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Opera House of Paris, the Palais garnier's grand salon

Look up foyer in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

A foyer (French: [fwa.je], English: /ˈfɔɪ.ər/ or /ˈfɔɪ.eɪ/) or lobby is a large, vast room or complex of rooms (in a theatre, opera, concert hall, showroom, cinema, etc.) adjacent to the auditorium. It is a repose area for spectators and place of venues, especially used before performance and during intermissions, but also as a place of celebrations or festivities after performance.

Usually a foyer is a large, specially designed hall, but sometimes it is a corridor surrounding the main hall. It is furnished and big enough to enable spectators to stroll, get together and rest. Foyers are commonly adorned with art works, permanent or temporary exhibitions related to the activity of the institution, and a refreshment room or buffet. Moreover, the foyer can be the main place of some events such as vernissage, meetings with the artists, actors' benefit, etc.

A foyer in a house is usually a small entry area or room by the front door. Other public rooms such as the living room, dining room, and family room typically attach to it, along with any main stairway. It was initially intended as an "airlock", separating the fireplace-heated rooms from the (colder, in winter) front entrance, where cold air infiltration made for cold drafts and low temperatures. It is commonly used for outer garment and umbrella storage for both residents and guests.

See also[link]

• Lobby
• Narthex

References[link]

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Genevieve Gorder (born July 26, 1974 in Minneapolis, Minnesota) is an American television host and interior designer. She is currently the host of Dear Genevieve on the HGTV cable channel.^[1]

Early life[link]

Genevieve is the oldest of three children, and the only daughter.Her father is Jon Charles Gorder and her mother is Diana Drake.^[2] She attended Minneapolis South High School, where she played soccer and the violin. From 1992-1994, she attended Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon, majoring in international affairs but decided to change her career path after taking a graphic design course. In 1994, she obtained an internship at MTV in New York City. After completing the internship, MTV offered her a permanent job, which she accepted. She permanently relocated to New York and graduated with a B.F.A in design from the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan.^[2]

Career[link]

Before being known as a designer, she appeared as a commentator on the MTV series, Sex in the '90s. She was one of the original decorators of the TLC's hit series Trading Spaces.

During her tenure at Duffy & Partners, in New York City, Gorder designed the bottle for Tanqueray No. 10 gin. She became famous on Trading Spaces and quickly became known for her soulful designs and her unusual habit of working barefoot.^[3] She parodied her lack of footwear in a series of Swiffer sweeper commercials that started running on television and in periodicals in 2003. She has always explained that her preference for working barefoot was in order not to ruin shoes, and not for comfort reasons.

In addition to her role on Trading Spaces, she was a decorator for a spinoff show, Trading Spaces: Family. In 2005, she made-over several small American towns for her show, Town Haul.

It was announced on March 26, 2007, that Gorder would become the official spokesperson for Atlanta-based Floor and Decor Outlets of America, Inc.^[1] In 2008 she voiced in SpongeBob SquarePants.

Dear Genevieve[link]

Genevieve's latest project, Dear Genevieve, premiered on HGTV in January 2009. The show features Gorder solving design problems, in-person, for people who have written in to the program.

Design Star[link]

Genevieve is one of three judges on the design panel of HGTV Design Star. The show features Gorder advising and critiquing designers looking to achieve status on television.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Genevieve Gorder at the Internet Movie Database
• Dear Genevieve at HGTV

Jay Brannan
Brannan performs in Edinburgh, Scotland, in August 2008
Background information
Born	(1982-03-29) March 29, 1982 (age 30)[1]
Occupations	singer-songwriter
Instruments	singing, guitar
Years active	2006–present
Labels	Great Depression Records Nettwerk[2]
Website	jaybrannan.com

Jay Brannan (born March 29, 1982) is an American singer-songwriter and actor. He was born in Texas and briefly studied in Ohio, but moved to California to become an actor. Brannan appeared in the 2006 movie Shortbus, which included one of his songs in its soundtrack, and began to build a fan base by performing on YouTube. He released an EP and acted in Holding Trevor in 2007. Since then, he has toured and released two albums.

