Congressional Quarterly, Inc., or CQ, refers to part of a privately owned publishing company called CQ Roll Call that produces a number of publications reporting primarily on the United States Congress. CQ was acquired by the Economist Group and combined with Roll Call to form CQ Roll Call in 2009. As of 2009, CQ ceased to exist as a separate entity.

About[link]

Congressional Quarterly, Inc. former headquarters located in the NoMa end neighborhood of Washington, D.C.

CQ was founded in 1945 by Nelson Poynter and his wife, Henrietta Poynter, with the aim of providing a link between local newspapers and the complex politics within Washington D.C. CQ has the largest news team covering Capitol Hill, with more than 100 reporters, editors and researchers. CQ's readership includes 95 percent of the members of Congress, academic and media outlets, as well as members of business and nonprofit organizations, government affairs and the executive branch.

Thomas N. Schroth, who had been managing editor of The Brooklyn Eagle, was elected in October 1955 as executive editor and vice president.^[1] Schroth built the publication's impartial coverage, with annual revenue growing during his tenure from $150,000 when he started to $1.8 million. In addition to adding a book division, Schroth added many staff members who achieved future journalistic success, including David S. Broder and Elizabeth Drew. He was fired from Congressional Quarterly in 1969 after festering disagreements with Poynter over editorial policy at the publication and Schroth's efforts to advocate "more imaginative ways of doing things" reached a boil.^[2]

In 1965, Poynter summed up his reasons for founding CQ, saying: "The federal government will never set up an adequate agency to check on itself, and a foundation is too timid for that. So it had to be a private enterprise beholden to its clients."

Despite its name, CQ was published quarterly for only one year. Demand drove more frequent updates, first weekly, then daily. CQ was also an early leader in delivering information on a real-time basis, starting with a dial-up service in 1984. Its website dominates the market for online legislative tracking information and has been nominated for several awards. In recent years, CQ has launched several electronic-only newsletters with greater focus on particular areas, including CQ Homeland Security, CQ BudgetTracker, and "CQ HealthBeat."

In 2005, CQ's flagship publication, the Weekly Report, was re-launched as CQ Weekly with a wider focus, including "government, commerce and politics." A daily publication, CQ Today, also is available every day when Congress is in session. CQ Today's main print competition is Atlantic Media's CongressDaily.

Until 2009, CQ was owned by the Times Publishing Company of St. Petersburg, Fla., publisher of the Tampa Bay Times (formerly the St. Petersburg Times) and other publications. The Times Publishing Company is in turn owned by the Poynter Institute, a school for journalists founded by Nelson Poynter. The Economist Group acquired CQ; the terms of the deal were not disclosed.^[3]

Awards[link]

Eight CQ reporters have won the "Everett McKinley Dirksen Award for Distinguished Reporting of Congress" from the National Press Foundation: Alan Ehrenhalt in 1983, Joan Biskupic in 1991, Janet Hook in 1992, George Hager in 1996, Jackie Koszezuk in 1997, Sue Kirchhoff in 2000, John Cochran in 2003, and Jonathan Allen in 2008.^[4]

In 1999, CQ Executive Conferences was transferred to TheCapitol.Net, a non-partisan firm based in Alexandria, VA. TheCapitol.Net is no longer an affiliate of Congressional Quarterly.

In May 2008, CQ Press was purchased by SAGE Publications in its entirety.^[5] Although it retains the name "CQ Press" (a trademark of Congressional Quarterly), CQ Press is no longer an affiliate of Congressional Quarterly.

See also[link]

Roll Call

The Economist

References[link]

External links[link]

• CQ Roll Call corporate website.

This article is outdated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. Please see the talk page for more information. (November 2010)

Tokio Hotel
Tokio Hotel, 2010. L-R: Georg Listing, Bill Kaulitz, Tom Kaulitz, and Gustav Schäfer
Background information
Origin	Magdeburg, Germany
Genres	Pop rock,[1][2] alternative rock,[3] emo,[4] glam rock,[5] power pop,[6][7][8][9]
Years active	2001–present
Labels	Universal Music Germany, Cherrytree, Interscope
Website	www.tokiohotel.com
Members
Bill Kaulitz Tom Kaulitz Georg Listing Gustav Schäfer

