Seymour Stein (born 1942 in Brooklyn, New York) is an entrepreneur in the music industry who has been a part of the business since getting his first job as a clerk for Billboard magazine in 1958. Stein is a vice president of Warner Bros. Records and a co-founder of Sire Records.

Music career[link]

In 1966 Stein and record producer Richard Gottehrer founded Sire Productions, which led to the formation of Sire Records, the label under which he signed pioneer artists such as the Ramones and Talking Heads in 1975, the Pretenders in 1980 and Madonna in 1982. Other acts signed by Sire include Depeche Mode, The Smiths, Ice-T, The Undertones and Echo & the Bunnymen.

Such was Stein's influence in signing and promoting the "New Wave" genre of music that he is sometimes credited with coming up with the name as an alternative to the term "punk", which he found derogative. The term had previously been used to refer to the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s.

To date, Stein remains the President of Sire Records and is also Vice President of Warner Bros. Records with which he has had a marketing and distribution deal from 1976 to 1994 and again since April 2003. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 14, 2005, under the lifetime-achievement category.

Seymour Stein was formerly married to the late music promoter and real estate executive Linda Stein; together, the couple had two daughters before they divorced, on amicable terms, in the late 1970s.

Stein has never remarried.

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Legacy[link]

• Seymour Stein is the subject of an eponymous song by the Scottish musical group Belle and Sebastian.
• He was the winner of a Lifetime Achievement Award at the International Dance Music Awards in 2010.

See also[link]

• Sire Records
• Sire Records artists
• "New Wave"

External links[link]

• Biography by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
• Interview with Seymour Stein - The Citizen (South Africa), 17 August 2006
• Seymour Stein biography at allmusic.com
• Seymour Stein lyrics (Sung By Belle and Sebastian) - at belleandsebastian.com
• Interview with Seymour Stein by Terry Gross of Fresh Air, 15 October 2009

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Stevie Jackson
Stevie Jackson playing guitar
Background information
Also known as	Stevie Reverb Action Jackson Jacko[1]
Born	(1969-01-16) 16 January 1969 (age 43)
Origin	Erskine, Glasgow, Scotland
Genres	Indie pop
Occupations	Musician
Instruments	Guitar Vocals Harmonica
Associated acts	Belle & Sebastian The Moondials The Vaselines

Stevie Jackson (born 16 January 1969, Glasgow, Scotland) is a Scottish musician and songwriter. He plays lead guitar and sings in the Glasgow based indie band Belle & Sebastian. Jackson's guitar playing is distinctively retrogressive and melodic, with a heavy use of reverb and minimal effects.^{[citation needed]} He has, in the past, been nicknamed 'Reverb' or 'Stevie Reverb' due to his use of the said effect.

Prior to joining the group, Jackson was a member of the now-defunct The Moondials, a band that released a single on Electric Honey, a label that would later issue Belle & Sebastian's first album, Tigermilk. The Moondials experience was a pleasant one for Jackson, and it took a great deal of work for nominal Belle & Sebastian frontman Stuart Murdoch to convince him to join his group. At the time, Murdoch was playing the open mic circuit in Glasgow as a solo act, and it was at one of these performances, at The Halt Bar, that Jackson first saw Murdoch play.

In the beginning, the band existed mostly as an outlet for Murdoch's songwriting. Since the band's third album, The Boy With The Arab Strap, other members have begun to contribute, Jackson chief amongst them. All of the band's subsequent full-lengths have featured compositions by Jackson, and he wrote the band's 2001 single "Jonathan David" as well as "To Be Myself Completely" for 2006's The Life Pursuit. His songs are noticeably different from Murdoch's compositions. They tend to be shorter and less introspective, opting for catchy 1960s-style pop more often than the folky melancholia that defined Belle & Sebastian's early releases.^{[citation needed]}

In 2012 Jackson, credited as "Stevie Jackson and the Wellgreen" recorded a version of George McCrae's "Rock Your Baby" for a fund raising cd titled "Super Hits Of The Seventies" for radio station WFMU.^[2]

Belle & Sebastian songs written by Jackson[link]

• "Seymour Stein" (from The Boy with the Arab Strap)
• "Chickfactor" (from The Boy with the Arab Strap)
• "The Wrong Girl" (from Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant)
• "Jonathan David" (from "Jonathan David" single)
• "Wandering Alone" (from Storytelling)
• "Roy Walker" (from Dear Catastrophe Waitress)
• "Step Into My Office, Baby" (from Dear Catastrophe Waitress) (co-writer)
• "I Believe in Travellin' Light" (from "I'm a Cuckoo" single)
• "To Be Myself Completely" (from The Life Pursuit)
• "Song for Sunshine" (from The Life Pursuit) (co-writer)
• "I Took a Long Hard Look" (from "Funny Little Frog" single)
• "Mr Richard" (from "The Blues are Still Blue" single)
• "Long Black Scarf" (from "White Collar Boy" single)
• "I'm Not Living in the Real World" (from "Write About Love")
• "Last Trip" (from "Write About Love") (bonus track)

Solo discography[link]

• (I can't get no) Stevie Jackson (October 2011)

Guest artist[link]

• Contributed the song "Good Time" to the compilation Caroline Now!: The Songs of Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys
• He played harmonica on "Song For The Troubadour" by the German band The Happy Couple
• He played harmonica on "Thank You Baby" by V-Twin
• Jackson played lead guitar for The Vaselines for some tours
• Jackson co-wrote the song "Stoop Sale" on the I Blame You album by Michael Shelley
• Jackson plays guitar & sings on a few songs on the Too Many Movies album by Michael Shelley

References[link]

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"The Man" is a slang phrase that may refer to the government or to some other authority in a position of power. In addition to this derogatory connotation, it may also serve as a term of respect and praise.

