Coordinates: 55°36′36″N 4°16′51″W / 55.610035°N 4.280882°W / 55.610035; -4.280882

Darvel
Scots: Dervel ("Dervo" slang, The Lang Toun
Darvel  Darvel shown within East Ayrshire
Population	3,361 [1] (2001 census) est. 3,620[2] (2006)
OS grid reference	NS564375
Council area	East Ayrshire
Lieutenancy area	Ayrshire
Country	Scotland
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	DARVEL
Postcode district	KA17
Dialling code	01560
Police	Strathclyde
Fire	Strathclyde
Ambulance	Scottish
EU Parliament	Scotland
UK Parliament	Kilmarnock and Loudoun
Scottish Parliament	Kilmarnock and Loudoun
	Central Scotland
List of places: UK • Scotland •

Darvel (Dervel locally) is a small town in East Ayrshire, Scotland, located at the eastern end of the Irvine Valley and is sometimes referred to as "The Lang Toon" due to its quaint appearance on Ordnance Survey maps.

The town's Latin motto, Non sibi sed cunctis, means "Not for ourselves, but for others".

Location[link]

1832 map of Darvel, by John Thomson (1777—1840)

Darvel is situated on the A71 road that runs from Irvine on the west coast to Edinburgh on the east. The town is nine miles east of Kilmarnock and is the most easterly of the Valley Towns, the others being Galston and Newmilns.

The town was also once linked with Stonehouse (via Strathaven) by the Caledonian Railway. However, the line was closed by the LMS before the Second World War. The former Glasgow and South Western Railway branch line to Kilmarnock survived for much longer and was closed in 1964 as part of the Beeching Axe. Much of the route of both the old railway lines is still in existence, although the rails have long since gone and many road bridges have been removed. There was a large viaduct to the east of the town, in the lea of Loudoun Hill, which carried the railway line over the valley. This was however, demolished in 1986, and only the piers remain.

The River Irvine flows through the town and once powered local mills.

History[link]

A view of the Glen Water at Law Bridge in Darvel

Although the modern town of Darvel is said to have been established in the late 18th century, Roman settlements have been found at the base of Loudoun Hill on Allanton Plain and visible at one point from the Winny Wizzen.^[3] The name Darvel was recorded in old charters as variations of 'Dernvale' or 'Darnevaill' and may derive from an old English word 'derne' which means 'hidden.'^[4]

Sir William Wallace, the Scottish freedom fighter, has also been associated with the area. 15th century minstrel Blind Harry wrote in his poem The Wallace that Wallace and his men defeated an English force at the hill in 1296 during the Wars of Scottish Independence. Blind Harry also tells of how the English general, Fenwick, who supposedly killed Wallace's father, was killed during the battle. Maps of the area now name a mound to the east of Loudoun Hill as 'Wallace's Grave'. A battle between Robert the Bruce and the English was also fought there on 10 May 1307.

The land on which Darvel was built was owned by Earls of Loudoun and it was John Campbell, 4th Earl of Loudoun who began the modern town in 1754 as an income for the estate. By 1780, the population had increased to over 400. Loch Gate or Gait was once a significant loch close to the farm of that name, however it was largely drained for agriculture in the 19th century.

In 1876, the art of lace-making was introduced to the town and many mills were built to keep up with the demand. Market dried up in the 20th century and many factories were forced to close.

The Law Bridge over the Glen Water near Darvel, 2007

Also of note in the town is Scotland's only 24-hour telephone museum, run by retired engineer Max Flemmich. There are two local football teams. Darvel F.C., a junior (semi-professional) team, based at Recreation Park, play in the Ayrshire Junior League and Darvel Victoria, the local amateur team, who play their games at the Gavin Hamilton Sports Centre.

Main attractions[link]

There is a Town Hall, a Sports Centre (Gavin Hamilton Sports Centre), and two play-parks (Kirkland Park and Morton Park). Darvel FC's old stadium now belongs to Darvel Juniors. There are also football pitches at the Morton Park and at the Sports Centre, which plays host to Darvel's amateur football team, Darvel Victoria's, home games. There has been a new sports cage built, like the ones in neighbouring Newmilns and Galston etc., it is eligible for small-sided games of football and basket ball, and is located between the Gavin Hamilton Sports Centre, and a skate park has been built which is very popular locally. A Gala Day is held every two years, which attracts many visitors, as do the various festivals and open days held in the town. There is the Darvel Parish Church and the Lady of the Valley Chapel. There is a Bowling Club too, which holds events for the younger and older. There are a few pubs in Darvel - 'The Horseshoe', 'The Black Bull' and 'The Railway'. Until 2006 there was also The Turf Hotel, but it has now closed.

Monuments[link]

War Memorial

The Darvel War Memorial is situated in Hastings Square in the centre of the town. It is a light grey granite obelisk with a square base. The East side is plain apart from 1914-18 incised on the base. The west side is similar but with 1939-45 incised on the base. The north side has a carved cross at the highest point with a bronze relief laurel wreath immediately below. Towards the base of the obelisk are the words:

Then there are 5 columns of names in relief on a bronze plaque and, on the south side, names are etched into the stone in two columns.

