Genre ( or ; from French, genre , "kind" or "sort", from Latin: genus (stem gener-), Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time as new genres are invented and the use of old ones are discontinued. Often, works fit into multiple genres by way of borrowing and recombining these conventions.

History

The concept of genre originated from the classification systems created by Aristotle and Plato. Plato divided literature into the three classic genres accepted in Ancient Greece: poetry, drama, and prose. Poetry is further subdivided into epic, lyric, and drama. The divisions are recognized as being set by Aristotle and Plato; however, they were not alone. Many genre theorists contributed to these universally accepted forms of poetry. Similarly many theorists continued to philosophize about genre and its uses, which caused genre as Plato and Aristotle knew it to evolve and further expand.

Classical and Romance genre theory

The earliest recorded systems of genre in Western history can be traced back to Plato and Aristotle. Gérard Genette explains his interpretation of the history of genre in "The Architext". He described Plato as the creator of three imitational, mimetic genres distinguished by mode of imitation rather than content. These three imitational genres include dramatic dialogue, the drama; pure narrative, the dithyramb; and a mixture of the two, the epic. Plato excluded lyric poetry as a non-mimetic, imitational mode. Genette further discussed how Aristotle revised Plato's system by first eliminating the pure narrative as a viable mode. He then uses two additional criteria to distinguish the system. The first of the criteria is the object to be imitated, whether superior or inferior. The second criterion is the medium of presentation: words, gestures, or verse. Essentially, the three categories of mode, object, and medium can be visualized along an XYZ axis. Excluding the criteria of medium, Aristotle's system distinguished four types of classical genres: tragedy, epic, comedy, and parody. Genette explained the integration of lyric poetry into the classical system by replacing the removed pure narrative mode. Lyric poetry, once considered non-mimetic, was deemed to imitate feelings, becoming the third "Architext," a term coined by Gennette, of a new long-enduring tripartite system: lyrical; epical, the mixed narrative; and dramatic, the dialogue. This new system that came to "dominate all the literary theory of German romanticism" (Genette 38) has seen numerous attempts at expansion and revision. Such attempts include Friedrich Schlegel's triad of subjective form, the lyric; objective form, the dramatic; and subjective-objective form, the epic. However, more ambitious efforts to expand the tripartite system resulted in new taxonomic systems of increasing complexity. Gennette reflected upon these various systems, comparing them to the original tripartite arrangement: "its structure is somewhat superior to most of those that have come after, fundamentally flawed as they are by their inclusive and hierarchical taxonomy, which each time immediately brings the whole game to a standstill and produces an impasse" (Genette 74).

Contemporary genre theories

Rhetorical situation

In 1968, Lloyd Bitzer claimed that discourse is determined by rhetorical situations in his article titled, "The Rhetorical Situation". A rhetorical situation refers to the fact that every situation has the potential for a rhetorical response. He looks to understand the nature behind the context that determines discourse. Bitzer states, "it is the situation which calls discourse into existence" (Bitzer 2). Thus, the situation controls what type of rhetorical response takes place. Each situation has an appropriate response in which the rhetor can either act upon or not act upon (Bitzer). He expresses the imperative nature of the situation in creating discourse, because discourse only comes into being as a response to a particular situation. Discourse varies depending upon the meaning-context that is created due to the situation, and because of this, it is "embedded in the situation" (Bitzer 4).

According to Bitzer, rhetorical situations come into existence, at which point, they can either mature and go away, or mature and continue to exist. Bitzer describes rhetorical situations as containing three components: exigence, audience, and constraints. Bitzer highlights six characteristics needed from a rhetorical situation that are detrimental to creating discourse. A situation calls a rhetor to create discourse, it invites a response to fit the situation, the response meets the necessary requirements of the situation, the exigence which creates the discourse is located in reality, rhetorical situations exhibit simple or complex structures, rhetorical situations after coming into creation either decline or persist. Bitzer's main argument is the concept that rhetoric is used to "effect valuable changes in reality" (Bitzer 14).

In 1984, Carolyn Miller examined genre in terms of rhetorical situations. She claimed that "situations are social constructs that are the result, not of 'perception,' but of 'definition'" (Miller 156). In other words, we essentially define our situations. Miller seems to build from Bitzer's argument regarding what makes something rhetorical, which is the ability of change to occur. Opposite of Bitzer's predestined and limited view of the creation of genres, Miller believes genres are created through social constructs. She agreed with Bitzer that past responses can indicate what is an appropriate response to the current situation, but Miller holds that, rhetorically, genre should be "centered not on the substance or the form of discourse but on the action it is used to accomplish" (Miller 151). Since her view focuses on action, it cannot ignore that humans depend on the "context of the situation" as well as "motives" that drive them to this action (Miller 152). Essentially, "we create recurrence," or similar responses, through our "construal" of types (Miller 157). Miller defines "types" as "recognition of relevant similarities" (Miller 156-7). Types come about only after we have attempted to interpret the situation by way of social context, which causes us to stick to "tradition" (Miller 152). Miller does not want to deem recurrence as a constraint, but rather she views it as insight into the "human condition" (Miller 156). The way to bring about a new "type" (Miller 157), is to allow for past routines to evolve into new routines, thereby maintaining a cycle that is always open for change. Either way, Miller's view is in accordance with the fact that as humans, we are creatures of habit that tightly hold on to a certain "stock of knowledge" (Miller 157). However, change is considered innovation, and by creating new "types" (Miller 157) we can still keep "tradition" (Miller 152) and innovation at the same time.

Ecology of genre

In 2001, Anis Bawarshi's "Ecology of Genre" argues for the teaching of genre as an ecosystem. He compares genre to an ecosystem in order to demonstrate how writing recreates genres as well as genre recreates writing. The genre itself serves as an ecosystem, defining our interpretation and creation of genre. Bawarshi uses the idea of a doctor's office as an ecosystem in order to demonstrate his point more clearly. He does this by defining the Patient Medical History Form as a genre. We recognize this genre; thus, expectations are set. Judging the pre-imposed expectations, we react accordingly within this genre. This genre consists of microenvironments, each consisting of the doctor, patient, and nurse, which form the ecosystem as a whole. As a result, Bawarshi states we are rhetorical beings that act within these ecosystems. We are shaped by the rhetoric surrounding us and we act accordingly. We gather our impressions from rhetoric presented to us, which shapes our actions and perceptions. He also introduces exigence, motive, and intention. Motive operates on the conceptual level and exigence shapes our actions. (Bawarshi)

Reciprocity of genre

People often recognize genre based on the characteristics that the situation offers. Amy Devitt states this when she says, "A genre is named because of its formal markers" (Devitt 10). However she also says, "the formal markers can be defined because a genre has been named" (Devitt 10). When we label something as a certain genre, we also flag these same characteristics as contributing to what we already believe the genre to be. These two quotes show how reciprocity functions within genre. Devitt displays the reciprocal nature of genre and situation according to the individual by using an example of a grocery store list. A question posed by this example is, is something a grocery list because it lists groceries or is it a grocery list because one person says it is a grocery list and we thus recognize all the items on the list as groceries? Though each possible answer to this raised question contradict one another, they are both correct. Similarly, individuals recognize the characteristics of the recurring rhetorical situations in the same way as they see them as affirmation of what they already know about the preexisting genre. The rhetorical attributes of the genre act as both objects which define and are defined by genre. In other words, genre and rhetorical situations are reciprocals of one another. Devitt focused on activity system of genre and that the participants situation, contexts and text are all mutually created "no one aspect fully determines the other." (Devitt)

Antecedent genres

Written in 1975, Kathleen Jamieson's "Antecedent Genre as Rhetorical Constraint" declares that discourse is determined by the Rhetorical Situation, as well as antecedent genres. Antecedent genres are genres of the past that are used as a basis to shape and form current rhetorical responses. When placed in an unprecedented situation, a rhetor can draw on antecedent genres of similar situations in order to guide their response. However, caution should be taken when drawing on antecedent genres because sometimes antecedent genres are capable of imposing powerful constraints (Jamieson 414). The intent of antecedent genres are to guide the rhetor toward a response consistent with situational demands, and if the situational demands are not the same as when the antecedent genre was created, the response to the situation might be inappropriate (Jamieson 414).

Through three examples of discourse, the papal encyclical, the early State of the Union Address, and congressional replies, she demonstrates how traces of antecedent genres can be found within each. These examples clarify how a rhetor will tend to draw from past experiences that are similar to the present situation in order to guide them how to act or respond when they are placed in an unprecedented situation. Jamieson explains, by use of these three examples, that choices of antecedent genre may not always be appropriate to the present situation. She discusses how antecedent genres place powerful constraints on the rhetor and may cause them to become "bound by the manacles of the antecedent genre" (Jamieson 414). These "manacles," she says, may range in level of difficultly to escape. Jamieson urges one to be careful when drawing on the past to respond to the present, because of the consequences that may follow ones choice of antecedent genre. She reiterates the intended outcome through her statement of "choice of an appropriate antecedent genre guides the rhetor toward a response consonant with situational demands" (Jamieson 414).

===Social construct=== Bitzer's definition of exigence as "an imperfection marked by urgency... something waiting to be done" (Bitzer 6) ties in with Miller's idea of social action as the next step after an exigency is realized. Miller also points towards the theory that genres recur, based on Jamieson's observation that antecedent genres finding their way into new genres. More importantly, Miller takes on the bigger picture of a rhetorical situation in which all of these steps happen. "Situations are social constructs that are the result, not of 'perception,' but of definition" (Miller 156). From this, it is understood that social constructs define situations and, therefore, exigence is also socially situated.

