Thomas Ruggles Pynchon Jr. is an American novelist. A MacArthur Fellow, he is noted for his dense and complex novels. His fiction and non-fiction writings encompass a vast array of subject matter, genres and themes, including history, music, science, and mathematics. For Gravity's Rainbow, Pynchon won the 1973 U.S. National Book Award for Fiction.
Hardcore punk is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots can be traced to earlier punk scenes in San Francisco and Southern California which arose as a reaction against the still predominant hippie cultural climate of the time. It was also inspired by New York punk rock and early proto-punk. Hardcore punk generally disavows commercialism, the established music industry and "anything similar to the characteristics of mainstream rock" and often addresses social and political topics with "confrontational, politically-charged lyrics."
William "Spike" Pratt, played by James Marsters, is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. Spike is a vampire and played various roles on the shows, including villain, anti-hero, trickster and romantic interest. For Marsters, the role as Spike began a career in science fiction television, becoming "the obvious go-to guy for US cult [television]." For creator Whedon, Spike is the "most fully developed" of his characters. The character was intended to be a brief villain, with Whedon originally adamant to not have another major "romantic vampire" character like Angel. Marsters says "Spike was supposed to be dirty and evil, punk rock, and then dead." However, the character ended up staying for the second season, and then returning in the fourth to replace Cordelia as "the character who told Buffy she was stupid and about to die."
Christopher Brian Bridges, known professionally as Ludacris, is an American rapper and actor. After forming his own label, Disturbing tha Peace in the late 1990s, Ludacris later signed with Def Jam South and would go on to become one of the first Dirty South rappers to achieve mainstream success with his subsequent releases. For his music, Ludacris has won an MTV Video Music Award and three Grammy Awards.
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1979.
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in 1999.
Dane Jeffrey Cook is an American stand-up comedian and film actor. He has released five comedy albums: Harmful If Swallowed; Retaliation; Vicious Circle; Rough Around the Edges: Live from Madison Square Garden; and Isolated Incident. In 2006, Retaliation became the highest charting comedy album in 28 years and went platinum. He performed an HBO special in late 2006, Vicious Circle, a straight-to-DVD special titled Rough Around The Edges, and a Comedy Central special in 2009 titled Isolated Incident. He is known for his use of observational, often vulgar, and sometimes dark comedy.
Joseph Francis Bruce, known by his stage name Violent J, is an American rapper, record producer, professional wrestler, and part of the hip hop duo Insane Clown Posse. He is co-founder of the record label Psychopathic Records, with fellow ICP rapper Shaggy 2 Dope and their former manager, Alex Abbiss. Also along with Utsler, Bruce is the co-founder of the professional wrestling promotion Juggalo Championship Wrestling.
Sebastien Alexandre Grainger is a Canadian singer and musician, best known as drummer and singer of the Alternative rock duo Death from Above and the singer and guitarist for his band Sebastien Grainger and The Mountains. He is part owner of Giant Studios in Toronto, Ontario with Jimmy Shaw of Metric.
Wintersleep is a Canadian indie rock band formed in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 2001. Based in Halifax, the band's original lineup consisted of lead vocalist and guitarist Paul Murphy, guitarist and keyboardist Tim d'Eon, and drummer Loel Campbell. In 2002, Jud Haynes joined the band as bass guitarist until 2007. In 2005, Mike Bigelow joined the band as a keyboardist until 2006, when he then acted as a bass guitarist from 2007 to 2016. Since 2006, Jon Samuel has served as a backing vocalist, keyboardist and guitarist while has Chris Bell served as a backing vocalist and bass guitarist since 2016.
The Osheaga Music and Arts Festival is a multi-day indie music festival in Montreal, Quebec, that is held every summer at Parc Jean-Drapeau on Île Sainte-Hélène. The festival takes place on six stages with various audience capacities. Translated from their French equivalents, they are called "River Stage," "Mountain Stage," "Green Stage," "Trees Stage," "Valley Stage," and "Zone Piknic Electronik." Each performance area is paired with a sponsor. Band set times fluctuate based on the status of the performer within the festival. Emerging artists play 30-minute sets, and headliners conclude each day with 90-minute plus sets. The 2006 festival attracted a crowd of around 25,000 people. The 2012 festival reached its 40,000 attendance capacity each day.
This is a summary of the year 2009 in the Canadian music industry.
Matt Schulz is an American drummer who was in the past a member of Enon, Lab Partners, Obits and Let's Crash, and is currently active as a member of Holy Fuck, COVERBAND, SAVAK, Lake Ruth, and Aperiodic.
Trouble Man: Heavy Is the Head is the eighth studio album by American hip hop recording artist T.I.. It was released on December 18, 2012, by Grand Hustle Records and Atlantic Records. The production was provided by some of T.I.'s longtime collaborators; including DJ Toomp, Jazze Pha, Pharrell Williams and Lil' C. These high-profile record producers such as T-Minus, Cardiak, No I.D., Rico Love, Planet VI, Tommy Brown and Chuck Diesel, also contributed to the album. The album features guest appearances from P!nk, Lil Wayne, André 3000, R. Kelly, Akon, Meek Mill, CeeLo Green, ASAP Rocky, Trae tha Truth, Victoria Monet and Grand Hustle's own D.O.P.E.
