Roper is a craftsman who makes ropes; a ropemaker.

It may also refer to:

Places[link]

• Roper, North Carolina, USA
• Roper River, Northern Territory, Australia
• Roper Road, Edmonton, Canada

Other[link]

• Roper v. Simmons
• Roper resonance, an unstable subatomic particle
• Roper Industries
• Roper-Logan-Tierney model of nursing
• USS Roper (DD-147), an American navy ship
• Roper, a style of cowboy boot with a short heel and round toe
• Ropers, mascots of the Will Rogers High School
• Roper, a Whirlpool Corporation brand of household appliances
• Roper (band), an American Christian pop-punk band
• The Ropers, an American sitcom
• Roper (Dungeons & Dragons), a magical beast in a fantasy role playing game
• The Margaret B. Roper, a schooner of 393 net tons which collided with the Fannie Brown on 26 Dec 1899 off the coast of Cape Hatteras, sinking the Brown^[1]

See also[link]

• Roper (surname)
• Roeper (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

1. ^ The Margaret B. Roper, 103 Fed. Rep. 886, a case before the U.S. District Court in South Carolina 02 Aug 1900

Michael Reese Roper is an independent filmmaker and the lead singer and chief song writer of the third-wave ska band Five Iron Frenzy. After Five Iron Frenzy disbanded in 2003, Reese released a single album using the moniker Roper. He is also part of the band Brave Saint Saturn, who released their third album, Anti-Meridian, on 15 September 2008. In 2010 he directed, narrated, and edited the feature length documentary The Rise and Fall of Five Iron Frenzy. The documentary was released in April 2010 to critical acclaim, as a joint project of Asian Man Records and Department of Biophysics. Five Iron Frenzy regrouped in November 2011 with Roper as the lead singer.

Personal information[link]

Reese Roper is known for his quirky and satirical sense of humor, but his work is also marked with a deep interest in history, politics, and self-awareness. He has been the primary lyricist and vocalist, as well as a key musical contributor, in several bands. He is a graduate of East High School. He attended the University of Colorado at Denver throughout his time in FIF and graduated with a degree in Biology. He is a licensed pastor from the Alliance for Renewal Churches, Mansfield, Ohio, and is also a co-founder of the Scum of the Earth Church in Denver, Colorado. After the breakup of Five Iron in 2003 he became a Cytogenetic Technician in the Pathology Department at the University of Colorado Hospital. He also worked as a young adults pastor at Celebration Community Church in Denver, and then as a low voltage electrician. In 2009 he returned to school to pursue a degree in nursing. Currently, he is a licensed registered nurse in the state of Colorado.

In 2008 he was elected as a delegate to the Democratic Primary for the City and County of Denver, and then to the State of Colorado Democratic Primary.^{[citation needed]}

Musical career[link]

Before his ska and rock projects, Reese Roper was in the short-lived, Colorado-based, industrial metal group Exhumator. Members of that band joined with a larger cast of musicians to form the ska ensemble Five Iron Frenzy, who in 1996 signed with 5 Minute Walk recording studio. During this time Roper became known for his "vocal finesse"^[1] and, the ability to write lyrics with both a "tradition of ridiculousness"^[2] and a reverence for serious issues.^[2] The band was together until 22 November 2003, which is when they played their final show at the sold out Fillmore Auditorium in Denver, Colorado. Roper was both the lead vocalist and primary lyricist.

The concept of Brave Saint Saturn began in 1995, but it was only during the final years of Five Iron Frenzy that Reese formalized the band with FIF bandmates Dennis Culp and Keith Hoerig. BS2 is primarily a studio project and has been described by Roper as an outlet for songs that didn't fit Five Iron Frenzy's musical style. The band and some fans put forth a new term, "astro-rock", to describe the music of Brave Saint Saturn, which is fundamentally rooted in synthesizer-bathed post-punk and haunting ballads. The band also describes themselves as being the "supersonic-philharmonic", in reference to their blending of rock music, classical instruments, synthesizers, and beat loops. The third album of the "BS2 trilogy," Anti-Meridian, was released on 15 September 2008. During an interview on 15 October, Roper indicated that this may not be the last album from BS2.^[3]