Genre, also, understood in terms of social contexts provides greater meaning to each recurring situation; it essentially allows for differentiation, though past genres have a role in present and new genres. Through this differentiation, genre is allowed to continue evolving, just as social contexts continue to change with time. Bawarshi describes the way in which this happens as "communicants and their social environments are constantly in the process of reproducing one another" (Bawarshi 69). Rhetoric essentially works the same way, as seen in the example of writing Bawarshi provides, "writing is not a social act simply because it takes place in some social context; it is social because it is at work in shaping the very context within which it functions" (Bawarshi 70). Therefore, through social constructs, one can shape rhetorical works, and in turn, the works can shape the social context: "we create our contexts as we create our texts" (Bawarshi 70).

Genre as social action

The concept of genre is not limited to classifications and lists. People interact within genres daily. Genre is determined based "on the action it is used to accomplish" by the individuals using that particular genre (Miller 151). The distance between the text or action of genre and its users does not have to be vast. People respond to exigencies provided by genre every day. Exigence is "a set of particular social patterns and expectations that provides a socially objectified motive for addressing" the recurring situation of a particular genre (Miller 158). Seeing genre as a social action provides the "keys to understanding how to participate in the actions of a community" (Miller 165). Carolyn Miller argues that, "a rhetorical sound definition of genre must be centered not on the substance or the form of discourse, but on the action it is used to accomplish" (Miller 151).

The idea that rhetorical situations define genre means that participants in genre make decisions based on commonalities and repeat those instances. Genre is not only about the form of but also the mere repetitiveness of similarities. The classroom setting exemplifies this. When students wish to speak, they raise their hands to signify that desire. Raising a hand is the correct response to speaking in turn in that particular social setting. A person at lunch with a group of friends would not raise their hand to speak because the social situation is different. Miller concludes that social actions are the response to "understanding how to participate in the actions of a community" (Miller 156).

Carolyn Miller builds on arguments made by other scholars while also contradicting Bitzer's argument by giving her readers five features to understand genre (Miller 163). She believes that if something is rhetorical, then there will be action. Not only will there be action, but this action will also be repeated. The repetition of action creates a regularized form of discourse. Miller would add that the result has more to do with the action accomplished by the situation. Miller recognizes that a person chooses to take a certain social action within a defined set of rules - rules set in place by that user. Lastly, a situation cannot dictate a response. Miller ends her article with the thought that genres are partly rhetorical education through her statement, "as a recurrent, significant action, a genre embodies an aspect of cultural rationality" (Miller 165). Here, Miller unknowingly encapsulates a future ideology about genre: that genres are created by culture. According to Mnotho Dlamini genre is basically a deep information in a particular context.

Tyranny of genre

The phrase "tyranny of genre" comes from genre theorist Richard Coe, who wrote that "the 'tyranny of genre' is normally taken to signify how generic structures constrain individual creativity" (Coe 188). If genre functions as a taxonomic classification system, it could constrain individual creativity, since "the presence of many of the conventional features of a genre will allow a strong genre identification; the presence of fewer features, or the presence of features of other genres, will result in a weak or ambiguous genre identification" (Schauber 403). Under the classification-system concept of genre, placing a text into a genre is vital, since "every text is read according to a genre which governs its interpretation" (Schauber 401). The classification-system concept results in a polarization of responses to texts that do not fit neatly into a genre or exhibit features of multiple genres: "The status of genres as discursive institutions does create constraints that may make a text that combines or mixes genres appear to be a cultural monstrosity. Such a text may be attacked or even made a scapegoat by some as well as be defended by others" (LaCapra 220).

Under the more modern understanding of the concept of genre as "social action" à la Miller (Miller 152), a more situational approach to genre is enabled. This situational approach frees genre from the classification system, genre's "tyranny of genre". Relying on the importance of the rhetorical situation in the concept of genre results in an exponential expansion of genre study, which benefits literary analysis. One literature professor writes, "The use of the contemporary, revised genre idea [as social action] is a breath of fresh air, and it has opened important doors in language and literature pedagogy" (Bleich 130). Instead of a codified classification as the pragmatic application of genre, the new genre idea insists that "human agents not only have the creative capacities to reproduce past action, such as action embedded in genres, but also can respond to changes in their environment, and in turn change that environment, to produce under-determined and possibly unprecedented action, such as by modifying genres" (Killoran 72).

Stabilization, homogenization and fixity

Never is there total stabilization in a recognized genre, nor are there instances that indicate a complete lack of homogenization. However, because of the relative similarities between the terms "stabilization" and "homogenization", the amount of stabilization or homogenization a certain genre maintains is based on opinion. Necessary discourse is, obviously, always needed and is thus considered perfectly stabilized. In rhetorical situation or antecedent genres, that which is unprecedented mostly leads to stable and predictable responses. Outside the natural setting of a given form of discourse, one may respond inappropriately due to an unrecognized alternate. The unrecognized alternate is created by the lack of homogenization or differing expectations in the presented rhetorical situation. (Jamieson)

Fixity is uncontrolled by a given situation and is deliberately utilized by the affected before the rhetorical situation occurs. Fixity almost always directly effects stabilization, and has little to no bearing on homogenization. The choice of discourse will provide a certain value of fixity, dependent on the specific choice. If a situation calls for more mediated responses, the fixity of the situation is more prevalent, and therefore is attributed with a stable demand of expectations. Stability nor fixity can be directly affected by the subject at hand. The only option is affecting homogenization which in turn, can positively or negatively affect stability. Directly choosing a fixed arena within genre inversely alters the homogenization of said chooser constituting as a new genre accompanied with modified genre subsets and a newly desired urgency. The same ideological theory can be applied to how one serves different purposes, creating either separate genres or modernized micro-genres. (Fairclough)

Culture

Genre is embedded in culture, but may clash with it at times. There are occasions in which a cultural group may not be inclined to keep within the set structures of a genre. Anthony Pare’s studied Inuit social workers in "Genre and Identity: Individuals, Institutions and Ideology". In this study, Pare described the conflict between the genre of Inuit social workers’ record keeping forms and the cultural values that prohibited them from fully being able to fulfill the expectations of this genre. Amy Devitt further expands on the concept of culture in her 2004 essay, "A Theory of Genre" by adding “culture defines what situations and genres are likely or possible” (Devitt 24).

Genre not only coexists with culture, but also defines its very components. Genres abound in daily life and people often work within them unconsciously; people often take for granted their prominence and ever present residence in society. Devitt touches on Miller’s idea of situation, but expands on it and adds that the relationship with genre and situation is reciprocal. An individual may find him- or herself shaping the rhetorical situations, which in turn affects the rhetorical responses that arise out of the situation. Because the social workers worked closely with different families, they did not want to disclose many of the details that are standard in the genre of record keeping related to this field. Giving out such information would violate close cultural ties with the members of their community.

Pop culture

Outside of the academic field, genre regularly affects societies' pop culture. The mass media uses genre to differentiate between classes of popular subjects such as music, movies, TV, books, etc. Favoritism plays an important part of distinguishing one genre from another; fans of Horror look differently upon Comedy than fans of Romance do. Genre has also been used to shape differences in cultural aspects of these popular subjects. American comedies are distinctly different from French ones, as Country music is noticeably unlike Irish folk music. Genres sort subjects (such as movies, music, books, etc.) efficiently, especially when following trends set by society. From walking in to the nearest movie rental store to searching for music via ITunes, genres are applicable in everyday life as organized classification systems. Even in places such as grocery stores or clothing stores, genres are utilized to form an ordered flow to determine the differences between smaller classes within one particular subject, pointing out the differences between fruit and dairy, and punk to mod. In modern culture, sub-genres often arise to prevent a feeling of homogenization and loss of identity. As the rate of global communication continues to increase, the creation of new pop-culture sub-genres per year does in near perfect tandem.

Audiences

Although genres are not always precisely definable, genre considerations are one of the most important factors in determining what a person will see or read. The classification properties of genre can attract or repel potential users depending on the individual's understanding of a genre.

Genre creates an expectation in that expectation is met or not. Many genres have built-in audiences and corresponding publications that support them, such as magazines and websites. Inversely, audiences may call out for change in a antecedent genre and create an entirely new genre.

The term may be used in categorizing web pages, like "newspage" and "fanpage", with both very different layout, audience, and intention. Some search engines like Vivísimo try to group found web pages into automated categories in an attempt to show various genres the search hits might fit.

Visual arts

The term "genre" is much used in the history and criticism of visual art, but in art history has meanings that overlap rather confusingly. Genre painting is a term for paintings where the main subject features human figures to whom no specific identity attaches - in other words, figures are not portraits, characters from a story, or allegorical personifications. Many genre paintings are scenes from common life particularly portraying the lower class. These are distinguished from staffage: incidental figures in what is primarily a landscape or architectural painting. ''Genre painting'' may also be used as a wider term covering genre painting proper, and other specialized types of paintings such as still-life, landscapes, marine paintings and animal paintings.

The concept of the "hierarchy of genres" was a powerful one in artistic theory, especially between the 17th and 19th centuries. It was strongest in France, where it was associated with the Académie française which held a central role in academic art. The genres in hierarchical order are:

genre painting

history painting

landscape painting

portrait painting

still life painting

Linguistics

In philosophy of language, figuring very prominently in the works of philosopher and literary scholar Mikhail Bakhtin. Bakhtin's basic observations were of "speech genres" (the idea of heteroglossia), modes of speaking or writing that people learn to mimic, weave together, and manipulate (such as "formal letter" and "grocery list", or "university lecture" and "personal anecdote"). In this sense genres are socially specified: recognized and defined (often informally) by a particular culture or community. The work of Georg Lukács also touches on the nature of literary genres, appearing separately but around the same time (1920s–1930s) as Bakhtin. Norman Fairclough has a similar concept of genre that emphasizes the social context of the text: Genres are "different ways of (inter)acting discoursally" (Fairclough, 2003: 26). J.R. Martin

However, this is just one way of conceiving genre. Charaudeau & Maingueneau determine four different analytic conceptualizations of genre. A text's genre may be determined by its:

#Linguistic function. #Formal traits. #Textual organization. #Relation of communicative situation to formal and organizational traits of the text (Charaudeau & Maingueneau, 2002:278-280).

