title: Lubyanka Building

text: The Lubyanka building is home to the Lubyanka prison, the headquarters of the Border Guard Service, a KGB museum, and a subsection of the FSB. Part of the prison was turned into a prison museum, but a special authorization is required for visits.


title: Lubyanka Building

text: The Lubyanka was originally built in 1898 as the headquarters of the All-Russia Insurance Company ("Rossiya Insurance Company"), on the spot where Catherine the Great had once headquartered her secret police. The building was designed by the architect Alexander V. Ivanov. It is noted for its parquet floors and pale green walls. Belying its massiveness, the edifice avoids an impression of heroic scale: isolated Palladian and Baroque details, such as the minute pediments over the corner bays and the central loggia, are lost in an endlessly repeating palace facade where three bands of cornices emphasize the horizontal lines. A clock is centered in the uppermost band of the facade.


title: Lubyanka Building

text: Following the Bolshevik Revolution, in 1918 the structure was taken over by the government, for use as the headquarters of the secret police, then called the Cheka. The prison became operational in 1920. Its prisoners included Boris Savinkov, Osip Mandelstam, and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. In Soviet Russian jokes, it was referred to as "the tallest building in Moscow", since Siberia (a euphemism for the Gulag labour camp system) could be seen from its basement. The prison is on the top floor, but since there are no windows on that floor, most prisoners, and therefore popular conception, thought they were being detained in its basement.


title: Lubyanka Building

text: During the Great Purge, the offices became increasingly cramped due to staff numbers. In 1940, Aleksey Shchusev was commissioned to enlarge the building. By 1947, his new design had doubled Lubyanka's size horizontally, with the original structure taking up the left half of the facade (as viewed from the street). He added another storey and extended the structure by incorporating backstreet buildings. Shchusev's design accentuated Neo-Renaissance detailing, but only the right part of the facade was constructed under his direction in the 1940s, due to the war and other hindrances.


title: Lubyanka Building

text: Raoul Wallenberg was detained in the Lubyanka prison, where he reportedly died in 1947. According to the KGB, prisoners' interrogations stopped at Lubyanka in 1953 after the death of Stalin.


title: Lubyanka Building

text: In 1957, Russia's largest toy shop opened on the opposite side of Lubyanka Square, where a medieval cannon foundry was previously located. In 1958, the fountain at the center of Lubyanka Square was replaced by an 11-ton (or 14-ton, or 15-ton) statue of Felix Dzerzhinsky ("Iron Felix"), founder of the Cheka.


title: Lubyanka Building

text: In 1972, Vasili Mitrokhin moved 300,000 KGB files from the Lubyanka building that he gave to the British intelligence in 1992.


title: Lubyanka Building

text: The building's asymmetric facade survived intact until 1983, when the original structure was reconstructed to match the new build, at the urging of Communist Party General Secretary and former KGB Director Yuri Andropov in accordance with Shchusev's plans.


title: Lubyanka Building

text: Although the Soviet secret police changed its name many times, their headquarters remained in this building. Secret police chiefs from Lavrenty Beria to Andropov used the same office on the third floor, which looked down on the statue of Cheka founder Felix Dzerzhinsky. A prison on the ground floor of the building figures prominently in a book written by the author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, "The Gulag Archipelago". Famous inmates held, tortured and interrogated there include Sidney Reilly, Greville Wynne, Raoul Wallenberg, Ion Antonescu, Osip Mandelstam, Genrikh Yagoda, János Esterházy, Alexander Dolgun, Rochus Misch, and Walter Ciszek.


title: Lubyanka Building

text: After the dissolution of the KGB in 1991, the Lubyanka became the headquarters of the Border Guard Service of Russia, as well as the Lubyanka prison, and is one directorate of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB). A museum of the KGB (now called Историко-демонстрационный зал ФСБ России, Historical Demonstration hall of the Russian FSB) was opened to the public.


title: Lubyanka Building

text: In 1990, an employee of the Lubyanka, Katya Mayorova, became Miss KGB, the first official "security services beauty title". In 1990, the Solovetsky Stone was erected across from the Lubyanka, to commemorate the victims of political repression. In August 1991, the statue of Felix Dzerzhinsky was dismantled and removed from the center of the Lubyanka Square. That same year, Western visitors were allowed to tour the building's prison for the first time.


title: Lubyanka Building

text: Remains of Adolf Hitler, as well as those of Joseph and Magda Goebbels, were presented at the Lubyanka in a 2004 documentary.


title: Lubyanka Building

text: In 2015, the Lubyanka's front door was set on fire by Pyotr Pavlensky, a performance artist. He was released from jail six months later. In 2017, a huge church was consecrated next to the Lubyanka building on the grounds of the Sretensky Monastery. The church is dedicated to the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Orthodox Church, including those who were executed at Lubyanka. In December 2019, a shooting took place around the Lubyanka.


title: Lubyanka Building

text: In 2008, the wing of the house from Myasnitskaya Street received the status of a cultural heritage site. In 2011, it underwent reconstruction. During this period, information appeared about the installation of a helipad on the roof of the building. According to the head of Rosokhrankultura Viktor Petrakov, it has existed for a long time. Although the roof of the building was not protected, representatives of the Moscow Department of Cultural Heritage stated that the project was not approved and the reconstruction was carried out without proper documentation. Details of the restoration of the facades, which took place in 2013-2014, were not disclosed due to the secret status of the object.


title: Lubyanka Building

text: Thanks to the activities of government agencies that worked in the building, the toponym "Lubyanka" has become a household name. Phraseological units associated with the house appeared at different times. In 2015, before the opening of the reconstructed "Children's World ", which is located opposite, they released a stylistic advertisement: "Do you love a child? Take me to the Lubyanka." It caused a strong negative reaction in society.


title: Lubyanka Building

text: Rallies and pickets are regularly held near the walls of the FSB building and the nearby Solovetsky Stone monument. In October 2018, endless single-person rallies were held near the house in support of prisoners in the cases of the and organizations. In November 2016, the artist Petr Pavlensky held an action - setting fire to the main entrance of the building as a protest "against continuous terror." He was fined for damaging a cultural heritage site, although it later emerged that the original door had been removed long ago.


title: Gun laws in New York

text: Gun laws in New York regulate the sale, possession, and use of firearms and ammunition in the U.S. state of New York, outside of New York City which has separate licensing regulations. These regulations are very strict in comparison to the rest of the United States.


title: Gun laws in New York

text: New York Civil Rights Law art. II, § 4 provides that "A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms cannot be infringed." Similar text is also contained in the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution.


title: Gun laws in New York

text: New York state law does not require a license to own or possess rifles or shotguns, but does require a permit to legally possess or own a pistol. All firearms must comply with the NY SAFE Act, which bans firearms that it defines as assault weapons, unless they were owned prior to the ban and registered by April 15, 2014. Law enforcement is partially exempt from this law.


title: Gun laws in New York

text: The U.S. Supreme Court in the case "District of Columbia v. Heller", 554 U.S. 570 (2008), ruled that "the right to bear arms" is an individual right and a right to arms in common use are protected under the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution. The Court further ruled that this right applies against the states in "McDonald v. Chicago", 561 U.S. 742 (2010).


title: Gun laws in New York

text: In 2013, the Second Circuit asked the New York Court of Appeals whether part-time state residents are eligible for a pistol permit under New York law, to which the Court answered in the affirmative.


title: Gun laws in New York

text: On June 5, 2022, governor Kathy Hochul () signed New York Assembly Bill A10503 into effect. The bill raises the minimum age to purchase or possess a semi-automatic rifle to 21, and requires a license for all new semi-automatic rifle purchases. Semi-automatic rifles owned prior to this date are grandfathered. This bill was passed in response to the 2022 Buffalo shooting, and the Robb Elementary school shooting.


title: Gun laws in New York

text: In a 2012 ruling, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld New York's law requiring gun owners who seek a concealed weapon permit to prove a special need for protection; the decision in "Kachalsky v. County of Westchester", 701 F.3d 81, held that New York's laws do not violate the right to keep and bear arms. This ruling was abrogated on June 23, 2022, as the Supreme Court ruled that the state's requirement for concealed carry permit applicants to show “proper cause” (the so-called “may-issue” policy) is unconstitutional.


title: Gun laws in New York

text: New York is generally perceived to be a highly restrictive state for purchasing, possessing, or carrying firearms, as most firearms regulations are defined at the local level. This is especially the case for New York City and its surrounding suburbs, and larger urban centers throughout the state where most New York State residents live and work. In contrast, most rural areas in New York State have relatively permissive firearms policies, particularly with respect to concealed carry.


title: Gun laws in New York

text: Most of New York State's gun laws are covered in two sections of New York Penal Law: Article 265 - Firearms and Other Dangerous Weapons, and Article 400 - Licensing and Other Provisions Relating to Firearms. These laws ban handgun possession and provide exemptions, including individuals licensed to carry handguns or to possess them for other reasons, including sports, repair, or disposal. As the law's title indicates, New York's restrictive laws also apply to other items regarded as deadly weapons, such as certain chemical sprays, clubs, explosives, fireworks, knives, rockets, slingshots, stun guns, and throwing stars. The ban on stun guns was ruled unconstitutional.


title: Gun laws in New York

text: Statewide, New York enforces various firearm related prohibitions, many proscriptions similarly listed in the now-expired Federal Assault Weapons Ban. On January 15, 2013, the state assault weapons ban was made more restrictive by the NY SAFE Act. Specified rifle magazines are banned: a) manufactured after 1994; and b) the magazine holds in excess of 10 rounds (handguns included). In December 2013, a federal judge ruled the seven-round magazine limitation is "'tenuous, straitened, and unsupported,' and therefore unconstitutional." Any semi-automatic rifle (with a detachable magazine) or shotgun (non-pump) with just one of these features are banned: 1) pistol grip; 2) bayonet lug; 3) telescoping or folding stock; 4) flash suppressor; 5) threaded barrel; or 6) grenade launcher. The SAFE Act expanded the ban to add the following features: 7) muzzle brake (Dec 2014 Federal court All references to muzzle "break [sic]" be stricken); 8) muzzle compensator; 9) thumbhole stock; and 10) foregrip. All semi-automatic versions of assault-style rifles and shotguns purchased prior to January 15, 2013 are grandfathered, but must be registered within one year of the SAFE Act passage.


