Some context: Stevens was born in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of nine, when his family moved to Petoskey, in the northern part of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. He was raised by his father Rasjid and his stepmother Pat, only occasionally visiting his mother, Carrie, in Oregon after she married her second husband Lowell Brams. His mother is deceased. Brams later became the head of Stevens' record label Asthmatic Kitty.
On May 31, 2007, Asthmatic Kitty announced that Stevens would be premiering a new project titled The BQE in early November 2007. The project, dubbed a "symphonic and cinematic exploration of New York City's infamous Brooklyn-Queens Expressway", was manifested in a live show. The BQE featured an original film by Stevens (shot in Super 8 mm film and standard 16 mm), while Stevens and a backing orchestra provided the live soundtrack. The performance used 36 performers which included a small band, a wind and brass ensemble, string players, horn players, and hula hoopers. There were no lyrics to the music. The BQE was commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy of Music as part of their Next Wave Festival and performed on three consecutive nights from November 1-3, 2007. The performance sold out the 2,109 seat BAM Opera House without any advertising. After three weeks of rehearsing the piece with the three dozen musicians involved, he presented the 30-minute composition. The BQE was followed by an additional one hour of concert by Stevens and his orchestra. The BQE won the 2008 Brendan Gill Prize. The multimedia package was released on October 20, 2009. The release included a CD of the show's soundtrack, a DVD of Brooklyn-Queens Expressway footage that accompanied the original performance (not a film of the performance itself), a 40-page booklet with liner notes and photos, and a stereoscopic 3D View-Master reel. A limited edition version that features the soundtrack on 180-gram vinyl and a 40-page BQE-themed comic book starring the show's hula hooping wonder women, the Hooper Heroes, was also released.
What did critics say about the BQE?
A:
Some context: Irving Grant Thalberg (May 30, 1899 - September 14, 1936) was an American film producer during the early years of motion pictures. He was called "The Boy Wonder" for his youth and ability to select scripts, choose actors, gather production staff, and make profitable films, including Grand Hotel, China Seas, Camille, Mutiny on the Bounty, and The Good Earth. His films carved out an international market, "projecting a seductive image of American life brimming with vitality and rooted in democracy and personal freedom," states biographer Roland Flamini.
Thalberg was born in Brooklyn, to German Jewish immigrant parents, William and Henrietta (Haymann). Shortly after birth, he was diagnosed with "blue baby syndrome," caused by a congenital disease that limited the oxygen supply to his heart. The prognosis from the family's doctor and specialists was that he might live to age twenty, or at most, age thirty. During his high school years in Brooklyn, he began having attacks of chest pains, dizziness and fatigue. This affected his ability to study, though until that time he was a good student. When he was 17, he contracted rheumatic fever, and was confined to bed for a year. His mother, Henrietta, to prevent him falling too far behind other students, brought him homework from school, books, and tutors to teach him at home. She also hoped that the schoolwork and reading would distract him from the "tantalizing sounds" of children playing outside his window. With little to entertain him, he read books as a main activity. He devoured popular novels, classics, plays, and biographies. His books, of necessity, replaced the streets of New York, and led to his interest in classical philosophy and philosophers, such as William James. When Thalberg returned to school, he finished high school but lacked the stamina for college, which he felt would have required constant late-night studying and cramming for exams. Instead, he took part-time jobs as a store clerk, and in the evenings, to gain some job skills, taught himself typing, shorthand and Spanish at a night vocational school. When he turned 18, he placed an ad with the local newspaper hoping to find better work: "Situation Wanted: Secretary, stenographer, Spanish, English, high school education, no experience; $15."
What did he do after school?
A: When Thalberg returned to school, he finished high school but lacked the stamina for college, which he felt would have required constant late-night studying and cramming for exams.
Some context: Rancid is an American punk rock band formed in Berkeley, California in 1991. Founded by 1980s punk veterans Tim Armstrong, and Matt Freeman, who previously played in the highly influential ska punk band Operation Ivy, Rancid is often credited (along with Green Day and The Offspring) for reviving mainstream interest in punk rock in the United States and bringing punk rock into the mainstream during the mid-1990s. Over their 27-year career, Rancid remained signed to an independent record label and retained much of its original fan-base, most of which was connected to its underground roots. Rancid has had two lineup changes since its inception.
After two years of touring for ...And Out Come the Wolves, Rancid returned to the studio in 1997 to begin recording its fourth studio album, Life Won't Wait, which was released on June 30, 1998. The album branched out from Rancid's previous musical styles, and combined punk rock with elements of roots reggae, rockabilly, dub, hip-hop, and funk, drawing comparisons to the Clash's Sandinista!. Though the album did not achieve the success of ...And Out Come the Wolves, but has since garnered a strong cult following in recent times. In 1999, Rancid decided to end its seven-year relationship with Epitaph and signed with Armstrong's founded Hellcat Records (which is a sub-label of Epitaph). A second self-titled album was released on August 1, 2000 and would be its first album released through Hellcat. The album failed to achieve the success of Rancid's previous three albums and reached number 68 on the Billboard charts. On the album, the group largely abandoned its ska-punk influences, recording a more hardcore-influenced album. The three original members of Rancid released three songs under the name Devil's Brigade in 2002, one on the Give 'Em the Boot III compilation album, and two on a 12-inch vinyl record. In March of the same year, a split album with NOFX titled BYO Split Series Volume III was released, in which Rancid covered NOFX songs and NOFX covered Rancid songs. After a break from touring in 2001, Rancid returned to the studio with Gurewitz in 2002 to record its sixth studio album, Indestructible, which was released on August 19, 2003 and was their highest-charting album to date, reaching number 15. Unlike the band's previous albums, Indestructible was distributed by not only Epitaph/Hellcat but major record label, Warner Bros. Records, a move that received some backlash from the band's fans who questioned their loyalty to the independent scene. When released, the album didn't feature the Warner logo anywhere on the packaging, a move to ease tension among fans. The album was warmly received by most critics however met with mixed reviews from fans, some of which felt the album contained a "poppier" sound (some accusing Warner of having an influence on the music) while others felt it was a mixture of ..And Out Come the Wolves and Life Won't Wait. The album's music video for the first single, "Fall Back Down" was also met with some criticism from fans due to members of Good Charlotte and Kelly Osbourne making appearances.
Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?
A:
The album branched out from Rancid's previous musical styles,