Literature

In literature, genre has been known as an intangible taxonomy. This taxonomy implies a concept of containment or that an idea will be stable forever.The earliest recorded systems of genre in Western history can be traced back to Plato and Aristotle. Gérard Genette, a French literary theorist and author of ''The Architext'', describes Plato as creating three imitational genres: dramatic dialogue, pure narrative and epic (a mixture of dialogue and narrative). Lyric poetry, the fourth and final type of Greek literature, was excluded by Plato as a non-mimetic mode. Aristotle later revised Plato's system by eliminating the pure narrative as a viable mode and distinguishing by two additional criteria: the object to be imitated, as objects could be either superior or inferior, and the medium of presentation such as words, gestures or verse. Essentially, the three categories of mode, object, and medium can be visualized along an XYZ axis. Excluding the criteria of medium, Aristotle's system distinguished four types of classical genres: tragedy (superior-dramatic dialogue), epic (superior-mixed narrative), comedy (inferior-dramatic dialogue), and parody (inferior-mixed narrative). Genette continues by explaining the later integration of lyric poetry into the classical system during the romantic period, replacing the now removed pure narrative mode. Lyric poetry, once considered non-mimetic, was deemed to imitate feelings, becoming the third leg of a new tripartite system: lyrical, epical, and dramatic dialogue. This system, which came to "dominate all the literary theory of German romanticism (and therefore well beyond)…" (38), has seen numerous attempts at expansion or revision. However, more ambitious efforts to expand the tripartite system resulted in new taxonomic systems of increasing scope and complexity. Genette reflects upon these various systems, comparing them to the original tripartite arrangement: "its structure is somewhat superior to…those that have come after, fundamentally flawed as they are by their inclusive and hierarchical taxonomy, which each time immediately brings the whole game to a standstill and produces an impasse" (74). Taxonomy allows for a structured classification system of genre, as opposed to a more contemporary rhetorical model of genre.

References

Bawarshi, Anis. "The Ecology of Genre." Ecocomposition: Theoretical and Pedagogical Approaches. Eds. Christian R. Weisser and Sydney I. Dobrin. Albany: SUNY Press, 2001. 69-80.

Bitzer, Lloydof Language and the Pedagogy of Exchange." Pedagogy 1.1 (2001): 117-141.

Charaudeau, P.; Maingueneau, D. & Adam, J. Dictionnaire d'analyse du discours Seuil, 2002.

Coe, Richard. "'An Arousing and Fulfillment of Desires': The Rhetoric of Genre in the Process Era - and Beyond." Genre and the New Rhetoric. Ed. Aviva Freedman and Peter Medway. London: Taylor & Francis, 1994. 181-190.

Devitt, Amy J. "A Theory of Genre." Writing Genres. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2004. 1-32.

Fairclough, Norman. Analysing Discourse: Textual Analysis for Social Research Routledge, 2003.

Genette, Gérard. The Architext: An Introduction. 1979. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992.

Jamieson, Kathleen M. "Antecedent Genre as Rhetorical Constraint." Quarterly Journal of Speech 61 (1975): 406‐415.

Killoran, John B. "The Gnome In The Front Yard and Other Public Figurations: Genres of Self-Presentation on Personal Home Pages." Biography 26.1 (2003): 66-83.

LaCapra, Dominick. "History and Genre: Comment." New Literary History 17.2 (1986): 219-221.

Miller, Carolyn. "Genre as Social Action." Quarterly Journal of Speech. 70 (1984): 151-67.

Schauber, Ellen, and Ellen Spolsky. "Stalking a Generative Poetics." New Literary History 12.3 (1981): 397-413.

Further reading

Sullivan, Ceri (2007) 'Disposable elements? Indications of genre in early modern titles', ''Modern Language Review'' 102.3, pp. 641–53

Pare, Anthony. "Genre and Identity." The Rhetoric and Ideology of Genre: Strategies for Stability and Change. Eds. Richard M. Coe, Lorelei Lingard, and Tatiana Teslenko. Creskill, N.J. Hampton Press, 2002.

External links

Development of the Genre Concept

Genres of film at the Internet Movie Database

Helping Children Understand Literary Genres

Rhetorica Genre

Museum of Broadcast Communications

Dictionary.com

Category:Narratology Category:Fiction Category:Theme

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Coordinates	44°24′48″N79°40′48″N
name	Don Hertzfeldt
birth date	August 01, 1976
birth place	Fremont, California
nationality	American
field	Independent film, Animation
training	University of California, Santa Barbara
works	''Billy's Balloon'', ''Rejected'', ''Everything Will Be OK''
influenced by	Stanley Kubrick, Monty Python, David Lynch, Edward Gorey, Buster Keaton
awards	2001 Academy Award nominee 1998 Palme d'Or nominee: Cannes Film Festival 2007 Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking: Sundance Film Festival winner of over 150 other film festival awards }}

Don Hertzfeldt (born August 1, 1976) is the creator of many short animated films, including the Academy-Award nominated ''Rejected'' and ''Everything Will Be OK''. His animated films have received over 150 awards and have been presented around the world. Before the age of thirty, his films were already the subject of several career retrospectives. He was the youngest director named in the "They Shoot Pictures, Don't They" list of "The 100 Important Animation Directors" of all time, and in 2010 he received the San Francisco International Film Festival's "Persistence of Vision" Lifetime Achievement Award at the age of 33.

The popularity of Hertzfeldt's work is unprecedented in independent animation and his films are frequently quoted and referenced in pop culture. In 2009, the Sundance Film Festival noted, "If cinephiles think shorts don't generate the same sort of hype and fanbase as feature films, they obviously haven't heard of Don Hertzfeldt."

In 2008 and 2009, Hertzfeldt went on a 22-city theatrical tour in support of his latest short, the 22 minute ''I am so proud of you''. "An Evening with Don Hertzfeldt" presented a retrospective of his animated films followed by the regional premiere(s) of ''I am so proud of you'' and an onstage interview and audience chat with him. At the conclusion of the tour at the Ottawa Animation Festival in October 2009, Hertzfeldt premiered a new five minute comedy called ''Wisdom Teeth'' as a surprise.

Hertzfeldt lives in Austin, Texas. He spent many years in Santa Barbara, California after attending college there. He keeps a blog on his website that has been continually updated and archived since 1999.

Early life

Hertzfeldt was born in Fremont, California where he attended local schools and drew homemade comic books. At 15, he began to teach himself animation with a small video camera. Two of Hertzfeldt's teenage VHS cartoons can be seen on the "Bitter Films: Volume 1" DVD collection.

From a 2001 interview, Don says: "I watched films relentlessly growing up, and was fascinated by visual effects. My family used to make outings to animation festivals in San Francisco every year, so credit my parents for that. I ended up seeing all of those classic [independent] cartoons throughout my teenage years. But animation production for me sort of just happened as a by-product. I've been drawing things and writing things all my life, and animating my stories was always cheaper to do and looked more interesting than low budget live action."

Hertzfeldt has never held any job other than creating his animated films, not even in his youth. His earliest video animations found film festival exposure, and in film school at the University of California, Santa Barbara he was able to find international distribution for each of his 16mm student films.

Technique

Hertzfeldt's work commonly features hand-drawn stick figures, in stories of black humor, surrealism, and tragicomedy. Some films contain deeper existential and philosophical themes while others are more straightforwardly slapstick and absurdist. His animation is created traditionally with pen and paper, often with minimal digital aid. Hertzfeldt uses antique 16mm or 35mm film cameras to photograph his drawings and very often employs old-fashioned special effect techniques such as multiple exposures, in-camera mattes, and experimental photography (significantly used in works such as ''Everything Will Be OK'' and ''I am so proud of you''). While some of these techniques are as established as an occasional stop-motion animation sequence (as in ''Intermission in the Third Dimension'') or a universe of moving stars created by back-lit pin holes (''The Meaning of Life''), other effects are new innovations on classical methods, as seen with the rippling and blurring paper landscapes of ''Rejected'' or the in-camera compositing of multiple, split-screen windows of action in the ''Everything Will Be OK'' films.

Since 1999, Hertzfeldt has photographed all his films on a 35mm Richardson animation camera stand, believed to be the same camera that photographed many of the early ''Peanuts'' cartoons in the 1960s and 1970s. Built in the late 1940s, it is reportedly one of the last remaining functioning cameras of its kind left in America (if not the world), and Hertzfeldt finds it to be a crucial element in the creation of his films and their unique visuals.

Discussing film and digital technology with ''The New York Times'', Hertzfeldt noted:

}}

It's not unusual for Hertzfeldt to single-handedly write, direct, produce, animate, photograph, edit, perform voices, record and mix sound, and/or compose music for one of his films, at times requiring years to complete a single short. The animation alone for one of his films may often require tens of thousands of drawings.

Hertzfeldt frequently scores his pictures with classical music and opera. The music of Tchaikovsky, Bizet, Smetana, Beethoven, Richard Strauss, and Wagner have all appeared in his films. On occasion, Hertzfeldt has also scored portions of his films himself, with a guitar or keyboard.

Popularity and influence

Hertzfeldt's early films have been credited with being a prominent influence on surrealism and absurdism in animation in the 2000s, as well as influencing Adult Swim style animated comedy. In 2008, Comedy Central noted his work as having "influenced an entire generation of filmmakers."

