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Trouble (album)

Trouble (album)

Trouble is musical artist Bonnie McKee's debut album. The songs were written during her 14th and 15th years, and reflect events in her own life at that time. McKee had produced six of these in demo form in 2001, and they were broadcast on Seattle, Washington radio stations as well as the National Public Radio network. McKee had essentially completed the album in New York City with Bob Power as producer, when Reprise asked her to record "Somebody" with Rob Cavallo in California. Pleased with the more layered sound, she decided to record all but "January" and "I Hold Her" anew. This delayed the album's release for about one year. "Somebody" had previously been released on the soundtrack album for the 2004 movie Win a Date With Tad Hamilton.

Track listing

(
- singles) # Trouble
- (4:03) # When It All Comes Down (4:05) # Open Your Eyes (4:59) # Somebody
- (4:12) # A Voice That Carries (4:48) # Honey (4:45) # Green Grass (4:20) # January (4:07) # Marble Steps (4:27) # Sensitive Subject Matter (4:05) # I Hold Her (3:09) # Confessions Of A Teenage Girl (2:55)

Music

- All music and lyrics wriitten by Bonnie McKee
- Choir arranged and conducted by George Duke for "Somebody"
- Strings arranged and conducted by Bob Power for "I Hold Her"

Personnel

- Bonnie McKee - vocals, keyboards
- Paul Bushnell - bass on 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10
- Rob Cavallo - acoustic guitar on 1, 10, 12; electric guitar on 2
- Greg Curtis - B3 (Hammond organ) on 4
- Dan Chase - Pro Tools on 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12; programming on 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 12
- Luis Conte - percussion on 1, 2
- Eric Ferguson - Pro Tools on 5, 6, 10
- Bashiri Johnson - percussion on 11
- Robbie Kondor - piano on 11
- Abe Laboriel Jr. - drums on 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10
- Doug McKean - Pro Tools on 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12
- David McKelvy - harmonica on 2
- Tommy Morgan - harmonica on 5
- Jamie Muhoberac - keyboards on 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
- Gary Novak - drums on 5, 6, 10
- Tim Pierce - guitars on 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12
- Doug Petty - piano on 8
- Bob Power - guitars, keyboards, bass, drums, percussion on 8, 11
- Buddy Schaub - horns on 6
- Pete Wallewski - horns on 6
- Patrick Warren - chamberlin on 4
- Emma Kummrow, Igor Szwec, Gloria Justen, Olga Konopelsky, Ghislaine Fleischmann, Gregory Tepperman - violin on 11
- Davis Barnett, Peter Nocella - viola on 11
- Jennie Lorenzo, James Cooper III - cello on 11

Production

- "January" and "I Hold Her":
- Producer - Bob Power
- Recording - Lindsay Marcus, Bob Power, Blair Wells, David Winslow
- Mixing - Dan Chase ("January"); Bob Power, Blair Wells ("I Hold Her")
- All other tracks:
- Producer - Rob Cavallo
- Co-producer - Antonina Armato
- Recording - Dan Chase, Doug McKean, Allen Sides
- Mixing - Chris Lord-Alge, Tom Lord-Alge

Bonnie McKee

Bonnie Leigh McKee (b. January 20, 1985) is a singer-songwriter signed to Reprise Records. Accomplished rock music columnist Jaan Uhelszki has said that McKee "elevates post-teen rebellion and broken romance to high art". Bonnie was born in Vacaville, California, and spent her formative years in the Seattle area. Taking an early interest in the exposure to music and the theater offered by her father, Bonnie began singing at age five with the [http://www.seattlegirlschoir.org/ Seattle Girls' Choir]. She toured Europe in 2000 as a member of its top Prime Voci choir, including a concert in Rome at the request of Pope John Paul II. Bonnie's youth was somewhat unconventional. She earned the moniker "Trouble" with her participation in the rave scene and difficulties working in traditional schools. Through this period she had a tendency to act beyond her years, experimenting with drugs and being unusually open about her sexuality. (Amid rampant speculation, she has stated that she has "no sexual preference.") These experiences raised some eyebrows, and greatly influenced her early songwriting. Eventually she found her way into Seattle's [http://www.novaproj.org Nova Alternative High School], but finally opted for a GED certificate when Reprise took an interest in her work. She had progressed to writing her own music by the time she was twelve. By fifteen she was performing on her own and had produced her own six-track EP. This material, re-recorded, formed the core of her first major label album, Trouble, released on September 28, 2004. McKee's first major brush with national exposure came in the March 7, 2004 "Shoot the Moon" episode of the American Dreams TV series, in which she portrayed Janis Joplin. Her song "Somebody" was featured in the 2004 film Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!, garnering enough notice to cause her album to be released ahead of its (previously delayed) schedule. She is scheduled to tour with Ryan Cabrera during March and April of 2005.

Discography

- Trouble, 2004 Despite a promising start to her career, Ms. McKee's career has been marked in the past 18 months by the firing of her long-time management company and the loss of interest in her career by her label.

External links

- [http://www.bonniemckee.com/ The Official Homepage of Bonnie McKee]
- [http://www.myspace.com/bonniemckee The Official Myspace of Bonnie McKee]
- [http://bonniemckee.infopop.cc/6/ubb.x The Official Bonnie McKee Message Board]
- [http://www.bonniemckee.net Bonnie McKee Fansite]

References

Official information
- Reprise Records: [http://www.warnerreprise.com/qt-ref/bonniemckee_epk_ref.mov 2003 EPK]; Retrieved December 6, 2004
- Reprise Records: [http://www2.warnerbros.com/web/music/spotlight.jsp?id=spotlight_bonnie_mckee&frompromo=spotlight_list_bonnie_mckee Artist Spotlight: Bonnie McKee]; Retrieved December 6, 2004
- NBC: [http://www.nbc.com/American_Dreams/episode_guide/40.html American Dreams Episode Guide, Season 2 Episode 215, Shoot The Moon 8/7pm 3/07/04]; Retrieved December 6, 2004 Interviews and Articles
- Jones, Oliver: [http://blender.com/guide/articles.aspx?id=1078 Coming Attraction: Bonnie McKee] Blender, October 2003; Retrieved December 6, 2004
- Mooallem, Steven: [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1285/is_10_33/ai_109085129 Bonnie McKee: the ingenue who turned her messed-up life into music - Music Prediction - Interview] Interview, November 2003; Retrieved December 6, 2004
- Elliot, Russell W.: [http://www.musicaldiscoveries.com/reviews/bonniemckee.htm Bonnie McKee; Trouble; interview and album review] Musical Discoveries, July 24, 2004; Retrieved December 6, 2004
- Monger, James Christopher: [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:fq548qpzbtm4%7ET1 Bonnie McKee Biography] AMG, 2004; Retrieved December 6, 2004
- Tate, Natalie: [http://www.dailybruin.ucla.edu/news/articles.asp?id=31185 Bursting through stereotypes; Singer-songwriter brings maturity, depth to ‘bubblegum’ pop star image] UCLA Daily Bruin, December 2, 2004; Retrieved December 6, 2004
- Lieberman, Sara: [http://appjava.alloy.com/itgirl/itgirl.jsp?articleID=4324 It Girl: Bonnie McKee] Alloy, September 29, 2004; Retrieved December 6, 2004 McKee, Bonnie

Seattle, Washington

:This article is about the city. For the Suquamish chief, see Chief Seattle. Chief Seattle Seattle is the largest city in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located in the U.S. state of Washington between Puget Sound and Lake Washington, nearly 108 miles (174 km) south of the United States–Canadian border in King County, of which it is the county seat. Seattle was founded in the 1850s named after Chief Seattle, or Sealth. As of 2004, the population estimates of the city given by the U.S. Census Bureau was 571,480, however, in 2005, the city has an estimated population of 573,672 and a metropolitan population of almost 3.8 million. It is sometimes referred to as the "Rainy City", the "Gateway to Alaska", "Queen City", and "Jet City" (due to the heavy influence of Boeing). Its official nickname is "the Emerald City". Seattle is known as the birthplace of grunge music, and has a reputation for heavy coffee consumption. Seattle was also the site of the 1999 meeting of the World Trade Organization and anti-globalization demonstrations. Seattle residents are known as Seattleites. Based on per capita income, one of the more reliable measures of affluence, Seattle ranks 36th of 522 areas in the state of Washington to be ranked.