title: Gun laws in New York

text: Permits issued in New York are valid statewide, except in NYC, unless validated by the NYC police commissioner. A NYC concealed carry license is valid throughout the state. NY Penal Code 400 (6).


title: Gun laws in New York

text: For example, regardless of license, all New York residents with a concealed carry permit must still obtain a New York State Pistol Permit, apply for a purchase document for each handgun purchased, and may possess only those handguns the license holder has registered with the state.


title: Gun laws in New York

text: New York has enacted a red flag law, prohibits teachers from being armed, banned bump stocks, instituted a 30 day waiting period for purchasers who don't pass the background check instantly, and operates a gun buyback program.


title: Gun laws in New York

text: The purchase of a handgun in New York is limited to only those individuals who hold a valid pistol permit issued by a county or major city within New York, and present to the seller a purchase document issued by the licensing authority, with the specific make, model, caliber, and serial number of the handgun indicated on the document. The possession of a handgun in New York is limited only to those individuals who hold a valid pistol license and are in possession of a registered handgun (one that appears on the license, indicating the specific make, model, caliber, and serial number of the handgun). The carry of a handgun in New York is limited only to those individuals who hold a valid pistol license, possess a registered handgun, and are carrying said handgun in compliance with the restrictions as they appear on the license and other applicable state and federal law.


title: Gun laws in New York

text: New York State Pistol Permits are not issued to out-of-state residents, although New York will issue pistol licenses to part-time residents. New York does not honor licenses or permits from any other states, although some states will recognize New York licenses without a formal agreement.


title: Gun laws in New York

text: Application for a handgun license is made through an individual's county or major city of primary residence, usually the police or sheriff's department, or a separate licensing authority. In NYC, the licensing authority is the police commissioner. In Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, the licensing officer is the county police commissioner or county sheriff, depending on where one resides. The licensing authority is a county court judge, or more rarely, a supreme court judge. State and FBI criminal records, along with state mental health records, are checked as part of the licensing process. In addition, applicants are required to supply four personal references from individuals unrelated to them by blood or marriage. These individuals may be required to fill out forms, varying in length by county, attesting to the applicant's "good character". Pistol license approvals can take from less than four months to more than six months, even though the law allows the licensing authorities no more than six months to "process" a license.


title: Gun laws in New York

text: Three types of pistol permits can be issued: possess on premises, a restricted permit limited to target and hunting only, and unrestricted concealed carry. Concealed carry permits may be restricted, but restrictions do not have the force of law. Permits issued outside of NYC are not valid in NYC unless a special license is issued granting validity.


title: Gun laws in New York

text: In addition to laws pertaining to the entire state, there are additional laws and statutes pertaining to licensing and permits in some of the major cities of the state. However, NYC is the only place where an individual holding a valid New York State firearm license, obtained outside of NYC, who is traveling through NYC with a firearm must make no stops and must keep the firearm and ammo in separate locked containers that are not immediately accessible by the driver or any passengers during travel.


title: Gun laws in New York

text: In New York State, pistol licenses are generally of two types: carry or premises-only. "Premises-only" is the most common license issued in NYC and is supposed to be "Shall-Issue." Restrictions can be placed on either of the above types of licenses; for example, many jurisdictions allow handgun license holders to carry handguns only while hunting (i.e., sportsman's license) and/or traveling to and from the range (i.e., target license).


title: Gun laws in New York

text: Restrictions on handgun licenses in New York vary greatly from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. In contrast to "no carry" New York City, and some counties which only issue "to and from target shooting and hunting" licenses, many upstate counties issue unrestricted pistol licenses that allow unrestricted concealed carry of a loaded handgun (except at schools, court houses or courtrooms, and secure areas of airports).


title: Gun laws in New York

text: This dichotomy in New York's handgun license policies is an outgrowth of two specific cultural forces: the strength of home rule in the state and the tradition of the various hunting seasons in the rural counties.


title: Gun laws in New York

text: A "large capacity ammunition feeding device" is any belt, drum, strip, magazine, or similar instrument used to feed ammunition into a firearm that has a capability of holding more than ten rounds.


title: Gun laws in New York

text: For the purposes of this section, "large capacity ammunition feeding devices" manufactured at least 50 years prior to the current date will be referred to as "antique magazines". Magazines that are not legally limited to 10 rounds and were manufactured at any point in time will be referred to as "standard capacity magazines".


title: Gun laws in New York

text: A firearm is considered "antique" if it was manufactured at least 50 years prior to the current date. Antique firearms can still be continued to be purchased and sold so long as one registers them after purchasing them, even if they would be considered assault weapons otherwise. This transfer exemption also applies to antique magazines, although these must be specifically registered to the antique firearm. This exemption is the only way an ordinary citizen can still obtain assault weapons (such as G43's, SVT-40's, older AR-15's, and M1 carbines with bayonet lugs) and standard capacity magazines.


title: Gun laws in New York

text: Police officers who are residents of the state may still own assault weapons and standard capacity magazines. Retired police officers may also own assault weapons and standard capacity magazines if they acquired them during the course of their career, due to a carve-out in the amended SAFE Act.


title: Gun laws in New York

text: Federally licensed firearms dealers that are licensed as a dealer or gunsmith under New York law may continue to possess assault weapons and standard capacity magazines.


title: Gun laws in New York

text: Military members stationed within the state may still bring assault weapons and standard capacity magazines into the state, provided the military member has approval from their command.


title: Gun laws in New York

text: Residents of NYC who wish to obtain a firearms license must apply online through the New York Police Department License Division.


title: Gun laws in New York

text: There are currently six types of pistol licenses: Premise License, Carry Business License, Limited Carry Business License, Special Carry License, Carry Guard License, and Law Enforcement Retiree License.


title: Gun laws in New York

text: NYC premises-only licenses are the licenses issued to average citizens who cannot show a need for self-defense greater than any other average citizen. They are clearly marked: RESTRICTED - NOT FOR CARRY. Most licenses issued in NYC are for on-premises possession only, for self-defense within the home or business.


title: Gun laws in New York

text: Security guards and business people who regularly carry valuables may be issued a Restricted Business Carry License which is valid only while conducting the business specifically as it was described, in great detail, on the application for the license.


title: Gun laws in New York

text: In response to the Supreme Court granting certiorari in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. City of New York, and in an attempt to prevent a Supreme Court decision, state law was amended to allow transporting the handgun to and from a target range, home, business, or any other place one is authorized to possess such handgun, but the firearm must be unloaded and in a locked container. Previously in NYC, firearms could only be transported directly to and from a range within city limits. Traveling through NYC with a license issued from another jurisdiction within the state must be done in accordance to local law.


title: Gun laws in New York

text: A person carrying a firearm without a valid permit in NYC may be charged with "criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree," a felony. Unlawfully carrying a firearm in NYC is typically punishable by a prison term of 3 1/2 years. A high-profile example of the penalties associated with New York's restrictive gun laws is the 2-year prison sentence served by former New York Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress, after pleading guilty to unlawful possession of a weapon, stemming from negligently shooting himself in the leg at an NYC nightclub with his concealed handgun, for which he did not have a valid NYC concealed carry permit. At the time of the incident, Burress had a Florida concealed carry license, which is not valid in New York.


title: Gun laws in New York

text: In November 2012, then-mayor Michael Bloomberg () denied a request by the New York National Guard for its members to carry service weapons to help maintain order in devastated parts of the city in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, calling the presence of armed service members in Brooklyn "a bad idea," and further stating, "The NYPD is the only people we want on the street with guns."


title: Gun laws in New York

text: In 2021, the state's gun laws were challenged in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen, claiming the laws infringe on their Second Amendment rights. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the association, affirming the rights of New Yorkers to obtain a carry license without first having to demonstrate a special need for one.


title: Gun laws in New York

text: City ordinances and New York's state laws also require medical facilities to notify the police within a specified period of time after admitting anyone with gunshot wounds. Hospitals or clinics that fail to comply with this requirement face fines and other penalties.


title: Gun laws in New York

text: Prior to January 15, 2013, rifles deemed assault-style did not have to be registered in any jurisdiction within New York except for NYC. Since enactment of the NY SAFE Act, all grandfathered operable assault-style rifles purchased prior to January 15, 2013 must now be registered. The deadline to register these firearms was on or before January 14, 2014.


title: Gun laws in New York

text: Contrary to handguns, N.Y. state law does not ban the open carry of shotguns or rifles, except in restricted buildings such as schools and courthouses.


title: Gun laws in New York

text: NYC has additional restrictions, such as requiring rifle/shotgun magazines to have a maximum capacity of five rounds.


title: Gun laws in New York

text: State law provides restricted exceptions for interstate transportation of firearms by non-residents. Non-residents may transport any lawful firearm through the state to any place outside of it where an individual may lawfully possess and carry such firearm.


title: Gun laws in New York

text: The firearm must be unloaded while in transit within the state. The firearm and any ammunition for it must not be easily accessible by anyone in the vehicle's driver or passenger area. For example, the gun and ammunition must be kept in the storage area of the vehicle, such as a car's "trunk." In vehicles without a storage area separate from the driver or passenger compartment, the firearm or ammunition shall be contained in a locked container other than the glove compartment or console." One may also transport a firearm for target competition purposes, "by a person who is a member or coach of an accredited college or university target pistol team" and "while attending or traveling to or from, an organized competitive pistol match or league competition under auspices of, or approved by, the National Rifle Association and in which [they are] a competitor, within 48 hours of such event or by a person who is a non-resident of the state while attending or traveling to or from an organized match sanctioned by the International Handgun Metallic Silhouette Association and in which he is a competitor, within 48 hours of such event."


title: Gun laws in New York

text: The state of New York is of particular concern to interstate motorists who travel with firearms because it separates all six New England states from the rest of the United States. This means that under the Firearm Owners Protection Act (FOPA), all people traveling through the state with firearms are protected by federal law, however they must have their firearms unloaded and locked in a hard case where they are not readily accessible (e.g. in the trunk of a vehicle).


title: Gun laws in New York

text: A New York Court of Appeals decision in 2019 stated that an out-of-state gun dealer cannot be prosecuted in New York for selling a gun that was later resold into the black market.


