Class Assignment, lol

Apparently to graduate college, I have to take a few General Education classes here at Gateway. I have chosen to take a Music 101 class because I have a fond interest in music, whether it be the history of music, all the early musicians, anything directly related to the history of music I take a fond interest in. So our first project is to do a blog post on something that we like, so I did mine on the topic of The Rolling Stones. I'm a very big fan of them, have been since 2008, when I graduated high school and my mom and stepdad married. In face, alot of the music I listen to he introduced to me, so I guess because of him I like alot of older music.

I came across this blog called Beatles Fans, and naturally with me being a Beatles fan, I just had to follow it. And the 1st post I read on there was about this girl who was doing a project on The Beatles, so that sort of inspired me to do a blog on something I'm a fan of. I would do this post on The Beatles, but she already did her post on The Beatles and I don't want to steal her idea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rolling_Stones

The Rolling Stones

• Known as the world's greatest rock and roll band
• Formed in April 1962
• Consisted of Ian Stewart(piano), Brian Jones(guitar, harmonica), Mick Jagger(lead vocals, harmonica), Keith Richards(guitar). Bill Wyman(bass guitar), Charlie Watts(drummer)

• The Stones raised awareness for artists by the company Chess Records. How the band got it's name is Brian Jones took it from an old Muddy Waters song called Rollin' Stone
• Alot of their early stuff was American R&B and blues-rock covers
• On July 12, 1962, The Stones played their first gig at the Marquee Club in downtown London, and their then manager Giorgio Gomelsky had booked a gig for them at the Crawdaddy Club on a Sunday afternoon. Their manager had tied the club's reputation for R&B with the rise of The Beatles, and he thought that is what started the reputation of Swinging London

• During their concert at the Crawdaddy Club, former Beatles publicist Andrew Loog Oldham decided he wanted to be the manager of the Stones, and he signed the band to a management deal. the only problem was that at the time Andrew was only 19, certainly younger than the band, he was not old enough to hold a license for it, so he joined up with show biz master Eric Easton
• On June 7, 1963, the Rolling Stones released their first hit single, Come On, a cover of the Chuck Berry song, and in fact today is the anniversary of that release.
• Oldham had tried dressing the band in matching houndstooth design suits to be a little like The Beatles, but then decided to just letting them wear their own clothes. He also made a few changes within the band, he dressed them in leather jackets, insisted that lead singer Michael Jagger shorten his name to Mick. With this, they would be, for years on, considered to be the Beatles main rivals.

• In May 1963, pianist Ian Stewart was removed from the band by Oldham because he believed Ian was dead weight and that a rock band doesn't need a piano player. Ian went on to become the manager and occasional pianist for the band until his death in 1985
• When they released their first album, England's Newest Hit Makers, they weren't smiling on the front because Oldham had presented them as the almost evil opposites of the Beatles, and in the papers there was the broad headline "Would you let your daughter marry a Rolling Stone?"
• In June 1964, they had their first US tour. Since they didn't have a record there, they thought nothing would go good for them. When they appeared on Dean Martin's show The Hollywood Palace, he mocked their appearance and haircuts.

• On January 15, 1967, the Rolling Stones were due to appear on the Ed Sullivan Show, an American variety show famed with the appearance of the Beatles in the 1960s. They were supposed to play their hit single Let's Spend the Night Together. Whenever the band got to the clean refrain "Let's spend some time together" Mick would roll his eyes up in anger. So in a form on revenge, the band went backstage and changed in to Nazi uniforms with swastikas on them. Ed was furious, he demanded the band go and change into their previous clothes. They promptly left the studio and he said they'd never be let back into the studio again. However, it would raise some questions as to why he didn't say anything about Diana Ross and the Supreme's Hit Love Child, which is about a woman who has a child out of wedlock.
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ed_Sullivan_Show#The_Rolling_Stones
• If you want to hear Mick Jagger singing in his natural London accent, listen to the song Mother's Little Helper

• On June 29, 1967, after the British police found 4 amphetamine pills on him, Mick Jagger was sentenced to 3 months of prison, where as Keith was sentenced to 1 year in prison
• In 1969, Brian Jones was found dead at the bottom of the pool at his house, COD-drowning. The Stones were due to appear in concert in London's Hyde Park, and they had found a replacement named Mick Taylor. So the band had decided to make the Hyde Park concert a tribute concert to Brian. Mick had read the Adonais by Percy Shelley and released hundreds of butterflies in honor or Brian.
• On Dec. 6, 1969, the Stones gave a free concert at the Altamont Speedway in northern California. For security there, the biker gang the Hells Angels were there, and they had stabbed and beaten to death a guy named Meredith Hunter after they realized he was armed.

• During the 1970s, Mick and Keith were often referred to as the Glimmer Twins. 
• Them then, when they were the Glimmer Twins

Them now

Personally, it's looking like Mick is the better looking one.

• Towards the end of 1974, guitarist Mick Taylor quit the band. At this time, there was another band with a future Stones member. The band was called the Faces and it had Jeff Beck, Ian McLaghan, Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood. Everyone in the band agreed that he was perfect. He officially joined up with the Stones in Feb. 1975 as the Faces had broken up.