Tokio Hotel is a rock band from Germany, founded in 2001 by singer Bill Kaulitz, guitarist Tom Kaulitz, drummer Gustav Schäfer and bassist Georg Listing.^[10] The quartet have scored four number one singles and have released three number one albums in their native country, selling nearly 5 million CDs and DVDs there.^[11] After recording an unreleased demo-CD under the name "Devilish" and having their contract with Sony BMG Germany terminated, the band released their first German-language album, Schrei, as Tokio Hotel on Universal Music Germany in 2005. Schrei sold more than half a million copies worldwide^[12] and spawned four top five singles in both Germany and Austria. In 2007, the band released their second German album Zimmer 483 and their first English album Scream which have combined album sales of over one million copies worldwide and helped win the band their first MTV Europe Music Award for Best InterAct. The former, Zimmer 483, spawned three top five singles in Germany while the latter, Scream, spawned two singles that reached the top twenty in new territories such as France, Portugal, Spain and Italy. In September 2008, they won in the US their first MTV Video Music Award (VMA) for Best New Artist. In October 2008, they won four awards including Best International Artist and Song of the year at Los Premios MTV Latinoamérica (MTV Video Music Awards Latin America) held in Mexico. Tokio Hotel became the first German band ever to win an award at the MTV VMAs and also at the MTV Latin America Awards. They also picked up the Headliner award at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2008 held in Liverpool on November 6, 2008 and the Award for Best Group on November 5, 2009 at the MTV Europe Music Award (EMA) held in Berlin. They won an Award for Best World Stage Performance on November 7, 2010 at the MTV Europe Music Awards in Madrid. In July 2011, they became the first German band to win an MTV Video Music Awards Japan (VMAJ). And won MTV's 2012 Musical March Madness.

History[link]

[edit] Formation (2001 - 2004)

Tokio Hotel by vocalist Bill Kaulitz and guitarist Tom Kaulitz, who are identical twin brothers, drummer Gustav Schäfer and bass-guitarist Georg Listing. The four met in 2001 after a live show in a Magdeburg-Club, where Listing and Schäfer, who knew each other from music school, watched from the audience while Bill and Tom Kaulitz played on the stage.^[13][14] Under the name Devilish, the band soon began playing in talent shows and small concerts.^[15] After Bill Kaulitz's participation in a children's Star Search in 2003 at age thirteen (which he lost in the quarter-final), he was discovered by music producer Peter Hoffmann. Devilish changed their name to Tokio Hotel: "Tokio", the German spelling of the Japanese city Tokyo, due to a love of the city, and "Hotel" due to their constant touring and living in hotels.^[13] Soon after Sony BMG took them under contract, Hoffmann hired David Jost and Pat Benzner into the team of creators and authors, and had them give the teens instruction on songwriting and instrument playing; most of the songs of the first album were written by Hoffmann, Jost and Benzer (including the singles "Scream" and "Rescue me" which were completely written by them), only the single "Unendlichkeit" was written completely by Tokio Hotel themselves. Shortly before release of their first album, Sony terminated their contract. The band is now one of the biggest modern acts from Germany and the biggest in 20 years.

[edit] Schrei (2005 - 2006)

Bill Kaulitz performing in Hessisch-Lichtenau, Germany in 2006.

In 2005, Universal Music Group took Tokio Hotel under contract and developed a marketing plan. Their first single, "Durch den Monsun" ("Through the Monsoon"), quickly rose in the charts, appearing on the German official Media Control single chart at #15 on August 20, 2005 and eventually reaching #1 on August 26, 2005; it also reached #1 on the Austrian singles chart. Their second single, "Schrei" ("Scream"), climbed to the #5 position in the German charts. These two songs were written by singer Bill Kaulitz together with their group of producers Peter Hoffmann, David Jost, Pat Benzer and Dave Roth. Their debut album, Schrei, was released on September 19, 2005, and was certified triple gold by the BVMI in 2006 for selling over 300,000 copies in Germany.^[16] In 2006, a third and fourth single, "Rette mich" ("Rescue Me") and "Der letzte Tag" ("The Final Day"), were released; both reached #1 as well. "Der letzte Tag" contained a B-side called "Wir schließen uns ein", which was also accompanied by a music video.

[edit] Zimmer 483 (2007 - 2008)

The first single off their second album Zimmer 483 (Room 483), called "Übers Ende der Welt" (later re-released in English under the name "Ready, Set, Go!"), was released on January 26, 2007 and quickly reached #1 in Germany and Austria, and #2 in France. Zimmer 483 was released in Germany on February 23, 2007, along with a deluxe edition of the album containing a DVD. The album's second single, "Spring nicht" ("Don't Jump") was released on April 7. The tour accompanying the release of the album, The Zimmer 483 Tour, was scheduled to start in March 2007, but was delayed by two weeks because the band members wished to have a different stage design. A third single, "An deiner Seite (Ich bin da)" ("By Your Side"), was released on November 16. The single contains the B-side "1000 Meere" ("1000 Oceans"), for which a music video was also produced. On April 28, 2008 Tokio Hotel released their single "Heilig" but no music video for the single was released, because of the tight schedule they had.