History

Founding

Most of the Denny Party, the most prominent of the area's early white settlers, arrived at Alki Point on November 13, 1851. They relocated their settlement to Elliott Bay in April 1852. The first plats for the Town of Seattle were filed on May 23, 1853. The city was incorporated in 1869, after having existed as an incorporated town from 1865 to 1867. Seattle was named after Noah Sealth, chief of the Duwamish and Suquamish tribes, better known as Chief Seattle. David Swinson ("Doc") Maynard, one of the city founders, was the primary advocate for naming the city after Chief Seattle. Previously, the city had been known as Duwamps (or Duwumps)—a variation of that name is preserved in the name of Seattle's Duwamish River.

Major events

Duwamish River, the Downtown Seattle skyline, and Mount Rainier (to the right).]] Major events in Seattle's history include the Great Seattle Fire of 1889, which destroyed the central business district (but took no lives); the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition of 1909, which is largely responsible for the current layout of the University of Washington campus; the Seattle General Strike of 1919, the first general strike in the country; the 1962 Century 21 Exposition, a World's Fair; the 1990 Goodwill Games; and the WTO Meeting of 1999, marked by street protests. On February 28 2001, a state of emergency was declared after the Nisqually Earthquake, a magnitude 6.8 earthquake, rocked the region. Damage was moderate, but served as a reminder that the coastal Pacific Northwest — and the area around the Seattle Fault, in particular — is under a constant threat of earthquakes.

Economic history

Seattle has a history of boom and bust, or at least boom and quiescence. Seattle has almost been sent into permanent decline by the aftermaths of its worst periods as a company town, but has typically used those periods to successfully rebuild infrastructure. company town, is the result of a public vote on the "Libraries for All" bond measure approved by Seattle voters on November 3, 1998.]] The first such boom was the lumber-industry boom covering the early years of the city (it was during this period that Yesler Way became known as the first "Skid Row", named after the timber skidding down the street to be milled), followed by the construction of an Olmsted-designed park system. Arguably the Klondike Gold Rush constituted a separate, shorter boom during the last years of the 19th century. Klondike Gold Rush Next came the shipbuilding boom in the early part of the 20th century, followed by the unused city development plan of Virgil Bogue. After World War II the local economy was marked by the expansion of Boeing, fueled by the growth of the commercial aviation industry. When this particular cycle went into a major downturn in the late 1960s and early 1970s, many left the area to look for work elsewhere, and two local real estate agents put up a billboard reading, "Will the last person leaving Seattle — Turn out the lights." Seattle remained the corporate headquarters of Boeing until 2001, when the company announced a desire to separate its headquarters from its major production facilities. Following a bidding war in which several cities offered huge tax breaks, Boeing moved its corporate headquarters to Chicago, Illinois. The Seattle area is still home to Boeing's commercial airplanes division; several Boeing plants including the Boeing 737, Boeing 747, Boeing 757, Boeing 767, Boeing 777, and Boeing 787 factories; and BECU, formerly the Boeing Employees Credit Union. The most recent boom centered around Microsoft and other software, Internet, and telecommunications companies, such as Amazon.com and RealNetworks. Even locally headquartered Starbucks held investments in numerous Internet and software interests. Although some of these companies remain relatively strong, the frenzied boom years had ended by early 2001.

Geography and climate

Geography

Starbucks Seattle is located between Puget Sound and Lake Washington. West beyond the Sound, Seattle faces the Olympic Mountains; across Lake Washington beyond the Eastside suburbs are the Issaquah Alps and the Cascade Range. The city itself is hilly, though not uniformly so. Some of the hilliest areas are quite near the center, and Downtown rises rather dramatically away from the water. The geography of Downtown and its immediate environs has been significantly altered by regrading projects, a seawall, and the construction of an artificial island, Harbor Island, at the mouth of the city's industrial Duwamish Waterway. The rivers, forests, lakes, and fields were once rich enough to support one of the world's few sedentary hunter-gatherer societies. Today, a ship canal passes through the city, incorporating Lake Union near the heart of the city and several other natural bodies of water, and connecting Puget Sound to Lake Washington. Opportunities for sailing, skiing, bicycling, camping, and hiking are close by and accessible almost all of the year. An active geological fault, the Seattle Fault, runs under the city. It has not been the source of an earthquake during Seattle's existence; however, the city has been hit by four major earthquakes since its founding: December 14, 1872 (magnitude 7.3); April 13, 1949 (7.1); April 29, 1965 (6.5); and February 28, 2001 (6.8). See also Nisqually Earthquake. Seattle is located at 47°37'35" North, 122°19'59" West (47.626353, −122.333144)¹. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 369.2 km² (142.5 mi²). 217.2 km² (83.9 mi²) of it is land and 152.0 km² (58.7 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 41.16% water. See also: Seattle neighborhoods, List of Seattle parks, Bodies of water of Seattle

Climate

Seattle's climate is mild, with the temperature moderated by the sea and protected from winds and storms by the mountains. The "rainy city" receives an unremarkable 35 to 38 inches (890 to 970 mm) of precipitation a year, less than most major Eastern Seaboard cities, e.g., New York City averages 47.3 inches (1200 mm), but Seattle is cloudy an average of 226 days per year vs. 132 in New York City. Most of the precipitation falls as drizzle or light rain because Seattle is in the rain shadow of the Olympic mountains. Average low temperatures range from the mid/upper 30s (just above 0 °C) at night in winter to the mid/upper 70s (mid 20s °C) for summer highs. Seattle's hottest temperature ever recorded was 100 °F (37 °C) on July 20, 1994 and the coldest temperature ever recorded was 0 °F (-17 °C) on January 31, 1950. 80 miles (130 km) to the west, the Hoh Rain Forest, in the Olympic National Park, records an annual average rainfall of 142 inches (3600 mm), and the state capital, Olympia, south of the rain shadow, receives 52 inches (1320 mm). Snow falls on occasion, but rarely sticks very long. Sunnier "California weather" typically dominates from mid-July to mid-September, arriving later and leaving earlier than in Portland, Oregon, to the south. The [http://www.komotv.com/weather/faq/convergence_zone.asp Puget Sound Convergence Zone] is an important feature of the Seattle area's weather. In the Zone, air arriving in the area from the north meets air flowing in from the south. Both streams of air originate over the Pacific Ocean; airflow is split by the Olympic Mountains to Seattle's West, then reunited by the Cascade Mountains to the East. When the air currents meet, they are forced upward, resulting in convection. An active Convergence Zone results in rain at the very least (snow in the Cascades), and sometimes more severe weather such as thunderstorms and hail. Usually the Zone forms north of Seattle in the Edmonds/Lynnwood area, but depending on the relative strengths of the winds it can range as far south as Pierce County or as far north as Skagit County. Serious exceptions to Seattle's raininess can occur during El Niño years, when the marine weather systems track to the south, affecting California instead. During the drier summer months, the region's water comes from its mountain snow packs, so El Niño winters not only produce substandard skiing, but can result in water rationing and a shortage of hydro-electric generated power the next summer.

