Empire Company Limited (TSX: EMP.A) is a Canadian holding company based in Stellarton, Nova Scotia.

Controlled by the Sobey family, Empire is sole owner of the Canadian grocery chain Sobeys Inc., as well as various commercial real estate and residential development companies, notably ASC (originally Atlantic Shopping Centres) and Crombie REIT. Empire also owns one of Canada's largest movie theatre companies, Empire Theatres. The company also operates additional companies and has various corporate investment activities.

On July 15, 2007, all of the outstanding stocks for Sobeys were purchased by Empire Company Ltd. and Sobeys was therefore privatized by the conglomerate corporation.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official site

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Patience Marie Josephine Kama Dabany (born 22 January 1944), also known by the names Marie Joséphine Kama and Josephine Bongo, is a Gabonese singer and musician. For nearly 30 years she was married to Omar Bongo Ondimba, who was President of Gabon from 1967 to 2009. After their divorce, she successfully pursued a career in music. She is the mother of the current President of Gabon, Ali Bongo Ondimba.

Personal[link]

Born as Marie Joséphine Kama in Brazzaville, Congo, Dabany's parents originated from the Bateke people in Haut-Ogooué region in what is now southeastern Gabon. Dabany grew up in a musical family and began to sing at an early age to her father's accordion accompaniment, while her brother played guitar. From there her path led to the church choir in Brazzaville and on to traditional song performances. Her mother was a traditional singer.

As First Lady[link]

In 1958, she met Albert-Bernard Bongo, a young Gabonese student. At just 15 years of age, she married Albert on 31 October 1959. They had two children: a son Alain Bernard Bongo (9 February 1959) and a daughter, the late Albertine Amissa Bongo (1964–1993).

Marie Josephine Kama, later known as Josephine Bongo, was the first lady of Gabon. She and her then-husband founded the Gabonese Democratic Party. She became involved in many social projects, including the promotion of women's rights, charities for children, etc. Working with culture he created the musical group dedicated to the Gabonese Democratic Party, Kounabeli (Superstars), where she performed as lead singer.^{[citation needed]}

Musical career[link]

In 1986 Joséphine and Albert Bongo divorced. Marie embarked on a career as a professional artist, under her new name, Patience Dabany. Her first album was Levekisha. Other albums followed such as Cheri Ton Disque Est Rayé, Associé, and Patience Dabany in 1994. In 1997, she released the album Nouvelle Attitude. The same year Dabany returned to her motherland and reestablished herself in Libreville. In 2001 she released Article 106. Her 2004 world music album Obomiyia allowed her to tour with James Brown in Europe. She recorded an album with Kounabeli in 2005; the song La Connaissance from this album was one of the anthems of her former husband (now using the name Omar Bongo Ondimba) used during the presidential campaign of 2005.

Patience Dabany collaborated with many artists such as James Debarge, Tabu Ley Rochereau, and Tshala Muana. She is also the president of the Association of Gabonese Merchants and works in the field of charity.^{[citation needed]}

She was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of music in Los Angeles^{[citation needed]}. She has composed music for feature films^{[citation needed]}. Having performed at Paris Olympia in 2001^[1], Patience Dabany is one of the most prolific musical ambassadors of Gabon.

External links[link]

• Patience Dabany at the Internet Movie Database
• Patience Dabany at museke african artistes
• Images of Patience Dabany can be found on SAHARAN VIBE: ALI BEN BONGO ONDIMBA

References[link]

1. ^ (French) Martin Safou, Patience Dabany en concert en France en juin prochain, Gabon Actu, 10 march 2012

August Burns Red
August Burns Red in Bonner Springs during 2008's Warped Tour. From left to right: JB Brubaker, Jake Luhrs, Dustin Davidson, Brent Rambler, and Matt Greiner.
Background information
Origin	Manheim, Pennsylvania
Genres	Metalcore
Years active	2003–present
Labels	Solid State, CI, Hassle
Associated acts	Bells
Website	www.augustburnsred.com
Members
Jake Luhrs JB Brubaker Brent Rambler Dustin Davidson Matt Greiner
Past members
Jon Hershey Josh McManness Jordan Tuscan

August Burns Red is an American metalcore band, from Manheim, Pennsylvania. Formed in 2003, the group began their first performances while a majority of the members were attending their senior year of high school, and soon began playing shows around Lancaster, before being signed to CI Records, and afterward, Solid State Records. The group is primarily known for their heavy breakdowns and odd-meter riffs. They cite Between the Buried and Me, Misery Signals and Hopesfall as their main influences.