His more recent films, such as ''The Meaning of Life'', ''Everything Will Be OK'', and ''I am so Proud of You'', expanded upon his signature style of dark humor to explore deeper themes of existentialism and life and death philosophy. Critics have favorably compared these shorts to the work of Stanley Kubrick and David Lynch, respectively. ''Everything Will Be OK'' was described as "probably the best work he’s done in his very incredible and consistently amazing young career."

Hertzfeldt's films are regularly found in film festivals around the world, touring animation programs like the Animation Show, and on DVD collections. The cartoons are also featured occasionally on television: MTV, Bravo, Via X, Sundance Channel, IFC, Showtime, and the Cartoon Network being a few channels that have carried his work internationally.

The popularity of Hertzfeldt's shorts has led to many Internet bootlegs, bringing his work to an audience of millions. Though he's unhappy with the poor quality most of these online videos offer (as well as the frequent re-editing of them), he says he is not interested in "harassing fans." In the FAQ of his website, Hertzfeldt simply notes that movies are not meant to be seen on the Internet: "If you've only seen a film downgraded on the Internet or some strange miniature device, in many ways you haven't really seen it yet. YouTube is great for home videos of your cat falling off the roof but it is not really the proper setting for "cinema"... Movies are meant to be seen in the dark, hopefully with an audience, and with your undivided attention - this last one is non-negotiable." Recently however, Hertzfeldt has allowed "official" versions of ''The Meaning of Life'' and ''Everything will be OK'' to appear online in high quality on sites like MUBI and YouTube. ''Wisdom Teeth'' also debuted online after being acquired by Showtime.

Hertzfeldt prefers to not sell any of his animation artwork. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, his website Bitter Films annually auctioned off artwork instead to raise thousands of dollars for local Santa Barbara charities. Other original drawings have been occasionally given away through the Bitter Films online store through special promotions. Because Hertzfeldt also rarely does signings, his artwork is very rare for animation collectors or casual fans to own.

Student films, 1995-1998

Hertzfeldt made four 16mm animated student films while majoring in film at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

''Ah, L'Amour'' and ''Genre'' were produced at the ages of 18 and 19. ''Ah, L'Amour'' would win the HBO Comedy Arts Festival Grand Prize for "World's Funniest Cartoon."

His first dialogue short, ''Lily and Jim'', was released in 1997, and tells the story of a disastrous blind date, rife with awkward conversations. Its partially improvised vocal performances helped the short win twenty five awards, including the Grand Prize at the New Orleans Film Festival.

His last student cartoon, ''Billy's Balloon,'' is about an inexplicable attack on small children by malevolent balloons. It was nominated for the Short Film Palm d'Or at the1999 Cannes Film Festival, and won the Grand Jury Award at the 1999 Slamdance Film Festival. It total it won thirty three awards.

The popularity of each student short at film and animation festivals - and eventually around the world from screening on MTV and other networks - helped fund the next one, and eventually financed the production of his first film after college.

Independent animation, 2000-2009

''Rejected''

Soon after graduating from film school, Hertzfeldt purchased his own 35mm rostrum camera, and made his next animated short, ''Rejected''. Released in theaters in 2000, the short won dozens of awards, was nominated for an Oscar, and is an enduring cult classic that is frequently quoted and referenced in pop culture. Fans of the cartoon have been known to wear costumes, re-enact their favorite scenes in fan films, and some have had tattoos made of their favorite characters. Public screenings of the short sometimes become a "''Rocky Horror Picture Show''-esque feedback loop" of fans reciting favorite lines back at the screen. The short's enduring popularity has led the film to be described as "this generation's ''A Hard Day's Night''".

The film presents itself as a reel of rejected commercial work by a fictional version of Don Hertzfeldt. The commissioned animated vignettes grow more and more abstract and inappropriate as the animator suffers a mental breakdown, until they literally fall apart.

Although the film is of course fictional and Hertzfeldt has never done commercial work, he did receive many offers to do television commercials after ''Billy's Balloon'' garnered international attention and acclaim. Hertzfeldt is an artist with anti-corporate leanings and in appearances has often told the humorous story of how he was tempted to produce the worst possible cartoons he could come up with for the companies, make off with their money, and see if they would actually make it to air. Eventually this became the germ for ''Rejected'''s theme of a collection of cartoons so bad they were rejected by advertising agencies, leading to their creator's breakdown.

''The Animation Show''

In 2003, Hertzfeldt created ''The Animation Show'' with ''Beavis and Butt-head'' creator Mike Judge. It was a biennial North American touring festival that brought independent animated short films to more movie theaters than any distributor in history. The programs were personally curated by Hertzfeldt and Judge. A second ''Animation Show'' edition toured throughout 2005, featuring Hertzfeldt's short film ''The Meaning of Life'' and new films by animators like Peter Cornwell and Georges Schwizgebel. The third season of ''The Animation Show'' began its nationwide release in January 2007, featuring new work by animators Joanna Quinn and Bill Plympton, as well as Hertzfeldt's own ''Everything Will Be OK''.

A stated goal of ''The Animation Show'' was to regularly "free the work of these independent artists from the dungeons of Internet exhibition," and bring them into proper movie theaters where most of the short films were meant to be seen. ''The Animation Show'' has meanwhile launched a supplemental DVD series of animated short films, with content that often varies from the annual theatrical programs. These DVDs are distributed by MTV.

In a March 2008 entry in his blog, Hertzfeldt announced he had decided to leave ''The Animation Show'', after having programmed (and contributing films to) three tours. A fourth season of the program was released in theaters in summer 2008, with no involvement from him.

''The Meaning of Life''

Almost four years in the making, Hertzfeldt's twelve minute ''The Meaning of Life'' premiered at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival and toured film and animation festivals in 2005-06. Though its abstract nature puzzled some critics, it received almost universally positive reviews. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' called the film "the closest thing on film yet to Kubrick's ''2001: A Space Odyssey''."

In the film, the evolution of the human race is traced from prehistory (mankind as blob forms), through today (mankind as teeming crowds of selfish, fighting, or lost individuals), to hundreds of millions of years into the future as our species evolves into countless new forms; all of them still behaving the same way. The film concludes in the extreme future, with two creatures (apparently an adult and child subspecies of future human), having a conversation about the meaning of life on a colorful shore.

In 2009, Hertzfeldt noted, "I don't often make the same sort of movie twice in a row. It’s always been whatever's next in my head. From a commercial standpoint I guess I’ve made some pretty inscrutable decisions, like following up 'Rejected' with a sprawling abstract film about human evolution, but it's really just been whichever ideas won't go away at the time. There's always a lot of new things I’d like to try..."

The ''Everything will be OK'' films

''Everything Will Be OK'' was released in 2006 and was Hertzfeldt's most critically successful piece to date, receiving his strongest reviews. The 17-minute animated short was based on his character "Bill" from his webcomic "Temporary Anesthetics". The Boston Globe called the film a "masterpiece" with the Boston Phoenix declaring Hertzfeldt a "genius." The short film was a cover story on the Chicago Reader, receiving four stars from critic J.R. Jones. ''Variety'' film critic Robert Koehler named ''Everything Will Be OK'' one of the "Best Films of 2007."

''Everything will be OK'' is the first chapter of a three-part story about Bill, a young man whose daily routines, perceptions, and dreams are illustrated onscreen through multiple split-screen windows. Bill's seemingly mundane life, narrated in humorous and dramatic anecdotes, gradually grows dark as we learn he may be suffering from a possibly fatal mental disorder.

The film's scenes are often divided into multiple windows of action on the screen at once, against a background of pure black. Animated still photographs are also incorporated inside certain windows, as well as a handful of the colorful special effects and experimental film techniques that Hertzfeldt first utilized in ''The Meaning of Life''. As with all his films, no computers were used in creating the picture; all of the multiple window effects were captured in-camera.

''Everything Will Be OK'' won the Grand Jury Prize for Short Filmmaking at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, the Lawrence Kasdan Award for Best Narrative Film at the Ann Arbor Film Festival, the Grand Prize at the London Animation Festival, and 34 other awards.

''I am so proud of you'', the second chapter in the story, was released in autumn 2008. Upon its release, Hertzfeldt traveled with ''I am so proud of you'' and a selection of his other films to 22 cities on a sold-out American tour (with two stops in the UK and three in Canada). ''I am so proud of you'' also played at film festivals throughout 2009 and has to date won 27 awards.

On his website, Hertzfeldt announced the title of the upcoming third and final chapter, ''It's such a beautiful day.''

Current work

In October 2009, Hertzfeldt premiered an unannounced, new five minute comedy short entitled ''Wisdom Teeth'' at the "Evening with Don Hertzfeldt" screening at the Ottawa Animation Festival. It was screened at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2010 and the Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal, where it was awarded a Special Jury Mention. In 2010, it appeared as part of a series on the Showtime Network called 'Short Stories'.

According to his blog, Chapter 3 of ''Everything Will Be OK'', titled ''It's such a beautiful day'' will be released in autumn 2011.

According to his blog, Hertzfeldt has been developing a feature length animated project. He has also made references to working on a graphic novel.

Awards and honors

In 1999, at the age of 22, Hertzfeldt was nominated for the Short Film Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival for ''Billy's Balloon'', where he was the youngest director in competition. The same year ''Billy's Balloon'' won the Slamdance Film Festival Grand Jury Award.

In 2000, at the age of 23, Hertzfeldt was nominated for the Academy Award for Animated Short Film for his fifth short film, ''Rejected''.

Hertzfeldt has had more films play in competition at the Sundance Film Festival than any other filmmaker, with five: ''Rejected'', ''The Meaning of Life'', ''Everything Will Be OK'', ''I am so proud of you'', and ''Wisdom Teeth''.

