A well maintained ditch in the Netherlands

Waterplants growing in a ditch in the Netherlands, showing Sagittaria sagittifolia to the right.

A ditch is usually defined as a small to moderate depression created to channel water.

In Anglo-Saxon, the word dïc already existed and was pronounced 'deek' in northern England and 'deetch' in the south. The origins of the word lie in digging a trench and forming the upcast soil into a bank alongside it. This practice has meant that the name dïc was given to either the excavation or the bank, and evolved to both the words 'dike'/'dyke' and 'ditch'. Thus Offa's Dyke is a combined structure and Car Dyke is a trench, though it once had raised banks as well. In the midlands and north of England, and in the United States, a dike is what a ditch is in the south, a property boundary marker or small drainage channel. Where it carries a stream, it may be called a running dike as in Rippingale Running Dike, which leads water from the catchwater drain, Car Dyke, to the South Forty Foot Drain in Lincolnshire (TF1427). The Weir Dike is a soak dike in Bourne North Fen, near Twenty and alongside the River Glen.

A ditch can be used for drainage, to drain water from low lying areas, alongside roadways or fields, or to channel water from a more distant source for plant irrigation. A trench is a long narrow ditch. Ditches are commonly seen around farmland especially in areas that have required drainage, such as The Fens in eastern England and the Netherlands.

Roadside ditches can provide a hazard to motorists, especially in poor weather conditions. It is not uncommon in some rural areas to see cars, motorcycles, or bicycles that have crashed into ditches, or to hear of such accidents.

Sustainability of drainage ditches[link]

Drainage ditches play major roles in agriculture throughout the world. Improper drainage systems accelerate water contamination, excessively desiccate soils during seasonal drought, and become a financial burden to maintain. Industrial earth-moving equipment facilitates maintenance of straight drainage trenches, but entrenchment results in increasing environmental and eventually profound economic costs over time.^[1]

Sustainable channel design can result in ditches that are largely self-maintaining due to natural geomorphological equilibrium. Slowed net siltation and erosion result in net reduction in sediment transport. Encouraging development of a natural stream sinuosity and a multi-terraced channel cross section appear to be key to maintain both peak ditch drainage capacity, and minimum net pollution and nutrient transport.^[2]

Flooding can be a major cause of recurring crop loss — particularly in heavy soils — and can severely disrupt urban economies as well. Subsurface drainage to ditches offers a way to remove excess water from agricultural fields, or vital urban spaces, without the erosion rates and pollution transport that results from direct surface runoff. However, excess drainage results in recurring drought induced crop yield losses and more severe urban heat or desiccation issues.

Controlled subsurface drainage from sensitive areas to vegetated drainage ditches makes possible a better balance between water drainage and water retention needs. The initial investment, allows a community to draw down local water tables when and where necessary without exacerbating drought problems at other times.^[3]

See also[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Barbagallo, Tricia (June 1, 2005). "Black Beach: The Mucklands of Canastota, New York" (PDF). http://www.archives.nysed.gov/apt/magazine/MagSummer05FeatureArticle_000.pdf. Retrieved 2008-06-04. 

The Pogues
Background information
Also known as	Pogue Mahone
Origin	Kings Cross, London, England
Genres	Celtic punk, folk punk
Years active	1982–1996, 2001–present
Website	Pogues.com
Members
Spider Stacy Jem Finer Shane MacGowan James Fearnley Andrew Ranken Phil Chevron Darryl Hunt Terry Woods
Past members
Cait O'Riordan Joe Strummer Dave Coulter James McNally Jamie Clarke

The Pogues are an Irish rock band from London, formed in 1982 and fronted by Shane MacGowan. The band reached international prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. MacGowan left the band in 1991 due to drinking problems but the band continued first with Joe Strummer and then with Spider Stacy on vocals before breaking up in 1996.^[1] The band reformed in 2001, and has been playing regularly ever since, most notably on the US East Coast around St Patrick's Day and across the UK and Ireland every December. The group has yet to record any new music and, according to Spider Stacy on Pogues.com, has no inclination to do so.

Their politically tinged music was informed by MacGowan and Stacy's punk backgrounds,^[2] yet used traditional Irish instruments such as the tin whistle, cittern, mandolin and accordion.