Early life and career[link]

Brannan was born 1982 in Texas in a middle-class family and grew up as the son of a petroleum engineer and a teacher.^[3][4][5] He described his family as conservative Baptists and discussed their difficulty with accepting his homosexuality.^[6][7] Brannan went to college for one semester in Cincinnati, Ohio, and went to California, first to Palm Springs and later to Los Angeles, trying to become an actor.^[3][5] In 2002, he was shown a casting notice and, after the end of a relationship, moved to New York City and submitted an audition tape.^[3]

Brannan was cast in 2003 for the movie Shortbus, which featured him in an explicit sex scene, and worked as a proofreader and in other jobs to support himself.^[8] He contributed the song "Soda Shop" to the film's soundtrack, which he stated was his "first professionally recorded track".^[8] The song was also released on Team Love Records.^[9] Brannan began to record sparse music videos for YouTube, accompanying himself on the guitar, and built an international fan base without corporate sponsorship, using MySpace and Blogspot.^[10][11] In 2007, he appeared in the movie Holding Trevor as the promiscuous best friend of the protagonist, and released a limited-edition EP with fours songs named disasterpiece or Unmastered, adding two additional songs for a 2008 re-release.^[4][12]

In July 2008, Brannan released the album Goddamned through his own label, Great Depression Records, and toured ten dates, a departure from his previous practice of short tours of about four concerts.^[10][13] The same year, Brannan left his proofreading job and sustained himself with earnings from concerts and merchandise.^[11] His second album, In Living Cover, was released in 2009 and reached number ten on the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart for the week of July 25, 2009.^[14] Brannan promoted the album in an interview on ABC News's Now in July 2009.^[15]

Style[link]

Jay Brannan in Hamburg, Germany, in 2009

Brannan is a tenor.^[3] Allmusic described his style as contemporary singer-songwriter and compared him to female artists, including Ani DiFranco, Lisa Loeb, Sinéad O'Connor, and Liz Phair.^[4] Goddamned was described as lo-fi and Brannan compared his concerts to intimate performances in his home.^[11][16] He has performed with Terra Naomi and both were compared in style and described as performing indie folk.^[16] The New York Times stated in 2006 that Brannan was sometimes compared to singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright and that Brannan saw himself as echoing the angry and sad sound of female singers like Tracy Chapman and Joni Mitchell.^[3]

Discography[link]

EPs

• Unmastered (aka disasterpiece) (2007, re-released 2008 with additional tracks)

Albums

• Goddamned (2008)
• In Living Cover (2009)
• Rob Me Blind (2012)^[17]

Songs

• "Soda Shop" (track on the 2006 Shortbus soundtrack)
• "Lower My Gun" (track on the 2008 Holding Trevor soundtrack)
• "My Love, My Love" and "Takeoff" (two tracks on the 2011 Cloudburst soundtrack)^[18]

Filmography[link]

• Shortbus as Ceth (2006)
• Holding Trevor as Jake (2007)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jay Brannan

• jaybrannan.com. Official website.
• Jay Brannan's channel on YouTube
• Jay Brannan at Allmusic
• Jay Brannan at the Internet Movie Database
• Jay Brannan at AllRovi
• Works by or about Jay Brannan in libraries (WorldCat catalog)

Billie Jo Spears (in fact: Billie Jean Spears, January 14, 1937 – December 14, 2011) was an American country music singer. She reached the top-10 of the Country music charts five times between 1969 and 1977, her biggest hit being "Blanket on the Ground", which, in 1975, became her only number one.^[1] She also had a large following in the United Kingdom with two of her singles reaching the pop top five.