title: Gun laws in New York

text: Youth and firearms: Youths between ages 14 and 21 may shoot a handgun at a range only if they are under the supervision of a military officer or licensed professional, have not been convicted of a felony, and do not seem to be a danger to themselves or others. Youths between 12 and 15 may only possess to load or fire a firearm when supervised by an adult with specific qualifications. Children under the age of 12 are not permitted to possess a firearm with the intention to load or fire it.


title: Gun laws in New York

text: In New York City, only adults at least 21 years of age or older can purchase or own a firearm with a permit or license issued by the NYPD. In the rest of the state, adults 18 years of age or older can purchase long guns (rifles & shotguns) without a permit, and only adults 21 years of age or older can purchase or possess a handgun (with the proper licensing requirements). Minors who are at least 16 years of age can possess long guns. Age restrictions on purchasing apply for both FFL dealers and private sales or transfers.


title: Gun laws in New York

text: In June 2022, Governor Kathy Hochul () signed legislation to ban persons under the age of 21 from purchasing or possessing semi-automatic rifles, ban soft body armor for civilian use, and require gun owners to obtain a license before legally taking possession of new semi-automatic rifles in the state. Those between 18 and 21 are still permitted to purchase other rifles (bolt action, pump action, lever or single-shot) and can generally buy all categories of shotguns.


title: Gun laws in New York

text: Those between the ages of 18-21 can only purchase handguns if they are current or honorably discharged members of the armed forces or if they are law enforcement officers.


title: Gun laws in New York

text: Ghost guns: As of 2019, making, selling, transporting or possessing 3-D-printed guns or other undetectable firearms are prohibited. New York City further bans metal 80% lower receivers that can be used to make a firearm.


title: Gun laws in New York

text: Cross registration of handguns: Some counties limit who can register a handgun on their license, with some allowing cross registration of a handgun from any other licensee, to licensed family members only, to no handgun can be cross registered. State law does not address this issue. Sharing use of a handgun not listed on one's license is only allowed at a certified range with the licensed handgun owner present.


title: Gun laws in New York

text: Examples of local laws: NYC, for example, limits the color of all guns by banning colors that would make an actual gun appear like a toy gun, and bans the ownership and sale of all BB guns, paintball guns, air guns, and pellet guns without an appropriate license. Yonkers requires a state pistol permit before one may apply for a permit to own a BB or pellet handgun.


title: Gun laws in New York

text: Renewal fees: There are periodic renewal fees, including on restricted carry licenses, like NYC's $340 for a three-year license. Nassau,Westchester and several other suburban counties allow a "to and from the range only" form of concealed carry.


title: Gun laws in New York

text: Periodic renewal of licenses: Most counties in the state issue "lifetime" licenses. Elsewhere than in the City of New York and the counties of Nassau and Westchester, any license to carry or possess a pistol or revolver shall be in force and effect until revoked. Renewable licenses vary in cost and last from the 3-year New York City license to five years in the other counties, with New York City's license costing $340 every three years and by contrast, a renewal charge of $10.00 in Suffolk County every 5 years.


title: Gun laws in New York

text: Gravity knives: New York's classification of gravity knives as "deadly weapons", which led to common inadvertent violations of the law by tradesmen, was repealed on May 30, 2019, thus allowing their possession. The law was previously deemed unconstitutionally vague.


title: Gun laws in New York

text: Some local counties have adopted Second Amendment sanctuary resolutions in opposition to some gun control laws.


title: Gun laws in New York

text: In the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting and the 2012 Webster shooting, New York became the first U.S. state to enact stricter gun control laws on January 15, 2013, when Gov. Andrew Cuomo () signed the NY SAFE Act. New measures included redefining what an assault weapon is, assault weapon registration, prohibition of sales of assault weapons, the prevention of selling or passing on registered assault weapons to friends or family, reducing the maximum allowed magazine capacity from ten rounds to seven rounds, (this part of the SAFE act was redacted in court, as New York State, the court ruled, failed to produce evidence that the provision would stop criminals from simply adding three more rounds to get the magazine to its full, 10-round potential. This ruling makes it again legal to place the full 10 rounds in a detachable or fixed magazine), background checks on almost all gun sales including private sales, background checks on all ammunition sales (has yet to go into effect), additional requirements for reporting of persons with mental health issues, and increased penalties for certain gun crimes. The SAFE Act also includes provisions allowing law enforcement to preemptively seize a person's firearms without a warrant or court order if they have probable cause that the person in question may be mentally unstable or intends to use the weapons to commit a crime.


title: Craig McLachlan

text: Craig Dougall McLachlan (born 1 September 1965) is an Australian actor, musician, singer and composer. He has been involved in film, television, the music industry and music theatre for over 30 years. He is best known for appearing in the soap operas "Neighbours" and "Home and Away" and the BBC One spy drama "Bugs". He has portrayed the title character in "The Doctor Blake Mysteries", for which he was nominated for the Logie Award for Most Popular Actor; he has previously won the award in this category three times.


title: Craig McLachlan

text: Craig McLachlan first appeared on Australian television in a guest role on "The Young Doctors". He was cast as Henry Ramsay, brother of Kylie Minogue's character Charlene, in Channel 10's "Neighbours". After appearing in more than 800 episodes and winning the Gold Logie Award for Most Popular Personality on Australian Television (1990) and Silver Logie, he was contracted to Seven Network's "Home and Away", playing schoolteacher Grant Mitchell. Outside Australia he is most known for playing Ed Russell in the 90's BBC spy drama "Bugs".


title: Craig McLachlan

text: A singer, guitarist and songwriter, McLachlan enjoyed international success in a concurrent pop music career. He had hits in Australia and the UK with a remake of the Bo Diddley song "Mona (I Need You Baby)" and with self-penned songs "Amanda", "One Reason Why" and "On My Own". He toured the UK and Europe with his band Check 1–2. At the ARIA Music Awards of 1991, "Mona", won Highest Selling Single for Craig McLachlan & Check 1–2. In the following year his single "On My Own" was one of several works by Simon Hussey, who won Producer of the Year.


title: Craig McLachlan

text: In 1993 McLachlan starred as Danny Zuko in the West End revival of the musical "Grease" alongside Deborah Gibson and Sonia Evans. In his stage musical career he starred as Frank-N-Furter in "The Rocky Horror Show", Caractacus Pott in "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang", Bob Wallace in "White Christmas" and Billy Flynn in "Chicago".


title: Craig McLachlan

text: In the mid 1990s McLachlan starred in three seasons of the BBC television series "Bugs" and appeared in "Catherine the Great" alongside Catherine Zeta-Jones and Omar Sharif.


title: Craig McLachlan

text: Throughout the first decade of the 21st century, McLachlan appeared in around 20 film and television projects, including the American movie "Superfire", the television film "Heroes' Mountain" as Stuart Diver, and "Blackjack" with Colin Friels. In 2004 he played Michael Chamberlain in "Through My Eyes", an account of the Lindy Chamberlain story, and began work in the recurring role of Kane Morgan in "McLeod's Daughters". He played Jeff Kennard in the Australian film "Hating Alison Ashley", worked alongside Benjamin Bratt and James Franco in "The Great Raid", and starred with John Jarratt in "Savages Crossing", for which he composed the score.


title: Craig McLachlan

text: McLachlan appeared regularly in the Network Seven TV series "Packed to the Rafters" as ageing rocker Steve Wilson and was cast in the fourth season of "" as Hayden Bradley. He played the role of Steve, the handsome gay gardener, in the award-winning production "At Home with Julia" and appeared in the ABC comedy "Lowdown". In 2011 McLachlan had a guest-starring role in an episode of "".


title: Craig McLachlan

text: In 2011, British group Rizzle Kicks sampled McLachlan's version of "Mona" for their single "Mama Do the Hump", which peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart.


title: Craig McLachlan

text: McLachlan returned to Australia in 2012 to work on a new TV series, "The Doctor Blake Mysteries", a period crime drama set in Ballarat in 1959–60. He plays the titular role of Dr Lucien Blake, a medical practitioner with a knack for solving murders and annoying the police. The first two seasons originally screened on ABC Television in 2013 and 2014.


title: Craig McLachlan

text: In 2013, McLachlan was again cast as Frank-N-Furter in a revival of "The Rocky Horror Show" touring Australia in 2014. In December 2014, McLachlan revealed that he was unable to return to "Neighbours" for the show's 30th anniversary celebrations owing to scheduling conflicts and his involvement in "The Doctor Blake Mysteries". However, McLachlan agreed to take part in the documentary special "", which aired in Australia and the UK in March 2015.


title: Craig McLachlan

text: McLachlan also had a recurring role in the Channel 10 dramedy "The Wrong Girl" alongside Jessica Marais.


title: Craig McLachlan

text: On 8 January 2018, a joint investigation by Fairfax Media and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported that McLachlan had been accused of sexual harassment by several actresses during his performing career. Three actresses from the 2014 Australian production of "The Rocky Horror Show" — Christie Whelan Browne, Erika Heynatz and Angela Scundi — made allegations against McLachlan. He responded, "Frankly, they seem to be simple inventions, perhaps made for financial reasons, perhaps to gain notoriety. In either event, they are to the best of my knowledge utterly and entirely false." McLachlan subsequently left the 2018 production of "The Rocky Horror Show". Victoria Police announced they were investigating complaints from two of the women.


title: Craig McLachlan

text: McLachlan filed defamation suits against the ABC and Fairfax Media in February 2018; he also named Whelan Browne in a defamation suit. Producers of "The Doctor Blake Mysteries" announced that production would be temporarily suspended pending the outcome of investigations. The production company, December Media, "cleared the actor of any misconduct" during the show's run. In April, it was announced McLachlan would not be returning to the series.


title: Craig McLachlan

text: McLachlan's defamation case was due to be heard in the Supreme Court of New South Wales from 4 February 2019; however, the suit was postponed pending the outcome of the related criminal proceedings. On 11 January 2019, Victoria Police charged him with one count of common assault, eight counts of indecent assault and one count of attempted indecent assault. At a hearing in April 2019 it came to light that one of the indecent assault charges had been dropped and that the case would be determined by a magistrate alone. In November 2019, a contested hearing of the charges began, with Stuart Littlemore as defence lawyer. The trial ended on 15 December 2020 with McLachlan acquitted on all charges.


