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"Blind Boy Fuller (born Fulton Allen, July 10, 1904 or 1907February 13, 1941) was an American blues guitarist and singer. Fuller was one of the most popular of the recorded Piedmont blues artists with rural African Americans along with Blind Blake, Josh White, and Buddy Moss. Life and career Allen was born in Wadesboro, North Carolina, United States, one of ten children of Calvin Allen and Mary Jane Walker. Most sources date his birth to 1907, but the researchers Bob Eagle and Eric LeBlanc indicate 1904. After the death of his mother, he moved with his father to Rockingham, North Carolina. As a boy he learned to play the guitar and also learned from older singers the field hollers, country rags, traditional songs and blues popular in poor rural areas. He married young, to Cora Allen, and worked as a laborer. He began to lose his eyesight when he was in his mid-teens. According to the researcher Bruce Bastin, "While he was living in Rockingham he began to have trouble with his eyes. He went to see a doctor in Charlotte who allegedly told him that he had ulcers behind his eyes, the original damage having been caused by some form of snow-blindness." Only the first part of this diagnosis was correct. A 1937 eye examination attributed his vision loss to the long-term effects of untreated neonatal conjunctivitis. By 1928 he was completely blind. He turned to whatever employment he could find as a singer and entertainer, often playing in the streets. By studying the records of country blues players like Blind Blake and live performances by Gary Davis, Allen became a formidable guitarist, playing on street corners and at house parties in Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Danville, Virginia; and then Durham, North Carolina. In Durham, playing around the tobacco warehouses, he developed a local following, which included the guitarists Floyd Council and Richard Trice, the harmonica player Saunders Terrell (better known as Sonny Terry), and the washboard player and guitarist George Washington. Bull City Blues historical marker, Durham, North Carolina In 1935, James Baxter Long, a record store manager and talent scout in Burlington, North Carolina, secured Allen a recording session with the American Recording Company (ARC). Allen, Davis and Washington recorded several tracks in New York City, including the traditional "Rag, Mama, Rag". To promote the records, Long credited Allen as Blind Boy Fuller and Washington as Bull City Red. Over the next five years Fuller recorded over 120 sides, which were released by several labels. His style of singing was rough and direct, and his lyrics were explicit and uninhibited, drawing on every aspect of his experience as an underprivileged, blind black man on the streetsâpawnshops, jailhouses, sickness, deathâwith an honesty that lacked sentimentality. Although he was not sophisticated, his artistry as a folk singer lay in the honesty and integrity of his self-expression. His songs expressed desire, love, jealousy, disappointment, menace and humor. In April 1936, Fuller recorded ten solo performances and also recorded with guitarist Floyd Council. The following year, after auditioning for J. Mayo Williams, he recorded for Decca Records, but then reverted to ARC. Later in 1937, he made his first recordings with Sonny Terry. In 1938 Fuller, who was described as having a fiery temper, was imprisoned for shooting a pistol at his wife, wounding her in the leg. His imprisonment prevented him from performing in "From Spirituals to Swing", a concert produced by John Hammond in New York City that year. Sonny Terry performed in his place; it was the beginning of Terry's long career in folk music. After Fuller was released from prison, he held his last two recording sessions, in New York City in June 1940, but by then he was increasingly physically weak, and much of the material did not match the quality and energy of his earlier recordings. Fuller's repertoire included a number of popular double-entendre "hokum" songs, such as "I Want Some of Your Pie", "Truckin' My Blues Away" (the origin of the phrase "keep on truckin'"), and "Get Your Yas Yas Out" (adapted as Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out for the title of an album by the Rolling Stones), and the autobiographical "Big House Bound", about his time in prison. Much of his material was culled from traditional folk and blues songs. He possessed a formidable fingerpicking guitar style. He played a steel National resonator guitar. He was criticised by some as a derivative musician, but his ability to fuse together elements of traditional and contemporary songs and