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A "mama-san", or "mamasan" is usually a woman in a position of authority, especially one in charge of a geisha house or bar in Japan and East Asia.

The term is also used to refer to a woman who works in a supervisory role in certain establishments in Southeast Asia, typically those related to drinking places. Papa-san may be used to refer to a man in a similar position.

The term originally comes from Japanese, where it is a term for a woman who works as a supervisor at a bar, nightclub, or similar business. The suffix -san is a polite honorific attached to a person's name or title. The familiarity with the term by U.S. soldiers in Japan after World War II probably has had some influence in its spread to other Southeast Asian countries.

The term mama-san in Japanese is emphatically not a polite reference to a mother, and should never be used as such. Most Japanese children today call their mother mama, but the term does not persist into adulthood. The proper term to refer to one's mother, in Japanese, would be okaa-san.

In Thailand, mamasan is commonly used to describe a woman who manages the female workers in bars and brothels. ^[1]

To at least some extent, these can be considered the local equivalents of a madam, although the conventions of bar fine|bar fine prostitution in Asia are quite different from those of either street or brothel prostitution in the United States.

Mamasan (sometimes abbreviated MMS) is also used in United States to refer to the woman managing the staff of Asian massage parlors.

While the context may be referred to as a sex term in some parts of Asia, in others the term has a much different connotation. The term mama-san is commonly used to describe maids and housecleaners.^{[citation needed]} The term papa-san is detailed for men who work on yards.^{[citation needed]}

References[link]

• [1]
• Escort Glossary

External links[link]

• Use of term in Vietnam war era
• On use of term in Japanese hostess establishments

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Gloria Gaynor
Gaynor performing in 2003
Background information
Also known as	Queen of Disco
Born	(1949-09-07) September 7, 1949 (age 62)
Origin	Newark, New Jersey, U.S.
Genres	Dance-pop, disco, R&B
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, actress
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	1965–present
Labels	MGM (1965–76) Polydor (1976–83) Chrysalis (1984–85) Stylus (1986–88) Hot Productions (1996–97) Logic (2000–04) Radikal (2005–Present)
Associated acts	Soul Satisfiers, Marvin Gaye, Luther Vandross
Website	www.gloriagaynor.com

Gloria Gaynor (born Gloria Fowles; September 7, 1949) is an American singer, best known for the disco era hits; "I Will Survive" (Hot 100 number 1, 1979), "Never Can Say Goodbye" (Hot 100 number 9, 1974), "Let Me Know (I Have a Right)" (Hot 100 number 42, 1980) and "I Am What I Am" (R&B number 82, 1983).

Early career[link]

Gaynor was a singer with the Soul Satisfiers, a jazz/pop band, in the 1960s. Her first solo single was "She'll Be Sorry/Let Me Go Baby" (1965).

Her first real success came in 1975 with the release of her album Never Can Say Goodbye, which established her as a disco artist. The first side of this album consisted of three disco songs ("Honey Bee", "Never Can Say Goodbye" and "Reach Out, I'll Be There"), with no breaks in between the songs. This 19-minute dance marathon proved to be enormously popular, especially at dance clubs. All three songs were released as singles via radio edits, and all of them became hits. The album was instrumental in introducing disco music to the public, "Never Can Say Goodbye" becoming the first song to top Billboard magazine's dance chart. Capitalizing on the success of her first album, Gloria Gaynor quickly released her second album, Experience Gloria Gaynor, later that same year. While this album was also successful, it was not quite as popular as her previous album in the mainstream.

Some of her lesser-known singles, due to lack of recurrent airplay — including "Honey Bee" (1974), "Casanova Brown" (1975), and "Let's Make A Deal" (1976) — became hits in the clubs and reached the Top 5 on Billboard's disco charts. After her 1976 album, I've Got You, Gaynor shifted from her hit production team, to work with other productions. While it seemed like a good move, her subsequent producers did not seem to match Gaynor's vocal approach and style as well.