Alexander Fleming

A memorial at Lochfield farm commemorates the birth there, on 6 August 1881, of Alexander Fleming, discoverer of penicillin. It was erected in 1957 and regilded in 2009 by its current owners Philip and Heather Scott. The restored memorial was unveiled by Fleming's biographer Kevin Brown in the presence of Provost Stephanie Young. Another memorial with a bust by E.R. Bevan and a garden is situated in Hastings Square.

SAS Memorial

There is a memorial to honour the men and officers of the 1st Special Air Service (SAS) Regiment who, under the command of Lt. Col. R. B. Mayne, were stationed in Darvel during the early part of 1944. The memorial – located towards the bottom of Burn Road, takes the form of a stone cairn with a black granite plaque bearing the inscription:

The memorial was unveiled by Provost Jimmy Boyd on November 2, 2001. Members of the SAS were at the Town Green to see the unveiling ceremony.

The Dagon Stone[link]

The RCHAMS website lists this unhewn olivine monolith as a 'possible' standing stone. It is rather curious and its general size and shape suggest a prehistoric standing stone. It has twelve small connected depressions spread over three of its sides. These have been said to link the stone to astronomical observations and to the noon-day sun height at mid-summer. This would link the stone to life-giving powers, fertility and prosperity.^[5]

In 1821 a local blacksmith attached a round sandstone ball to the top of it with an iron bar. Who or why is unknown. It is 1.6m tall and its original position is also unknown. It used to stand in what is now the main street, at the end of Ranoldcoup Road as shown by an old photograph,^[6] and was moved to the town square (NS 563 374) when the road was widened.^[7]

The Dagon stone in Hasting's Square, Darvel, 2007

Documentation shows that prior to the 19th century messings-about, newlywed couples and their wedding parties marched around it for good luck, accompanied by a fiddler.^[6] Wedding processions also used to walk three times sunwise round the Dagon stone on the way to the bride's house.^[8]

The annual parade or "Prawd", originally held on old New Year's Day, headed by the village band used to walk sunwise round the Dagon stone as a mark of superstitious respect.^[8]

Dagon is also the name of a Philistine god, who was half-man half-fish. But with a Scottish accent it no doubt derives from something much closer to home (assuming it is not just the romantic invention of a Victorian antiquary); 'dogon' is a Scots term for a worthless person, a villain and this could by association have been one of the sanctuary stones associated with the church.^[9] It is reminiscent of the Clackmannan stone or Stone of Mannau in Clackmannanshire.

Darvel Lace[link]

In 1876 lace making was introduced to the Irvine Valley by Alexander Morton,^[10] and mills began to spring up in Darvel and nearby Newmilns. The valley's products were exported throughout the world, with India providing a particularly large market for lace, muslin and madras. Darvel became known as the "Lace Town" and Darvel Lace was known throughout the world.

Factories in the town also diversified into other textiles, until the late 1970s, when the industry struggled to compete with textiles manufactured in India, China and other Far East countries. The decline was swift. By the end of the 20th century, almost all the factories had closed. Many stood empty for some years, but almost all have now been demolished to make way for housing estates.

Lace is still made in the Irvine Valley, and locally made lace curtains used to hang in almost every window in the town. However, the last lace factory in Darvel has now closed, the looms were moved to nearby Newmilns, which is home to the last remaining lace factory in the area.

Sport[link]

A speedway training track was built by local farmers (the Craig Brothers) on a coal bing (colliery spoil heap) near to the town in the early 1980s. A team representing Darvel raced in the Scottish Junior League with fixtures staged at Blantyre, Edinburgh and Berwick. Darvel has a football team at Junior level, and an amateur team also, Darvel Victoria.

Notable people[link]

• Christine Borland, artist
• John Morton Boyd, zoolologist
• Sammy Cox, footballer, Rangers F.C.
• Gordon Cree, composer and conductor
• Sir Alexander Fleming, discoverer of penicillin was born at Lochfield
• Allan Gilliland, composer
• Alexander Morton, pioneer of the lace industry in Scotland^[10]
• Sir James Morton, knighted for his contribution to the UK dyestuffs industry^[11]
• Craig Samson, footballer, St Mirren F.C.
• Alex Smith, footballer, Rangers F.C. and Scotland
• Nicol Smith, footballer, Rangers F.C. and Scotland
• Tom Wylie, footballer, Queen of the South F.C. and Blackburn Rovers

See also[link]

• List of places in East Ayrshire

References[link]

External links[link]

• Darvel at East Ayrshire.gov.uk
• Darvel at Undiscovered Scotland
• Darvel Musical Festival
• National Library of Scotland: SCOTTISH SCREEN ARCHIVE (archive films about Darvel’s Lace Queen celebrations)
• Maps at the National Library of Scotland
• 1860 OS Maps
• General Roy's Military Survey map of Scotland.
• A Researcher's Guide to Local History terminology

Paul Heaton
Background information
Birth name	Paul David Heaton
Born	(1962-05-09) 9 May 1962 (age 50) Bromborough, Cheshire, England
Genres	Indie pop, pop, alternative rock
Occupations	Singer-songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, harmonica, guitar
Years active	1982–present
Labels	Go! Discs, Universal, Ark 21, Mercury, Sony BMG [W14]
Associated acts	The Housemartins, The Beautiful South, Biscuit Boy
Website	http://www.myspace.com/paulheatonmusic, http://paulheatonmusic.co.uk

Paul David Heaton (born 9 May 1962; Bromborough, Cheshire, England) is an English singer-songwriter. He was a member of The Housemartins, who disbanded in 1988, and a member of The Beautiful South, who disbanded in 2007. He is currently pursuing a solo career. He is a pub landlord of a Salford pub - the Kings Arms.

