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Keane (band)

Keane are an English pop/rock band from Battle, East Sussex, formed in 1995. They met while at Tonbridge School together. The band comprises Tom Chaplin (lead vocals, guitar, piano), Tim Rice-Oxley (piano, synthesisers, bass guitar, backing vocals), Richard Hughes (drums, percussion, backing vocals) and Jesse Quin (bass guitar, guitar, backing vocals). Their original line-up included founder and guitarist Dominic Scott, who left in 2001.

Keane achieved mainstream international success with the release of their debut album Hopes and Fears in 2004. Topping the UK chart, the album won the 2005 Brit Award for Best British Album and was the UK's second-best-selling album of 2004. It is one of the best-selling albums in UK chart history. Their second album, Under the Iron Sea, released in 2006, topped the UK Albums Chart and debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200. Their third album Perfect Symmetry was released in October 2008 and their EP Night Train was released in May 2010. Their fourth studio album Strangeland was released in May 2012 and peaked at number one on the UK Albums Chart.

After the release of their next album, The Best of Keane in 2013, the band took a break of nearly five years. They returned after the hiatus with new music, announcing their fifth studio album titled Cause and Effect on 6 June 2019 and releasing the lead single from the album "The Way I Feel". A collection of songs had been written by Rice-Oxley during his divorce. After discussions with Chaplin, Rice-Oxley decided to proceed with recording the songs for the album. Cause and Effect was released on 20 September 2019. After the release of the album, the band embarked on the Cause and Effect Tour, visiting Europe and Latin America, before the remainder of the tour was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In May 2008, both Hopes and Fears (number 13) and Under the Iron Sea (number 8) were voted by readers of Q magazine as among the best British albums ever, with Keane, the Beatles, Oasis and Radiohead the only artists having two albums in the top 20. In 2009, Hopes and Fears was listed as the ninth best-selling album of the 2000s decade in the UK. Keane are known for using keyboards as the lead instrument instead of guitar, differentiating them from most other rock bands. The inclusion of a distorted piano effect in 2006 and various synthesisers were a common feature in their music which developed on the second and third albums. Keane have sold over 13 million records worldwide.

1995–99: early years and formation
Tom Chaplin and Tim Rice-Oxley became friends when very young. Chaplin's father David was the headmaster of Vinehall School in Robertsbridge, East Sussex (owned by Chaplin's family) for 25 years, the school all three attended until the age of 13. They later attended Tonbridge School in Kent, where Rice-Oxley met Dominic Scott; both discovered their liking for music. Richard Hughes, Keane's future drummer, also attended Tonbridge. Chaplin had learned to play the flute, but none considered music as a proper career at the time.

In 1995, while studying at University College London, Rice-Oxley formed a rock band with Scott and invited Hughes to play drums. The band, named Lotus Eaters, started as a cover band, playing songs by the members' favourite bands.

After listening to Rice-Oxley's piano playing during a weekend at Virginia Water, Surrey, in 1997, Chris Martin invited him to join his newly formed band Coldplay. However, Rice-Oxley declined because he did not want to leave The Lotus Eaters, stating "I was seriously interested, but Keane were already operational and Coldplay's keyboard player idea was dropped." Because of Martin's offer, and although Hughes and Scott were originally opposed to it, Chaplin joined the band in 1997, taking Rice-Oxley's place as vocalist and adding himself as the acoustic guitarist. Chaplin's recruitment also marked a change of name from the Lotus Eaters to Cherry Keane after a friend of Chaplin's mother, whom Rice-Oxley and Chaplin knew when they were young. At her death from cancer, she had left money for Chaplin's family. Chaplin commented: "I used some of the money to see me through the harder times with the music." The name was shortened to Keane soon afterward.

Chaplin departed for South Africa in Summer 1997 to work as a volunteer during his gap year. Chaplin's early experiences there later were reflected in the band's position for the Make Poverty History campaign. Returning a year later, in July 1998, following a meeting with friend David Lloyd Seaman, Hughes' first words when the band picked up Chaplin at the airport were "we've got a gig in 10 days." With original material, Keane made their debut live appearance at the Hope & Anchor pub on 13 July 1998. In this same year, Chaplin went to Edinburgh University to study for a degree in art history. However, he later quit his degree and moved to London to pursue a full-time musical career. After their debut performance, the band went touring London's pub gig circuit throughout 1998 and 1999.

1999–2003: early releases and Scott's departure
In late 1999, and without a record deal, Keane recorded their first promotional single "Call Me What You Like". Released on CD format through Keane's label Zoomorphic, it was sold after live performances at the pubs where Keane used to play in early 2000. Only 500 copies were printed. The EP was reviewed by Bec Rodwell from eFestivals who listed "Closer Now" as the best song of the record.

Recording for the band's next release began on 28 October 2000. At the start of 2001, Rice-Oxley and Hughes disclosed that the main recording would be "Wolf at the Door," and that it would be completed soon. The band gave progress updates. Hughes recorded drums in late January, and the final recording session was in February. Mixing took place in April. The single was released in June, and only 50 copies are known to have been made, using unlabeled CD-Rs.

Both singles are considered highly valuable collectors' items by fans. In particular, "Wolf at the Door" has been known to be sold for over £1000 on eBay. During production of "Wolf at the Door," the band recorded and released other songs as demos, namely "More Matey," "Maps," "To the End of the Earth," "Allemande," "New One," "Russian Farmer's Song," and "Live in Fear." The band have declared they are not against fans sharing tracks unreleased on CD, such as the demos "More Matey" and "Emily". Chaplin said "They most likely see those recordings as an interesting extra to get hold of— I don't see it causing any damage. If it was the album we have coming out [(Hopes and Fears)] leaked early, then I'd probably feel differently."

Dominic Scott decided to leave the band in July, a month after "Wolf at the Door" was released, to continue his studies at the LSE. Rice-Oxley referenced this departure in "This Is the Last Time," which was being rehearsed in May, according to Hughes.

Keane was invited by record producer James Sanger in July to his property in Normandy, France, where the band recorded a number of tracks from August to November, including "Sunshine," "This Is the Last Time," "Maps" (anew) and "Happy Soldier." It was during these sessions that the idea of using a piano as lead instrument began to emerge. Sanger received a shared credit for four songs that appeared on Keane's debut album Hopes and Fears, including "Sunshine", the only song composed there. The band members returned to England in November.

The band signed with BMG to publish their music in April 2002, and this enabled them to better commit to music, but at this time they did not yet have a recording contract. Sometime in early 2002, Rice-Oxley wrote "Everybody's Changing." He played it for Chaplin, Hughes and people at BMG, and then the band developed the song into a demo completed in July. They also produced a demo of "Walnut Tree" completed in May.

2002 was a hard year for Keane. All recording or live performances were stopped, and Scott's feeling of going nowhere was starting to tell on Rice-Oxley and Chaplin. In December, Keane returned to performing live. One gig at the Betsey Trotwood in London was attended by Simon Williams of Fierce Panda Records, the same man who had discovered Coldplay years previously. Williams offered to release the first commercial single by the band. This release was "Everybody's Changing", which Steve Lamacq named single of the week on Lamacq Live on 14 April 2003, and came out as a CD single on 12 May.

As a result of the attention created by this release and because of the strong live reputation they had built through constant UK touring, a bidding war for the band ensued among major record labels. The band decided to sign with Island Records in summer 2003. After first being attracted to the band by the considerable industry buzz then surrounding them and from hearing "Everybody's Changing" on the radio, the Island A&R, Ferdy Unger-Hamilton, told HitQuarters that he wanted to sign them after hearing the five songs "Everybody’s Changing", "This Is the Last Time", "She Has No Time", "Bend and Break" and "Somewhere Only We Know", saying "every one of them was brilliant...they had a fantastic live show [but] even if I hadn't been able to see them live, I would have tried to sign them anyway." According to Unger-Hamilton, Keane chose to sign with Island because they got on well with the A&R and were convinced that he did not want to change them in any way.

The band released "This Is the Last Time" on Fierce Panda, in October 2003 as the final release on that label.

2004–05: Hopes and Fears
With the release of their first major single, Keane began to achieve recognition in the United Kingdom and the United States.

In January 2004, Keane was named the band most likely to achieve success in the coming year in the BBC's Sound of 2004 poll; additionally, this year is popularly referred to as one of the best years for new British music.

A month later, Keane's first release on Island was "Somewhere Only We Know", which reached number three on the UK Singles Chart in February 2004. On 4 May, a re-release of "Everybody's Changing" followed and featured new B-sides and a new cover; it reached number four on the UK Singles Chart.

Keane's debut album Hopes and Fears was released on 10 May 2004 in the UK, a day before the band started their first world tour. It debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart and became the second best-selling British album of the year. It has been certified 9× platinum in the UK.

Drowned in Sound gave it 5 out of 10, accusing Keane of excessively imitating Coldplay (specifically comparing "Your Eyes Open" and "On a Day Like Today" with, respectively, "Daylight" and "Politik" on the band's album A Rush of Blood to the Head), criticising the album as being "stylistically all over the place" and its lyrics as being "immature" and "cringe-worthy". However, it gave credit to the album's "fine moments", praising lead single "Somewhere Only We Know" as "breathtaking".