title: Craig McLachlan

text: The magistrate described McLachlan's evidence as contrived and his emotions as "not seeming genuine", also characterising the women who gave evidence as "brave and honest witnesses". The magistrate also said that McLachlan likely touched the women while they were performing, but that she [the magistrate] was not persuaded beyond a reasonable doubt he knew they were not consenting. During the course of the trial, McLachlan's lawyers argued "there was an overtly sexualised atmosphere among all cast members during the show that included crude physical pranks, hugs and kisses instead of saying hello and goodbye, actors sitting on each other's laps, a constant stream of dirty jokes and insincere remarks about their admiration and love for each other".


title: Craig McLachlan

text: In May 2021, "Seven News' Spotlight" programme claimed that the ABC had "manipulated" McLachlan's accusers when it interviewed the women in 2018. The programme showed ABC journalists (off camera) appearing to coach the accusers by offering specific words and phases for them to say in their interview, such as "predatory" and "power imbalance". The ABC rejected those claims. McLachlan filed a law suit against the ABC and Nine newspapers over media reports of the 2014 "Rocky Horror Show" tour allegations for which he was tried and acquitted. However, he applied to discontinue the suit 10 days into the trial, on the same day the defence was set to begin calling witnesses.


title: Craig McLachlan

text: On 15 May 2021, fresh allegations were made about the actor's behaviour, including from Jeanne Downs, a former UK television star who accused the actor of groping her live while a guest on her popular children's show in 1990.


title: Craig McLachlan

text: McLachlan's partner is opera conductor Vanessa Scammell, whom he met in 2009. He has a child from his relationship with British actress and voice artist Charlotte Avery. McLachlan was briefly married to Karen Williams () with whom he had attended the same secondary school, and he was subsequently married to "Neighbours" actress Rachel Friend (1998–99).


title: Yellow Magic Orchestra

text: Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO for short) is a Japanese electronic music band formed in Tokyo in 1978 by Haruomi Hosono (bass, keyboards, vocals), Yukihiro Takahashi (drums, lead vocals) and Ryuichi Sakamoto (keyboards, vocals). The group is considered influential and innovative in the field of popular electronic music. They were pioneers in their use of synthesizers, samplers, sequencers, drum machines, computers, and digital recording technology, and effectively anticipated the "electropop boom" of the 1980s. They are credited with playing a key role in the development of several electronic genres, including synthpop, J-pop, electro, and techno, while exploring subversive sociopolitical themes throughout their career.


title: Yellow Magic Orchestra

text: The three members were veterans of the music industry before coming together as YMO, and were inspired by eclectic sources, including the electronic music of Isao Tomita and Kraftwerk, Japanese traditional music, arcade games, funk music, and the disco productions of Giorgio Moroder. They released the surprise global hit "Computer Game" in 1978, reaching the UK Top 20 and selling 400,000 copies in the US. For their early recordings and performances, the band was often accompanied by programmer Hideki Matsutake. The group released several albums before pausing their activity in 1984. They have briefly reunited several times in subsequent decades.


title: Yellow Magic Orchestra

text: Prior to the group's formation, Sakamoto had been experimenting with electronic music equipment at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, which he entered in 1970, including synthesizers such as the Buchla, Moog, and ARP. The group leader Haruomi Hosono had been using an Ace Tone rhythm machine since early in his career in the early 1970s. Following the break-up of his band Happy End in 1972, Hosono became involved in the recording of several early electronic rock records, including Yōsui Inoue's folk pop rock album "Kōri no Sekai" (1973) and Osamu Kitajima's progressive psychedelic rock album "Benzaiten" (1974), both of which utilized synthesizers, electric guitars, electric bass, and in the latter, electronic drums, and rhythm machines. Also around the same time, the band's future "fourth member" Hideki Matsutake was the assistant for the internationally successful electronic musician Isao Tomita. Much of the methods and techniques developed by both Tomita and Matsutake during the early 1970s would later be employed by Yellow Magic Orchestra.


title: Yellow Magic Orchestra

text: Sakamoto first worked with Hosono as a member of his live band in 1976, while Yukihiro Takahashi recruited Sakamoto to produce his debut solo recording in 1977 following the split of the Sadistic Mika Band. Hosono invited both to work on his exotica-flavoured album "Paraiso", which included electronic songs produced using various electronic equipment. The band was named "Harry Hosono and the Yellow Magic Band" as a satire of Japan's obsession with black magic at the time, and in late 1977 they began recording "Paraiso", which was released in 1978. The three worked together again for the 1978 album "Pacific", which included an early version of the song "Cosmic Surfin". Hosono and Sakamoto also worked together alongside Hideki Matsutake in early 1978 for Hosono's experimental "electro-exotica" fusion album "Cochin Moon", which fused electronic music with Indian music, including an early "synth raga" song "Hum Ghar Sajan". The same year, Sakamoto released his own solo album, "The Thousand Knives of Ryuichi Sakamoto", experimenting with a similar fusion between electronic music and traditional Japanese music in early 1978. Hosono also contributed to one of Sakamoto's songs, "Thousand Knives", in the album. "Thousand Knives" was also notable for its early use of the microprocessor-based Roland MC-8 Microcomposer music sequencer, with Matsutake as its music programmer for the album.


title: Yellow Magic Orchestra

text: While Sakamoto was working on "Thousand Knives", Hosono began formulating the idea of an instrumental disco band which could have the potential to reach success in non-Japanese-language territories, and invited Tasuo Hayashi of Tin Pan Alley and Hiroshi Sato of Uncle Buck as participants, but they declined. Hosono, Sakamoto and Takahashi eventually collaborated again to form the Yellow Magic Orchestra and they began recording their self-titled album at a Shibaura studio in July 1978.


title: Yellow Magic Orchestra

text: The band's 1978 self-titled album "Yellow Magic Orchestra" was successful and the studio project grew into a fully fledged touring band and career for its three members. The album featured the use of computer technology (along with synthesizers) which, according to "Billboard", allowed the group to create a new sound that was not possible until then. Following the release of the album "Yellow Magic Orchestra", a live date at the Roppongi Pit Inn was seen by executives of A&M Records of the USA who were in the process of setting up a partnership deal with Alfa Records. This led to the YMO being offered an international deal, at which point (early 1979) the three members decided the group would be given priority over their solo careers. The most popular international hit from the album was "Firecracker", which would be released as a single the following year and again as "Computer Game", which became a success in the United States and Europe.


title: Yellow Magic Orchestra

text: Following an advertising deal with Fuji Cassette, the group sparked a boom in the popularity of electronic pop music, called "technopop" in Japan, where they had an effect similar to that of the Beatles and Merseybeat in 1960s Britain. For some time, YMO was the most popular band in Japan. Successful solo act Akiko Yano (later married to Sakamoto) joined the band for its live performances in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but did not participate in the studio recordings. On the other hand, the YMO trio contributed to her own albums and became part of her live band, during these same years. Legendary English guitarist , who had disbanded and to more recently explore Electropop himself, likewise played on YMO's (1983), its non-vocals variant (1984) and subsequent solo projects, before featuring the latter on two of Nelson's own UK based releases.


title: Yellow Magic Orchestra

text: Making abundant use of new synthesizers, samplers, sequencers, drum machines, computers and digital recording technology as it became available, as well as utilizing cyberpunk-ish lyrics sung mostly in English, they extended their popularity and influence beyond Japan.


title: Yellow Magic Orchestra

text: Their second album "Solid State Survivor", released in 1979, was YMO's pinnacle recording in Japan, winning the 1980 Best Album Award in the Japan Record Awards. It featured English lyrics by Chris Mosdell, whose sci-fi themes often depicted a human condition alienated by dystopic futures, much like the emerging cyberpunk movement in fiction at that time. One of the album's major singles, and one of the band's biggest international hits, was "Behind the Mask", which YMO had first produced in 1978 for a Seiko quartz wristwatch commercial, and then for "Solid State Survivor" with lyrics penned by Chris Mosdell. The song was later revised by Michael Jackson, who added new lyrics and had intended to include it in his album "Thriller". Despite the approval of songwriter Sakamoto and lyricist Chris Mosdell, it was eventually removed from the album due to legal issues with YMO's management. Jackson's version was never released until his first posthumous album, "Michael", though his additional lyrics were included in later cover versions of the song by Greg Phillinganes, Eric Clapton, and Ryuichi Sakamoto himself in his 1986 solo release "Media Bahn Live". "Solid State Survivor" included several early computerized synth rock songs, including a mechanized cover version of "Day Tripper" by the Beatles.


title: Yellow Magic Orchestra

text: "Solid State Survivor" went on to sell over 2 million records worldwide. By 1980, YMO had become the most popular group in Japan, where they were performing to sold-out crowds. Their first live album "Public Pressure" set a record in Japan, topping the charts and selling 250,000 copies within two weeks, while their next studio album "X∞Multiplies" had 200,000 pre-orders before release. The same year, their albums "Solid State Survivor" and "X∞Multiplies" held the top two spots on the Oricon charts for seven consecutive weeks, making YMO the only band in Japanese chart history to achieve this feat.


title: Yellow Magic Orchestra

text: The 1980 song "Multiplies" was an early experiment in electronic ska. "X∞Multiplies" was followed up with the 1981 album "BGM". "Rap Phenomena" from the album was an early attempt at electronic rap.


title: Yellow Magic Orchestra

text: They also had similar success abroad, performing to sold-out crowds during tours in the United States and Europe. The single "Computer Game" had sold 400,000 copies in the United States and reached No. 17 in the UK Charts. The group also performed "Firecracker" and "Tighten Up" live on the "Soul Train" television show. At around the same time, the 1980 song "Riot in Lagos" by YMO member Sakamoto pioneered the beats and sounds of electro music. The band was particularly popular with the emerging hip hop community, which appreciated the group's electronic sounds, and in the Bronx where "Firecracker" was a success and sampled in the famous "Death Mix" (1983) by Afrika Bambaataa. Meanwhile, in Japan, YMO remained the best-selling music act there up until 1982.


title: Yellow Magic Orchestra

text: The band had paused their group activities by 1984. After the release of their musical motion picture "Propaganda", the three members had returned to their solo careers. They were careful to avoid saying they had "split up", preferring to use the Japanese phrase meaning , and the trio continued to play on each other's recordings and made guest appearances at live shows. Takahashi, in particular, would play the band's material in his concerts. Meanwhile, Sakamoto would gain international success for his work as a solo artist, actor, and film composer, winning Grammy, Oscar, and Golden Globe awards.