Early life[link]

Heaton was born on the Wirral on 9 May 1962. At the age of four his family relocated to Sheffield, South Yorkshire (then the West Riding of Yorkshire).^[1] While living in Sheffield, Heaton became interested in football, and while his father and elder brother elected to watch Sheffield Wednesday, Heaton chose to support Sheffield United. After moving to Sheffield, Heaton's father took a job in management and Heaton described his childhood as being "fairly middle class, although you wouldn't know it given the schools I went to and the friends I had".^[2] After a childhood in Sheffield, Heaton moved to Chipstead, Surrey during his adolescent years, an early life Heaton described as "bred in Sheffield, fed in Surrey".^[1] Whilst in Surrey he, with his brother Adrian, formed their first band "Tools Down" with friends John Box and Stuart Mair. After leaving Surrey, Heaton spent time in Germany before moving to Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire (then Humberside), where he formed The Housemartins. Heaton also lived in Leeds for some time.^[3]

Football hooliganism[link]

Throughout his childhood, Heaton's main interest was football, and he regularly attended Sheffield United games. Heaton also ran with the Blades Business Crew, a hooligan faction of Sheffield United supporters.^[4] When he began singing, Heaton used to bait his early audiences by mocking their football clubs, he later admitted. For example, at an early Beautiful South performance in Manchester, Heaton baited the crowd by shouting "fuck off, you Manc twats", after which some members of the audience began throwing chairs towards the stage.^[5] Despite this, he now lives in Didsbury

The Housemartins[link]

Heaton, then billing himself as P.d. Heaton, formed The Housemartins in the early 1980s. This band featured Stan Cullimore on guitar, Ted Key on bass and Hugh Whitaker on drums. Shortly afterwards Key left the band and was replaced with Norman Cook (later Fatboy Slim). The Housemartins released a number of singles and two studio albums, London 0 Hull 4 and The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death. Their most famous hit was an a cappella version of the Isley Brothers' "Caravan of Love", which was their only Number 1 hit in the UK. For the second album Hugh Whitaker was replaced with Dave Hemingway on drums. Shortly afterwards the Housemartins split up.

The Housemartins' lyrics were a mixture of Marxist politics and Christianity. (The back cover of London 0 Hull 4 contained the message "Take Jesus - Take Marx - Take Hope".) Heaton has since stated on many occasions that he is an atheist.

The Beautiful South[link]

Heaton with The Beautiful South, 2006

In 1988, Heaton formed The Beautiful South from the ashes of The Housemartins. It had Dave Rotheray on lead guitar, former Housemartins roadie Sean Welch on bass, David Stead on drums and probably most surprisingly, Housemartins former drummer Dave Hemingway, now in the role of joint lead singer and frontman. The writing partnership of Heaton and Rotheray proved very successful. The Beautiful South released two top ten singles, "Song for Whoever" and "You Keep It All In"; the latter featured Irish singer Briana Corrigan on vocals. In 1989, the band released an album, Welcome to the Beautiful South. The band's biggest success to date is the single "A Little Time", released in 1990; it reached number 1 on the charts. The band went on to release eight more albums, including two (1996's Blue Is the Colour and 1998's Quench) that reached the #1 spot on the UK album charts, as well as releasing the best-of compilation Carry on Up the Charts, which also reached #1 and achieved platinum status, before the band split up in January 2007.

On the ITV documentary music series Faith & Music screened 29 October 2006, Heaton talks openly about his atheism and his battle with alcoholism.

After a band meeting on 30 January 2007, they decided to split. They released a statement on 31 January, in which their reasons for splitting were "musical similarities". "The band would like to thank everyone for their 19 wonderful years in music," the statement also said.^[6] On an interview with BBC Breakfast in July 2008, Heaton clarified this statement by stating the Beautiful South had made similar sounding albums for the past ten years.

The New Beautiful South were formed shortly after by David Stead with other members of the band, but without composers Paul Heaton and Dave Rotheray, playing old hits live to small venues.

Biscuit Boy (a.k.a. Crackerman)[link]

In 2001, Heaton released a solo album using the persona of Biscuit Boy (a.k.a. Crackerman). This double-barrelled name, including the parenthetical a.k.a., was the official project name on all early releases.

The solo album, called Fat Chance, was not a commercial success, peaking at #95 for 1 week on the UK chart. Also, "Mitch", the lone single credited to Biscuit Boy (a.k.a. Crackerman), reached only Number 75 in the UK Singles Chart.

In an attempt to re-launch the album, Mercury Records re-issued Fat Chance in 2002. The album featured new artwork, and was now credited to Paul Heaton. However, this record charted even lower in the album charts, hitting #168. "The Perfect Couple", a single pulled from this re-release also did poorly, peaking at #102 UK. Heaton subsequently rejoined The Beautiful South from 2002 to 2007.