[edit] Scream (2007 - 2008)

Tokio Hotel's first English language album, Scream, was released on June 4, 2007 throughout Europe. In Germany, the album was released as Room 483 in order to emphasize the continuity with their last German album Zimmer 483. Scream contains English versions of a selection of songs from their German-language albums Scream and Zimmer 483. "Monsoon", the English-language version of "Durch den Monsun", was the first single from the album. "Ready, Set, Go!" (the translation of "Übers Ende der Welt") was released as the album's second single and "Don't Jump" (the translation of "Spring nicht") as the third single. A video for "Scream", the English-language version of their 2005 hit "Schrei", was also recorded, and was released to the iTunes Store in early March 2008.

Tokio Hotel gave their first concert in the United Kingdom on June 19, 2007. "Ready, Set, Go!" was released in the UK as the band's first single on August 27, 2007. The song reached #77 in the UK Singles Chart.

Tokio Hotel won an MTV Europe Music Award for Best InterAct on November 1, 2007 and were also nominated for Best Band. They performed "Monsoon" at the event.

Tokio Hotel released their first US single, simply called "Tokio Hotel", in late 2007. The single contains the tracks "Scream" and "Ready, Set, Go!", and was available exclusively at Hot Topic stores. Their second US single, "Scream America", was released on December 11, 2007. The single contains the track "Scream" and a remix of "Ready, Set, Go!" by AFI's Jade Puget. In February 2008, the band toured North America for five dates starting in Canada and finishing up in New York.^[17] After appearing and performing live on MuchMusic, while touring in Canada, "Ready, Set, Go!" entered the MuchOnDemand Daily 10, a countdown of videos chosen by viewers. It remained there for over a week, then returned to the top of the MOD Daily 10 chart on April 8. "Scream" was released in Canada on March 25 and in the US on May 6. The "1000 Hotels" European Tour began on March 3, 2008 in Brussels and continued to locations including The Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Scandinavia, and was scheduled to finish on April 9; during the concert in Marseille, France on March 14, Bill started to experience vocal problems.^[18] He let the audience sing more frequently than normal and instead of the original 21 songs that were on the set list, they only played 16 songs. Bill apologized, in German, for his bad singing and explained that he was sick. Two days later, the band canceled Lisbon, Portugal concert minutes before it was supposed to commence. The rest of the "1000 Hotels" Tour and a scheduled North American Tour were cancelled following an announcement in Bild by the band's manager that Bill Kaulitz had to undergo surgery to remove a cyst on his vocal cords.^[19][20]

Bill Kaulitz had been putting strain on his voice after playing 43 concerts in the 1000 Hotels tour without vacation.^[21] He had to undergo Larynx surgery on March 30 to remove a cyst that had formed on his vocal cords.^[22] The cyst was the result of a throat infection that went untreated.^[23] Following his surgery, Bill was unable to speak for twelve days, and had four weeks of vocal rehabilitation.^[24] If Bill had continued singing the rest of the tour, his voice would have eventually been permanently damaged.^[18][25] Tokio Hotel started performing again in May 2008^[26] and after that they embarked on a 2nd part of their 1000 Hotels European Tour adding many Open Air concerts and wrapping up the tour on July 13 in Werchter, Belgium.

[edit] North American Tours and Humanoid (2009 - 2010)

This section is outdated. Please update this section to reflect recent events or newly available information. Please see the talk page for more information. (November 2010)

Tokio Hotel embarked on a second tour of North America in August 2008, which included a performance at the Bamboozled festival in New Jersey. The band's music video for "Ready Set Go!" was nominated for Best Pop Video at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards,^[27] where they also won the award for Best New Artist.^[28] They returned to North America again in October 2008 for a month long tour of concerts and record store signings. In December 2008, a behind-the scenes DVD called Tokio Hotel TV – Caught on Camera was released. It contains footage from Tokio Hotel TV and backstage feature stories of the previous year on disc one entitled "History – The very best of Tokio Hotel TV!". A deluxe edition contains a second disc entitled "Future – The road to the new Album!" which features footage of the band on promotion tours and preparing for their third studio album.^[29]

In between the North American tours, the band returned to their record studio in Hamburg to record their third studio album, Humanoid, which, according to their producer David Jost, is currently set for release on October 2 in Germany & October 6, 2009 in the U.S.^[30][31][32] This is despite earlier statements predicting a March/April 2009 release or a May/June 2009 release.^[33][34][35] The album was recorded in both German and English with both versions were released simultaneously worldwide.^[34][35]

On August 10, it was announced on MTV news that the first German single would be "Automatisch" and its English counterpart, "Automatic", would also be released as a first single in the United States. On August 20, MTV Buzzworthy released a video which previewed "Automatic" and Cherrytree Records announced that the English version of the song would be released in the US on September 22.^[36][37] Nevertheless, the video for the single was released on September 3.