History[link]

[edit] Formation and Thrill Seeker (2003–2006)

August Burns Red was founded in March 2003 when all the members were attending high school.^[1] The original practice sessions of the band began in drummer, Matt Greiner's old egg house and basement on the Greiner family's farmland. After playing many local shows within Lancaster, they recorded their first EP, titled Looks Fragile After All with label CI Records in 2004.^[2]

Vocalist Jon Hershey eventually quit the band during the same year, which led to Josh McManness to take on the position as lead singer,^[3] and after several months of playing with McManness, August Burns Red signed to Solid State Records in 2005.^[4] Hershey would later go on to form post-rock band Bells.^{[5][better source needed][6][better source needed]} August Burns Red released Thrill Seeker, their first full-length album, on November 8, 2005. In 2006, drummer Matt Greiner was endorsed by Truth Custom Drums following the release of the album.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Messengers (2006–2009)

Vocalist Jake Luhrs joined the band in 2006. He is the band's third and current lead vocalist.

McManness departed from the band in 2006, exhausted by the band's constant touring. He was replaced with Columbia, SC resident, Jake Luhrs during the same year. Bassist Jordan Tuscan also left the band in 2006 for similar reasons as McManness. He was replaced by bassist Dustin Davidson, a friend of the band. The band's second album, Messengers, was released on June 19, 2007. Marking the debut for Luhrs fronting the group, it managed to become the band's breakthrough album, reaching number 81 on the Billboard 200.^[7] The album has sold a total of 108,000 copies as of May 2011.

Throughout 2008, August Burns Red toured with several acts across North America and Europe to promote Messengers. From April to May they toured with As I Lay Dying and Misery Signals across the United States and Canada.^[8] In September and October of that same year, they headlined a tour with A Skylit Drive, Sky Eats Airplane, Greeley Estates, and This or the Apocalypse in the United States.^[9] The band also visited Europe for a month-long headlining tour in November, playing in Germany, Finland, Norway, Sweden, The United Kingdom, Republic Of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Italy, Belgium, The Netherlands, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and France.

After this series of tours, the band recorded two covers of popular songs. They recorded an instrumental version of the classic song, "Carol of the Bells" for the X Christmas compilation album, which was featured in trailers for the film, The Spirit, released Christmas Day 2008. They also recorded a cover of "...Baby One More Time" by pop singer Britney Spears for the Punk Goes Pop 2 compilation album, released in March 2009.

On February 24, 2009, the band released an EP, entitled Lost Messengers: The Outtakes. It contains material that is related or was decided not to be included in the final, mastered version of Messengers.^[10] August Burns Reds' first trip to the Middle East took place on March 6, 2009 with the band playing at the Dubai Desert Rock Festival. The band's last tour before their next album release took place in the United States, where they toured with metalcore band All That Remains throughout April and May.^[11]

[edit] Constellations (2009–2011)

To promote their upcoming album, August Burns Red released several new tracks and a music video during June 2009. The tracks Thirty and Seven, Existence, and Ocean of Apathy were all released on the 15th,^[12] 21st, and 29th, respectively. A music video for the song Meddler was also released during this month.^[13] On July 7, a week before the album's release, August Burns Red began streaming the full album on their Myspace profile for a limited time.^[14] August Burns Red released their third full-length album, Constellations, on July 14, 2009. During the week of August 1, 2009, the album charted at spot 24 on the Billboard 200.^[15] Another United States tour was organized with August Burns Red headlining and support from Blessthefall, Enter Shikari, All Shall Perish, and Iwrestledabearonce.^[16] After this tour, the band joined a short tour in Australia with Architects in support of Australian band Parkway Drive.^[17] August Burns Red toured alongside Underoath and Emery in November and December 2009 as well.^[18]

The band released their first live CD/DVD, Home, on September 28, 2010.^[19] The group co-headlined an Alternative Press tour throughout November.^[20] On February 23, 2010, Constellations was nominated for the Dove Award for "Best Rock Album".^[21]

August Burns Red toured Australia and New Zealand in December 2010 on the No Sleep Til Festival. The band played alongside Parkway Drive, A Day to Remember, NOFX, Dropkick Murphys, Suicide Silence, Megadeth, Descendents, Gwar and many others.