With the 2007 dissolution of The Beautiful South, Heaton has formed a new band "The Sound of Paul Heaton" and is touring small venues.

Second solo album[link]

Heaton's second solo album The Cross Eyed Rambler was released on 7 July 2008, and was preceded by the single "Mermaids and Slaves" on 30 June, and he toured in support of it throughout July.

The album charted at number 43.

Third solo album[link]

In Autumn 2009 Paul teamed up with Manchester musicians Jonny Lexus (aka Jonny Wrong), Jonny Wright and Pete Marshall, and set about working on his third solo album "Acid Country"

The album was recorded in Colne, Lancashire at Modern English Studios with The Earlies members Christian and Nicky Madden and mixed by Tom Dalgety

In May 2010 Paul and his band headed off on their "Pedals and Pumps" tour, playing local pubs in an attempt to promote the local pub. Paul combined this tour with another passion of his, cycling. He cycled from show to show, accompanied by the support act and long term friend, Gus Devlin, covering nearly 1000 miles.

Heaton and his band played in the Left Field Tent at Glastonbury 2010, closing the stage on the Sunday evening with a duet with tent-curator and old Go! Discs cohort Billy Bragg.

His third solo album, Acid Country was released in September 2010 and charted at number 51.

In November and December 2010 he supported Madness on their 'Do Not Adjust Your Nut Tour' performing mostly songs from Acid Country, as well as material from his second album. He also sang Housemartins hits Caravan of Love and Me and the Farmer and covered White Man In Hammersmith Palais by The Clash.

The 8th[link]

In between touring Acid Country, Paul and the band started work on putting together a series of demos Paul had recorded with fellow Beautiful South member, Dave Rotheray, and current guitarist Jonny Lexus.

The piece, commissioned by The Manchester International Festival, was based around the concept of the 7 deadly sins, the 8th sin revealed by Heaton himself during the performance. For the piece, each sin is given a section of the song, and is sung by a different singer representing that sin. The guest singers featured on The 8th were Wayne Gidden (Lust), Aaron Wright (Wrath), King Creosote (Gluttony), Simon Aldred of Cherry Ghost (Greed), Jacqui Abbott of The Beautiful South (Envy), Yvonne Shelton (Sloth) and Mike Greaves (Pride).

The sections were linked together with a narration written by Che Walker and performed by actor Reg E. Cathey.

The debut performance was in July 2011, in the Festival Pavilion Theatre in Albert Square, Manchester. This was the first time in over 10 years that Paul and Jacqui Abbott had shared a stage, and the first time Jacqui had sung publicly since leaving The Beautiful South in 2000.

Six further performances of The 8th were announced for the Summer of 2012 and would include Gareth Campesinos! of Los Campesinos!, among others, as guest singers.^[7]

Politics[link]

Heaton is known for being a socialist which is reflected through his lyrics over the years. Also, during his time with the Beautiful South all money was split equally between all members of the band, making them one of the few co-operative bands ever.^{[citation needed]} He is also a strong advocate of removing the British monarchy. Some of his lyrics also look at the injustice of world leaders sending ordinary people into combat while not getting their own hands dirty (Have You Ever Been Away and Poppy). These are all common themes in his more political songs, but as well as this his songs have covered a range of topics from Feminism (Mini Correct), Global Warming (Man's World), Globalisation (Big Coin) and the Euro (The Root of All Evil).^{[citation needed]}

Drinking[link]

Heaton has suffered from drinking problems at many times in his life.^[8] Heaton has on occasions referred to the Beautiful South as having a heavy drinking culture. Many songs by The Beautiful South, such as Woman in the Wall, Liar's Bar, I May Be Ugly, The Slide, Look What I Found in My Beer and most notably Old Red Eyes Is Back, have referred to alcoholism or drink-fueled violence.^[9]

Other appearances[link]

During the 1990s, Heaton regularly appeared on 'Football Italia', Channel 4's coverage of Italian Serie A football as a pre-match guest and was frequently introduced by host James Richardson as an 'Italian Football expert'.

Heaton appeared on BBC One talking head programme Why We Love the Royle Family, along with Noel Gallagher, in his capacity as a fan of the television sitcom The Royle Family.

In March 2010, Heaton set off on a cycle tour of British pubs, promoting his latest album, British pubs and cycling.^[10][11]

Personal life[link]

Heaton is the father of three daughters. He lives in Withington, Manchester, and supports Sheffield United.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Paul Heaton's Web Site
• Paul Heaton on Facebook
• Paul Heaton on MySpace
• Paul Heaton on Twitter
• Paul Heaton's Website

Serj Tankian
Serj Tankian performing in Burgas, Bulgaria in August 2010.
Background information
Native name	Սերժ Թանգեան
Birth name	Serj Tankian
Born	(1967-08-21) August 21, 1967 (age 44) Beirut, Lebanon[1]
Genres	Heavy metal, experimental, alternative metal, progressive rock, alternative rock, art rock, classical
Occupations	Musician, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, poet, political activist
Instruments	Vocal, piano, keyboards, synthesizer, sampler, theremin, guitar, bass guitar, violin, harmonica, melodica, bouzouki, dulcimer[disambiguation needed ], drums
Years active	1992–present
Labels	Serjical Strike, Reprise, American, Columbia, Axis of Justice
Associated acts	System of a Down, Axis of Justice, The F.C.C.
Website	www.serjtankian.com

Serj Tankian (Western Armenian: Սերժ Թանգեան [ˈsɛɾʒ tʰɑnˈkʰjɑn]; born August 21, 1967) is a Lebanese-born Armenian-American singer–songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist, playwright, record producer, poet, and political activist. He is best known as the lead vocalist, songwriter, keyboardist, and occasional live rhythm guitarist of the rock band System of a Down.

