title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: Kalamazoo has a humid continental (Köppen Dfa) climate. Summers can be hot, humid, and relatively long, comprising the months of May to September. Tornadoes are rare but possible in Kalamazoo. In fact, in 1980, a major tornado ripped through downtown Kalamazoo causing extensive damage. In winter, temperatures occasionally plummet below 0 °F (-18°). Kalamazoo has been known for brutal snow storms as late as early April, but there are occasional winter days with no snow cover on the ground at all. Lake-effect snowstorms are commonplace in the winter.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: As of 2000, the median income for a household in the city was $31,189, and the median income for a family was $42,438. Males had a median income of $32,160 versus $25,532 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,897. About 13.6% of families and 24.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 26.0% of those under age 18 and 11.3% of those age 65 or over.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: As of the census of 2010, there were 74,262 people, 29,141 households, and 13,453 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 32,433 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 68.1% White, 22.2% African American, 0.5% Native American, 1.7% Asian, 2.8% from other races, and 4.6% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.4% of the population.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: There were 29,141 households, of which 25.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 26.1% were married couples living together, 15.6% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.5% had a male householder with no wife present, and 53.8% were non-families. 36.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.29 and the average family size was 3.04.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: The median age in the city was 26.2 years. 20.5% of residents were under the age of 18; 27% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 24.9% were from 25 to 44; 18.2% were from 45 to 64; and 9.4% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 49.3% male and 50.7% female.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: The city of Kalamazoo is commonly divided into 22 neighborhoods, many of which are served by a neighborhood association. The Neighborhood Development Division of the city's government works with these associations to invest federal, state, and local funds, including those from the Community Development Block Grant program, in community improvements and economic growth.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: In 2007, Kalamazoo was named to Fast Company's 'Fast 50: Most Innovative Companies 2007', in recognition of the city's community capitalism approach to revitalize the economy. In 2012 Kiplinger's Personal Finance ranked Kalamazoo fourth of the "Ten Best Cities for Cheapskates". The city was named in NerdWallet.com's 2014 'Top 10 Best Cities for Work-Life Balance'.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: Perhaps the best-known is Bell's Brewery, established as the Kalamazoo Brewing Company in 1985 by Larry Bell. The brewery has expanded from its original Kalamazoo location, which houses the Eccentric Cafe, to another brewery in nearby Comstock Charter Township. Bell's beer is distributed to 40 US states, Washington DC and Puerto Rico. Other local breweries include Tibb's Brewing Company, Rupert's Brewhouse , Boatyard Brewing Co. , One Well Brewing, and Latitude 42 Brewing Company, the latter in the southern suburb of Portage. On a smaller scale, Olde Peninsula Brewpub, Bravo! restaurant, and Bilbo's Pizza and Brewing Company serve their own brews. The area is also a hotbed for home brewing and partners with neighboring Grand Rapids to form what is widely considered one of America's more important regions in American craft beer explosion. In recent years, at least two community events have evolved from the growing craft beer industry in the Kalamazoo area (Kalamazoo Beer Week (annual), Kalamazoo Craft Beer Festival). In 2015, the Give a Craft beer trail and passport were introduced. A shuttle bus ("Kalamazoo Brew Bus") service and party bike tour service became available in 2016.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: In 2015, Rupert's Brew House entered the Kalamazoo craft spirits market. Two additional distilleries, Green Door Distilling, formerly Revival Distilling and Kalamazoo Distilling Company, are in the licensing stage.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: The A.M. Todd Company, one of the lead producers of peppermint oil and other flavorings, is headquartered in Kalamazoo. Its founder, Albert M. Todd, was elected to the United States House of Representatives for the 55th Congress.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: Kalamazoo is also home to Kalsec, another flavorings company, which was founded by Paul H. Todd Jr., Albert Todd's grandson and U.S. Representative in the 89th Congress. Founded as the Kalamazoo Spice Extraction Company, Kalsec is owned and managed by Todd family descendants.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: Fabri-Kal, a supplier of food service and other containers produced from thermoform plastic or plant-based materials (Greenware product line), has operated corporate headquarters in Kalamazoo since the 1960s. The company closed the Kalamazoo-based manufacturing facilities in 1991, but returned an expanded manufacturing capacity to Kalamazoo in 2008 with the opening of a LEED-certified facility. In recent years, the company's product lines have introduced sustainable and plant-based materials, and innovations to reduce the plastic content of consumer and other packaging.