Demographics

As of the U.S. Census of 2000, Seattle had a population of 563,374 and in all the Greater Puget Sound metropolitan area is home to almost 3.8 million people. The population today is approximately 73.40% Caucasian, one of the highest percentages of Caucasians for a major American city. The city also has one of the nation's highest percentages of multiracial ancestry: 4.70% claim ancestry from two or more races. [http://www.brookings.org/es/urban/livingcities/seattle.htm] According to the 2000 U.S. census, 13.71% of Seattleites are Asian Americans, 8.44% are African Americans, 1.10% are Native Americans, 0.50% are Pacific Islanders, and 6.84% are from other non-Caucasian backgrounds. The median income for a household in the city is $45,736, and the median income for a family is $62,195. Males have a median income of $40,929 versus $35,134 for females. The per capita income for the city is $30,306. 11.8% of the population and 6.9% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 13.8% are under the age of 18 and 10.2% are 65 or older. Seattle has seen a major increase in legal and illegal immigration in recent decades. The foreign-born population increased 40% between the 1990 and 2000 census. [http://www.brookings.org/es/urban/livingcities/seattle.htm] Although the 2000 census shows only 5.28% of the population as Hispanic or Latino of any race, Hispanics are believed to be the most rapidly growing population group in Washington, with an estimated increase of 10% just in the years 2000 to 2002. [http://www.theolympian.com/home/specialsections/Census/20030918/103142.shtml] It is estimated that 1.25% of the population is homeless, and that up to 14% of Seattle's homeless are children and young adults. Many people in Seattle are involved with social causes; among the larger local groups nonprofits dealing with poverty and related issues are the Fremont Public Association [http://www.fremontpublic.org], the Asian Counselling and Referral Service [http://www.acrs.org/index.htm], and the Seattle Indian Center [http://www.seattleindiancenter.org/]. In September 2005, King County adopted a "Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness", one of whose near-term results is a shift of funding from homeless shelter beds to permanent housing. [http://www.metrokc.gov/mkcc/news/2005/0905/Ten_Year_Plan.htm] In 2005, Men's Fitness magazine named Seattle the fittest city in the U.S.

Government and politics

fittest neighborhood. Rescued from Eastern Europe, some argue that the statue is a leftist political statement instead of historical art]] Seattle is a charter city, with a Mayor-Council form of government, unlike many of its neighbors that use the Council-Manager form. Seattle's mayor and nine city council members are elected at large, rather than by geographic subdivisions. The only other elected office is the city attorney. All offices are non-partisan. The city government provides more utilities than many cities – either by running the whole operation, such as the water, sewer, and electricity services, or by handling the billing and administration, but contracting out the rest of the operations such as trash and recycling collection. In most neighboring cities, for example, electricity is provided by either a private company such as Puget Sound Energy, or a county public utility district. See the Utilities section for more details. As with most U.S. cities, the county judicial system (courts and jails) handles felony crimes — the Seattle Municipal Court deals with parking tickets, traffic infractions, and misdemeanors. Seattle does not have its own jail, contracting out inmates it convicts to either the King County Jail (which is located downtown), the Yakima County Jail, or (for short-term holdings) the Renton City Jail. In 2004, there were only 24 murders in Seattle, the fewest since 1965. Violent crime has declined by nearly 42% since 1994, to a rate of approximately seven per 1,000 people. Auto theft has increased about 44% in the same period; the SPD has responded by almost doubling the number of detectives in the auto theft detail, and is starting a "bait car" program. A Money magazine table, using 2001 statistics, ranked Seattle 18th highest in crime rate in the U.S., with 80.5 crimes per 1,000 citizens. Seattle's politics lean famously to the left compared to the U.S. as a whole, although there is a small libertarian movement. Only one precinct in Seattle, located in the famously exclusive Broadmoor area, voted for Republican George W. Bush in the 2004 presidential election. In partisan elections, such as for the State Legislature and U.S. Congress, most elections are won by Democrats, with Greens getting more votes than in many other cities.

Official nickname, flower, slogan, and song

In 1981, Seattle held a contest to come up with a new official nickname to replace “the Queen City”, which had been used since 1869 and was also the nickname of Cincinnati, Toronto, Buffalo, Bangor, Maine and Charlotte, North Carolina. The winner, selected in 1982, was "the Emerald City". Submitted by Californian Sarah Sterling-Franklin, it referred to the lush surroundings of Seattle that were the result of frequent rain. Seattle has also been known in the past as the "Jet City" though this nickname, related to Boeing, was entirely unofficial. (This nickname is made reference to in the song "Jet City Woman" by Seattle progressive metal band Queensrÿche.) Seattle's official flower has been the dahlia since 1913. Its official song has been "Seattle the Peerless City" since 1909. In 1942, its official slogan was "The City of Flowers"; 48 years later, in 1990, it was "The City of Goodwill", for the Goodwill Games held that year in Seattle.

Seattle mayors of note

Among Seattle's notable past politicians is Bertha Knight Landes, mayor from 1926 to 1928. She was the first woman to be mayor of a major American city. Another, Bailey Gatzert, was mayor from 1875 to 1876. He was the first Jewish mayor of Seattle, narrowly missed being the first Jewish mayor of a major American city (Moses Bloom became mayor of Iowa City, Iowa in 1873), and has been the only Jewish mayor of Seattle so far. See List of mayors of Seattle for a list of Seattle's mayors going back to 1869. See also: Current leaders of Seattle, Washington

Sister cities

Seattle is internationally partnered with a number of sister cities to promote global cooperation, cultural exchange and economic collaboration. See List of Seattle sister cities for a complete list.

Economy

Five companies on the 2004 Fortune 500 list of the United States' largest companies, based on total revenue, are currently headquartered in Seattle: financial services company Washington Mutual (#103), insurance company Safeco Corporation (#267), department store Nordstrom (#286), Internet retailer Amazon.com, (#342) and coffee chain Starbucks (#425). Many Seattle residents work for companies based outside of Seattle proper. Airplane manufacturer Boeing (#21) was the largest company based in Seattle before its 2001 move to Chicago. Because several production facilities remain in the region, Boeing is still a major Seattle employer. Other Fortune 500 companies popularly associated with Seattle are based in nearby Puget Sound cities. Warehouse club chain Costco Wholesale Corp. (#29), the largest company in Washington, is based in Issaquah. Microsoft (#46) is based in Redmond. So was the cellular telephone pioneer McCaw Cellular, which in 1994 became AT&T Wireless (#120), before being absorbed in 2004 into Cingular. Weyerhaeuser, the forest products company (#95), is based in Federal Way. And Bellevue is home to truck manufacturer PACCAR (#250) and international mobile telephony giant T-Mobile's U.S. subsidiary T-Mobile USA. Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels has announced a desire to spark a new economic boom driven by the biotechnology industry. Major redevelopment of the South Lake Union neighborhood is underway in an effort to attract new and established biotech companies to the region, joining current biotech companies such as Corixa, Immunex (now part of Amgen), and ZymoGenetics. The effort has public support and some financial backing from Paul Allen. See List of companies based in Seattle for a more detailed compilation. In 2005 Forbes magazine ranked Seattle as the most overpriced city in the US based on median home prices and median incomes.

