Big wheel

Big wheel may refer to:

Music

Media

Rain tree

Rain tree is a common name for several plants and may refer to:

Rain Tree Crow

Rain Tree Crow is the first and only album released by the English band Rain Tree Crow—a reunion project by the members of the new wave band Japan.

Recorded in 1989 and 1990 and released in April 1991, it was the first time that members David Sylvian, Mick Karn, Steve Jansen and Richard Barbieri had collaborated as a four-piece since 1982. The album peaked at number 24 on the UK Albums Chart.

Background and content

The majority of the material on the album was written as a result of group improvisations (aside from "Blackwater" and "Every Colour You Are"), with no pre-rehearsals.

The name Rain Tree Crow was chosen to mark a break from Japan's past, with the intention of creating a new long-term project. As the music turned out to be less commercial than originally envisaged, all members of the band aside from Sylvian became amenable to the idea of retaining the Japan moniker, in order to gain maximum exposure. However, Sylvian levered increasing artistic and production control over the project, to the point where the recording developed from a band effort into what was essentially another Sylvian solo project, leaving the other members as mere session players for the front man.

Shanty town

A shanty town or squatter area is a settlement of plywood, corrugated metal, sheets of plastic, and cardboard boxes. Such settlements are usually found on the periphery of cities, in public parks, or near railroad tracks, rivers, lagoons or city trash dump sites. Sometimes called a squatter, informal or spontaneous settlement, a typical shanty town often lacks proper sanitation, safe water supply, electricity, hygienic streets, or other basic human necessities.

Shanty towns are mostly found in developing nations, but also in some parts of developed nations.

Etymology

Shanty is probably from Canadian French chantier, a winter station established for the organization of lumberjacks.

Another possible derivation is from the Irish language sean tí meaning old house.

Hutment means an "encampment of huts". When the term is used by the military, it means "temporary living quarters specially built by the army for soldiers". The term is also a synonym for shanty town, particularly in developing countries.

Mick Karn

Andonis Michaelides (24 July 1958 – 4 January 2011), better known as Mick Karn, was a British multi-instrumentalist musician and songwriter, who rose to fame as the bassist for the art rock/new wave band Japan, from 1974 to 1982.

He died of cancer in January 2011.

Biography

Karn was born into a Greek Cypriot family, in Nicosia, Cyprus, as Andonis Michaelides, which was later modified to Antony Michaelides. He had an older brother and sister. In late October 1961, the family emigrated to London, England, when Andonis was three years old. He was educated at Catford Boys' School and remained based in London until 24 May 2004, when he moved back to Cyprus with his wife and son, remaining there for six years before moving back to London in late 2010.

1970s – early 1980s: Japan

The band Japan, whose other members included David Sylvian, keyboardist Richard Barbieri and Sylvian's brother Steve Jansen as drummer, began as a group of friends, who all studied at Catford Boys' School. As youngsters they played music as a means of escape, playing Sylvian's two-chord numbers – sometimes with Karn as the front man, sometimes with Sylvian at the fore. Guitarist Rob Dean joined the band later.