[edit] Leveler (2011–present)

August Burns Red in April 2011

On July 27, 2010, lead guitarist, Brubaker stated that the band would be taking time off tour to write their next record,^[22] On February 12, 2011, the band announced via their official Facebook page that they had completely finished writing their new record and that they would be entering the studio on Valentine's Day.^{[23][better source needed]} which, following into March of the next year, the band announced that the record was finished, and that it was (at that point) time for mixing.^{[23][better source needed]} On the April 5, August Burns Red revealed the name of this upcoming record as Leveler.^[24] On May 16, 2011, the band released the song "Empire" as a preview before its release. They also later premiered three other songs: "Internal Cannon", "Divisions", and "Poor Millionaire", on May 31, June 6, and June 14, respectively.

Leveler was released on June 21, 2011 in two forms; standard and deluxe. The deluxe version of Leveler contains four extra songs, including an acoustic version of the song "Internal Cannon". The album sold particularly well compared to their other releases, with 29,000 of its opening first week-copies being sold in the United States alone. These sales had the record land at position 11 on The Billboard 200 chart.^[25] After the release, August Burns Red took part on the main stage of the 2011 Vans Warped Tour.^[26]

August Burns Red headlined their own Leveler tour on the first quarter of 2012 with Silverstein, Texas in July, I the Breather and Letlive as support acts.

Characteristics and image[link]

Musical style[link]

August Burns Red is generally credited as a metalcore band,^{[27][28][29][30]} and have also been said to share traits of other genres such as progressive metal,^[29][31] and thrash metal.^[32] August Burns Red songs frequently feature technical or odd time signatures and heavy breakdowns, with a variety of influences including Meshuggah, Between the Buried and Me, Poison the Well, Symphony in Peril and Misery Signals.^[1][33]

While the group has stated that they don't mind being classified as metalcore, Brubaker has grown to a distaste in the genre's usual bands: "I feel like anyone who can pick up and play a guitar and learn to play a metalcore riff and any drummer who can learn to play a thrash beat over a breakdown is doing it. It's almost become very formulaic, and metal to me was never a formulaic genre."^[30]

Band name[link]

August Burns Red have been asked of the origin of their band name on many occasions and many different stories given in explanation to where it originated.^[27] The most popular story behind the name is an incident that revolves around the band's original vocalist, Jon Hershey wherein he dated a woman named August who burned his dog Redd alive in his dog house.^[34]

However, it was later revealed in a radio interview that this meaning (along with others) were simply comical stories created by the members and there is no actual meaning behind the band name. Drummer Matt Griener stated in the interview that "we just came up with the name to come up with a name."^[35]

Christian faith[link]

August Burns Red is a Christian band.^[3] JB Brubaker mentioned in an interview with Shout!, an online magazine, that "Christianity is a religion, not a style of music" and he would "rather just let the music speak for itself."^[36] Brent Rambler commented on the fact that "It is important to us that people know that we are indeed Christians...without having us stand up there and ram it down people's throats."^[37]

Members[link]

Discography[link]

Studio albums

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: August Burns Red

• Official website

Twist and Pulse are an English street dance duo based in London. They are best known for being the runners-up of the fourth series of Britain's Got Talent in 2010, famously coming in second to Spelbound in the live final.

Ashley Tisdale (Twist) and Glen Coco (Pulse) met at the BRIT School of performing arts and technology where they were both studying for a BTEC National Diploma in Dance, where the duo trained in ballet, tap dance, contemporary and Jazz dance.^[1][2] They discovered they had an equally wacky sense of humour and quickly became best friends. With college coming to an end, Glen and Ashley formed a duo initially called The Cheeky Boiz, and began rehearsing. Their resulting ‘Streetomedy’ performances - a blend of streetdance and comedy - went down a storm and led to the duo reaching the finals of BGT in 2010. They performed on the morning show on ITV, Daybreak, in the week leading up to the 2011 Britain's Got Talent.

Britain's Got Talent[link]

The pair - who got three "Yes" votes from the judges, who were much amused by the duo's dancing to the EastEnders theme and The Cheeky Girls' "Touch My Bum", their act billed as "streetomedy", was met with much support at their London audition.

Declan "Dec" Donnelly is quoted saying: "These two guys come on and dance to the EastEnders theme tune. That's clever and new." Anthony "Ant" McPartlin laughed: "It took me back 15 years ago to when me and Dec were PJ and Duncan... but they could actually dance!" Dec chimed in: "If they can present a TV show we're screwed!"

Ant and Dec were heard to say: "With their bright hip hop outfits and body popping moves, they reminded us of ourselves back in our P J & Duncan days with one small difference, they could actually dance, and we... um... couldn't." ^[3]

2010[link]

After coming runners up Twist and Pulse went on tour with BGT live, visiting over 14 cities. Since then Twist and Pulse have been all over the country performing, one of the biggest being Midlands Music Festival where they were watched by 20,000 fans. They did a summer tour of all three Butlins holiday camps. They have also been booked for big celebrity weddings and private parties.