Education

Seattle has an educated population: of Seattle's population over 25, 47% (vs. a national average of 24%) hold a bachelor's degree or higher; 93% (vs. 80% nationally) have a high school diploma or equivalent. In fact, Seattle has the highest percentage of college graduates of any major U.S. city. In addition to the obvious institutions of education, there are significant adult literacy programs and considerable homeschooling. Like most urban American public school systems, Seattle Public Schools have been subject to numerous controversies. Seattle's schools desegregated without a court order, but continue to struggle to achieve racial balance in a demographically divided city (the south part of town being much more ethnically diverse than the north). The schools have maintained high enough educational standards to keep white flight (and middle-class flight in general) to a minimum, but some of the area's suburban public school systems — not all of them in wealthy suburbs — have consistently higher test scores. Notably, Seattle schools seem to be failing their minority students, as high academic standards are not realized uniformly by all racial groups in many of the city's secondary schools. The public school system is supplemented by a moderate number of private schools: four of the high schools are Catholic, one is Lutheran, and six are secular. Postsecondary education in Seattle is dominated by the University of Washington, with over 40,000 students, making it the largest university in the Pacific Northwest. Most prominent of the city's other universities are Seattle University, a Jesuit school, and Seattle Pacific University, founded by the Free Methodists. There are also a handful of smaller schools, mainly in the fine arts and business and psychology. Seattle is also served by North Seattle, Seattle Central, and South Seattle Community Colleges.

Culture

Landmarks

North Seattle, Seattle Central, and South Seattle Community Colleges have both caught the "flying fish" at the Pike Place Market, one of Seattle's most popular tourist destinations.]] The Space Needle is Seattle's most recognizable landmark, having been featured in the logo of the television show Frasier and the backgrounds of the television series Grey's Anatomy, not to mention countless films. The Needle dates from the 1962 Century 21 Exposition, a World's Fair. Contrary to popular belief, the Space Needle is neither the tallest structure in Seattle, nor is it in downtown. This misconception results from the Space Needle often being photographed from Queen Anne Hill, where it is closer to the viewer than are the skyscrapers of downtown. The surrounding fairgrounds have been converted into Seattle Center, which remains the site for many local civic and cultural events, such as Bumbershoot and the Bite of Seattle. A monorail runs from Seattle Center to Westlake Center, a downtown shopping mall -- a distance of about a mile. Other notable Seattle landmarks include the Smith Tower, Pike Place Market, the Fremont Troll, the Experience Music Project) (which is at Seattle Center), the new Seattle Central Library, the Washington Mutual Tower, and the Columbia Center, which is the fourth tallest skyscraper west of the Mississippi River and the twelfth tallest in the nation. (On June 16, 2004, the 9/11 Commission reported that the original plan for the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks included the Columbia Center as one of ten targeted buildings.) [http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com/betweenthelines/archives/2004_06_16.html] The original Starbucks Coffee is in Seattle's Pike Place Market.

Annual cultural events and fairs

Among Seattle's best-known annual cultural events and fairs are the 24-day Seattle International Film Festival, Northwest Folklife over the Memorial Day weekend, numerous Seafair events throughout the summer months (ranging from a Bon Odori celebration to hydroplane races), the Bite of Seattle, and Bumbershoot over the Labor Day weekend. All are typically attended by over 100,000 people annually, as are Hempfest and two separate Independence Day celebrations. Several dozen Seattle neighborhoods have one or more annual street fairs, and many have an annual parade or foot race. The largest of the street fairs feature hundreds of craft and food booths and multiple stages with live entertainment, and draw more than 100,000 people over the course of a weekend; the smallest are strictly neighborhood affairs with a few dozen craft and food booths, barely distinguishable from more prominent neighborhoods' weekly farmers' markets. Other significant events include numerous Native American powwows, a Greek Festival hosted by St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church in Montlake, and numerous ethnic festivals associated with Festal at Seattle Center. As in most large cities, there are numerous other annual events of more limited interest, ranging from book fairs; the premier anime convention in the Pacific Northwest, Sakura-Con; and specialized film festivals to a two-day, 8,000-rider Seattle-to-Portland bicycle ride.

Performing arts

Seattle is a significant center for the performing arts. The century-old Seattle Symphony Orchestra is among the world's most recorded orchestras [http://www.seattlesymphony.org/symphony/meet/recordings/] and performs primarily at Benaroya Hall. The Seattle Opera and Pacific Northwest Ballet, which perform at McCaw Hall (which opened 2003 on the site of the former Seattle Opera House at Seattle Center), are comparably distinguished, with the Opera being particularly known for its performances of the works of Richard Wagner and the PNB School (founded in 1974) ranking as one of the top three ballet training institutions in the United States. [http://www.danceusa.org/Press%20Archives/pnwballet0402.html], [http://www.pnb.org/pnbschool/philosophy.html] The Seattle Youth Symphony is the largest symphonic youth organization in the United States, and among the most distinguished. In addition, Seattle has about twenty live theater venues, a slim majority of them being associated with fringe theater. It has a strong local scene for poetry slams and other performance poetry, and several venues that routinely present public lectures or readings. The largest of these is Seattle's 900-seat, Romanesque Revival Town Hall on First Hill. Seattle is often thought of as the home of grunge rock musicians like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Temple of the Dog, and Mudhoney, all of whom reached vast audiences in the early 1990s. The city is also home to such varied musicians as avant-garde jazz musicians Bill Frisell and Wayne Horvitz, rapper Sir Mix-a-Lot, smooth jazz saxophonist Kenny G, and such poppier rock bands as Goodness and the Presidents of the United States of America. Such musicians as Jimi Hendrix, Duff McKagan, Nikki Sixx, and Quincy Jones spent their formative years in Seattle. Ann and Nancy Wilson of the band Heart, often attributed to Seattle, were actually from the neighboring suburb of Bellevue, as were progressive metal band Queensrÿche. Since the grunge era, the Seattle area has hosted a diverse and influential alternative music scene. The Seattle-based record label Sub Pop—the first to sign Nirvana—has signed such non-grunge bands as Sunny Day Real Estate, The Postal Service, and The Shins. Other Seattle-area bands of note in this period include Death Cab for Cutie (Bellingham), Foo Fighters, Maktub, Modest Mouse (Issaquah), and Sleater-Kinney (Olympia). Earlier Seattle-based popular music acts include the collegiate folk group The Brothers Four; The Wailers, a 1960s garage band; the Allies and the Heaters (later "the Heats"), 1980s teen-pop bands; from that same era, the more sophisticated pop of the short-lived Visible Targets and the still-performing Young Fresh Fellows and Posies; and the pop-punk of The Fastbacks and the outright punk of the Fartz (later Ten Minute Warning), The Gits, and Seven Year Bitch. Spoken word and poetry are also staples of the Seattle arts scene, paralleling the explosion of the indie scene during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Seattle's performance poetry scene blossomed with the importation of the poetry slam from Chicago (its origin) by transplant Paul Granert. This and the proliferation of weekly readings/open mics and poetry-friendly club venues like the Weathered Wall, the OK Hotel, and the Ditto Tavern (all now defunct), allowed spoken-word/performance poetry to take off in a big way. The Seattle Poetry Festival (launched first as the Poetry Circus in 1997) has featured local, regional, national, and international names in poetry such as Michael McClure, Anne Waldman, Ted Jones, Gwendolyn Brooks, Ismael Reed, Seku Sundiata, and many others. Regionally famed poets like Bart Baxter, Tess Gallagher, and Rebecca Brown have also been featured at the Poetry Festival, as well as numerous other events such as the world-famous Bumbershoot Arts Festival.