After Five Iron Frenzy broke up, he was initially slated to lend his vocals and synthesizer skills to Guerilla Rodeo, which had been engineered by Roper, along with another FIF alum, Sonnie Johnston; Ethan Luck from the OC Supertones; and John Warne and Josh Abbott, both from the band Ace Troubleshooter. However, after recording three songs and releasing a self-titled EP with the band, he decided not to join for organizational reasons. Roper instead, at the behest of his former label, formed another band of his own. He eventually settled on naming the band "Roper" in an attempt to gain favor with the band's record label, who encouraged the moniker in an attempt to lessen advertising costs. The band Roper released their first album, Brace Yourself for the Mediocre in late 2004, with a team of studio musicians working with Roper to create a high energy blend of post-pop-punk closer in sound to Five Iron Frenzy than Brave Saint Saturn.

Reese Roper has also published various poetry volumes in small circulation and participated in two poetry tours- one initiated by Skeleton Key Publishing, and an earlier one initiated by Mike Lewis of the band Puller. Copies of his volume More Than Paper Thin sold during the tour included a home-burned CD of spoken poetry and cover songs, entitled Where Dreams May Spark and Flicker.

Additionally, Roper has lent his vocals to two tracks of Showbread's 2004 release No Sir, Nihilism Is Not Practical, and one of their most recent albums "Nervosa" on the song The "Beginning", and he has also worked with the band Trash Oven, mastering their EP.

Roper is known not only for a bold, Biblically-rooted, faith communicated in his lyrics, but for a generally social-justice approach to Christianity that remains true to the life and teachings of Jesus Christ and His apostles. He has never publicly affirmed a political viewpoint, but has said in a HM Magazine^[5] editorial that Christians need to abandon blind nationalism and pursue Christ instead. Additionally, the historical abuses of the United States of America (particularly against native Americans^[6]) and the Christian Church appear frequently in Roper's lyrical work, as well as self-searching for topics of personal depravity. He has also composed many songs that present scathing critiques of unbridled capitalism.^[1][6] The BS2 album Anti-Meridian uses a sound clip of Pat Robertson from The 700 Club, in which Robertson says that the United States should assassinate Hugo Chavez, to show a counterpoint to what he believes most Christians actually believe, but isn't seen in the media, about war and violence.^[3]

Discography[link]

Filmmaking[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Reese's MySpace
• Brave Saint Saturn
• Five Iron Frenzy

Shirley Phelps-Roper
Born	Shirley Lynn Phelps (1957-10-31) October 31, 1957 (age 54)
Residence	Topeka, Kansas
Religion	Fundamentalist Baptist
Spouse	Brent Roper
Parents	Fred Phelps Margie Simms

Shirley Lynn Phelps-Roper (born October 31, 1957) is an American lawyer and political activist. She is best known as the spokesperson of the controversial Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas, an organization nutorious for its highly publicized public protests conducted under the slogan "God Hates Fags." Phelps herself has been highly criticised and taunted for her religious fanaticism and poor parenting by the general public, the media, and celebrities such as Tyra Banks and Jeremy Kyle.

Biography[link]

Shirley L. Phelps-Roper was born October 31, 1957 in Topeka, Kansas. She is the daughter of disbarred attorney and pastor Fred Phelps, minister of the Westboro Baptist Church, an independent church often characterized as a hate group.^[1][2][3] She and the church have received widespread media coverage and justified criticism on news outlets such as the BBC and Fox News for the group's aggressive preaching and controversial campaigns such as the picketing the funerals of AIDS victims with signs such as "God hates fags" and funeral processions for American soldiers killed in combat.^[4]

Phelps-Roper received a B.A. in Criminal Justice from Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas in 1979 and a J.D. degree from Washburn in 1981.^[5] She practices for Phelps-Chartered Co., the Phelps family's law firm established by her father in 1964,^[6] and is currently licensed to practice before all Kansas courts up through the United States Supreme Court.^[5]

Phelps-Roper was a named a defendant in the Supreme Court case Snyder v. Phelps.

