Believe (Emerson Drive album)
Believe is the sixth studio album by Canadian country music group Emerson Drive. The album was released in Canada on May 5, 2009 via Midas/Valory/Open Road. The album's first single, "Belongs to You," reached the top forty on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in the United States.
Critical reception
The album received mixed reviews from music critics. It received a three-and-a-half star rating from Todd Sterling of AllMusic, who said that the album was "slickly produced" and that it "sticks to the well-worn formula of the group's previous releases," but said that it had "every color of the musical rainbow." Sterling cited "Your Last" as a standout, calling it a "lump-in-the-throat masterpiece." Jim Malec of The 9513 gave it one star out of five, referring to the song's lyrics as largely cliché in nature and saying, "There is not a single song on Believe worth hearing. It is an entirely disposable album that is unoriginal, uninteresting and unnecessary." Malec also criticized the album's sound, saying that the mixing of instruments and Brad Mates' vocals did not seem cohesive.
Ocean Avenue (album)
Ocean Avenue is the fourth studio album by the American rock band Yellowcard. The album was the band's major-label debut and brought them to prominence. It was a commercial success in the United States, led by titular hit single "Ocean Avenue". The album received generally positive reviews from music critics and has been certified platinum in sales by the RIAA and gold by the CRIA. It was produced by Neal Avron, and released on July 22, 2003 through Capitol Records.
In 2013, the band released an acoustic version of the album, Ocean Avenue Acoustic, in honor of the album's tenth anniversary.
Commercial performance and promotion
Ocean Avenue sold 11,000 copies in its first week in the U.S., debuting at #23. It is Yellowcard's most successful album and has been certified Platinum for sales in excess of 1,000,000. It was released as an enhanced CD in some countries. The enhanced CD includes a video entitled "The Making of Ocean Avenue" and a previously unreleased video of the song "Powder" (from The Underdog EP). In 2005, the album was released as a Special Edition in Malaysia, with live videos and music videos. The album was re-released on limited edition vinyl in 2011.
Believe (Morgan Page album)
Believe is the second album from producer, songwriter, DJ, and remixer Morgan Page, released on February 23, 2010.
The first single from Believe was "Fight For You", featuring guest vocals from Elisabeth Maurus (a.k.a. Lissie). "Fight For You" has been featured in live sets by artists such as Tiesto, Armin van Buuren, Above & Beyond, Dave Dresden, and Hernan Cattaneo. The single was #6 on AOL's Top 10 Dance Songs of 2009, and was also featured as a free track on the iPod Touch/iPhone app Tap Tap Revenge 2.
Page's second single, a cover of Pete Yorn's "Strange Condition", also features vocals from Elisabeth Maurus.
Critical reception
Believe received generally positive reviews. David Jeffries from Allmusic gave the album 3.5 out of 5 stars, writing: "While the melancholic mood throughout the record might wear on some, Believe is a well-crafted mood piece for the prog house faithful, featuring all the murky atmosphere the producer’s underserved fans crave."
About.com writer Scott Nelson gave the album 5 out of 5 stars, saying Morgan had "really figured out his place in dance music as the arrangement and production are pretty much perfect". Nelson singled out Maurus' voice as a better compliment for Page's music than the other singers featured on the album.
Serge (llama)
Serge the llama (born 29 June 2005, Saint-Nazaire) is a llama in the circus Cirque Franco-Italien of John Beautour and internet meme. Serge was named after the French singer Serge Lama, who described the choice of name as "genius".
During the night of 30 to 31 October, while the circus was performing in Bordeaux, the llama was taken from its cage by a group of five youngsters returning from a disco. They took the llama out for a walk, posted some pictures on social media, and took it on a tram. The five were arrested by the police and Serge was returned to his owner, unharmed.
Initially the circus director John Beautour pressed charges. However, the photos went viral on the internet, leading to a lot of publicity for the circus. Beautour subsequently dropped the charges.
The llama, now a celebrity, was bookable for parties at 1200 euros per event, and appeared as a mascot at soccer games.
A parody Stromae's song Papaoutai "Lamaoutai" was viewed more than 4 million times on YouTube. The parody was made with the cooperation of the circus and Serge himself.
Serge (name)
Sergius /ˈsɜːrdʒ/ is a male given name of Roman origin. Although it is highly infrequent in the English language, variants of Sergius are a common in various languages historically linked to Christendom and the Roman Empire. Examples are Sérgio in Portuguese, Sergiu in Romanian, Sergio in Italian and Spanish, Sergey / Sergei in Russian and Serge in French.
Etymology
The name originates from the Roman nomen (patrician family name) Sergius, and this from a more ancient Etruscan name.
Worldwide
The Armenian male given name Սարգիս (Sarkis) is descended from Sergius. Сергей (transliteration Sergey or Sergei pronounced [sʲɪrˈɡʲej]), is a male given name, very common in Russia because of the popularity of the Russian Orthodox saint Sergius of Radonezh. It is also used in Bulgaria. There is no corresponding female version of this name. The diminutive form of this name is Серёжа (transliteration Seryozha pronounced [sʲɪˈrʲɵʐə]). The name Сергей was especially popular in Russia in the 1980s, when it was second only to Aleksandr. Сергій (transliteration Serhiy, Sergiy, Sergii or Serhii pronounced [sɛrˈɦij]) is a male given name in Ukraine. The diminutive form of this name is Сергійко (transliteration Sergiyko or Serhiyko pronounced [sɛrˈɦijkɔ]). Сяргей (transliteration Siarhei pronounced [sʲarˈɣʲej]) is a male given name in Belarus. The diminutive form of this name is Сяргейка (transliteration Siarheika pronounced [sʲarˈɣʲejka]). Σέργιος (transliteration Sergios or Seryios) is the male name of Serge in the Greek language. It is not very well-known although it was being used mostly in the past years.
Serge synthesizer
The Serge synthesizer (aka Serge Modular or Serge Modular Music System) is an analogue modular synthesizer system originally developed by Serge Tcherepnin, Rich Gold and Randy Cohen at CalArts in late 1972. The first 20 Serge systems (then called "Tcherepnins") were built in 1973 in Tcherepnin's home. Tcherepnin was a professor at CalArts at the time, and desired to create something like the exclusively expensive Buchla modular synthesizers "for the people that would be both inexpensive and powerful." After building prototypes, Tcherepnin went on to develop kits for students to affordably build their own modular synthesizer, production taking place unofficially on a second floor Calarts balcony. This led to Tcherepnin leaving CalArts in order to produce kits commercially, starting in 1974. Commercial builds of Serge synthesizers are currently available from Sound Transform Systems (STS) in Hartland, Wisconsin, USA, while a number of others enterprises offer DIY versions.
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