Major mainstream breakthrough[link]

In the next few years, Gloria Gaynor released the albums Glorious and Park Avenue Sound, but would only enjoy a few moderate hits. However, in late 1978, with the release of her album Love Tracks, she climbed the pop charts again because of her song "I Will Survive". The lyrics of this song are written from the point of view of a woman, recently dumped, telling her former lover that she can cope without him and does not want anything more to do with him. The song has become something of an anthem of female emancipation, and is still a staple of office parties and karaoke nights.

Interestingly, "I Will Survive" was originally the B-side when Polydor Records released it in late 1978. The A-side, a song called "Substitute", then a recent worldwide hit for South African girl-group Clout, was considered more "radio friendly". Boston Disco Radio DJ Jack King turned the record over and recalls being stunned by what he heard. "I couldn't believe they were burying this monster hit on the B-side", says King. "I played it and played it and my listeners went nuts!" This massive audience response forced the record company to flip the songs, so that subsequent copies of the single listed the more popular song on the A-side. King was honored at New York's "Disco Masters Awards Show" for 3 consecutive years (1979–1981) in recognition of his relentless push of the song. The song was awarded the only Grammy Award ever for Best Disco Recording in 1980.

As a disco number, the song was unique for its time by virtue of Gaynor's having no background singers. And, unlike her first disco hits, the track was not pitched up to make it faster and to render Gaynor's recorded voice in a higher register than that in which she actually sang. Most disco hits at the time were heavily produced, with multiple voices, overdubs, and adjustments to pitch and speed. "I Will Survive" had a much more spare and "clean" sound. Had it been originally planned and released as an A-side, it would almost certainly have undergone a substantially more heavy-handed remix. In late 1979, she released the album I Have a Right which contained her next disco hit, "Let Me Know (I Have a Right)", which featured Doc Severinsen of The Tonight Show fame, on trumpet solo. Gaynor also recorded a disco song called "Love Is Just a Heartbeat Away" in 1979 for the vampire movie Nocturna: Granddaughter of Dracula which featured a number of disco songs.

Stateside career[link]

In 1980 and again in 1981, Gaynor released two disco albums which were virtually ignored in the United States due to the backlash against disco, which began late in 1979. The album's singles barely registered on Urban contemporary radio, where disco music remained popular. In 1982, having looked into a wide variety of faiths and religious movements,^[1][2] she became a Christian and began to distance herself from a past she considered to be sinful. She would not release an album in 1982. In 1983, she released an album entitled Gloria Gaynor, in which she rejected disco for mid-tempo R&B and Pop style songs. The album contained a patriotic song called "America" as well as a new version of "I Will Survive". In this new version of "I Will Survive", she changed the lyrics of the song in order to advertise her new conversion to Christianity. The words "It took all the strength I had not to fall apart" were changed to "Only the Lord could give me strength not to fall apart". The album was not a success in the Pop, Dance or Urban markets. This move proved to be a turn off to all other than her devoted fans.

Gaynor would achieve her final success in the '80s with the release of her album I Am Gloria Gaynor in 1984. This was mainly due to the song "I Am What I Am", which became a hit at dance clubs, and then on the Club Play chart in late 1983/early 1984. "I Am What I Am" made Gaynor a gay icon. However, her career went into sharp decline following this hit. She mainly made her living outside of the US where there was never any disco backlash. Her 1986 album, The Power of Gloria Gaynor, was almost entirely composed of cover versions of other songs that were popular at the time. The album was ignored, becoming a commercial failure.

Career revival[link]

Gaynor's career received a revitalizing spark in the early and mid 1990s with the worldwide Disco revival movement. During the late 1990s, she dabbled in acting for a while, guest starring on The Wayans Bros, That '70s Show, and Ally McBeal before doing a limited engagement performance in Broadway's Smokey Joe's Cafe. In 2001 Gaynor performed "I Will Survive" at the 30th Anniversary Concert for Michael Jackson.