The El Mocambo Club in Toronto, Canada. This is where a good majority of their Love You Live album was recorded. And as for the cover of the album, it was done by artist Andy Warhol

• The Stones 1981 American Tour was said to be the biggest, longest, most colorful tour ever, with them playing from Sept. 25, thru Dec. 19. The movies Let's Spend the Night Together and Still Life(American Concert 1981) is of footage from both the Brendan Byrne Arena in the Meadowlands, New Jersey and the Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona.

• In the mid 1980s, the fighting between Mick Jagger and Keith Richards kept increasing. In Dec. 1985, their manager and long time friend Ian Stewart was found dead from a heart attack. At London's 100 Club in Feb. 1986. the band paid a private tribute to him, 2 days before they were given a Grammy for Lifetime Acheivement in Music
• In 1985, Mick released his first solo album, She's the Boss, in 1987, he released Primitive Cool, and in 1988, Keith released his solo album Talk is Cheap

• In early 1989, the Stones were inducted into the American Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. After that, that's when Mick and Keith started getting along again, and the band started work on their Steel Wheels album. The tour following this would be the last one for Bill and the Stones as in 1993 he would leave the band to pursue other interests. When Bill left, Ronnie became a fully fledged member of the Stones, nearly 20 years after joining up.

• After this tour, the band took a break. Charlie released 2 jazz albums, Ronnie released his 5th solo album, the 1st in 11 years called Slide on This, in late 1992, Keith released his 2nd solo album called Main Offender, Mick released his 3rd solo album called Wandering Spirit. At the 1995 Grammys, The Rolling Stones' Voodoo Lounge album would go on to win the Grammy Award for Best Rock Album

• In 1997, they released their Bridges to Babylon album, with the addition of a new song(Anybody Seen My Baby?). In the video, Angelina Jolie showed up and briefly appears in the video. In late 2001, Mick released his 4th solo album, Goddess in the Doorway

• How the band got it's logo is it was designed by an artist named John Pasche in 1971.

• On July 26, 2005, Mick's b-day, he announced what the name of their new album would be. It would be called A Bigger Bang, and it would be their first album in 8 years. 
• In August 2005, the group went on their A Bigger Bang tour. But it was extended into 2007 and concluded at London's O2 Theatre. During this, Keith was hospitalized for a head injury, Ronnie was in rehab for alcohol abuse, during July-September 2006, 2 of the 21 shows they were scheduled to do had to be cancelled as Mick was suffering severe throat problems. On October 29, and Nov.1 the band did 2 concerts at New York's Beacon Theatre, the subject of Martin Scorcese's movie Shine a Light. On October 27, 2002, Mick released a compilation CD called The Very Best of Mick Jagger.

• On Dec. 12, 2003, Mick Jagger was knighted for his special services to music and as a result of that, is now known as Sir Michael Philip Jagger. He was knighted by the Prince of Wales and apparently Keith was not happy, he thought that was stupid that Mick had done that, he was probably thinking "these were the same people trying to throw us in prison in the 1960s and now you're accepting a knighthood?"
• Also when Mick wasn't touring with the Stones, he was doing acting. Some of the movies he's been in include Freejack, Ned Kelly, Performance, The Man From Elysian Fields, Bent

Plays Turner, a womanizing ex-rock star

Plays the real life outlaw Ned Kelly

Plays a futuristic mercenary named Victor Vacendak

Plays a cross-dressing entertainer named Greta

Plays the owner of a male escort service named Luther Fox

• And most of the Stones' concerts have been turned into movies, like Let's Spend the Night Together, Gimme Shelter, At the Max, Shine a Light

This is about the Altamont Speedway stabbing

The American tour 1981

The Rolling Stones then

 Somehow, Mick looks almost angry in this picture

The Rolling Stones now

Them on stage

From the movie Shine a Light, which was about their A Bigger Bang tour, which ended at the O2 Theatre in London in 2007.

Andy Warhol

Yes,  this post is about one of the more famous artists, Andy Warhol, who's best known for doing what we call 'pop art'. He was a painter, printer and filmmaker who was a leader in the visual art movement. The reason I chose him to do a blog post on is for some reason, he inspires me in art, he looked like he was a free thinker in art and I'm sort of the same way, so he basically inspires me!

He was a person in many diverse social circles, like Bohemian street people, distinguished intellectuals, Hollywood celebrities and wealthy patrons, and he has also been noted for doing his own paintings of famous celebs, whether they be musicians, actors/actresses of the time, etc

In 1963 he did a canvas painting titled Eight Elvises that totaled $100 million, the highest ever paid for a painting

Date of birth: August 6, 1928, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
birth name: Andrew Warhola
Date of death: February 22, 1987, aged 58, New York City

During the 1960s, he began doing commercial art featuring American icons, such as the Campbell's Soup can, Coca-Cola bottles and he also started doing pictures of celebs that were popular at that time, such as Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Troy Donahue, Elizabeth Taylor, Muhammad Ali. In New York, the place where he would make all these awesome artworks was called The Factory, and in his little social circle that often hung around here, it included underground celebrities, a wide range of artists, musicians, writers. His work was done in the Silkscreen fashion, which most people associate with Far Eastern-style art and his art then started becoming popular and also controversial

His diverse crowd included Freddie Herko, who is an American musician, actor, artist, dancer, choreographer and teacher, Ondine, an American actor, Ronald Taver who is an American writer, director and actor best known for his work with Warhol, Mary Woronov, who is an American writer and actress, Billy Name, who is an American photographer, filmmaker, lighting designer, Brigid Berlin, who is an American artist.