The Pogues were founded in Kings Cross,^[3] a district of North London, in 1982 as Pogue Mahone—pogue mahone being the Anglicisation of the Irish póg mo thóin, meaning "kiss my arse".^[4]

Band history[link]

The roots of The Pogues were formed when MacGowan (vocals), Peter "Spider" Stacy (tin whistle), and Jem Finer (banjo) were together in an occasional band called The Millwall Chainsaws in the late 1970s after MacGowan and Stacy met in the toilets at a Ramones gig at The Roundhouse in 1977.^[5] MacGowan was already with The Nips, though when they broke up in 1980 he concentrated a bit more on Stacy's Millwall Chainsaws who changed their name to The New Republicans. During this period MacGowan and Finer auditioned unsuccessfully for a licence to busk at Covent Garden.^[6] In 1982 James Fearnley (accordion) joined MacGowan, Stacy, and Finer, calling the band Pogue Mahone. The new group played their first gig at The Pindar of Wakefield on 4 October 1982.^[7]

	"Haunted" noicon Sample of Caitlín O'Riordan singing "Haunted" with the Pogues.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

They then appeared at Gossips in Dean Street Soho on Thursday November 3rd with Trash Trash Trash and The Stingrays.

They later added Cait O'Riordan (bass) and Andrew Ranken (drums). The band played London pubs and clubs,^[8] and released a single, "Dark Streets of London",^[9] on their own, self-named label, gaining a small reputation—especially for their live performances. They came to the attention of the media and Stiff Records when they opened for The Clash on their 1984 tour.^[1] Shortening their name to "The Pogues" (partly due to BBC censorship following complaints from Gaelic speakers in Scotland) they released their first album Red Roses for Me on Stiff that October.

The band gained more attention when the UK Channel 4's influential music show The Tube made a video of their version of "Waxie's Dargle" for the show. The performance—featuring Spider Stacy repeatedly smashing himself over the head with a beer tray (in the manner of Bob Blackman's infamous "Mule Train/Mule Tray")—became a favourite with the viewers, but Stiff refused to release it as a single, feeling it was too late for it to help Red Roses for Me (in fact Stiff was by then in deep financial trouble). Nevertheless, it remained a favourite request for the show for many years.

With the aid of punk and New Wave forefather Elvis Costello they recorded the follow-up, Rum Sodomy & the Lash, in 1985 during which time guitarist Philip Chevron joined. The album title is a famous comment falsely attributed to Winston Churchill who was supposedly describing the "true" traditions of the British Royal Navy.^[10] The album cover featured The Raft of the Medusa, with the faces of the characters in Théodore Géricault's painting replaced with those of the band members. The album shows the band moving away from covers to original material. Shane MacGowan came into his own as a songwriter with this disc, offering up poetic story-telling, such as "The Sick Bed of Cúchulainn" and "The Old Main Drag", as well as definitive interpretations of Ewan MacColl's "Dirty Old Town" and Eric Bogle's "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda" (this had previously been covered by Shane's fellow punk contemporaries The Skids in 1981).

The band failed to take advantage of the momentum created by the strong artistic and commercial success of their second album. They first refused to record another album (offering up the four-track EP Poguetry in Motion instead); O'Riordan married Costello and left the band, to be replaced by bassist Darryl Hunt, formerly of Plummet Airlines and Pride of the Cross; and they added a multi-instrumentalist in Terry Woods, formerly of Steeleye Span. Looming over the band at this period (as throughout their entire career) was the increasingly erratic behaviour of their vocalist and principal songwriter, Shane MacGowan. Their record label, Stiff Records, went bankrupt soon after the 1987 release of the single "The Irish Rover" (with The Dubliners). Members of the band, including O'Riordian, acted in Alex Cox's Straight to Hell, and five songs by the band were included on the film's soundtrack album.

Success and breakup[link]

The band remained stable enough to record If I Should Fall from Grace with God in 1988 (with its Christmas hit duet with Kirsty MacColl "Fairytale of New York", which was voted "the best Christmas song ever" in VH1 UK polls in 2004) and 1989's Peace and Love.^[11] The band was at the peak of its commercial success, with both albums making the top 5 in the UK (numbers 3 and 5 respectively), but MacGowan was increasingly unreliable. He failed to turn up for the opening dates of their 1988 tour of America, and prevented the band from promoting their next album, Hell's Ditch, so in 1991 the band sacked him.^[2] Vocal duties were for a time handled by Joe Strummer, before Stacy finally took over permanently. After Strummer's departure, the remaining seven Pogues recorded Waiting for Herb, which contained the band's third and final top twenty single, "Tuesday Morning", which became their best-selling single internationally. Terry Woods and James Fearnley then left the band and were replaced by David Coulter and James McNally respectively. Within months of their departures, ill health forced Phil Chevron to leave the band; he was replaced by his former guitar technician, Jamie Clarke. This lineup recorded the band's seventh (and final) studio album, Pogue Mahone. The album was a commercial failure, and, following Jem Finer's decision to leave the band in 1996, the remaining members decided it was time to call it quits. According to Shane MacGowan, amongst the reasons of the breakup was disagreement concerning the political orientation of his songs, the band not wanting to sing too obvious pro-republican songs^[12] — though some of their previous songs were already politically engaged : for instance, Streams of Whiskey is about the poet and IRA member Brendan Behan. Soon after the breakup Shane MacGowan recorded a song called Paddy Public Enemy Number One as a tribute to the Republican leader Dominic McGlinchey, a former leader of the INLA killed a few years before.

