Concrete Blonde

Concrete Blonde is an alternative rock band based in the United States. They were active from 1982 to 1995, from 2001 to 2004, and then reunited in 2010 and have been active since. They are best known for their 1990 album Bloodletting, their top 20 single "Joey", and Johnette Napolitano's distinctive vocal style.

Biography

Singer-songwriter/bassist Johnette Napolitano formed the band Dream 6 with guitarist James Mankey in Los Angeles in 1982. The band released a single called "Heart Attack" under the name Dreamers on the 1982 compilation album, The D.I.Y. Album; this was evidently their first recording. As Dream 6, they released an eponymous EP in France on the Happy Hermit label in 1983. When they signed with I.R.S. Records in 1986, labelmate Michael Stipe suggested the name Concrete Blonde, describing the contrast between their hard rock music and introspective lyrics. They were joined by drummer Harry Rushakoff on their eponymous debut album.

Their first release was 1986's Concrete Blonde, which included "Still in Hollywood". They added a second guitarist, Alan Bloch, for their 1989 release, Free. This album included the college radio hit "God Is a Bullet".

Johnette Napolitano

Johnette Napolitano (born September 22, 1957, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California) is an American singer, songwriter and bassist best known as the lead vocalist/songwriter and bassist for the alternative rock group Concrete Blonde.

Solo career

She has also recorded as a solo artist, with the albums Sketchbook (2002), Sketchbook 2 (2006), Scarred (2007), Sketchbook 3 (2010) and as a member of:

A Woman

A Woman was Charlie Chaplin's ninth film for Essanay Films. It was made in Los Angeles at the Majestic Studio and released in 1915. The film starts with Chaplin meeting Edna (Edna Purviance) and her parents in a park; the mother is played by Marta Golden and the father by Charles Insley. In this film, Chaplin dresses as a woman to fool Edna's father. It was the third and last time Chaplin played the role of a woman on film. He played a woman in two Keystone films: The Masquerader and A Busy Day.

Cast

External links

Blond

Blond or blonde (see below), or fair hair, is a hair color characterized by low levels of the dark pigment eumelanin. The resultant visible hue depends on various factors, but always has some sort of yellowish color. The color can be from the very pale blond (caused by a patchy, scarce distribution of pigment) to reddish "strawberry" blond colors or golden-brownish ("sandy") blond colors (the latter with more eumelanin). On the Fischer–Saller scale blond color ranges from A to J (blond brown).

Etymology, spelling, and grammar

The word "blond" is first attested in English in 1481 and derives from Old French blund, blont meaning "a colour midway between golden and light chestnut". It gradually eclipsed the native term "fair", of same meaning, from Old English fæġer, causing "fair" later to become a general term for "light complexioned". This earlier use of "fair" survives in the proper name Fairfax, from Old English fæġer-feahs meaning "blond hair".

The French (and thus also the English) word "blond" has two possible origins. Some linguists say it comes from Medieval Latin blundus, meaning "yellow", from Old Frankish blund which would relate it to Old English blonden-feax meaning "grey-haired", from blondan/blandan meaning "to mix" (Cf. blend). Also, Old English beblonden meant "dyed" as ancient Germanic warriors were noted for dying their hair. However, linguists who favor a Latin origin for the word say that Medieval Latin blundus was a vulgar pronunciation of Latin flavus, also meaning yellow. Most authorities, especially French, attest the Frankish origin. The word was reintroduced into English in the 17th century from French, and was for some time considered French; in French, "blonde" is a feminine adjective; it describes a woman with blond hair.

Concrete

Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement which hardens over time. Most use of the term "concrete" refers to Portland cement concrete or to concretes made with other hydraulic cements, such as ciment fondu. However, road surfaces are also a type of concrete, "asphaltic concrete", where the cement material is bitumen.

In Portland cement concrete (and other hydraulic cement concretes), when the aggregate is mixed together with the dry cement and water, they form a fluid mass that is easily molded into shape. The cement reacts chemically with the water and other ingredients to form a hard matrix which binds all the materials together into a durable stone-like material that has many uses. Often, additives (such as pozzolans or superplasticizers) are included in the mixture to improve the physical properties of the wet mix or the finished material. Most concrete is poured with reinforcing materials (such as rebar) embedded to provide tensile strength, yielding reinforced concrete.