Meade Lux Lewis (*September 4, 1905 in Chicago – June 7, 1964 in Minneapolis) was an American blues, jazz and boogie woogie pianist. Together with Pete Johnson and Albert Ammons he made boogie woogie popular.
Lewis was born Meade Anderson Lewis in Chicago, Illinois . He started playing the piano not until his 18th year.In his youth he was influenced by the pianist Jimmy Yancey.
His first recording was "Honky Tonk Train Blues" for Paramount in 1927. The title was influenced by his youth where a railway run beside his home. The record was not very successful, so he washed cars to make a living. He rerecorded it for other labels in 1935 and 1937. Nearly each boogie pianist has recorded this title(f.e.Jean-Paul Amouroux, Keith Emerson, Jay McShann, Lloyd Glenn, Jörg Hegemann, Gene Phillips, Michael Pewny, Gene Taylor, Tim Wheals und Axel Zwingenberger). 1935 he was found by John Hammond and started a new career. In 1938 he played together with Pete Johnson and Albert Ammons in John Hammonds famous From Spirituals to Swing concert at Carnegie Hall. After this the pianists often played together at Café Society and toured together. In 1941 he went to Los Angeles.
Lewis was the first pianist who played on the celeste and the harpsichord in jazz and boogie records. In his later years he was uncomfortable with his fame as jazz and boogie pianist, so he played ragtime and pop songs. He did recordings till 1962 but at this time he was already forgotten. He died on June 7th, 1964 in a car accident in Minneapolis.
This three compilation albums from Classics give a good overview over Lewis´work.
Atlantic Wall
The Atlantic Wall (German: "Atlantikwall") was an extensive system of Coastal fortifications built by Nazi Germany between 1942 and 1944 along the western coast of Europe as a defense against an anticipated Allied invasion of the mainland continent from Great Britain.
On March 23, 1942 Führer Directive Number 40 called for the official creation of the Atlantic Wall. After the St. Nazaire Raid, on April 13, 1942 Adolf Hitler ordered naval and submarine bases to be heavily defended. Fortifications remained concentrated around ports until late in 1943 when defences were increased in other areas.
Organisation Todt, which had designed the Siegfried Line ("Westwall") along the Franco-German border, was the chief engineering group responsible for the design and construction of the wall's major fortifications. Thousands of forced laborers were impressed to construct these permanent fortifications along the Dutch, Belgian and French coasts facing the English Channel.
Early in 1944, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was assigned to improve the Wall's defences. Rommel believed the existing coastal fortifications were entirely inadequate and he began strengthening them. He knew that the beaches between were barely defended, and the Allies could land there and capture the ports from the land. Under his direction, a string of reinforced concrete pillboxes were built along the beaches, or sometimes slightly inland, to house machine guns, anti-tank guns, and light artillery. Mines and antitank obstacles were planted on the beaches themselves, and underwater obstacles and mines were placed in waters just off shore. The intent was to destroy the Allied landing craft before they could unload.
The Germans laid almost six million mines in northern France. More gun emplacements and minefields extended inland, along roads leading away from the beaches. In likely landing spots for military gliders and paratroopers, the Germans installed slanted poles with sharpened tops, which the troops called "Rommelspargel" ("Rommel's asparagus"). Low-lying land near rivers was flooded, as well.
Rommel firmly believed that Germany would inevitably be defeated unless the invasion could be stopped at the beach.
Although the defensive wall was never completed the Wall's existence was used to address concerns of the Soviet Union for why the Second Front was not opened until June 6, 1944 (less than a year before the end of the war). The Wall primarily consisted of batteries, bunkers, and minefields, which during 1942–1944, stretched from the French-Spanish border to Norway (Festung Norwegen). Many bunkers still exist, for example near Scheveningen, Den Haag, Katwijk and in Normandy. In Oostende, Belgium the public may visit a well-preserved part of the defences. That section consists of emplacements of the "Saltzwedel neu battery" and the "Stützpunkt Bensberg", consisting of several men’s quarters and the necessary facilities. These constructions were used by a unit of German military engineers ("Pionierstab") who were in charge of bunker construction.
The Channel Islands were heavily fortified, particularly the island of Alderney which is closest to England (Jersey being the closest to France). Hitler had decreed that one twelfth of the steel and concrete used in the Atlantic Wall go to the Channel Islands, because they were British territory. Despite the mooting of Operation Constellation "et al.", the Allies bypassed the islands and did not try to liberate them when they invaded Normandy. The islands' German garrisons did not surrender until 9 May 1945 – one day after the German armed forces on the mainland. The German garrison on Alderney did not surrender until 16 May.
Walcheren Island was considered to be the "strongest concentration of defences the Nazis had ever constructed."
The Atlantic Wall was not a single organisation except in the administration of its building. Militarily it was divided into eight commands:
Many major ports and positions were made part of the Atlantic wall and received heavy fortifications, Hitler ordered them all to fight to the end and some of them remained in German hands until the unconditional surrender of Axis Forces on May 8, 1945. Several of the port fortresses were resupplied by submarine after being surrounded by Allied forces. The defenders of these positions included Slavic soldiers and SS troops.
German Publication (PhD) in military history
Carl Goerdeler
Carl Friedrich Goerdeler (31 July 1884 – 2 February 1945) was a monarchist conservative German politician, executive, economist, civil servant, and opponent of the Nazi regime. If a plan to kill Adolf Hitler on 20 July 1944 had succeeded, Goerdeler would have served as the Chancellor of the new government.
He was mayor of Leipzig from 1930 to 1937.
Goerdeler was executed by hanging.
Escherichia
Escherichia is a genus of bacteria. They are named after the German doctor, Theodor Escherich, who discovered "Escherichia coli", a bacterium common in human intestines. "Escherichia" is similar to "Enterobacter".
Portage la Prairie
Portage la Prairie is a city in the Canadian province of Manitoba. The population of Portage la Prairie was 12,728 at the 2006 census and is the 4th largest city in the province of Manitoba. The mayor of Portage la Prairie is Earl Porter. Portage la Prairie is the sister city of Plant City, Florida in the United States.
The name comes from the French word "portage", which means to carry a canoe overland and between waterways. In this case the "portage" would have been between the Assiniboine River and Lake Manitoba, over "la prairie".
Bad Boys II
Bad Boys II is an American action and comedy movie from 2003. It stars Martin Lawrence and Will Smith as police officers working for the Miami Police Department. The officers are on a mission to dissolve an ecstasy trafficking organization.
It is a sequel to the 1995 movie "Bad Boys".
The movie received mostly negative reviews.
Fire hose
A fire hose is a big flexible tube that is easy to bend. It is used to bring water from a pump to put on a fire at a high intensity. Because the water is under high pressure, all fire hoses must be very strong. They come in several sizes.
Neopterygii