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: Parker Hannifin Aerospace's Hydraulic Systems Division (HSD) is located at 2220 Palmer Ave in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The 170,000-square foot facility designs, manufactures, and services hydraulic components for both military and commercial aerospace sectors. It produces hydraulic axial piston pumps and motors, electric motor-driven pumps, hydraulic power transfer/supply units, electrohydraulic power modules, hydraulic thrust-reverser & landing gear actuators, accumulators, reservoirs, filter modules and valve packs.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: The Upjohn Company was a pharmaceutical research and manufacturing firm founded in 1886 in Kalamazoo; through a series of mergers and acquisitions that took place between 1995 and 2003, the Upjohn Company assets became a part of the Pfizer Corporation. Most of Upjohn's original facilities remain, many have been renovated and some new buildings have been constructed. The bulk of the former Upjohn Company facilities in the area exist in Portage, under Pfizer or Zoetis operation; others, located in downtown Kalamazoo, have been re-purposed as the campus of the Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine, the research and development headquarters of Zoetis, and office space for Bronson Methodist Hospital.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine (WMed) is a collaboration involving Western Michigan University and Kalamazoo's two teaching hospitals, Ascension Borgess and Bronson Methodist. The new medical school has been in planning since 2008, and was granted Preliminary Accreditation from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education in October 2012. Welcoming its first class in August 2014, the school is a private 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation supported by private gifts, clinical revenue, research activity, student tuition, and endowment income. In March 2011, Western Michigan University received a gift of $100 million for the medical school from anonymous donors.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: The global Research and Development organization of Zoetis, the world's largest producer of medicine and vaccinations for pets and livestock, is headquartered in downtown Kalamazoo.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: Kalamazoo hospitals include: Kalamazoo Regional Psychiatric Hospital, Bronson Methodist Hospital, and Ascension Borgess Hospital.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: In 2014, Newell Rubbermaid established a global product design center in Kalamazoo, consolidating fifteen global design units at a single location within the Western Michigan University Business Technology and Research Park. The Business Technology and Research Park is also home to design firm TEKNA Solutions. In 2015, Kalamazoo-based landscape design and manufacturing firm Landscape Forms, Inc., received five National Design Awards.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: The W. E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, a nonpartisan, not-for-profit research organization, has operated in Kalamazoo since its establishment in 1945. The Institute conducts research into the causes and effects of unemployment, and measures for the alleviation of unemployment. The Institute also publishes "Business Outlook for West Michigan", a quarterly journal that provides economic analysis and forecasts on the West Michigan economy.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: The Fetzer Institute promotes and funds holistic solutions to everyday problems. It was founded by John Fetzer, a broadcasting magnate and former owner of the Detroit Tigers and WKZO radio and television in Kalamazoo.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: The economic development organization Southwest Michigan First was established in Kalamazoo in 1999, with a focus on community capitalism. The organization was recognized as a Best and Brightest Company to Work For in 2013, and has received Fast Company commendations for innovative strategies to improve the economy. In 2015, two members of Southwest Michigan First were selected for Development Counsellors International's "2015 40 under 40," top 40 young economic developers in the United States.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: Kalamazoo government is administered under a commission-manager style of government. The city commission is the representative body of the city, and consists of seven members—six city commissioners and a separately elected mayor—elected on a staggered non-partisan basis every four years. Whoever receives the most votes during an election becomes vice mayor of the city for the first two years of their term until a new vice mayor is selected. The current City Commission consists of Mayor David Anderson, Vice Mayor Don Cooney, and commissioners Jeanne Hess, Chris Praedel, Qianna Decker, Stephanie Hoffman, and Esteven Juarez. The current mayor, David F. Anderson, was elected to a second term on November 2, 2021, beating Ben Stanley with 78.7% of the vote.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: The city manager is the city's chief administrative officer. The manager is hired by, and answers to, the city commission.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: Kalamazoo has a higher crime rate than the national average. Crime is spread throughout Kalamazoo and is especially high in the inner neighborhoods such as Edison, the Northside and Vine. Crime is lower in the downtown and most of the southwest area. The aggravated assault rate in 2015 was 793.3 per 100,000—3.3 times the national average. The murder rate was 12.5 per 100,000 in 2010 and 7.9 in 2014. The 2016 Kalamazoo shootings by Uber driver Jason Dalton claimed 6 lives and caused 2 serious injuries in Kalamazoo County. Between 2008 and 2013 firearms were involved in 61% of homicides in Kalamazoo county compared to 77% statewide.