Gloria Gaynor returned to the recording studio in 2002, releasing her first album in over 15 years, entitled, I Wish You Love. The two singles released from the album, "Just Keep Thinking About You" and "I Never Knew", both topped Billboard's Hot Dance Music/Club Play. Both singles also secured moderate to heavy Dance format radio airplay. The latter song also charted #30 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart. In 2004, Gaynor re-released her 1997 album The Answer (also released under the title What a Life) as a follow up to her successful album I Wish You Love. The album includes her popular club hit "Oh, What a Life".

On September 19, 2005, Gaynor was honored twice when she and her music were inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame. She was inducted in the Artist Inductees category along with fellow disco legends Chic and the late Sylvester. Her classic anthem "I Will Survive" was inducted under the Records Inductees category. In January 2008, The American Diabetes Association named Gaynor the Honorary Spokesperson of the 2008 NYC Step Out To Fight Diabetes Walk.^[3]

More television appearances followed in the late 2000s with 2009 appearances on The John Kerwin Show, The Wendy Williams Show, and The View to promote the 30th anniversary of "I Will Survive".^[4] In 2010, she appeared on Last Comic Standing and The Tonight Show.

After almost 30 years of its release, Gaynor continues to ride the success of "I Will Survive", touring the country and the world over and performing her signature song on dozens of TV shows. A few successful remixes of the song during the 1990s and 2000s along with new versions of the song by Lonnie Gordon, Diana Ross, Chantay Savage, rock group Cake and others as well as constant recurrent airplay on nearly all Soft AC and Rhythmic format radio stations have helped to keep the song in the mainstream. Said Gaynor of her biggest hit in a 2012 interview "It feels great to have such a song like that because I get kids five and six years old telling me they like the song, and then people seventy-five and eighty. It's quite an honor."^[5]

Gaynor and her husband have been residents of Green Brook, New Jersey.^[6] She is recording a Contemporary Christian album with some new dance singles planned for release later in 2012.

As of early March, Gaynor announced on her official Facebook page that she will be in Warped Tour 2012. She noted, "I am honored to be playing in Warped Tour, trying to bring back classic music to this generation of kids. This is not like Warped Tour to add an old classic artist, but they said it was the right choice for who they had in mind. Gaynor included that she is playing at all 41 concerts. ^[5]

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• 1975: Never Can Say Goodbye (MGM) - US Pop #25, US R&B #21
• 1975: Experience Gloria Gaynor (MGM) - US Pop #64, US R&B #32
• 1976: I've Got You (Polydor) - US Pop #107, US R&B #40
• 1977: Glorious (Polydor) - US Pop #183
• 1978: Park Avenue Sound (Polydor)
• 1978: Love Tracks (Polydor) - US Pop #4, US R&B #4
• 1979: I Have a Right (Polydor) - US Pop #58, US R&B #56
• 1980: Stories - US Pop #178
• 1981: I Kinda Like Me (Polydor) -US Pop #206
• 1982: Gloria Gaynor (Ecstacy) - US Pop #210
• 1983: I Am Gloria Gaynor (Chrysalis)
• 1986: The Power of Gloria Gaynor (Stylus)
• 1990: Gloria Gaynor '90
• 1992: Love Affair
• 1995: I'll Be There (Radikal)
• 1997: The Answer (Florical)
• 2002: I Wish You Love (Bell)
• 2005: Live! At John J. Burns Town Park (Instant Live)
• 2007: Christmas Presence (Glolo)

Compilations[link]

• 1977 - The Best of Gloria Gaynor
• 1982 - Greatest Hits
• 1994 - Reach Out
• 1995 - I'll Be There
• 1996 - The Collection
• 1998 - I Will Survive: The Anthology
• 1998 - The Gloria Gaynor Album
• 2000 - 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection: The Best of Gloria Gaynor
• 2001 - Ten Best: The Millennium Versions
• 2002 - I Will Survive
• 2006 - All The Hits Remixed

Singles[link]

This section requires expansion with: album titles.