The phrase "the Man is keeping me down" is commonly used to describe oppression. The phrase "stick it to the Man" encourages resistance to authority, and essentially means "fight back" or "resist", either openly or via sabotage.^[1]

History[link]

The earliest recorded use^{[citation needed]} of the term "the Man" in the American sense dates back to a letter written by a young Alexander Hamilton in September 1772, when he was 15. In a letter to his father James Hamilton, published in the Royal Dutch-American Gazette, he described the response of the Dutch governor of St. Croix to a hurricane that raked that island on August 31, 1772. "Our General has issued several very salutary and humane regulations and both in his publick and private measures, has shewn himself the Man." ^{[2][dubious – discuss]} In the Southern U.S. states, the phrase came to be applied to any man or any group in a position of authority, or to authority in the abstract. From about the 1950s the phrase was also an underworld code word for police, the warden of a prison or other law enforcement or penal authorities.

It was also used as a term for a drug dealer in the 1950s and 1960s and can be seen in such media as Curtis Mayfield's "No Thing On Me", William Burroughs's novel Naked Lunch, and in the Velvet Underground song "I'm Waiting for the Man", in which Lou Reed sings about going to Uptown Manhattan, specifically Lexington Avenue and 125th Street, to buy heroin.

The use of this term was expanded to counterculture groups and their battles against authority, such as the Yippies, which, according to a May 19, 1969 article in U.S. News and World Report, had the "avowed aim ... to destroy 'The Man', their term for the present system of government". The term eventually found its way into humorous usage, such as in a December 1979 motorcycle ad from the magazine Easyriders which featured the tagline, "California residents: Add 6% sales tax for The Man."

In present day, the phrase has been popularized in commercials and cinema, featuring particularly prominently as a recurring motif in the 2003 film School of Rock.^[3][4][5][6]

Use as praise[link]

The term has also been used as an approbation or form of praise. This may refer to the recipient's status as the leader or authority within a particular context, or it might be assumed to be a shortened form of a phrase like "He is the man (who is in charge)." One example of this usage dates to 1879 when Otto von Bismarck commented, referring to Benjamin Disraeli's pre-eminent position at the Congress of Berlin, "The old Jew, he is the man."^{[7][dubious – discuss]}

In more modern usage, it can be a superlative compliment ("you da man!") indicating that the subject is currently standing out amongst his peers even though they have no special designation or rank, such as a basketball player who is performing better than the other players on the court. It can also be used as a genuine compliment with an implied, slightly exaggerated or sarcastic tone, usually indicating that the person has indeed impressed the speaker but by doing something relatively trivial.

See also[link]

• Absentee landlord
• Big Brother (Nineteen Eighty-Four)
• New World Order (conspiracy theory)
• Ruling class
• The Establishment
• Power elite
• Corrections officer
• YTMND

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Lighter, J.E. (Ed.). (1997). Random House Dictionary of American Slang. New York: Random House.

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Don Kirshner (April 17, 1934 - January 17, 2011), ^[1]known as "The Man With the Golden Ear", was an American song publisher and rock producer who is best known for managing songwriting talent as well as successful pop groups, such as The Monkees, Kansas and The Archies.^[2]

Early life[link]

Don Kirshner was born to Gilbert Kirshner,^{[citation needed]} a tailor, and Belle Jaffe^{[citation needed]}, in The Bronx, New York. He attended the Bronx High School of Science (classmate of Bobby Darin), and Upsala College in East Orange, New Jersey.^[3]

Aldon Music[link]

Kirshner achieved his first major success in the late 1950s and early 1960s as co-owner of the influential New York-based publishing company Aldon Music with partner Al Nevins, which had under contract at various times several of the most important songwriters of the so-called "Brill Building" school, including Carole King, Gerry Goffin, Neil Sedaka, Neil Diamond, Paul Simon, Phil Spector, Howard Greenfield, Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil and Jack Keller.

As a producer-promoter, Kirshner was influential in starting off the careers of singers and songwriters, including Bobby Darin, (with whom he collaborated on a number of advertising jingles and pop ditties, their first was called "Bubblegum Pop"),^[4] Neil Diamond, Carole King, and Sarah Dash of Labelle, as well as discovering the occasional rock act such as Kansas.