On November 2, it was announced on Tom's Blog that the second English single would be "World Behind My Wall" and its German counterpart, "Lass uns laufen", would be the second German single.^[38] The music videos for both versions were released on December 14 and December 15.

On June 24, the live music video for their single, "Dark Side of the Sun" was released on the band website.

On July 20, 2010 they released their second live album Humanoid City Live from Milan, Italy On November 22, 2010, their new song "Hurricanes and Suns," premiered on the Greek radio station Mad Radio. It was included in the bonus track on all versions of "Tokio Hotel: Best Of," a compilation album of their most successful songs. As well as the single for the 'Best of' release. The album will also include "Mädchen aus dem All", the first song the band recorded in a studio.

On December 14, 2010 their 'Best of' was released. December 2 was the World Premiere of the video for "Hurricanes and Suns" on their Official Website. On April 28, 2011 they received the "Fan Army FTW" award at the MTV O Music Awards, the networks first online award show. A clip of Bill and Tom thanking their fans was played after the winner was announced.

Tokio Hotel performed their first concert in Asia (excluding their concert in Israel) at the Audi Showcase in Singapore, followed shortly by the TM Connects With Tokio Hotel event in Malaysia, promoting the sales of their album Humanoid. They concluded the series of mini-concerts with Taiwan. They returned to Malaysia a couple of months later to perform at MTV World Stage Live in Malaysia 2010. They performed in Tokyo on December 15, 2010, after their South American Tour concluded in Distrito Federal, Mexico on December 2, 2010. In February, 2011 Tokio Hotel travelled to Japan to complete a second promo tour. A number of TV appearances and media interviews took place between February 8 and February 11.

On June 24, 2011 Tokio Hotel performed in Japan at “The Next Premium Night Tokio Hotel in Tokyo". The event was presented by Audi A1 and 150 fans were chosen to win tickets to attend the show. The event was the band's first acoustic performance in Japan. On June 25, 2011 the band performed live at the MTV Video Music Aid Japan in Tokyo. The show, which was formerly called the Video Music Awards Japan, was used as a music benefit to raise money for the Japanese Red Cross in order to help those who were affected by the recent earthquake.

Modeling and commercials[link]

This section is outdated. Please update this section to reflect recent events or newly available information. Please see the talk page for more information. (January 2010)

On January 19, 2010, lead singer Bill Kaulitz teamed up with twins Dean and Dan Caten of DSquared to walk the runway at a fashion event in Milan.^[39] Kaulitz made two appearances, as he opened and closed DSquared's Menswear Autumn/Winter 2010 show to Tokio Hotel song "Screamin".^[40]

Car maker Audi hired the two frontmen to star in their new advertising campaign to attract the younger generation. They were featured in an episode of Tokio Hotel TV (on Tokio Hotel's website) and also in a commercial.^[41]

On August 4, 2010, Tom Kaulitz got his own Reebok shoe commercial.^[42] Reebok signed the 20-year-old Tokio Hotel guitarist and sneaker addict to model shoes for the company. "At home, I created a little room like a little storage room," he said of his sneakers. He also said that he gets 10 new pairs a week.^[42]

Best Of Tokio Hotel (2010)[link]

At 13th December in Germany and 14th December internationally Tokio Hotel released their first compilation album named "Best Of". It comes in two languages: english and german. It contains the most popular songs from all the previous albums and two new songs: "Hurricanes and Suns" (was recorded for Humanoid but not included in it) and "Mädchen aus dem All" (was recorded for Schrei but not included in it).There is a deluxe edition too which comes with both german and english versions of album and a bonus DVD with all Tokio Hotel's music videos and "making of" scenes.