title: Yellow Magic Orchestra

text: Yellow Magic Orchestra released one-off reunion album, "Technodon", and credited it to 'NOT YMO' (YMO crossed out with a calligraphy X) or YMO in 1993. Instead of traditional vocals, about half of it features field audio recordings and samples of authors and scientists reading their work. During their brief reunion in the early 1990s, they continued to experiment with new styles of electronic music, playing an instrumental role in the techno and acid house movements of the era.


title: Yellow Magic Orchestra

text: The early 2000s saw Hosono and Takahashi reunited in a project called Sketch Show. On a number of occasions Ryuichi Sakamoto has joined in on Sketch Show performances and recording sessions. He later proposed they rename the group Human Audio Sponge when he participates. Barcelona performance at Sonar festival and Wild Sketch Show DVDs chronicle these reunions, and include a tongue-in-cheek Japanese text-only history of the group that spans to 2036.


title: Yellow Magic Orchestra

text: The band have reunited in 2007 for an advertising campaign for Kirin Lager which lampooned their longevity and charted No.1 on various Japanese digital download charts (including iTunes Store chart) with the song "Rydeen 79/07", released on Sakamoto's new label commmons. Recently performing live as Human Audio Sponge; Hosono, Sakamoto, and Takahashi did a live performance together as Yellow Magic Orchestra for the Live Earth, Kyoto, event on July 7, 2007, which raised money and awareness of a "climate in crisis".


title: Yellow Magic Orchestra

text: In August 2007, the band once again reformed, taking the name HASYMO or HAS/YMO, combining the names of Human Audio Sponge and Yellow Magic Orchestra. Their first single under this name, "Rescue", was written for the film Appleseed EX Machina. They released a new two song single titled "The City of Light/Tokyo Town Pages" on August 6, 2008. HASYMO played two live concerts in Europe in the summer of 2008, one at the Royal Festival Hall, London on June 15, as part of the Meltdown festival of music curated by Massive Attack and another in Gijón, Spain, on the 19th. Although the primary YMO members (Yukihiro Takahashi, Haruomi Hosono, and Ryuichi Sakamoto) are effectively known as HASYMO and played both these concerts, these concerts were billed simply as "YMO" but featured only 4 YMO songs in each concert while the rest of the concert featured Sketch Show, HASYMO music and member's solo works.


title: Yellow Magic Orchestra

text: In August 2009, the band played the World Happiness festival in Japan, featuring many Japanese artists. The band closed the night, and confirmed that "Yellow Magic Orchestra" is their official name, dropping the HASYMO title. They opened with a cover of "Hello, Goodbye" and performed old YMO songs along with their newer songs.


title: Yellow Magic Orchestra

text: In August 2010, YMO once again closed their World Happiness festival. They added classic songs from their back catalog into their set list. They also covered "Hello, Goodbye" and "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)". In January 2011, KCRW announced for their World Festival concert series that Yellow Magic Orchestra will perform at the Hollywood Bowl on June 26, 2011. Not long after, a concert for June 27, 2011, at The Warfield was added. It was announced in February that YMO will perform at the Fuji Rock festival in July and the World Happiness festival 2011 on August 7 where they will debut new songs.


title: Yellow Magic Orchestra

text: In 2012, Sakamoto helped organize the No Nukes 2012 festival held in the Makuhari Messe hall in Chiba, Japan, on July 7 and 8, 2012. Among the many artists performing, Kraftwerk closed the July 7th concert, with YMO performing on both days, closing the July 8th concert. YMO also headlined their World Happiness festival on August 12, 2012.


title: Yellow Magic Orchestra

text: On June 23, 2018, Hosono played his debut UK solo concert at the Barbican Centre in London; Takahashi and Sakamoto joined him on stage to perform "Absolute Ego Dance".


title: Yellow Magic Orchestra

text: While their contemporaries in Düsseldorf, and later Detroit, were using synthesizer technology to create bleak dystopian music, YMO introduced a more "joyous and liberating" approach to electronic music. According to Sakamoto, they were "tired" of Japanese musicians imitating Western and American music at the time and so they wanted to "make something very original from Japan." Kraftwerk was particularly an influence on Sakamoto, who heard the band in the mid-1970s and later introduced them to his fellow band members. They were impressed with Kraftwerk's "very formalized" style but wanted to avoid imitating their "very German" approach. He described Kraftwerk's music as "theoretical, very focused, simple and minimal and strong". Their alternative template for electronic pop was less minimalistic, made more varying use of synthesizer lines, introduced "fun-loving and breezy" sounds, and placed a strong emphasis on melody in contrast to Kraftwerk's statuesque "robot pop".


title: Yellow Magic Orchestra

text: The band also drew from a wider range of influences than had been employed by Kraftwerk. These influences on YMO included Japanese electronic music (such as Isao Tomita), traditional Japanese music, experimental Chinese music (of the Cultural Revolution era), Indian music (such as Ravi Shankar and Bollywood music), arcade game samples, American rap, exotica, Caribbean ska, Giorgio Moroder's disco work, the Beatles, the Beach Boys and their leader Brian Wilson, Van Dyke Parks, classical music, animal sounds, and noise. Sakamoto has expressed that his "concept when making music is that there is no border between music and noise."


title: Yellow Magic Orchestra

text: Their approach to sampling music was a precursor to the contemporary approach of constructing music by cutting fragments of sounds and looping them using computer technology. Their 1978 hit "Computer Game / Firecracker", for example, sampled Martin Denny's 1959 exotica melody "Firecracker" and arcade game sounds from "Space Invaders" and "Circus". According to "The Vinyl District" magazine, they also released the first album to feature mostly samples and loops (1981's "Technodelic"). The pace at which the band's music evolved has been acknowledged by critics. According to "SF Weekly", YMO's musical timeline has gone from "zany exotica-disco spoofs" and "bleeps and blips" in the 1970s to "sensuous "musique concrète" perfected" in their 1983 albums "Naughty Boys" and "Service".


title: Yellow Magic Orchestra

text: "Technodelic" (1981) was produced using the , a PCM digital sampler that Toshiba-EMI sound engineer Kenji Murata custom-built for YMO. Soon after "Technodelic", the LMD-649 was used by YMO-associated acts such as and Logic System.


title: Yellow Magic Orchestra

text: The band often utilized a wide variety of state-of-the-art electronic music equipment immediately as they were made available. The group leader Haruomi Hosono had already been using an Ace Tone rhythm machine since early in his career in the early 1970s. "Yellow Magic Orchestra" and Ryuichi Sakamoto's "Thousand Knives" were one of the earliest popular music albums to utilize the Roland MC-8 Microcomposer, which was programmed by Hideki Matsutake during recording sessions. Roland called the MC-8 a "computer music composer" and it was the first stand-alone microprocessor-based music sequencer. It also introduced features such as a keypad to enter note information and 16 KB of RAM which allowed a maximum sequence length of 5200 notes, a huge step forward from the 8–16 step sequencers of the era. While it was commercially unsuccessful due to its high price, the band were among the few bands at the time to utilize the MC-8, which they described as, along with its music programmer Hideki Matsutake, an "inevitable factor" in both their music production and live performances. "Behind the Mask" (1979) made use of synthesizers for the melodies and digital gated reverb for the snare drums.


title: Yellow Magic Orchestra

text: They were also the very first band to utilize the Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer, one of the first and most influential programmable drum machines, as soon as it was released in 1980. While the machine was initially unsuccessful due to its lack of digital sampling that the rival Linn LM-1 offered, the TR-808 featured various unique artificial percussion sounds, including a deep bass kick drum, "tinny handclap sounds", "the ticky snare, the tishy hi-hats (open and closed)", and "the spacey cowbell", which YMO utilized and demonstrated in their music, as early as its year of release in 1980, paving the way for the TR-808's mainstream popularity several years later, after which it would be used for more hit records than any other drum machine and continue to be widely used through to the present day.


title: Yellow Magic Orchestra

text: At the time, "Billboard" noted that the use of such computer-based technology in conjunction with synthesizers allowed YMO to create new sounds that were not possible until then. "Yellow Magic Orchestra" was also the first computer-themed music album, coming before Kraftwerk's "Computer World" (1981) by several years. As a result of such innovations, YMO were credited at the time for having "ushered in the age of the computer programmer as rock star."


title: Yellow Magic Orchestra

text: Other electronic equipment used by the group included the sampler (see "Sampling" above), Roland MC-4 Microcomposer sequencer, Pollard Syndrum electronic drums, Roland VP-330 and Korg VC-10 vocoders, Yamaha CS-80 and DX7 synthesizers, Korg PS-3100 and PS-3300 synthesizers, Moog III-C and Polymoog synthesizers, and ARP Odyssey, Oberheim 8 Voice, and E-mu Emulator synthesizers. Electric instruments were also used, the Fender Rhodes piano and Fender Jazz Bass.


title: Yellow Magic Orchestra

text: The band has been described as "the original cyberpunks" and their early work has been described as "proto-techno" music. By the 1990s, YMO were also frequently cited as pioneers of ambient house music. YMO also popularized a style of live performance that eschewed human movement in favour of electronics such as rhythm boxes and samplers. They also influenced the New Romantic movement, including British bands Duran Duran and Japan, whose member Steve Jansen was influenced by drummer Takahashi, while lead member David Sylvian was influenced by Sakamoto, who would later collaborate with Sylvian.


title: Yellow Magic Orchestra

text: Various cover versions of "Kimi ni Mune Kyun" (1983) have also been produced by other artists, including The Human League in 1993 ("YMO Versus The Human League") and Asako Toki in 2006. In 2009, a cover of "Kimi ni Mune Kyun" was used as the ending theme song for the anime adaptation of "Maria Holic", sung by Asami Sanada, Marina Inoue, and Yū Kobayashi, the voice actresses of the main characters. In 2015, in the anime "Sound! Euphonium", episode 5, the song "Rydeen" is played by Kitauji highschool's orchestra. The popular anime series "Dragon Ball Z" also paid homage to the band with the song "Solid State Scouter" as the theme song of the 1990 TV special "".


title: Yellow Magic Orchestra

text: In HMV Japan's list of top 100 Japanese musicians of all time, YMO were voted second place, behind only Southern All Stars, a pop-rock band who remain largely unknown outside Japan. In 2006, Senor Coconut paid tribute to the band with his "Yellow Fever!" album.