reformulate them in his own performances attracted a broad audience. He was an expressive vocalist and a masterful guitar player, best remembered for his up-tempo ragtime hits, including "Step It Up and Go". At the same time he was capable of deeper material; his versions of "Lost Lover Blues", "Rattlesnakin' Daddy" and "Mamie" are as deep as most Delta blues. Because of his popularity, he may have been overexposed on records, but most of his songs stayed close to tradition, and much of his repertoire and style is kept alive by other Piedmont artists to this day. Allen's death certificate Death Fuller underwent a suprapubic cystostomy in July 1940, probably due to the urethral stricture noted on Fuller's death certificate, a narrowing or blockage of the urethra which can be caused by syphilitic chancres, infections from gonorrhea, or chlamydia, but continued to require medical treatment. He died at his home in Durham, North Carolina, on February 13, 1941. The cause of death was pyemia, due to an infected bladder, gastrointestinal tract and perineum, plus kidney failure. He was so popular when he died that his protÊgÊ, Brownie McGhee, recorded "The Death of Blind Boy Fuller" for Okeh Records, and then reluctantly began a short-lived career as Blind Boy Fuller No. 2, so that Columbia Records could profit from the deceased musician's popularity. Grave location Grove Hill Cemetery, Durham, North Carolina Fuller's grave is Grove Hill Cemetery, located on private property in Durham. State records indicate that this was once an official cemetery, and Fuller's interment is recorded. Only one headstone remains, that of one Mary Caston Langey. The funeral arrangements were handled by McLaurin Funeral Home of Durham, and the burial took place on February 15, 1941. Fuller has been recognized with two plaques in Durham. A plaque placed by the North Carolina Division of Archives and History is located a few miles north of Fuller's gravesite, along Fayetteville St. The city of Durham officially recognized Fuller on July 16, 2001, with a commemorative plaque located along the American Tobacco Trail, adjacent to the property where Fuller's unmarked grave is located (several hundred feet east of Fayetteville St.). Posthumous Recognition Blind Boy Fuller was recognized alongside Reverend Gary Davis as Main Honorees by the Sesquicentennial Honors Commission at the Durham 150 Closing Ceremony in Durham, NC on November 2, 2019. The posthumous recognition was bestowed upon them for their contributions to the Piedmont Blues. References A plaque commemorating Fuller in Durham, North Carolina External links * Discography * Blind Boy Fuller at Discogs.com 1907 births 1941 deaths People from Wadesboro, North Carolina African-American musicians Decca Records artists Vocalion Records artists Piedmont blues musicians East Coast blues musicians Country blues musicians Country blues singers American blues guitarists American male guitarists Blind musicians 20th- century American singers 20th-century American guitarists People from Rockingham, North Carolina 20th-century American male musicians "
"Starchildren was a side project of The Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan. From 1990 to 1994 the band played a few scattered live shows, each usually featuring a different lineup of band members with only Corgan having constant involvement. The band officially released two songs, "Delusions of Candor", an original composition by Corgan, and a cover of "Isolation" by Joy Division. History First appearing in 1990 (then billed as Star Children), Corgan gave the motto of the band as "Be repetitive for nuisance's sake.""Smashing Pumpkins." Chicago Tribune, 1990/09/07. Little is known about the early incarnation of the band, other than they played at least two shows at the Cabaret Metro with varying members including Corgan, Jimmy Chamberlin, Neil Jendon, Cliff Fox, and Kerry Brown (the latter three members of the band Catherine). In 1994, the band emerged with a more visible presence playing a June 18 show that received coverage as an incognito Smashing Pumpkins show, despite it being a traditional Starchildren performance. The performance that night featured several songs that would later make their way onto Smashing Pumpkins' releases. Songs performed included The Cure cover "A Night Like This" and the James Iha penned "The Boy" which were later released in The Aeroplane Flies High box set, as well as an early version of "Here Is No Why" from Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. Although Starchildren was already closely associated with the band Catherine due to the groups' frequently overlapping members, this association was taken to