[edit] New album and duet with Far East Movement (2011 - present)

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2012)

After finishing "Welcome To Humanoid City Tour" Bill and Tom with their manager David Jost moved to Los Angeles and still are living there. They said they are working on the new album, which will be released in the late 2012. Paparazzies caught Bill, Tom and Gustav in a shop in Los Angeles. MTV said the new album will be named "Dark Anthem".^[43]. Bill and Tom released an app named "BTK Twins" for iOS (16 January 2012),^[44] and Android(19 December 2011),^[45] for keeping in touch with their fans. Here Bill and Tom post their photos, videos and text messages, and fans can leave messages for posts. Bill and Tom answer to these comments very often. The app costs 2.99$, and if a user wants to leave comments besides watching only he must pay 0.99$ a month. Tokio Hotel launched a service named "VIP Call".^[46] Fans may pay 4.99 Euros for a month or 3.49 Euros for 3 months and Tokio Hotel call them and leave audio messages. Fans can even ask them questions and Tokio Hotel will answer to them. On 18 May 2012 Far East Movement released an album named "Dirty Bass". In it there is a song named "If I Die Tomorrow" which is a duet with Bill. Far East Movement accepted there will be a music video released for "If I Die Tomorrow" soon. Bill Kaulitz will take part in shootings too.

Band members[link]

• Bill Kaulitz - lead vocals
• Tom Kaulitz - guitar, piano, backing vocals
• Georg Listing - bass, keyboards, synthesizers, backing vocals
• Gustav Schäfer - drums, percussion, backing vocals

Discography[link]

Studio albums

• Schrei (2005)
• Zimmer 483 (2007)
• Scream (2007)
• Humanoid (2009)
• Best Of (2010)

Awards[link]

Since the release of the "Durch den Monsun" single in 2005, Tokio Hotel have gone on to win 104 awards in various categories and countries.

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tokio Hotel

• Official site
• Cherrytree records profile
• Interscope records profile
• Tokio Hotel on MySpace
• Tokio Hotel on Facebook
• Tokio Hotel on Twitter
• Tokio Hotel on MTV

Marshall Rosenberg (born October 6, 1934) is an American psychologist and the creator of Nonviolent Communication, a communication process that helps people to exchange the information necessary to resolve conflicts and differences peacefully. He is the founder and Director of Educational Services for the Center for Nonviolent Communication, an international non-profit organization.

Biography[link]

Rosenberg was born in Canton, Ohio to Jewish parents, Jean (Weiner) Rosenberg and Fred Rosenberg. His family moved to Detroit, Michigan one week prior to the race riots of 1943. He graduated from Cooley High School in Detroit.

In 1961, Rosenberg received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and in 1966 was awarded Diplomate status in clinical psychology from the American Board of Examiners in Professional Psychology. He lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where the Center for Nonviolent Communication's office is located.

Education[link]

While Rosenberg is most well known for his work with conflict resolution through his system of "life-serving" Nonviolent Communication (NVC), he has also made education reform a major component of his work.

Building on the ideas of Neil Postman, Riane Eisler, Walter Wink, Carl Rogers, and others, Rosenberg's contribution to this field involves reforming schools into "Life-Enriching" organizations, with the following characteristics:^[1]

• The people are empathically connected to what each is feeling and needing—-they do not blame themselves or let judgments implying wrongness obscure this connection to each other.
• The people are aware of the interdependent nature of their relationships and value the others’ needs being fulfilled equally to their own needs being fulfilled—-they know that their needs cannot be met at someone else’s expense.
• The people take care of themselves and each other with the sole intention of enriching their lives—they are not motivated by, nor do they use coercion in the form of guilt, shame, duty, obligation, fear of punishment, or hope for extrinsic rewards.

The goals of such schools being

• make life more wonderful
• get everyone's needs met
• connect with self and others
• motivate through the joy of natural giving, i.e., contributing to the well-being of others
• learning how to receive freely from others

This is in contrast with traditional "domination culture" schools which

• prove who's right and who's wrong (e.g., grades)
• teach students how to obey authority
• dispense labels, evaluations, diagnoses, and moralistic judgements (e.g., Learning disabled, Special Needs, Emotionally disturbed, Culturally disadvantaged, Hyperactive, ADD, etc.)
• Motivate desired behavior through punishment, reward, guilt, shame, duty, or obligation.

Rosenberg borrows the phrase "Dominator Culture" from Riane Eisler and builds upon Walter Wink's theory that we have lived under a domination-culture paradigm for about 8,000 years. Rosenberg says this culture utilizes a specialized language and system of education to allow a small minority to rule over the vast majority of the people, so that the majority is not serving their own life-needs, but serving their masters'.

Activities[link]

The Center for Nonviolent Communication emerged out of work Rosenberg was doing with civil rights activists in the early 1960s. During this period he provided mediation and communication skills training to communities working to desegregate schools and other public institutions.

He worked with educators, managers, mental health and health care providers, lawyers, military officers, prisoners, police and prison officials, clergy, government officials and individual families.