On June 3, 1968, a woman named Valerie Solanas shot Warhol and art critic and curator Mario Amaya at Warhol's studio. She was part of a feminist group called S.C.U.M Manifesto, who carried out feminist attacks on males

1970s!

For Warhol, the 1970s are really when he got good with his art, he began doing paintings and pictures of celebs and famous people from the 1970s. He started trying to get pics done of rich patrons, like Shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, his wife Empress Farah Pahlavi, his sister Princess Ashraf Pahlavi, Rolling Stones front man Mick Jagger, actress Liza Minelli, former Beatle John Lennon, singer Diana Ross, French-born actress Bridget Bardot. In 1973, he did a picture of China's Communist leader Mao Zedong. He often frequented some of the nightclubs in NYC, like Max's Kansas City and Studio 54, which was a popular disco-theque nightclub in the 1970s. On opening night of this place, there were all sorts of celebs there, from Michael Jackson and Rick James, Mick and Bianca Jagger, Liza Minelli, Jerry Hall and Brooke Shields, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Salvador Dali, Cher, and many more. Warhol was known as "the white mole of Union Square". He was quiet, shy and a very studious observer.

Studio 54 in New York

Max's Kansas City

1980s
In the 1980s, he had a large successful boom because of the painting he did of Michael Jackson for the release of his album Thriller. He was so successful in the 1980s because he was starting to develop relationships with prolific younger artists, as it says on Wikipedia, so as to avoid  confusion.

On February 22, 1987, he died in his sleep from cardiac arrhythmia, and his funeral was at Thomas P. Kunsak Funeral Home in Pittsburgh. His coffin was pretty fancy, it was solid bronze with gold plated rails and white upholstery, and when he was put into the coffin, he was dressed in a black suit, paisley tie, platinum wig, and sunglasses. When he was posed, he was given a prayer book and a red rose.

Art
In 1979, Warhol was commissioned by BMW to do something for the BMW M1 for the Group 4 Race version. He chose to paint directly on to the car and it only took him 23 minutes, what a time! He loved celebrities, and that explains why alot of his paintings feature someone famous.

Films
He also did films, including his most famous one, Sleep, which shows poet John Giomo sleeping for  hours. Another one he made was 35 minutes, called Blow Job, very gross, it shows actor DeVeren Bookwalter supposedly getting oral sex from Willard Mass, a poet. His 1965 film Vinyl is a version of Anthony Burgess' futuristic novel A Clockwork Orange. And apparently it was his idea to cast Rolling Stones front man Mick Jagger as the title role of Alex in the movie, but he lost out on the role, as the movie was made in 1971 and The Stones were gearing up for their big 1972 North American tour.

Mick Jagger

This guy was supposed to be the one who played the title role in A Clockwork Orange. He was supposed to play the title role of Alex, a teen obsessed with rape and Beethoven, but he lost out to Malcolm McDowell, and in 1971, him and the rest of the Stones were gearing up for their big 1972 North American tour.

People thought that Warhol was a virgin and also a homosexual, but his family says that he was not homosexual, and throughout his career, most of his art involved erotic pictures of nude males.

There are even movies made about this guy, here are some of them:

• 1979: Cocaine Cowboys. Warhol appears as himself
• Crispin Glover plays Warhol
• 1996: Basquiat. David Bowie plays him
• 1996: I Shot Andy Warhol. Jarred Harris plays Warhol
• 1997: Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. Actor Mark Bringleson makes a brief cameo as Warhol
• 2009: Watchmen. Actor Greg Travis plays Warhol in a brief scene

1979 Cocaine Cowboys

1991 The Doors, Crispin Glover

1996 Basquiat, David Bowie

1996, I Shot Andy Warhol, Jarred Harris

1997 Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Mark Bringleson

2009: Watchmen, Greg Travis

Music

Warhol had a very important job in designing 2 of the Rolling Stones albums, their 1977 Love You Live album and their 1971 Sticky Fingers album. He was commissioned to do several portraits of the Stones' lead singer Mick Jagger, and in 1982, he designed Diana Ross' album cover for her album Silk Electric, and his last thing was a picture of Aretha Franklin for her 1986 gold album Aretha

Diana Ross/Silk Electric

Aretha Franklin

The Rolling Stones

Here are some of the pictures of Mick Jagger than Andy Warhol was commissioned to do, and he had to do several, I wonder why:

This is a pic of Mick that Andy used as a model for the pictures.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Warhol