Headstone

A headstone, or gravestone is a stele or marker, usually stone, that is placed over a grave. A tombstone is a stele or marker, usually stone, that is placed over a tomb. They are traditional for burials in the Christian, Jewish and Muslim religions, among others. In most cases they have the deceased's name, date of birth, and date of death inscribed on them, along with a personal message, or prayer, but they may contain pieces of funerary art, especially details in stone relief. In many parts of Europe insetting a photograph of the deceased in a frame is very common.

Use

The stele (plural stelae), as it is called in an archaeological context, is one of the oldest forms of funerary art. Originally, a tombstone was the stone lid of a stone coffin, or the coffin itself, and a gravestone was the stone slab that was laid over a grave. Now all three terms are also used for markers placed at the head of the grave. Some graves in the 18th century also contained footstones to demarcate the foot end of the grave. This sometimes developed into full kerb sets that marked the whole perimeter of the grave. Footstones were rarely annotated with more than the deceased's initials and year of death, and sometimes a memorial mason and plot reference number. Many cemeteries and churchyards have removed those extra stones to ease grass cutting by machine mower. Note that in some UK cemeteries the principal, and indeed only, marker is placed at the foot of the grave.

Ghost Machine

Ghost Machine is a five-piece music group from the United States. The band is also known for featuring two members from Motograter, vocalist Ivan Moody (Ghost), also vocalist for Five Finger Death Punch, and drummer Chris "Crispy" Binns, and John Stevens of The Clay People.

History

Ghost Machine came together when vocalist Ivan Moody and guitarist John Stevens met at XM Radio. Ivan's band Motograter, previously signed to Elektra Records, were to perform live on-air, when John, an XM Radio producer, impressed with Ivan's vocals, thought he would be a good fit with the material he had written for his previous project.

After several recording sessions, drummer Chris Binns of Motograter (Formally of Intrinsic) was recruited, along with electronics/keyboards/programmer Brett Davis and finally bassist Mike McLaughlin (Formally of Intrinsic).

The band released their self-titled debut album Ghost Machine on July 26, 2005 via their own label Black Blood Records. The album was engineered and co-produced by Pete Murray (Lo-Pro).

Miss Me

"Miss Me" is the third single by Canadian recording artist Drake from his debut album Thank Me Later. The song features label mate and Young Money founder Lil Wayne. It was produced by Drake's long-time collaborators Boi-1da and 40. It debuted and peaked at number fifteen on Billboard, becoming the third consecutive track to attain chart success from the album. On March 30, 2011, the track was certified Gold by the RIAA for sales of 500,000 copies in the US.

Background

The song was originally by rapper Bun B featuring Drake for his 3rd album, Trill OG, with a different chorus, entitled "All Night Long." This version was never released, but a version with Drake's and Bun B's verses and the final chorus was released as the "OG Mix", which is the official remix of the song, on September 13, 2010 on Bun B's Twitter page. The song samples "Wildflower" by Hank Crawford.

Music video

The music video was directed by Anthony Mandler. Drake shot his scenes on July 15, 2010. Shots of Lil Wayne were filmed in early 2010 by director David Rousseau before Wayne went to jail. The video premiered at 8 PM Eastern Standard Time on August 19, 2010 on MTV.

Esther Phillips

Esther Phillips (December 23, 1935 – August 7, 1984) was an American singer. Phillips was known for her R&B vocals, but she was a versatile singer, also performing pop, country, jazz, blues and soul music.

Biography

Early life

Born Esther Mae Jones in Galveston, Texas. When she was an adolescent, her parents divorced, and she was forced to divide her time between her father in Houston and her mother in the Watts area of Los Angeles. Because she was brought up singing in church, she was hesitant to enter a talent contest at a local blues club, but her sister insisted and she complied. A mature singer at the age of 14, she won the amateur talent contest in 1949 at the Barrelhouse Club owned by Johnny Otis. Otis was so impressed that he recorded her for Modern Records and added her to his traveling revue, the California Rhythm and Blues Caravan, billed as "Little Esther Phillips" (she reportedly took the surname from a gas station sign).

Early career

Her first hit record was "Double Crossing Blues", recorded in 1950 for Savoy Records. After several hit records with Savoy, including her duet with Mel Walker on "Mistrusting Blues", which went to number one that year, as did "Cupid Boogie". Other Phillips records that made it onto the U.S. Billboard R&B chart in 1950 include "Misery" (number 9), "Deceivin' Blues" (number 4), "Wedding Boogie" (number 6), and "Faraway Blues" (number 6). Few female artists, R&B or otherwise, had ever enjoyed such success in their debut year. Phillips left Otis and the Savoy label at the end of 1950 and signed with Federal Records.

Balls to the Wall

Balls to the Wall is the fifth album by German heavy metal band Accept. European label Lark Records released the album in December 1983, but its US release was delayed until a month later in January 1984 as to not compete with the band's then-current album Restless and Wild, which had arrived in the US in early 1983. It is Accept's only record to attain Gold certification in America. The album's title track became Accept's signature tune and remains a metal anthem and trademark in the genre.

Album information

Some of the album's success can no doubt be attributed to the publicity generated from the minor "gay metal" controversy that broke out upon its American release, due to the record's title and front cover being deemed by some as homoerotic, as well as the lyrics to "London Leatherboys" and "Love Child" appearing to concern homosexuals. Guitarist Wolf Hoffmann was dismissive of the controversy, saying years later that "You Americans are so uptight about this. In Europe it was never a big deal...we just wanted to be controversial and different and touch on these touchy subjects, because it gave us good press and it worked fabulously, you know". Drummer Stefan Kaufmann explained that many of the themes on the album were about oppressed minorities in general. "London Leatherboys" was really about bikers, for example: "They're normal people, they just look different and they behave different. But they're normal people, another minority. And 'Love Child' was about gays, true, but it's basically about people who are suppressed." Concerning the homosexuality issues themselves, Kauffmann said in an interview with French magazine Enfer (n°7, 1983):