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: Kalamazoo is home to Western Michigan University. The college has four campuses in Kalamazoo, (West Campus, East Campus, Parkview Campus and Oakland Drive Campus) as well as several regional locations throughout Michigan and two in Florida. West Campus, located just west of downtown, has the largest concentration of university students, programs and school services. In 2005, Western Michigan ranked as the no. 2 wireless campus in the United States, per a national survey done by the Intel Corporation. In 2014, the WMU Homer Stryker School of Medicine (WMed) opened, welcoming an inaugural class of 54 students.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: Each May, WMU hosts the International Congress on Medieval Studies. Organized by the Medieval Institute's faculty and graduate students, the Congress brings some 3,000 professors and students from around the globe to present and discuss a variety of topics related to the Middle Ages.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: Kalamazoo College, a private liberal arts college founded in 1833, is located on a hill opposite WMU's original campus.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: Kalamazoo is home to Kalamazoo Valley Community College, Davenport University, and Kalamazoo Area Mathematics and Science Center (KAMSC). Construction of the new Kalamazoo Valley Community College Culinary and Allied Health campus began in August 2014. It had also been the home of Nazareth College, which closed in 1992.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: The public schools for the vast majority of Kalamazoo are managed by Kalamazoo Public Schools. Every resident graduate of the Kalamazoo Public Schools is provided with a scholarship for up to 100% of tuition and mandatory fee costs for four years at any public university or community college in Michigan, starting with the class of 2006. This program is known as the Kalamazoo Promise.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: Small sections of Kalamazoo are in other school districts: Parchment School District, Comstock Public Schools and Portage Public Schools.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: The city has an Arts Council. On the first Friday of each month, the council organizes the 'Art Hop'. Art Hop is a free event, during which downtown businesses and galleries display works by local artists, and patrons 'hop' from venue to venue, enjoying art, live music, and the chance to interact with local artists. A popular site during Art Hop is the Park Trades Center, which houses the Kalamazoo Book Arts Center, Glass Art Kalamazoo, and many other studios.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: On New Year's Eve, downtown Kalamazoo is the site of an annual New Year's Fest celebration. This celebration is centered at Bronson Park and surrounding venues, allowing patrons to walk from venue to venue to enjoy an all ages showcase of performing arts and other activities (music, magic, comedy, exhibitions, fireworks, food). Initiated in 1985, the event has grown in scope and popularity.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: Music groups and other performing artists perform at the downtown State Theatre, Western Michigan University's Miller Auditorium, and Wings Event Center.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: The annual "Eccentric Day" at Bell's Eccentric Cafe celebrates the brewery's Eccentric Ale on the December Friday that marks the end of finals at Western Michigan University.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: Next to Milham Park is the Milham Park Golf Course. Completed in 1936, the 18-hole, par-72 course is entirely within the city limits of Kalamazoo. During winter, sledding and cross-country skiing are popular activities at the golf course (free of charge). In recent years, the Kalamazoo Nordic Skiers club has groomed and maintained skate ski and classic ski trails for community use.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: In 2002, the Kalamazoo Public Library was named "Library of the Year" by "Library Journal". The library includes a main location and four branch libraries, and until 2010, a bookmobile system. In 2014, the library opened 'The Hub', a digital lab open to the public for digitizing photos and video, producing podcasts, preserving old vinyl records, cassettes and VHS tapes, and other services.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: Kalamazoo's theaters and performing groups include the Kalamazoo Civic Players, New Vic Theatre, Farmers Alley Theatre, Crawlspace Theatre Productions, The State Theater, and the Barn Theatre in nearby Augusta. Plays and musicals are also performed at Kalamazoo College and Western Michigan University.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: A project of Kalamazoo Valley Community College, The Kalamazoo Animation Festival International (KAFI) encourages and educates animation artists, promotes Kalamazoo's animation industry, and provides community entertainment. In addition to a biannual festival, KAFI sponsors events such as film screenings and workshops throughout the year.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: KAFI's first festival drew 235 submissions and nearly 1,000 attendees in 2002. A second festival was held in 2003. Since then, an every-other-year schedule has been adopted. The 2007 festival attracted more than 500 entries from 37 countries. In addition to an animated film competition with $15,000 in prizes awarded, the festival features events for students, artists, educators, filmmakers and the general public. Past KAFI award winners include Bill Plympton, Chris Landreth and John Canemaker.