See also[link]

• List of artists who reached number one on the Hot 100 (U.S.)
• List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance chart
• List of number-one dance hits (United States)
• List of number-one hits (United States)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Works by or about Gloria Gaynor in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Gloria Gaynor interview

"Do the Evolution" is a song by the American rock band Pearl Jam. Featuring lyrics written by vocalist Eddie Vedder and music written by guitarist Stone Gossard, "Do the Evolution" is the seventh track on the band's fifth studio album, Yield (1998). Despite the lack of a commercial single release, the song managed to reach number 33 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. The song was included on Pearl Jam's 2004 greatest hits album, rearviewmirror (Greatest Hits 1991–2003).

Origin and recording[link]

"Do the Evolution" features lyrics written by vocalist Eddie Vedder and music written by guitarist Stone Gossard. Bassist Jeff Ament does not appear on the track. Gossard recorded the bass line for the track.^[1] Vedder said that it is his favorite song from Yield.^[2] He stated, "I can listen to it like it's some band that just came out of nowhere. I just like the song. I was able to listen to it as an outside observer and just really play it over and over. Maybe because I was singing it from a third person so it didn't really feel like me singing."^[2]

Lyrics[link]

When speaking about "Do the Evolution", Vedder stated, "That song is all about someone who's drunk with technology, who thinks they're the controlling living being on this planet. It's another one I'm not singing as myself."^[3] Pearl Jam has stated that the novel Ishmael influenced the writing of Yield,^[4] and according to the novel's writer, Daniel Quinn, this song comes the closest to expressing the ideas of the book.^[5] Vedder stated:

This Daniel Quinn book, Ishmael...I've never recommended a book before, but I would actually, in an interview, recommend it to everyone....But this book, it's kind of the book of my ... My whole year has been kind of with these thoughts in mind. And on an evolutionary level, that man has been on this planet for 3 million years, so that you have this number line that goes like this [hands wide apart]. And that we're about to celebrate the year 2000, which is this [holds hands less than one inch apart]. So here's this number line; here's what we know and celebrate. This book is a conversation with a man and an ape. And the ape really has it all together. He kinda knows the differences between him and the man, and points out how slight they are, and it creates an easy analogy for what man has done, thinking that they were the end-all. That man is the end-all thing on this earth. That the earth was around even so much longer before the 3 million years. Fifty million years of sharks and all these living things. Then man comes out of the muck, and 3 million years later he's standing, and now he's controlling everything and killing it. Just in the last hundred! Which is just a speck on this line. So what are we doin' here? This is just a good reminder...And I'm anxious to see what happens. You know, I've got a good seat for whatever happens next. It'll be interesting.^[6]

Reception[link]

Without being released as a single, "Do the Evolution" peaked at number 40 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and number 33 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart in 1998. In Canada, the song reached the top 50 on the Canadian Singles Chart. At the 1999 Grammy Awards, "Do the Evolution" received a nomination for Best Hard Rock Performance.^[7]

In E! Online's review of Yield, "Do the Evolution" was described as having a "Neil Young-Beck hybrid feel."^[8] Tom Sinclair of Entertainment Weekly stated, "On the album's most gleeful hip shaker, "Do the Evolution", Vedder howls throwaway lyrics...while the guitars gnash and grind at the primitive melody, briefly evoking the gnarly cacophony of the Stooges' monumental Fun House."^[9]

Music video[link]

The animated music video for "Do the Evolution" was co-directed by Kevin Altieri, known for his direction on Batman: The Animated Series, and Todd McFarlane, better known for his work with the popular comic book Spawn and Korn's 1999 "Freak on a Leash" video.^[10] The video was produced by Joe Pearson, the president of Epoch Ink animation, and Terry Fitzgerald at TME. It was written and developed by Pearson and Altieri with input from McFarlane and Vedder.^[10] The total production time on the music video was 16 weeks.^[10] The animation pre-production was produced by Epoch Ink Animation at their studio in Santa Monica, California. Under Altieri and Pearson’s supervision the Epoch team boarded and designed the short in less than six weeks.^[10] Once McFarlane, Vedder, and Sony gave their final approvals, the short was taken to Korea by Altieri and Pearson for animation at Sun Min Image Pictures and Jireh Animation. Over a four week period, a team of more than one hundred artists worked to deliver the finished animation.^[10]

