T-Bone Walker

Aaron Thibeaux "T-Bone" Walker (May 28, 1910 – March 16, 1975) was a critically acclaimed American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, who was an influential pioneer and innovator of the jump blues and electric blues sound. In 2011, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him at number 67 on their list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".

Biography

Early years

Walker was born in Linden, Texas, of African-American and Cherokee descent. Walker's parents, Movelia Jimerson and Rance Walker, were both musicians. His stepfather, Marco Washington, taught him to play the guitar, ukulele, banjo, violin, mandolin, and piano.

Walker began his career as a teenager in Dallas in the early 1900s. His mother and stepfather (a member of the Dallas String Band) were musicians, and family friend Blind Lemon Jefferson sometimes came over for dinner. Walker left school at the age of 10, and by 15 he was a professional performer on the blues circuit. Initially, he was Jefferson's protégé and would guide him around town for his gigs. In 1929, Walker made his recording debut with Columbia Records billed as Oak Cliff T-Bone, releasing the single "Wichita Falls Blues"/"Trinity River Blues". Oak Cliff was the community he lived in at the time and T-Bone a corruption of his middle name. Pianist Douglas Fernell played accompaniment on the record.

T-bone steak

The T-bone and porterhouse are steaks of beef cut from the short loin (called the sirloin in Commonwealth countries). Both steaks include a "T-shaped" bone with meat on each side. Porterhouse steaks are cut from the rear end of the short loin and thus include more tenderloin steak, along with (on the other side of the bone) a large strip steak. T-bone steaks are cut closer to the front, and contain a smaller section of tenderloin.

There is little agreement among experts on how large the tenderloin must be to differentiate a T-bone steak from porterhouse. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Institutional Meat Purchase Specifications state that the tenderloin of a porterhouse must be at least 1.25 inches (32 mm) thick at its widest, while that of a T-bone must be at least 0.5 inches (13 mm). However, steaks with a large tenderloin are often called a "T-bone" in restaurants and steakhouses despite technically being porterhouse.

Owing to their large size and the fact that they contain meat from two of the most prized cuts of beef (the short loin and the tenderloin), T-bone steaks are generally considered one of the highest quality steaks, and prices at steakhouses are accordingly high. Porterhouse steaks are even more highly valued owing to their larger tenderloin.

SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron

SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron is an animated television series created by Christian Tremblay and Yvon Tremblay and produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. The series takes place in the fictional metropolis of Megakat City, which is populated entirely by anthropomorphic felines, known as "kats". The titular SWAT Kats are two vigilante pilots who possess a state-of-the-art fighter jet with an array of weaponry. Throughout the series, they face various villains as well as Megakat City's militarized police force, the Enforcers.

The show originally premiered and ran on the syndication block The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera, as well as TBS Superstation (as a part of the Sunday Morning In Front Of The TV block) from 1993 to 1995. Every episode of the series was directed by Robert Alvarez. The bulk of the series was written by either Glenn Leopold (13 episodes) or Lance Falk (6 episodes). Jim Stenstrum contributed two episodes, while David Ehrman, Von Williams, Eric Clark (with Lance Falk), Mark Saraceni and Jim Katz all contributed one episode each. A total of twenty-five finished episodes and a special episode, that features a report on the SWAT Kats and of all their missions and gadgets as well as three unfinished episodes and two episodes still in the concept stage.

T-Bone (rapper)

Rene Francisco Sotomayor, better known by the stage name T-Bone, is a conscious/inspirational Christian rapper. His father is Nicaraguan and his mother is Salvadoran. His name came from being called 'Bones' as a youngster because he was very skinny. The 'T' was "added to give the name a little slang edge."

Music career

According to published interview, he started rapping at the age of seven at parties and in rap battles. He was close to getting a gangsta rap record but, after changing his life, he opened for a noted rock group at that time which led him to getting signed to his first inspirational record deal that very night.

His first three albums: Redeemed Hoodlum in 1991, Tha Life of a Hoodlum in 1993 and Tha Hoodlum's Testimony in 1995 were released on the independent Metro One record label. All three albums were characterized by being gangsta rap albums, which was rare in the inspirational music scene at the time.

In 1997, he released History of a Hoodlum, a three-disc compilation set of the hits from his first three albums released on the Diamante record label.