In 2001, Hertzfeldt was named by ''Filmmaker Magazine'' as one of the "Top 25 Filmmakers to Watch."

In 2007, Hertzfeldt's ''Everything Will Be OK'' won the Jury Award for Short Filmmaking at the Sundance Film Festival, a prize rarely given to an animated film.

In 2007, according to the animation industry website Cartoon Brew, ''Everything Will Be OK'' advanced to the final round of voting as a contender for an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Short, but did not make the ultimate list of five nominees.

In 2007, Hertzfeldt accepted an invitation from the George Eastman House's motion picture archives to indefinitely store and preserve the historically important original film elements and camera negatives to his collected work.

In 2009, ''Rejected'' was the only short film named one of the "Films of the Decade" by Salon.com. In 2010, it was noted as one of the five "most innovative animated films of the past ten years" by The Huffington Post.

In April 2010, at the age of 33, Hertzfeldt was the youngest filmmaker to ever receive the San Francisco International Film Festival's "Persistence of Vision" Lifetime Achievement Award, "for his unique contributions to film and animation," and "for challenging the boundaries of his craft." Past recipients of the POV award include Errol Morris, Guy Maddin, Jan Švankmajer, and Faith Hubley.

DVD releases

Hertzfeldt self-produces and self-distributes his own DVDs. With these sales, fans of his work are literally financing his next films, with no middle men in between.

Nevertheless, several international ad campaigns have borrowed heavily from his unique style and bear enough resemblance to Hertzfeldt's work as to be mistaken for it. The most well-known instance of this is a series of 2004-2009 television ads for Kellogg's Pop-Tarts, which use black and white stick figures, "squiggly" animation, surreal humor, and even an occasional crumpling paper effect, all very similar to Hertzfeldt's style. Despite all these similarities, Hertzfeldt was not involved in any way. In Canada, the not-for-profit corporation Encorp has used a Hertzfeldt-like style of short animation clips on TV and the Internet to promote its "Don't Mess With Karma" campaign to encourage recycling. One of the latest ad campaigns to use an art style similar to Hertzfeldt's is Krystal fast food restaurant to promote their Blitz Energy Drink.

Filmography

''Ah, L'Amour'' (1995)

''Genre'' (1996)

''Lily and Jim'' (1997)

''Billy's Balloon'' (1998)

''Rejected'' (2000)

''Welcome to the Show/Intermission in the Third Dimension/The End of the Show'' (2003) ''(cartoons created to book-end the first "Animation Show")''

''The Meaning of Life'' (2005)

''Everything Will Be OK'' (2006)

''I am so proud of you'' (2008)

''Wisdom Teeth'' (2010)

References

External links

Bitter Films Home Page

American Film Institute 2009 interview

Category:American animators Category:Stop motion animators Category:University of California, Santa Barbara alumni Category:People from Fremont, California Category:Artists from California Category:1976 births Category:Living people Category:Short film directors

de:Don Hertzfeldt fr:Don Hertzfeldt pl:Don Hertzfeldt fi:Don Hertzfeldt

Coordinates	44°24′48″N79°40′48″N
name	Marcus Schössow
background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
born	1985
origin	Helsingborg, Sweden
genre	Progressive house, progressive trance
occupation	Disk Jockey/Producer
years active	2004 - present
associated acts	Under Sun, Progresia, 1985, Tone Diary
website	www.marcusschossow.com/
notable instruments	}}

Marcus Schossow (born 1985, also known as Marcus Schössow) is a Swedish DJ and electronic music producer living in Helsingborg, Sweden

History

A DJ and Producer, Marcus Schossow rose to fame after the release of the Tiesto mix compilation In Search of Sunrise 6, in which his track "Chase My Rabbit" was featured. He also received much attention from his track "Mr. White" when the Ruben de Ronde remix was originally featured on Markus Schulz' mix compilation ''Amsterdam '08''.

Marcus Schossow has collaborated with another swedish producer Thomas Sagstad to create "Moog Me". Other collaborations include Schossow & Brandt - "Horny" (which is a remix of Mouse T's "Horny") and Marcus Schossow & Thomas Sagstad - "Crepuscolo".

Marcus Schossow has a weekly radio show called ''Tone Diary'' which he presents on the Internet radio station AH.FM.

In 2009, Marcus became the first Swedish DJ to win the title of Most Popular Russian DJ of 2008 from Megamin's annual poll since 2004's winner Airbase. He is the biggest climber in the poll's history, as well as the only Swedish DJ in the top 5.

Discography

Albums

2009: Outside the Box

Compilations

2008: Tone Diary Presents: Ukraine

Singles/EPs

Marcus Schossow

2005: Metro 86 [Furry Music]

2007: Moog Me [Global Underground Music]

2008: Mr White [Coldharbour Red Recordings]

2008: Chase My Rabbit [Black Hole Recordings]

2008: Horny [Self-released]

2008: 1985 [Social Sound Records]

2008: Clicky [Amenta Records]

2008: Swedish Beatballs [Coldharbour Red Recordings]

2008: Crepuscolo [Oxygen Recordings]

2008: Hypnotizer [Oxygen Recordings]

2008: Kiev [Tone Diary Recordings]

2008: Svamptramp [Oxygen Recordings]

2008: Girls Suckcces [Tone Diary Recordings]

2008: The Last Pluck [Tone Diary Recordings]

2009: Space / Tequila [Size Recordings]

2009: From My Heart [Tone Diary Recordings]

2009: Kaboom [Tone Diary Recordings]

2010: 2099 [Tone Diary Recordings]

2010: Kofola [Tone Diary Recordings]

2010: Genre This [Tone Diary Recordings]

2010: Strings [Tone Diary Recordings]

TBA: Adrian Lux - Can't Sleep [Marcus Schossow present 1985 Remix]

Progresia

2003: Stockholm [020 Records]

2004: California [Inspired Records]

2004: First Horizon [Surface Recordings]

2005: After Universe [Vapour Recordings]

2005: Metropolitan Behaviour [J00F Deep Records]

2006: Athena [Self-released]

2006: Shelter [Armada Music]

2008: Tears Behind Sunglasses [Liquid Recordings]

2009: Galandia [Tone Diary]

2010: Different Ways [Tone Diary]

2010: Sommar [Tone Diary]

2010: Sibir [Tone Diary Recordings]

Under Sun

2006: Capoeira [A State Of Trance]

2007: Captured [A State Of Trance]

1985

2010: London [Anjunadeep]

2010: 1985 [Anjunadeep]

Remixes

Marcus Schossow

2006: JamX & De Leon - Elektrisch (Marcus Schossow Remix) [Fate Recordings]

2006: Hiver & Hammer With Funabashi - Z.I.T.A. (Marcus Schossow Remix) [Captured]

2007: Alex Arestegul - Discover (Marcus Schossow Remix) [MPFS Records]

2007: Steve Angello & Sebastian Ingrosso - Umbrella (Marcus Schossow Remix) [PMB Records]

2007: Luetzenkirchen & Toby Montana - Last Night In Vegas (Schossow & Sagstad Remix) [Ultra Records]

2007: Leonid Rudenko - Summerfish (Schossow & Sagstad Remix) [Royal Flush Records]

2007: Trafik - Salt In NYC (Marcus Schossow & Thomas Sagstad Nu Disco Remix) [Global Underground Music]

2007: Duderstadt & Kirsty Hawkshaw - Beatitude (Marcus Schossow Remix) [Afterglow Records]

2007: Genix - Phused (Marcus Schössow Remix) [Reset Records]

2007: Miko - Muzaik (Marcus Schossow Remix) [Black Hole Recordings]

2007: Jonas Steur - Level Up (Marcus Schossow Remix) [Black Hole Recordings]

2008: Ozgur Can & AGS - Melodic Beat (Marcus Schossow Remix) [Save Me Records]

2008: Paolo Jackson Feat Shena - Funkt (Marcus Schossow Electrified Remix) [Sheer Music]

2008: Veracocha - Carte Blanche (Marcus Schossow Remix) [Combined Forces Records]

2008: Menno De Jong & Mark Otten - Mad World (Marcus Schossow Remix) [Intuition Deep Records]

2008: Orjan Nilsen - La Guitarra (Marcus Schossow Remix) [Armind]

2008: Glockenspiel - Anny (Marcus Schossow Remix) [Oxygen Recordings]

2008: Sander Van Doorn - Apple (Marcus Schossow Remix) [Doorn Records]

2009: Patrick Plaice & Frank Ellrich - Sticky Tape (Marcus Schossow Remix) [Black Hole Recordings]

2009: Sean Tyas & Simon Patterson - For The Most Part (Marcus Schossow Remix)

2009: Snow Patrol - If There’s A Rocket Tie Me To It (Marcus Schossow Remix)

2010: BT - The Emergency (Marcus Schossow Remix)

2011: Conjure One ft Jaren - Like Ice (Marcus Schossow Remix)

2011: Above&Beyond; - Sun&Moon; (Marcus Schossow Remix)

2011: Swedish House Mafia - Save The World (Marcus Schossow Remix)

Progresia

2005: Rouzbeh Delavari - Lalala (Progresia & Andrew K Remix) [Pure Substance Records]

2005: The Thrillseekers Pres Hydra - Ultimate Affinity (Progresia Remix) [Adjusted Music]

Under Sun

2006: Icone - I Feel Lost (Under Sun Remix) [Alter Ego Records]

2006: Activa Vs Matt Abbott - Liquefaction (Under Sun Remix) [Somatic Sense Recordings]

2006: Falkon & Nebula Feat Sasja - So Lost (Under Sun Remix) [Big Star Records]