Museums and art collections

Bumbershoot Arts Festival The Henry Art Gallery opened in 1927, making it the first museum in Washington. The main Seattle Art Museum opened in 1933. Art collections are also housed at the Frye Art Museum and the Seattle Asian Art Museum. Regional history collections are at the Museum of History and Industry and the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture. Industry-specific collections are housed at the Center for Wooden Boats, Seattle Metropolitan Police Museum, and Museum of Flight. Regional ethnic collections include Nordic Heritage Museum and the Wing Luke Asian Museum. In addition, Seattle has a thriving artist-run gallery scene, including 10 year veteran Soil Art Gallery, and the newer Crawl Space Gallery. See also: Museums and galleries of Seattle

Other cultural institutions

The Woodland Park Zoo, opened as a private zoo in 1889, is one of the oldest on the West Coast, and has been a leader in innovations in naturalistic zoo exhibits. The Seattle Aquarium has been open on the downtown waterfront since 1977. The Seattle Underground Tour, visiting many of the places that existed mostly before the great fire, is also popular.

Media

Seattle's leading newspapers are the daily Seattle Times and Seattle Post-Intelligencer; they share their advertising and business departments under a Joint Operating Agreement, which (as of 2004) the Times is seeking to terminate or renegotiate. The most prominent weeklies are the Seattle Weekly and the Stranger. Both of these consider themselves "alternative" papers; the Stranger has a reputation for a younger and hipper readership, the Weekly has a reputation as more serious and slightly more politically conservative, but both make frequent forays into each other's editorial and demographic turf. There are also several ethnic newspapers and numerous neighborhood newspapers. Seattle is also well served by television and radio. Seattle's major network television affiliates are KOMO 4 (ABC), KING-TV 5 (NBC), KIRO 7 (CBS), KCTS 9 (PBS), KSTW 11 (UPN), KCPQ 13 (FOX), KONG 16/6 (Ind.), KTWB 22/10 (WB), and KWPX 33/3 (i); five of them can be seen across Canada via digital cable or satellite. Seattle cable viewers also receive CBUT 2 CBC from Vancouver, British Columbia, often as cable channel 99. Leading radio stations include KUBE 93.3, KNDD 107.7, KIRO-AM 710, KOMO-AM 1000, and NPR affiliates KUOW-FM 94.9 and KPLU-FM 88.5 (Tacoma). Other notable stations include KEXP-FM 90.3 (affiliated with EMP) and KNHC-FM 89.5, owned by the public school system and operated by students of Nathan Hale High School. Many Seattle radio stations are also available through internet radio, with KUOW, KNHC, and KEXP being notable web radio innovators. On the internet Seattle is covered by the blogs [http://www.seattlest.com/ Seattlest], [http://seattle.metblogs.com/ Seattle Metroblogging] and [http://www.thestranger.com/blog/ Slog]

Sports

The first major professional modern day sports franchise started in Seattle was the Seattle SuperSonics (known to most as the "Seattle Sonics") NBA team (1967). They were joined by the Seattle Pilots baseball team in 1969. Both team names reflected the local importance of the aerospace industry. The Pilots played in Seattle for only one year at Sick's Stadium, previously home to several minor league teams (most notably the Seattle Rainiers of the Pacific Coast League), before relocating to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Their sole season was immortalized in Jim Bouton's book Ball Four. Legal wrangling over the move of the Pilots pressured Major League Baseball to award Seattle a new franchise, the Mariners, in 1977. The Mariners would play in the newly built Kingdome, an indoor sports facility they shared with the Seattle Seahawks of the NFL, who started play the previous year. For a time, all three of the city's major sports teams used the Kingdome, despite ongoing maintenance issues with the venue. After some controversy (voters defeated two funding initiatives), the Kingdome was demolished in 2000 and replaced with Seahawks Stadium (later renamed Qwest Field), built on the same site. By this time, the other sports had long since relocated: the Sonics now use KeyArena exclusively, and the Mariners' new home is the modern, retractable-roofed Safeco Field, built with state money after the city voted down a bond issue to build it. The city's first professional sports championship was brought to the city by way of the PCHA Seattle Metropolitans in 1917. The professional hockey team, which represented Seattle from 1915 to 1924, was in fact the first U.S. team to win the coveted Stanley Cup, beating the Montréal Canadiens. They returned to the Stanley Cup finals twice more. Their first return, again versus Montreal, was in 1919; that series was cancelled due to an outbreak of influenza with the two teams tied at 2–2–1. The Metropolitans last went to the Stanley Cup finals in 1920, when they lost to the Ottawa Senators. The Seattle SuperSonics last won a modern-day championship, the NBA crown, in 1979, with Lenny Wilkens as coach. It is the only major sports championship Seattle has won. In addition to professional sports, the University of Washington, Seattle University, and Seattle Pacific University field teams in a variety of sports, including football and basketball. Their teams are known as the Huskies, Redhawks, and Falcons, respectively. The Husky football team has a following that ranks with those of the major professional teams in the city. In 1991, the Huskies shared an NCAA Division I collegiate football championship with the Hurricanes of the University of Miami. In 1990, Seattle hosted the 1990 Goodwill Games. In 1998, the Seattle City Council failed to pass a resolution supporting a Seattle bid for the 2012 Olympics. In 2004, the Seattle Storm won a WNBA championship. In 2005, the Seattle Sounders won the USL First Division championship. The cities of Everett and Tacoma, to the north and the south of Seattle, respectively, have sports teams of their own. Most notable are the Tacoma Rainiers, a double-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners in the Pacific Coast League, and the Everett AquaSox, an A team playing short-season baseball in the Northwest League.

Infrastructure

USL First Division

Transportation

As in almost every other city in western North America, transportation in Seattle is dominated by automobiles, although Seattle is just old enough that the city's layout reflects the age when railways and streetcars dominated. These older modes of transportation made for a relatively well-defined downtown and strong neighborhoods at the end of several former streetcar lines, most of them now bus lines. There is no subway, though a bus tunnel running roughly north-south through downtown will be used by light rail beginning in 2009. There are a small number of commuter trains from Tacoma and Everett and an extensive system of bus routes. About fifteen of King County Metro's bus routes serving downtown Seattle are electric and run on overhead wires. Like Vancouver, British Columbia and San Francisco, California, Seattle is one of the few cities in North America that use electric trolleybuses. A monorail line constructed for the 1962 Exposition still exists today between Seattle Center and downtown and is still used by tourists and by commuters from the north, who often find it cheaper to park at Seattle Center and take the monorail downtown to work than to take their car downtown. In the 1990s the city proposed to build a longer monorail to convert the monorail from a tourist attraction into a real commuter service. Controversy over scope, governance, financial difficulties, and so forth led to a series of five separate votes on the expanded monorail; although the voters initially approved the plan, anticipated cost overruns and other problems forced the city to return to the voters for approval no fewer than four times with updated plans. The project was definitively defeated by a November 2005 referendum. The Sound Transit light rail project also faced difficulties early on, although the first 15.7 mile-section from downtown to Sea-Tac Airport will be operational in 2009. Additional expansion of light rail will include an extension north to the University District (already funded) and eventually to Northgate Mall. Also in the planning stages are lines across Lake Washington to Bellevue and south to Tacoma. The South Lake Union line of the Seattle Streetcar passed full City Council on June 27, 2005. The streetcar is "on track" to be built and operating by 2007. The 2.6 mile (4.2 km) streetcar line will run between Westlake Center in downtown Seattle and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Property owners along the right-of-way will pay about $25 million of the $45 million total capital cost through a local improvement district. Seattle is noted for its reliance on water traffic, with many people commuting to work from Bainbridge Island, :NPR redirects here. For other meanings of NPR, see NPR (disambiguation). National Public Radio (NPR) is an independent, private, not-for-profit corporation that sells programming to member radio stations; together they are a loosely organized public radio network in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following the passage of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 which established the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and also led to the creation of the Public Broadcasting Service. The network was founded on February 24, 1970, with 90 public radio stations as charter members. Like its competitors, American Public Media and Public Radio International, NPR produces and distributes news and cultural programming. Its member stations are not required to broadcast all of these programs and most broadcast programs from many different sources. Its flagship programs are two drive time news broadcasts, Morning Edition, and the afternoon All Things Considered; both are carried by nearly all NPR affiliates and in 2002 were the second- and third-most popular radio programs in the country. Morning Edition has been the network's most popular program since 1979.