Post-breakup[link]

After the Pogues' break-up, the three remaining long-term members (Spider Stacy, Andrew Ranken and Darryl Hunt) played together briefly as the Vendettas. They played mainly new Stacy-penned tracks, though Darryl Hunt also contributed songs, and the band's live set included a few Pogues songs. First Ranken then Hunt left the band, the latter going on to become singer/songwriter in an indie band called Bish, whose self-titled debut album was released in 2001. Ranken has gone on to play with a number of other bands, including hKippers, The Municipal Waterboard and, most recently, The Mysterious Wheels. In addition to The Vendettas who Stacy freely admits lost all attraction when the Pogues reformed, Spider continued to write and record music with various bands, including the James Walbourne, Filthy Thieving Bastards, Dropkick Murphys and Astral Social Club. Shane MacGowan founded Shane MacGowan and The Popes in 1992. They only managed two studio albums but struggled on until 2002. His autobiography A Drink With Shane MacGowan, co-written with his journalist girlfriend Victoria Mary Clarke, was released in 2001. Jem Finer went into experimental music, playing a big part in a project known as "Longplayer", a piece of music designed to play continuously for 1,000 years without repeating itself. In 2005, Finer released the album Bum Steer with DB Bob (as DM Bob and Country Jem). James Fearnley moved to the United States shortly before leaving the Pogues. He was a member of The Low And Sweet Orchestra and later the Cranky George Trio. Philip Chevron reformed his former band The Radiators, which briefly included former Pogue Cait O'Riordan. Terry Woods formed The Bucks with Ron Kavana, releasing the album Dancin' To The Ceili Band in 1994. Later, he formed The Woods Band, releasing the album Music From The Four Corners of Hell in 2002.

Reunion[link]

The Pogues in Brixton, 2004

The band, including MacGowan, re-formed for a Christmas tour in 2001 and performed nine shows in the UK and Ireland in December 2004. In 2002 Q magazine named The Pogues as one of the "50 Bands To See Before You Die". In July 2005, the band—again including MacGowan—played at the annual Guilfest festival in Guildford before flying out to Japan where they played three dates. Japan is the last place they all played together before MacGowan was originally sacked in 1991, and they have a strong following there. They played a date in Spain in early September. The reunited Pogues played dates in the UK with support from the Dropkick Murphys in late 2005, and re-released their 1987 Christmas classic "Fairytale of New York" on 19 December, which went straight in at #3 in the UK Singles charts on Christmas Day 2005, showing the song's enduring popularity. On 22 December 2005 the BBC broadcast a live performance (recorded the previous week) on the Jonathan Ross Christmas show with Katie Melua filling in for the late Kirsty MacColl, the first time the band had played the song live on television. The following week they performed live on the popular music show CD:UK.

Shane MacGowan wrote a blog for The Guardian website in 2006, detailing his thoughts on the current tour.^[13]

The Pogues with Shane MacGowan, October 11, 2006 in San Diego

The band was awarded the lifetime achievement award at the annual Meteor Ireland Music Awards in February 2006. In March 2006, the band played their first U.S. dates with Shane in over 15 years. The band played a series of sold-out concerts in Washington D.C., Atlantic City, Boston, and New York. Later they played a series of highly acclaimed and sold-out gigs during mid-October 2006 in San Francisco, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles, and toured Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham, London, Dublin, and Nottingham in mid-December 2006. They began a second U.S. tour in March 2007, once again to coincide (and conclude) with a Roseland Ballroom New York City show on Saint Patrick's Day. 2007 has proved to be the most prolific year of touring since the reunion. A tour of the west coast of America and eleven dates in the UK in December complement the headlining festival appearances made in the summer across Europe (Sweden, Belgium and Spain). They continue to be in huge demand, often selling out very large venues, despite criticism of selling out, and claims that arenas and festivals do not suit the band's sound.