Early life and rise to fame[link]

Spears was born in Beaumont, Texas, United States. She made her professional debut at age 13 at a country music concert in Houston, Texas. She cut her first single, called "Too Old For Toys, Too Young For Boys," while she was still a teenager. It was released by the independent record label, Abbot Records, under the name 'Billie Jean Moore'. She also performed on the Louisiana Hayride at 13.^[1] After graduating from high school, she sang in nightclubs and sought a record deal. Spears' early career was orchestrated by the country/rockabilly songwriter, Jack Rhodes. Working out of his makeshift recording studio, Rhodes took it upon himself to provide Spears with material and clout in her early years. Spears moved from Texas to Nashville, Tennessee in 1964. She gained her first recording contract with United Artists Records, and worked with producer Kelso Herston. Her first singles brought her little success. Soon her producer moved over to Capitol Records and Spears followed. She was placed under contract by the label in 1968.

Early success[link]

One of Spears' first singles for the label was "Harper Valley PTA" but her single release of the song was beaten off the presses by the version by Jeannie C. Riley. Riley's became a monster crossover hit while Spears' record failed to chart.

Spears' first hit came in 1969, when her Capitol Records release "Mr. Walker It's All Over" reached number 4 on the Country chart.^[1] It also reached the Pop charts at #80. The song told of a secretary who resigned a job where she were she was unappreciated for her skills and encountered sexual harassment. She gained four more top 40 country hits during the next two years but by late 1972 was off Capitol and had two years without a charting release.^[1]

Comeback and peak years[link]

In 1975, Spears signed again with United Artists Records, now the home to some of country music's pop-based acts, like Kenny Rogers. She returned to the charts in 1975 with "Blanket on the Ground".^[1] The song had been previously turned down by Nashville producers who feared controversy with the chorus line "slipping around", even though the tune was not about adultery.^[2] The expected controversy never materialized, and it became her only number-one song.

In the United Kingdom the song climbed into the top ten of the UK Singles Chart in August 1975, reaching #6. Her 1976 country top five record "What I've Got in Mind" proved to be a second major British pop hit for her peaking at #4 even though it did not cross over to the American pop charts. Spears had a third British pop hit, albeit a lesser one peaking at #34 with "Sing Me an Old Fashioned Song", a track that was just an album cut in the States.

Billie Jo Spears was a steady presence on the American top 20 country charts for the remainder of the 1970's with such hits as "Misty Blue" (a remake of the 1960's Wilma Burgess classic), "'57 Chevrolet," "Love Ain't Gonna Wait For Us," "If You Want Me," and others. 1981's cover version of Tammy Wynette's 1960s hit, "Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad," was Spears' last voyage into America's country top 20.

Later career and life[link]

Spears continued releasing albums in the United States into the 1980s. By the mid 1980s, her overall success in the United States had tapered off. However, she retained a following in the UK, and remained a popular live performer there. Spears recorded a number of albums for the British market that had limited or even no release in the US. This level of fame in the UK was summed up by the magazine, Country Music People, during the 1990s when their article described Spears as "The Queen Mother of country music."

In 1990, Broadland Records produced an ill fated experimental album where 'wannabe performers' could, for a fee, record the second part of the duet. She told BBC Radio Merseyside personality, Spencer Leigh, in 1994, "The album never got finished and I don't know what happened to the money. It's pathetic and I'm very disappointed."^[3]

She recovered from triple bypass surgery in 1993. She continued to tour for more than 16 years.

In 2005, Spears released the album I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry. Spears toured with the Irish country singer, Philomena Begley, in 2011.^[4]

In later years, she made her home in Vidor, Texas, near her hometown of Beaumont, where she died of cancer on December 14, 2011, at age 74.^[4]

Discography[link]

References[link]

• Guinness Book of British Hit Singles - 19th Edition - ISBN 1-904994-10-5

External links[link]

Biography portal

• Billie Jo Spears biography at Allmusic website
• Billie Jo Spears Short bio & picture at Hux Records