Parking lot

A parking lot (Australian and British English: car park), also known as a car lot, is a cleared area that is intended for parking vehicles. Usually, the term refers to a dedicated area that has been provided with a durable or semi-durable surface. In most countries where cars are the dominant mode of transportation, parking lots are a feature of every city and suburban area. Shopping malls, sports stadiums, megachurches and similar venues often feature parking lots of immense area. The term "parking lot" is an abbreviation of the term "parking lottery", due to the difficulty in finding spaces.

Parking lots tend to be sources of water pollution because of their extensive impervious surfaces. Most existing lots have limited or no facilities to control runoff. Many areas today also require minimum landscaping in parking lots, which means that their paved surfaces contribute to heat islands. Many municipalities require a minimum number of parking spaces, depending on the floor area in a store or the number of bedrooms in an apartment complex. In the United States, each state's Department of Transportation sets the proper ratio for disabled spaces for private business and public parking lots. Various forms of technology are used to charge motorists for the use of a parking lot. Modern parking lots use a variety of technologies to help motorists find unoccupied parking spaces, retrieve their vehicles, and improve their experience.

Vanessa Carlton

Vanessa Lee Carlton (born August 16, 1980) is an American singer-songwriter. Upon completion of her education at the School of American Ballet, Carlton chose to pursue singing instead, performing in New York City bars and clubs while attending university. Three months after recording a demo with producer Peter Zizzo, she signed with A&M Records. She began recording her album, which was initially unsuccessful until Ron Fair took over.

Her debut single, "A Thousand Miles", reached the top five on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2002. Her debut album, Be Not Nobody, followed and received a platinum certification in the United States. Her subsequent albums, Harmonium (2004) and Heroes & Thieves (2007), failed to match the commercial success of the first. She produced a fourth album, Rabbits on the Run (2011), independently before seeking a record label to release it. Carlton released a holiday EP titled Hear the Bells in November 2012, and released her fifth studio album, Liberman, on October 23, 2015.

Nelly Furtado

Nelly Kim Furtado /ˌfɜːrˈtɑːdoʊ/, ComIH (born December 2, 1978) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She has sold 20 million albums worldwide and more than 20 million singles, bringing her total sales to over 40 million records around the world. Furtado first gained fame with her debut album, Whoa, Nelly!, which spawned two successful singles, "I'm Like a Bird" and "Turn Off the Light". "I'm Like A Bird" won a 2001 Juno Award for Single of the Year and a 2002 Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. In 2003, Furtado released Folklore, which produced three international singles: "Powerless (Say What You Want)", "Try", and "Força".

Three years later, she released Loose, a worldwide commercial success with 10 million copies sold. The album spawned two number-one hits: "Promiscuous" and "Say It Right." After a three-year break, she released her first full-length Spanish album, Mi Plan, and Furtado received a Latin Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Album. In 2012, Furtado's fourth English-language studio album, The Spirit Indestructible, was released.

Casey Veggies

Casey Jones, better known by his stage name Casey Veggies (born July 18, 1993), is an American hip hop recording artist from Inglewood, California. Since 2007, he has released five independent mixtapes under LA clothing and management company Peas & Carats Intl. His most recent mixtape, Fresh Veggies, was released on December 16, 2013. His debut studio album, Live & Grow, was released on September 25, 2015.

Early life

Casey Jones was born in Inglewood, California on July 18, 1993.

Career

2007–12: Career beginnings and Customized Greatly series

At the age of 14, Casey released his first mixtape, titled Customized Greatly Vol. 1; while he was going through by his stage name at the time, as Custom. Casey was one of the founding members of the hip hop collective Odd Future, appearing on the collective's first effort The Odd Future Tape, before he decided to branch out on his own, after his first mixtape release. In an interview with Respect Mag, Casey stated it as: "It’s hard to explain, really, but I just had more of a [different] vision for my own rap career. I wanted to do my own thing."

Joni Mitchell

Roberta Joan "Joni" Mitchell, CC (née Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and painter. Mitchell's work is highly respected by critics, and she has deeply influenced fellow musicians in a diverse range of genres. Rolling Stone has called her "one of the greatest songwriters ever", and AllMusic has stated, "When the dust settles, Joni Mitchell may stand as the most important and influential female recording artist of the late 20th century". Her lyrics are noted for their developed poetics, addressing social and environmental ideals alongside personal feelings of romantic longing, confusion, disillusion, and joy.

Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto. In 1965, she moved to the United States and began touring. Some of her original songs ("Urge for Going", "Chelsea Morning", "Both Sides, Now", "The Circle Game") were covered by folk singers, allowing her to sign with Reprise Records and record her debut album in 1968. Settling in Southern California, Mitchell, with popular songs like "Big Yellow Taxi" and "Woodstock", helped define an era and a generation. Her 1971 recording Blue was rated the 30th best album ever made in Rolling Stone's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Mitchell switched labels and began moving toward jazz rhythms by way of lush pop textures on 1974's Court and Spark, her best-selling LP, featuring the radio hits "Help Me" and "Free Man in Paris".