Wax museum

A wax museum or waxworks usually consists of a collection of wax sculptures representing famous people from history and contemporary personalities exhibited in lifelike poses, wearing real clothes.

Some wax museums have a special section dubbed the 'chamber of horrors' in which the more grisly exhibits are displayed. Some collections are more specialized, as for example collections of wax medical models once used for training medical professionals. Many museums or displays in historical houses that are not wax museums as such use wax figures as part of their displays. The origin of wax museums goes back to the early 18th century at least, and wax funeral effigies of royalty and some other figures exhibited by their tombs had essentially been tourist attractions well before that.

History before 1800

The making of life-size wax figures wearing real clothes grew out of the funeral practices of European royalty. In the Middle Ages it was the habit to carry the corpse, fully dressed, on top of the coffin at royal funerals, but this sometimes had unfortunate consequences in hot weather, and the custom of making an effigy in wax for this role grew, again wearing actual clothes so that only the head and hands needed wax models. After the funeral these were often displayed by the tomb or elsewhere in the church, and became a popular attraction for visitors, which it was often necessary to pay to view.

David Wax Museum

David Wax Museum is a folk and roots rock band blending traditional Mexican Son music with Americana in what they call "Mexo-Americana." David Wax and Suz Slezak are its core members, while Jordan Wax (David's cousin), Chris Dammann, Danilo Henriquez, Charles Rivera, Philip Mayer, Mike Roberts, Greg Glassman, Alec Spiegelman, and Jiro Kokubu have played supporting roles. To date, all of the band's albums have been self-released, supported by grassroots efforts and an active touring schedule.

History

The David Wax Museum released its first album, I Turned Off Thinking About, in 2008. Its second album, Carpenter Bird (2009), included many tracks that would become staples in the band's live shows.

The band had its breakthrough after winning a contest for a spot at the 2010 Newport Folk Festival.Paste (magazine) dubbed the band "the breakout act" of the festival. The band was the winner in the Americana category in the 2010 Boston Music Awards.

In 2011, the band released the critically acclaimed album Everything Is Saved, featuring the song "Born with a Broken Heart," which would be named Song of the Year in the Boston Music Awards. After playing South by Southwest in 2011, Craig Duff in Time (magazine) dubbed the David Wax Museum one of the "Ten Acts That Rocked South by Southwest." They went on to play the main stage on the final day of the Newport Folk Festival. On the night of their performance, The Huffington Post ran a profile of the band in which Rob Kirkpatrick called them "The Best Band You Might Not Know."

Madame Tussauds

Madame Tussauds (UK /təˈsɔːdz/, US /tuːˈsoʊz/; the family themselves pronounce it /ˈtuːsoʊ/) is a wax museum in London with branches in a number of major cities. It was founded by wax sculptor Marie Tussaud. It used to be known as "Madame Tussaud's"; the apostrophe is no longer used. Madame Tussauds is a major tourist attraction in London, displaying waxworks.

History

Background

Marie Tussaud was born as Marie Grosholtz in 1761 in Strasbourg, France. Her mother worked as a housekeeper for Dr. Philippe Curtius in Bern, Switzerland, who was a physician skilled in wax modelling. Curtius taught Tussaud the art of wax modelling.

Museum

A museum (/mjuˈziːəm/; myoo-zee-um) is an institution that cares for (conserves) a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities throughout the world and more local ones exist in smaller cities, towns and even the countryside. Museums have varying aims, ranging from serving researchers and specialists to serving the general public. The goal of serving researchers is increasingly shifting to serving the general public.

Some of the most attended museums include the Louvre in Paris, the National Museum of China in Beijing, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., the British Museum in London, the National Gallery in London and The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. There are many types of museums, including art museums, natural history museums, science museums, war museums and children's museums.

Film festival

A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending upon the festival's focus, can include international and domestic releases. Some festivals focus on a specific film-maker or genre (e.g., film noir) or subject matter (e.g., horror film festivals). A number of film festivals specialise in short films of a defined maximum length. Film festivals are typically annual events. Some film historians do not consider Film Festivals as official releases of film, like Jerry Beck. The best known film festivals are the Venice Film Festival, the Cannes Film Festival, the Toronto Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, and the Berlin International Film Festival, the latter being the largest film festival worldwide, based on attendance. The Venice Film Festival is the oldest major festival. The Melbourne International Film Festival is the largest film festival in the Southern Hemisphere and one of the oldest in the world. A 2013 study found 3,000 active films festivals worldwide—active defined as having held an event in the previous 24 months.