He is a member of the Honorary Board of the International Coalition for the Decade for the Culture of Peace and Non-Violence (2001–2010)

As of 2004:

• Nonviolent Communication training has been available in Sweden, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Poland, Denmark, Belgium, Austria, Malaysia, India, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Finland, Australia, France, and Canada, as well as in the United States.

• Peace activists have used Nonviolent Communication in such war-torn and/or economically disadvantaged countries as Israel, Palestine, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Brazil, Russia, Rwanda, Burundi, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Serbia, and Croatia.

Awards[link]

• 2006: Bridge of Peace Nonviolence Award from the Global Village Foundation
• 2005: Light of God Expressing in Society Award from the Association of Unity Churches
• 2004: Religious Science International Golden Works Award
• 2004: International Peace Prayer Day Man of Peace Award by the Healthy, Happy Holy (3HO) Organization
• 2000: International Listening Association Listener of the Year Award

See also[link]

• Nonviolent Communication

Bibliography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Beverly Crawford (born August 31, 1963) is an African American gospel vocalist who is best known for singing with the New Life Singers on Bobby Jones Gospel on the Black Entertainment Television (BET) and for having well-known songs such as "Praise Jehovah", "Run to the Water", "He's Done Enough", and most recently "It's About Time For A Miracle".

Early life[link]

Born on August 31, 1963 in Gainesville, Florida, she is one of seven children born to the late Bishop Walter Camps and his wife. She began singing at the age of three and joined her sisters as part of the Camp Sisters.

Career[link]

In the late 1980s, her husband, Todd Crawford, recorded a homemade video of her and her sisters singing and submitted copies to several gospel companies, with Bobby Jones Gospel the only one responding. Being impressed with the sisters, Bobby Jones invited them to sing on his show, and after about a couple of visits, he invited Beverly to join his group, New Life.

Beverly stayed on the show for six years, where she was a favorite every week. She began her solo career in 1995 with the release of Jesus, Precious King on Warner Alliance Records (now defunct), followed three years later with Now That I'm Here, which includes the hit title song and "Just As Soon (I'll Be Shouting)". The latter album was nominated for a Grammy in 1999.

In 2001, Crawford released a studio album (except for one live song) entitled Beverly on Dexterity Records (the label of the prominent minister Bishop T.D. Jakes) and in 2003 returned to the live church setting with Live Family and Friends which includes "Higher in the Lord" and "Hold On", and featured guest such as Bobby Jones, Shirley Murdock, Melvin Williams of the Williams Brothers, and her daughter Latrina Crawford. In 2007, she released her fifth album, Live from Los Angeles, on the LA-based JDI label, which contained the number one hit "He's Done Enough". The song stayed on the top ten lists for over a year.

In January 2009, Crawford won her first Stellar Gospel Music Award for "Traditional Female Vocalist of the Year" for her 2007 release. On September 19, 2009, she recorded her second album with JDI, live from Los Angeles at Faithful Central Church. It's entitled Live from Los Angeles - Volume 2 and will feature guests, including Shirley Murdock. It was released on September 14, 2010 and includes the hit single "It's About Time for a Miracle".

Personal life[link]

She is married to Pastor Todd Crawford and has a daughter Latrina and a son Todd Jr. The Crawfords are co-pastors of the Gainesville Family Worship Center in Gainesville, Florida.

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Jesus, Precious King (1995)
• Now That I'm Here (1998)
• Beverly (2001)
• Live: Family and Friends (2003)
• Live From Los Angeles (2007)
• Live From Los Angeles, Vol. 2 (2010)
• Choo Choo: Beverly's Testimony (2010)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Beverly Crawford Page

The Jerky Boys is an American comedy act from Queens, New York, whose routine consists of prank telephone calls and other related skits. Formed in 1989, The Jerky Boys were made up of childhood friends Johnny Brennan and Kamal Ahmed.^[1] After Kamal left the act in 2000, The Jerky Boys continued on as a solo act featuring only Brennan, before going on hiatus after the 2001 release of their final album, The Jerky Tapes. The project was resurrected in 2006 and remains active today.

The calls were made by ringing up unsuspecting recipients, or in response to classified advertisements placed in local New York-based newspapers. Each call was made in character, usually with over the top voices influenced by the duo's family members.^[1]

According to their current record label, Laugh.com, the act has sold over 8,000,000 CDs since their 1993 debut.