The Pogues on August 1, 2010 in Amsterdam

The Pogues 2011 in Munich, Philip Chevron, James Fearnley, Andrew Ranken, Shane MacGowan, Darryl Hunt, Spider Stacy, Jem Finer not on photo Terry Woods

Guitarist Phil Chevron has stated there were no plans to record new music or release a new album. Chevron said that one way to keep enjoying what they were doing was to avoid making a new album, although he did say that there still is a possibility in the future for new music, but certainly not in the near future. Terry Woods has commented that MacGowan has been writing, and most of it sounds good. In 2008 the band released a box set Just Look Them Straight in the Eye and Say....POGUE MAHONE!!, which included rare studio out-takes and previously unreleased material.^[14]

The band has received mixed reviews of some recent performances though they continue to pull the crowds. Reviewing a March 2008 concert, The Washington Post described MacGowan as "puffy and paunchy," but said the singer "still has a banshee wail to beat Howard Dean's, and the singer's abrasive growl is all a band this marvelous needs to give its amphetamine-spiked take on Irish folk a focal point." The reviewer continued: "The set started off shaky, MacGowan singing of `goin' where streams of whiskey are flowin,' and looking like he'd arrived there already. He grew more lucid and powerful as the evening gathered steam, through two hours and 26 songs, mostly from the Pogues' first three (and best) albums".^[15] In December 2010 the Pogues (with support from Crowns) played what was billed as a farewell UK Christmas tour.

In March 2011, the Pogues played a six-city/ten-show sold out US tour titled "A Parting Glass with The Pogues" visiting Chicago, Detroit, Baltimore, Washington D.C., Boston, and New York (in that order), with only the last three cities getting more than one show. It may, or may not, be the last time they tour the States. Stacy said “I think we are basically pretty certain this is the last tour of this type we’ll be doing in the States. There might be the odd sort of one-off here and there. We’re not saying this is absolutely, definitely the end.”^[16]

Members[link]

Current

• Shane MacGowan - vocals, guitar, banjo, bodhrán (1982–1991, 2001–present)
• Spider Stacy - vocals, tin whistle (1982–1996, 2001–present)
• Jem Finer - banjo, mandola, saxophone, hurdy-gurdy, guitar, vocals (1982–1996, 2001–present)
• Andrew Ranken - drums, percussion, harmonica, vocals (1982–1996, 2001–present)
• James Fearnley - accordion, mandolin, piano, guitar (1982–1993, 2001–present)
• Philip Chevron - guitar, vocals (1985–1994, 2001–present)
• Darryl Hunt - bass guitar (1986–1996, 2001–present)
• Terry Woods - mandolin, cittern, concertina, guitar, vocals (1986–1993, 2001–present)

Former members

• Cait O'Riordan - bass, vocals (1982–1986, 2004)
• Joe Strummer - vocals, guitar (1991–1992; also replaced an ailing Phil Chevron for a U.S. tour in 1987; died 2002)
• Dave Coulter - mandolin, violin, ukulele, percussion (1993–1996)
• James McNally - accordion, whistles, percussion (1993–1996)
• Jamie Clarke - guitar, vocals (1995–1996)

Discography[link]

Hit-song 'Fairytale of New York'[link]

"Fairytale of New York" was released as a single in 1987 and reached #1 in the Irish charts and #2 in the British charts over Christmas (the time of peak sales). The song has become a festive classic in the UK and Ireland over the years, and was voted the best Christmas song of all time three years running in 2004,^[17] 2005,^[18] and 2006 in polls by music channel VH1 UK, despite not achieving Christmas Number One when it was released. It was also voted as the 27th greatest song never to reach UK#1 in another VH1 poll, and also voted as the 84th greatest song of all time by BBC Radio 2 listeners in their "Sold on Song" top 100 poll. In 2007 the record was briefly censored by the BBC because of the word "faggot" being deemed potentially offensive to gay people. Following protests from listeners, including the mother of Kirsty MacColl, the censorship was lifted.

Albums[link]

• Red Roses for Me (1984): #89 UK
• Rum Sodomy & the Lash (1985): #13 UK
• If I Should Fall from Grace with God (1988): #3 UK, #88 US, #15 NO
• Peace and Love (1989): #5 UK, #118 US, #13 NO
• Hell's Ditch (1990) #12 UK, #187 US
• Waiting for Herb (1993): #20 UK
• Pogue Mahone (1996)^[19][20]

Live albums[link]

• Streams of Whiskey: Live in Leysin, Switzerland 1991 (2002)
• The Ultimate Collection including Live at the Brixton Academy 2001 (2005): #15 UK

Compilation albums[link]

