Background: She was born Rosa Ponzillo on January 22, 1897, in Meriden, Connecticut, the youngest of three children. The family lived on the city's west side in a neighborhood chiefly populated by immigrants from the south of Italy, first at the corner of Lewis Avenue and Bartlett Street, then on Foster Street, where Ponselle was born, moving when she was three to Springdale Avenue. Her parents were Italian immigrants from Caiazzo, near Caserta. Ponselle had an exceptionally mature voice at an early age and, at least in her early years, sang on natural endowment with little, if any, vocal training.
Context: Rosa Ponselle made her Metropolitan Opera debut on November 15, 1918, just a few days after the Great War had finished, as Leonora in Verdi's La forza del destino, opposite Caruso. It was her first performance on any opera stage. She was quite intimidated for being in the presence of Caruso, and in spite of an almost paralyzing case of nervousness (which she suffered from throughout her operatic career), she scored a tremendous success, both with the public and with the critics. New York Times critic James Huneker wrote: "...what a promising debut! Added to her personal attractiveness, she possesses a voice of natural beauty that may prove a gold mine; it is vocal gold, anyhow, with its luscious lower and middle tones, dark, rich and ductile, brilliant in the upper register." In addition to Leonora, Ponselle's roles in the 1918/19 season included Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana, Rezia in Weber's Oberon, and Carmelita in the (unsuccessful) world premiere of Joseph Carl Breil's The Legend. In the following Met seasons, Ponselle's roles included the lead soprano roles in La Juive (opposite Caruso's Eleazar, his last new role before he died), William Tell, Ernani, Il trovatore, Aida, La Gioconda, Don Carlos, L'Africaine, L'amore dei tre re, Andrea Chenier, La vestale, and in 1927 the role that many considered her greatest achievement, the title role in Bellini's Norma. In addition to her operatic activities, which were centered at the Met, Ponselle had a lucrative concert career. A tour of the West coast included an appearance at the Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara on March 14, 1927 in the Artist Series of the Community Arts Association's Music Branch, accompanied by pianist Stuart Ross.
Question: Did she travel anywhere else besides Santa Barbara?
Answer:

Background: War (originally called Eric Burdon and War) is an American funk band from Long Beach, California, known for several hit songs (including "Spill the Wine", "The World Is a Ghetto", "The Cisco Kid", "Why Can't We Be Friends?", "Low Rider", and "Summer"). Formed in 1969, War is a musical crossover band which fuses elements of rock, funk, jazz, Latin, rhythm and blues, and reggae. Their album The World Is a Ghetto was the best-selling album of 1973. The band also transcended racial and cultural barriers with a multi-ethnic line-up.
Context: In 1979, following the departure of B.B. Dickerson during recording sessions for their next album (replaced by Luther Rabb on bass who completed the album), the band considered changing their name to The Music Band, but decided at the last minute to continue as War, and use The Music Band as the title of a series of albums. The series originally consisted of two studio albums (The Music Band, The Music Band 2, both in 1979) and a live album (The Music Band Live, 1980), but after the band left MCA in 1981 and had already made records for other labels, MCA expanded the series with a compilation (The Best of the Music Band, 1982) and a third original album of left-over material (The Music Band - Jazz, 1983). The group lost another member when Charles Miller (saxophone) was murdered in 1980. He had already been replaced by Pat Rizzo (ex Sly and the Family Stone) in 1979. Other new members joining at this time were Alice Tweed Smith (credited as "Tweed Smith" and "Alice Tweed Smyth" on various albums) on percussion and vocals (giving the band its first female vocalist), and Ronnie Hammon as a third drummer. After making the one-off single "Cinco de Mayo" for LA Records in 1981 (Jerry Goldstein's own label, which also reissued Eric Burdon Declares "War" under the title Spill the Wine the same year), War signed with RCA Victor Records and recorded Outlaw (1982) which included the single plus additional singles "You Got the Power", "Outlaw", and "Just Because". It was followed by Life (is So Strange) (1983) from which the title track was also a single. War's records from 1979 to 1983 were not as successful as those from the preceding decade, and after the two RCA albums, the band's activities became sporadic. They did not record another full album until a decade later. The 1987 compilation album The Best of War ...and More included two new tracks, "Livin' in the Red" and "Whose Cadillac Is That?", and a remixed version of "Low Rider" (in addition to the original version). Papa Dee Allen died of a brain aneurysm which struck him onstage in 1988.
Question: Did someone replace Charles Miller after he died?
Answer: He had already been replaced by Pat Rizzo (ex Sly and the Family Stone) in 1979.

Background: Bush are an English rock band formed in London, England in 1992. Their current lineup consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Gavin Rossdale, drummer Robin Goodridge, lead guitarist Chris Traynor, and bassist Corey Britz. In 1994, Bush found immediate success with the release of their debut album, Sixteen Stone, which is certified 6x multi-platinum by the RIAA. They went on to become one of the most commercially successful rock bands of the 1990s, selling over 10 million records in the United States.
Context: Following the completion of touring, Rossdale went into seclusion in Ireland, where he worked on material for the group's next album. Rossdale periodically sent demo tapes of his works in progress to his bandmates. The group finally convened to record in London in August 1998, where the band reteamed with Sixteen Stone producers Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley. The release of The Science of Things was held up by a court battle between the band and Trauma Records. The case was settled in early 1999 and the album was finally released that October. The Science of Things was a major departure in several forms from Bush's first two albums. Like the multi-platinum successes of Bush's first two albums, this album also reached platinum status. Also, while the band's previous albums were strongly influenced by grunge, The Science of Things featured some electronic music influences in addition to the sound defined by Bush's earlier work. For example, although lead single "The Chemicals Between Us" had a prominent guitar riff, it also had many electronic elements usually found in dance music. Although the album had a few hit songs, it failed to chart in the top 10. The band's performance at Woodstock '99, however, helped The Science of Things achieve platinum status despite its slow start. Three singles were released from The Science of Things, most notably "The Chemicals Between Us", which spent five weeks at No. 1 on the Modern Rock Tracks and peaked at No. 67 on the US Hot 100."Warm Machine" was the second single released. "Letting the Cables Sleep," the third single, reached No. 4 on the Modern Rock Tracks and also received considerable airplay.
Question: How long did it take for The Science of Things to reach platinum status?
Answer:
The band's performance at Woodstock '99, however, helped The Science of Things achieve platinum status despite its slow start.