Funding

NPR makes some of its funding information [http://nprstations.org/conferences/treasurers_report_may_2005.pdf public]. According to the most recent 2005 financial statement, currently NPR makes just over half of its money from the fees and dues it charges member stations to receive programming. About 2% of NPR's funding comes from bidding to government grants and programs (chiefly the Corporation for Public Broadcasting); the remainder comes from member station dues, foundation grants, and corporate underwriting. Over the years, the portion of the total NPR budget that comes from government has been decreasing. During the 1970s and early 1980s, the majority of NPR funding came from the government. Steps were being taken during the 1980s to completely wean NPR from government support, but a major funding crisis in 1983, which almost led to the demise of the network, brought about more rapid shifts in NPR's funding setup. More money to fund the NPR network was raised from listeners, charitable foundations and corporations, and less from the government. In 1995, two "well-meaning but misguided students" (in the [http://www.univnorthco.edu/petition.html official words] of the University of Northern Colorado) started an e-mail petition claiming that [on] NPR's Morning Edition, Nina Tottenberg (sic) said that if the Supreme Court supports Congress, it will, in effect, be the end of the National Public Radio (NPR)... Although the funding crisis passed, the chain letter continues to circulate on the Internet. (See [http://www.npr.org/about/urbanmyth.html NPR's statement] on the petition.) NPR member stations also receive private and government funding, but are famous for raising money through on-air pledge drives, during which programming is interrupted and listeners are encouraged to donate money to keep the station on the air. In contrast to commercial radio, NPR carries no advertising, but has brief statements from major donors. These statements are called underwriting spots, not commercials, and are bound by FCC restrictions that commercials are not; they cannot advocate a product or contain any "call to action". Critics of NPR contend that the difference is exaggerated. Since NPR is not dependent on advertising revenue, it is largely free of the ratings-driven decision making of commercial media. The result is programming that is considered less sensationalistic than commercial media. On November 6, 2003, NPR was given $200 million from the estate of the late Joan B. Kroc, the widow of Ray Kroc, founder of McDonald's Corporation. In 2003 the annual budget of NPR was $101 million. In 2004 that number increased by over 50% to $153 million due to the Kroc gift. That number has since dropped to a $120 million budget in 2005.

Production facilities and listenership

NPR's major production facilities have been based in Washington, D.C. since its creation. On November 2, 2002, a West Coast production facility, dubbed NPR West, opened in Culver City, California. NPR opened NPR West to improve its coverage of the western United States, to expand its production capabilities (shows produced there include News & Notes with Ed Gordon and Day to Day), and to create a fully functional backup production facility capable of keeping NPR on the air in the event of a catastrophe in Washington, D.C. According to a 2003 Washington Monthly story, about 20 million listeners tune into NPR each week. On average they are 50 years old and earn an annual income of $78,000. Its audience is predominantly white; only about 10% are either African American or Hispanic. Many of its listeners consider NPR to be at the apex of journalistic integrity, while critics argue that it is not fully representative of the nation's diversity. From 1999 through 2004, listenership has increased by about 66%. This increase may have been the result of one of a number of factors, including audience interest in coverage of September 11, the following military actions, and a general lack of interest in other terrestrial radio outlets. NPR attracted these new listeners at the same time that the size of the overall radio audience in the United States was decreasing rapidly as people abandoned the medium in favor of iPods (and similar devices) and satellite radio. In recent years, NPR has made some changes to appeal to younger listeners and to minority groups. From 2002 until 2004, Tavis Smiley hosted a show targeted towards African Americans, but left the network, claiming that the organization did not provide enough support to make his production truly successful. NPR stations have long been known for carrying classical music, but the amount of classical programming carried on NPR stations and other public radio outlets in the U.S. has been declining. Many stations have shifted toward carrying more news, while others have shifted to feature more contemporary music that attracts a younger audience.

Programming

Programs produced by NPR

News and public affairs programs

NPR produces a morning and an afternoon news program, both of which also have weekend editions with different hosts. It also produces hourly news briefs around the clock. NPR formerly distributed the World Radio Network, a daily compilation of news reports from international radio news, but no longer does so.
- All Things Considered, hosted by Robert Siegel, Michele Norris and Melissa Block
- Weekend All Things Considered, hosted by Deborah Elliott
- Day to Day, a collaboration with Slate magazine; hosted by Alex Chadwick
- Morning Edition, hosted by Steve Inskeep and Renée Montagne
- Weekend Edition Saturday, hosted by Scott Simon
- Weekend Edition Sunday, hosted by Liane Hansen
- Radio Expeditions (with the National Geographic Society)
- The Motley Fool Radio Show: investment call-in (hosts David and Tom Gardner)
- Talk of the Nation: public affairs call-in (host Neal Conan)
- Talk of the Nation - Science Friday science issues call-in (host Ira Flatow)
- News & Notes with Ed Gordon: black/race/diversity issues

Cultural programming

- In 2000, NPR co-produced and distributed 2000X, a Hollywood Theater of the Ear production of science fiction radio plays, presented as part of NPR Playhouse
- At the Opera: half-hour pre-opera show (host Lou Santacroce)
- Billy Taylor's Jazz at the Kennedy Center (NPR Jazz, John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts)
- Earplay: innovative radio drama anthology (1971–1981)
- Jazz Profiles (host Nancy Wilson, NPR Jazz)
- NPR Playhouse: radio plays (1981–2002)
- NPR World of Opera: (host Steve Curwood)
- Performance Today: classical music (weekday host Fred Child, weekend host Korva Coleman)
- SymphonyCast: international orchestral performances (host Korva Coleman)
- The Thistle & Shamrock: Celtic music (host Fiona Ritchie)
- Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!: the NPR News quiz (with Chicago Public Radio)

Programs distributed by NPR

Popular shows distributed by NPR include Terry Gross's interview show Fresh Air and WBUR's Car Talk, starring Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers (a.k.a. Tom and Ray Magliozzi).
- Car Talk: humorous car advice (WBUR)
- On Point: public affairs call-in (host Tom Ashbrook, (WBUR)
- The Diane Rehm Show: public affairs call-in (host Diane Rehm, WAMU)
- Fresh Air: interviews (host Terry Gross, WHYY-FM) in Philadelphia, PA, the show is known for captivating interviews with guests from literature, science, music, film, and more.
- JazzSet (host Dee Dee Bridgewater, (WBGO)
- Justice Talking: legal issues (host Margot Adler, University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center)
- Latino USA: Latino issues (host Maria Hinojosa, KUT Radio)
- Living on Earth: environmental issues (host Steve Curwood)
- Only A Game: sports issues (host Bill Littlefield, WBUR)
- On the Media: media issues (hosts Brooke Gladstone and Bob Garfield, WNYC)
- Piano Jazz (host Marian McPartland, South Carolina Educational Radio)
- Says You!: word game show (WGBH)
- Selected Shorts: dramatic readings (host Isaiah Sheffer, Symphony Space, WNYC)
- Sunday Baroque: Baroque music (host Suzanne Bona (WSHU)

