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Misty Woods is a Welsh singer and lyricist, currently living in London.

Music career[link]

Woods signed to the Future Legend record label in 1996, although not commercially successful in the UK, the releases sold well in Europe. Woods left the label in 2000.

In 1999 Woods became the lead singer of Molotova, with keyboard player Yannick Muet.^[1] The band released an album, Warm Up (1999), and were featured in the 2000 In The City festival. Also during that time, beginning in 1999, Woods worked with Ed Ball, former guitarist, singer and founding member of the Television Personalities and The Times. The collaboration resulted in an album release, Pirate Playlist 66 (Creation, 1999).

In 2001 Woods formed the Ju Ju Babies. The band released a four-track EP ("Electrotrash", No Head Required, 2004). The Ju Ju Babies were characterised by their deliberately poor quality sound and lyrics, and by their unusual clothing, with Woods generally appearing on stage wearing clothing made from bin liners and hazard tape, a style later copied by a number of other female and transvestite performers on the London club, gay and goth music scenes.^{[citation needed]} In 2004, the band were the resident live band at the weekly Manumission club night at Privilege, the world's largest nightclub. They were also the first band to perform at Ibiza Rocks, which they did for a period of four months in 2004.^[2] Following the Manumission residency, the Ju Ju Babies split, but Woods continued to perform at Manumission.

In 2006, Woods joined with The Grid members Richard Norris and Dave Ball Soft Cell to form Misty Woods & GDM. The band were characterised by a more electronic sound than her previous projects. They did not release any recorded material, but played a number of major shows, most notably an appearance at the Whitby Gothic Weekend. Woods continues to write with Ball and other record producers including Andy Smith of Portishead on a number of music and art-related projects. In early 2008, a collaboration followed with Arthur Brown on the track "The Widow's Blame" for All Living Fear's album, Fifteen Years After. In mid 2008, Woods co-wrote several film scores with the Nitewreckers for Universal, and also featured on the current Some Bizzare Double Album.

References[link]

External links[link]

• The Grid
• Mistywoodsandgdm

Jimmie Spheeris (in Greek: Τζιμη Σφηρης) November 5, 1949 – July 4, 1984) was an American singer-songwriter who released four albums in the 1970s on the Columbia Records and Epic Records labels. He was of Greek descent. He was brother of film director and producer Penelope Spheeris, and cousin of musician Chris Spheeris and film director Costa Gavras.

Biography[link]

Jimmie (James) Spheeris was born in Phenix City, Alabama, to Juanita 'Gypsy' and Andrew Spheeris, who owned and operated a traveling carnival called the Majick Empire.^[1] These childhood years of colorful transience were a major influence on later work, as evidenced in songs such as Lost in the Midway and Decatur Street, among others.

Spheeris had two sisters, Penelope and Linda, and a brother, Andy. After his father was murdered by a "belligerent carnival-goer,"^[2] Gypsy Spheeris moved the family to San Diego, California. The family eventually settled in Venice, California. Gypsy Spheeris tended bar at an establishment on Main Street called The Circle.

Spheeris moved to New York City in the late 1960s to pursue and develop his songwriting career.^[3] The liner notes on his debut album credit friend and fellow songwriter Richie Havens,^[4] who introduced Spheeris to Columbia Records executive Clive Davis. Davis signed Spheeris to a four album recording contract and his debut album was released on the Columbia label.

Spheeris' 1971 debut album, Isle of View, garnered a devoted following and FM radio airplay, most notably for the song I am the Mercury. His 1973 album, The Original Tap Dancing Kid, was followed by a period of extensive concert touring. Spheeris returned to the recording studio in 1975 with The Dragon is Dancing and released Ports of the Heart in 1976. After Ports of the Heart, Spheeris had no recording contract. Except for a 1980 single, Hold Tight, Spheeris released no new material through a major record label.

Spheeris died at the age of 34 in Santa Monica, California, when his motorcycle collided with a van at 2 a.m. on the morning of July 4, 1984. The driver of the van, Bruce Burnside, was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and felony vehicular manslaughter.^[5] Hours before his death, Spheeris finished the self-titled album, Spheeris. This final album was not publicly released for 16 years.

A track on Spheeris' final album entitled You Must Be Laughing Somewhere is based on the life of his friend, author John Kennedy Toole (whose novel, A Confederacy of Dunces, was posthumously awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1981).

In 1998, independent record label Rain Records began re-releasing Spheeris' catalog on CD, but stopped production in 2001 following the cancellation of a music licensing contract with Sony Music Special Products (owner of Spheeris’ catalog as of this entry).