Besides her father Fred, Shirley Phelps-Roper has been the most public spokesperson of the Westboro Baptist Church and answers many of the e-mails sent to the church in a column called "Dear Shirley."^[7]

She is married to Brent D. Roper. They have 11 children. In a 2007 UK documentary by Welsh personality Keith Allen, in which Phelps-Roper and some of her children agreed to appear, Phelps-Roper is shown admitting on camera that her oldest son was born out of wedlock. Allen found hypocritical Phelps-Roper's vocal condemnation on strangers having sexual congress outside of marriage while she herself was guilty of the same.^[8][9] According to Kansas City's The Pitch, Phelps-Roper doesn't deny that her son Sam, who was later adopted by Brent Roper, was born out of wedlock but refuses to reveal the identity of his biological father. The article states that estranged family members claim he was a man who was staying at a halfway house where she was doing her college internship.^[10]

She is currently on the list of individuals banned from entering the United Kingdom for "fostering extremism or hatred."^[11]

Arrest[link]

Phelps-Roper was arrested on June 5, 2007, on suspicion of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Police alleged that she allowed her son to trample an American flag while protesting the funeral of a soldier in Bellevue, Nebraska, which is a misdemeanor in the state.^[12] Phelps-Roper announced her intent to challenge the constitutionality of the Nebraska statute. The charges against her were subsequently dropped when she agreed to dismiss pending lawsuits filed against Sarpy County in state and federal court.^[13][14][15]

Footnotes[link]

External links[link]

• Westboro Baptist Church home page, godhatesfags.com. Retrieved September 9, 2010.
• Justin Kendall, "The New Fred: Shirley Phelps-Roper is just like her notorious father — except in one crucial way," pitch.com, November 2, 2006. Retrieved September 9, 2010.
• Kevin Bussey, "Interview with Shirley Phelps-Roper," kevinbussey.com, December 12, 2007. Retrieved September 9, 2010.
• Interview with Louis Theroux, "America's Most Hated Family," BBC news, March 30, 2007. Retrieved September 9, 2010.
• An interview on The David Pakman Show with a representative of the hacktivist group Anonymous (who hacks the church's website on-air)

Mojo Nixon (born Neill Kirby McMillan, Jr., August 2, 1957 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina) is an American musician, known for playing psychobilly music. He has officially retired from playing live and recording, though he does host several radio shows on Sirius Satellite Radio and has come out of retirement for one-off events, such as an event to support fellow musician Kinky Friedman's candidacy for Texas governor.^[1][2][3][4]

Early career[link]

Nixon paired with Skid Roper (aka Richard Banke) in the early 1980s in San Diego. Roper mostly provided instrumental backup to Nixon's lyrics. Nixon and Roper released their first album in 1985 on Enigma Records. Although the album's title is officially Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper, many fans refer to it as "Mojo Nixon and Skeeeed Roper." The song "Jesus at McDonald's" from that album was the duo's first noteworthy single.

Nixon and Roper's third album, 1987's Bo-Day-Shus!!! featured the song "Elvis is Everywhere," a deification of Elvis Presley, which is probably his best known song (Nixon later declared his personal religious trinity was Presley, Foghorn Leghorn and Otis Campbell).

Acting and cultural parodies[link]

Nixon made his acting debut, as drummer James Van Eaton, in the 1989 Jerry Lee Lewis bio-pic, Great Balls of Fire!^[5] The film starred Dennis Quaid and Winona Ryder, with Ryder also concurrently appearing in Nixon's video for, "Debbie Gibson Is Pregnant with My Two-Headed Love Child."^[6]

Throughout the late 1980s, Nixon and Roper produced several satirical pieces lampooning contemporary celebrities, such as MTV VJ Martha Quinn ("Stuffin' Martha's Muffin"), Rick Astley, and Deborah Gibson ("Debbie Gibson Is Pregnant with My Two-Headed Love Child"). Nixon appeared in several promotional spots for MTV during this period, but the network's decision not to show the video for "Debbie Gibson Is Pregnant with My Two-Headed Love Child" prompted him to sever ties with the network. Meanwhile, the duo also lampooned contemporary American culture and social issues in songs such as "I Hate Banks", "Burn Down The Malls" and "The Amazing Bigfoot Diet."