another level by the 1994 release of the split 7" vinyl record "Songs about Girls"/"Delusions of Candor". One side of the record featured the Catherine song "Songs about Girls" while the reverse featured the Starchildren tune "Delusions of Candor". Delusions of Candor featured Billy Corgan's then best friend, and Smashing Pumpkins first manager and guitar technician Bob English on bass, but he only got a "thanks to" credit on the single and received no compensation of any kind. This is the only original Starchildren composition released to date. In 1995, the band's cover of Joy Division's "Isolation" appeared on the tribute album A Means to an End: The Music of Joy Division. In January 2010, Corgan announced plans to start a new record label, which may release new material from Starchildren. Discography * "Delusions of Candor" (1994) * "Isolation" on A Means to an End: The Music of Joy Division (1995) Footnotes TVT Records artists Supergroups (music) Musical groups established in 1990 Musical groups disestablished in 1994 Alternative rock groups from Illinois Billy Corgan "
"HMAS Hobart was a modified Leander-class light cruiser which served in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) during World War II. Originally constructed for the Royal Navy as HMS Apollo, the ship entered service in 1936, and was sold to Australia two years later. During the war, Hobart was involved in the evacuation of British Somaliland in 1940, fought at the Battle of the Coral Sea and supported the amphibious landings at Guadalcanal and Tulagi in 1942. She was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in 1943, then returned to service in 1945 and supported the landings at Tarakan, Wewak, Brunei, and Balikpapan. Hobart was placed in reserve in 1947, but plans to modernise her and return her to service as an aircraft carrier escort, training ship, or guided missile ship were not followed through. The cruiser was sold for scrapping in 1962. Design and construction The ship was one of three Modified Leander-class light cruisers constructed for the Royal Navy. The main difference to the previous five Leanders was that the newer ships had their machinery and propulsion equipment organised in two self-contained units (separated fore and aft), allowing the ship to continue operating if one set was damaged. The two exhaust funnels, one for each machinery space, gave the modified ships a different profile from the early Leanders, which had a single funnel.Frame, HMAS Sydney, p. 15 To cover the separate machinery spaces, the side armour was extended from , negating the weight reduction created by the separation.Frame, HMAS Sydney, pp. 15â16 During design, it was planned to modify the forward- most and aft-most 6-inch turrets to be fitted with three guns instead of two, but the plan was cancelled when it was determined that the required alterations would cause several negative side effects, including reducing the ship's top speed and causing problems with effective fire control.Frame, HMAS Sydney, p. 16 The cruiser was laid down at HM Dockyard, Devonport, England on 15 August 1933 as HMS Apollo.Bastock, Australia's Ships of War, p. 124 She was launched on 9 October 1934 by Lady Florence, wife of Admiral Sir William Boyle. The ship was commissioned into the Royal Navy on 13 January 1936. Operational history =Royal Navy service= Apollo berthed in Miami, Florida in 1938 Apollo served on the North American and West Indies Station until 1938.Cassells, The Capital Ships, p. 73 =Australian acquisition= The ship was purchased by the Australian Government in 1938, with the transfer of the seaplane tender to the Royal Navy as part of the payment. She was originally to be renamed and transferred to the RAN on 6 October, but the mobilisation of the British Home Fleet in response to the Munich Crisis brought this forward to 28 September. The cruiser arrived in Australia at the end of 1938, and visited her namesake city during February 1939. =World War II= At the start of World War II, Hobart was initially deployed on patrols of Bass Strait. A month later, on 13 October, the cruiser sailed for Singapore with several RAN destroyers. After arrival, she was assigned to patrol and convoy escort duties in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea. In February 1940, she escorted an Australian troop convoy from Colombo to the Middle East, then spent time in Ceylon as flagship of the Commander-in-Chief, East Indies, before being transferred to Aden with in April to form the core of the Royal Navy's Red Sea Force. The cruiser fired in anger for the first time on 12 June 1940, in retaliation to Italian aircraft attacking Aden. On 19 June, the