The album has sold approximately 5.5 million copies worldwide. In the UK, it stayed in the top 75 of the UK Albums Chart for 72 weeks, appearing again on its 115th week.

Post-release, the band released singles from the album "Bedshaped," "This Is the Last Time" (a version with Island Records) and "Bend and Break" on 16 August, 22 November, and 25 July 2005, respectively.

The band won two awards at the 2005 BRIT Awards in February; Best British album for Hopes and Fears, and the British breakthrough act award as voted for by listeners of BBC Radio 1. Three months after, Rice-Oxley received the Ivor Novello award for songwriter of the year.

As members of the Make Poverty History, Keane performed "Somewhere Only We Know" and "Bedshaped" at the Live 8 concert, which took place in London on 2 July 2005. Keane are also patrons of War Child, and in September 2005, they recorded a cover version of Elton John's "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" to the charity album Help: a Day in the Life. Previously, the band had recorded a cover of the Walker Brothers' "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore". It also was released as a 7" single as a gift to members of the Keane emailing list.

During the year, the band achieved minor recognition in the U.S. from their extensive touring, which culminated with a series of gigs as the opening act for U2. The group were nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best New Artist category along with Sugarland, John Legend, Ciara, and Fall Out Boy.

2006–07: Under the Iron Sea
In April 2005, in the middle of the Hopes and Fears tour, the band began recording Under the Iron Sea with producer Andy Green, who worked with them on Hopes and Fears. The band later recruited Mark "Spike" Stent for mixing duties. Recording took place in Helioscentric Studios, where Hopes and Fears was recorded. Additional recording was done at The Magic Shop in New York City.

The album's release was preceded by the release of the "Atlantic", a download-only music video and the lead single "Is It Any Wonder?", which reached number three on the UK Singles Chart. The song was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals in 2007. The album had a worldwide release in June 2006 and was at number 1 in the UK Albums Chart for the first two weeks of its release. , it had sold more than 2.2 million copies. The third single from the album was "Crystal Ball", released on 21 August 2006, and reached number 20 in the UK Singles Chart. The fourth single from the album was "Nothing in My Way", released on 30 October 2006, which received particular success on Mexican commercial radio, charting on Top 3 on 13 January 2007 and staying a month on that chart. The band released the single "The Night Sky" in aid of the charity War Child.

Before the release of the album (in May 2006), Keane had started their second world tour. However, because of the extensive touring, on 22 August 2006, Chaplin announced he had admitted himself to a clinic for drinking and drug problems. This initially resulted in the cancellation of three gigs and postponement of their September tour. The entire North American tour was cancelled outright to allow continued treatment. As a result, the upcoming UK and European tours, scheduled for October and November 2006, were considered to be liable for possible postponement depending on Chaplin's treatment. Chaplin then left the Priory Clinic in London on 6 October, but he continued to receive treatment. The tour reached for the first time South American countries (Argentina, Chile and Brazil) and saw the band's third visit to Mexico in late April with four dates, playing at the downtown zócalo in Mexico City, as well their first visit to Monterrey and Guadalajara. On 7 July 2007, Keane played at the UK leg of Live Earth at Wembley Stadium, part of a series of gigs similar to Live 8, to highlight the threat of global warming. They performed "Somewhere Only We Know", "Is It Any Wonder?" and "Bedshaped". The Under the Iron Sea tour was brought to an end with performances in Oporto, Portugal, and at the Natural Music Festival in El Ejido, Spain on 3 August and 4 respectively.

In 2008, Under the Iron Sea was voted the 8th best British album of all time by a poll conducted by Q Magazine and HMV. In early October, Concert Live announced they were releasing a limited edition nine-CD set of every Keane live performance in the UK during October 2006 under the name Live 06.

2008–09: Perfect Symmetry
In a March 2007 video interview, Chaplin and Hughes spoke of wanting to take a more "organic" approach on album three, but played down suggestions about the use of guitars, referring to them as "a fun part of the live set" at present; however, the cover of "She Sells Sanctuary" became the first song recorded since "The Happy Soldier" (2001) to feature the instrument. Photographic updates to the Keane website implied the use of guitars in the album's recording sessions. Jesse Quin joined the band since this album as permanent studio and live member. He plays the bass, percussion, guitar, synths and backing vocals. On 25 August 2008, Keane appeared as studio guests on BBC 6 Music with Steve Lamacq where three of the new songs from Perfect Symmetry were played for the first time: "Spiralling", "The Lovers Are Losing", and "Better Than This".

The album was released on 13 October 2008, and reached number one on the UK Albums Chart on 19 October. It also reached number 7 on the Billboard 200 chart. In December 2008, it was voted "Best Album of the Year" by the readers, listeners and visitors of Q Magazine, Q Radio and Qthemusic.com. The song "Perfect Symmetry" was voted best track.

In November 2008, they started the Perfect Symmetry World Tour. On 2 April 2009, Keane became the first band ever to broadcast a live show in 3D. It was filmed at Abbey Road, the site of the world's first satellite broadcast (by the Beatles). Keane fans were prompted to buy 3D glasses along with the new 7" single "Better Than This" or also to hand-make their own glasses.

2010: Night Train
On 10 May 2010, Keane released the EP titled Night Train which, on 16 May became their fourth number 1 album in the UK. Night Train was recorded during the Perfect Symmetry World Tour. The band first named this record as a mini-album, then that changed to an EP. In an interview, Tim Rice-Oxley said that Night Train is "pretty much an album".

The songs "Stop for a Minute" and "Looking Back" feature Somali Canadian rapper K'naan. The EP includes a cover of the song "You've Got to Help Yourself" by Yellow Magic Orchestra, featuring vocals by Japanese funk MC Tigarah. The song "Your Love" features Keane's keyboardist Tim Rice-Oxley on lead vocals. The song "My Shadow" was featured in the Season 6 Grey's Anatomy episode "Shiny Happy People".

Night Train has been met with mixed reviews from critics. Ryan Brockington of the New York Post PopWrap called the work "game changing" while writing that the first single "Stop for a Minute" is "just as brilliant" as the album.

Supporting the Night Train EP, the band began on the Night Train Tour, which started with a show in Brixton, London at The Fridge on 12 May 2010. The tour includes a homecoming show at the Bedgebury Pinetum, outside the band's hometown of Battle. Also festival appearances in Europe followed with a tour of North America, concluding with an appearance at the Mile High Festival in Denver.

2011–13: Strangeland
After the end of Mt. Desolation Tour (alternative project by Tim and Jesse), Tim Rice-Oxley and Jesse Quin joined the other two members of the band to work on the pre-production of Strangeland.

It was announced on 3 February 2011 on the band's official website that Quin had become an official member of the band. He has worked with Keane since 2007.

Keane played a concert in Beijing, China on 13 April 2011 at the invitation of the fashion company Burberry. The band performed an acoustic session at the Wall of China. The band finished recording their fourth studio album on 12 January 2012 and finished mixing the record on 10 February. The album was recorded at Tim Rice-Oxley's Sea Fog Studios, in Polegate, East Sussex.

The Strangeland Tour started at De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex on Friday, 9 March 2012.

The band released "Silenced by the Night", the album's lead single, worldwide except for the United Kingdom on 13 March 2012. Keane performed "Silenced By the Night" for the first time on 12 March on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. The song was sent to U.S. adult alternative radio stations on 26 March 2012. In the UK, the single was released on 15 April 2012.

The single "Disconnected" was released on 20 April 2012 in Germany, Switzerland and Austria, with the official worldwide release on 8 October 2012. The single "Sovereign Light Café" was released on 23 July 2012. The video was filmed in Bexhill-on-Sea in Sussex, England.

Helen Lear from The Music wrote that Strangeland "will still sound to some like middle-of-the-road indie-pop" and "pretty much what you would expect from Keane", but "the tempo is noticeably more upbeat and the style more diverse than previous albums" and "offers some more fun in a grown-up style that may attract new fans to take a listen." Chris Roberts of the BBC criticised Strangeland as "an unabashed scurry back to the comfort zone", and that "Keane lack blood, guts and muscle", with the album ultimately classed as "a somewhat saddening step backwards." John Murphy of musicOMH rated the album two stars out of five, where "melodies are stodgy and predictable", with "a whole bucket of cliches piled in", calling Strangeland "proof positive that playing it safe is not always the best option." Ian Gittins of Virgin Media felt the album was "major musical step back from the wilful experimentalism of Perfect Symmetry, a record that saw Keane hiring dance producer Stuart Price and leaping far out of their comfort zone", commenting that the album "finds them fairly back in the middle of the road".

2013–19: The Best of Keane and hiatus
Keane released the compilation album The Best of Keane in November 2013. Two new songs recorded during Strangeland were released from the compilation album; "Higher Than the Sun" was released on 28 September 2013 and "Won't Be Broken" was released on 20 January 2014.

On 20 October 2013, several publications, including The Sun and Digital Spy, claimed that Keane intended to split following the release of The Best of Keane, and reported that the band members were "taking a break...to pursue their own projects." On 21 October 2013, Tom Chaplin clarified on Real Radio Yorkshire that the band was not splitting up, but the band members would like to "take a bit of time out from being Keane" after being busy for the past few years.