Nixon and Roper parted ways late in 1989. The following year Nixon recorded a solo album on Enigma called Otis. On this album Nixon continued his assault on pop culture, most notably in the song "Don Henley Must Die." Several years after its release, Henley jumped onstage with Nixon at The Hole in the Wall in Austin, Texas, to perform a new version of the song called "Rick Astley Must Die." When Henley jumped out of the crowd, the dumbfounded Nixon immediately asked, "Is Debbie Gibson here too?" Nixon later praised Henley in this way: "He has balls the size of church bells!"

Later career[link]

Shortly after Otis was released, Enigma Records went bankrupt, which in turn left much of Nixon's early catalog in legal limbo. In the 1990s Nixon released a handful of albums on several labels with a backup band known as the Toadliquors. These later albums included songs such as "You Can't Kill Me," "Orenthal James (Was A Mighty Bad Man)," and the controversial "Bring Me the Head of David Geffen," which was ultimately released on a B-side collection due to pressure from album distributors. Also among his later work was "Tie My Pecker To My Leg," which featured lyrics about bestiality, incest, and coprophilia.

The nineties also saw Nixon appear in a further five films including Super Mario Bros. (1993) and Car 54, Where Are You? (1994).^[7]

In the mid-1990s Nixon collaborated on albums with Jello Biafra (Prairie Home Invasion), Dave Alvin, and members of the Beat Farmers, including Buddy "Blue" Seigal (Live in Las Vegas by the Pleasure Barons). Country Dick Montana of the Beat Farmers, who was a close friend of Nixon's, was eulogized on Nixon's 1999 album, The Real Sock Ray Blue, after his 1995 death onstage of a heart attack. Before his death the two enjoyed poking fun at each other such as Country Dick saying on stage that he'd been "fucking Mojo's Mama" which led to Nixon to retort: "Country Dick can keep on fucking my mama, as long as he keeps on sucking my dick".

In 1998 he had a short run as an advice columnist with "Life Fixin' with Mojo Nixon". Only two columns were authored, and both ran in the short-lived Peterbelly Magazine.

Politics[link]

Nixon is an ardent supporter of free file sharing of recordings in MP3 and other formats. He once publicly declared his support because he said he's "not an asshole like Metallica."^{[citation needed]} In October 2009, several of his albums were available free on Amazon.com in mp3 format for a limited time as part of a promotion for his CD Whiskey Rebellion.

A supporter of the Libertarian Party, he has a degree in political science and history from Miami University in Ohio. He was also the honorary captain of the United States luge team at the 1998 Winter Olympics.^[8]

He is a member of the Church of the SubGenius.^[9]

Post-musical career[link]

Nixon officially retired from the music business in 2004, playing his last live show on March 20 of that year at the Continental Club in Austin, Texas. His first comeback was in 2006 when he came out of retirement in support of Kinky Friedman's bid to become governor of Texas. As Nixon said at the time, "If supporting Kinky for Governor is what it takes to drag my ass out of retirement, consider my ass dragged."

In the late 1990s Nixon worked as a radio DJ in San Diego (on KGB-FM) and Cincinnati (on WEBN-FM). As of 2008 he hosts three shows on Sirius Satellite Radio: The Loon in the Afternoon on Outlaw Country (channel 60), the NASCAR-themed Mojo Nixon's Manifold Destiny on SIRIUS NASCAR Radio (channel 128) and the politically themed Lyin' Cocksuckers^[10] on Raw Dog Comedy (channel 99). In October 2005, Mojo Nixon began appearing on the Sirius Howard 100 channel as the “General Manager.”

