The Doors were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, comprising vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most influential and controversial rock acts of the 1960s, primarily due to Morrison's lyrics and voice, along with his erratic stage persona and legal issues. The group is widely regarded as an important figure of the era's counterculture.
Blackface is the practice of performers using burnt cork, shoe polish, or theatrical makeup to portray a caricature of black people on stage or in entertainment. Scholarship on the origins or definition of blackface vary with some taking a global perspective that includes European culture and Western colonialism. Scholars with this wider view may date the practice of blackface to as early as Medieval Europe's mystery plays when bitumen and coal were used to darken the skin of white performers portraying demons, devils, and damned souls. Still others date the practice to English Renaissance theatre, in works such as William Shakespeare's Othello.
Chubby Checker is an American singer and dancer. He is widely known for popularizing many dance styles, including the Twist dance style, with his 1960 hit cover of Hank Ballard & The Midnighters' R&B song "The Twist", and the pony dance style with the 1961 cover of the song "Pony Time". His biggest UK hit, "Let's Twist Again", was released one year later ; that year, he also popularized the song "Limbo Rock", originally a previous-year instrumental hit by the Champs to which he added lyrics, and its trademark Limbo dance, as well as other dance styles such as The Fly. In September 2008, "The Twist" topped Billboard's list of the most popular singles to have appeared in the Hot 100 since its debut in 1960, an honor it maintained in an August 2013 update of the list.
Harry Haag James was an American musician who is best known as a trumpet-playing band leader who led a big band to great commercial success from 1939 to 1946. He broke up his band for a short period in 1947, but shortly after he reorganized and was active again with his band from then until his death in 1983. He was especially known among musicians for his technical proficiency as well as his tone, and was influential on new trumpet players from the late 1930s into the 1940s. He was also an actor in a number of films that usually featured his band.
The Mummers Parade is held each New Year's Day in Philadelphia. Started in 1901, it is the longest-running continuous folk parade in the United States.
Homer Louis "Boots" Randolph III was an American musician best known for his 1963 saxophone hit "Yakety Sax", which became the signature tune of The Benny Hill Show. Randolph was a prolific session musician and member of the Nashville A-Team, performing on numerous notable recordings by artists including Chet Atkins, Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Brenda Lee, and Al Hirt. During the span of his more than forty-year music career, Randolph performed in hundreds of venues alongside many artists in pop, rock, jazz, and country music.
Mummer is the sixth studio album by the English rock band XTC, released on 30 August 1983 on Virgin Records. It was the first XTC album to be recorded following the band's retirement from live performance in 1982. The album's title and artwork refers to a Mummers' play, in which the identity of the players is hidden. A working title considered for the album was Fruits Fallen From God's Garden.
A string band is an old-time music or jazz ensemble made up mainly or solely of string instruments. String bands were popular in the 1920s and 1930s, and are among the forerunners of modern country music and bluegrass. While being active countrywide, in Philadelphia and its surrounding suburbs they are a huge part of its musical culture and traditions, appearing, among others, in the yearly Mummers Parade.
"(Ghost) Riders in the Sky: A Cowboy Legend" is a cowboy-styled country/western song written in 1948 by American songwriter Stan Jones.
Bridesburg is the northernmost neighborhood in the River Wards section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. A mostly working-class neighborhood, Bridgesburg is an historically German and Irish community, with a significant community of Polish immigrants who arrived mostly in the early- to mid-twentieth century. The community is home to two Catholic churches: All Saints Church, designed by Edwin Forrest Durang and built in 1889; and Saint John Cantius Church, built in 1898 in Polish cathedral style.
The Book of Secrets is the sixth studio album by Loreena McKennitt, released in 1997. It reached #17 on the Billboard 200. The lead single of the album, "The Mummers' Dance," remixed by DNA, was released during the winter of 1997–98, and peaked at #18 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #17 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. The album is certified double-platinum in the United States. It has now sold more than four million copies worldwide.
The Aqua String Band is an all-volunteer string band, best known for its participation in Philadelphia's annual Mummers Parade.
"Baby, Please Don't Go" is a traditional blues song that was popularized by Delta blues musician Big Joe Williams in 1935. Many cover versions followed, leading to its description as "one of the most played, arranged, and rearranged pieces in blues history" by French music historian Gérard Herzhaft.
Joseph Aloysius Burke was an American composer and pianist. His successful songs, written with various lyricists, included "Down Honolulu Way" (1916), "Oh How I Miss You Tonight" (1924), "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" (1929), "Moon Over Miami" (1935), "Getting Some Fun Out of Life" (1937) and "Rambling Rose" (1948) and "Painting The Clouds With Sunshine" (1929)
"I'm Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover" is a song from 1927, which was written by Mort Dixon with music by Harry M. Woods. Original recordings were made during 1927 by Nick Lucas, Ben Bernie, and Jean Goldkette.
"It's Just a Matter of Time" is a Pop song written by Brook Benton, Clyde Otis, and Belford Hendricks. The original recording by Benton topped the Billboard Hot R&B Sides chart in 1959 and peaked at No. 3 on the Hot 100 pop chart, the first in a string of hits for Benton that ran through 1970.
Greater Kensington is a string band in Philadelphia's annual Mummers Parade.
Pennsport is a string band in Philadelphia's annual Mummers Parade. They are one of two new groups added to the parade in 2008.
"Alabama Jubilee" is a song written with music by George L. Cobb and words by Jack Yellen. The first known recording was that of comedians Collins & Harlan in 1915. The song is considered an American popular standard. The most popular versions of the song were Red Foley's 1951 version and the 1955 instrumental version by the Ferko String Band, which reached #13 on Cashbox, #14 on the Billboard Jukebox chart, and #20 in the UK. A 1981 instrumental version by Roy Clark won the Grammy Award for Best Country Instrumental Performance.
Mummers' plays are folk plays performed by troupes of amateur actors, traditionally all male, known as mummers or guisers. Historically, mummers' plays consisted of informal groups of costumed community members that visited from house to house on various holidays. Today the term refers especially to a play in which a number of characters are called on stage, two of whom engage in a combat, the loser being revived by a doctor character. This play is sometimes found associated with a sword dance though both also exist in Britain independently.