Don Kirshner's record labels[link]

Kirshner also had three record labels. The first was Chairman Records, a subsidiary of London Records. Although he was responsible for scores of hits in the 1960s, he was only to have one on the Chairman label, 1963's "Martian Hop" by The Ran-Dells, which reached #16 nationally. Kirshner later had two other record labels, Calendar, which had early hits by The Archies and the Kirshner label, which had later hits by The Archies and Kansas. Calendar/Kirshner recordings were first distributed by RCA Records, then CBS Records. He was also involved in Dimension Records.

The Monkees[link]

In the early 1960s, Kirshner was a successful music publisher as head of his own company, Aldon Music, with Al Nevins, bringing performers such as Bobby Darin together with songwriters and musicians.

Kirshner was hired by the producers of The Monkees to provide hitworthy songs to accompany the television program, within a demanding schedule. Kirshner quickly corralled songwriting talent from his Brill Building stable of writers and musicians to create catchy, engaging tracks which the band could pretend to perform on the show.

This move was not because of any lack of Monkee talent — Mike Nesmith and Peter Tork were already experienced musicians, and Davy Jones was an established musical performer; but as a working band they had little experience, and Micky Dolenz was completely new to drums — but to churn out ready-to-go recordings to give each new episode its own song. Each Monkee was retained for vocal duties, but they were not allowed to play on the records.

The formula worked phenomenally well: singles "Last Train to Clarksville" and "I'm a Believer"; the first two Monkees albums were produced and released in time to catch the initial wave of the television program's popularity. Future Taj Mahal and John Lennon guitarist Jesse Ed Davis sat in on guitar. After a year, the Monkees wanted another chance to all play their own instruments on the records. They also wanted additional oversight into which songs would be released as singles. Further, when word belatedly came out that the band had not played on the first season's songs, a controversy arose, and the public expressed a desire to hear the television stars perform their own music.

The matter reached a breaking point over a disagreement regarding the Neil Diamond-penned "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" in early 1967. The song, released by Kirshner as a single without Columbia Pictures' consent,^[5] led to his dismissal. The initial B-side was replaced with a Nesmith song, performed by the Monkees, and they performed on the next year's recordings, featured in the show's second season.

Kirshner's later venture was The Archies, an animated series where there were only the studio musicians to be managed.

[edit] Don Kirshner's Rock Concert

In the fall of 1972, Kirshner was asked by ABC Television to serve as executive producer and "creative consultant" for their new "In Concert" series, which aired every other week in the 11:30 p.m. slot normally showing The Dick Cavett Show. The following September, Kirshner left "In Concert" to produce and host his own syndicated weekly rock-concert program called Don Kirshner's Rock Concert. With its long-form live performances, as compared to rehearsed, often lip-synced performances that were the staple of earlier television shows like Shindig!, it was a new direction for pop music presentation. The last show aired in 1981, the year that MTV was launched.

The program presented many of the most successful rock bands of the era, but what was consistent week-to-week was Kirshner's deliberately flat delivery as the program host. In its final season Rock Concert was mostly hosted by Kirshner's son and daughter, whose delivery was the same as their father's.

Kirshner's wooden presentation style was later lampooned on Saturday Night Live by Paul Shaffer, most notably in Shaffer's introduction of the Blues Brothers during the duo's television debut. Shaffer and Kirshner worked together on the short-lived situation comedy, A Year at the Top, which Kirshner co-produced with Norman Lear, and in which Shaffer starred.^[6]

In the Blue Öyster Cult song "The Marshall Plan", from the album Cultösaurus Erectus, Don Kirshner's voice is sampled to introduce the fictitious Johnny: "This is Don Kirshner. And tonight on Don Kirshner's Rock Concert, a new phenomenon in the music world — with six million albums to his credit in just two short years, my good friend, here's Johnny!"

Later career[link]

Kirshner received the 2007 Songwriters Hall of Fame Abe Olman Publishing Award.^[7] He was a creative consultant for Rockrena, a company founded by Jack Wishna, launching in 2011, to promote new music talent online.^[8] He died of heart failure in a Boca Raton, Florida hospital on January 17, 2011, at age 76, survived by his wife of 50 years, Sheila, his son Ricky, daughter Daryn Lewis and five grandchildren.^[9][10][11]

In April 14, 2012 Don Kirshner was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Further reading[link]

• Podolsky, Rich (2012) Don Kirshner - The Man with the Golden Ear: How He Changed the Face of Rock and Roll. Hal Leonard Publishing. ISBN 1-4584-1670-4

References[link]

External links[link]

• Don Kirshner at the Internet Movie Database
• IMDb: Don Kirshner Productions Company profile
• "Return of The Hit Man: On Music Legend Don Kirshner's To-Do List: Become Global Mogul". David Segal. The Washington Post. December 20, 2004.
• "Don Kirshner and Aldon Music". History of Rock
• Don Kirshner Official Website

The following is a list of significant men and women known for being the father, mother, or considered the founders mostly in Western socities in a field, listed by category. In most non-science fields, the title of being the "father" is debatable.

Church[link]

Games[link]

Humanities[link]

Military[link]

Nations[link]

Natural and social sciences[link]

Sports[link]

Technology[link]

Fields[link]

Inventions[link]

Towns, cities and regions[link]

Transport[link]

See also[link]

• List of inventors
• Father of medicare
• Founders of statistics

References[link]