In an interview conducted in late 2017 with a correspondent from The Sun, Tom Chaplin stated that he felt that he was too old to reform and relaunch the band. He recorded a solo album titled The Wave, released on 14 October 2016. He released follow-up Christmas-themed second album Twelve Tales of Christmas on 17 November 2017. Rice-Oxley and Quin continued side project Mt. Desolation, releasing the album When the Night Calls on 25 May 2018.

During the band's hiatus, the band has reunited three times: on 8 August 2015, Chaplin and Rice-Oxley performed a Keane setlist at Battle Festival. On 11 September 2016, the band released a music video for "Tear Up This Town", written and recorded for the film A Monster Calls.

2019–21: return and Cause and Effect
Toward the end of 2018, Keane posted a series of cryptic images onto their various social media accounts, hinting that the quartet were in the studio working on material.

On 17 January 2019, an article from The Sun revealed that the band are planning "to make a comeback after six years away" and that a "source close to the rockers has revealed the band is ready to work together again after 'putting their differences to one side'".

On 6 February, Keane posted an image of them on their various social media accounts. This was followed by several announcements on their Instagram and Facebook sites of various festivals in which the band would perform, including Cornbury Music Festival (6 July 2019), 4ever Valencia Fest in Spain (21 July 2019), MEO Marés Vivas in Portugal (19 July 2019), Noches del Botánico in Madrid (20 July 2019), and Hello Festival in The Netherlands (9 June).

On 15 March 2019, Keane performed their song "Somewhere Only We Know" on Comic Relief's Red Nose Day on BBC One with London Contemporary Voices. On 26 March 2019, Keane posted "We’ve been desperate to tell you that we’re busy making another album, which we’ll be releasing later this year" to their Facebook page.

On 17 May 2019, Keane released an EP titled Retroactive EP1 featuring "our favourite archived live performances, older demos and random treasures". On 6 June 2019, the band released the first new single from Cause and Effect, titled "The Way I Feel".

On 16 June 2019, Keane performed a set at the Isle of Wight Festival, being the closing act of the event. On 14 July 2019, Keane did a set at the British Summer Time concert in Hyde Park.

The band released a vertical edition of the music video for "The Way I Feel" on 22 July 2019, followed by an AI-generated lyric video for the same song. On 30 July 2019, Keane announced they would co-headline three performances in Mexico with the band Travis, having sets in Monterrey (13 November 2019), Guadalajara (15 November 2019), and at the Corona Capital Festival in Mexico City (16–17 November 2019). Also on this day, the band announced they would perform at "Espaço Das Americas" in São Paulo on 1 December 2019. The band performed on the main stage at the Lokerse Feesten on 3 August 2019. The band streamed an acoustic session and interview on YouTube on 5 August 2019 at the Paste Studio in New York City. On 6 August 2019, the band performed live "The Way I Feel" on The Today Show. Later that day, they hinted at the release of their second single from Cause and Effect, titled "Love Too Much". On 8 August 2019, "Love Too Much" was released for streaming and debuted on The Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 2. Neil Z. Yeung of AllMusic gave the album a positive review, writing "Not a game-changing comeback by any means, Cause and Effect is instead a satisfying return to form that manages to gracefully age Keane by invigorating a familiar formula with wisdom and honesty learned over a dramatic, life-changing decade."

2021–present: Dirt EP and Hopes and Fears anniversary tour
On 9 April 2021, Keane announced on their social media platforms they would be participating in Record Store Day 2021 Drop 2 on 17 July, with the special early release of their Dirt EP on 12" vinyl, featuring four previously unreleased tracks from the Cause and Effect sessions. On 17 July, the video for the EP's title track was released onto YouTube and Apple Music, coinciding with the limited early release of the 12" vinyl of the EP for Record Store Day. This came with the announcement that the full release of the EP would take place on 13 August 2021. The band played a handful of shows that same year, including an appearance at that year's TRNSMT Festival in Glasgow.

The band undertook a brief tour of the UK in June and July of 2022, including a performance at Belgium's Rock Werchter festival. Later that year, Chaplin released his third studio album Midpoint in September 2022. In an interview with Retro Pop magazine, Chaplin said that people "keep asking" him about Keane and whether they will make another record. "I don't know," he said in response. "I will just see how I feel."

In September 2023, the band announced they would undertake a tour of the UK, Europe and the Americas in 2024 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Hopes and Fears. The tour will commence in May, coinciding with the album's reissue, and continue on into September.

Collaborations
In November 2004, Keane collaborated with electronic DJ Faultline on a cover of the Elton John song "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road". Two years later, Rice-Oxley collaborated with Gwen Stefani as a co-writer of the song "Early Winter", released later in 2007 as a single, from her album The Sweet Escape. Stefani had been wishing to work with the band since 2005, and Rice-Oxley responded by saying "we might give it a go". Tom Chaplin collaborated with Rocco Deluca and the Burden on the song "Mercy". The band collaborated with Somali-Canadian rapper K'naan and Japanese Baile Funk singer Tigarah on the EP Night Train. In late 2009, Rice-Oxley collaborated with the Australian singer Kylie Minogue as co-writer of the song "Everything Is Beautiful", for Minogue's eleventh studio album "Aphrodite", released in June 2010. The band collaborated with dance artist Chicane on a remix of the song "Bend & Break", renamed "Wake Up". It was featured on the artist's 2008 best-of compilation. In 2012, Tom Chaplin collaborated with the Dutch singer Laura Jansen on the song "Same Heart" for a Dutch charity radio programme. The track was featured on Jansen's second studio album Elba. In 2017, a version of Tom Chaplin's solo track "Solid Gold", featuring alternative pop singer JONES, was released as a single.

Musical style and themes
Tim Rice-Oxley and Dominic Scott were the main writers of the band's songs during their early years. When Scott left in 2001, Rice-Oxley became the main composer. However, Rice-Oxley credits the rest of the band on all compositions, so that royalties for song credits are shared.

Keane usually harbours an ample, reverberated, melodic, slow- to mid-tempo fully orchestrated sound, somehow reminiscent of Elton John's early and middle career, and their more introspective songs have brought comparisons to Suede and Jeff Buckley.

While guitars have been (minimally) present even in their early work, their appearance in the final mix has always been slight, and while Chaplin has stepped up as an almost full-time guitarist in the band, that instrument is never featured as prominently as to be more than barely noticed. For this matter, they have been dubbed as "the band with no guitars", thanks to their heavily piano-based sound. By using delay and distortion effects on their pianos and similar keyboards, they often create sounds that aren't immediately recognisable as piano. Rice-Oxley said during an interview in Los Angeles that they tend to think piano-related music is boring and what they really wanted to do was try something different. He referred to the piano as an odd instrument to form part of a rock band instrumentation, comparing it to the Beatles' set of instruments. Rice-Oxley's distortion piano has been key to most of Keane's multifaceted style and most definitely their most recognizable asset.

Keane have covered songs by artists such as U2, Rufus Wainwright, Depeche Mode, Genesis, the Beatles, the Cult and Queen. Rice-Oxley said "I guess it's classic song writing that is the main influence rather than one band in particular – we love people like Nick Drake who can convey so much emotion and write songs and albums that will be loved and cherished for many years – the things that will be in people's record collections for their whole lives."

Members
Current members
 * Tim Rice-Oxley – keyboards (1995–2014, 2018–present), guitar (2008–2011), bass (1995–2007), backing vocals (1997–2014, 2018–present), lead vocals (1995–1997)
 * Richard Hughes – drums (1995–2014, 2018–present), backing vocals (1997–2014, 2018–present)
 * Tom Chaplin – lead vocals (1997–2014, 2018–present), guitar (1997–2001, 2006–2011, 2022–present), keyboards (2006–2008)
 * Jesse Quin – bass, backing vocals, keyboards (2011–2014, 2018–present; touring/session musician 2007–2011), guitar (2011–2014, 2022–present)

Former members
 * Dominic Scott – guitar, backing vocals (1995–2001)

Timeline

Discography

 * Hopes and Fears (2004)
 * Under the Iron Sea (2006)
 * Perfect Symmetry (2008)
 * Strangeland (2012)
 * Cause and Effect (2019)

Concert tours

 * Hopes and Fears Tour (2004–05)
 * Under the Iron Sea Tour (2006–2007)
 * Perfect Symmetry World Tour (2008–2009)
 * Night Train Tour (2010)
 * Strangeland Tour (2012–2013)
 * Cause and Effect Tour (2019–2020)
 * Keane20 World Tour (2024)

Mass media

 * Keane gig and record reviews on Record Overplayed webzine, 2003– 2005
 * SONIKA*. Sonika 53: El triunfo del Indie: Keane o entre la suerte y el talento (August 2006). Retrieved on 15 August 2006
 * Keane video interview with stv.tv/music, March 2007
 * SONIKA*. Sonika 53: El triunfo del Indie: Keane o entre la suerte y el talento (August 2006). Retrieved on 15 August 2006
 * Keane video interview with stv.tv/music, March 2007
 * SONIKA*. Sonika 53: El triunfo del Indie: Keane o entre la suerte y el talento (August 2006). Retrieved on 15 August 2006
 * Keane video interview with stv.tv/music, March 2007
 * Keane video interview with stv.tv/music, March 2007

title: Keane (band)


text: User talk:67.115.220.195

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

title: User talk:67.115.220.195


text:
Hereford Inlet Lighthouse

The Hereford Inlet Lighthouse is a historic lighthouse located in North Wildwood, New Jersey, situated on the southern shore of Hereford Inlet at the north end of Five Mile Beach. Its construction was completed and it became operational in 1874.

The 50 ft tower and its beacon are visible for up to 13 nmi.

History
Hereford Inlet, a break in the barrier islands along the eastern side of Cape May, was first used by whalers in the 17th century. Though the area was frequented, environmental conditions such as shifting sandbars and strong currents created reason for concern and in 1849, a life-saving station was built along the inlet. With shipwrecks on the rise throughout America, the United States Life Saving Service was founded 22 years later and a larger Life-Saving Station replaced the existing one. After being on Hereford Inlet for only one year, the United States Life Saving Service recognized the need for a lighthouse and included in its annual report that, "A small light, say a fourth order, is respectfully recommended for this place, as it would be of importance to the coal trade and to steamers navigating the Delaware Bay and River, and to mark the entrance to the inlet, where there is a good harbor of refuge for small coasting vessels." Finally, on June 10, 1872, Congress acted to fund the erection of a fourth-order light along the New Jersey shoreline. On July 7, 1873, Humphrey S. Cresse sold the 1.5 acre site to the U.S. government for $150. The lighthouse was designed by Paul J. Pelz, who also designed Hereford Inlet's sister stations, Point Fermin Light in San Pedro, California; East Brother Island Light in Richmond, California; Mare Island Light (demolished in the 1930s) in Carquinez Strait, California; Point Hueneme Light (replaced in 1940) in California, and Point Adams Light (burned down by the Lighthouse Service in 1912) in Washington state, all in essentially the same style. The United States Army Corps of Engineers undertook construction of the lighthouse on November 8, 1873, on a design by Pelz, and completed it on March 30, 1874. A "Notice to Mariners" issued May 11, 1874, announced the operation of the light on the north end of Five Mile Beach.

Hereford Inlet Lighthouse withstood many potential dangers. One of the noted environmental dangers included a storm that hit September 8–12, 1889. According to Mid-Atlantic Hurricanes the storm "occurred when [a hurricane] stalled off the coast … producing erosive, enveloping surf and covering part or all of many barrier islands." Many residents of historic Anglesea fled to the lighthouse for shelter. A more severe storm in August 1913 brought the water dangerously close to the lighthouse, damaging the foundation and threatening the structure. The lighthouse was temporarily closed and the structure was moved 150 feet west. It reopened in 1914. A fire later threatened the structure in 1938 while the current keeper, Ferdinand Heinzman, was painting the structure. According to Lighthouse Friends, "A coastguardsman … noticed thick smoke emanating from one of the upstairs windows, called the fire department, and then alerted the occupants of the imminent danger." Heinzman attempted to extinguish the fire but was deterred by the fire. "Undaunted, he procured a ladder and equipped with a garden hose, he climbed to the second story and fought the fire through a window… and saved the lighthouse … An investigation determined that spontaneous combustion had started the fire."

The light was decommissioned in 1964 when the United States Coast Guard constructed an automated skeletal light tower. It is disputed as to when the lighthouse and adjoining Life-Saving Station were turned over to the New Jersey State Police's Marine Services Unit. It is argued that the transfer occurred in 1963, just before the tower was constructed, other say that it occurred when the buildings were no longer needed. The Life Saving Station remains used by the New Jersey State Police today, however, the lighthouse was boarded up and left unused until 1982 when locals petitioned to take over the building. In 1986, the light (DCB-24) was transferred from the skeletal tower into the lighthouse. The grounds were taken over by North Wildwood's superintendent of parks, Steve Murray. At the time of the lighthouse's closure, it had been painted white with red trim and blue shutters; in 2003, it was restored to its historically accurate buff color. The current VRB-25 beacon was installed on July 19, 2018. As an active aid to navigation, the beacon in the lighthouse tower continues to be maintained by the United States Coast Guard.

Today, Hereford Inlet Lighthouse operates as a fully operating lighthouse and museum. It operates under the City of North Wildwood and the city's North Wildwood Historical Commission. The lighthouse is listed on both the National and State Registers of Historic Places as of 1977 and it is part of the New Jersey Coastal Heritage Trail. It is operated and maintained with money generated through donations and Lighthouse fundraising projects.

Keepers
John Marche served as the first lighthouse keeper for less than three months before drowning when his rowboat overturned on returning from the mainland. The next keeper, Freeling "Captain" Hewitt, an American Civil War veteran, served that position for the longest time, 45 years.

title: Hereford Inlet Lighthouse


text:
User talk:Inimici

Hello and welcome to Wikipedia!

Here are some tips to help you get started:

 * If you haven't already, please add your name to the new user log to let others know a little about yourself.
 * Read the article describing how to edit a page and feel free to experiment in the Sandbox.
 * When editing pages, use the preview button before submitting and try to fill in the summary box for every edit.
 * Eventually, read the Manual of Style and Policies and Guidelines.
 * If you need help, post a question at the Help Desk or ask me on my talk page.
 * Explore, be bold in editing pages, and, most importantly, have fun!

Good luck! Jrdioko

P.S. One last helpful hint. To sign your posts like I did above (on talk pages, for example) use the '~' symbol. To insert just your name, type (3 tildes), or, to insert your name and timestamp, use ~ (4 tildes).

title: User talk:Inimici


text:
Rhythmbox

Rhythmbox is a free and open-source audio player software, tag editor and music organizer for digital audio files on Linux and Unix-like systems.

Rhythmbox is designed to work well under GNOME, but can function on other desktop environments. It is very scalable, able to handle libraries with tens of thousands of songs with ease. It provides a full feature set including full support for Unicode, fast but powerful tag editing, and a variety of plug-ins.

Rhythmbox is the default audio player on many Linux distributions including Fedora, Ubuntu since v12.04 LTS, and Linux Mint as of version 18.1.

Features
Rhythmbox offers a significant number of features, including:

Music playback
Playback from a variety of digital music sources is supported. The most common playback is music stored locally as files on the computer (the 'Library'). Rhythmbox supports playing streamed Internet radio and podcasts as well. The ReplayGain standard is also supported. Rhythmbox also supports searching of music in the library.

Playlists may be created to group and order music. Users may also create 'smart playlists,' ones that are automatically updated (like a database query) based on a customized rule of selection criteria rather than an arbitrary list of tracks. Music may be played back in shuffle (random) mode or repeat mode.

Track ratings are supported and used by the shuffle mode algorithm to play higher-rated tracks more often.

Gapless playback
Enabling the crossfading backend option with a duration of 0.0 switches Rhythmbox into gapless playback mode for music formats that support it. Gapless playback is not enabled by default.

Music importing

 * Audio CD ripping
 * Comprehensive audio format support through GStreamer
 * iPod support
 * Android support

Audio CD burning
Since the 0.9 release, Rhythmbox can create audio CDs from playlists.

Album cover display
Since the 0.9.5 release, Rhythmbox can display cover art of the currently playing album. The plugin can search the internet to find corresponding artwork, and as of 0.12.6, can read artwork from ID3 tags. If an image file is saved in the same directory as the audio track this is used instead.

SoundCloud
Rhythmbox can browse and play sounds from SoundCloud, via built-in SoundCloud plugin.

Song lyrics display
Since the 0.9.5 release, Rhythmbox can provide song lyrics of the currently playing song by pressing [ctrl + L], as long as the lyrics are stored in a lyrics database.

Audio scrobbling
Rhythmbox can submit played songs info to a remote scrobbling service. This information is used by the remote service to provide user specific music recommendations. Rhythmbox currently supports three scrobbling services:
 * Last.fm
 * Libre.fm, the open-source drop-in replacement
 * ListenBrainz

Music can be scrobbled to all services at the same time.

DAAP music sharing
Rhythmbox supports sharing music and playing shared music on local network via DAAP sharing plugin. The plugin uses libdmapsharing to provide this feature.

Devices
Rhythmbox uses the Linux udev subsystem to detect player devices.

Podcasting
Rhythmbox can subscribe to podcasts from the iTunes Store, Miroguide or by manually providing a podcast feed URL. Subsequently, new podcasts are automatically downloaded and available from the Library under the section Podcasts.

Web remote control
Rhythmbox can be controlled remotely with a Web browser, via inbuilt Web remote control plugin.

Plug-ins
Rhythmbox has a plug-in API for C, Python, or Vala.

There are nearly 50 third party plug-ins for Rhythmbox. including a 10 Band audio Equalizer, and many official plug-ins including:

 * Cover art search
 * Audio CD Player
 * Last.fm / Libre.fm / Listenbrainz
 * DAAP Music Sharing
 * FM Radio
 * Grilo media browser
 * IM Status
 * Internet Radio Streaming
 * Song Lyrics
 * Magnatune Store
 * Media Player Keys
 * Portable Players (generic, iPod)
 * Android devices (via MTP)
 * Notification
 * Power Manager
 * Python Console (for debugging)
 * LIRC
 * Send tracks
 * Replay Gain
 * MediaServer2 D-Bus interface
 * MPRIS D-Bus interface
 * Browser to integrate Rhythmbox with iTunes
 * CD/DVD burning based on Brasero

Integration

Rhythmbox has been extensively integrated with a number of external programs, services and devices including:

 * Built-in support for Multimedia Keys on keyboard
 * Nautilus file manager context-menu integration, "hover mode" playback in Nautilus
 * HexChat, via a HexChat plugin.
 * Pidgin-Rhythmbox automatically updates the Pidgin user profile with details of the currently playing track
 * Gajim and Pidgin include options for automatically updating the user status with details of currently playing track
 * aMSN and emesene can change the user's personal message to current track via the "music" plugin (aMSN) and the "CurrentSong" plugin (emsene), similar to Messenger Plus! Live
 * Music Applet (previously known as the Rhythmbox Applet), a GNOME panel applet that provides Rhythmbox playback controls from within the panel. Music Applet has since been superseded by Panflute
 * Rhythmlet, another gDesklet that retrieves album art locally or from Amazon.com, has configurable display strings, playback controls, editable ratings and a seek bar
 * SideCandyRhythmbox, a gDesklet-based Rhythmbox control and SideCandy display
 * Rhythmbox XSLT allows the music library to be viewed as a web page
 * Drivel inserts the name of the track Rhythmbox is currently playing into a LiveJournal blog entry
 * Rhythmbox Tune Publisher publishes the currently playing Rhythmbox track to XMPP via the User Tune protocol (used by the Jabber World Map)
 * FoxyTunes, a Mozilla Firefox extension that provides Rhythmbox playback controls from within the web browser
 * Plugins for browsing and listening to Creative Commons licensed albums from Jamendo (via grilo plugin) and Magnatune.
 * Rhythmbox Remote helps to remotely control Rhythmbox through an Android powered device.
 * Rhythmbox WebMenu is a fully personalizable plugin that integrates Rhythmbox with several music websites.

title: Rhythmbox


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Provinces of Laos

Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is divided into 17 provinces (Lao ແຂວງ,, khoeng, qwang or khoueng) and one prefecture, the Vientiane capital city municipality (ນະຄອນຫຼວງ, nakhon louang, or Na Kone Luang Vientiane). The special administrative zone (ເຂດພິເສດ, khet phiset), Xaisomboun, created in 1994, was dissolved on 13 January 2006. In 2013, parts of the former special administrative zone was reestablished as Xaisomboun province.

Population
The population of each province in 2023 is given in the census data. The population of Laos in 2023 is 6,730,000.

History
In 1989 Vientiane prefecture was split from Vientiane province and the capital of Vientiane province moved from Vientiane to Muang Phôn-Hông. In 1994 Xaisômboun khetphiset (special region) was formed from parts of the Bolikhamxai, Vientiane, and Xiangkhoang provinces. In 2006 Xaisomboun special region was dissolved and the Longsan, Xaysomboun, Phun, and Hom districts added to Vientiane province, while Thathon district was transferred to Xiengkhuang province.

Further divisions
The provinces are then subdivided into districts (muang) and villages (baan).

Geography
The provinces are grouped geographically into 3 strata, North (from Phongsaly to Saiyabouly, Luang Prabang and Xiengkhuang), Central (Vientiane and Bolikhamxay) and South (from Khammuane to Champasack).

title: Provinces of Laos


text:
North English

North English may refer to:

 * North English, Iowa, a city in the United States.
 * The Northern England dialect and accent of the English language.

title: North English


text:
San Joaquins

The San Joaquins is a passenger train service operated by Amtrak in California's San Joaquin Valley. Six daily round trips run between its southern terminus at Bakersfield and Stockton, with onward service to Sacramento (one round trip) and Oakland (five round trips).

The San Joaquins service is unique in the state and nation because of its extensive network of dedicated Amtrak Thruway bus routes that are critical to the performance of the service. Over 55% of passengers on the service use one of these bus routes during part of their trip. Amtrak Thruway routes are timed to meet trains and offer connections to points in Southern California (including Los Angeles Union Station where passengers can continue their journey on the Pacific Surfliner or Amtrak's long-distance trains), the city of San Francisco, the Central Coast, the North Coast, the High Desert (including Las Vegas), Redding, Reno, and the Yosemite Valley.

The San Joaquins is Amtrak's seventh-busiest service in the nation and the railroad's third-busiest in the state of California. During fiscal year 2023, the service carried 847,364 passengers, a 19.3% increase from the prior year.

Like all regional trains in California, the San Joaquins service is operated by a joint powers authority. The San Joaquin Joint Powers Authority (SJJPA) is governed by a board that includes two elected representatives from each of eight counties the train travels through. The SJJPA contracts with the San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission to provide day-to-day management of the service, Amtrak to operate the trains, and Transit Services America to maintain the rolling stock (locomotives and passenger cars). The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) provides the funding to operate the service and also owns the rolling stock.

Golden Gate/San Joaquin Daylight
The San Joaquins service runs over lines that once hosted several passenger trains a day. The top trains were the Golden Gate on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (predecessor to BNSF), and the San Joaquin Daylight on the Southern Pacific Railroad (later acquired by Union Pacific). Prior to 1960s service cutbacks passenger service continued south of Bakersfield, to Glendale and Los Angeles.

In April 1965, as ridership on passenger trains continued to drop, the Santa Fe Railway received permission from the Interstate Commerce Commission to severely curtail Golden Gate operations, with service finally abandoned three years later. The San Joaquin Daylight was discontinued with the start-up of Amtrak in May 1971.

Other passenger trains that ran through the Central Valley included Southern Pacific's Owl and Santa Fe's San Francisco Chief and Valley Flyer.

Amtrak era
Amtrak routed all Los Angeles-San Francisco service over the Southern Pacific's Coast Line in its initial 1971 route structure, leaving the San Joaquin Valley without service. Both the Southern Pacific's San Joaquin Daylight and the Santa Fe's San Francisco Chief had served the region. Beginning in 1972 Amtrak revisited the decision at the urging of area congressmen, notably Bernice F. Sisk, who favored service between Oakland and Barstow or, failing that, Barstow and Sacramento. The first run was on March 5, 1974 – revenue service began the following day with one daily round-trip between Bakersfield and Oakland and bus connections from Bakersfield to Los Angeles and Oakland to San Francisco. The San Joaquin could not continue south of Bakersfield due to capacity limits over the Tehachapi Loop, the only line between Bakersfield and points south and one of the world's busiest single-track freight rail lines. Amtrak chose the Santa Fe route over the Southern Pacific, citing the higher speed of the Santa Fe – 79 mph versus 70 mph – and freight congestion on the Southern Pacific. The decision was not without controversy, with Sisk alleging that the Southern Pacific lobbied the Nixon administration to influence the decision.

Madera station and Richmond station were added on October 30, 1977, along with a Stockton–Sacramento connecting bus. The schedule was changed on July 19, 1979, with an earlier northbound and later southbound departure, allowing single-day round trips to the Bay Area.

Caltrans era
In 1979 Amtrak proposed discontinuing the San Joaquin as part of system-wide reductions ordered by the Carter administration. The state of California stepped in to provide a yearly subsidy of (then) $700,000 ($ adjusted for inflation) to cover the train's operating losses, and it was retained. The state asked Amtrak to add a second round-trip between Oakland and Bakersfield and to extend the service south over the Tehachapi Pass to Los Angeles. Amtrak added the second train on February 4, 1980, but attempts to extend the train over the Tehachapi Loop failed due to Southern Pacific's opposition.

A third round trip was added on December 17, 1989. Two days later, southbound San Joaquin train 708 collided with a tractor-trailer rig at a crossing east of Stockton, killing the driver of the rig and two Amtrak engineers. A fourth round trip was added on October 25, 1992. On May 16, 1999, Amtrak added a Sacramento–Bakersfield round trip - the fifth daily San Joaquins service round trip. A second Sacramento–Bakersfield round trip was added on March 18, 2002, along with an infill station at Lodi.

Transfer to local control
Expansion of the service would stagnate after 2002, and 10 years later, frustrated by what was perceived to be Caltrans' slow response to regional concerns, local leaders pushed lawmakers to allow local control of the San Joaquins service. On September 29, 2012, Governor Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 1779, which enabled regional government agencies to form the San Joaquin Joint Powers Authority (SJJPA) to assume administration and management of the route, while the state of California would continue to fund operations. Under the joint powers authority model, the service would be governed by a board composed of eight elected officials, appointed by an agency in each of the counties the train travels through. The governance structure was modeled after the Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority, which has been operating the Capitol Corridor regional train in Northern California since 1998.

The first SJJPA Board meeting was held on March 22, 2013, to begin planning for the shift in control. In that time, the SJJPA board contracted with the San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission to provide day-to-day management of the service and contracted with Amtrak to continue to operate the service and maintain the rolling stock (locomotives and passenger cars). Control of the train service shifted from Caltrans to the SJJPA on July 1, 2015.

A fifth Oakland–Bakersfield round trip was added to the service on June 20, 2016, the first expansion of the service in more than 14 years.

Two years later, the SJJPA established an early-morning "Morning Express Service" between Fresno and Sacramento, allowing same-day trips to the state capitol for the first time, was expected to result in increased ridership from business travelers. The change was criticized by Bakersfield-area officials, because it required ending the last southbound train of the day in Fresno, reduced daily service to Bakersfield by one daily round trip. The service began on May 7, 2018, but proved to be unpopular, with ridership counts showing an average of just 50 people on the train, compared to 130 with the old timetable. The "Morning Express Service" was eliminated one year later on May 6, 2019, and trains were reverted to their previous schedule.

Sacramento service was discontinued and one round-trip to Oakland was cancelled on March 25, 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The cancelled Oakland trip was reinstated on June 28, 2021.

Planned expansion
the agency is increasing capacity on its routes to avoid conflicts with freight trains and add additional trips as well as plan for connections to the California High-Speed Rail system. The level junction in Stockton where the two San Joaquin routes diverge was the busiest rail junction in the state by 2019 – the north-south Union Pacific line is planned to be elevated over the BNSF line. Two additional Sacramento round trips are planned to be added, routed over the Union Pacific Railroad Sacramento Subdivision north of Stockton. Unlike the 1999-initiated route on the Fresno Subdivision, the Sacramento Subdivision has spare capacity to allow the increased service. Six new stations are planned: Lodi (separate from the Lodi Transit Station), Elk Grove, three locations in Sacramento, and Natomas. The Sacramento Subdivision trains will not serve the existing Sacramento Valley Station, but RT Light Rail connections and a shuttle bus to Sacramento International Airport are planned elsewhere. These improvements are being done in cooperation with Altamont Corridor Express (ACE), which will share the route to Natomas from Stockton and add an additional branch south to Ceres in 2023 with an extension to Merced in 2027. When the Natomas runs are initiated, one existing Oakland trip is planned to terminate at Stockton-Downtown, freeing a slot for a full Natomas to Bakersfield round-trip while continuing to provide five trips from the Bay Area.

The San Joaquin Joint Powers Authority will serve as the high-speed rail service provider in the Valley per a memorandum of understanding with the California High-Speed Rail Authority. Upon completion of the high-speed rail initial operating segment, trains are expected to terminate at that system's new Merced station to act as a feeder to high-speed service. A new rail link is planned to run between the BNSF line currently used and the Union Pacific subdivision on which that station is planned in order to facilitate trips and transfers. Sacramento to Merced service is thus planned to increase in frequency to hourly service.

, Oakland to Bakersfield trips take just over six hours, which requires an expensive crew change in Merced. The SJJPA wishes to reduce travel times to eliminate this expense, which may involve terminating some trains at Emeryville, skipping stops on some trains, increasing current 79 mph speeds to 90 mph, and/or operational improvements like decreasing dwell times. Longer-term proposals include extending Oakland trains to Oakland Coliseum station to provide service to Oakland International Airport and a second BART connection; routing some trains via the ACE route through the Tri-Valley; consolidating all Stockton service at Robert J. Cabral Station; and extensions to Marysville/Yuba City, Oroville, or Redding. The SJJPA ultimately plans to increase Sacramento service to hourly headways.

In December 2023, the Federal Railroad Administration accepted an application by Caltrans to enter the San Joaquins route into its Corridor Identification and Development Program. Proposed improvements include additional frequencies and an extension north to Chico and Redding. The program grants $500,000 toward service planning and prioritizes the corridor for future federal funding.

Route
The San Joaquins service runs from Bakersfield's Truxtun Avenue station northward on BNSF Railway's Mojave Subdivision within Bakersfield, the Bakersfield Subdivision from Bakersfield to Calwa (Fresno), then on the Stockton Subdivision from Calwa to Stockton.

At the Stockton Diamond the routes split to Oakland or Sacramento.

The Oakland trains continue west on the Stockton Subdivision to Port Chicago. At Port Chicago they cross to the Union Pacific Railroad's Tracy Subdivision to Martinez, continue on the Martinez Subdivision to Emeryville, and finally travel a few miles on the Niles Subdivision to Oakland's Jack London Square station.

Trains to the Sacramento Valley Station diverge in Stockton and run north to Sacramento on Union Pacific's Fresno Subdivision and on the Martinez Subdivision within Sacramento.

If the tracks for the Central Valley segment of California High-Speed Rail (HSR) are completed prior to that system's full startup, there are calls for the San Joaquins trains to use the HSR infrastructure to speed up traditional rail service to 125 mph.

The route is Amtrak's seventh-busiest service in the nation and the railroad's third-busiest in the state of California.

Stations and connections
The San Joaquins service has an extensive network of dedicated Amtrak Thruway buses. Over 55% of passengers on the route used an Amtrak Thruway bus on at least one end of their trip.

Rolling stock
For its first two years of operation, the San Joaquin used single-level coaches Amtrak had inherited from other railroads. In October 1976, Amtrak introduced new Amfleet coaches to the service. From 1987 to 1989 Amtrak used Superliner and ex-ATSF Hi-Level coaches. For a short period beginning on June 15, 1987, this included a full dining car on one of the trains. Amtrak reequipped the San Joaquin trains again in 1989, this time with new Horizon coaches, when service expanded to three daily round-trips. The San Joaquin began receiving Superliner-derived, bi-level California Cars in 1995. The bi-level fleet was supplemented by a fleet of single-level Comet Cars (refurbished NJ Transit cars) between 2013 and 2024. Between 2024 and 2026, both the bi-level and Comet Car fleets are expected to be replaced by Siemens Venture trainsets.

Daily inspections, cleaning, and maintenance of equipment are conducted in Oakland, Bakersfield, and Sacramento. Heavy maintenance is performed by Transit Services America in Stockton. Previously, all maintenance took place in Oakland, but both the Capitol Corridor and San Joaquins voted to shift to a new contractor in 2023, citing the contractor's ability to adhere to high maintenance quality and cleanliness and be more agile with overhaul projects.

Locomotives
The San Joaquins and Capitol Corridor share a combined fleet of 13 EMD F59PHI and ten Siemens Charger SC-44 locomotives.

The Charger locomotives meet EPA Tier IV emission standards and are capable of operating at 125 mph in revenue service. Many of the F59PHI have been re-engined to meet more stringent EPA Tier II emission standards.

These locomotives are owned by Caltrans and carry its CDTX reporting marks. Amtrak-owned locomotives are also occasionally used on the San Joaquin, including the P42DC.

California Car bi-level trainsets
The San Joaquins service is equipped with Amtrak California's fleet of California Car bi-level, high-capacity passenger cars owned by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). Each trainset typically consists of two coach cars, a coach/baggage car, a café (food service) car, and a cab/coach car. The cab/coach car is similar to other coaches but with an engineer's operating cab and headlights on one end, allowing the train to be operated in push-pull mode, which eliminates the need to turn the train at each end-point. Caltrans is in the process of refitting the cab/coach cars to have a space on the car's lower level for storage for checked luggage and bikes.

Caltrans also owns several Surfliner bi-level cars that are used on some San Joaquins trainsets. The newer cars look very similar to the California Car fleet but feature reclining seats, open overhead luggage racks, and a restroom on the upper level of each car.

The bi-level cars have doors that can operated remotely on either side of the train from a single point of control. This feature allows the operator to maximize passenger flow in boarding and alighting operations, and thereby minimizing station dwell time.

Comet Car single-level trainsets
Increasing ridership on the San Joaquins service led Caltrans to purchase 14 Comet IB rail cars from New Jersey Transit in 2008 for $75,000 each. The former commuter cars were refurbished and reconfigured by Amtrak's Beech Grove Shops to serve as intercity coaches at a cost of approximately $20 million. The refurbished cars have reclining seats with tray tables, WiFi, two power outlets at each seat pair, luggage racks, trash/recycling bins, a restroom, and six workstation tables in the center of the car.

Caltrans also pays to lease three Non-Powered Control Units (F40PH locomotives converted into cab/baggage cars) from Amtrak. The agency also previously paid to lease three Horizon dinettes to serve as café cars. The Horizon dinettes were eventually returned to Amtrak, and conductors offer free snacks and water bottles instead.

Caltrans had planned to use the Comet Car trainsets on trains starting in July 2013, but the refurbishing process took longer than expected. The first Comet Car trainset was put into regular service on October 21, 2013, and the second trainset was put into regular service on April 15, 2014. The addition of the Comet Cars to the fleet allowed Caltrans to break up two bi-level trainsets and use the cars to add another coach car to each of the San Joaquins' remaining California Car trainsets, along with adding cars to some Capitol Corridor trainsets.

The Comet Cars have major limitations for San Joaquins service, such as their manually-operated doors, which slow down boarding. The Comets have high floors and lack integrated wheelchair lifts, so passengers in wheelchairs must be lifted onto trains with a portable, hand-cranked lift.

Since COVID-19 pandemic, the Comet Cars have seen less use. One of the trainsets has been broken up, with its cars inserted into other trainsets on the San Joaquins service. In this use, the Comet Cars do not carry passengers, and serve to meet a minimum train length requirement imposed by BNSF. San Joaquins trains are required to have a minimum of 28 axles to protect against track circuit malfunctions, an issue known as "loss of shunt." When not properly mitigated, loss of shunt can interfere with the safe operation of block signaling systems, and can prevent grade crossing signals from activating.

Caltrans plans to reassign the Comet Cars to services in Southern California when the full fleet of Siemens Venture cars is delivered.

Siemens Venture single-level trainsets
In November 2017, the California Department of Transportation announced that it would be ordering seven Siemens Venture trainsets through its contractor Sumitomo Corporation. The state had initially contracted Sumitomo, which in turn subcontracted with Nippon Sharyo, to build the Next Generation Bi-Level Passenger Rail Car, but a prototype car failed a buff strength test in August 2015. After the test failure, Sumitomo canceled its contract with Nippon Sharyo, and turned to Siemens to be the new subcontractor. The cars are being built at the Siemens factory in Florin, California, and will be hauled by California's existing fleet of diesel-electric locomotives.

California's trainsets will be used exclusively on the San Joaquins service and will consist of seven cars each: five coaches with economy seating, a café car, and one cab car (control car) with economy seating and a compartment for checked baggage. The order includes 49 cars for California, formed into seven semi-permanently coupled trainsets. The advantage of semi-permanently coupled trainsets is a more seamless gangway between cars to allow for easier movement from car-to-car, including the ability to move between cars in a wheelchair.

Like the earlier bi-level cars, the Venture trainsets have doors that can operated remotely on either side of the train from a single point of control. This feature allows the operator to maximize passenger flow in boarding and alighting operations, and thereby minimizing station dwell time. To accommodate the low-level platforms along the line, the Venture cars also have automatically deployed stair steps. Since Siemens Venture trainsets were originally designed to be used with high platforms, the SJJPA modify all stations, adding two mini-high platforms (short lengths of high platform, each long enough for one door, with an accessible ramp to the longer low platform). The cars will also be equipped with electrically operated wheelchair lifts.

The first trainset was supposed to go into revenue service in 2020, though Caltrans only began accepting deliveries of the new rolling stock in late 2022. The first trainset entered service on December 21, 2023, operating on trains 710 and 719. The SJJPA plans to have four Venture trainsets in service by the end of 2024, with all seven trainsets in service by early 2026.

Future
In September 2022, CalSTA ordered four hydrogen-powered trainsets from Stadler Rail, with delivery expected in early 2027. The trainsets will be used for the Merced–Sacramento portion of the San Joaquins after the first segment of California High-Speed Rail begins service. The order includes an option for 25 additional trainsets for Amtrak California services.

title: San Joaquins


text:
User talk:MakeRocketGoNow

Article Licensing
Hi, I've started the Free the Rambot Articles Project which has the goals of getting users to multi-license all of their contributions that they've made to... using the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike (CC-by-sa) version 1.0 and 2.0 Licenses or into the public domain if they prefer. The CC-by-sa license is a true free documentation license that is similar to the GFDL (which every contribution made to Wikipedia is licensed under), but it allows other projects, such as WikiTravel, to use our articles (See the Multi-licensing Guide for more information). Since you are among the top 1000 Wikipedians by edits, I was wondering if you would be willing to multi-license all of your contributions or at minimum those on the geographic articles. So far over 90% of people who have responded have done this.
 * 1) ...all U.S. state, county, and city articles...
 * 2) ...all articles...

 * Nutshell: Wikipedia articles can be shared with any other GFDL project but open/free projects using the incompatible Creative Commons Licenses (e.g. WikiTravel) can't use our stuff and we can't use theirs. It is important to us that other free projects can use our stuff.  So we use their licenses too.

To allow us to track those users who muli-license their contributions, many users copy and paste the   template (or    for public domain) into their user page, but there are other templates for other options at Template messages/User namespace. The following examples could also copied and pasted into your user page:

 * Option 1
 * I agree to multi-license all my contributions, with the exception of my user pages, as described below:

OR
 * Option 2
 * I agree to multi-license all my contributions to any U.S. state, county, or city article as described below:

Or if you wanted to place your work into the public domain, you could replace   with   . If you only prefer using the GFDL, I would like to know that too. Please let me know at my talk page what you think. It's important to know, even if you choose to do anything so I don't keep asking. -- Ram-Man 16:25, Dec 2, 2004 (UTC)

lots of edits, not an admin
Hi - I made a list of users who've been around long enough to have made lots of edits but aren't admins. If you're at all interested in becoming an admin, can you please add an '*' immediately before your name in this list? I've suggested folks nominating someone might want to puruse this list, although there is certainly no guarantee anyone will ever look at it. Thanks. -- Rick Block (talk) 18:25, Jun 19, 2005 (UTC)
 * With 13,004 edits over the course of 1.5 years, you're more than qualified. You should consider a bid for adminship. —  F REAK OF N URxTURE  ( [ TALK ] )  14:57, Dec. 25, 2005

Great Username
Hey I just wanted to let you know I love your username- it made me laugh when i saw it. Then I told my sister and she laughed. :) I assume it is from The Simpsons from when Homer joins NASA? That is a funny episode. Regards, --Rachel Cakes 09:48, 4 November 2005 (UTC)

 * Thanks. Yep, it's from the "Deep Space Homer" episode. MakeRocketGoNow 23:52, 6 November 2005 (UTC)

 * I too got a big laugh when I saw it. :D The Wookieepedian 02:40, 23 November 2005 (UTC)

Requested template
I put together something for the template you requested at Requested_templates. --CBD ☎ ✉ 02:41, 26 January 2006 (UTC)

 * Sweet! Thanks! - MakeRocketGoNow 02:46, 26 January 2006 (UTC)

Philotics
Most of the reference for the ideas of Card at Philotics will come from the content of the books Xenocide and Children of the Mind. I'd hate to try to delve into it and decipher what all of it means. But should we reference these books there? I always thougt this was just an invention of Card; I've never heard them mentioned anywhere else. In fact, this article might need to be merged into one of the articles on the Enderverse. --ShadowPuppet 03:53, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

 * I never heard of this, so I have no idea if it's purely Card's brainchild/fancruft, or based on some other real science/philosophical conceit. Either way, this distinction needs to be clearly made, and backed up with references. If it's just Card's, it can go under category:Fictional technology. In any event, Philotics needs to be merged with Philotic Web and most of philote. MakeRocketGoNow 01:24, 1 February 2006 (UTC)

Please check your WP:NA entry
Greetings, editor! Your name appears on List of non-admins with high edit counts. If you have not done so lately, please take a look at that page and check your listing to be sure that following the particulars are correct: Thank you, and have a wiki wiki day! BD2412 T 04:55, 17 February 2006 (UTC)
 * 1) If you are an admin, please remove your name from the list.
 * 2) If you are currently interested in being considered for adminship, please be sure your name is in bold; if you are opposed to being considered for adminship, please cross out your name (but do not delete it, as it will automatically be re-added in the next page update).
 * 3) Please check to see if you are in the right category for classification by number of edits.

Thanks

 * Hey, my first star! Thanks! MakeRocketGoNow 16:34, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

[Year] works categories
I think a better solution than categories such as "1859 works", which consensus on CFD seems to consider too vaguely defined, might be to create "[year] in literature" categories. This could then capture short stories, essays, poems, etc., that aren't included in the narrower [year] books categories, and the book categories would then be a logical subcategory of the [year] in literature categories. There is precedent in this kind of organizing/naming scheme in the [year] in law and [year] in sports categories. Cheers, Postdlf 14:39, 18 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Sure, that sounds good. I deliberately chose "works" for its very vagueness- I imagined the category being able to cover political documents, works of art, buildings, anything human-created. I can see how this is considered TOO vague. Subsequent categories could follow from your idea: [year] in art, [year] in architecture, etc. Should the [year] in literature categories idea be posted here? MakeRocketGoNow 16:42, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

Category sorts
By using the * sortkey, all the sub-cats appear on the first page of the category; from what I gather, this makes it easier to find a sub-cat under which to file an article. There was some discussion about it at Wikipedia_talk:Categorization. If this annoys anyone, please revert it with impunity, and I plead obsessive compulsiveness. Cheers, Her Pegship 22:39, 23 May 2006 (UTC)
 * I see. Thanks for the link. I can see some advantage to getting all the subcats up front. But if you're going to do it, go do all the subcats for that category! MakeRocketGoNow 00:27, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

Please join in
Locations in fiction, fictional locations, and settings is a proposed policy on how to list fictional locations and to differentiate between a physical place and a setting (ie. universe or world). Please join in and give your thoughts. Bring some friends! —Lady Aleena talk / contribs 05:46, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Works by year
I notice that, along with User:Jpbowen, you were instrumental in creating many of the "Works by year" categories. However, the actual population of these categories has been somewhat erratic, aside from certain specific genres (e.g., film). Has there ever been any discussion in the WP community about what it would take to populate these categories consistently? Or is this something you have moved on from, and haven't been pushing? Marc Shepherd 13:52, 13 July 2006 (UTC)
 * There has been no discussion to my knowledge. Yes, category population has been erratic, but that seems endemic to Wikipedia. I also have not been consistently working on it. I welcome your suggestions. MakeRocketGoNow 17:39, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

More thanks

 * Thank you very much! MakeRocketGoNow 14:54, 3 April 2007 (UTC)

Help me out?
Could you please help with page creations on ABC Daytime & CBS Daytime? If would be much appreciated. Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.230.108.244 (talk) 06:26, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

ArbCom elections are now open!
Hi, You appear to be eligible to vote in the current Arbitration Committee election. The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to enact binding solutions for disputes between editors, primarily related to serious behavioural issues that the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the ability to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail. If you wish to participate, you are welcome to review the candidates' statements and submit your choices on the voting page. For the Election committee, MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 22:17, 30 November 2015 (UTC)

February 2021
 Your account has been blocked indefinitely because it is suspected that it has been compromised. If your account is locked, please contact. Otherwise, if you are able to confirm that you are the user who created this account, please read the guide to appealing blocks (specifically this section), then add this below the block notice on your talk page: .Mz7 (talk) 01:39, 16 February 2021 (UTC)

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title: User talk:MakeRocketGoNow


text:
Memphis International Raceway

Memphis International Raceway (formerly known as Memphis Motorsports Park) was an auto racing park located near the Loosahatchie River in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, just approximately ten miles south of Millington, and a few miles north of the city of Memphis.