History[link]

Duo[link]

Brennan began making and recording prank telephone calls in the 1970s, and teamed up with the younger Kamal, in the late 1980s/early 1990s in their Queens neighborhood.^[2] The duo made a number of bootleg tapes of their recorded phone calls that eventually found their way to New York-based radio personality Howard Stern, who played the duo's tracks on the air.^[2]

The pair gained notoriety from their exposure on the popular The Howard Stern Show, and released their first album, The Jerky Boys, in 1993. The album topped the Billboard charts and was eventually certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.

The duo released the double platinum, The Jerky Boys 2 in 1994, followed by The Jerky Boys 3 in 1996, The Jerky Boys 4 in 1997, Stop Staring at Me! in 1999, and The Jerky Tapes in 2001.

In 1995, the duo appeared in Touchstone Pictures' Jerky Boys: The Movie. The movie was filmed in 1993–94, and although it was almost universally panned by critics, the film has achieved cult status among The Jerky Boys' loyal fan base.

Solo act[link]

In 2000, tension between the two developed.^[2] The duo appeared in the Psychopathic Records film Big Money Hustlas, but because Brennan and Kamal were unable to get along with each other, they did not share any scenes in the film; Brennan played a supporting role as the police chief, and Kamal appeared in a cameo as Frank Kissel, an audience member at the strip club.^[3] By the end of the year, Kamal passed a note down to the manager, who passed it to Brennan: Kamal had decided to quit the group.^[4]

Kamal released a solo album, Once a Jerk, Always a Jerk, in 2000.

On March 20, 2007, Brennan, who is now the only constant member of the group, kept The Jerky Boys name and released a solo album, Sol's Rusty Trombone, a collection of mostly ring tones and skits.^[2] As of late 2008, the "About" page on the Jerky Boys website did not mention Kamal in discussing the history of the group and its recordings. On March 5, 2010, Brennan, in conjunction with Inner Four, released two apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch platform: The Jerky Boys Prank Caller, and The Jerky Boys Pinball. In late 2011, Brennan started a weekly podcast titled The Jerky Boys Show with Johnny Brennan in which he discusses the history of the calls, how the characters came about, and other hijinks. The podcast also gives the opportunity to fans to speak to Brennan directly.

Regular characters[link]