cruiser's Walrus amphibious aircraft dropped bombs on an Italian wireless station on Centre Peak Island in the Red Sea. At the start of August, Hobart escorted a relief force to Berbera, in response to the Italian invasion of British Somaliland. Two weeks later, the decision was made to abandon British Somaliland, and Hobart was designated headquarters for the evacuation. The Walrus was used to successfully fend off air raids and bomb the Italian headquarters at Zeila, while a 3-pounder Hotchkiss saluting gun was converted into an anti-tank gun and sent to assist in the rearguard action, although the three volunteers crewing the weapon were captured. Hobarts captain orchestrated the evacuation of over 7,000 soldiers and civilians aboard a heterogenous flotilla of vessels. The cruiser was the last ship to leave on 19 August, collecting stragglers in the ship's boats while demolition teams and the ship's guns destroyed anything of value. HMAS Hobart in Brisbane in 1939 Hobart remained in the Red Sea until October, when she sailed to Colombo for refit, then returned to Australia. Shortly after arrival, Rear Admiral John Gregory Crace transferred his flag from to Hobart.Bastock, Australia's Ships of War, p. 125 The cruiser was used as an escort in Australian waters until June 1941, when the ship's seaplane and catapult were removed, Crace transferred his flag back to Canberra, and Hobart was sent to the Mediterranean to relieve sister ship . On 13 July, Hobart was in Port Tewfik when the area was bombed. The troopship Georgic was damaged by bombs and attempted to beach, but collided with the transport Gleneran and forced her ashore as well. Hobarts company helped to evacuate crew and passengers from the ships during the evening, and helped to refloat Georgic the next day. On joining the Mediterranean Fleet, Hobart was assigned to support Allied forces during the Western Desert Campaign until December 1941, when the Japanese declaration of war required the ship to relocate to Australian waters. The cruiser was diverted to escort a convoy from Colombo to Singapore; the ships arrived on 3 January, the same day as a Japanese air raid. Hobart reached Fremantle on 11 January, then escorted a convoy to Java before the month's end. On 3 February 1942, while sailing from Singapore to Batavia, Hobart and the destroyer came to the aid of the merchant ship Norah Moller, which had been bombed by three aircraft. The cruiser collected 57 of the 70 aboard, with the rest aboard Tenedos. From this point, the ship was almost constantly deployed on convoy escort duties with the Eastern Fleet. On 25 February, the cruiser was attacked by 27 bombers while refuelling from a tanker at Tanjong Priok.Cassells, The Capital Ships, p. 74 There was only minor damage, but the fuelling operation could not be completed, and Hobart was unable to join the Allied force that was defeated during the Battle of the Java Sea two days later. At the start of May, the Americans learned of an imminent Japanese invasion of Port Moresby, and Hobart was sent with to rendezvous with United States forces in the Coral Sea.Gill, Royal Australian Navy, 1942â1945, p. 41 At 07:00 on 7 May, Rear Admiral Crace, embarked aboard Australia as commander of Task Force 44, was ordered to take his ships (Australia, Hobart, US cruiser , and US destroyers , , and ) to the Jomard Passage, and engage any Japanese ships found en route to Port Moresby, while several US carrier groups engaged a Japanese force headed for the Solomon Islands.Gill, Royal Australian Navy, 1942â1945, p. 47 The ships reached their patrol area around 14:00, fired on a group of eleven unidentified aircraft at maximum range with no damage dealt at 14:27, and were attacked themselves by twelve Japanese twin-engine torpedo bombers at 15:06; no ships were damaged for the loss of five aircraft.Gill, Royal Australian Navy, 1942â1945, pp. 48â50 At 15:16, nineteen Japanese heavy bombers dropped their payload on the Allied ships; no ships were hit directly, the only casualties (aboard Chicago) were from shrapnel.Gill, Royal Australian Navy, 1942â1945, p. 50 A few minutes later, the ships were attacked by another three heavy bombers, flying at a higher altitude to the first group; the bombing was much less accurate. It was later learned that the three aircraft belonged to the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). Although USN Vice Admiral Herbert F. Leary made plans to train aircrews in naval vessel recognition in response, USAAF General George Brett refused to implement them or acknowledge that the friendly fire incident had happened. With no new orders, Crace decided to relocate his ships during the night to a point