Public radio programs not affiliated with NPR

Individual NPR stations can broadcast programming from sources that have no formal affiliation with NPR.
- Earth & Sky: A clear voice for science and nature in a complex world, with hosts Deborah Byrd and Joel Block
- The Sound of Young America: Interviews and comedy, host Jesse Thorn, Santa Cruz, CA.
- Music from the Hearts of Space: New Age (host Stephen Hill), Sausalito, CA.
- Here and Now: news, current affairs and culture (host Robin Young, WBUR)
- Jazz from Lincoln Center (Wynton Marsalis, host Ed Bradley, Marray Street Productions)
- The Merrow Report: education issues (host John Merrow, Learning Matters Inc.)
- Forum: Call-in panel discussion show, wide-ranging national and local topics (host Michael Krasny), KQED.
- Planetary Radio: space exploration radio show (host Mat Kaplan, The Planetary Society, Pasadena, CA), KUCI, WMUH, WSDL, KAWC. Many shows produced or distributed by Public Radio International, such as This American Life and Whad'Ya Know?, are broadcast by NPR member stations, although the shows are not affiliated with NPR. Other popular shows, like A Prairie Home Companion and Marketplace, are produced by American Public Media, long known as Minnesota Public Radio.

Criticism

Like many other media outlets, NPR is periodically accused of having a detectable political and/or socio-cultural bias, although the nature of the accusations vary depending on the political ideology of the individual issuing them. Some conservatives have alleged that the network tailors its content to the preferences of an audience drawn from a liberal "educated elite." While members of NPR's audience are more likely to be white and college educated than those who listen to other radio outlets, observers dispute the claim of a liberal bias. (See [http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1180].) Left-wing activists have alleged that NPR caters to its corporate funders and shies away from controversial topics. They may believe that NPR avoids the sort of journalism that would embarrass the likes of Monsanto, Archer Daniels Midland, or Wal-Mart, since these companies are among the largest single private donors to NPR programming. According to these critics, examples of articles that would embarrass funders could include problems with genetically modified organisms, the politics of food production and farming, labor union activism in Wal-Mart stores, and urban sprawl. African-American community activists have criticized NPR for not being responsive to their interests and those of other minority ethnic groups. Tavis Smiley, a well-known black talk show host, resigned from NPR claiming that NPR did not effectively promote his program to minority communities. In addition, he received complaints from listeners stating that his sound was too harsh and grating for public radio. Some critics simply believe that NPR programming, and the programming of its public radio competitors, is too monotonous to be listenable. American pop culture is fond of referring to the allegedly dull nature of public radio shows. For example, The Simpsons parodied Garrison Keillor's comedic monologues on his American Public Media show A Prairie Home Companion, with a character who dressed in a bow tie, spoke at length in a monotone and expected the audience to laugh at jokes that were not funny. [http://www.snpp.com/episodes/1F03.html] Saturday Night Live had a recurring segment called The Delicious Dish, a parody of public radio weekend programs. The hosts (played by Ana Gasteyer and Molly Shannon) speak in happy, hushed tones about their favorite recipes, parodying public radio's stereotypical focus on almost monotonously subdued emotions and topics that would probably be perceived by the average person as uninteresting or useless, if not pointless and trivial. Unlike other radio networks, such as CBC/Radio-Canada, NPR does not produce local or regional content. Instead, each member station must create local news and other programming. This approach means that there is a great variety in the format of member station broadcasts. While this variety may reflect the diversity of the communities in which NPR stations are found, it may come at a sacrifice to uniform quality across the network.

External links

- [http://www.npr.org/ National Public Radio website]
- [http://slate.msn.com/id/114374/ The Faces of NPR] from Slate
- [http://www.publicradiofan.com/ PublicRadioFan.com (Program listings for hundreds of public radio stations)]
- [http://www.nprstations.org/handbook2000/fy02operatingexpenses.pdf FY 2003 NPR Operating Expenses ](NPR, 2003 - PDF)
- J. Max Robins, "[http://www.unknownnews.net/2000-1.html US Army Psy-ops personnel assigned to CNN, NPR]" TV Guide, April 15, 2000. Category:United States radio networks Category:publicly-funded broadcasters Category:National Public Radio Category:National Medal of Arts recipients

California

California is a state located on the west coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous state in the U.S., as well as the most physically diverse, with the highest and the lowest points in the lower 48 states located within 150 miles of each other. If California were an independent nation, it would have the sixth largest economy in the world (after the rest of the U.S., Japan, Germany, Britain and France; see economy of California). The state's official nickname is "The Golden State" in reference to California's 1849 Gold Rush. California's U.S. postal abbreviation is CA, and its Associated Press abbreviation is Calif. As one of the most demographically diverse states in the nation, California is a dominant force in American culture as well as the nation's economy. It has some of the nation's largest cities, including Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, and San Francisco, and is responsible for many legal and technological innovations. The entire region originally known as California was composed of the Mexican peninsula now known as Baja California and much of the land in the current states of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona and Wyoming, known as Alta California. In these early times, the boundaries of the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific coast were only partially explored and California was shown on early maps as an island. The name comes from Las sergas de Esplandián (Adventures of Splandian), a 16th century novel, by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo, where there is an island paradise called California. (For further discussion, see: Origin of the name California.)

History

:Main articles: History of California, History of California (20th century) The first European to explore parts of the coast was the Portuguese João Rodrigues Cabrilho in 1542. The first to explore the entire coast and claim possession of it was Francis Drake in 1579. Beginning in the late 1700s, Spanish missionaries set up tiny settlements on enormous grants of land in the vast territory north of Baja California. The missions played a dominant role in the decimation of California's indigenous population. Upon Mexican independence from Spain, the chain of missions became the property of the Mexican government, and they were quickly dissolved and abandoned. In 1846, at the outset of the Mexican-American War, the California Republic was founded and the Bear Flag was flown, which featured a golden bear and a star. The Republic came to a sudden end, however, when Commodore John D. Sloat of the United States Navy sailed into San Francisco Bay and claimed California for the United States. Following the war, the region was divided between Mexico and the United States. The Mexican portion, Baja (lower) California was later divided into the states of Baja California and Baja California Sur. The western part of the U.S. portion, Alta (upper) California, was to become the state of California. In 1848, the Spanish-speaking population of distant upper California numbered around 4,000. But after gold was discovered, the population burgeoned with Americans and a few Europeans in the great California gold rush. In 1850, the state was admitted to the Union of the USA. During the American Civil War, popular support in California was divided 70% for the South and 30% for the North, and although California officially entered on the side of the North, many troops went east to fight for the Confederacy CSA. At first, travel between the far Pacific West to the eastern population centers was time-consuming and dangerous, requiring either long ocean voyages, or difficult transcontinental passages. A more direct connection came in 1869 with the completion of the first transcontinental railroad. After this rail link was established, hundreds of thousands of Americans came west, where new Californians were discovering that land in the state, if irrigated during the dry summer months, was extremely well suited to fruit cultivation and agriculture in general. Citrus, oranges in particular, was widely grown, and the foundation was laid for the state's prodigious agricultural production of today. During the early 20th century, migration to California accelerated with the completion of major transcontinental highways like the Lincoln Highway and Route 66. In the period from 1900 to 1965 the population grew from fewer than one million to become the most populous state in the Union. From 1965 to the present, the population demographic changed radically and became one of the most diverse in the world. The state is generally liberal-leaning, technologically and culturally savvy, and a world center of engineering businesses, the film and television industry and, as mentioned above, American agricultural production.

