadow of the Big Bear is released. It expresses Nicu Covaci's disappointment with the situation in Romania.
 * 2000: December Germany Tour: In the Shadow of the Big Bear.
 * 2001: The CD In the Shadow of the Big Bear sung in English by Malcolm J. Lewis is released.

Baba Novak (2005) A new album, called Baba Novak is released. The guitarist Cristi Gram joins the band in 2004. The release of the album is followed by a tour of the band in many cities of Romania.

Break-up (2007) Following conflicts between Nicu Covaci and Mircea Baniciu, the vocalist of the band, the latter leaves Phoenix. Soon, the bassist, Joszef "Ioji" Kappl, and the violinist, Mani Neumann, leave the band, too. While Mani continues his musical activity with his band "Farfarello", in Germany, Mircea Baniciu hooks up with Ioji Kappl and form a new folk duo.

2008 – Back to the Future In 2008, Nicu Covaci re-built the band, and the new members include, beside Covaci, Florin "Moni" Bordeianu (the first vocalist of the band), Bogdan Bradu (vocals), Dzidek Marcinkiewicz (keyboards), Volker Vaessen (bass), Ovidiu "Țăndărică" Lipan (drums) and Cristi Gram (guitar). The album Back to the Future is recorded, including some songs composed by Moni Bordeianu during the time he was in the USA.

2010 – SymPhoenix The band carries out a new musical project, called Sym Phoenix, with the Bucharest Symphonic Orchestra. The show had its premiere on 28 April 2010 in Bucharest.

2015 – He performed in Bucharest's Winter Night II, at which he played Fata Verde together with the Italian band Tothem.

2023 – Playing at the concert held by Mircea Baniciu & Band on the evening of 13 October 2023 at Porto Arte, Timisoara.

title: Nicu Covaci


text:
Talk:Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition

Untitled
The stamps and postmarks of the exposition say "Alaska-Yukon-Pacific", but I'm supposed to be at work and can't investigate this yet. Stan 19:10 23 Jul 2003 (UTC)

There is a great deal of information on AYPE philatelic issues in Postal Markings of United States Expositions, by William J. Bomar. This is currently available (5/30/2005); one source is the Jim Mehrer's Postal History.

The campus
"The fair was set up on what is now the campus of the University of Washington, an area which was mostly undeveloped at the time." It only had a few buildings, but it had been the university campus for about a decade. The school was still pretty small. In any case, I think "what is now" should go. - 69.17.114.183 (talk) 07:07, 23 March 2008 (UTC)

Tons of new images
I've uploaded several hundred images from the AYPE at Commons:Category:Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition. I'm still in the process of cropping and cleaning them up, but here are some of the more remarkable ones:

And many more where that came from. Feel free to use if useful. :-) I'll also be looking for other articles that may have use of them. Dcoetzee 02:57, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

"Last known remnants"
From the article: "Drumheller Fountain is one of the last known remnants from the 1909 fair." Architecture Hall, the Women's Building and (just outside the official site and present-day campus) the College Inn Pub are all "remnants". So should this sentence go? - Jmabel | Talk 06:34, 9 August 2010 (UTC)

External Link Cleanup and Addition
A number of external links on this page no longer work. I intend to remove or replace these links and also add a link to the Seattle Public Library's Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition Digital Collection which contains almost 100 articles, brochures, catalogs, directories, guides, reports, and other related materials. If no one objects, I will perform these edits next week on 10/14/2013. SternaAlbifrons (talk) 23:58, 9 October 2013 (UTC)

title: Talk:Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition