text:
Altan (band)

Altan are an Irish folk music band formed in County Donegal in 1987 by lead vocalist Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh and her husband Frankie Kennedy. The group were primarily influenced by traditional Irish language songs from Donegal and have sold over a million records.

The group were the first traditional Irish group to be signed to a major label when they signed with Virgin Records in 1994. The group has collaborated with Dolly Parton, Enya, The Chieftains, Bonnie Raitt, Alison Krauss, and many others.

Origin
As an 18-year-old young student and musician from Belfast, Frankie Kennedy used to travel to Gweedore, County Donegal on his summer holidays, learning Irish and playing traditional Irish music on Irish flute and tin whistle. There he met native 14-year-old Irish-speaker and musician Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh, the daughter of musician Proinsias Ó Maonaigh from Gweedore and the two fell in love with each other but Ní Mhaonaigh being very young, an innocent friendship began. When she was 15, she was allowed to go to dances under her brother Gearóid Ó Maonaigh's watchful eye, and gradually Frankie Kennedy and Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh became a couple. They both took jobs as trainee teachers at St. Patrick's College in Dublin. In 1979, the two musicians made their recording debut as accompanists for the well-known Belfast singer and Gaelic enthusiast Albert Fry on his self-titled debut album. (In total, Ní Mhaonaigh and Kennedy would feature on the first three albums of Albert Fry.) Two years later, in 1981, Ní Mhaonaigh and Kennedy graduated from college and married when Mairéad was 21.

Pre-Altan years: Ní Mhaonaigh & Kennedy
Kennedy and Ní Mhaonaigh had moved to Dublin and were both teaching at St. Oliver Plunkett primary school in Malahide. At the time, they were also playing music in the folk clubs around Dublin. Ní Mhaonaigh had learned the Donegal style of fiddle-playing from her father. However, Donegal music was little known outside of the county at the time. Kennedy's repertoire included a number of obscure northern flute tunes drawn from his travels in County Tyrone and County Fermanagh.

In the early 1980s, Ní Mhaonaigh formed a (short-lived) band named Ragairne with Kennedy, Gearóid Ó Maonaigh (Mairéad's brother) and a then unknown musician from Gweedore, Eithne Ní Bhraonáin, later known as Enya. People became interested in their repertoire of Donegal tunes. The group's members contributed to Mairéad and Frankie's debut album, Ceol Aduaidh (which means "Music of the North"), produced by Nicky Ryan and released in 1983 by Gael-Linn Records. The album is a collection of Gaelic songs and Ulster jigs and reels.

After the release of their first album, Kennedy and Ní Mhaonaigh were invited to America, and they quickly realised there was a market there. They then took a career break from teaching, which ultimately became permanent.

The two started to tour with two additional members Ciarán Curran (on bouzouki) and Mark Kelly (on guitar), performing their first ever live concert as a four-member ensemble on 1 June 1985 at St. John's Church in Listowel, County Kerry, Ireland, this line-up – with no name yet – being the core of the future Altan band.

Inspired by the success of their debut effort, they began to work on a new group of ballads and jigs from the North. The result was the album Altan, released in 1987 on the Green Linnet Records label, named after a lake which sits in the shadow of Errigal near Gweedore, County Donegal. In the Irish language, altan also means "stream". The album features many of the musicians who would later join the band.

1987–1994: Horse with a Heart, The Red Crow, Harvest Storm, Island Angel
Shortly after the release in 1987 of Altan, their second studio album, Ní Mhaonaigh and Kennedy named their ensemble "Altan" after the name of the album, the band's line-up remaining unchanged as a quartet including Kennedy on flute, Ní Mhaonaigh on fiddle and vocals, Ciarán Curran on bouzouki and Mark Kelly on guitar. Later on, Dublin's Paul O'Shaughnessy joined the band on fiddle, participating in the first three Green Linnet recordings (1989–1992).

In 1989, Altan released their debut album, Horse with a Heart.

In 1990, Altan released The Red Crow, which became the first of three Altan albums to win the "Celtic/British Isles Album of the Year" award from the National Association of Independent Record Distributors and Manufactures (NAIRD).

In 1992, Ciarán Tourish on fiddle & whistle and Dáithí Sproule on guitar joined the band for the Harvest Storm recording. With the arrival of Dáithí Sproule, Mark and Dáithí shared the role of guitarist, Mark touring with the band in Europe and Dáithí in the United States. In June 1992, Frankie Kennedy learned he had Ewing's sarcoma, a type of cancer that attacks bone structure. He endured surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy simultaneously continuing his work with Altan.

In 1993, the band released Island Angel. Billboard cited Island Angel as the fourth-best-selling album of world music in 1994. In 1994, they were asked by US President Bill Clinton to perform at the White House on Saint Patrick's Day, and they played for him again on his visit to Ireland in 1998. Also, President of Ireland Mary McAleese requested they accompany her on several State visits.

1994–2000: Kennedy's death, major label, Blackwater, Runaway Sunday
While battling with cancer, Frankie Kennedy continued to steer the band to international recognition, negotiating with Virgin Records UK to sign the band. Frankie Kennedy died on 19 September 1994. After a period of mourning, the band resumed their touring as requested by Kennedy himself before he died. They became the first traditional group to be signed to a major label when they signed with Virgin Records.

Dermot Byrne, who had previously guested on accordion on two Altan recordings The Red Crow (1990) and Island Angel (1993), officially joined the band in 1994. The recording line-up became Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh (vocals, fiddle), Ciarán Tourish (fiddle), Mark Kelly (guitar), Ciarán Curran (bouzouki), Dáithí Sproule (guitar) and Dermot Byrne (accordion) and remained unchanged until Dermot Byrne's departure in 2013.

In 1995, Green Linnet Records released Altan's first greatest-hits package titled The First Ten Years.

In April 1996, Altan released Blackwater, their first album on Virgin Records.

In July 1997, Altan released their next album, Runaway Sunday, which featured their version of "Gleanntáin Ghlas' Ghaoth Dobhair", a song written by Mairéad's father and a favourite at all their live shows.

2000–2009: Another Sky, The Blue Idol, hiatus
In 2000, the group released Another Sky, their first album on the Narada label.

In 2002, The Blue Idol featured the vocals of American singer Dolly Parton, who became close friends with the group after she invited them to play on her 2001 album Little Sparrow. The album garnered them the award for Best Group at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.

In 2002, Altan, along with other artists signed to Green Linnet such as Cherish the Ladies, sued for unpaid royalties. Most artists were paid and most claims were settled in 2006 as Compass Records (who would later sign Altan) bought the company.

In 2003, they released another greatest hits compilation CD called The Best of Altan: The Songs.

In 2005, they released Local Ground which met with positive reviews.

Altan then went on hiatus. Some members released their debut solo album: Ciarán Tourish released Down The Line (2005), Dáithí Sproule released The Crow in the Sun (2007) and Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh released Imeall (2009).

2009–2011: 25th anniversary
In April 2009, Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh announced that the band would be going into the studio in early May 2009 to record a new Altan album with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra just after a show on 7 May 2009 in Pornichet, France (near Saint-Nazaire).

In July 2009, Ní Mhaonaigh announced that Altan would also release their first DVD as the video recording of a concert on 14 August 2009 in the National Concert Hall (NCH), Dublin, Ireland (again with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra).

To commemorate their 25th anniversary, Altan released 25th Anniversary Celebration, a compilation album of studio re-recordings of previous material (plus one brand new song) with the contribution of the RTÉ Concert Orchestra. It was made available in January 2010 in Japan (where it had its launch in December 2009 during Altan's Winter 2009/2010 Japanese tour), in February 2010 in Ireland and UK and in March 2010 in North America.

After a few European dates in January, February and April 2010 and an extensive 18-date (March to April) tour of the United States, Altan launched on 23 April 2010 in Dublin, Ireland their 14-date "25th Anniversary" tour of Ireland which would run from April to June. During Summer 2010, Altan took part in a few European festivals. A 10-date tour of UK and Ireland took place in September 2010.

2011–2014: Gleann Nimhe – The Poison Glen and touring

From April 2011 to January 2012, Altan recorded a new studio album titled Gleann Nimhe – The Poison Glen.

After celebrating the launch of the 18th Frankie Kennedy Winter School programme on 29 November 2011 by performing a show taking place during the Liffey Banks Sessions at The Grand Social, Dublin, Ireland, Altan celebrated the New Year 2012, then forthcoming release of their new studio album Gleann Nimhe – The Poison Glen on the occasion of their performance on 1 January 2012 at Scoil Gheimhridh Frankie Kennedy, Ionad Cois Locha, Gweedore, County Donegal, Ireland during which they played some new tracks from it.

Exactly seven years after Local Ground, Altan released Gleann Nimhe – The Poison Glen, their new studio album of original material, on Compass Records in the US on 28 February 2012, in Europe & Australia on 8 March 2012, in Ireland on 9 March 2012 and in the UK on 12 March 2012. Started in April 2011, the recording took place in famous sound engineer & bass player Billy Robinson's Steeples Studios in Ramelton, Ireland and ended in early January 2012.

The album features An Ghealóg, a song composed by Martin Tourish who would later join the band replacing Dermot Byrne, temporarily starting from the Autumn 2013 (mostly) German tour and permanently since Dermot Byrne's departure from the band in early 2014.

2014–2017: The Widening Gyre and touring
On 3 June 2014, on their Twitter page and the Pledge Music website, Altan announced that they were working on a new studio album to be recorded in Nashville, Tennessee. The band had started rehearsing potential material for the album with the intention to perform some of these new pieces at various concerts over the summer.
 * 2014

While on a 5-show US tour in July–August 2014, the band – Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh, Ciarán Tourish, Ciarán Curran, Daíthí Sproule, Mark Kelly and Martin Tourish (replacing Dermot Byrne) – began recording their new album in Nashville, Tennessee.

In October 2014, Altan confirmed that their new album was being mixed, and that they "hope[d] to have it [released] in the Spring of 2015," and that it would contain "loads of surprises".

On 5 November 2014, Altan published a snippet of a new track titled "White Birds" which was recorded with an undisclosed musical guest.

In late November 2014, Altan announced the names of some guest musicians who they collaborated with: Eddi Reader on vocals, Jerry Douglas (from Union Station and Transatlantic Sessions) on Dobro, Alison Brown, Bruce Molsky, Mike McGoldrick, Natalie Haas, Jim Higgins and Darol Anger.

On 5 December 2014, Altan took part in the Great British Folk Festival in Skegness, Lincolnshire, UK. During the show, Ciarán Tourish announced that they "have a new album almost finished [which] has been mastered" and about which they "can do any more with it [for] it's done" just before the band went into playing a new medley (taken from it) entitled "The Tin Key / Sam Kelly's Jig / The Gravediggers".

On 19 December 2014, Altan revealed the names of the final guests having participated in the recording of the new album: Mary Chapin Carpenter, Todd Phillips, Garry West, Julee Glaub Weems, Kenny Malone and Stuart Duncan and offered (for listening and downloading) a (very) short audio excerpt (18 seconds) of one new instrumental titled "Buffalo Gals".

In January 2015, Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh explained why Altan called on Pledge Music's services in order to produce the new studio album and thanked all the pledgers for helping Altan with the fundraising campaign and for bringing it to completion (reaching, at that time, 101% of goal): "The music business is a changing world for professional musicians as ourselves. We depend more on live concerts to make our living. We can no longer depend on big record company funding to get our music out there, we have to do it ourselves. Now with your help we have funded our latest album which we are really happy with." She also stated that Altan have licensed the new album to Compass Records in the US, that Gary West of Compass co-produced it and that after 30 years recording studio albums, Altan "have taken a new approach with this one." The Altan Pledge Music pre-order page announced that all exclusive pre-orders would be fulfilled by 17 February 2015.
 * 2015

The band later announced that the new album would be released in Ireland on 20 February 2015, in the UK on 23 February 2015 and in the US on 24 February 2015, and would be titled The Widening Gyre, taken from "The Second Coming", a poem by W. B. Yeats, the first Irishman to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923. Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh revealed the album's cover artwork, by artist friend Édaín O'Donnell, who previously designed the Gleann Nimhe – The Poison Glen cover.

On 26 January 2015, Altan's official website published a presentation of their new studio album entitled anew The Widening Gyre giving many details about the new album: the new musical direction taken by the band, the album recording process and the participation of numerous guest musicians as well as the titles of some of the new tracks. The very same day, on their "Widening Gyre" iTunes page, Altan revealed the titles of the 14 tracks from their new studio album and released them for sale.

On 27 January 2015, on their "Widening Gyre" Compass Records page, Altan made available short snippets of their new tracks.

On 22 February 2015 in Charleston, WV (at Culture Center Theater, Mountain Stage Radio), Altan embarked on an extensive 25-date Winter/Spring North American tour which ended on 3 April 2015 in Greeley, Colorado (at the Union Colony Civic Center) visiting the Canada only twice: on 18 March 2015 in St. Albert, Alberta (at the Arden Theatre) and on 19 March 2015 in North Vancouver, BC (at the Centennial Theatre Centre).

Almost a year after the beginning of their extensive 25-date Winter/Spring 2015 North American tour, Altan embarked on 19 February 2016 in Northampton, Massachusetts in another extensive North American tour (but exclusively visiting the US), their 25-date Winter/Spring 2016 US tour which ended on 25 March 2016 in Spokane, Washington. An extensive (18-date) Spring 2016 UK tour followed in April and May 2016, including one Scotland leg and two England legs from 8 April in Hindhead, Surrey to 7 May 2016 in Stornoway, Scotland, including a London show at Kings Place on 9 April 2016.
 * 2016

Altan celebrated their 30th anniversary year with a Winter tour of Europe in January 2017, visiting The Netherlands, Ireland, Scotland and France within this month. On this tour, the core of the band (made of Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh, Ciarán Curran, Ciarán Tourish, Mark Kelly, Martin Tourish) is joined with a newcomer, John Joe Kelly on bodhrán. Altan have also announced for 2017 a 17-date US Winter tour in February and March 2017.
 * 2017

After more than 25 years as a band member (he had joined Altan in September 1991 for the Harvest Storm recording sessions), Ciarán Tourish (fiddle, backing vocals) left the band (for personal reasons) after the show Altan performed on 29 July 2017 in Lyon, France, at Les Nuits de Fourvière Festival. He was not replaced until fiddle player Clare Friel joined the band, at first as a guest musician for the Autumn 2022 and Spring 2023 US tours, then as a permanent member in July 2023.

2017–2024: The Gap Of Dreams and touring
On 23 February 2018, Altan embarked on a new (one-month) North-American tour.

On 2 March 2018, Altan released their new studio album entitled The Gap Of Dreams which they had recorded in November 2017.

On 15 March 2020, Altan announced that their on-going US Spring Tour 2020 had come to a halt because of the coronavirus situation and that they had got advice to return to Ireland as soon as possible. Altan's booking agency was due to reschedule all the 9 remaining (15–29 March 2020) concerts for the following Autumn 2020 or next Spring 2021 but the pandemic prevented it. Nevertheless, it appears that Altan performed their last two scheduled shows in Ireland on 18 April 2020 at Copper Coast TradFest in Dunhill, County Waterford and on 24 April 2020 at Club Ceol Aislann in Kilcar, County Donegal. Besides, Altan's bus tour with Hammond Tours scheduled for 12–19 September 2020 might have happened as well.

After a unique 2021 show on 26 November 2021 at Áislann Chill Chartha, Kilcar, Co. Donegal and their annual week residence at Scoil Gheimhridh Ghaoth Dobhair, Ghaoth Dobhair (also Co. Donegal) from 27 December 2021 to 1 January 2022, Altan resumed touring in March 2022, performing 3 shows in London and 3 shows in France this month, and another 6 shows in Ireland from March to October.

Two extensive (23-date) US Autumn and (15-date) US Spring tours ensued, respectively in October–November 2022 and March 2023 (after a unique show in Ireland on 3 February 2023 at Seamus Heaney HomePlace, Bellaghy, Magherafelt, County Londonderry). These new US dates marked Altan's first shows in the US in two and a half years (since the aborted US Spring Tour in March 2020).

Since then, Altan embarked on a 4-show tour of Ireland in Spring and Summer 2023 and performed 2 shows in France: on 1 April 2023 at La Coursive (scène nationale), La Rochelle, Nouvelle-Aquitaine and with l'Orchestre National de Bretagne on 9 August 2023 at the Lorient Interceltic Festival, Lorient, Brittany.

Born in Glasgow with her family roots firmly entrenched in the Donegal Gaeltacht (Derrynamansher), fiddle player Clare Friel permanently joined Altan in July 2023. She is the first female member to join the band since Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh since the band's start. A former Gradaim Cheoil Young Musician of the Year winner, Clare Friel is from The (Anna, Sheila and Clare) Friel Sisters and from The SíFiddlers.

2024–present: new album Donegal and touring
On 24 January 2024, Altan performed at the Glasgow Celtic Connections with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the Scottish fiddle female quartet RANT." A 5-date tour of Ireland ensued: starting on 26 January in Dublin at Temple Bar Tradfest, it included concerts on 1st February with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra in Kildare at the C. Kildare St. Brigid's Cathedral and on 2nd February in Galway at the Town Hall Theatre. It is due to include a performance on 23 February at the Belfast Winter Tradfest and to end on 3 March 2024 in Killarney at the Gathering Traditional Irish Music Festival. Altan is due to embark on a 15-date US tour on 8 March 2024 in Sacramento at Sofia Tsakopoulos Center, due to end on 27 March 2024 in Chicago at the Old Town School of Folk Music.

On 7 February 2024, It was officially announced the upcoming release on 1st March 2024 on Compass Records of Altan's new studio album entitled Donegal. This is their first studio album to be released in 6 years. The announcement reads: "Donegal captures the essence of the region which has inspired Altan since the band's inception and further cements Altan's legacy as one of the great cultural treasures of Ireland."

Recording line-up
Since the arrival of accordionist Dermot Byrne in 1994, the band recording line-up has remained unchanged until his definitive departure from the band some time in 2013 and his lasting replacement since then by Martin Tourish (Ciarán Tourish's cousin). Incidentally, Martin Tourish wrote (but didn't record) the song "An Ghealóg" from the 2012 Altan studio album Gleann Nimhe – The Poison Glen.

Since July 2023, the band recording line-up has become:
 * Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh – lead vocal, fiddle
 * Ciarán Curran – bouzouki
 * Mark Kelly – guitar
 * Dáithí Sproule – guitar, vocals
 * Martin Tourish – accordion
 * Clare Friel – fiddle

Touring line-up
Based on the recording line-up, the band touring line-up may differ at times:
 * Dáithí Sproule (guitar) replaces Mark Kelly when touring with the band, mostly in the US but also in Europe (for instance during the entire 14-date Spring 2012 Norwegian tour).
 * Martin Tourish on accordion has permanently replaced Dermot Byrne, starting from the extensive Autumn 2013 (mostly) German tour (from 12 to 30 November 2013) after an 8-month hiatus (starting from March 2013) during which Altan had no longer been playing with any accordionist (as Dermot Byrne had not been playing with the band since then).
 * Clare Friel joined the band as a guest musician on fiddle for the Autumn 2022 and Spring 2023 US tours. She permanently joined the band in July 2023.

Legacy
For almost two decades (from December 1994 to January 2014), a winter school of music called Scoil Gheimhridh Frankie Kennedy (The Frankie Kennedy Winter Music School) was held each year in Gaoth Dobhair (Gweedore), County Donegal in honour of co-founder Frankie Kennedy.

Ni Mhaonaigh is regarded as one of the great female singers of Ireland, standing alongside Mary Black, Moya Brennan and Sinéad O'Connor.

Frankie Kennedy and Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh albums

 * Ceol Aduaidh (Music of the North) (1983)
 * Altan (1987)

Studio albums

 * Horse with a Heart (1989)
 * The Red Crow (1990)
 * Harvest Storm (1992)
 * Island Angel (1993)
 * Blackwater (1996)
 * Runaway Sunday (1997)
 * Another Sky (2000)
 * The Blue Idol (2002)
 * Local Ground (2005)
 * 25th Anniversary Celebration (2010)
 * Gleann Nimhe – The Poison Glen (2012)
 * The Widening Gyre (2015)
 * The Gap Of Dreams (2018)
 * Donegal (2024)

Live albums

 * The Best of Altan (1997)

Compilations

 * The First Ten Years (1986–1995) (1995)
 * The Best of Altan (1997)
 * Altan's Finest (2000)
 * Once Again 1987–93 (2000)
 * The Best of Altan: The Songs (2003)

Various artists live compilations featuring Altan
 * Cambridge Folk Festival – A Celebration of Roots Music 1998–99 (2000)
 * Cool as Folk (2007)

title: Altan (band)


text:
Snap

Snap or SNAP may refer to:

Arts and entertainment

 * Snap (film), the original release title for the 2013 film Enter the Dangerous Mind
 * The Stanly News and Press, a newspaper in Albemarle, North Carolina, US

Games and sport

 * Snap (gridiron football), the start of a play in gridiron football
 * Scalable Network Application Package, an online gaming platform
 * Pokémon Snap, a 1999 video game
 * New Pokémon Snap, the 2021 sequel
 * Snap, any putdown used in the Dozens

Card games

 * Snap (card game)
 * Strong notrump after passing, a contract bridge bidding convention

Music

 * Snap music, a hip-hop subgenre
 * Snap!, a German music group
 *  Snap! (album), by the Jam, 1983
 * "Snap" (Rosa Linn song), 2022
 * "Snap", a song by Nav from Bad Habits, 2019
 * "Snap", a song by Slipknot from Slipknot, 2009 reissue
 * "Snap!", a song from the TV series Boo!

Fictional entities

 * Snap, a character from the animated television series ChalkZone
 * The Snap, a fictional event in the Marvel Cinematic Universe
 * Snap, a product mascot, one of Snap, Crackle and Pop

Aviation

 * Dallair Aeronautica FR-100 Snap!, an Italian aerobatic aircraft
 * Tecnam Snap, an Italian aerobatic aircraft

Computing

 * Snap (computer graphics), an aid for positioning an object relative to grid lines or another object
 * Snap (web framework), a Web framework written in Haskell
 * Snap Server, a computer storage device
 * SNAP Points (software non-functional assessment process), a measurement of non-functional software size
 * Snap! (programming language), an educational graphical programming language
 * ITK-SNAP, a medical imaging software application
 * Sentinel Application Platform, a commom software architecture for analysis of Earth observation data provided by ESA
 * Subnetwork Access Protocol (SNAP), a network link protocol
 * Snap (software), a software packaging and deployment system for Linux
 * Core dump or snap dump, a snapshot of the status of a running program or system at a particular moment

Organizations

 * Snap (coach company), a demand-responsive coach company in the United Kingdom
 * Snap Inc., developer of the Snapchat social media application
 * Snapchat, the social media application
 * Sarawak National Party (SNAP), a defunct Sarawak-based political party in Malaysia
 * Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, in the United States

Places

 * Snap, Kentucky, United States
 * Snap, Wiltshire, a deserted village in England

Science

 * Snap (physics) or jounce, in physics, the fourth derivative of the position vector with respect to time
 * S-Nitroso-N-acetylpenicillamine, a chemical compound
 * Schedule for Nonadaptive and Adaptive Personality (SNAP), a questionnaire for personality disorder assessment
 * Significant New Alternatives Policy, a US EPA ozone-depleting chemicals program
 * Supernova/Acceleration Probe, a proposed spacecraft
 * Systems for Nuclear Auxiliary Power, experimental electricity generators in the 1960s
 * Snap bean, the unripe, young fruit and protective pods of various cultivars of the common bean
 * Soluble NSF attachment protein, a family of proteins involved in vesicle membrane binding
 * Proteins in the SNAP-receptor (SNARE protein) family, including:
 * SNAP23
 * SNAP25
 * SNAP29
 * SNAP91, the gene that codes for clathrin coat assembly protein AP180
 * HT-2157, formerly SNAP-37889, a pharmacological antagonist for galanin receptor 3
 * SNAP-94847, a pharmacological antagonist for melanin-concentrating hormone receptor 1

Products

 * Snap (Pillow Pal), a plush toy
 * Snaps, crispy and light potato puffs manufactured under the Smiths brand
 * Bang snaps, a novelty firework

Other uses

 * Finger snapping, a thrusting of the fingers together that creates a sharp sound
 * Snap (horse), a Thoroughbred racehorse and sire
 * Snaps, a shot of alcoholic beverage
 * Snap fastener, a clothing fastener
 * Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, an American federal assistance program (formerly the Food Stamp Program)

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

title: Snap


text: Category:Coins

title: Category:Coins


text:
User talk:Ross-c

Hi Ross-c, I saw your question on Help_desk/Archive_6 and it is quite similar to mine on the current Help_desk. I have been thinking about the WikiProject_Fact_and_Reference_Check and think that, particularly for these the Internet_Archive should be used. I am interested in your ideas for a bot. PeterGrecian 17:13, 9 Sep 2004 (UTC)

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 * Image:Karn.jpg

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Peter Warren (musician)
This article was a non-notable biography according to the criteria set out in WP:BIO. (aeropagitica) 21:26, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

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Jansen.jpg
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Open Water
I put a comment on Diez's talk page relative to the RFC you posted. Calamitybrook (talk) 04:28, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

Unreferenced BLPs
Hello Ross-c! Thank you for your contributions. I am a bot alerting you that 3 of the articles that you created  are tagged as Unreferenced Biographies of Living Persons. The biographies of living persons policy requires that all personal or potentially controversial information be sourced. In addition, to ensure verifiability, all biographies should be based on reliable sources. If you were to bring these articles up to standards, it would greatly help us with the current Category:All_unreferenced_BLPs article backlog. Once the articles are adequately referenced, please remove the unreferencedBLP tag. Here is the list:

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Re: Hans Kammerlander
Sorry, I am not an admin, so I'm definitely not the admin who deleted the previous version, which only admins can do, and never saw the previous version, which only admins can now see. Since the new article has the same title (which is proper), I can no longer see the previous deletion to note the deleting admin, which I did not think to do at the Help desk, though I will in the future. For now, I will make changes to the article, according to Wikipedia's Manual of Style (WP:MOS) starting with WP:YEARLINK. Dru of Id (talk) 21:55, 6 February 2012 (UTC)
 * Ah, I see where I became confused. I thought the reference to you was that you deleted the article. But, it was you telling me that the article had been deleted. Many apologies. Ross-c (talk) 21:59, 6 February 2012 (UTC)

Would Category:Italian ski mountaineers be apt? See Ski mountaineering.
 * The German Wikipedia article Kammerlander here is much more extensive, although frequently referenced to self-published/non-independent works; a bot will most likely link his pages soon. The bibliography section there has more works, though articles do not need to have every detail. I believe it is unlikely that it will be speedily deleted or nominated for deletion in the future, as I think you've firmly established his notability to Wikipedia standards. I took his bibliography out of citebook format because repeating his name ten times in ten lines would likely fall under WP:PUFFERY; ten publications with various publishers over decades is impressive on its own, repeating his name so often seems like trying too hard. Thanks for the article, your effort, & your time. Dru of Id (talk) 14:23, 7 February 2012 (UTC)

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Talkback
jonkerz ♠talk 09:32, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Talkback
jonkerz ♠talk 13:24, 12 February 2012 (UTC)

Thanks Ross. I'd be really happy for you to do that. I didn't put up the original page and have just modified it to be more relevant to my current occupation. But none of it really encyclopaedia worthy! However I would appreciate you making it more appropriate to Wikipedia style and content rules. Take out what ever you think needs to go. Much appreciated and sorry if you already got his message from my talk page. (Christina Matthews (talk) 10:18, 24 May 2018 (UTC))

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Re: Charles Clement Johnston
Copied from New contributors%27 help page/questions
 * The fact that you referenced from Find a Grave was also in his congressional bio, so I removed findagrave as a reference and moved it to an external link. Find a Grave is user-submitted, so should not be used when a more reliable source can be cited (although fine for information shown on grave markers). I also added the attribution and the Virginia 22nd congressional district succession box. Note that Template:Find a Grave is available.
 * Note also that if you copy an article title from the article, the underscores do not show, which is mainly important at Articles for deletion submissions, as it limits the linked search results. Dru of Id (talk) 06:05, 25 February 2012 (UTC)

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Re: Commodores 13
Thanks for the note. I don't know what came over me! I should have written "their first [without] lead singer, Lionel Richie....". Your edit has more than adequately corrected this. Thanks. Emeraude (talk) 17:05, 11 March 2012 (UTC)

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Audee Wilson
No article with this title has ever existed, and I can't find anything with a similar title in my recent deletions. In general, being related to someone notable doesn't transfer their notability, you need to be notable in your own right. F Jimfbleak -  talk to me?  16:29, 15 April 2012 (UTC)
 * Yes, but they are proper articles with lots of info and references. This basically said "mother of Brian, wife of Murry", no refs (and it had already been deleted previously). At best, this should only be a redirect to her husband or son  Jimfbleak -  talk to me?  16:43, 15 April 2012 (UTC)

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Proposed deletion of Peter Dasent

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Nomination of The Plague (New Zealand band) for deletion
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ArbCom elections are now open!
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Proposed deletion of Indigo Falls

The article Indigo Falls has been proposed for deletion because of the following concern:
 * non-notable music group

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 * I didn't get a chance to look at this. However, in any case, I support the merging of the page with the Richard Barbieri page as the Indigo Falls project never produced more than the single album released just before I created the page. Ross-c (talk) 16:54, 3 April 2017 (UTC)

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Thanks. Pam D  15:17, 7 January 2018 (UTC)

Proposed deletion of Luke Jackson (singer)

The article Luke Jackson (singer) has been proposed for deletion because it appears to have no references. Under Wikipedia policy, this biography of a living person will be deleted after seven days unless it has at least one reference to a reliable source that directly supports material in the article.

If you created the article, please don't be offended. Instead, consider improving the article. For help on inserting references, see Referencing for beginners, or ask at the help desk. Once you have provided at least one reliable source, you may remove the prod blp/dated tag. Please do not remove the tag unless the article is sourced. If you cannot provide such a source within seven days, the article may be deleted, but you can when you are ready to add one. Cahk (talk) 07:47, 17 August 2018 (UTC)
 * There was an 'in use' tag on the page because I was actively editing including adding references. Do not edit a page or do anything else when there is an 'in use' tag on it because it means that someone is actively editing it!!!! Ross-c (talk) 08:10, 17 August 2018 (UTC)

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title: User talk:Ross-c


text:
Foreign object damage

In aviation and aerospace, the term foreign object damage (FOD) refers to any damage to an aircraft attributed to foreign object debris (also referred to as "FOD"), which is any particle or substance, alien to an aircraft or system which could potentially cause damage to it. External FOD hazards include bird strikes, hail, ice, sandstorms, ash-clouds or objects left on a runway or flight deck. Internal FOD hazards include items left in the cockpit that interfere with flight safety by getting tangled in control cables, jam moving parts or short-out electrical connections.

To jet engines
Jet engines can suffer major damage from even small objects being sucked into the engine. In the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requires that all engine types pass a test which includes firing a fresh chicken (dead, but not frozen) into a running jet engine from a small cannon. The engine does not have to remain functional after the test, but it must not cause significant damage to the rest of the aircraft. Thus, if the bird strike causes it to "throw a blade" (break apart in a way where parts fly off at high speed), doing so must not cause loss of the aircraft.

Engine and airframe designs which avoid FOD
Some military aircraft had a unique design to prevent FOD from damaging the engine. The design included an S-shaped bend in the airflow, so that air entered the inlet, was bent back towards the front of the plane, and bent back again towards the back before entering the engine. At the back of the first bend a strong spring held a door shut. Any foreign object flying in the intake flew in, hit the door, opened it, flew through, and then exited the aircraft. Thus, only small objects swept up by the air could enter the engine. This design did indeed prevent FOD problems, but the constriction and drag induced by the bending of the airflow reduced the engine's effective power, and thus the design was not repeated.

A similar approach is used on many turboshaft-powered helicopters, such as the Mi-24, which use a "vortex-type" or "centrifugal" intake, in which the air is forced to flow through a spiral path before entering the engine; the heavier dust and other debris are forced outwards, where it is separated from the airflow before it enters the engine inlet.

The Russian Mikoyan MiG-29 and Sukhoi Su-27 fighters have a special intake design to prevent ingestion of FOD during take-off from rough airfields. The main air intakes could be closed with mesh doors and special inlets on the top of the intakes temporarily opened. This would allow enough airflow to the engine for take-off but reduced the chances of the engine sucking up objects from the ground.

Another interesting design to minimize the risk of FOD is that of the Antonov An-74, which has a very high placement of the engines.

Boeing offered a gravel runway kit for early 737s that allows the plane to be used from unimproved and gravel runways, in spite of having very low-slung engines. This kit included gravel deflectors on the landing gear; foldaway lights on the bottom of the plane; and screens that prevented gravel, which would enter the open wheelwells when the gear was extended, from hitting critical components. The kit also included vortex dissipators, devices which would reduce the airflow into the engine from the bottom so as to reduce the likelihood of ingesting gravel. Airbus engineers are investigating a novel approach to reducing FOD. By developing, in conjunction with Israel Aerospace Industries, the Taxibot, a tractor controlled by the pilot, aircraft will not need to use jet engines while taxiing, and therefore they will not be vulnerable to FOD on aprons or taxiways.

Vehicle tire track-in
Debris is often trapped in the treads of tires from vehicles coming onto an airfield. Types of debris trapped in a vehicle tire can include rocks, mud, stones, loose hardware (screws, washers, bolts, etc.) and many other forms of small materials. These can be crew and fuel trucks, maintenance vehicles and many others that inadvertently bring debris to a flight line and deposit it there. These types of FOD are very difficult to track and manage once they are introduced onto the airfield. A jet engine intake, engine blast, and propeller or helicopter rotor draft then can pick up the debris easily. This material, once loose around operational aircraft, can lead to serious safety concerns, including personnel injury and equipment and property damage.

Runway debris
The crash of a Concorde, Air France Flight 4590, at Charles de Gaulle Airport near Paris on 25 July 2000 was caused by FOD; in this case a piece of titanium debris on the runway which had been part of a thrust reverser that had fallen from a Continental Airlines McDonnell Douglas DC-10 during takeoff about four minutes earlier. The debris strike caused a tire to explode. Rubber debris from the tire struck the wing, rupturing a fuel tank and starting a severe fire leading to loss of control. All 100 passengers and nine crew on board the flight, as well as four people on the ground, were killed.

A Gates Learjet 36A, registration number N527PA, was taking off from Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport in Virginia on March 26, 2007, when the crew heard a loud "pop". Aborting the takeoff, the crew tried to control the "fishtailing" and activate the drogue parachute. The parachute did not work and the Learjet ran off the runway, its tires blown. Airport personnel reported seeing rocks and pieces of metal on the runway after the accident. The National Transportation Safety Board said that the accident was caused by FOD on the runway. Failure of the drogue parachute contributed to the accident.

Volcanic ash
On 24 June 1982, British Airways Flight 9 en route to Perth, Australia, flew into a volcanic ash cloud over the Indian Ocean. The Boeing 747-200B suffered engine surges in all four engines until they all failed. The passengers and crew could see a phenomenon known as St. Elmo's fire around the plane. Flight 9 dived down until it exited the cloud allowing the airborne ash to clear the engines, which were then restarted. The cockpit windshield was badly pitted by the ash particles but the aircraft landed safely.

On 15 December 1989, KLM Flight 867, en route to Narita International Airport, Tokyo flew through a thick cloud of volcanic ash from Mount Redoubt, which had erupted the day before. The Boeing 747-400's four engines flamed out. After descending more than 14,000 feet, the crew restarted the engines and landed safely at Anchorage International Airport.

Although unrelated to volcanic ash, in 1991, an MD-81 operated by SAS, force landed in a forest after ice was reportedly ingested into both engines. All 129 people survived, the aircraft was written off.

Item jettisoned from aircraft
An unusual case of FOD occurred on 28 September 1981 over Chesapeake Bay. During flight testing of an F/A-18 Hornet, the Naval Air Test Center of the United States Navy was using a Douglas TA-4J Skyhawk as a chase plane to film a jettison test of a bomb rack from the Hornet. The bomb rack struck the right wing of the Skyhawk, shearing off almost half the wing. The Skyhawk caught fire within seconds of being struck; the two persons on board ejected.

Bird strikes
On 20 November 1975 a Hawker Siddeley HS.125 taking off at Dunsfold Aerodrome flew through a flock of northern lapwings immediately after lifting off the runway and lost power in both engines. The crew landed the aircraft back on the runway but it overran the end and crossed a road. The aircraft struck a car on the road, killing its six occupants. Although the aircraft was destroyed in the ensuing fire, the nine occupants of the aircraft survived the crash.

On 17 November 1980 a Hawker Siddeley Nimrod of the Royal Air Force crashed shortly after taking off from RAF Kinloss. It flew through a flock of Canada geese, causing three of its four engines to fail. The pilot and copilot were killed; the pilot was subsequently posthumously awarded an Air Force Cross for his actions in maintaining control of the aircraft and saving the lives of the 18 crew. The remains of 77 birds were found on or near the runway.

On January 15, 2009, US Airways Flight 1549 flew into a flock of Canada geese shortly after take off and suffered a double engine failure. The pilot ditched the aircraft in the Hudson River, saving the lives of all on board.

Wildlife and wetlands near airports
Significant problems occur with airports where the grounds were or have become nesting areas for birds. While fences can prevent a moose or deer from wandering onto a runway, birds are more difficult to control. Often airports employ a type of bird scarer that operates on propane to cause a noise loud enough to scare away any birds that might be in the vicinity. Airport managers use any means available (including trained falcons as well as robird flapping-wing falcon-like drones) to reduce bird populations. Another solution under investigation is the use of artificial turf near runways, since it does not offer food, shelter, or water to wildlife.

Conferences
In the United States, the most prominent gathering of FOD experts has been the annual National Aerospace FOD Prevention Conference. It is hosted in a different city each year by National Aerospace FOD Prevention, Inc. (NAFPI), a nonprofit association that focuses on FOD education, awareness and prevention. Conference information, including presentations from past conferences, is available at the NAFPI Web site. However, NAFPI has come under some critique as being focused on tool control and manufacturing processes, and other members of the industry have stepped forward to fill the gaps. BAA hosted the world's first airport-led conference on the subject in November 2010.

Detection technologies & FOD prevention
There is some debate regarding FOD detection systems as the costs can be high and the domain of responsibility is not clear. However, one airport claims that their FOD detection system may have paid for itself in a single incident where personnel were alerted to a steel cable on the runway, before a single aircraft was put at risk. The FAA has investigated FOD detection technologies, and has set standards for the following categories:
 * Radar
 * Electro-optical (visible band imagery (standard CCTV) and low light cameras)
 * Hybrid
 * RFID on metal
 * Manufactured FODS Mats - Track-Out Prevention & Track-In Control

Damage tolerance improvements
The negative effects from FOD can be reduced or entirely eliminated by introducing compressive residual stresses in critical fatigue areas into the part during the manufacturing process. These beneficial stresses are induced into the part through cold working the part with peening processes: shot peening, or laser peening. The deeper the compressive residual stress the more significant the fatigue life and damage tolerance improvement. Shot peening typically induces compressive stresses a few thousandths of an inch deep, laser peening typically imparts compressive residual stresses 0.040 to 0.100 inches deep. Laser peen induced compressive stresses are also more resistant to heat exposure.

Technologies, information and training materials helpful in preventing FOD

 * Aerospace tool control systems
 * FOD prevention program manuals
 * Magnetic bars
 * Promotional and awareness materials
 * Tool and parts control/retrieval
 * Tow-behind friction sweeper
 * Tow-behind sweepers
 * Training materials
 * Vacuum truck sweepers
 * Walk-behind sweepers
 * FOD prevention mats

Economic impact
Internationally, FOD costs the aviation industry US$13 billion per year in direct plus indirect costs. The indirect costs are as much as ten times the direct cost value, representing delays, aircraft changes, incurred fuel costs, unscheduled maintenance, and the like. and causes expensive, significant damage to aircraft and parts and death and injury to workers, pilots and passengers.

It is estimated that FOD costs major airlines in the United States $26 per flight in aircraft repairs, plus $312 in such additional indirect costs as flight delays, plane changes and fuel inefficiencies.

"There are other costs that are not as easy to calculate but are equally disturbing," according to UK Royal Air Force Wing Commander and FOD researcher Richard Friend. "From accidents such as the Air France Concorde, Flight AF 4590, there is the loss of life, suffering and effect on the families of those who died, the suspicion of malpractice, guilt, and blame that could last for lifetimes. This harrowing torment is incalculable but should not be forgotten, ever. If everyone kept this in mind, we would remain vigilant and forever prevent foreign object debris from causing a problem. In fact, many factors combine to cause a chain of events that can lead to a failure."

Studies
There have only been two detailed studies of the economic cost of FOD for civil airline operations. The first was by Brad Bachtel of Boeing, who published a value of $4 billion USD per year. This top-down value was for several years the standard industry figure for the cost of FOD. The second work (2007) was by Iain McCreary from the consultancy Insight SRI Ltd. This more detailed report offered a first-cut of the cost of FOD, based on a bottom-up analysis of airline maintenance log records. Here, data was broken into per flight direct costs and per flight indirect costs for the top 300 global airports, with detailed footnotes on the supporting data. The Insight SRI research was a standard reference for 2007-2009 as it was the only source presenting costs and thus was quoted by regulators, airports, and technology providers alike.

However, while that 2007 Insight SRI paper remains the best free public source of data, the new analysis (2010) from Insight SRI offers new numbers. The author of the new report (not free) says "Readers are cautioned not to rely on or in the future refer to numbers from the 2007-08 Insight SRI paper The Economic Cost of FOD to Airlines. This earlier effort was 'The' first document detailing the direct and indirect cost of FOD that was based on airline maintenance data (the entire document was a single page of data, followed by 8 pages of footnotes)."

Per-flight direct costs of $26 are calculated by considering engine maintenance spending, tire replacements, and aircraft body damage.

Per-flight indirect costs include a total of 33 individual categories:

 * 1) Airport efficiency losses
 * 2) Carbon / environmental issues
 * 3) Change of aircraft
 * 4) Close airport
 * 5) Close runway
 * 6) Corporate manslaughter/criminal liability
 * 7) Cost of corrective action
 * 8) Cost of hiring and training replacement
 * 9) Cost of rental or lease of replacement equipment
 * 10) Cost of restoration of order
 * 11) Cost of the investigation
 * 12) Delay for planes in air
 * 13) Delays at gate
 * 14) Fines and citations
 * 15) Fuel efficiency losses
 * 16) Hotels
 * 17) In-air go-around
 * 18) Increased insurance premiums
 * 19) Increased operating costs on remaining equipment
 * 20) Insurance deductibles
 * 21) Legal fees resulting
 * 22) Liability claims in excess of insurance
 * 23) Loss of aircraft
 * 24) Loss of business and damage to reputation
 * 25) Loss of productivity of injured personnel
 * 26) Loss of spares or specialized equipment
 * 27) Lost time and overtime
 * 28) Missed connections
 * 29) Morale
 * 30) Reaction by crews leading to disruption of schedule
 * 31) Replacement flights on other carriers
 * 32) Scheduled maintenance
 * 33) Unscheduled maintenance

The study concludes that when these indirect costs are added, then the cost of FOD increases by a multiple of up to 10 times.

Eurocontrol and the FAA are both studying FOD. Eurocontrol released a preliminary assessment of FOD detection technologies in 2006, while the FAA is conducting trials of the four leading systems from Qinetiq (PVD, Providence T. F. Green Airport), Stratech (ORD, Chicago O'Hare International Airport), Xsight Systems (BOS, Boston Logan International Airport), and Trex Aviation Systems (ORD, Chicago O'Hare Airport) during 2007 and 2008. Results of this study should be published in 2009.

title: Foreign object damage


text:
Orestes Brownson

Orestes Augustus Brownson (September 16, 1803 – April 17, 1876) was an American intellectual and activist, preacher, labor organizer, and writer; a noted Catholic convert.

Brownson was a publicist, a career which spanned his affiliation with the New England Transcendentalists through his subsequent conversion to Roman Catholicism.

Early years and education
Brownson was born on September 16, 1803, to Sylvester Augustus Brownson and Relief Metcalf, who were farmers in Stockbridge, Vermont. Sylvester Brownson died when Orestes was young and Relief decided to give her son up to a nearby adoptive family when he was six years old.

The adopting family raised Brownson under the strict confines of Calvinist Congregationalism on a small farm in Royalton, Vermont. He did not receive much schooling but enjoyed reading books. Among these were volumes by Homer and Locke and the Bible. In 1817, when he was fourteen, Brownson attended an academy briefly in New York. This was the extent of his formal education.

Religious unease
In 1822, Brownson was baptized in the Presbyterian Church in Ballston, New York, but he quickly complained that Presbyterians associated only with themselves, and that the Reformed doctrines of predestination and eternal sin were too harsh.

After withdrawing from Presbyterianism in 1824 and teaching at various schools in upstate New York and Detroit, Brownson applied to be a Universalist preacher. Universalism, for Brownson, represented the only liberal variety of Christianity he knew of. He became the editor of a Universalist journal, Gospel Advocate and Impartial Investigator, in which he wrote about his own religious doubt and criticized organized faiths and mysticism in religion.

Later, rejecting Universalism, Brownson became associated with Robert Dale Owen and Fanny Wright in New York City and supported the Working Men's Party of New York. In 1830, for a few months, Brownson was editor of the Genesee Republican in Batavia, New York.

In 1831, Brownson moved to Ithaca, New York, where he became the pastor of a Unitarian community. There, he began publishing the magazine The Philanthropist.

Transcendentalism
After the demise of the Philanthropist in 1832, Brownson moved to Walpole, New Hampshire, where he became a part of the Transcendentalist movement. He read in English Romanticism and English and French reports on German Idealist philosophy, and was passionate about the work of Victor Cousin and Pierre Leroux. In 1836, Brownson participated in the founding of the Transcendental Club.

Also in 1836, Brownson moved to Chelsea, Massachusetts, to set up his own church, calling it "The Society for Christian Union and Progress", he also published his first book, New Views of Christianity, Society, and the Church. This work combined Transcendentalist religious views with radical social egalitarianism, sharply criticizing the unequal social distribution of wealth as un-Christian and unprincipled. After President Martin Van Buren appointed George Bancroft as Collector of Customs at Boston in 1837, Bancroft in turn gave a job to Brownson.

In 1838, Brownson founded the Boston Quarterly Review, and served as its editor and main contributor for four years. Other contributors included George Bancroft, Margaret Fuller, George Ripley, and Elizabeth Peabody. Brownson originally offered use of the Boston Quarterly Review as a literary vehicle for the Transcendentalists; they declined and instead created The Dial.

Brownson's essays were political, intellectual, and religious. Among these was a favourable review of Thomas Carlyle’s Chartism, separately published as The Laboring Classes (1840). The article critiques Carlyle for putting the onus of reform on individual poor people themselves, rather than on the system that impoverishes them. It also objects to the inheritability of private property. The article and Brownson's review of it are sometimes blamed for causing Van Buren, whom Brownson avidly supported, to lose the 1840 election to William Henry Harrison. In fact, Van Buren himself is said to have "blamed [Brownson] as the main cause of his defeat" because the Boston Quarterly Review had recently promoted socialist ideas.

In 1840 Brownson published his semi-autobiographical work, Charles Elwood; Or, The Infidel Converted. Through the protagonist Elwood, Brownson railed against organized religion and questioned the Bible's infallibility, or truthfulness. In 1842, Brownson ceased separate publication of the Boston Quarterly Review, and it was merged into The United States Magazine and Democratic Review. He found it necessary to break with the Review after a series of his essays created new scandal.

Conversion to Catholicism
In the spring of 1843, rumors spread that Brownson was considering converting to Catholicism, especially when he met with the Roman Catholic Bishop of Boston. Brownson finally converted on October 20, 1844. He began to believe, in contrast to his Transcendentalist colleagues, in the inherent sinfulness of humanity. Further, he began to associate Protestantism with capitalist notions he despised.

Brownson soon renounced what he now considered the errors of his past, including Transcendentalism and liberalism, and devoted himself to writing articles dedicated to converting America to Catholicism. He used his articles to strike out against his former friends in the Transcendental movement, who, he wrote, would be damned unless they converted as well. He succeeded in persuading Sophia Ripley, wife of George Ripley, to convert, but few others.

According to one scholar, after his conversion, Brownson's writing changed, and the work he published in Brownson's Quarterly Review expressed "liberal views [that] frequently got Brownson into trouble, sometimes with the Catholic hierarchy." His conversion prompted him to be overzealous in defense of the Catholic Church. His unruly enthusiasm resulted in letters from local Catholic journalists and even the bishop of his diocese requesting that he cease leveling such harsh criticisms. Brownson's stance had much in common with the liberal Catholicism of Charles de Montalembert, with whom he corresponded, and he published articles in French liberal Catholic publications such as Le Correspondant, taking the side of the liberals against the conservative Catholics such as Louis Veuillot.

Brownson had also been writing many articles for the Paulist Fathers' Catholic World publication. Brownson now saw Catholicism as the only religion that could restrain the undisciplined American citizens and thus ensure the success of democracy. To him, the United States was to be a model to the world, and the ideal model was a Catholic America. He repudiated his earlier Fourierist and Owenite ideas, now criticizing socialism and utopianism as vigorously as he had once promoted them.

A staunch Douglas Democrat, Brownson, like Douglas, supported the Union in the Civil War and polemicized against the Confederacy and against Catholic clergy who endorsed secession. He avidly supported emancipation and even made several trips to Washington to discuss the importance and urgency of emancipation with President Lincoln. He encouraged all Americans, especially Catholics, to be patriots in the country’s time of turmoil.

After Brownson's conversion, he revived his former publication, now renamed Brownson's Quarterly Review, in 1844. From 1844 to 1864, Brownson maintained the Review as a Catholic journal of opinion, including many reviews of "inspirational novels" meant to encourage Catholic belief.

In 1853, Brownson wrote a series of articles that claimed that the Church was supreme over the State. These writings caused a controversy among Catholic immigrants and the entire Catholic community in general. This controversy caused bishops all over New England to begin condemning his writings. He became increasingly lonely as a result of his being shunned from Boston communities, so he moved the Review and his family to New York in 1855, where he revived his interest in Catholic political philosophy.

In 1860, Brownson announced that the Catholic Church must progress towards a welcoming intellectual environment. He argued forcefully and eloquently that "neither the friends nor the enemies of religion have anything to fear from adopting the great principle of civil and religious liberty, and asserting a free Church in a free State." Brownson noted with dismay how few European Catholics supported abolition, and applauded liberal Catholics like Montalembert for being "the only Catholics in Europe who sympathize with the loyal people of the Union." He posited that conscience must remain free to believe as it decides, and religion deals with the spiritual, not the civil realm. The State should protect such a right and restrict itself to governance of the external realm. He thus adopted a new form of liberalism that remained with him until his death, although his enthusiasm for such a liberalism must be balanced by a near simultaneous and unambiguous repudiation of liberalism which he expressed in the resuscitated Quarterly Review in 1873. There he rejected the kind of liberalism that makes "this world and its interests supreme." In 1862, he was nominated for a Republican Congressional spot in third district of New Jersey, but was met with failure that was blamed on his open Catholic views.

In 1864, John Frémont, whom Brownson strongly supported, withdrew from the Presidential race. After these two defeats, Brownson’s declining health, spirit, and subscribers caused him to stop publishing the Review the same year. The journal was relaunched again later in Brownson's life after a nearly ten-year hiatus, in 1873. The Review finally ceased publication in 1875, the year before Brownson's death. In 1857, Brownson wrote a memoir, The Convert; or, Leaves from My Experience.

Later life and death
Brownson died on April 17, 1876, in Detroit, aged 72. His remains were subsequently transferred to the crypt of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at the University of Notre Dame, where his personal papers are also archived.

Legacy and criticism
Response to Brownson's views was mixed during his lifetime. He was invited to New Orleans in 1855 by the publication Le Propagateur, because he was viewed as a figure whom both Protestants and Catholics might enjoy hearing from, because of his multiple political and religious associations during his life. Although various newspapers recorded contradictory opinions on his lectures, all praised his "eloquent" speech.

In 1850s, among his many intellectual contributions, in the midst of Irish and German immigration debate and related nativist moral panic, Brownson introduced the term "Americanization" into the public discourse while delivering a lecture, "Church and the Republic", at St. John’s College, future Fordham University. His attempts to harmonize ethnic immigrant identities with American democratic tradition without social and cultural homogenization are considered as an early move in the direction of multiculturalism. Brownson is often incorrectly credited with being the person to coin the term Odinism, referring to his 1848 "Letter to Protestants".

Brownson was summed up by poet and critic James Russell Lowell in his satirical A Fable for Critics as someone trying to bite off more than he could chew: "his mouth very full with attempting to gulp a Gregorian bull".

Edgar Allan Poe refers to Brownson in his Autography series, calling him "an extraordinary man," though he "has not altogether succeeded in convincing himself of those important truths which he is so anxious to impress upon his readers." He is also mentioned in Poe's story "Mesmeric Revelation," referring to Brownson's 1840 novel Charles Eldwood; or, The Infidel Converted.

While reviewing Brownson's biography penned by Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., Henry Steele Commager noted that: "'In his day Orestes Brownson was respected and feared as were few of his contemporaries; European philosophers regarded him with hope; American politicians enlisted his vitriolic pen; denominations competed for his eloquence; and when he listed himself among the three most profound men in America there were those who took him seriously.'"Peter J. Stanlis has pointed out that "In the generation following the founding fathers of the American republic, Orestes Brownson, together with John C. Calhoun, was probably the most original and profound political thinker of the nineteenth century. Woodrow Wilson considered his most important book, The American Republic (1865), the best study of the American constitution."

Additionally, Brownson was held in high regard by many European intellectuals and theologians, including Auguste Joseph Alphonse Gratry, who called Brownson "the keenest critic of the 19th century, an indomitable logician, a disinterested lover of truth, a sage, as sharp as Aristotle, as lofty as Plato." Lord Acton visited with Brownson and later wrote that "Intellectually, no American I have met comes near him."

Family
Brownson's brother, Oran, joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints about the same time Orestes became a Roman Catholic. One of Oran's main reasons for joining the LDS Church was its belief in authority.

Two of Brownson's sons served the Union as regular Army officers during the Civil War: Major Henry F. Brownson (1835–1913) and Captain Edward "Ned" Brownson (1843–1864). Edward was published during the war under pseudonyms. Brownson's daughter Sarah Brownson (1839–1876) was an author and poet whose writings supported the war effort.

Henry published a three-volume biography of his father in 1900 and also edited his father's collected works.

 * The Convert; or, Leaves from My Experience.
 * The Works of Orestes Brownson (20 vols., collected and arranged by Henry F. Brownson, 1882–1887)

title: Orestes Brownson


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Michael den Elzen

Michael den Elzen (born 1962) is a musician and music producer based in Melbourne, Australia. He has performed for over 30 years with many well-known Australian and New Zealand artists, principally as a guitarist, and has contributed music for several Australian movie soundtracks.

Early career
Den Elzen spent his early life in Boort and Mansfield (Victoria) and started playing guitar at about 10 years of age. At the age of 15, he was performing in Melbourne with the band Expresso Bongo, who made it to the finals of the Channel 9 TV talent competition "Safeway New Faces". He co-founded local bands Notorious Gentlemen and The U-Boats, and did recording studio session work. At age 19, he joined Broderick Smith for his first solo album and toured in his band for about three years. He went on to perform with Venetta Fields; with Tim Finn as a guitarist on his 1985 Big Canoe tour; and with Stephen Cummings on his "This Wonderful Life" album, and Australian and US tours.

In the mid 80s, den Elzen formed Melbourne band Schnell Fenster with ex-Split Enz members Phil Judd, Nigel Griggs and Noel Crombie. They released two albums, "The Sound of Trees" and "OK Alright A Huh Oh Yeah" and toured in Australia and New Zealand.

1990s
After the breakup of Schnell Fenster, den Elzen played on and co-produced Deborah Conway's 1991 successful String of Pearls album. He went to America to perform for Peter Case on Six-Pack of Love. The band on the album includes producer and keyboardist Mitchell Froom, bassist Bruce Thomas (Elvis Costello and The Attractions) and drummer Gary Mallaber (Van Morrison, Steve Miller Band).

He recorded and toured as bass player and musical director with Tim Finn on Finn's 1993 album Before and After; and toured and recorded with Richard Pleasance; and then toured and recorded with Melbourne band Rebecca's Empire for their Way of All Things album.

At the end of the 1990s, he joined Australian rock outfit Deadstar co-producing their final album Somewhere Over The Radio.

Soundtracks
Den Elzen started composing music for films in the 80s, the first being As The Mirror Burns (1990 release date). He worked with Phil Judd and Schnell Fenster on the soundtrack for the movie Rikky and Pete (1988), and was also involved with Phil Judd on the soundtrack for The Big Steal (1990) and Mr. Reliable (1996). Three Schnell Fenster songs feature in the Jane Campion film Sweetie (1989).

He did the soundtrack to David Batty's Rodeo Road (1999) which led to producing, recording, and co-writing the music for the TV series Bush Mechanics (2001) in Yuendumu about 300 km north-west of Alice Springs, and the soundtracks to other David Batty films, Sisters, Pearls and Mission Girls (2003) and Taylor Made (2003), as well as the TV series Inventions From The Shed (2005), all aired on the ABC.

Den Elzen also worked on a project with painter and artist David Munro called Birdbrain, whose music was used in the TV series The Secret Life of Us and in the film Ghosts of the Civil Dead (1988). Other composer credits include Trespass (2001), Beyond Sorry (2004), Bush Bikes (2003), Us Mob (2005) and Aurukun-Voices From The Cape (2008) by David Vadiveloo, Case 442 (2005) by C.A.A.M.A., Going Bush (2006) by SBS TV, Marree Man (2007), the series Halal Mate (2007) (for which he was nominated in the category of "Best Music for a Documentary" at the 2008 APRA-AGSC Screen Music Awards), That's Australia (2007), Desert Heart (2007), Wedding Makers (2008), Coniston (2012), Kabelbel (2013), Black As series 1-4 (2016-2022) and Truck Hunters (2018-2020) (Ten Network) by Rebel Films, Artists at Work – David Frazer (2007), IOU – Lloyd Rees (2007) and Tom Moore – Glassorama (2008) by Tony Wyzenbeek at ABC TV, the SBS series Love's Harvest (2007) by Brian McKenzie and Rebel Films, and God Is A Wandjina (2021) by Paul Bell (Feral Films) for Compass (ABC TV). Michael also collaborated with Justin Marshall on the soundtrack for the second series of The Art Life (2008) by Frank Haines Films, which aired on ABC TV.

Other work
He produced, recorded and played most instruments on Take Me to the Place by Tess McKenna after collaborating on a song for the film soundtrack to Curtains for My Cabin and played guitars on March also by Tess McKenna – year uncertain since dates are not given on the album, and on her 2019 release Before You Wandered In. He played guitar and recorded with David Bridie and has also written and performed with Renée Geyer, Mark Seymour and Pound System. Other artists Michael has recorded with include Zulya Kamalova (he is also accredited with mixing her album Tales of Subliming), Margaret Urlich, Diana Aniad, Bollywood Prog Metal band; BaK and Mimori Yusa (Japan). Michael also mixed tracks for Kim Salmon & The Surrealists including I Won't Tell from the album Ya Gotta Let Me Do My Thing, and has a musical credit on the film The Man Who Sued God.

Den Elzen has visited far north-western South Australia (Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara / APY Lands) over the years to record songs by local musicians promoting awareness of issues to do with health and well-being, supported by Nganampa Health Council in Alice Springs. The resulting CDs are called UPK2 Tilun Tilun Ta (2003), UPK3 Kunma Piti-la (2004), UPK4 Ulkiyala (2005) and UPK5 Katji Kuta-la (2011).

In 2017 he released the album Music For Listening And Relaxation with former band-mate Rebecca Barnard. An eclectic soundscape featuring Rebecca's haunting vocals, Michael produced and co-wrote the songs, and played all the instruments apart from some acoustic guitar by Barnard. Michael continues to work on film sound production. He is accredited with audio-post production and music composition on the SBS series Halal Mate, Kabelbel, Maree Man, Black As, Truck Hunters and audio-post production for Little J and Big Cuz. He is currently composing for another project.

title: Michael den Elzen


text:
Schnell Fenster

Schnell Fenster were a New Zealand rock band formed in Melbourne, Australia in 1986 by Noel Crombie on drums and percussion, Nigel Griggs on bass guitar and backing vocals, Phil Judd on lead vocals and guitar, and Eddie Rayner on keyboards and piano – who were all former members of New Zealand-formed rock group, Split Enz. Fellow founder, Michael den Elzen on lead guitar had worked with Tim Finn Band, another band formed by a Split Enz alumnus. Judd's band were briefly named The Wanx: but Rayner soon left and they changed their name to faux-German for "quick window", because it "appealed to [their] perversity". The group formed the core members of Noel's Cowards, a short-term ensemble, whose sole output was six tracks for the soundtrack of a feature film, Rikky and Pete, in 1988. Schnell Fenster released two studio albums, The Sound of Trees (1988) and Ok Alright a Huh Oh Yeah (1990), before disbanding in 1992. At the ARIA Music Awards of 1989 they were nominated for Breakthrough Artist – Album for The Sound of Trees, Breakthrough Artist – Single for "Whisper" and Best Cover Art for Judd's graphic art.

History
Schnell Fenster (schnelles Fenster is German for "fast window") were formed in Melbourne as a pop, rock group in 1986 by Noel Crombie on drums and percussion (ex-Split Enz, the Slaughtermen), Michael den Elzen on lead guitar (ex-Broderick Smith Band, Tim Finn Band, Stephen Cummings Band), Nigel Griggs on bass guitar and backing vocals (ex-Octopus, Steve Hillage's Khan [both in England], Split Enz), Phil Judd on lead vocals and guitar (ex-Split Enz, Suburban Reptiles, the Swingers) and Eddie Rayner on keyboards and piano (ex-Orb, Split Enz, Space Waltz). Rayner left soon after its formation to join the Rock Party and later was a touring member of Crowded House – another Split Enz-related group. The band's name is from "the nickname given to an experimental steam locomotive built in the 1930s. It reached incredible speeds but was declared unsafe."

Laurence Boswell of The Canberra Times interviewed Crombie in August 1987; Boswell asserted, "For me, Noel personified the intersection of music and art on the fringe. He was an essential ingredient of the Split Enz magic – in sound, performance and image. His percussion was perfection, his spoon solos bedazzled, and those haircuts and clothes!" For Crombie the group "began as a kind of a hobby — 'an enthusiasts' band'. As rehearsals developed the music into full-fledged songs, the decision was made to work towards recording an album. Live gigs will be a rarity until the album is released." He continued, "after a year, we're keen to get into a studio. We've got a lot of songs together and we're keen to get them recorded."

In August 1987 Crombie indicated they were working on the soundtrack for a feature film, Rikky and Pete (1988). Rayner was "working on the film as well, doing the underscore." (see The Makers) Noel's Cowards, formed as a studio-only ensemble, consisted of the extant Schnell Fenster members, plus Wendy Matthews (vocals), Michael Harris (fiddle), Louis McManus (mandolin), Vika Bull and Lisa Edwards (backing vocals). They provided six "country-tinged" tracks for Rikky and Pete and the related single, "Fingers Crossed", in 1988. Schnell Fenster's track, "Run a Mile", was also used on the soundtrack.

Schnell Fenster released their debut studio album, The Sound of Trees, in September 1988 via EMI Records/Warner Music Australasia for the Australasian market and Atlantic Records, internationally. The music was composed by all four members with lyrics written by Judd. They had signed with EMI in January of that year after, "it became evident that actual songs were emerging from these [jam] sessions, the band started recording demo tapes." The album was co-produced by the group with English producers, Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley, at Platinum Studios, Melbourne. It peaked in the ARIA top 100.

Another The Canberra Times reporter, Kathryn Whitfield opined that the album's, "music is bizarre, though not extraordinary. It is similar in parts to those weird wonders produced by the Cure. These off-beat ditties are all over the place like a dog's dinner, with synthesised gurgles crashing about the seemingly opium-induced lyrics... coupled with the high-pitched whining vocals of Judd, it is more than one person should have to bear."

Boswell and Whitfield's fellow journalist, Amanda Lynch, described the group's debut single, "Whisper" (August), which "has a subtle Split Enz feel to it but in general, the music of Schnell Fenster is very different. It lacks the clarity and energetic enthusiasm that was the Split Enz trademark." "Whisper" peaked in top 60 in Australia and top 50 in New Zealand.

At the ARIA Music Awards of 1989 the group were nominated for Breakthrough Artist – Album for The Sound of Trees, Breakthrough Artist – Single for "Whisper" and Best Cover Art for Judd's graphic art. The album had provided two further singles, "Love-Hate Relationship" (late 1988) and "This Illusion" (1989). The band performed across Australia to promote their material and then toured New Zealand in 1989, as a support act for Crowded House. Renewed interest in Split Enz had led to an American album release later that year, but with no tour and little record company support, it did not chart there.

Schnell Fenster's second album, Ok Alright a Huh Oh Yeah, was released in 1990. It was produced by the group and included Venetta Fields on backing vocals. They had recorded it at Metropolis Music and Effects Platinum, Atlanta. AllMusic's Chris Woodstra observed, "Though the songs aren't quite as strong as those on the debut [album, it] is still a solid, well produced effort, worthwhile for longtime Split Enz fans." Crombie's worsening tinnitus led to cessation of touring, and Schnell Fenster disbanded in 1992. Woodstra related how former members were, "playing a more active role behind the scenes in the music business."

Members

 * Schnell Fenster
 * Noel Crombie – drums and percussion (1986–92)
 * Michael den Elzen – lead guitar, guitar synth, fretless guitar, keyboards (1986–92)
 * Nigel Griggs – bass guitar, backing vocals (1986–92)
 * Phil Judd – guitar, trumpet, keyboards, lead vocals (1986–92)
 * Eddie Rayner – keyboards, piano (1986)

 * Noel's Cowards
 * Vika Bull – backing vocals (1988)
 * Noel Crombie – drums (1988)
 * Michael den Elzen – guitar (1988)
 * Lisa Edwards – backing vocals (1988)
 * Nigel Griggs – bass guitar (1988)
 * Michael Harris – violin (1988)
 * Phil Judd – guitar (1988)
 * Wendy Matthews – lead vocals (1988)
 * Louis McManus – mandolin (1988)

Other appearances

 * Rikky and Pete (soundtrack, 1988): – "Run a Mile" (by Schnell Fenster) ; "Fingers Crossed", "Cold Shoulder", "In the Dark", "Tears of Joy", "Just Like You", "Hard to Believe" (by Noel's Cowards).
 * Sweetie (soundtrack, 1989): – "Whisper", "This Illusion", "That's Impossible" (by Schnell Fenster)
 * The Big Steal (soundtrack, 1990): – "Fun City" (by Schnell Fenster)
 * Various Artists: Other Enz: Split Enz & Beyond (compilation album, 1999): – "Fingers Crossed", "Just Like You", "Cold Shoulder" (by Noel's Cowards with Wendy Matthews) ; "Whisper", "Ok Alright a Huh Oh Yeah" (by Schnell Fenster)

ARIA Music Awards
The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music. They commenced in 1987.

! Ref.
 * rowspan="3"| 1989
 * The Sound of Trees
 * Breakthrough Artist – Album
 * Nominated
 * rowspan="3"|
 * "Whisper"
 * Breakthrough Artist – Single
 * Nominated
 * Phil Judd for Schnell Fenster The Sound of Trees
 * Best Cover Art
 * Nominated
 * Phil Judd for Schnell Fenster The Sound of Trees
 * Best Cover Art
 * Nominated

title: Schnell Fenster