2006: Mike Shiver & Marc Damon - Water Ripples (Under Sun Remix) [Captured Music]

2007: Danny Oliveira - Drop It Your Love (Under Sun Remix) [Discover Dark Records]

References

External links

Official website

Mixes from Marcus Schossow

Category:1985 births Category:Living people Category:People from Mosscow Category:Club DJs Category:Remixers Category:Russian dance musicians Category:Russian DJs Category:Russian electronic musicians Category:Armada Music artists

Coordinates	44°24′48″N79°40′48″N
Name	B.o.B|image B.o.B. performing.jpg
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Bobby Ray Simmons, Jr.
Alias	B.O.B
Born	November 15, 1988 Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States
Origin	Decatur, Georgia, USA
Instrument	Vocals, guitar, piano
Genre	Alternative hip hop, Pop rap
Occupation	Rapper, singer-songwriter, record producer, guitarist
Years active	2007–present
Label	Grand Hustle, Rebel Rock, Atlantic
Associated acts	Charles Hamilton, Asher Roth, T.I., Playboy Tre, Lupe Fiasco
Website	bobatl.com
Notable instruments	}}

Bobby Ray Simmons, Jr. (born November 15, 1988), better known by his stage name B.o.B, is an American rapper, singer-songwriter and record producer. He is currently signed under the labels of Grand Hustle Records, Rebel Rock Entertainment, and Atlantic Records. His debut single "Nothin' on You" reached number one in both the United States and the United Kingdom. "Airplanes," B.o.B's second single, emulated this success, peaking at number one and number two in the U.K. and the U.S., respectively. His third single, "Magic," became B.o.B's third consecutive top ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100. B.o.B was named the ninth ''Hottest MC in the Game'' of 2010 by MTV.

Early life

B.o.B was born Bobby Ray Simmons, Jr. on November 15, 1988 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Less than a month later, his family moved to Decatur, Georgia. In elementary school through high school, where he played the trumpet in his school band. Although his parents wanted him to continue his education, Simmons decided in sixth grade that he wanted to pursue a music career. His father, a pastor, disapproved of his son's choices until he realized that Simmons was using music as a form of therapy and a creative outlet. Simmons later reflected on his experience, saying, "They’ve always supported me. They got my first keyboard to make beats on and they helped me out getting equipment here and there. But it was kind of hard for them to really understand what I was really trying to accomplish." B.o.B went to Columbia High School in Decatur, GA.

Music career

Early career

B.o.B first began to gain major recognition at the start of 2007. An underground single, "Haterz Everywhere," featuring Wes Fif, gained the rapper recognition and peaked at #5 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles. A remix featuring Young Dre was featured in the video game ''Fight Night Round 4''. Another single, "I'll Be In the Sky," was released in late 2008 reached #115 on the follow chart. About.com called the song a "smart, funky artrap and a strong prelude to his album" and included it at #13 on its subjective ranking "Top 100 Rap Songs of 2008." This was followed by another single called "Don't Let Me Fall" which was more of an R&B; song than the usual rap. He was also featured on T.I.'s album ''Paper Trail'' on the song "On Top of the World." Incidentally, another song produced by Bobby Ray called "Generation Lost" listed alongside the song on the ranking at #32.

The same year, he appeared on the cover of ''XXL'' magazine along with Asher Roth, Charles Hamilton, and Wale as "Hip-Hop's Class of '09". In October 2008, B.o.B was featured on the cover of ''Vibe'' along with some of these same young musicians and was similarly identified as promising young talent. He has described his influences as "80's music, rap, techno, rock, funk, even doo-wop...". B.o.B has also worked with artists such as British rapper Giggs. Along with his solo producing career, B.o.B is part of a production/rap group called HamSquad, along with Playboy Tre, TJ Chapman, and B. Rich.

2009–present: ''The Adventures of Bobby Ray''

His debut album, ''The Adventures of Bobby Ray'', was originally expected to be released on May 25, 2010, but was advanced to April 27, 2010 due to the commercial success of his song "Nothin' on You", featuring Bruno Mars. The album was released under T.I.'s record label Grand Hustle and includes features from Lupe Fiasco, T.I., Playboy Tre, Hayley Williams, Rivers Cuomo, Rico Barrino, Eminem, Janelle Monáe, Bruno Mars, and Young Dro.

Three other singles followed: "Don't Let Me Fall" (released April 6, 2010), "Airplanes" (April 13, 2010; featuring Hayley Williams), and "Bet I" (April 20, 2010; featuring T.I. and Playboy Tre). A video for "Bet I" has been released on Atlantic Videos on YouTube. The album was released April 27, 2010 and was given generally positive reviews. His album sold 84,000 copies in the first week and debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200. It made B.o.B the 13th male solo artist to have a debut album at #1 in its first week. In July, B.o.B announced he will go on tour, naming it The SHOOTiN for Stars Tour. The dates and times were released on his website on July 13. B.o.B has received nominations for his album, singles, and himself by the BET Awards, Teen Choice Awards, MTV Video Music Awards, and the new Suckerfree Summit. "Airplanes" was featured in the trailer for the upcoming movie ''Charlie St. Cloud'' and "Magic" also landed him an Adidas commercial with him in it. B.o.B was announced to be a performer at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards on August 18. He was added to the line-up of Eminem, Linkin Park, Kanye West, Drake, Usher, Paramore, Florence and the Machine, and Justin Bieber.

As of July 2010, B.o.B is the latest artist to star in the new Adidas commercial which features "Magic."

On August 14, 2010, Hayley Williams announced via the Official Paramore Fan Club that B.o.B would be the main support for Paramore's November U.K. Tour. B.o.B also opened for Eminem and Jay-Z's The Home & Home Tour at Comerica Park. B.o.B also did MTV Unplugged session. He performed songs off his debut album together with guests such as Robin Thicke, Melanie Fiona, and Janelle Monae. B.o.B also made an appearance in Lollapalooza 2010. B.o.B. made an appearance at the 2010 MTV VMA's on September 12, 2010. He performed parts of both his singles, "Nothin' On You" with Bruno Mars and "Airplanes" with Hayley Williams of Paramore.

On December 7, 2010, B.o.B. released his mixtape ''No Genre''. B.o.B was named "Best New Artist" by iTunes 2010 Rewind Chart. ''The Adventures of Bobby Ray'' was certified Gold by the RIAA on December 16. His song "Champion" from the mixtape May 25 was chosen as the ESPN Bowl Week theme.

Jessie J released a single along with B.o.B called "Price Tag" on 30 January 2011 in the United Kingdom. The song was quick to reach number one in the UK charts selling 84,000 copies in its first week of sales.

On March 22, 2011 Electronic Arts released the Launch Trailer for the upcoming first-person-shooter ''Crysis 2'' which featured a song by B.o.B. entitled "New York New York" containing the main piano chorus from the song "Theme from New York, New York" commonly sung by Frank Sinatra; the song features British singer-songwriter Polly Scattergood singing said chorus.

In Early 2011 Odd Future's Tyler, the Creator released a song titled "Yonkers". In the song Tyler raps ''(What you think of Hayley Williams?) Fuck her, Wolf Haley robbing 'em / I'll crash that fucking airplane that that faggot nigga B.o.B is in / And stab Bruno Mars in his goddamn esophagus''. In response, on March 25th, B.o.B released "No Future" a song in which he takes aim at the hip hop collective and their leader. In June 2011, it was revealed that B.o.B was featured and produced a song on Tech N9ne's twelfth studio album, ''All 6's and 7's''. The track, titled "Am I a Psycho?" also features Horrorcore rapper Hopsin, who also seems to have issues with Tyler, the Creator. In the song, B.o.B apparently takes more shots at Tyler, the Creator.

B.o.B appeared on the official remix to Kesha's hit single "Blow". The remix was released to iTunes on May 17, 2011.

Discography

2010: ''The Adventures of Bobby Ray''

Awards and nominations

American Music Awards

2010: Best Breakthrough (Nominated)

2010: Best Hip-Hop Artist (Nominated)

2010: Best Hip-Hop Album "The Adventures of Bobby Ray" (Nominated)

BET Awards

2010: Best Male Hip-Hop Artist (Nominated)

2010: Best Collaboration "Nothin' On You" (with Bruno Mars) (Nominated)

2010: Video of the Year "Nothin' On You" (with Bruno Mars) (Nominated)

2011: Best Male Hip-Hop Artist (Nominated)

2011: Best Collaboration "Airplanes" (with Hayley Williams) (Nominated)

2011: Video of the Year "Airplanes" (with Hayley Williams) (Nominated)

BET Hip Hop Awards

2010: Made-You-Look Award (Nominated)

2010: People's Champ Award (Nominated)

2010: Track of the Year "Airplanes" (with Hayley Williams) (Nominated)

2010: Perfect Combo Award "Nothin' On You" (with Bruno Mars) (Nominated)

2010: MVP of the Year (Nominated)

2010: Best Hip-Hop Video "Nothin' On You" (with Bruno Mars) (Nominated)

2010: CD of the Year "The Adventures of Bobby Ray" (Nominated)

Grammy Awards

2011: Record of the Year "Nothin' on You" (with Bruno Mars) (Nominated)

2011: Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals "Airplanes, Part II" (with Hayley Williams and Eminem) (Nominated)

2011: Best Rap Song Collaboration "Nothin' On You" (with Bruno Mars) (Nominated)

2011: Best Rap Song "Nothin' On You" (with Bruno Mars) (Nominated)

2011: Best Rap Album "The Adventures of Bobby Ray" (Nominated)

MTV Video Music Awards

2010: Video of the Year "Airplanes" (with Hayley Williams) (Nominated)

