Circus

A circus is a company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other object manipulation and stunt-oriented artists. The term 'circus' also describes the performance which has followed various formats through its 150-year modern history. Philip Astley is credited with being the 'father' of the modern circus when he opened the first circus in 1768 in England. Early circuses were almost exclusively demonstrations of equestrian skills with a few other types of acts to link the horsemanship performances. Performances developed significantly through the next fifty years, with large scale theatrical battle reenactments becoming a significant feature. The 'traditional' format, whereby a ringmaster introduces a varied selection of acts that mostly perform choreographed acts to traditional music, developed in the latter part of 19th century and continued almost universally to be the main style of circus up until the 1970s.

Hero

A hero (masculine or gender-neutral) or heroine (feminine) (Ancient Greek: ἥρως, hḗrōs) is a person or main character of a literary work who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through impressive feats of ingenuity, bravery or strength, often sacrificing his or her own personal concerns for some greater good.

The concept of the hero was first founded in classical literature. It is the main or revered character in heroic epic poetry celebrated through ancient legends of a people; often striving for military conquest and living by a continually flawed personal honor code. The definition of a hero has changed throughout time, and the Merriam Webster dictionary defines a hero as "a person who is admired for great or brave acts or fine qualities". Examples of heroes range from mythological figures, such as Gilgamesh, Achilles and Iphigenia, to historical figures, such as Joan of Arc and Gandhi, to modern societal heroes like Rosa Parks.

Etymology

The word hero comes from the Greek ἥρως (hērōs), "hero, warrior", particularly one such as Heracles with divine ancestry or later given divine honors. (literally "protector" or "defender") Before the decipherment of Linear B the original form of the word was assumed to be *ἥρωϝ-, hērōw-; R. S. P. Beekes has proposed a Pre-Greek origin.

Circus Hero

Circus Hero is the debut album by Circa Zero. "Levitation" was released as a single and reached number 36 on the Japan Hot 100 chart.

Track listing

Personnel

Reception

Allmusic praised the album's style as "articulate and progressive power pop being played in a musical landscape otherwise littered with large chamber folk ensembles and over-processed electro-pop acts". They criticized the songs "Gamma Ray", "Summer Lies", "No Highway", and "Light the Fuse & Run" as being "uninspired", but concluded that the overall effort showed Andy Summers making a strong return to the same musical style as The Police.

Andy Summers

Andrew James "Andy" Summers (born 31 December 1942) is an English musician, born in Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire. Best known as the guitarist for the rock band The Police, he has also recorded twelve solo albums, collaborated with many other artists, toured extensively under his own name, published several books, and composed several film scores.

Early life

During Summers' childhood, his family moved to Bournemouth in Dorset, England. After several years of piano lessons, he took up the guitar at the age of thirteen. By age sixteen he was playing in local clubs and by nineteen he had moved to London with his friend Zoot Money to form Zoot Money's Big Roll Band.

Musical career

Pre-Police career

Summers' professional career began in the mid-1960s in London as the guitarist for the British rhythm and blues band Zoot Money's Big Roll Band, which eventually came under the influence of the spreading psychedelic scene and evolved into the acid rock group Dantalian's Chariot.

After the demise of Dantalion's Chariot, Summers joined The Soft Machine for a period of three months and toured the United States. For a brief time in 1968, he was a member of The Animals, then known as Eric Burdon and the Animals, with whom he recorded one album, Love Is. The album features a recording of Traffic's "Coloured Rain", which includes a guitar solo by Summers. The LP also included a reworked version of Dantalion's Chariot's sole single "Madman Running Through the Fields".

Heroes of the City

Heroes of the City, (Original "Stadens Hjältar" ) is a TV series for preschool children with stories about friendship, sharing and caring. The plot revolves around emergency vehicles Paulie Police Car and Fiona Fire Engine, who tackles new missions in every episode.

Heroes of the City was created in Sweden in 2009, and is broadcast on television in over 70 countries. Season 1 is written by Swedish screenwriters. Seasons 2 is mainly written by American screenwriters.

Series overview

References