During his musical career, Tankian has released five albums with System of a Down, one with Arto Tunçboyacıyan (Serart), as well as three solo albums Elect the Dead, Imperfect Harmonies and Harakiri. A live orchestral version of Elect the Dead incorporating the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra named Elect the Dead Symphony was released. In 2002, Tankian and Rage Against the Machine/Audioslave guitarist Tom Morello co-founded a non-profit political activist organization, Axis of Justice. Tankian also founded the music label Serjical Strike Records.

Tankian is ranked 26th in the Hit Parader's Top 100 Metal Vocalists of All Time.

On August 12, 2011, Tankian was awarded the Armenian Prime Minister's Medal for his contributions to the recognition of the Armenian Genocide and the advancement of music.^[2]

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Tankian was born in Beirut, Lebanon on August 21, 1967.^[3] At age seven, Serj Tankian moved with his parents to Los Angeles, California.^[3] In his youth, he attended a school for Armenian-Americans, Rose and Alex Pilibos Armenian School,^[4] which was also attended by Tankian's future System of a Down bandmates Daron Malakian and Shavo Odadjian.^[5] Tankian was accepted into California State University, Northridge. This is where Tankian first began to play instruments and write songs.^[3]

Soil and System of a Down (1994–2006)[link]

The early beginnings of System of a Down lie in a band named Soil (not to be confused with the Chicago-based band SOiL) with Tankian on vocals & keyboards, Daron Malakian on vocals & lead guitar, Dave Hakopyan on bass and Domingo Loranio on drums. The band hired Shavo Odadjian as their then-manager but for him to later join as rhythm guitarist. Loriano and Hakopyan later left the band feeling that it wasn't going anywhere, leading to Soil splitting up.

After Soil split up, Tankian, Odadjian and Malakian formed a new band they called System of a Down, after a poem Malakian wrote called Victims of a Down. Their original drummer was Ontronik Khachaturian, with whom they had spent time playing with in Soil, though he was later replaced by John Dolmayan after breaking his hand shortly before a gig the band had been booked to play, giving Dolmayan the last-minute call up. The band quickly began touring the Southern California rock clubs, and began to attract a strong following.

[edit] Elect the Dead (2007–2010)

Tankian's breakthrough as a solo artist came with the release of his debut record Elect the Dead. The first singles from Elect the Dead are "The Unthinking Majority" and "Empty Walls". The music video "Feed Us" was released on the Swedish^[6] and UK^[7] MTV. Tankian appeared on MTV's You Rock The Deuce to promote Elect the Dead.^{[citation needed]} A music video was directed and filmed for every song on the record, each by unique directors. Tankian explained, "I asked each of the directors for their visual interpretation of my work. They were asked not to write treatments and that they could make whatever they liked. The results have been overwhelmingly amazing!"^[8] Some music videos were initially released exclusively to those who purchased the limited edition of Elect the Dead, while all of the music videos, except "Money", have since been publicly released on Tankian's website and YouTube channel. Some videos have alternative versions which were originally released as well, but later altered.^{[citation needed]}

Three different promo versions of the album have surfaced to the public. The instrumental promotional version, issued by Serjical Strike/Reprise Records and intended for the music and movie industry, contains instrumental versions of the twelve album tracks. Another promotional version, issued by Reprise Records and made only for individual reviewers, features the album in final master form. This promotional CD-R, which was labeled "Smart Talk" as a codename for "Serj Tankian" to prevent leaking by unauthorized persons, also indicates that the album was finalized prior to August 20, 2007 (2007-08-20).^[9] Before this a similar but undated promo, also under the name 'Smart Talk', was issued featuring the final versions of the songs, albeit not yet mastered.^{[citation needed]} Whilst the printed track list on this version is identical the released album, tracks ten and eleven are in fact juxtaposed on the promo itself.

The official tour for Elect the Dead commenced on October 12, 2007 with a show at Chicago's Vic theater. Roughly one thousand people attended the first concert. Although Tankian had stated he would not be performing any material by his former band, System of a Down, he performed "Charades" and "Blue", songs co-written by Daron Malakian, the guitarist of System of a Down. "Blue" had previously appeared on their Fourth Demo Tape in 1998, and Charades was attempted during the 2005 Mezmerize/Hypnotize sessions, but never released (although a short video clip of Tankian and Dolmayan playing the song in a recording studio was featured on "the Making of Mezmerize/Hypnotize"). Although it is originally a song restricted to piano and vocals, Tankian used his backing band, the Flying Cunts of Chaos (F.C.C.), to provide guitars, drums, and bass.^{[citation needed]} The songs "Beethoven's Cunt", Empty Walls, and Sky Is Over are available as downloadable content for Rock Band. A portion of the song "Lie Lie Lie" is currently featured in the opening title sequence of NBC's Fear Itself, a horror anthology show from the creators of Masters of Horror, and can be viewed on the show's main website.^{[citation needed]}

More recently, he sang with Les Rita Mitsouko on the song "Terminal Beauty". Also, he sang with the band Fair to Midland during a live improvisational version of their song "Walls of Jericho", from the album Fables from a Mayfly: What I Tell You Three Times Is True, which was a massive hit with fans. He often collaborates with his close friend, director Diran Noubar on various projects, including the voice-over of Noubar's Armenia, a Country Under Blockade. Noubar played some guitar on Tankian's Elect the Dead album on the track "Saving Us" and directed the music video for "Baby".