History
The Memphis International Raceway (more commonly known as MIR) was founded in 1986 by Ed Gatlin, who along with a group of investors, bought a 400-acre tract of land within the northeastern section of Shelby County, and built a drag strip with an adjacent road course, including a dirt track and a go-kart track. The facility opened in 1987 with a drag strip and 1.8-mile (2.9 km) road course. It includes a 3/4-mile tri-oval short track, built in 1998, which once hosted the NASCAR Xfinity Series and Camping World Truck Series, as well as an ASA Late Model Series race. The 4400 ft drag strip hosts events such as International Hot Rod Association (IHRA) World Finals and Nitro Jam, Professional Drag Racers Association (PDRA), HOT ROD Power Tour, Super Chevy Show, Fun Ford Series and Mega Mopar Action Series.

The entire facility was purchased by the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach in 1996, and in 1997, a ¾-mile paved tri-oval was added on the site of the old dirt track, while a new dirt track was built on the site of the former go-kart track. The name of the facility was also changed to Memphis Motorsports Park and the tri-oval opened on June 5, 1998.

The following month, Memphis Motorsports Park was acquired by Dover Motorsports, Inc. in connection with its purchase of the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach. Memphis Motorsports Park closed October 30, 2009, due to lack of finances. Its parent company, Dover Motorsports, Inc. announced that it was ceasing all operations at Memphis Motorsports Park and that it would not be promoting any events in Memphis in 2010. The Memphis facility was under an agreement of sale to Gulf Coast Entertainment but Gulf Coast was unable to secure financing. The track's Camping World Truck Series date was moved to Nashville Superspeedway and its Nationwide Series date to Gateway International Raceway, and later abandoned after a year. Dover Motorsports, Inc. auctioned off the complex on December 14, 2010, to Palm Beach International Raceway for $1.9 million.

It was announced on January 31, 2011, that the deal between Palm Beach International and Dover Motorsports was finalized, and the track re-opened in April 2011. The track was also renamed to Memphis International Raceway, and a new logo was created to reflected the change which adopted a similar theme with its sister track in Palm Beach. The track became sanctioned with IHRA, which has held the IHRA Nitro Jam finale at Memphis since 2011.

2013
In 2013, MIR gained more events for the park, including the 2nd annual Ford Fun Weekend at Memphis (was hosted at MIR in 2012 as well), and the Mega Mopar Action Series. This was the first year where the three major domestic manufacturers (Chevy, Ford, and Dodge) held an event at Memphis in the same year under the new owners. The track also drew attention to the Mid South Region of NASA, which uses the road course for track events featuring High Performance Driving Events (HPDEs), Time Trial, Wheel to Wheel Racing, and NASA-X autocross events. Retired NASCAR driver, Rusty Wallace opened up his driving experience and go kart facility on the NASCAR Oval in May 2013. MIR also picked up the Xtreme Xperience Supercar venue which allows anyone to drive vehicles such as Ferrari's, Lamborghini's, and Audi's around the track for a fee. Its first event was February 9 and 10, but the event was prematurely canceled on the 10th due to weather. A make-up event was rescheduled for a Sunday run on October 20, 2013. The ARCA series also made a return to the oval, making it the first racing event held on the oval since the new ownership in 2011. The Memphis 250 was held on October 26 with Brian Campbell being the race winner.

2022
The track was sold sometime around March 2022, and held its last event on June 17, 2022.

Drag strip
The drag strip immediately drew the attention of the NHRA and was awarded a sanction in 1988 as the host site of the Mid-South Nationals. While the NHRA has 140 member tracks, Memphis was one of only 23 to host a national event. It also was the section of the complex used by other events such as the Mid-South SCCA events and the Super Chevy Show. The last NHRA race at Memphis, O’Reilly NHRA Mid-South Nationals, was to be hosted on October 4, 2009, but a rain delay postponed the event to October 5, 2009. In the winner's circle were Jeff Arend (Funny Car), Morgan Lucas (Top Fuel), Jason Line (Pro Stock) and Michael Phillips (Pro Stock Motorcycle).

The strip will host IHRA events with its new owner, including a Nitro Jam event, as their sister track in Palm Beach is also affiliated with IHRA. The American Drag Racing League announced, on March 3, 2011, that they would hold an event during the weekend of May 20, 2011, at MIR. The IHRA Nitro Jam series continues to race at Memphis, and have set up another finale event for 2014.

Paved oval
On September 13, 1998, before a sold-out crowd and a national television audience, the facility hosted its first NASCAR event—the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Memphis 200. NASCAR returned every year since with two events—the Truck Series in the summer, and the Nationwide Series in the fall. Ron Hornaday took home his second consecutive Elvis trophy in the last MemphisTravel.com 200 Camping World Truck Series race held at the oval. A late caution forced a green-white-checkered finish which gave Hornaday the edge on the restart to beat Brian Scott. On October 24, 2009, Brad Keselowski won the race at the oval by holding off Kyle Busch to the finish line on the 11th and final annual racing event, for both the Nationwide Series and the oval, as the track would not carry any racing events in 2010, when Dover Motorsports, Inc. announced the closure of Memphis Motorsports Park, a week after that race.

Former

 * ARCA Menards Series 2017–2020
 * ASA Late Model Series ?–2009
 * AMA Dragbike ?–2009
 * NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, MemphisTravel.com 200, 1998–2009
 * IHRA 2011–2022
 * NASCAR Nationwide Series, Kroger On Track for the Cure 250, 1999–2009
 * NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series 1988–2009
 * NASA 2011–2022

title: Memphis International Raceway


text:
User:Morwen/Wales

By the way, if you are wondering what the C1 codes are for - this is how they are actually referred to in the Local Government Act 1972.

It creates counties in England and Wales, and districts in the metropolitan counties, and all the Welsh counties. But it doesn't actually name any of the districts! These were specified by an order made by the Secretary of State later on.

Additionally, all the non-metropolitan districts were created in another order later on. I don't have the reference for this, and fear it isn't in print, anyway.

Clwyd

 * C1 - Colwyn - Colwyn Bay
 * C2 - Rhuddlan - Rhuddlan town
 * C3 - Delyn - ?
 * C4 - Alyn and Deeside - River Dee - River Alyn
 * C5 - Glyndwr - Owen Glendower
 * C6 - Wrexham Maelor - Wrexham, and Maelor

Dyfed

 * D1 - Ceredigion - ancient name (from 5th c Ceredig)
 * D2 - Preseli - Preseli hills
 * D3 - South Pembroke - southern part of Pembrokeshire
 * D4 - Carmarthen - town
 * D5 - Llanelli - Llanelli town
 * D6 - Dinefwr - castle and estate near Llandeilo (estate 18th c, castle on the estate perh 13th?)

Gwent

 * GT1 - Newport - town
 * GT2 - Islwyn - Mynyddislwyn (mountain) in Gwent, grid ref ST195945, name also taken as bardic name by Welsh poet long before the constitency, and as Roy Hughes when he became a Lord.
 * GT3 - Blaenau Gwent Erm, "heads/ends of the valleys of Gwent"? Ish? :) The A465 road along the heads of the valleys is ffordd y blaenau in Welsh.
 * GT4 - Torfaen
 * GT5 - Monmouth - Monmouth town

Gwynedd

 * GD1 - Anglesey - island
 * GD2 - Dwyfor - River Dwyfor
 * GD3 - Arfon - historic name
 * GD4 - Aberconwy - village called Aberconwy, River Conwy
 * GD5 - Meirionnydd - historic name

Mid Glamorgan

 * MG1 - Ogwr - valley of the river Ogmore (Welsh Afon Ogwr)
 * MG2 - Rhondda - valley of the river Rhondda
 * MG3 - Cynon Valley - valley of the River Cynon
 * MG4 - Merthyr Valley - valley of the river... erm, Taff :) No. Valley with Merthyr Tydfil in it (also a mountain, Mynydd Merthyr, overlooking it). Merthyr is the Welsh for martyr (Tydfil was the martyr).
 * MG5 - Rhymney Valley - valley of Rhymney River
 * MG6 - Taff-Ely - valley of (lower) River Taff and river Elai

Powys

 * P1 - Montgomery - old county name
 * P2 - Radnor - old county name
 * P3 - Brecon - old county name

South Glamorgan

 * SG1 - Cardiff - city
 * SG2 - Vale of Glamorgan - area name

West Glamorgan

 * WG1 - Swansea - city
 * WG2 - Lliw Valley - river Lliw (flows parallel to Tawe then into Llwchwr; there's two Lliw reservoirs)
 * WG3 - Neath - town (in turn named after river Neath)
 * WG4 - Port Talbot - town (Talbots not a river! -- a cadet branch of Shrewsburys, apparently)

title: User:Morwen/Wales