Law and government

California is governed as a republic, with three branches of government, the executive branch consisting of the Governor of California and the other independently elected constitutional officers, the legislative branch consisting of the Assembly and Senate, and the judicial branch consisting of the Supreme Court of California and lower courts. The state also allows direct participation of the electorate by referendum, recall, and ratification. The Governor of California and the other state constitutional officers serve four-year terms and may be re-elected only once. The California State Legislature consists of a 40 member Senate and 80 member Assembly. Senators serve four year terms and Assembly members two. The terms of the Senators are staggered so that half the membership is elected every two years. The Senators representing the odd-numbered districts are elected in years evenly divisible by four, i.e., presidential election years. The Senators from the even-numbered districts are elected in the intervening even-numbered years, in the gubernatorial election cycle. California's legislature is organized in such a way that the party caucus leaders wield great power and can usually speak on behalf of their caucuses. Many important legislative decisions are thus not made on the floor of the legislature but in back-room deals by the "Big Five", which comprises the governor and the Democratic and Republican leaders of each chamber. For the 2005–2006 session, there are 48 Democrats and 32 Republicans in the Assembly. In the Senate, there are 25 Democrats and 15 Republicans. The current Governor is the Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose current term lasts through January 2007. Schwarzenegger was only the second person in the history of the United States to be put into office by a recall of a sitting governor (the first was the 1921 recall of North Dakota Governor Lynn J. Frazier). Schwarzenegger replaced Governor Gray Davis (1999–2003), who was removed from office by the October 2003 California recall election. The state's capital is Sacramento. During California's early history under European control, the capital was successively located in Monterey (1775–1849), San Jose (1849–1851), Vallejo (1852–1853), Benicia (1853–1854), and San Francisco (1862). The capital moved to Sacramento temporarily in 1852 when construction on a State House could not be completed in time in Vallejo. The capital's final move to Sacramento was on February 25, 1854 where it has been permanently, except for a four-month temporary move in 1862 to San Francisco, due to severe flooding in Sacramento. California's giant judiciary is the largest in the United States (with a total of 1,600 judges, while the federal system has only about 840). It is supervised by the seven Justices of the Supreme Court of California. Justices of the Supreme Court and Courts of Appeal are appointed by the Governor, but are subject to retention by the electorate every 12 years. Judges of the trial courts, the Superior Courts in each county, may be appointed by the Governor or elected directly by the voters, depending on when the vacancy occurs. Superior Court judges serve six-year terms, after which they may run for re-election. Unlike the retention elections for Supreme Court and Court of Appeal justices, Superior Court judges run for re-election in open races, in which other qualified candidates may run as challengers. California's legal system is explicitly based on English common law but carries a few features from Spanish civil law. Capital punishment is a legal form of punishment and the state has the largest "Death Row" population in the country. At the national level, California is represented by two senators and 53 representatives, as of 2005. It has 55 electoral votes in the U.S. Electoral College. (As California is the most populous state in the Union, its counts of Congressmen and Presidential Electors are, of course, also the largest.) The two U.S. Senators from California are Democrats Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer. 33 Democrats and 20 Republicans represent the state in the U.S. House of Representatives. While California is among the most Democratic and liberal states in the nation because of the large concentration of voters in populous areas, much of California is politically very conservative, notably the Central Valley, the Inland Empire, Orange and San Diego counties, and most inland, eastern, and rural areas. Democratic bastions are mostly coastal and include the entire San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Salinas, Santa Barbara, and Imperial County. The state has supported Democrats in the last four presidential elections. In 2004, Republican President George W. Bush received a majority of votes in more than half the state's 58 counties, but still lost California's 55 electoral votes to John Kerry, who won 54.3% of the popular vote, by a margin of 10 percentage points. See also: List of California Governors, U.S. Congressional Delegations from California, List of California counties, List of California ballot propositions

Geography

California borders the Pacific Ocean, Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, and the Mexican state of Baja California. The state has strikingly beautiful natural features, including an expansive central valley, tall mountains, hot deserts, and hundreds of miles of scenic coastline. With an area of 411,000 km² it is the third largest state in the U.S and larger than Germany in size. Most major cities cling to the cool seacoast along the Pacific, notably Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Ana/Orange County, and San Diego. However, the capital, Sacramento is in the Central Valley. California has extremely varied geography. In the center of the state lies the Central Valley, a huge, fertile valley bounded by the coastal mountain ranges in the west, the granite Sierra Nevada to the east, the volcanic Cascade Range in the north and the Tehachapi Mountains in the south. Mountain-fed rivers, dams, and canals provide water to irrigate the Central Valley. With dredging, several of these rivers have become sufficiently large and deep that several inland cities, notably Stockton, California, are seaports. The hot, fertile Central Valley is California's agricultural heartland and grows a large portion of America's food, yet near freezing temperatures are not uncommon during winter which sometimes wipe out portions of crops. The bottom part of the valley, which is part desert, is known as the San Joaquin Valley while the upper half is known as the Sacramento Valley. In the center and east of the state are the Sierra Nevada (meaning Snowy Range in Spanish), containing the highest peak in the contiguous lower 48 states, Mount Whitney, at 14,505 feet (4421 m). Also located in the Sierra are the world famous Yosemite National Park and a deep freshwater lake, Lake Tahoe, the largest lake in the state by volume. To the east of the Sierra are Owens Valley and Mono Lake, an essential seabird habitat. To the west is Clear Lake, California's largest freshwater lake by area. The Sierra Nevada receives arctic temperatures in the winter and holds several dozen small glaciers, including the most southern glacier in the United States (Palisade Glacier). California has about 35% of its total surface area covered by forests. California's diversity of pine species is unmatched by any other state. Though other states have a higher percentage of their land area covered by forests, in terms of total area, California contains more forestland than any other state except Alaska. Most of the forest is found in 2 places. First, in the northwestern part of the state and along the western slope of the Sierra Nevada. Smaller forests, mainly consisting of oaks, can be found along the coast ranges of California closer to the coast, and also in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Smaller areas of pine forests can be found in the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains of Southern California and also in the mountain areas of Central San Diego Country. Deserts in California make up about 25% of the total surface area. In the south lie the Transverse Ranges and a large salt lake, the Salton Sea. The south-central desert is called the Mojave. To the northeast of the Mojave lies Death Valley, which contains the lowest, hottest point in North America. The lowest point of Death Valley and the peak of Mount Whitney are less than 200 miles apart. The hiking trek between the two points has been attempted, several times, most notably by Lee Bergthold. Indeed, almost all of southeastern California is arid, hot desert, with the Coachella Valley routinely experiencing extreme high temperatures during the summer. Finally, along the densely-populated but long California coast lie a number of major metropolitan areas, including San Francisco Bay, Los Angeles, and San Diego. Climates near the Pacific Ocean are remarkably moderate compared with inland climates. Winter temperatures never reach freezing (snow is unheard of) and summer temperatures rarely reach above the high 80's Fahrenheit (27 °C). California is famous for its earthquakes, due partly to the presence of the San Andreas Fault. While more powerful earthquakes in the United States have occurred in Alaska and along the Mississippi River, California earthquakes are notable in their frequency and location in highly populated areas. Some people believe, eventually, a huge earthquake will result in the splitting of coastal California fro