title: Yellow Magic Orchestra

text: YMO were pioneers of synthpop, a genre which emerged at the start of the 1980s. In 1993, Johnny Black of "Hi-Fi News", in a review for the record "Hi-Tech/No Crime", described YMO as "the most adventurous and influential electro-techno-dance technicians the world has produced" and further argued that "without them (and Kraftwerk) today's music would still sound like yesterday's music." In 2001, Jason Ankeny of the "Allmusic Guide to Electronica" described YMO as "a seminal influence on contemporary electronic music – hugely popular both at home and abroad" and placed them "second only to Kraftwerk as innovators of today's electronic culture."


title: Yellow Magic Orchestra

text: YMO are considered pioneers in the field of popular electronic music, and continue to be remixed or sampled by modern artists, including experimental artist Yamantaka Eye, electronica group LFO, jungle band 4hero, electrolatino artist Senor Coconut, ambient house pioneers The Orb and 808 State, electronic music groups Orbital and The Human League, hip hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa, and mainstream pop musicians such as Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Greg Phillinganes, Eric Clapton, Mariah Carey, and Jennifer Lopez.


title: Yellow Magic Orchestra

text: YMO also influenced techno music, including its pioneers Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson, and Derrick May, who cited YMO as an important influence on their work alongside Kraftwerk. YMO continued to influence later techno musicians such as Surgeon, μ-Ziq, and Cosmic Baby. "Technopolis" (1979) in particular is considered an "interesting contribution" to the development of Detroit techno and the group Cybotron. "Computer Game" (1978) also influenced Sheffield's bleep techno music; the Warp record, Sweet Exorcist's "Testone" (1990), defined Sheffield's techno sound by making playful use of sampled sounds from "Computer Game" along with dialogues from the film "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (1977). "Computer Game" (1978) was later included in Carl Craig's compilation album "Kings of Techno" (2006).


title: Yellow Magic Orchestra

text: In the 1990s, YMO influenced ambient house pioneers such as The Orb and 808 State, as well as Ultramarine and other ambient/house artists. This resulted in the release of the tribute remix album "Yellow Magic Orchestra: Hi-Tech/No Crime" in 1993, by leading ambient, house and techno musicians at the time, including The Orb, 808 State, and Orbital. The music YMO produced during their comeback in the early 1990s also played an instrumental role in the techno and acid house movements towards the end of the 20th century. The band's use of oriental musical scales and video game sounds has continued to be an influence on 21st-century electronica acts such as Dizzee Rascal, Kieran Hebden, and Ikonika.


title: Yellow Magic Orchestra

text: YMO's success with music technology encouraged many others, with their influence strongly felt in the British electronic scene of the early 1980s in particular. They influenced many early British synthpop acts, including Ultravox, John Foxx, Gary Numan, Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, Camouflage, OMD, The Human League, Visage, and Art of Noise, as well as American rock musicians such as Todd Rundgren.


title: Yellow Magic Orchestra

text: "Technopolis", a tribute to Tokyo as an electronic mecca that used the term "techno" in its title, foreshadowed concepts that Juan Atkins and Rick Davis would later have with Cybotron.


title: Yellow Magic Orchestra

text: The band was popular with the emerging hip hop community, which appreciated the group's new electronic sounds, and in the Bronx where "Firecracker" was a success and sampled in the famous "Death Mix" by Afrika Bambaataa. Afrika Bambaataa's influential song "Planet Rock" was partly inspired by YMO. The "terse videogame-funk" sounds of YMO's "Computer Game" would have a strong influence on the emerging electro and hip hop genres. Sakamoto's "Riot in Lagos" was cited by Kurtis Mantronik as a major influence on his early electro hip hop group Mantronix; he included both "Computer Game" and "Riot in Lagos" in his compilation album "That's My Beat" (2002) which consists of the songs that influenced his early career. The song was also later included in Playgroup's compilation album "Kings of Electro" (2007), alongside later electro classics such as Hashim's "Al-Nafyish" (1983). The 1980 release of "Riot in Lagos" was also listed by "The Guardian" in 2011 as one of the 50 key events in the history of dance music.


title: Yellow Magic Orchestra

text: YMO's use of video game sounds and bleeps also had a particularly big influence on 1980s hip hop and pop music. Beyond electro acts, "Computer Game / Firecracker" was also sampled by a number of other later artists, including 2 Live Crew's "Mega-Mixx II" (1987), De La Soul's "Funky Towel" (for the 1996 film "Joe's Apartment"), Jennifer Lopez's "I'm Real" (2001), and the original unreleased version of Mariah Carey's "Loverboy" (2001).


title: Yellow Magic Orchestra

text: The band has also been very influential in its homeland Japan, where they had become the most popular group during the late 1970s and 1980s. Their albums "Solid State Survivor" and "X∞Multiplies" held the top two spots on the Oricon charts for seven consecutive weeks in 1980, making YMO the only band in Japanese chart history to achieve this feat. Young fans of their music during this period became known as the . The band significantly affected Japanese pop music, which started becoming increasingly dominated by electronic and computer music due to YMO's influence. YMO were one of the most important acts in Japan's "" movement and paved the way for the emergence of contemporary J-pop in the 1980s. They also inspired early ambient techno artists such as Tetsu Inoue, and the classical music composer Joe Hisaishi. The manga author Akira Toriyama, creator of "Dragon Ball" and "Dr. Slump", cited Yellow Magic Orchestra as his favorite music band in a 1980 interview.


title: Yellow Magic Orchestra

text: YMO also influenced many video game composers and significantly affected the sounds used in much of the chiptune and video game music produced during the 8-bit and 16-bit eras. In 1994, four video game composers employed at Namco formed a parody band called Oriental Magnetic Yellow (OMY), producing parody cover versions of various YMO records, consisting of Shinji Hosoe as Haruomi Hosonoe, Nobuyoshi Sano as Ryuichi Sanomoto, Takayuki Aihara as Takayukihiro Aihara, and Hiroto Sasaki as Hideki Sasatake.


title: Prasanna (actor)

text: Prasanna Venkatesan, often credited mononymously as Prasanna, is an Indian actor who works predominantly in the Tamil film industry and alongside appeared in a few Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam films.


title: Prasanna (actor)

text: He made his first success in "Five Star" in 2002, which was produced by Mani Ratnam. Some of his other notable films are "Kannum Kannum", "Cheena Thaana 001", " Kanda Naal Mudhal", "Naanga Romba Busy" and "Naanayam". Apart from lead roles, he has also played villain roles. His film "Achchamundu! Achchamundu!", in which he starred alongside Sneha and American actor John Shea, was screened at many International film festivals, such as Shanghai and Cairo International Film Festival.


title: Prasanna (actor)

text: Prasanna was born in Tiruchirappalli. His father was an employee in BHEL and his mother is a homemaker. He completed his schooling from BHEL Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Tiruchirappalli. He has a younger brother. Prasanna was good at mimicry and acting, when he was in school and college. He had stated that he always wanted to become an actor. He was an EEE student in Saranathan College of Engineering, Tiruchirapalli, when he responded to an open audition for actors in Susi Ganesan's "Five Star" (2002), although his parents were unhappy with his decision.


title: Prasanna (actor)

text: "Five Star", produced by Mani Ratnam's Madras Talkies, featured Prasanna alongside four other newcomers, most notably Kanika; it was well received by critics and performed modestly at the box office. His next two films "Ragasiyamai" (2003) and "Kadhal Dot Com" (2004), did not fare well commercially. After "Five Star", his noteworthy performance came in "Azhagiya Theeye" (2004). He cites that the time between "Five Star" and "Azhagiya Theeye" was "a painful one", since the roles offered to him were "not the ones" he wanted to play. The film, involving an ensemble cast, was produced by Prakash Raj's Duet Movies and directed by Radha Mohan. Critics commented that he had improved in emoting, labelling his "voice modulation in the humorous scenes" as "impressive". Prakash Raj, impressed by his performance in the film, offered him the lead character in his next production "Kanda Naal Mudhal", too. The triangular love story, directed by the newcomer V. Priya, costarring Laila and Karthik Kumar was a commercial success. The film ran for one-hundred days. The comedy flick "Cheena Thaana 001", co-starring Sheela and Vadivelu was his only 2007 release.


title: Prasanna (actor)

text: In 2008, Prasanna was seen in three films. He starred in Siddique's comedy thriller "Sadhu Miranda". His role of a modern-day villain was a huge hit in Mysskin's film "Anjathe" (2008). His negative role was critically acclaimed and fetched him a nomination at the 56th Filmfare Awards South in the Best Supporting Actor category. Later that year, he starred in G. Marimuthu's "Kannum Kannum". Regarding his performance, a critic noted that "Prasanna oozes sincerity and his ability to bring the Sathya and Murthy character to life with all the nuances of love, tenderness, humour and frustrations is one of the highlights of the film". He played the lead in Arun Vaidyanathan's "Achchamundu! Achchamundu!" (2009) opposite Sneha that dealt with the subject of paedophiles. It received rave reviews, and was very well received internationally, but failed at the domestic box office. "Manjal Veyil" also failed to be successful. During the period, he also worked as a voice actor, speaking dubbing for Aryan Rajesh in Cheran's "Pokkisham" on the insistence of the director. Then, alongside Sibiraj as antagonist, he starred in Shakthi Soundar Rajan's "Naanayam" as a protagonist produced by S.P.B. Charan's Capital Film Works.


title: Prasanna (actor)

text: In "Bale Pandiya", directed by Siddharth Chandrasekhar, Prasanna was replaced by Vishnu Vishal. He was seen in a supporting role as a local gangster in "Baana Kaathadi". A review from "Times of India" wrote that "with his eyes-to-die-for and underplayed violence, Prasanna easily steals the show". In 2011, he performed a lead role alongside director-actor Cheran in the thriller film "Muran". His character, a "spoiled brat" and son of a millionaire, again had negative shades. He was also approached for "Lucky Jokers", which he could not take due to his busy schedule with "Muran". He has been approached to play a vital role in the Malayalam "Vellaripravinte Changathi", but eventually did not star in the film. In 2013, he played a doctor in the "Chennaiyil Oru Naal", a remake of the Malayalam film "Traffic" (2011). The film featured an ensemble cast and released to positive reviews. That same year, he made his Telugu debut with "Bhai" and starred in the successful romantic comedy "Kalyana Samayal Saadham". Regarding his performance, a critic stated that "Prasanna deserves special credit for playing a role that most actors would hesitate to take up".


