John Linnell

John Sidney Linnell (born June 12, 1959, in New York City) is an American musician, known primarily as one half of Brooklyn, New York alternative rock duo They Might Be Giants. In addition to singing and songwriting, he plays accordion, baritone and bass saxophone, clarinet, and keyboards for the group.

Linnell's lyrics are perhaps best known for their inclusion of strange subject matter and word play. Persistent themes include aging, delusional behavior, bad relationships, death, and the personification of inanimate objects. Conversely, the accompanying melodies are usually cascading and upbeat.

Early life

John Linnell was born in New York City to father Zenos Linnell, a psychiatrist, and mother Kathleen. When Linnell was a child, Walt Kelly's Songs of the Pogo album made a strong impression on his musical sensibilities. The album contained lyrics that relied heavily on puns and word play, which Linnell appreciated. In particular, he recalls "Lines Upon a Tranquil Brow", which later became part of They Might Be Giants's live repertoire. At an early age, Linnell and his family relocated to Lincoln, Massachusetts, where he attended Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School. Here, he worked on the school newspaper, the Promethean, and met John Flansburgh. The two occasionally collaborated on home-recording projects.

John Linnell (painter)

John Linnell (June 16, 1792 – January 20, 1882) was an English landscape and portrait painter and engraver. Linnell was a naturalist and a rival to John Constable. He had a taste for Northern European art of the Renaissance, particularly Albrecht Dürer. He also associated with William Blake, to whom he introduced Samuel Palmer and others of the Ancients.

Life and work

Linnell was born in Bloomsbury, London. His father was a carver and gilder and Linnell was brought into contact with artists from an early age, and was drawing and selling portraits in chalk and pencil at the age of 10. His first artistic instruction was received from Benjamin West, and he spent a year in the house of John Varley the water-colour painter, where he had William Hunt and William Mulready as fellow-pupils, and made the acquaintance of Shelley, Godwin and other men of mark. In 1805 he was admitted a student of the Royal Academy, where he obtained medals for drawing, modelling and sculpture. He was trained as an engraver, and executed a transcript of Varley's "Burial of Saul."

John Linnell (disambiguation)

John Linnell may refer to

See also

John Linnell (cabinet maker)

John Linnell (1729–96), was an 18th-century cabinet-maker and designer.

Biography

Linnell was in charge of one of London's largest cabinet-makers firms of the 18th century with many important and prominent patrons. The Linnell firm was created in 1730 by William Linnell (c.1703–63), and was inherited by his son John Linnell in 1763. The firm moved from 8 Long Acre in St. Martin's Lane, London to 28 Berkeley Square in 1750. From 1763 to his death John Linnell continued to develop the business his father had established and his reputation grew. However, due to his unconventional lifestyle, he left no heir to his trade and the fate of the firm after his death is uncertain.

There is speculation that in the last years of his life John Linnell entered a partnership with his relative Thomas Tatham (1763–1817). However the evidence is not conclusive. Thomas Tatham went on to be a partner at one of London's fashionable cabinetmaking and upholstery business owith George Elward, Edward Bailey and Richard Saunders. They were principal cabinet-makers to George IV and this firm worked at Carlton House and Buckingham Palace.

Iowa

Iowa (ⁱ/ˈaɪ.əwə/) is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States, bordered by the Mississippi River on the east and the Missouri River and the Big Sioux River on the west, by Wisconsin and Illinois to the east, Missouri to the south, Nebraska and South Dakota to the west, and Minnesota to the north.

In colonial times, Iowa was a part of French Louisiana and Spanish Louisiana; its state flag is patterned after the flag of France. After the Louisiana Purchase, settlers laid the foundation for an agriculture-based economy in the heart of the Corn Belt.

In the latter half of the 20th century, Iowa's agricultural economy made the transition to a diversified economy of advanced manufacturing, processing, financial services, information technology, biotechnology, and green energy production. Iowa is the 26th most extensive in land area and the 30th most populous of the 50 United States. Its capital and largest city is Des Moines. Iowa has been listed as one of the safest states in which to live. Its nickname is the Hawkeye State.

Iowa people

The Iowa (also spelled Ioway), also known as the Báxoǰe, are a Native American Siouan people. Today they are enrolled in either of two federally recognized tribes, the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma and the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska.

With the Missouria and the Otoe, the Ioway are the Chiwere-speaking peoples, claiming the Ho-Chunks as their "grandfathers." Their estimated population of 1,100 (in 1760) dropped to 800 (in 1804), a decrease caused mainly by smallpox, to which they had no natural immunity.

In 1837, the Iowa were moved from Iowa to reservations in Brown County, Kansas, and Richardson County, Nebraska. Bands of Iowa moved to Indian Territory in the late 19th century and settled south of Perkins, Oklahoma, becoming the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma.

Name

Their name has been said to come from ayuhwa ("asleep"). Early European explorers often adopted the names of tribes from the ethnonyms which other tribes gave them, not understanding that these differed from what the peoples called themselves. Thus, ayuhwa is not an Ioway word. The word Ioway comes from Dakotan ayuxbe via French aiouez. Their autonym (their name for themselves) is Báxoje, pronounced [b̥aꜜxodʒɛ] (alternate spellings: pahotcha, pahucha,), which translates to "grey snow". Báxoje has been incorrectly translated as "dusted faces" or "dusty nose", since the Ioway words use different consonants.

Iowa (steamboat)

The Steamboat Iowa was revered as one of the largest and fastest boats on the Mississippi in the mid 19th century; it is incorporated into the official Seal of Iowa. Built in 1838, the Iowa was the first vessel named for the newly formed Territory of Iowa. It weighed 112 tons, could pull 10 keelboats, and it set the speed record from Galena, Illinois to St. Louis in 1843, making the trip in 44 hours, a record that held until 1849. The Iowa was hired by Mormon supporters of Joseph Smith, Jr. as part of a plan to rescue him from jail in June 1843; the excursion was cancelled after Smith was murdered in jail. The Iowa sunk after a collision with the steamboat Declaration on Oct. 1, 1847 while traveling from New Orleans to St. Louis. This liability for this collision was ultimately decided by the U.S. Supreme Court case John Walsh v. Patrick Rogers (54 U.S. 283- 1852). However, the Iowa was apparently rebuilt, or a new steamboat was later rechristened Iowa, since similar side-wheeler appeared twice in Barber and Howe's 1865 Loyal West in the Time of Rebellion, and there is reference to the Iowa being used as a troop transport during the Civil War.