• The Best of The Pogues (1991): #11 UK
• Essential Pogues (1991)
• The Rest of The Best (1992)
• The Very Best of The Pogues (2001): #18 UK
• The Ultimate Collection (2005): #15 UK
• Dirty Old Town: The Platinum Collection (Budget CD) (2005)
• Just Look Them Straight in the Eye and Say....POGUE MAHONE!! (Anthology/Box Set of rare and unreleased tracks) (2008)

Video[link]

• The Pogues: Live at The Town & Country Club St Patricks Day 1988 VHS 1988
• POGUEVISION" Music Video Collection – VHS 1991

Singles[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Pogues site
• Official Shane MacGowan site
• The Guardian article
• "dirty old town"

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Tagged since June 2010. The notability of this article's subject is in question. If notability cannot be established, it may be listed for deletion or removed. Tagged since March 2009. It may contain wording that merely promotes the subject without imparting verifiable information. Tagged since March 2009.

Marcel Woods, real name Marcel Scheffers, is a Dutch DJ and producer from Eindhoven.

Biography[link]

Woods started to DJ in 1990. Over the past years, he has, among other things, played at Dance Valley, Defqon.1, Innercity, Sensation and Trance Energy. In 2006 Woods produced a huge hit Advanced which has become, with the help of DJ Tiësto, very popular and thus became the anthem of the 2006 Trance Energy event. He has produced many singles under the pseudonym Mr. Rowan and a remix of the Sensation Anthem 2002.

Discography[link]

Compilations[link]

• ID&T Hardtrance 4 (2004)
• Dance Valley Festival 2005: Sunset (2005)
• High Contrast Recordings presents Marcel Woods (2006)
• Musical Madness (2008)
• Open All Hours (2012)

Singles[link]

• Marcel Woods - De Bom
• Nico Parisi vs. Marcel Woods / DJ Frederik - Dramatic Feelings / Reflections
• Marcel Woods - The Exsample E.P.
• Woods & Jorn - Trance Maniac
• Marcel Woods - Driver EP (1997)
• Marcel Woods - BlackMen (1999)
• Marcel Woods - In Your Soul (1999)
• Marcel Woods - Mescalinum / Believer (1999)
• Mr. Rowan - Freedom EP (1999)
• Mr. Rowan - The Past, Present, & Future E.P. (1999)
• Marcel Woods - Push-E-Cat (2000)
• Marcel Woods - De Bom 2001 (2001)
• DJ Gert vs. DJ Marcel Woods - Once Upon A Time In The West (2001)
• Marcel Woods & Walt - Te Quiero (2001)
• Marcel Woods - De Bom 2001 Revisited (2002)
• Marcel Woods - Drama (2002)
• DJ Gert vs. Marcel Woods - Once Upon A Time In The West (Remixes) (2002)
• Mr. Rowan - Skinny Witch Bitch Size Two (2002)
• Marcel Woods - A Decade (2003)
• Marcel Woods - Serenity (2003)
• Marcel Woods - Time's Running Out (2003)
• Marcel Woods - Static State (2004)
• Marcel Woods - Advanced (2005)
• Marcel Woods - Cherry Blossom / Beautiful Mind (2005)
• Marcel Woods vs. Jesselyn - Flora / Fauna (2005)
• Marcel Woods - Accelerate (2006)
• Marcel Woods - Monotone (2006)
• Marcel Woods - Signed, Sealed And Delivered (It's Yours E.P.) (2006)
• Marcel Woods - 3Stortion & Lemon Tree (High Contrast Recordings) (2007)
• Marcel Woods - Don't tar me with same brush & Get The Kleenex (High Contrast Recordings) (2007)
• Marcel Woods - Life is like a box of chocolates (High Contrast Recordings) (2008)
• Marcel Woods - Beautiful Mind 2008 (High Contrast Recordings) (2008)
• Marcel Woods - Inside Me (High Contrast Recordings) (2009)
• Marcel Woods - Everything (High Contrast Recordings) (2009)
• Marcel Woods - Tomorrow (High Contrast Recordings) (2010)
• Marcel Woods - The Bottle (High Contrast Recordings) (2010)
• Marcel Woods - BPM (High Contrast Recordings) (2010)
• Marcel Woods - Champagne Dreams (High Contrast Recordings) (2011)
• Marcel Woods - Sunrise (High Contrast Recordings) (2011)
• Marcel Woods - Questionary (Musical Madness) (2011)

External links[link]

• http://www.marcelwoods.com www.marcelwoods.com
• http://trancehub.com/interviews/marcel-woods-musical-madness-3/ Trance Hub interview of Marcel Woods