title: Prasanna (actor)

text: 2014 saw the release of "Pulivaal" and the long delayed "Netru Indru"; both films featured himself and Vimal in the lead. The former was directed by Marimuthu and was based on the Malayalam film "Chaappa Kurishu" (2011). While "Pulivaal" released to positive reviews, "Netru Indru" released to negative reviews. His subsequent films released to positive reviews: "Pa Paandi", "Nibunan", "Thupparivaalan", and "Thiruttu Payale 2". His performance in "Thirittu Payale 2" fetched him the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor – Tamil. He returned to Telugu cinema with "Jawaan", which featured him as the antagonist and released to negative reviews. In 2018, he starred in "Kaalakkoothu"; he was cast after Shaam left the film. The film received mixed reviews upon release. In 2019, he starred in the Telugu film "Viswamitra" and made his Malayalam debut with "Brother's Day". "Brothers Day" released to mixed reviews. In 2020, he starred in "", which received mixed reviews upon release followed by "Naanga Romba Busy" (2020).


title: Prasanna (actor)

text: During the filming of "Achchamundu! Achchamundu!" it was reported that he fell in love with Sneha, but he denied the idea of marrying an actress.


title: Prasanna (actor)

text: Prasanna eventually married Sneha on 11 May 2012. His son Vihaan was born on 10 August 2015 and his daughter was born on 24 January 2020.


title: Dixie Chicks controversy

text: In March 2003, the American country band the Dixie Chicks, now known as the Chicks, publicly criticized President George W. Bush and the imminent invasion of Iraq, triggering a backlash. At a concert in London during their Top of the World Tour, the lead singer, Natalie Maines, said the Dixie Chicks were ashamed to be from the same state as Bush and that they did not support the war. The Dixie Chicks were one of the most popular American country acts at the time.


title: Dixie Chicks controversy

text: After the statement was reported by the British newspaper "The Guardian", it led to backlash from American country listeners, who were mostly right-wing and supported the war. The Dixie Chicks were blacklisted by many country radio stations, received death threats, and were criticized by other country musicians. The backlash damaged sales of the Dixie Chicks' music and concert tickets and lost them corporate sponsorship. A few days later, Maines issued an apology, saying her remark had been disrespectful; in 2006, she rescinded the apology, saying she felt Bush deserved no respect.


title: Dixie Chicks controversy

text: The controversy was covered in the 2006 documentary "". In 2006, the Dixie Chicks released the single "Not Ready to Make Nice", which addressed the criticism. The Dixie Chicks and their position on Bush was cited as an influence by later country artists including Taylor Swift, Miranda Lambert and Kacey Musgraves. "Entertainment Weekly" likened the incident to the backlash after John Lennon quipped in 1966 that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus.


title: Dixie Chicks controversy

text: The Dixie Chicks formed in 1989 in Dallas, Texas. By the turn of the millennium, they had become one of the most popular American country acts and the bestselling female band of all time. According to the "Guardian" journalist Betty Clarke, the Dixie Chicks were controversial among the American country establishment, which disapproved of their "feisty songs, their provocative style or the fact they were selling huge numbers of progressive bluegrass records to pop kids".


title: Dixie Chicks controversy

text: Following the September 11 attacks in 2001, American country music featured more patriotic sentiment than normal, in hit songs such as Toby Keith's "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)" and Darryl Worley's "Have You Forgotten?". Many country fans and radio stations supported President George W. Bush and the impending invasion of Iraq. Market research found that the average country listener was white, suburban and right-wing.


title: Dixie Chicks controversy

text: On March 10, 2003, nine days before the invasion of Iraq, the Dixie Chicks performed at the Shepherd's Bush Empire theater in London, England. It was the first concert of their Top of the World tour in support of their sixth album, "Home". Introducing their song "Travelin' Soldier", the singer Natalie Maines told the audience:


title: Dixie Chicks controversy

text: Reviewing the concert for the British newspaper "The Guardian", the journalist Betty Clarke reported Maines's comment and said that the audience cheered. Clarke wrote: "At a time when country stars are rushing to release pro-war anthems, this is practically punk rock." After Maines made her comment, another band member stepped forward on the stage and added: "But you know we're behind the troops 100 percent." The second comment was not widely reported.


title: Dixie Chicks controversy

text: Maines's remark triggered a backlash in the United States. Many country fans saw her as traitorous for not supporting the president. Focus tests by Country Music Television found that audiences felt abandoned by Maines's comment. They particularly disliked that she had criticized Bush in a foreign country, feeling it was cowardly. Maines said she made the statement in London because "that's where I was". She said her remark had been misinterpreted as insult to American troops or an attack on their morale, and that she had instead only criticized the political leadership.


title: Dixie Chicks controversy

text: The Dixie Chicks single "Landslide", a Fleetwood Mac cover, fell from number 10 to 43 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 in one week and left the chart a week later. The Dixie Chicks were blacklisted by many country radio stations; on May 6, the Colorado radio station KKCS suspended two DJs for playing their music. WTDR-FM in Talladega, Alabama, dropped the Dixie Chicks after more than 250 listeners called on a single day to criticize Maines's comments. Jim Jacobs, president of Jacobs Broadcast Group, which includes WTDR, described emotional callers describing family members in the American armed forces. The Dixie Chicks' manager, Simon Renshaw, noted that, by contrast, the stations continued to play the music of Tracy Lawrence, who had been convicted of spousal abuse in 1998.


title: Dixie Chicks controversy

text: In a poll by an Atlanta radio station, 76 percent of listeners who participated responded they would return their Dixie Chicks CDs if they could. Protesters in Bossier City, Louisiana, used a tractor to destroy Dixie Chicks CDs and other items. The Kansas City station WDAF-AM placed trashcans outside its office for listeners to dispose of their CDs, and displayed hundreds of emails from listeners supporting the boycott.


title: Dixie Chicks controversy

text: The drinks manufacturer Lipton canceled its promotional contract with the Dixie Chicks. Maguire's tour bus driver resigned in protest of their remarks. Maines said: "It seems unfathomable that someone would not want to drive us because of our political views. But we're learning more and more that it's not that unfathomable to a large percentage of the population."


title: Dixie Chicks controversy

text: As a concerned American citizen, I apologize to President Bush because my remark was disrespectful. I feel that whoever holds that office should be treated with the utmost respect. We are currently in Europe and witnessing a huge anti-American sentiment as a result of the perceived rush to war. While war may remain a viable option, as a mother, I just want to see every possible alternative exhausted before children and American soldiers' lives are lost. I love my country. I am a proud American.


title: Dixie Chicks controversy

text: On the same day, the Dixie Chicks launched a publicity campaign to respond to the criticism. In a prime-time interview with Diane Sawyer on ABC, Maines said she remained proud of her statement. The band appeared naked on the May 2 cover of "Entertainment Weekly", covered in words and phrases ascribed to them during the controversy, including "traitors", "Saddam's Angels", "Dixie Sluts", "proud Americans", "hero", "free speech" and "brave". The cover further alienated fans. In the issue, Maines said that the Dixie Chicks had "nothing but support for the troops" and did not hate people who supported the war. All the band supported her, saying: "Natalie's comment came from frustration that we all shared — we were apparently days away from war and still left with a lot of questions." "Entertainment Weekly" likened the situation to the backlash after John Lennon quipped in 1966 that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus.


title: Dixie Chicks controversy

text: The American musicians Bruce Springsteen and Madonna expressed support for the Dixie Chicks' right to express their opinions. Madonna postponed the release of her "American Life" video, in which she threw a hand grenade at a Bush lookalike, and later released it in altered form.


title: Dixie Chicks controversy

text: At their first show of the Dixie Chicks' American tour, on May 1 in Greenville, South Carolina, Maines wore a T-shirt bearing the words "Dare to Be Free". An anti-Dixie Chicks concert was held in a neighbouring town. Following death threats, metal detectors were installed at the Dixie Chicks shows and in Dallas Maines had to be escorted by police to a concert and then the airport. She installed 24-hour security outside her home, and trash was dumped outside Strayer's home.


title: Dixie Chicks controversy

text: On May 21, at the Academy of Country Music Awards ceremony in Las Vegas, the Dixie Chicks' nomination for Entertainer of the Year was announced to boos. The award was given to Toby Keith, who had displayed a doctored photo of Maines and Iraqi president Saddam Hussein at his concerts. Maines had criticized Keith the previous year, calling his music "blatantly jingoistic".


title: Dixie Chicks controversy

text: During the Dixie Chicks' performance at the ceremony, Maines wore a T-shirt with the letters "FUTK". Many took this to mean "Fuck you Toby Keith"; some Dixie Chicks critics responded by wearing T-shirts bearing the letters "FUDC". A Dixie Chicks spokesperson said that the acronym stood for "Friends United in Truth and Kindness". In a 2004 interview on "Real Time with Bill Maher", Maines said that she had believed that no one would understand the T-shirt. The performance drew further criticism from country music stations.


title: Dixie Chicks controversy

text: A few months after Maines's comment, the Dixie Chicks performed for and donated $10,000 to Rock the Vote, an organization encouraging young adults to register to vote. Maines said, "We always felt like we were searching for ways to make an impact outside of music ... I believe everything that's happened in the last few months happened for a reason. A lot of positive things have come from it, and this is just one of them."


title: Dixie Chicks controversy

text: In September 2003, Maguire told the German magazine "Der Spiegel" that the Dixie Chicks no longer felt part of the country music scene. She cited a lack of support from country stars and the experience at the Academy of Country Music Awards, and said: "Instead, we won three Grammys against much stronger competition. So we now consider ourselves part of the big rock 'n' roll family."


title: Dixie Chicks controversy

text: By 2004, the Dixie Chicks were still facing reduced ticket sales. That year, they Dixie Chicks joined acts including Bruce Springsteen and Pearl Jam for the Vote for Change tour, raising money for causes against Bush's reelection. In 2006, Maines rescinded the apology she had made in 2003, saying: "I don't feel that way any more. I don't feel [Bush] is owed any respect whatsoever."


