The Seldom Scene

The Seldom Scene is an American bluegrass band formed in 1971 in Bethesda, Maryland.

Early history

The band formed out of the weekly jam sessions in the basement of banjo player Ben Eldridge. These sessions included John Starling on guitar and lead vocals, Mike Auldridge on Dobro and baritone vocals, and Tom Gray on bass. Then mandolinist John Duffey, who had previously played with the Country Gentlemen, was invited to the jam sessions at the time when Auldridge arranged for the group to play as a performing band.

Members' background

Each of the band members had a job during the week; Duffey repaired musical instruments, Eldridge was a mathematician, Starling a physician, Auldridge a graphic artist, and Gray a cartographer with National Geographic. They agreed to play one night a week at local clubs, perform occasionally at concerts and festivals on weekends, and make records. The band's first home scene was the Red Fox Inn in Bethesda, Maryland, where they spent six years before starting weekly performances at The Birchmere Music Hall in Alexandria, Virginia.

The House of the Rising Sun

"The House of the Rising Sun" is a traditional folk song, sometimes called "Rising Sun Blues". It tells of a life gone wrong in New Orleans; many versions also urge a sibling to avoid the same fate. The most successful commercial version, recorded in 1964 by the British rock group the Animals, was a number one hit on the UK Singles Chart and also in the United States, Canada and Australia. The song has been described as the "first folk-rock hit".

Origin and early versions

Like many classic folk ballads, "The House of the Rising Sun" is of uncertain authorship. Musicologists say that it is based on the tradition of broadside ballads, and thematically it has some resemblance to the 16th century ballad The Unfortunate Rake. According to Alan Lomax, "Rising Sun" was used as the name of a bawdy house in two traditional English songs, and it was also a name for English pubs. He further suggested that the melody might be related to a 17th-century folk song, "Lord Barnard and Little Musgrave", also known as "Matty Groves", but a survey by Bertrand Bronson showed no clear relationship between the two songs. Lomax proposed that the location of the house was then relocated from England to New Orleans by white southern performers. However, Vance Randolph proposed an alternative French origin, the "rising sun" referring to the decorative use of the sunburst insignia dating to the time of Louis XIV, which was brought to North America by French immigrants. "House of Rising Sun" was said to have been known by miners in 1905.

House of the Rising Sun (film)

House of the Rising Sun is a 2011 action drama film starring Dave Bautista. Filming took place in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The screenplay was written by Chuck Hustmyre and Brian A. Miller, based on Chuck Hustmyre's novel of the same title.

Plot

Ray Shane (Dave Bautista) is an ex-vice cop trying to turn his life around after spending 5 years in prison. He works as the head of security for The House of the Rising Sun, a strip club and illegal gambling den. During a night on the job, a masked gang hold him at gunpoint to rob the strip joint of $300,000, ending with the club owner's son, Peter (John G. Carbone), getting killed in the shootout. When the police arrive, they suspect Ray led the robbery.

Ray's relationship with Jenny Porter (Amy Smart) is rocky following her regretful affair with the right-hand man of his boss, Tony (Dominic Purcell), when he was imprisoned. Ray is enlisted by his boss Vinnie Marcella (Lyle Kanouse) to track down his son's killers. He finds help from his former police colleague Jimmy LaGrange (Brian Vander Ark), who lends him information in his pursuit, but Vinnie and Tony start to believe they wrongly trusted him and that he is behind the robbery.

House of the Rising Sun (Lost)

"House of the Rising Sun" is the sixth episode of the first season of the American television series Lost. It centers on Jin-Soo Kwon (Daniel Dae Kim), who brutally attacks Michael Dawson (Harold Perrineau); the survivors do not know why since Jin and his wife Sun-Hwa Kwon (Yunjin Kim) only speak Korean. Meanwhile, Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox) proposes that the survivors move to the caves from the beach. The episode was the first to feature the backstory of Sun and Jin, and the former is shown in the episode's flashbacks. It was directed by Michael Zinberg and written by Javier Grillo-Marxuach.

After being cast, Yunjin Kim and Daniel Dae Kim were nervous that their characters' relationship would foster negative perceptions of Korean people; the former felt that it was an outdated depiction which would influence a society little exposed to Korean culture. The actors discussed this with the series' producers, leading to the writing of "House of the Rising Sun" and the multifaceted depiction of their relationship. "House of the Rising Sun" first aired on October 27, 2004, on the American network ABC. An estimated 16.83 million viewers watched the episode on its first broadcast, and it earned a ratings share of 6.4/17, a slight increase from the previous episode. It received mainly positive reviews, with critics focusing on the revelations surrounding Jin and Sun's relationship.