Lord Flea

Lord Flea was the stage name of Norman Byfield Thomas (1931/32 or 1933/34 – 18 May 1959), a Jamaican mento musician credited with "helping start the calypso craze in U.S." With his band The Calypsonians, Flea toured America throughout the late 1950s, and released an album on the Capitol label. The band also performed in two calypso-related films.

Career

Thomas was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and began his career in entertainment at local dancehalls such as the "Adastra Gardens" and "Success". In 1949, he earned himself a year-long engagement after he had performed in the talent competitions held at the Sugar Hill Club.

Flea recorded and released records with the assistance of local business men, Alec Durie and Ken Khouri. Early singles featuring Flea's vocal performances were attributed to "The Blue Mountain Caroleers" or "The Jamaican Calypsonians".

Bill Saxon, owner of 'Club Calypso' on Biscayne Boulevard in Miami, traveled to Jamaica in order to search out an 'authentic sound' for his Florida venue. Saxon offered a residency lasting from two to six months, with the proviso that those artists that wished to apply for the gig, must have previously recorded some music. Lord Flea & his Calypsonians soon received a contract and began to perform for six months in America.

Flea

Fleas are insects that form the order Siphonaptera. They are wingless, with mouthparts adapted for piercing skin and sucking blood. Fleas are external parasites, living by hematophagy off the blood of mammals and birds.

Flea species include:

Over 2,000 species have been described worldwide.

Morphology and behavior

Fleas are wingless insects, 1/16 to 1/8-inch (1.5 to 3.3 mm) long, that are agile, usually dark colored (for example, the reddish-brown of the cat flea), with tube-like mouth parts adapted to feeding on the blood of their hosts. Their legs are long, the hind pair well adapted for jumping; a flea can jump vertically up to 7 in (18 cm) and horizontally up to 13 in (33 cm), making the flea one of the best jumpers of all known animals (relative to body size), second only to the froghopper. If humans had the jumping power of a flea, a 1.8-m (6-ft) person could make a jump 90 m (295 ft) long and 49 m (160 ft) high.

Flea (musician)

Michael Peter Balzary (born October 16, 1962), better known by his stage name Flea, is an Australian-born, American musician. He is best known as the bassist, co-founding member, and one of the composers of the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers with whom he was inducted in 2012 into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Flea briefly appeared as the bassist for such bands as What Is This?, Fear and Jane's Addiction. More recently he has appeared as a member of the rock supergroups Atoms for Peace, Antemasque, Pigface and Rocket Juice & the Moon. Flea has also collaborated with other artists, including The Mars Volta, Johnny Cash, Alanis Morissette and Young MC.

In 2009, Rolling Stone's readers ranked Flea the second-best bassist of all-time, behind only John Entwistle and ahead of Paul McCartney.

Flea has made occasional forays into acting, appearing in films that span many genres, such as Suburbia, Back to the Future Part II and Part III, My Own Private Idaho, The Chase, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Thrashin', and The Big Lebowski, in addition to voicing the character Donnie Thornberry in The Wild Thornberrys animated television series and films. In 2014, Flea made his long awaited return to acting when he appeared in the film, Low Down.

Flea (disambiguation)

A flea is a parasitic insect.

Flea may also refer to:

In literature and fiction:

Lord

Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others acting like a master, a chief, or a ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are entitled to courtesy titles. The collective "Lords" can refer to a group or body of peers.

Etymology

According to the Oxford Dictionary of English, the etymology of the word can be traced back to the Old English word hlāford which originated from hlāfweard meaning "loaf-ward" or "bread keeper", reflecting the Germanic tribal custom of a chieftain providing food for his followers. The appellation "lord" is primarily applied to men, while for women the appellation "lady" is used. However, this is no longer universal: the Lord of Mann, a title currently held by the Queen of the United Kingdom, and female Lord Mayors are examples of women who are styled Lord.

Historical usage

Feudalism

Under the feudal system, "lord" had a wide, loose and varied meaning. An overlord was a person from whom a landholding or a manor was held by a mesne lord or vassal under various forms of feudal land tenure. The modern term "landlord" is a vestigial survival of this function. A liege lord was a person to whom a vassal owed sworn allegiance. Neither of these terms were titular dignities, but rather factual appellations, which described the relationship between two or more persons within the highly stratified feudal social system. For example, a man might be Lord of the Manor to his own tenants but also a vassal of his own overlord, who in turn was a vassal of the King. Where a knight was a lord of the manor, he was referred to in contemporary documents as "John (Surname), knight, lord of (manor name)". A feudal baron was a true titular dignity, with the right to attend Parliament, but a feudal baron, Lord of the Manor of many manors, was a vassal of the King.

Lord (disambiguation)

Lord is a general title denoting deference applied to a male person of authority, religious or political or a deity.

Lord or LORD may also refer to:

Lord (band)

Lord (sometimes spelled LORD) is a heavy metal band from Wollongong, Australia. The group began as a solo project for "Lord Tim" Grose of Dungeon in 2003 and expanded into a complete band when Dungeon broke up in 2005. They have released four albums and 3 EP's to date. Lord has appeared with major acts that include Queensrÿche, Nightwish, Nevermore, Saxon and Gamma Ray. The band's name is usually stylised in all capital letters.

History

Between 1988 and 2000, Dungeon singer/guitarist and founding member "Lord Tim" Grose had collected a number of compositions he felt were either too personal to submit to the band or inappropriate for its style. In 2003, he collected these songs on an album called A Personal Journey that was issued under the name Lord. At the end of 2005, Dungeon came to an end and Lord became a band featuring Grose and drummer Tim Yatras (also of Dungeon), along with guitarist Mav Stevens and bass player Andrew Dowling from Brisbane metal band Sedition. Yatras has also been a member of several black metal bands including Nazxul, Austere and Battalion. A Personal Journey was re-mastered and released to mark the occasion.