Twist and Pulse TV performance included ITV's Magic Numbers where they did a dance that was made up from music from blockbuster films such as The Matrix, Titanic and Pirate of the Caribbean to name a few. They have also appeared on The Five O’Clock Show (C4), GMTV (ITV1), This Morning, Teen Nick continuity (Nickolodeon UK), The Seven Thirty Show (UTV).

In December BBC NI invited Twist and Pulse to perform live on Children in Need 2010 in front of a large crowd at the Odyssey (Belfast)

2011[link]

April saw Twist and Pulse as guests on Keith Lemon ITV2 Celebrity Juice, which happened to be its biggest ever watched episode.

In June, Twist and Pulse performed at many schools around England to promote their new single "Jump" and helped the charity Fairbridge raise money with two flash mobs at St Katharine Docks and Marble Arch.

They then supported Jedward on their fourth Irish tour in August, called 'The Carnival Tour'. This included ten dates all around Ireland. Twist & Pulse performed at Bluewater on 18th December this was part of the Children In Need celebrations

2012[link]

The pair returned to Britain's Got Talent, but this time with their own dance troupe 'Twist and Pulse Dance Company' which saw them reach the live semi finals.

The week of the live finals also saw the guys take the hot seat on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, where they won £5000 for Danceaid.

Recording career[link]

Having spent a year writing and producing their own records, the duo released their first single Jump on 3 July 2011.^[2]

Ashley (a.k.a. Twist)[link]

Twist (Ashley Glazebrook) was born in 1991 in Sidcup, in a family of two brothers, four step-brothers and seventeen cousins. From a young age Ashley was known to love music, especially music performed by Michael Jackson. It was at The Bexley Business Academy Secondary School that Ash began to show an interest in dance and joined a local street dance group, performing at events such as The Streetdance Weekend UK Championships and The World Hip Hop Championships in Las Vegas. He then went on to study dance at The BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology, where he is about to finish his final year.

Glen (a.k.a. Pulse)[link]

Pulse (Glen Murphy), was born in 1990 at Guy's Hospital and brought up by his parents in South East London, where he still lives. He attended Forest Hill Secondary School and Dalmain primary school which is also in South East London. Glen finished at the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology last year and as well as concentrating on touring with Twist and Pulse, he teaches urban dance at the BRIT

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Facebook page
• YouTube Videos
• Report in the Sun
• Digital Spy report
• Metro report
• Tellymix report

v t e Britain's Got Talent Got Talent Series 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 Presenters Ant & Dec · Stephen Mulhern Judges Current Simon Cowell · Amanda Holden · Alesha Dixon · David Walliams Former Kelly Brook · Piers Morgan · Michael McIntyre · David Hasselhoff Guest Louis Walsh · Carmen Electra Winners Paul Potts · George Sampson · Diversity · Spelbound · Jai McDowall · Ashleigh and Pudsey Other notable contestants Series 1 Bessie Cursons · Connie Talbot · Damon Scott · Bar Wizards · Jake Pratt Series 2 Signature · Andrew Johnston · Escala · Faryl Smith · Kate and Gin · Charlie Green · Charlie Wernham Series 3 Susan Boyle · Julian Smith · Aidan Davis · Hollie Steel · Shaheen Jafargholi · Callum Francis · DJ Talent · Flawless · John Farnworth Series 4 Twist and Pulse · Paul Burling · ReConnected · Myles and Connor · Kev Orkian · Stevie Starr · The Cheeky Girls · Matthew Ahmet Series 5 Ronan Parke · Out of the Blue Series 6 Jonathan and Charlotte · Only Boys Aloud · The Loveable Rogues · Ryan O'Shaughnessy  · Molly Rainford · The Zimmers Related articles List of episodes · Discography · SYCOtv · FremantleMedia · talkbackTHAMES · Thames · ITV Category

The Next One is a nickname that has belonged to the following ice hockey players:

• Eric Lindros^[1]
• Sidney Crosby^[2]
• John Tavares^[3]

The name is a play on Wayne Gretzky's nickname, "The Great One". Each of the players listed has been or is currently billed as the next Wayne Gretzky. Phil Kessel was considered to be on the list during his junior career, but his performance dropped in 2006 and he was taken off the list. To date, no player given the moniker has broken a National Hockey League record set by Gretzky. Mario Lemieux, "The Magnificent One", was the closest to breaking several of Gretzky's records, but he was never called "The Next One" by the media, because he was Gretzky's contemporary for most of his NHL career.

References[link]