Style[link]

Spheeris primarily composed on the guitar and piano. His musical genre was generally in the folk music and singer-songwriter traditions, although later work explored jazz, rock music, jazz-rock fusion and new wave music.

With few exceptions, Spheeris’ guitar compositions employed the use of open tunings, also referred to as alternate tunings. Johnny Pierce (November 30, 1953 – December 12, 2005), worked with Spheeris as a recording session and touring artist from 1973 to 1980, and wrote extensive guitar tablature regarding the tunings Spheeris used throughout his career.^[6]

Spheeris’ vocal range was primarily baritone and tenor, with occasional falsetto flourishes. His voice is most often described by music critics and fans as "soulful," "sultry," or "smoky."^[7]

Musicians[link]

Longtime friend Jackson Browne contributed backing vocals on Spheeris' 1976 album, Ports of the Heart. Recording artist Laura Nyro and Spheeris were also friends, sharing a New York City apartment for a time in the early 1970s.

The following is a partial list of musicians who contributed to recordings by Jimmie Spheeris:

Jane Getz, John Goodsall, David Campbell, Geoff Levin, Lee Calvin Nicolai, David Harowitz, Emil Latimer, Buddy Salzman, Bill La Vorna, Felix Cavaliere, Russ Kunkel, Leland Sklar, Bobbye Hall, Sneaky Pete Kleinow, Doreen Davis, Jane Getz, Vinnie Johnson, John Summers, Jim Cowger, Harvy Mason, Norma Trotter, Charlie Larky, Bart Hall, Johnny Pierce, Chick Corea, Mike Mallen, Paul Lewinson, Dorothy Remsen, Henry Lewy, Morgan Ames, Chuck Findley, Robert Findley, Gary Barone, Jonathan Ellis, Stanley Clarke, John Guerin, Jay Ellington Lee, Robin Williamson, Dan Orbach, Emile Pandolfi, Richard Feves, Paul Delph, Rick Parnell, Doug Lunn, Paul Lani, Richard Burmer, Paul Marcus, Charlotte Crossley, Peter Udo, Vida Vierra, Fred Rehfeld, Terry Powers, Lavell Gibson, Michael Stewart, Arnold McUlla, Mike Anglin^[8]

Discography[link]

• Isle of View, 1971, Columbia 30988. Produced by Paul Leka.
• The Original Tap Dancing Kid, 1973, Columbia 32157. Produced by Felix Cavaliere.
• The Dragon is Dancing, 1975, Epic 33565. Produced by Henry Lewy.
• Ports of the Heart, 1976, Epic 34276. Produced by David Campbell.
• An Evening with Jimmie Spheeris (live), 1999, Rain Records RR005. Produced by Johnny Pierce.
• Spheeris, 2000, Rain Records RR006. Produced by Paul Delph.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Jimmie Spheeris Memorial Gallery
• NPR Interview from July 2, 2000 regarding Jimmie's work
• Jimmie Spheeris page at IMDB
• Find A Grave
• Jimmie Spheeris: Jungle Sweep

Frederick Nelson (1932 – January 7, 2009) was professor emeritus of mechanical engineering at Tufts University School of Engineering in Medford, Massachusetts, USA. His areas of professional interest included acoustics, vibration, shock (mechanics) and rotordynamics. He wrote or co-authored more than 50 articles in professional publications. He wrote a monograph entitled An Introduction to Rotordynamics which was published posthumously by SAVIAC. Professor Nelson graduated from the Tufts College of Engineering in 1954 and received his Ph.D. in applied mechanics from Harvard University in 1961. He joined the Tufts faculty in 1955. He was Dean of the College of Engineering from 1980 to 1994.

Professor Nelson was a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America, a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a past associate editor of Applied Mechanics Review.

External links[link]

• Tufts University School of Engineering, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
• Memoriam/Biography SAVIAC

Selected publications[link]

• "A Review of the Origins and Current Status of Rotor Dynamics" presented at IFToMM 2002, Sydney, Australia.
• "A Review of Vibration Control Methods" with D.S. Nokes, presented at the 2002 Annual Meeting of the Vibration Institute, Pittsburgh, PA.
• "Rotor Dynamics: Critical Speeds", published in Sound and Vibration, May 2002.
• "Rotor Dynamics: Instabilities" published in Sound and Vibration, September 2002.
• "A Brief History of Early Rotor Dynamics" published in Sound and Vibration, June 2003.
• "Rotordynamics without Equations" published in International Journal of COMADEM, vol. 10, no. 3, July 2007, ISSN 1363-7681.
• Nelson, F. (2011). An Introduction to Rotordynamics. SVM-19. SAVIAC.