Downtown

Downtown is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's core (or center) or central business district (CBD), often in a geographical, commercial, or communal sense. The term is not generally used in British English, whose speakers instead use the term city centre.

The term is thought to have been coined in New York City, where it was in use by the 1830s to refer to the original town at the southern tip of the island of Manhattan. As the town of New York grew into a city, the only direction it could grow on the island was toward the north, proceeding upriver from the original settlement (the "up" and "down" terminology in turn came from the customary map design in which up was north and down was south). Thus, anything north of the original town became known as "uptown" (Upper Manhattan), while the original town (which was also New York's only major center of business at the time) became known as "downtown" (Lower Manhattan).

During the late 19th century, the term was gradually adopted by cities across the United States and Canada to refer to the historical core of the city (which was most often the same as the commercial heart of the city). Notably, it was not included in dictionaries as late as the 1880s. But by the early 1900s, downtown was clearly established as the proper term in American English for a city's central business district.

Down Town

"Down Town" was the a 1987 release by The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu (better known as The KLF). The song is gospel music driven by house music rhythms, incorporating a sample of Petula Clark's 1964 single "Downtown".

Origins

In 1987, Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty formed The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu (The JAMs), and busily released provocatively sample-heavy electronic music with beatbox rhythms and Drummond's socially aware raps. Their debut single "All You Need Is Love" and album 1987 (What the Fuck Is Going On?) were both investigated by the Mechanical Copyright Protection Society, who ordered The JAMs to recall and destroy all unsold copies of 1987. A new single, "Whitney Joins The JAMs", followed, along with a satirically edited version of the album, 1987 (The JAMs 45 Edits), and the debut release from spinoff project Disco 2000, "I Gotta CD". By the time of the release of "Whitney Joins The JAMs", the duo's independent record label had been renamed KLF Communications, and in the coming year The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu would mutate into The KLF. In the meantime, "Down Town" was The JAMs' and KLF Communications' final release of 1987, a 7" and 12" single release of 30 November. It did not enter the UK Singles Chart, but made inroads into the UK independent chart.

Down Town (magazine)

Down Town is a magazine published in Greece by the Imako Media Group. Aimed at fashionable Greek adults, it is one of the best-selling weekly magazines in Greece with a circulation of 27,000. It was established in December 1995. The magazine often features sexually provocative content and always features an attractive female or male Greek celebrity on the cover.

2011 cover features included Sissi Christidou, Erika Prezerakou, Maria Solomou, Kalomoira Sarantis, Zeta Makrypoulia, Alexis Georgoulis, Katerina Papoutsaki, Michalis Hatzigiannis, Eleonora Meleti, Elli Kokkinou, Sakis Rouvas and Dimitra Matsouka.

References

Phunk Junkeez

The Phunk Junkeez are an American rap rock band from Phoenix, Arizona that formed in 1991 and have established a strong underground following. The band has toured the U.S. extensively, even making it as far as Japan.

The band plays music fusing a number of different styles, from hardcore punk to trip hop.

Eventually, the band was signed to Trauma Records/Interscope Records and have released six albums over the last 23 years.

The band has had member changes over its 24 years, especially on guitar, but three original members still make up part of the band to this day: Soulman (singer), Jumbo Jim (bass) and DJ Roach (singer and DJ).

History

The Phunk Junkeez founders, Kirk Reznik (a.k.a. "K-Tel Disco") and Joe Valiente ("Soulman"), started performing to prerecorded beats under the name "White Boy Rap," a name Soulman used for solo performances. Later, they performed as an opening act for such artists as MC Hammer and Run-D.M.C. That project turned into "BumRap" in 1987, followed by the "Phunk Junkeez" in 1990. In 1991 the two rappers, Reznik and Valente, joined forces with "Last Laugh" members Todd Mahoney on guitar and Jeff Holmes on bass (Holmes stayed on until 1994 as a production/tour manager). Soon after, Kirk & Joe merged with a local band, "Freak Squad," and later that year brought in DJ Roach Clip from their rap days. The band members included Jumbo Jim (bassist), Mike Kramer (guitarist), and Disco Danny Dynamite (a.k.a. Disco Danny D, Disco Dan, DK Mueller) on drums. The Phunk Junkeez were a massively popular act in the Valley throughout the early 1990s, playing huge, illegal warehouse keggers and routinely drawing more than 1,000 fans into clubs. DJs Soulman and Roach Clip are both natives of Alaska and grew up in the same trailer park, although never met until both had grown up and moved to Arizona.

Phunk Junkeez (album)

Phunk Junkeez is the Phunk Junkeez' first album, released in 1992 under their label Naked Language. It was re-released on March 21, 2002, under the Ichiban label.

Track listing

References