In mid-1966 he left the Bluesbreakers, whose members had grown to include Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page. The band he formed with bassist Jack Bruce and drummer Ginger Baker would become Eric's best-known band, and rock's first-ever supergroup, Cream. Cream became the "pre-eminent (best) rock trio of the Sixties"; the name came from its members being among the top session musicians in England. They played both their own songs ("Strange Brew", "Sunshine Of Your Love", "White Room") and cover versions of other people's songs ("I'm So Glad"). Like his contemporary Jimi Hendrix, Clapton helped to pioneer the use of the wah-wah pedal. He played a famous guitar called The Fool. He also developed what he called the "woman tone" on his guitar and used it to great effect. For instance, at one point during the song "Tales of Brave Ulysses", he combines the woman tone with feedback (overdriven amplifier) to create a unique sound.
Clapton became friends with Beatle George Harrison, who asked him to play guitar on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", for 1968's "White Album". Clapton also played on John Lennon's "Yer Blues", in a filmed performance.
While Cream were popular and had several hit records, problems between Baker and Bruce, and the increasing drug use of all three caused tensions that eventually broke the band up in 1969. George Harrison teamed with Clapton, to write and record "Badge" for Cream's final album.
Clapton played again with John Lennon and his new wife Yoko Ono, as a member of the Plastic Ono Band. He appeared with them onstage in Toronto that September, and played guitar on "Cold Turkey", Lennon's song about heroin addiction. At that time, the Beatles were getting ready to break up. Lennon thought about asking Clapton to join his and Ono's new band, but decided not to have a permanent lineup.
Clapton and Baker joined with Rick Grech and Steve Winwood to form Blind Faith. Blind Faith lasted only a few months, and released one album. After Blind Faith broke up, Clapton formed another band, called Derek and the Dominos. Their most popular song was "Layla". He performed a concert at the Rainbow Theatre in London on 13 January 1973, thanks to his friend Pete Townshend of The Who. He started work on a new album, "461 Ocean Blvd", which was released July 1974.
The inspiration for "Layla" was fashion model Pattie Boyd. She was married to Clapton's friend, George Harrison. Clapton was in love with Boyd. He was not happy because he could not be with her because she was married to his friend. In time, Boyd and Harrison grew apart, and Clapton and Boyd got together. They married in May 1979. All three remained friends, and Clapton and Harrison called themselves "husbands-in-law", though for some years afterwards, the friendship between them was understandably strained. Clapton and Boyd were divorced in 1989, after they also grew apart.
Following the death of his four-year-old son Conor, who fell from a window of a 53rd-floor New York apartment owned by his mother's friend on March 20 1991, Clapton arrived at the apartment shortly after the accident. Clapton's grief was expressed in the song "Tears in Heaven", which was featured on his "Unplugged" album and for the 1991 "Rush film soundtrack." The song was Clapton's best-selling single in the United States and reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100. It won three Grammy Awards for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male, Song of the Year, and Record of the Year. In 2004, "Rolling Stone" ranked "Tears in Heaven" 362nd on the magazine's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
Along with his drug problems, Clapton had trouble with alcohol, sometimes drinking a whole bottle or more of liquor in a day. In the 1990s, he was finally able to stop drinking alcohol. He also found out more about his father, who had died, and about a half-brother (by his mother) he had never met, who was mentally challenged and lived in a hospital.
Clapton is still making music and performing, sometimes with other musicians such as B.B. King.
Clapton also enjoys fishing at Eastlodge fishing.
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city in the South American country of Argentina.
Buenos Aires city is also known as "Capital Federal" to differentiate the city from the Buenos Aires Province.
Until 1994 Buenos Aires city was under the presidential government, but after a constitutional reform in that year, the city became self-governed, allowing citizens to elect their city authorities.
Buenos Aires has a population of 3,040,000 inhabitants. Spanish is the main language, but English is widely spoken and understood well. Italian is also widespread.
Buenos Aires has a humid subtropical climate ("Cfa" in the Koeppen climate classification). The average temperature is 17 °C. During the 20th century the temperature went up because of the urbanization. Rainfall is 1222.6 mm. per year. Summers are hot and humid. Winters are mild, the highest medium temperature is 13.7 °C during this season. Temperature rarely reaches 0 °C or below. Fog is frequent.
Buenos Aires is divided into 48 neighborhoods. Most populated areas are:
Buenos Aires is the most visited city in South America. The most touristic areas are the historical center, Palermo, Recoleta and San Telmo.
The fifth Wikimania was hosted in this city in 2009.
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson (August 27, 1908 – January 22, 1973) was an American politician. He was the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He became president when President Kennedy was killed in November 1963. He was then re-elected in the 1964 election. He was a Democrat.
His time as head of government had two chief parts, his policies inside the country which included Civil rights and caring for the poor, and also his policies that were open to argument which resulted in the United States fighting the Vietnam War.
Johnson was born in Texas. His father was a politician who had worked for the Texas state government. As a young adult, he was a teacher. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1937, then to the Senate in 1948. He won the Senate election by just 87 votes.
In the Senate, Johnson very quickly became powerful and in 1955 became leader of the Senate and was the youngest to have ever held that position. He started great programs for the public. It helped that he knew the other Senators well and could often persuade them to support his ideas. In 1960, he ran for President, but during the contest to see who the Democrats would support, he lost to John F. Kennedy. Johnson was then selected by Kennedy as the candidate Vice President. Kennedy narrowly won the election and Johnson became Vice President. Like most Vice Presidents, Johnson did not like the job. It gave him too little power.
Lyndon B. Johnson was well known as someone who could persuade other lawmakers in Congress to pass laws. To gain more support for his ideas, he often arm-twisted other politicians (meaning he would threaten them if they didn't agree with him).
Johnson took over as President after Kennedy was assassinated. He finished Kennedy's term as president then in 1964 he ran for re-election and won easily against Barry Goldwater. Johnson won 61.1% of the vote. This is the highest percentage of the vote ever won by someone running for President since 1820.