King Crimson are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The band have undergone numerous formations throughout its history of which 21 musicians have been members; since 2013 it has consisted of Robert Fripp, Jakko Jakszyk, Tony Levin, Mel Collins, Pat Mastelotto, Gavin Harrison and Bill Rieflin. Fripp is the only consistent member of the group, and is considered their leader and motive force. The band has earned a large cult following.
Developed from the unsuccessful trio Giles, Giles and Fripp, the band were seminal in the progressive rock genre in their first five years with their standard of instrumentation and complex song structures. Their debut album, In the Court of the Crimson King (1969), remains their most successful and influential with its elements of jazz, classical, and experimental music. Their success increased following an opening act performance for The Rolling Stones at Hyde Park, London, in 1969. Following the less successful In the Wake of Poseidon (1970), Lizard (1970), and Islands (1971), the group reached a new creative peak with Larks' Tongues in Aspic (1973), Starless and Bible Black (1974), and Red (1974). Fripp disbanded the group in 1974.
Amsterdam is a 1998 novel by British writer Ian McEwan, for which he was awarded the 1998 Booker Prize.
Amsterdam is the story of a euthanasia pact between two friends, a composer and a newspaper editor, whose relationship spins into disaster.
The book begins with the funeral of artist Molly Lane. Guests at the funeral include British Foreign Secretary Julian Garmony, newspaper editor Vernon Halliday, and composer Clive Linley. The three share certain attributes: each has a very high opinion of himself, each was at some time Molly's lover, and each regards the dead woman's husband, George, with a mixture of amusement and contempt.
Clive and Vernon muse upon Molly's death. It seems she had some kind of rapid-onset brain disease (not specified) that left her helpless and mad. Neither man can understand her attraction to Julian Garmony, the right-wing Foreign Secretary who is about to challenge his party's leadership.
Clive returns home to continue work on a symphony he has been commissioned to write for the forthcoming millennium. Much of the work is complete, save the crucial signature melody. He resolves to go walking in the Lake District, as this tends to inspire him.
"Amsterdam" is a song by Jacques Brel. It combines a powerful melancholic crescendo with a rich poetic account of the exploits of sailors on shore leave in Amsterdam.
Brel never recorded this for a studio album, and his only version was released on the live album Enregistrement Public à l'Olympia 1964. Despite this, it has been one of his most enduringly popular works. It was one of the songs Mort Shuman translated into English for the Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris musical.
Brel worked on the song at his house overlooking the Mediterranean at Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, the house he shared with Sylvie Rivet, a publicist for Philips; a place she had introduced him to in 1960. "It was the ideal place for him to create, and to indulge his passion for boats and planes. One morning at six o'clock he read the words of Amsterdam to Fernand, a restaurateur who was about to set off fishing for scorpion fish and conger eels for the bouillabaisse. Overcome, Fernand broke out in sobs and cut open some sea urchins to help control his emotion."
Amsterdam is the capital and largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Amsterdam may also refer to:
The Royal Concertgebouw (Dutch: Koninklijk Concertgebouw, pronounced [ˌkoːnɪnklək kɔnˈsɛrt.xəˌbʌu̯]) is a concert hall in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Dutch term "concertgebouw" literally translates into English as "concert building". On 11 April 2013, on occasion of the building's 125th anniversary, Queen Beatrix bestowed the Royal Title "Koninklijk" upon the building, as she did previously on to the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Because of its highly regarded acoustics, the Concertgebouw is considered one of the finest concert halls in the world, along with places such as Boston's Symphony Hall and the Musikverein in Vienna.
The architect of the building was Adolf Leonard van Gendt, who was inspired by the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, built two years earlier (and destroyed in 1943).
Construction began in 1883 in a pasture that was then outside the city, in Nieuwer-Amstel, a municipality that in 1964 became Amstelveen. A total of 2,186 piles of length twelve to thirteen metres (40 to 43 ft) were sunk into the soil.
I've tried and tried to run and hide
To find a life that's new
But wherever I go I always know
I can't escape from you
A jug of wine to numb my mind
But what good does it do?
The jug runs dry and still I cry
I can't escape from you
These wasted years are souvenirs
Of love I thought was true
Your memory is chained to me
I can't escape from you
There is no end, I can't pretend
That dreams will soon come true
A slave too long to a heart of stone
I can't escape from you