2010: Best Collaboration "Airplanes" (with Hayley Williams) (Nominated)

2010: Best Male Video "Airplanes" (with Hayley Williams) (Nominated)

2010: Best Hip-Hop Video "Airplanes" (with Hayley Williams) (Nominated)

2010: Best Pop Video "Nothin' On You" (with Bruno Mars) (Nominated)

MTV Video Music Awards Japan

2011: Best New Artist Video "Nothin' On You" (with Bruno Mars) (pending)

MTV Europe Music Awards

2010: Best New Act (Nominated)

2010: Best Push Act (Nominated)

NAACP Image Awards

2011: Outstanding New Artist (Pending)

Soul Train Awards

2010: Best Song "Nothin' On You" (with Bruno Mars) (Won)

2010: Best New Artist (Nominated)

Teen Choice Awards

2010: Rap Album "The Adventures of Bobby Ray" (Nominated)

2010: Hook Up Song "Airplanes" (with Hayley Williams) (Won)

2010: Best Single "Nothin' On You" (with Bruno Mars) (Nominated)

2010: Male Breakout Artist (Nominated)

2010: Male Music Star (Nominated)

2010: Best Summer Song "Airplanes" (with Hayley Williams) (Nominated)

References

External links

B.o.B at Billboard.com

Category:1988 births Category:Living people Category:African American rappers Category:African American record producers Category:African American singer-songwriters Category:Atlantic Records artists Category:People from Decatur, Georgia Category:Rappers from Atlanta, Georgia Category:People from Winston-Salem, North Carolina Category:Southern hip hop musicians

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Coordinates	44°24′48″N79°40′48″N
name	Duane Allman
background	solo_singer
birth name	Howard Duane Allman
alias	Skydog
born	November 20, 1946Nashville, Tennessee
died	October 29, 1971Macon, Georgia
instrument	Guitar, vocals
genre	Southern rock, blues, blues-rock, soul, rock, jazz
occupation	Musician, songwriter
years active	1961–1971
label	Mercury, Capricorn
associated acts	The Hour Glass, Wilson Pickett, The Allman Brothers Band, Derek and the Dominos, Aretha Franklin, Herbie Mann, Greg Allman, The Allman Joys
website	AllmanBrothersBand.com
notable instruments	Gibson Les PaulGibson SGFender StratocasterGibson Es345 }}

Howard Duane Allman (November 20, 1946 – October 29, 1971) was an American guitarist, session musician and the primary co-founder of the southern rock group The Allman Brothers Band. He is best remembered for his brief but influential tenure in that band, his expressive slide guitar playing and improvisational skills.

A sought-after session musician both before and during his tenure with the band, Allman performed with such established stars as King Curtis, Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, and Herbie Mann. He also contributed heavily to the 1970 album ''Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs'' by Derek and the Dominos.

In 2003, ''Rolling Stone'' magazine ranked Allman at #2 in their list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time, second only to Jimi Hendrix. His tone (achieved with a Gibson Les Paul and two 50-watt bass Marshall amplifiers) was named one of the greatest guitar tones of all time by ''Guitar Player''.

He died in October 1971 in a motorcycle accident.

He is still referred to by his nickname "Skydog," which may be a reference to his signature guitar sound and tone. Many consider "Skydog" a variant of the nickname "Skyman" given to him by Wilson Pickett during the recording of Pickett's cover of the Beatles' "Hey Jude." Jim Dickinson was quoted in Keith Richards' autobiography ''Life'' as saying he was given the name because he was high much of the time.

Early years

Howard Duane Allman was born November 20, 1946 in Nashville, Tennessee. When he was three years old, while he and his family were living near Norfolk, Virginia, his father, Willis Allman, a career United States Army sergeant, was murdered by a hitchhiker and fellow veteran who he picked up a day after returning from a long tour of duty. Geraldine "Mama A" Allman moved her family back to Nashville. In 1957 they relocated to Daytona Beach, Florida.

Duane and his younger brother, Gregg, returned to Nashville to spend summers with their grandmother. Gregg heard her neighbor, Jimmy Bain, playing country standards on a Beltone guitar from his front porch. Mr. Bain let Gregg pick it up one afternoon. Gregg was "really enchanted with this". When he returned to Daytona Beach, Gregg saved money and bought his first guitar, a Silvertone in 1960. Gregg learned how to play a few chords and licks when Duane asked "What do we have here?", picking the guitar up. Duane and Gregg were both learning guitar, and their mother bought Duane a Gibson Les Paul Junior to keep them from fighting. Duane learned the guitar quickly. Gregg stated in an interview that: "It was like seeing Paul Bunyan grind an axe, he passed me up like I was standing still."

Another important event occurred in 1959 [NOTE: inconsistent with 1960 date above] when the boys were in Nashville visiting relatives. They attended a rock 'n' roll concert at which blues legend B. B. King performed. Both brothers promptly fell under the spell of his music. Gregg Allman recalls that Duane idly and yet sternly turned to him and said, "We got to get into this." After the show, Duane instantly started sewing together his own riffs to the B. B. King songs he'd heard hours before, and by the end of the night had put together his own solos and discovered the blues, all before investing his full potential into the guitar.

Duane's love for the guitar grew even more over the years. Gregg stated that he hardly ever saw Duane out of his room not jamming on the guitar. "His improvisational skills were through the dam," Gregg stated in an interview. "He was never not in his room, soloing for hours on end." Duane first learned the acoustic blues, and over the years molded his guitar playing to his own custom sound, which he is still known for today.

Duane Allman was known for his lean, gangly stature, his beard, and his humble manner while not playing guitar. Dickey Betts stated, "Duane was one of the most down to earth people you could meet, and we all knew he was gonna make a change in this world whether it be on guitar or not."

Allman Joys and Hour Glass

The two Allman brothers started playing publicly in 1961, joining or forming a number of small, local groups. Shortly thereafter, Duane quit high school to stay home during the day and focus on his guitar playing. Their band the Escorts opened for The Beach Boys in 1965 but disbanded and eventually became the Allman Joys. After Gregg graduated from Seabreeze High School in 1965, the Allman Joys went on the road, performing throughout the Southeast and eventually being based in Nashville and St. Louis, Missouri.

The Allman Joys morphed into another not-completely-successful band, The Hour Glass, which moved to Los Angeles in early 1967. There the Hour Glass produced two albums that left the band unsatisfied. Liberty, their record company, tried to market them as a pop band, completely ignoring the band's desire to play more blues-oriented material.

In 1968, Gregg Allman went to visit Duane on his 22nd birthday. Duane was sick in bed. Gregg brought along a bottle of Coricidin pills for his fever and the debut album by guitarist Taj Mahal as a gift. "About two hours after I left, my phone rang," Gregg states. "Baby brother, baby brother, get over here now!" When Gregg got there, he found that Duane had poured the pills out of the bottle, washed off the label and was using it as a slide to play "Statesboro Blues," an old Blind Willie McTell song that Taj Mahal covered. "Duane had never played slide before", says Gregg, "he just picked it up and started burnin'. He was a natural." The song would go on to become a part of the Allman Brothers Band's repertoire, and Duane's slide guitar became crucial to their sound.

The Hour Glass broke up in early 1968, and Duane and Gregg Allman went back to Florida, where they played on demo sessions with the 31st of February, a folk rock outfit whose drummer was Butch Trucks. Gregg returned to California to fulfill Hour Glass obligations, while Duane jammed around Florida for months but didn't get another band going.

Session musician

Allman's playing on the two Hour Glass albums and an Hour Glass session in early 1968 at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, had caught the ear of Rick Hall, owner of FAME. In November 1968 Hall hired Allman to play on an album with Wilson Pickett. Allman's work on that album, ''Hey Jude'' (1968), got him hired as a full-time session musician at Muscle Shoals and brought him to the attention of a number of other musicians, such as Eric Clapton, who later said, "I remember hearing Wilson Pickett's 'Hey Jude' and just being astounded by the lead break at the end. I had to know who that was immediately — right now."

Allman's performance on "Hey Jude" blew away Atlantic Records producer and executive Jerry Wexler when Hall played it over the phone for him. Wexler immediately bought Allman's recording contract from Hall and wanted to use him on sessions with all sorts of Atlantic R&B; artists. While at Muscle Shoals, Allman was featured on releases by a number of artists, including Clarence Carter, King Curtis, Aretha Franklin, Laura Nyro, Wilson Pickett, Otis Rush, Percy Sledge, Johnny Jenkins, Boz Scaggs, Delaney & Bonnie and jazz flautist Herbie Mann. Shortly after he recorded the lead break in "Hey Jude", he recorded all of the lead guitar in Boz Scaggs' "Loan Me A Dime." For his first Aretha sessions, Allman traveled to New York, where in January 1969 he went as an audience member to the Fillmore East to see Johnny Winter and told fellow Shoals guitarist Jimmy Johnson that in a year he'd be on that stage. That December, the Allman Brothers Band indeed, played the Fillmore.

Formation of The Allman Brothers Band

The limits of full-time session playing frustrated Allman. The few months in Muscle Shoals were by no means a waste, however, because besides meeting the great artists and other industry professionals he was working with, Allman had rented a small, secluded cabin on a lake and spent many solitary hours there refining his playing. Perhaps most significantly, Allman got together with R&B; and jazz drummer Jaimoe Johanson, who came to meet Allman at the urging of the late Otis Redding's manager, Phil Walden, who by now was managing Allman and wanted to build a three-piece band around him. Allman and Jaimoe got Chicago-born bassist Berry Oakley to come up from Florida and jam as a trio, but Berry was committed to his rock band with guitarist Dickey Betts, the Second Coming, and returned south.