Serj Tankian performing in 2005

Tankian is also politically involved. Together with Tom Morello, he founded the organization Axis of Justice. Tankian is a New Zealand resident and has a secondary vacation dwelling there.^[10] There has been a misconception that he intends to stay in New Zealand until the Iraq War is over, but as stated in an interview, Tankian has no intention of doing so. He often speaks publicly against violence and injustice in the world. Tankian released a new song "Fears" in November 2008 exclusively in support of Amnesty International's Global Write-A-Thon.^[11]

On March 16, 2009, Serj performed with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra in New Zealand, an orchestral version of the album Elect the Dead. The live performance was captured in a CD/DVD titled Elect the Dead Symphony which was released on March 9, 2010.

Tankian co-wrote a musical with the American playwright Steven Sater. It is based on the Ancient Greek tragedy Prometheus Bound. It will open at the American Repertory Theater on March 14, 2011.^[12][13]

In 2009, Tankian collaborated with the band Viza (previously known as Visa) for their track "Viktor".^[14] Viza is signed to Tankian's Serjical Strike label.

On February 15, 2010, Serj Tankian released a new single, "The Charade". The song is available as a digital download on iTunes.

[edit] Imperfect Harmonies (2010–2012)

Tankian's second solo album was originally due in 2009. It is said to be more of a jazz and orchestral based sound. Said Tankian of the second album, "I'm structuring the next record kind of like a jazz orchestral. I've got a full orchestra interested, so I want this giant electric guitar in the air to be played by a full orchestra. I want the orchestra to be the electric guitar. I want to make an orchestra do what it's never done before, like a GG Allin type orchestra. Think of that."^[15] The album had the working title Music Without Borders, however, the final album title is Imperfect Harmonies. On June 23, 2010, a promo single from his upcoming album Imperfect Harmonies was released called "Borders Are". The first radio single from Imperfect Harmonies, "Left Of Center", was released on July 13, 2010. A third single, "Disowned Inc." was released on August 9, 2010. Imperfect Harmonies was released on September 21, 2010. Preceding the album's release, two contests were announced (one consisting of brainteasers related to the album/song titles, the other an art contest) in which fans could win prizes such as Tankian's autograph and merchandise. On August 22, 2010, a music video for Left Of Center was released on Tankian's MySpace account.

The premiere date for Tankian and Sater's Prometheus Bound at the American Repertory Theater is February 25, 2011. The singer has said that collaborating on the show has been a great learning experience for him. "I’ve been using a lot of my archives, a lot of different types of music that I had already put together for underscoring and what not," he said. "It’s quite diverse, from noise to jazz to electronic stuff to hip-hop songs to rock songs to cool, piano dark underscores, and that’s a whole different bag of tricks there because it’s always evolving. Unlike a film score that’s very linear and you get a scene to score for, this is something where you do another workshop and one song is gone, that underscore changes to 20 seconds and they need something else on the spot. Everything’s always changing until the show comes, so it’s quite interesting."^[16]

In January 2011 Tankian released a music video for his song Reconstructive Demonstrations from his album Imperfect Harmonies. Tankian also announced on his Facebook page, during the video's release, that a new EP entitled Imperfect Remixes would be released sometime within 2011. On February 3, Serj uploaded a photo of him singing into a microphone onto his Facebook fan page, accompanied with the description "New music video coming soon..." On March 1, Serj released Imperfect Remixes and the music video for Goodbye, a remix of Gate 21 from Imperfect Harmonies.

[edit] System of a Down reunion and Harakiri (2011-Future)

On November 29, 2010, following several weeks of internet rumors, System of a Down officially announced that they will play shows in Europe during Festivals and in North America, mostly in US. Dates are between May and July 2011.^[17] Among the announced tour dates included UK's Download Festival, Switzerland's Greenfield Festival, Germany's Rock am Ring/Rock im Park, Sweden's Metaltown, Austria's Nova Rock Festival and Finland's Provinssirock. The band gave a single concert in Olympic Sports Complex of Moscow in June 2011.^[18] In their reunion statement posted on their website, the band was unclear as to the extent of their reformation. It read, "We have no master plan of sorts—we are playing these shows simply because we want to play together again as a band and for you, our amazing fans."^[19] Dates have been announced in the official System of a Down website.