• Big Ole Badass Bob The Cattle Rustler – an American Westerner/Texan who drives a semi-truck; has appeared on "Lawnmower Sale" and "Bad Ass Massage", both from The Jerky Boys 3 album, "Flower Lady #4" from The Jerky Tapes album, and is a featured character on Sol's Rusty Trombone (voiced by Johnny Brennan).
• Curly G., Cradle Rock – a throwback rap artist trying to catch a break; appeared on one track to date ("Bamm!" from The Jerky Boys 3 album) (voiced by Kamal Ahmed).
• Sammy Cox – older man with a pronounced lisp; appeared on one track to date ("Herman" from The Jerky Boys 4 album) (voiced by Johnny Brennan).
• Mike Derucki – an out-of-work painter (voiced by Brennan). Has appeared on several tracks including "Hello Ray" and "Dead Pet Removal"
• Harry Getzov – A name from the "Flower Lady" and "Moonlight Matinee" tracks from The Jerky Tapes album. The character is perennially away from the telephone, and unable to be reached by the unsuspecting caller who is pranked by either Jack Tors (Brennan), Tarbash (Kamal), or Big Ole Badass Bob The Cattle Rustler (Johnny Brennan). In the Jerky Boys CDs, Getzov is credited as the Jerky Boys manager.
• Jake – handles in-coming calls for Mr. Silverman, the phony sports agent ("Silverman baby" track from (The Jerky Tapes) and "Big Hock" track from the Stop Staring at Me! album) (voiced by Johnny Brennan).
• Jocko Johnson – voice and behavior similar to Frank Rizzo; wanted his wife's house demolished while she was out of town, as punishment for her infidelity. ("The Home Wrecker" track from The Jerky Boys album) (voiced by Kamal).
• Frank Kissel – an aged World War II veteran and ex-singer who uses a wheelchair. The character normally refers to himself only as Kissel. He sometimes complains about or is heard arguing with his wife. Kamal, who voices the character, appeared in full old-man makeup as Kissel in the Insane Clown Posse movie Big Money Hustlas.
• Anthony Kissel – Frank Kissel's son; appeared on two tracks to date ("Uncle Freddie" from The Jerky Boys' album, and "Laundromat" from the The Jerky Boys 4 album). Anthony is also mentioned in "Husband Beating" (from The Jerky Boys 2 album), where Kissel said "I got a couple children, they're a little older right now", but he did not mention his real name (voiced by Brennan).
• Martha Kissel – Frank Kissel's wife; often appears with Kissel. Her voice can be heard in calls such as "Uncle Freddie", "Husband Beating" and "Kissel Sails". On "Uncle Freddie" (from The Jerky Boys album), Kissel reveals his wife's name before he begins arguing with the person who answered the phone about whether Uncle Freddie had died (voiced by Johnny Brennan).
• Nikos – an immigrant Greek delicatessen owner; appeared on one track to date. Nikos often mumbles incoherently, interspersing a few real Greek words within all his gibberish ("Bad Tomatoes" from The Jerky Boys 3 album) (voiced by Johnny Brennan).
• Pico – an abused Mexican immigrant; often hired as Kissel's personal assistant, which invariably has disastrous consequences. When Kissel hires Pico to repair a broken television, the pair end up getting electrocuted. (voiced by Johnny Brennan).
• Frank Rizzo – an extremely abrasive, foul-mouthed blue-collar Italian-American New Yorker with bizarre complaints and requests (voiced by Johnny Brennan). Frank curses repeatedly at a potential employer during an inquiry about a job, and accuses the Mickey Mouse character at Disney World of molesting his children.
• Sol Rosenberg – a frail, insecure, male 50-something New York Jew who often suffers from various and often comical problems and ailments. Somewhat childish in his demeanor, Sol seeks treatment for problems ranging from genital warts to a fear of his own shadow (voiced by Johnny Brennan).
• Rosine – a flamboyant, flirtatious Puerto Rican transvestite who often slaps herself for sexual gratification (voiced by Johnny Brennan). She also plays the flute.
• Silverman – a phony sports agent ("Silverman Baby!!" track from The Jerky Tapes album) (voiced by Johnny Brennan).
• Tarbash, the Egyptian Magician – a Middle-Eastern man with a repertoire of dangerous stage tricks who mutilates himself or is attacked by various wild animals used in his act. His last appearance in the Jerky Boys albums was in The Jerky Tapes (voiced by Kamal).
• Ali Kamal – a Middle-Eastern cab driver victimized by a sadistic dentist. Assaulted and possibly molested, Ali seeks the aid of a lawyer specializing in "dental malpractice." On another occasion, Kamal seeks the assistance of an attorney after being brutally beaten by a tenant for delivering pizza to an incorrect address (voiced by Kamal).
• Jack Tor s – a flamboyant homosexual man who frequently takes part in bizarre sexual activities and is looking for assistance or supplies related to this. Also a musician and a dancer (voiced by Johnny Brennan).
• Brett Weir – a name that comes up in classic call "Super Across The Way" (from The Jerky Boys album) and is also mentioned in "The Gay Model" ; actually Johnny Brennan's brother-in-law's name.^[4] The character, portrayed by actor James Lorinz, also appeared in 1995's Jerky Boys: The Movie.

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

Apple iPhone and iPod Touch Apps[link]

Johnny B.[link]

Kamal[link]

Soundtrack albums[link]

Compilation albums[link]

Film and TV appearances[link]

• Space Ghost Coast to Coast (1994)
• Don't Hang Up, Tough Guy! (1995)
• Jerky Boys: The Movie (1995)
• Big Money Hustlas (2000)

Allusions[link]

• The Jerky Boys were sometimes referenced on Arrested Development as one of the only albums the character George Michael owns. On a couple of occasions he is seen placing prank calls in an attempt to imitate them.
• The duo frequently incorporated references to The Howard Stern Show in several calls ("Food & Drug Complaint" from 1997's The Jerky Boys 4 album; "You Wanna Scrap?" from 1999's Stop Staring at Me! album; "Moonlight Matinee" from 2001's The Jerky Tapes album).
• Brennan's Sol Rosenberg voice is the voice of pharmacist Mort Goldman on Family Guy
• In 2008, comedian Peter Kay included a version of the Free Nelson Mandela song by The Jerky Boys in his parody show Peter Kay's Britain's Got the Pop Factor... and Possibly a New Celebrity Jesus Christ Soapstar Superstar Strictly on Ice for Channel 4 in the UK. It was part of a medley and mixed the last two syllables of Mandela into the Rihanna hit Umbrella.
• The Jerky Boys are referenced in How I Met Your Mother, "False Positive," when Lily mistakenly plays a track to her unborn child instead of classical music.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Jerky Boys Official Myspace Page
• TheJerkyBoys.com – Official Site
• Laugh.com – Official Record Label Site
• AllMusic.com Biography – The Jerky Boys

See also[link]

• Crank Yankers
• The Happy Telephone
• Touch-Tone Terrorists
• Tube Bar prank calls

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