Getting fed up with Muscle Shoals, in March Allman took Jaimoe with him back to Jacksonville, Florida, where they moved in with Butch Trucks. Soon a jam session of these three plus Betts, Oakley, and Reese Wynans took place and forged what all present recognized as a natural, or even magical, bond. With the addition of brother Gregg, called back from Los Angeles to sing and replace Wynans on keyboards, at the end of March 1969, the Allman Brothers Band was formed. (Wynans became well known over a decade later as organist with Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble.) After a bit of rehearsing and gigging, the sextet moved up to Macon, Georgia, in April to be near Walden and his Capricorn Sound Studios. While living in Macon, Allman met Donna Roosman, who bore his only child, Galadrielle. Despite their child, the relationship quickly ended.

Success: ''Layla'', ''At Fillmore East''

The Allman Brothers Band went on to become one of the most influential rock groups of the 1970s, described by ''Rolling Stone'''s George Kimball in 1971 as "the best damn rock and roll band this country has produced in the past five years." After months of nonstop rehearsing and gigging, including free shows in Macon's Central City Park and Atlanta's Piedmont Park, the group was ready to settle on the Allman Brothers Band name, and to record. Their debut album, ''The Allman Brothers Band'', was recorded in New York in September 1969 and released a few months later. In the midst of intense touring, work began in Macon and Miami (Atlantic South - Criteria Studios), and a little bit in New York, on the ABB's second album, ''Idlewild South.'' Produced mostly by Tom Dowd, ''Idlewild South'' was released in August 1970 and broke ground for the ABB by quickly hitting the ''Billboard'' charts.

A group date in Miami, also that August, gave Allman the chance to participate in Eric Clapton's ''Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs''. Clapton had long wanted to meet Allman; when he heard that the Allman Brothers were due to play in Miami, where he had just started work on ''Layla'' with producer Tom Dowd, he insisted on going to see their concert, where he met Allman. At one point, Allman cautiously asked Clapton if he could come by the studio to watch. After the show the two bands—the Allman Brothers Band and Derek and the Dominos—returned to Criteria, where Allman and Clapton quickly formed a deep rapport during an all-night jam session. Allman wound up participating on most of the album's tracks, contributing some of his best-known work. Allman never left the Allman Brothers Band, though, despite being offered a permanent position with Clapton. Allman never toured with Derek and the Dominos, but he did make three appearances with them on December 1, 1970 at the Curtis Hixon Hall (''Soulmates'' LP) and the following day at Onondaga County War Memorial, and one appearance (or possibly just Delaney Bramlett or both Duane and Delaney) November 20, 1970 at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, Calif.

In an interview, Duane told listeners how to tell who played what: Eric played the Fender parts and Duane played the Gibson parts. He continued by noting that the Fender had a sparklier sound, while the Gibson produced more of a "full-tilt screech."

The Allman Brothers went on to record ''At Fillmore East'' in March 1971. Meanwhile, Allman continued contributing session work to other artists' albums whenever he could. According to ''Skydog: the Duane Allman Story,'' Allman was in the habit of spontaneously dropping in at recording sessions and contributing to whatever was being taped that day. He received cash payments but no recording credits, making it virtually impossible to compile a complete discography of his works.

Allman was well known for his melodic, extended and attention-holding guitar solos. During this period two of his stated influences were Miles Davis and John Coltrane, having listened extensively to ''Kind of Blue'' for two years.

As Allman's distinct electric bottleneck steel sound began to mature it evolved in time into the musical voice of what would come to be known as Southern Rock, being picked up and redefined in their own styles by slide guitarists that included fellow bandmate Dickey Betts (after Duane's passing), Rory Gallagher, Derek Trucks and Gary Rossington of Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Death

Duane Allman was killed in a motorcycle accident only months after the release and initial success of ''At Fillmore East''. While in the western part of Macon on October 29, 1971 during a band break from touring and recording, Allman was riding his motorcycle at high speed toward an intersection as a flatbed truck carrying a lumber crane approached. (Allman did not collide with a peach truck as many falsely believe.*) The flatbed truck stopped suddenly in the intersection, forcing Duane to swerve his Harley Davidson Sportster motorcycle sharply to the left to avoid a collision. As he was doing so, he struck either the back of the truck or the ball on the lumber crane and was immediately thrown from the motorcycle. The motorcycle bounced up in the air and landed on Allman and proceeded to skid another ninety feet with Duane pinned underneath, crushing his internal organs. Though he was still alive when he arrived at the hospital, despite emergency surgery, he died several hours later from massive internal injuries. He was just weeks from his 25th birthday.

Many people believe that the Allman Bros. Band named their first album after Duane's death "Eat a Peach" because he was killed when he collided with a peach truck (which is, as pointed out above, incorrect). In fact, the album's title comes from one of Duane's throwaway lines during an interview with Ellen Mandel of "Good Times" Magazine. She asked, "How are you helping the revolution?" Duane responded, "I'm hitting a lick for peace. And every time I'm in Georgia, I eat a peach for peace."

Memorial

After Allman's funeral and some weeks of mourning, the five surviving members of the Allman Brothers Band carried on, resuming live performances and finishing the recording work interrupted by Duane's death. They named their next album ''Eat a Peach'' for Duane's response to an interviewer's question: "How are you helping the revolution?" Allman replied: "There ain't no revolution, only evolution, but every time I'm in Georgia I 'eat a peach' for peace." Released in February, 1972, this double album contains a side of live and studio tracks with Allman, two sides of "Mountain Jam", recorded with Duane at the same ''At Fillmore East'' stand in March, and a side of tracks by the surviving five member band.

Bass guitarist Berry Oakley died less than 13 months later in a similar motorcycle crash with a city bus, three blocks from the site of Duane Allman's fatal accident. Oakley's remains were laid to rest beside Duane Allman's in Macon, Georgia's Rose Hill Cemetery.

The variety of Allman's session work and Allman Brothers Band bandleading can be heard to good effect on two posthumous Capricorn releases, ''An Anthology'' (1972) and ''An Anthology Volume II'' (1974). There are also several archival releases of live Allman Brothers Band performances from what the band calls, "Duane's Era".

[[File:Remember Duane Allman.jpg|280px|right|thumb|David Reid stands next to the Remember Duane Allman tribute carved in the dirt bank next to Interstate 20 in 1973. ]]

Shortly after Duane's death, Ronnie Van Zant of Lynyrd Skynyrd dedicated the song "Free Bird", to the memory of Duane Allman. Van Zant would sometimes allude to this in concert; in the "Free Bird" performance at Skynyrd's famed 1976 appearance at Knebworth, England, Van Zant says to pianist Billy Powell, "Play it for Duane Allman." Many people assume the song was written about Duane. However, it had actually been written well before Duane died. (Allen Collins wrote the song after his then girlfriend asked him the question "if I leave here tomorrow, would you still remember me?")

In 1973, fans carved the very large letters "REMEMBER DUANE ALLMAN" in a dirt embankment along Interstate Highway 20 near Vicksburg, Mississippi. A photograph was published in ''Rolling Stone'' magazine and in the ''Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll''; the carving itself lasted for over ten years.

In 1998 the Georgia State Legislature passed a resolution designating a stretch of State Highway 19, US 41, within Macon as the "Duane Allman Boulevard" in his honor.

Country singer Travis Tritt, in the song "Put Some Drive In Your Country" on his debut album, sings "Now I still love old country/I ain't tryin' to put it down/But lord I miss Duane Allman/I wish he was still around."

Equipment

Allman Joys, Hour Glass

Fender Telecaster, modified with a Stratocaster neck. Marshall amplifier, with six 10-inch speakers and two horns.

Early session work

1954 Fender Stratocaster, used on the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio studio sessions, now at the Hard Rock Cafe in London at the Vault.

Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face, which used old 9V batteries because "they make a special sound."

Fender Twin Reverb with JBL speakers. Maestro Echoplex. 1959 Fender Bassman.

Allman Brothers Band, "Layla", later session work

1961 Fender Stratocaster (for early session work overlapping with formation of the Band). 1958-1962 Gibson ES-345 Semi-hollow body (first album)

1957 Gibson Les Paul Standard goldtop, serial no. 7 3312. Traded on September 16, 1970 for a 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard cherry sunburst, except for the pickups.

1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard cherry sunburst, acquired on September 16, 1970, except for the pickups.

1958 Gibson Les Paul Standard tobacco sunburst, acquired in June 1971. 1961 Gibson SG, used for slide, given by Dickey Betts. Marshall 50-watt head, two Marshall 4x12 cabinets with JBL speakers.

Fender Champ combo amplifier ("Layla")

Other

Gibson L-00 acoustic guitar

Fender Rock N' Roll 150 strings (Hour Glass)

Coricidin medicine bottle (slide)

Discography

References

Further reading

''Duane Allman: An Anthology (1972)'' liner notes

''The Allman Brothers Band: Dreams'' (1989 boxed set) liner notes

Poe, Randy, ''Skydog: The Duane Allman Story'' (Backbeat Books)

External links

Duane Allman.com

Duane Allman on allmanbrothersband.com

Duane Allman.info

In memory of Duane Allman: 35 years after his death, Skydog still among rock's very best guitarists, on MSNBC

The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time

Georgia House of Representatives SR653, designating Duane Allman Boulevard and Raymond Berry Oakley Bridge

Category:1946 births Category:1971 deaths Category:American rock guitarists Category:American blues guitarists Category:Lead guitarists Category:Slide guitarists Category:American session musicians Category:The Allman Brothers Band members Category:Derek and the Dominos members Category:Delaney & Bonnie & Friends members Category:Motorcycle accident victims Category:Road accident deaths in Georgia (U.S. state) Category:People from Nashville, Tennessee Category:People from Volusia County, Florida Category:Musicians from Tennessee

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