In early July 2011, Serj posted a video on YouTube showing two samples of new songs. During the video he said "next year". In multiple interviews he has stated that he has been working on a Rock record that will be released in 2011, and some side projects including jazz, electronic, and symphonic records. John Dolmayan has also confirmed the solo album, as well as confirmed that a new System album will be made^{[citation needed]}, but not for at least a year. This is due to Serj being in New Zealand as well as touring for his new album in 2012. It has been confirmed that his newest album is named Harakiri and will be released on July 10, 2012. This will be the first of 4 new albums to be released in the near future.^[20] The first single from this album is called "Figure It Out" and was released on May 1st. ^[21] Song has later appeared on Serj Tankian official YouTube channel. On May 30th, 2012, is announced that "Cornucopia" will be the second single taken from Harakiri and it will be released on June 12th.

Animal rights[link]

Tankian has taken a stance supporting animal rights. He also has become a vegetarian who has strong feelings against the establishment of industrial slaughterhouses. In an interview with PETA, he claimed his change was due to "touring and its variety of edible crap," and also he felt it was "instinctive somewhat." Furthermore, he also feels the need for respect towards 'mother earth'.^[22]

In July 2009, Serj signed a PETA petition against the slaughtering methods of chickens in KFC slaughterhouses.^[23]

The F.C.C.[link]

The F.C.C. (Flying Cunts of Chaos) was Serj's backing band when he played live up until 2009.^[24]

Final line-up

• Mario Pagliarulo  – bass, vocals
• Erwin Khachikian  – keyboards, piano, synthesizers, vocals
• Troy Zeigler  – drums, vocals
• Dan Monti  – guitar, vocals
• Jeff Mallow  – guitar, vocals (2008–present)

Past members

• Larry "Ler" LaLonde  – guitar, vocals (2007–2008)

Discography[link]

Solo

• Elect the Dead (2007)
• Imperfect Harmonies (2010)
• Harakiri (2012)
• Orca

With System of a Down

• System of a Down (1998)
• Toxicity (2001)
• Steal This Album! (2002)
• Mezmerize (2005)
• Hypnotize (2005)

With Serart

• Serart (2003)

With Buckethead and various artists

• Enter The Chicken (2005)
• Profanation (Preparation for a Coming Darkness) (2008)

With Tony Iommi

• Iommi (2000)

With Wyclef Jean

• Carnival Vol. II: Memoirs of an Immigrant (2007)

Bibliography[link]

• Cool Gardens, 2001, MTV Books
• Glaring Through Oblivion, 2011, It Books ^[25]

Awards and nominations[link]

System of a Down has been nominated for four Grammy Awards, of which has won one in 2006 for Best Hard Rock Performance for the song B.Y.O.B.. The band has also been nominated for several Kerrang! and MTV awards.

Grammy Awards

General

• In 2005, System of a Down won for Best Alternative Act in the Europe Music Awards
• In 2006, System of a Down won the "MTV Good Woodie Award" for their song "Question!"
• In 2006, System of a Down's song "Toxicity" was #14 on the VH1 Top 40 Metal Songs List

References[link]

External links[link]

• Serj Tankian's official website
• Serjical Strike official website
• Brazilian Fan Site
• System of a Down's official website
• Serj Tankian at the Internet Movie Database

Guy Barker
Guy Barker and Jean Toussaint in 2007
Background information
Born	(1957-12-26) 26 December 1957 (age 54) Chiswick, London United Kingdom
Occupations	Musician, Composer, Bandleader
Instruments	Trumpet
Years active	1975–present
Labels	Jazz, Jazz fusion, pop, rock
Associated acts	Clark Tracey

Guy Barker (born 26 December 1957) is an English jazz trumpeter and composer. Barker was born in Chiswick, London, the son of an actress and a stuntman. He started playing the trumpet at the age of twelve, and within a year had joined the National Youth Jazz Orchestra. After lessons from Clark Terry in 1975, Barker went on in the 1980s to play with John Dankworth, Gil Evans (with whose orchestra he toured and recorded in 1983), Lena Horne and Bobby Watson.

Barker was a member of Clark Tracey's quintet from 1984 to 1992, and continues to play with Tracey, as well as with Tracey's father Stan. As a sideman he has played with many major musicians and groups, including Ornette Coleman, Carla Bley, Georgie Fame, James Carter, Mike Westbrook, Frank Sinatra, Colin Towns, Natalie Merchant, ABC, The The, Erasure, Chris Botti, Wham!, Kajagoogoo, The Housemartins, Matt Bianco, Alphaville, The Moody Blues, Sting, Bucks Fizz, Mike Oldfield, Cleo Laine, Acoustic Alchemy, and XTC.

