Erasure

Erasure (/ᵻˈreɪʒər/) are an English synthpop duo, consisting of singer and songwriter Andy Bell and songwriter and keyboardist Vince Clarke. They formed in London, and entered the music scene in 1985 with their debut single "Who Needs Love Like That". Following the release of their fourth single "Sometimes", the duo established itself on the UK Singles Chart and became one of the most successful artists of the late 1980s to mid-1990s.

From 1986 to 2007, Erasure achieved 24 consecutive Top 40 hits in the UK, while having three Top 20 hits in the US (on the Billboard Hot 100): "A Little Respect", "Chains of Love", and "Always". By 2009, 34 of their 45 singles and EPs (of which 8 out of the 45 were not chart eligible in the UK) had made the UK Top 40, with 17 climbing into the Top 10. At the 1989 Brit Awards, Erasure won the Brit Award for Best British Group.

The duo are most popular in their native UK and mainland Europe (especially Germany, Denmark and Sweden) and also in South America (especially Argentina, Chile and Peru). To date, they have sold over 25 million albums worldwide. The band is also popular within the LGBT community, for whom openly gay Bell has become a gay icon.

Erasure (heraldry)

Erasure in blazonry, the language of heraldry, is the tearing off of part of a charge, leaving a jagged edge of it remaining. Due to the usual construction of blazons, this is most often found in its adjectival form (i.e., erased), usually applied to animate charges, most often used of heads but sometimes other body parts. When a tree or other plant is shown uprooted (with the bare roots showing), it is eradicated.

The term erased is most often used of an animal's head, when the neck is depicted with a ragged edge as if forcibly torn from the body. Erased heads are distinct from those couped, in that the former are cut off along a jagged line while the latter are cut off along a straight line.

John Craig's dictionary of 1854 says:

Forms of erasure

There are different traditions for the erasing of heads. For instance, with the head of a bear, whether couped or erased, in English heraldry the separation is done horizontally under the neck, which is not lost, whereas in Scottish heraldry the usual practice is for the head to be separated from the body vertically, without keeping the neck attached to it.

Erasure (artform)

Erasure is a form of found poetry or found art created by erasing words from an existing text in prose or verse and framing the result on the page as a poem. The results can be allowed to stand in situ or they can be arranged into lines and/or stanzas. Erasure is a way to give an existing piece of writing a new set of meanings, questions, or suggestions. It lessens the trace of authorship but requires purposeful decision making. What does one want done to the original text? Does a gesture celebrate, denigrate, subvert, or efface the source completely? One can erase intuitively by focusing on musical and thematic elements or systematically by following a specific process regardless of the outcome.

Here is a nonce example using text from the November 2003 version of the English Wikipedia Main Page:

Several contemporary writer/artists have adopted this form to achieve a range of cognitive or symbolic effects.

Examples

Doris Cross appears to have been among the earliest to utilize this technique, beginning in 1965 with her "Dictionary Columns" book art. d.a. levy also worked in this mode at about the same time.

Cowboy

A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the vaquero traditions of northern Mexico and became a figure of special significance and legend. A subtype, called a wrangler, specifically tends the horses used to work cattle. In addition to ranch work, some cowboys work for or participate in rodeos. Cowgirls, first defined as such in the late 19th century, had a less-well documented historical role, but in the modern world have established the ability to work at virtually identical tasks and obtained considerable respect for their achievements. There are also cattle handlers in many other parts of the world, particularly South America and Australia, who perform work similar to the cowboy in their respective nations.

The cowboy has deep historic roots tracing back to Spain and the earliest European settlers of the Americas. Over the centuries, differences in terrain, climate and the influence of cattle-handling traditions from multiple cultures created several distinct styles of equipment, clothing and animal handling. As the ever-practical cowboy adapted to the modern world, the cowboy's equipment and techniques also adapted to some degree, though many classic traditions are still preserved today.

Cowboy (1958 film)

Cowboy is a 1958 western film directed by Delmer Daves and starring Glenn Ford and Jack Lemmon. This film is an adaptation of the Frank Harris semi-autobiographical novel My Reminiscences as a Cowboy. Lemmon's character is based on Harris. The opening animated title sequence was created by Saul Bass.

Plot

Frank Harris (Jack Lemmon) is a Chicago hotel clerk who dreams of being a cowboy and has fallen in love with Maria (Anna Kashfi), the daughter of hotel guest and Mexican cattle baron Señor Vidal (Donald Randolph). When Señor Vidal finds out, he orders Harris to stay away.

Tom Reece (Glenn Ford) finishes his cattle drive and takes over an entire wing of the hotel, as usual. He makes a deal for Vidal's herd in Mexico. However, when Reece loses his profits in a poker game, Harris sees his opportunity to better himself (and see Maria again) - he offers his entire life savings for a partnership in Reece's next drive. Reece accepts.

The next morning, when Harris shows up, Reece tries to renege, not wanting to burden himself with an inexperienced greenhorn, but Harris holds him to their deal. As they travel to Vidal's ranch, life on the trail is not what Harris had envisioned. Reece treats him harshly, but he toughens up and Reece starts taking a liking to him.

Cowboy (Kid Rock song)

"Cowboy" is a single by Kid Rock from his album Devil Without a Cause. The song's rapping style has been adapted by country artists like Toby Keith, Trace Adkins and Blake Shelton. Musicians inspired by this song include Uncle Kracker, Jason Aldean, Big & Rich, and Eric Church who parodies Kid Rock's song "Rock 'N Roll Jesus" with his song "Country Jesus". Kid Rock actually did this first in 1993 on the song "Desperate-Rado" on his independent release The Polyfuze Method, but "Cowboy" broke into the mainstream.

Kid Rock describes the song as "Lynyrd Skynyrd meets Run-D.M.C.." The song uses dobro, slide, banjo and a ragtime piano, which was a sample of The Doors' "L.A. Woman". The song was originally rejected by Atlantic Records, after Kid Rock told them it was the best song he had written to that point.

The song is about how Kid Rock had foreseen his move to Hollywood to become a star. Since then he has accomplished everything the song predicted. "Cowboy" peaked at 82 on the Billboard Hot 100, 34 on The Top 40, 5 on Mainstream Rock Chart, and 10 on the Modern Rock charts. The song is used as the walk-in music for UFC fighter Donald Cerrone. This song was used for the first promotional commercial for WrestleMania XXV. An instrumental remake of this song was used by Jeff Jarrett in WCW. "Cowboy" appeared in the movies Shanghai Noon, Ready To Rumble, Serving Sara, Matchstick Men and Coyote Ugly.