from Port Moresby, to better intercept a Japanese invasion force if it came through either the Jomard Passage or the China Strait. Instructions from the American commander of the operation were still not forthcoming, and Crace was forced to rely on intercepted radio messages to track the progress of the main battle.Gill, Royal Australian Navy, 1942â1945, p. 52 The task force remained in their assigned area until 01:00 on 10 May, when Crace ordered them to withdraw south to Cid Harbour on Whitsunday Island; the lack of reports and intelligence concerning either the Americans or Japanese led him to conclude that both forces had withdrawn, and there was no immediate threat to Port Moresby.Gill, Royal Australian Navy, 1942â1945, p. 53 On 7 August, Hobart supported the amphibious landings at Guadalcanal and Tulagi. The damage from a torpedo attack against Hobart on 20 July 1943 On the evening of 20 July 1943, while sailing to Espiritu Santo as part of Task Force 74, Hobart was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine.Gill, Royal Australian Navy, 1942â1945, p. 291 The torpedo struck the port quarter and caused serious damage. The damage included significant structural damage around the wardroom, and the loss of electricity supply and steering control. Seven officers and six sailors were killed, while another six officers and one sailor were injured. No submarine was detected prior to or after the attack, and post-attack reconstructions concluded that the unidentified submarine, positioned ahead of the eastward-sailing task force, saw the ships silhouetted against the sunset and fired a spread of torpedoes at Australia from at least ; these missed the heavy cruiser, and the torpedo at one edge of the fan impacted against Hobart instead. After electrical power and steering were restored, the cruiser limped to Espiritu Santo under the escort of and for temporary repairs, which were performed by , then sailed for Australia on 21 August with the destroyers and escorting.Gill, Royal Australian Navy, 1942â1945, p. 292 The cruiser arrived in Sydney on 26 August, and was docked at Cockatoo Island Dockyard for repairs and refurbishment; the quantity of damage meant that she was out of service until 1945.Cassells, The Capital Ships, pp. 73â5 Following her return, Hobart was involved in the landing at Tarakan on 25 April 1945, at Wewak on 11 May, at Brunei in June, and at Balikpapan in July. Hobart entered Tokyo Bay on 31 August, and was present for Victory over Japan Day (2 September 1945), when the Japanese Instrument of Surrender was signed. Following the war, Hobart spent 1946 and 1947 in Japanese waters.Cassells, The Capital Ships, p. 75 Hobart received eight battle honours for her wartime service: "Mediterranean 1941", "Indian Ocean 1941", "Coral Sea 1942", "Savo Island 1942", "Guadacanal 1942", "Pacific 1942â45", "East Indies 1940", and "Borneo 1945". Hobart exercising with off Subic Bay in August 1945 Decommissioning and fate Hobart was paid off into the reserve fleet on 20 December 1947. In 1950, following the failure to find a suitable new British cruiser design, and a dollar shortage preventing the purchase of US vessels, it was decided to modernise Hobart and use her as a stop-gap aircraft carrier escort until the destroyers entered service, after which she would serve as a troop convoy escort to the Middle East in the event of a future conflict.Donohue, From Empire Defence to the Long Haul, pp. 148â9 This planned role changed in 1952 following a series of financial cutbacks and the realisation that the destroyers were suitable carrier escorts; instead, Hobart was to replace Australia as the training cruiser. She was taken to the State Dockyard, Newcastle for modification. During 1953 and 1954, further reductions in the RAN saw one carrier taken off active duty for use as a training vessel, eliminating the need to return Hobart to service. Other options for reactivating the cruiser were explored, including conversion to a guided missile ship, but by April 1955, all proposals were abandoned. Despite the conversion work to date having cost ÂŖA1 million, the modification was cancelled, and Hobart was returned to the reserve fleet and marked for disposal. Hobart was sold for scrap on 22 February 1962 to Japanese firm Mitsui & Co (Aust) Pty Ltd. The ship left Sydney under tow on 3 March, and arrived in Osaka on 2 April for breaking up. Citations References External links * HMAS Hobart history and images, U. S. Naval Historical Center Leander-class cruisers (1931) of the Royal Navy Leander-class cruisers (1931) of the Royal Australian Navy Ships built in Plymouth, Devon 1934 ships World War II cruisers of Australia "