Previously, his own band has featured an international mix of musicians – Perico Sambeat (alto saxophone; Spain), Bernardo Sassetti (piano; Portugal), Geoff Gascoyne (bass, United Kingdom), and Gene Calderazzo (drums; United States)

More recently he has toured the Guy Barker Jazz Orchestra – a 15 piece big band featuring Rosario Giuliani (alto saxophone; Italy) and Per Johansson (tenor saxophone; Sweden) - performing DZF, a reworking of Mozart's Magic Flute with Michael Brandon narrating the story as a Raymond Chandler style pulp fiction novel, retold by Robert Ryan

Guy Barker was Musical Director / Arranger for the opening gala concert "Jazz Voice : Celebrating a century of song" at the London Jazz Festival in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011. He was also Musical Director / Arranger on a number of BBC Radio 2 Friday night is music night shows featuring the Guy Barker Jazz Orchestra with the BBC Concert Orchestra, celebrating the music of Billie Holiday^[1] / Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn^[2] / Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin and Dusty Springfield^[3] / Jazz Royalty to celebrate the Wedding of William and Kate^[4]

Discography[link]

• 1991: Isn't It?
• 1994: Into the Blue
• 1998: What Love Is
• 1999: The Talented Mr Ripley — Soundtrack
• 2000: Timeswing
• 2001: Soundtrack
• 2007: The Amadeus Project

References[link]

External links[link]

• Guy Barker at Allmusic
• Guy Barker discography at Discogs
• Guy Barker at the Internet Movie Database
• Ian Carr, Digby Fairweather, & Brian Priestley. Jazz: The Rough Guide. ISBN 1-85828-528-3
• Richard Cook & Brian Morton. The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD 6th edition. ISBN 0-14-051521-6

Karen Gillan
Karen Gillan at the San Diego Comic-Con International in July 2011
Born	Karen Sheila Gillan (1987-11-28) 28 November 1987 (age 24) Inverness, Scotland
Occupation	Actress, former model
Years active	2006–present

Karen Sheila Gillan (born 28 November 1987) is a Scottish actress and former model who is mostly known for her portrayal of Amy Pond in the British science fiction series Doctor Who.

Early life[link]

Gillan was born and brought up in Inverness, Scotland.^[1] Her father, Raymond John Gillan, a Day Centre Manager, and mother, Marie Gillan née Paterson, live in Kinmylies. She learned to play the piano when she was seven.^[2] She has no brothers or sisters.^[3] At a young age, she developed a love for acting, joining several local youth theatre groups and taking part in a wide range of productions at her school, Charleston Academy.^[2] When she was sixteen, Gillan decided to use her interest in acting, studying at Edinburgh's Telford College. Later, she got a place at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts drama school in London on the BA (Hons) Acting degree course.^[4] Gillan moved to London when she was 18 to study at drama school.^[5]

Career[link]

Modelling[link]

Before Gillan became an actress, she was scouted by a modelling agency.^[6]

Gillan worked as a model in 2007's London Fashion Week for designer Allegra Hicks' autumn/winter catwalk show^[6] and the launch party of Nicola Roberts' Dainty Doll Make-Up Range. This was shown in Roberts' episode of the documentary, The Passions of Girls Aloud^{[citation needed]} which premiered on 4 April 2008. Gillan has said she wouldn't give up her acting career to return back to modelling. She stated that she enjoyed modelling but acting was always her main interest and goal.^[7]

Acting[link]

Karen Gillan with Matt Smith, promoting Series 5 of Doctor Who

Gillan's early television acting career included guest appearances on several drama series, with her first ongoing role being a two-year stint as a member of the ensemble cast of the sketch comedy series The Kevin Bishop Show in which she played multiple characters, as well as celebrities such as Katy Perry and Angelina Jolie. She appeared in Channel 4's 'Stacked'; she had the part of Ginny.^[2] Gillan also appeared on TV in a leading role in a horror project entitled The Well, which was broadcast as a series of episodic short films on BBC Two, and then later also as a web series on BBC.co.uk. Part of the BBC's multimedia "switch" programming, the short episodes interconnect with online games that further explore the environments presented in the series.^[8]

She was cast for the role of the Eleventh Doctor's first companion, Amy Pond, on the British sci-fi series Doctor Who in May 2009. She made her first on-screen appearance as Amy Pond in "The Eleventh Hour" with her cousin Caitlin Blackwood portraying a young Amy Pond.^[9][10][11] She was confirmed in Issue 420 of the Doctor Who Magazine to be appearing in the 2011 series. Gillan had appeared in Doctor Who once before in the 2008 episode "The Fires of Pompeii" in the role of a Soothsayer.^[6]

Gillan made her first theatre appearance playing the role of Shirley in John Osborne's play Inadmissible Evidence along with Douglas Hodge.^[12] The play debuted at the Donmar Warehouse on 16 October 2011.^[12]

During August 2011, it was announced Gillan will star in an indie comedy called Not Another Happy Ending along with Emun Elliott.^[13] Filming will take place some time in 2012.^[13]

During an interview at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con, Gillan revealed she will be returning to Doctor Who for its seventh series.^[14] On 15 December 2011, it was announced Gillan and Arthur Darvill (Rory Williams) would be leaving Doctor Who during the seventh series in 2012.^[15] On 26 January 2012 Karen Gillan played the part of supermodel Jean Shrimpton in the BBC Four film, We'll Take Manhattan which told the story of Shrimpton's relationship with the photographer David Bailey.^[16][17]

She has also been cast as Brittney in a re-working of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet called Romeo & Brittney by David Baddiel.^[18][19]

Charity work[link]

In 2011 Gillan helped to promote Fashion Targets Breast Cancer (FTBC)^[20] and also helped celebrate the opening of Squirrel Ward in Great Ormond Street Hospital.^[21]

Filmography[link]

Television

Feature films

Theatre

Self

Video games

Awards[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Karen Gillan

• Karen Gillan at the Internet Movie Database