Samara (Russian: Сама́ра; IPA: [sɐˈmarə]), known from 1935 to 1991 as Kuybyshev (Ку́йбышев; IPA: [ˈkujbɨʂəf]), is the sixth largestcity in Russia. It is situated in the southeastern part of European Russia at the confluence of the Volga and Samara Rivers on the east bank of the Volga. The Volga acts as the city's western boundary; across the river are the Zhiguli Mountains, after which the local beer (Zhigulyovskoye) is named. The northern boundary is formed by the Sokolyi Hills and by the steppes in the south and east. The land within the city boundaries covers 46,597 hectares (115,140 acres). Samara is the administrative center of Samara Oblast. Population: 1,164,896 (2010 Census preliminary results); 1,157,880 (2002 Census); 1,254,460 (1989 Census)..

The metropolitan area of Samara-Tolyatti-Syzran within Samara Oblast constitutes the population of more than three million people. Formerly a closed city, Samara is now a large and important social, political, economic, industrial, and cultural center of European Russia, which in May 2007 hosted the European Union—Russia Summit.

Russia ⁱ/ˈrʌʃə/ or /ˈrʊʃə/ (Russian: Россия, tr. Rossiya; IPA: [rɐˈsʲijə] ( listen)), also officially known as the Russian Federation (Russian: Российская Федерация, tr. Rossiyskaya Federatsiya; IPA: [rɐˈsʲijskəjə fʲɪdʲɪˈratsɨjə] ( listen)), is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects. From northwest to southeast, Russia shares borders with Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland (both via Kaliningrad Oblast), Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, and North Korea. It also has maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk, and the US state of Alaska by the Bering Strait. At 17,075,400 square kilometres (6,592,800 sq mi), Russia is the largest country in the world, covering more than one eighth of the Earth's inhabited land area. Russia is also the eighth most populous nation with 143 million people. It extends across the whole of northern Asia and 40% of Europe, spanning nine time zones and incorporating a wide range of environments and landforms. Russia has the world's largest reserves of mineral and energy resources and is the largest producer of oil and natural gas globally. Russia has the world's largest forest reserves and its lakes contain approximately one-quarter of the world's fresh water.

James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of funk music and is a major figure of 20th century popular music and dance.

In a career that spanned decades, Brown profoundly influenced the development of many different musical genres. Brown moved on a continuum of blues and gospel-based forms and styles to a profoundly "Africanized" approach to music making. Brown performed in concerts, first making his rounds across the Chitlin' Circuit, and then across the country and later around the world, along with appearing in shows on television and in movies. Although he contributed much to the music world through his hitmaking, Brown holds the record as the artist who charted the most singles on the Billboard Hot 100 without ever hitting number one on that chart.

For many years, Brown's touring show was one of the most extravagant productions in American popular music. At the time of Brown's death, his band included three guitarists, two bass guitar players, two drummers, three horns and a percussionist. The bands that he maintained during the late 1960s and 1970s were of comparable size, and the bands also included a three-piece amplified string section that played during ballads. Brown employed between 40 and 50 people for the James Brown Revue, and members of the revue traveled with him in a bus to cities and towns all over the country, performing upwards of 330 shows a year with almost all of the shows as one-nighters. In 1986, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and in 1990 into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Tommy Finke (b. February 4, 1981 in Bochum, Germany) is a singer-songwriter of Indie, German rock and pop music, and a composer of electronic and computer music.

Tommy Finke was born Thomas David Finke in Bochum, Germany. Since 1998 he has been on stage, first playing cover versions of Oasis songs, and later his own material. Bands like The Beatles, The Cure, Rio Reiser and The Police are the main influences in his work, as well as German Indie bands like Tocotronic and Die Sterne.

Finke was the lead singer of different project bands before he finally started his own band, called "Stromgitarre", in 1999. However, since he wrote all the music and lyrics, the band was renamed "Tommy Finke & Stromgitarre" in 2003. The band was later renamed again and became "Tommy Finke & Band".

Tommy Finke studied "Elektronische Komposition" at the renowned Folkwang Hochschule in Essen from 2003 on. In 2008 he graduated but decided to continue his studies in order to learn more about modern music.

In 2007, Tommy Finke founded his own record label, "Retter des Rock Records", in order to release his debut album "Repariert, was Euch kaputt macht!", which was released as a vinyl record in 2007 and re-released as a CD Version in 2008.

Fred Durst (born August 20, 1970) is an American musician and film director from Jacksonville, Florida. Durst grew up in Gastonia, North Carolina and played in a number of local bands in Florida while mowing lawns and working as a tattoo artist for financial support. Durst is best known as the vocalist of the multi-platinum rock band Limp Bizkit, formed in 1994, with whom he has released six studio albums.

Since 2006, Durst has also become known for his work in independent films. He costarred in the film Population 436, and made his directorial debut in 2007 with the film The Education of Charlie Banks. Durst directed a second film, The Longshots in 2008, and will direct another film, Pawn Shop Chronicles, which is currently in production.

Fred Durst was born and grew up in Gastonia, North Carolina, where he took an interest in breakdancing, hip hop, punk rock and heavy metal. He began to rap, skate, beatbox and deejay. After dropping out of United States Navy bootcamp, Durst returned to Jacksonville, Florida, where he mowed lawns and worked as a tattoo artist for money, and began developing an idea for a band that combined elements of rock and hip hop.