Once the final animation was back in Los Angeles, California, Altieri, McFarlane, and Vedder edited the final cut at Vittello Productions. In a press release, McFarlane stated, "We choose to work with people who convey a particular attitude and this video is a tribute to that attitude," while Pearl Jam stated, "As artists we are challenged to expand the meaning of our work and by utilizing this visual medium and working with a visionary like Todd, we were able to further explore some of the themes we depicted in the song "Do the Evolution". Basically we've tried to make a good stoner video."^[11] The video premiered on August 24, 1998 on MTV's 120 Minutes.^[12] The video was the band's first since the final video for Ten, "Oceans". At the 1999 Grammy Awards, the music video received a nomination for Best Music Video, Short Form.^[7] The video clip for "Do the Evolution" can be found on the Touring Band 2000 DVD as one of the Special Features.

Video summary[link]

Throughout the video, a black haired woman (similar in appearance to the character Death from the DC comic book series, The Sandman) dances and laughs, representing "Death" as it follows mankind through all of its history. The video begins with the evolution of life, from the smallest cell to the extinction of dinosaurs and reign of homo sapiens. The video then cuts back and forth throughout human history, depicting man's primitive, violent nature as essentially unchanged over the centuries. Such depictions include a knight preparing for the coming slaughter during the Crusades, a ritual dance by America's KKK (the dance is repeated with other groups throughout the video), a rally by Nazi-esque troops (with a symbol reminiscent of the Sig Rune instead of a swastika), Auschwitz-like prisoners with the stripes going vertically instead of horizontally on their uniforms, a book burning, carnage upon a World War I-era battlefield (apparently a tribute to Peace on Earth, a 1930s MGM anti-war cartoon directed by Hugh Harman), the apparent virtual-reality rape of a woman, and the bombing of a Vietnamese village by an American jet, the pilot of which removes his mask to reveal a skull laughing wildly. Every scene portrayed complements the song's meaning and tightly follows the lyrics. When Vedder sings "Buying stocks on the day of the crash," a scene is shown where businessmen are committing suicide by jumping from buildings, similar to Black Thursday and the resulting suicides from the Wall Street Crash of 1929.

Other social and environmental issues such as slavery, whaling, Manifest Destiny, uncontrolled urbanization, vivisection, pollution, genetic modification and techno-progressivism are included. The music video blames humankind's brutality on leadership; with various scenes depicting a judge, a bishop or pope, an Asian political leader and an American president candidate, who is being portraited as a puppet, controlled by someone unseen, from behind the scene. The video concludes in what seems to be future scenarios of the self-destruction of the human race, including the carpet bombing of a city of clones by futuristic aircraft, computers hijacking the human mind, and finally a nuclear explosion which leaves not only a city in ruins, but the planet damaged beyond recognition. During the sequence of flashing images near the end of the video an image of a yield sign being smashed at the corner can be seen, which references the album title and cover art.

Live performances[link]

"Do the Evolution" was first performed live at the band's November 12, 1997 concert in Santa Cruz, California at The Catalyst.^[13] Live performances of "Do the Evolution" can be found on the live album Live on Two Legs, various official bootlegs, the Live at the Gorge 05/06 box set, and the live album Live at Lollapalooza 2007. Performances of the song are also included on the DVDs Single Video Theory, Touring Band 2000, Live at the Showbox, and Live at the Garden. On Touring Band 2000, Vedder adds the lyrics "free the West Memphis 3!" to the song.

Chart positions[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Music video for "Do the Evolution" on YouTube
• Lyrics at pearljam.com