"Unretired"[link]

In October 2009, he announced his "unretirement" on his website with the release of his album Whiskey Rebellion, a collection of previously unreleased tracks he claims he had found in "an old shoe box full of cassette tapes" under his front porch.^[11] To promote the CD, he announced the temporary free downloads of the CD tracks and several of his solo albums (and albums with Skid Roper) on Amazon.com, along with a tour of several Texas locations. In a press release, he stated,

Can't wait for Washington to fix the economy. We must take bold action now. If I make the new album free and my entire catalog free it will stimulate the economy. It might even over-stimulate the economy. History has shown than when people listen to my music, money tends to flow to bartenders, race tracks, late night greasy spoons, bail bondsman, go kart tracks, tractor pulls, football games, peep shows and several black market vices. My music causes itches that it usually takes some money to scratch.^[11]

Cultural references[link]

Mojo Nixon is mentioned in four songs:

• The 1988 Dead Milkmen song, "Punk Rock Girl."
• The 2002 Todd Snider song, "Vinyl Records."
• The 1996 Wesley Willis song, "Mojo Nixon."
• The 1992 The Dick Nixons song, "MTV"

In the final episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000, Mike Nelson has a suitcase monogrammed with the initials M.N., which he says he bought at Mojo Nixon's garage sale.

Discography[link]

With Skid Roper

• Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper (1985)
• Get Out Of My Way! (1986)
• Frenzy (1986)
• Bo-Day-Shus!!! (1987)
• Root Hog or Die (1989)
• Unlimited Everything (1990)

Solo

• Otis (1990)
• Mojo Nixon Live at The Casbah 12/28/2003 (2003) {MP3 Only Release}
• Whiskey Rebellion (2009)

With the Toadliquors

• Horny Holidays! (1992)
• Whereabouts Unknown (1995)
• Gadzooks!!! The Homemade Bootleg (1997)
• The Real Sock Ray Blue! (1999)

Other

• Prairie Home Invasion (with Jello Biafra) (1994)
• Live in Las Vegas (Pleasure Barons) (with the Pleasure Barons) (1994)
• Redneck Rampage Video Game Soundtrack (Interplay/Xatrix) (1997)

Singles[link]

Filmography[link]

• Great Balls of Fire! (1989) – James Van Eaton
• Rock 'n' Roll High School Forever (1990) – Spirit of Rock n' Roll
• Super Mario Bros. (1993) – Toad
• Car 54, Where Are You? (1994) – Sidewalk Preacher
• Raney (1997) – Sneeds Perry
• Die Wholesale (1998)
• Buttcrack (1998) – Preacher Man Bob
• A Four Course Meal (2006) – Bartender

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Mojo Nixon at the Internet Movie Database
• Mojo Nixon’s Sirius XM Radio show
• Mojo in the Washington Post 3/9/2007
• Allmusic bio page
• Interview in Modern Drunkard Magazine
• "Life Fixin' with Mojo Nixon" advice column archive

Skid Roper (born Richard Banke, 19 October 1954 in National City, California) is an American musician active in the 1980s and early 1990s. He has recorded with several groups including surf band, The Evasions, but is best known for his work with Mojo Nixon between 1985 and 1989.^[1]

With Nixon, Roper served mainly as an instrumentalist. He commonly played instruments such as the washboard and the mandolin. Since parting ways with Nixon in 1989, Roper has released three solo albums. The first two albums had a much stronger country influence, and were considerably less raucous than his work with Nixon. Roper also formed a surf band called Skid Roper and the Shadowcasters.^[2]

Roper's latest CD, Rock and Roll Part 3 was released in 2010.^[3] A passionate creation, which took 10 years in the making, Roper plays guitar, mandolin, organ, harmonica, percussion & whistling. Skid sings each track and wrote all but one song.

Discography[link]

With The Evasions

• Son of Surf! (1981)

With Mojo Nixon

• Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper (1985)
• Get Out Of My Way! (1986)
• Frenzy (1986)
• Bo-Day-Shus!!! (1987)
• Root Hog Or Die (1989)
• Unlimited Everything (1990)

Solo

• Trails Plowed Under (1989)
• Lydia's Cafe (1991)
• Rock and Roll Part 3 (2010)

References[link]

1. ^ Mendoza, Bart.Skid Roper Man of Mystery San Diego Troubadour. 2010-08. Retrieved on 2010-09-04.
2. ^ San Diego Reader Skid Roper Entry
3. ^ Sanford, Jay Allen.Skid Roper Heart Shaped Pie Pan San Diego Reader. 2010-10-28. Retrieved on 2010-09-04.

External links[link]

• Skid Roper official web site
• Skid Roper All Music Guide Entry

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