title: Dixie Chicks controversy

text: The events of the controversy were documented in the 2006 documentary film "". The television network NBC refused to air a commercial for "Shut Up and Sing" on October 27, 2006, citing a policy against ads dealing with "public controversy". The ads were also declined by CW. The film's distributor, Harvey Weinstein, said: "It's a sad commentary about the level of fear in our society that a movie about a group of courageous entertainers who were blacklisted for exercising their right of free speech is now itself being blacklisted by corporate America."


title: Dixie Chicks controversy

text: The country musician Merle Haggard, who had released a song criticizing American media coverage of the Iraq War, said the backlash had been "like a verbal witch hunt and lynching", and insulting to those who had died in wars "when almost the majority of America jumped down their throats for simply voicing an opinion". The American music journalist Kelefa Sanneh wrote that the controversy "made it easier for smug partisans on both sides to feel validated". Some country fans saw it as confirmation that the Dixie Chicks felt they were "too good" for country music, whereas some Dixie Chicks fans felt it confirmed that the country industry was too corporate and partisan.


title: Dixie Chicks controversy

text: As of 2006, many stations still refused to play the Dixie Chicks. Focus tests by KFKF-FM in Kansas City found that listeners still disliked them; their program director said: "It's not the music, because we're playing them the hits they used to love. It's something visceral. I've never seen anything like it." Maguire said she would rather have a smaller group of dedicated fans than "people that have us in their five-disc changer with Reba McEntire and Toby Keith". The "Guardian" connected the blacklisting to a fall in female artists in the annual top 100 country songs, from 38% in 1999 to 18% in 2015.


title: Dixie Chicks controversy

text: In 2006, Dixie Chicks released "Not Ready to Make Nice", addressing the criticism. In June, they returned to Shepherd's Bush Empire and sold T-shirts with the legend "The Only Bush we Trust is Shepherd's Bush". Maines reiterated that they were ashamed that Bush came from Texas. Sales of their next album, "Taking the Long Way" (2006), and tour fell short of expectations, but the album won five Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year. After their performance at the 2007 Grammy Awards, the Dixie Chicks went on hiatus until 2013.


title: Dixie Chicks controversy

text: In a 2007 retrospective piece by Betty Clarke, the "Guardian" journalist who had first quoted Maines's statement, Clarke wrote that she stood by her decision to include the quote and that the "modern-day witch trial" had been surreal and unnerving. "Entertainment Weekly" speculated that if Clarke had not quoted the remark it would not have been picked up by American media. In 2016, Maines told the "New York Times": "I look at how much more polarized and intolerant people have become now. With social media, opinions all start becoming noise, but at that point, people weren't really supposed to have an opinion." Strayer said that the controversy "feels like another lifetime to me, it doesn't even feel real—our country's changed, we've changed, the fans definitely have."


title: Dixie Chicks controversy

text: The Dixie Chicks and their position on Bush was cited as an influence by later country artists including Taylor Swift, Miranda Lambert and Kacey Musgraves. "Pitchfork" described this as "a legacy tied both to their music and their message of integrity". Swift said in 2019 that country artists had come under pressure from record companies to avoid talking about politics and that the "number one rule" was to "not be like the Dixie Chicks", which she felt was unjust.


title: Raymond James Stadium

text: Raymond James Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Tampa, Florida that opened in 1998 and is home to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL) and the University of South Florida (USF) Bulls college football program. The seating capacity for most sporting events is 69,218, though it can be expanded to about 75,000 for special events with the addition of temporary seating. Raymond James Stadium was built at public expense as a replacement for Tampa Stadium and is known for the replica pirate ship located behind the seating area in the north end zone. Raymond James Financial, a financial service firm headquartered in the Tampa Bay area, has held the naming rights for the stadium for the stadium's entire existence.


title: Raymond James Stadium

text: Besides serving as the home field for the Buccaneers and the Bulls, the facility has been the site of three Super Bowls: XXXV in 2001, XLIII in 2009, and LV in 2021, the third in which the Buccaneers became the first team in NFL history both to play and to win a Super Bowl on their home field. In college football, Raymond James Stadium is the home of the annual Tampa Bay Bowl (since 1999) and Gasparilla Bowl (since 2018), hosted the ACC Championship Game in 2008 and 2009, and was the site of the College Football Playoff National Championship in 2017. Additionally, the stadium has hosted a wide variety of non-football events, including soccer matches, equestrian sports competitions, monster truck shows, and large concerts. It was also the site of WrestleMania 37 in April 2021.


title: Raymond James Stadium

text: Immediately upon purchasing the Buccaneers in 1995, new owner Malcolm Glazer declared that twenty-eight year old Tampa Stadium was inadequate to justify the record $192 million he paid for the NFL franchise and began lobbying local government for a replacement. A few months later, the city of Tampa and Hillsborough County unveiled plans for a $168 million stadium that was to be paid for with a rental car surtax along with fees on items relating to stadium events, such as ticket surcharges and parking fees. However, the Glazer family rejected the plan within hours because it would reduce their revenue, and when local and state government officials did not agree on an alternative taxpayer-financed plan quickly enough for their liking, they threatened to move the Buccaneers elsewhere and were soon meeting with officials from several other cities to explore possible relocation sites.


title: Raymond James Stadium

text: In early 1996, the city of Tampa and Hillsborough County proposed the establishment of a "Community Investment Tax", a 30-year half-cent sales tax increase that would pay for various public improvements along with a new stadium for the Bucs. The tax increase would have to be approved in a public referendum, which was scheduled for September. The "Community Investment Tax Stadium" (CITS) proposal was heavily promoted by the team along with several prominent local officials, and as part of intensive public relation campaign, Malcolm Glazer repeatedly promised to pay half the cost of the new stadium if fans put down 50,000 deposits on 10–year season ticket commitments priced at $190 to $2500 per seat. Former Tampa mayor Bill Poe sued to halt the referendum, as he claimed that the tax violated the Florida state constitution's ban on public support for private companies. Poe's objections were rejected, and plans for the vote were allowed to proceed.


title: Raymond James Stadium

text: Public opinion polls indicated that support for the CITS proposal was still limited as election day neared, with the main reasons being a "negative reaction" to the Glazers' tactics and unwillingness to raise taxes to "help" owners who "overpaid" for an NFL team. In response, stadium proponents launched a "media blitz" of television and radio advertisements emphasizing the tax's potential impact on local schools and roads in an attempt to persuade residents who did not want to pay for a football stadium to "hold their nose" and vote yes anyway. On September 3, 1996, the ballot measure passed by a margin of 53% to 47%. After the vote, the season ticket deposit drive fell 17,000 short of its 50,000 goal at the team-imposed deadline, the Buccaneers' offer to pay half of stadium construction costs was withdrawn, and the facility was designed and built entirely at public expense.


title: Raymond James Stadium

text: Before construction began on the stadium, the Buccaneers and the Tampa Sports Authority signed a lease in which local government paid the vast majority of operating and maintenance expenses while the franchise kept almost all of the proceeds from all events held there. Former Tampa mayor Bill Poe went back to court to challenge the legality of the lease, again citing the state's constitutional ban on using tax dollars to enrich a private business in claiming that the "sweetheart deal" should be voided. A local court ruled in Poe's favor, but upon appeal, the Supreme Court of Florida ruled that the lease was constitutional because the stadium provided a "public benefit", and construction continued as planned.


title: Raymond James Stadium

text: In 1998, a 13-year deal was agreed with Raymond James Financial, headquartered in St. Petersburg, for naming rights to the stadium. The deal was extended for 10 years in 2006 and again in 2016, and the deal is currently set to expire in 2031.


title: Raymond James Stadium

text: The stadium officially opened on September 20, 1998, when the Buccaneers defeated the Bears, 27–15. The stadium hosted its first Major League Soccer match on March 20, 1999, when the Tampa Bay Mutiny lost to D.C. United 5–2. The Mutiny folded after the 2001 season after facing declining revenue due to declining attendance and the Bucs' lease at Raymond James Stadium which saw the Mutiny receiving no money from parking or concessions. They played their last home match on September 9, 2001—a 2–1 loss to the Columbus Crew.


title: Raymond James Stadium

text: In April 2003, the Tampa Sports Authority proposed passing ownership of the stadium to Hillsborough County to avoid having to pay millions of dollars in property taxes (the Bucs' lease agreement dictated that they not have to pay property taxes). However, Bucs had a right of refusal and refused to sign off on the plan unless the local government paid more of the cost for gameday security and increased the amount of (county-purchased) insurance coverage for the stadium. The dispute continued for months until December 2003, when the county legally declared the stadium a condominium and took ownership. As part of the change, the Bucs were given ownership of portions of the structure. To win the Bucs' approval, the county agreed to refund the team's resultant property tax payments annually.


title: Raymond James Stadium

text: After a nearly two-year legal battle, the Tampa Sports Authority came to a settlement with popular sports-seating and telescopic platform/bleacher company Hussey Seating of North Berwick, Maine. Following the stadium's opening in 1998, roughly 50,000 Hussey-manufactured seats at Raymond James Stadium began to fade from their original color – a bright, vibrant shade of red – to a shade of washed-out pink. Spotting this obvious defect, the Buccaneers organization pleaded to the TSA to sue the seating manufacturing company for the cost to replace the affected chairs in 2003. Initially, in May 2004, after testing samples of the seats, Hussey Seating did not find any cause for the fading, and thus, found no reason to replace the seats at the company's cost under the current 10–year warranty. After the TSA cited a portion of the warranty which did, in fact, state that Hussey would replace seats if any fading were to occur, Hussey president Tim Hussey admitted an error in the research and eventually would come to a $1.5 million agreement with the TSA to replace the problem seats. Reportedly, the seat-fading occurred due to a manufacturing error by Hussey, as a UV inhibitor – a sunscreen-like component for the plastic – was forgotten in the mixture used to create the seats. All of the problem seats were replaced by new, non–pink seats in the spring of 2006.


title: Raymond James Stadium

text: In December 2015, the Buccaneers and the Tampa Sports Authority reached an agreement to complete over $100 million in improvements and renovations to the stadium. The negotiations took months, and were extended by Bucs' lawyers demanding additional concessions after an agreement was near in September 2015. In the end, the upgrades were paid with at least $29 million of public money, with the remainder paid for by the Bucs in exchange for the right to play a home game at another site beginning in the 2018 season and other concessions. Renovations began in January 2016, and the first phase was complete in time for the 2016 football season.