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: The city's most prominent art museum is the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, whose collection has more than 3,600 works and a focus on 20th-century American art. The KIA regularly mounts temporary exhibitions.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: The Kalamazoo Valley Museum, established in 1881, is an American Association of Museums accredited museum operated by Kalamazoo Valley Community College. The museum features "hands-on" exhibits aimed largely at children, and has a planetarium and a Challenger Learning Center.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: Northeast of town, in Hickory Corners, is the Gilmore Car Museum, which includes cars used in Walt Disney movies.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: The Kalamazoo Air Zoo, just south of town, has several dozen aircraft on display, from biplanes to jets.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: The Gibson Guitar Corporation, founded in Kalamazoo in 1902, spurred local musicians to play a wide variety of styles, from classical and folk to modern rock (the company relocated to Nashville in 1984). The Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, founded in 1921, is directed by Raymond Harvey. The city also hosts the Irving S. Gilmore International Keyboard Festival, a Bach Festival, the Michigan Festival of Sacred Music, and the Stulberg International String Competition.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: The local and indie music scene has produced pop stars such as RCA recording artists The Verve Pipe and Metal Blade recording artists Thought Industry. Kalamazoo is also host to the Kalamashoegazer music festival, held for the last 13 years and a showcase for both local and national shoegaze and dream pop bands.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: The Western Michigan University Broncos, who compete in the NCAA Division I Mid-American Conference, play at the following on-campus venues:


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: Hyames Field played host to the first two College World Series held in 1947 and 1948. Future U. S. President George H. W. Bush was a first baseman for Yale in the 1947 series.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: The Kalamazoo College Hornets and Kalamazoo Valley Community College Cougars also have several collegiate athletic teams.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: Kalamazoo is the hometown of former New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter, former NFL wide receiver Greg Jennings, former NFL running back T. J. Duckett, the world's number one prize money winning pro bass fisherman Kevin VanDam, former MLB pitcher Scott Olsen, former NHL player Adam Hall and former Chicago White Sox first baseman Mike Squires. Kalamazoo was also the hometown of longtime Detroit Tigers owner John Fetzer, who owned the American League team from 1961 through 1984, when he sold the franchise to Domino's Pizza founder Tom Monaghan.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: The United States Tennis Association Boys 18 and 16 National Tennis Championships are hosted every summer by Kalamazoo College. The event has featured such players as Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Jim Courier, Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Michael Chang, James Blake and Andy Roddick, before they turned professional.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: Since 2006, Wings Event Center has been the home of the Kalamazoo Derby Darlins roller derby league teams. Following up on successful events in 2010 and 2015, Wings Event Center and the Kalamazoo Curling Club will host the 2019 U.S. National Curling Championship.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: The annual Kalamazoo Marathon, a USA Track & Field-certified and Boston Marathon-qualifying event, is part of a weekend of running and walking events.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: In 1984–1986, the Kalamazoo Kangaroos, a Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) team, played in Kalamazoo.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: Kalamazoo is served by one daily newspaper, the "Kalamazoo Gazette", which now prints three editions weekly as of early 2012. "Business Review Western Michigan", a business-to-business publication headquartered in Kalamazoo, covering Western Michigan news, was rolled into MLive online coverage in late 2012. The ultimate parent company of both the "Gazette" and "Business Review" are Advance Publications, Inc.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: WWMT, West Michigan's CBS / CW affiliate, is licensed and operates out of Kalamazoo but serves the entire West Michigan region. The station was originally owned and operated by famous broadcasting pioneer (and former Detroit Tigers owner) John Fetzer, as "WKZO-TV". Along with television, Fetzer introduced Kalamazoo to radio in 1931, when AM 590 WKZO signed on the air. Fetzer also created Kalamazoo's first cable television system, then known as Fetzer Cablevision; it is a predecessor of Kalamazoo's current cable franchise, Charter Communications.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: Public Media Network, located in downtown Kalamazoo, hosts media outlets including Charter cable channels 187-191 where daily public access programs are produced and aired to the public.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: Kalamazoo is part of the , which also includes Grand Rapids and Battle Creek. Most channels that serve the entire market are receivable in Kalamazoo, including WWMT, WOOD-TV (NBC), WXMI (Fox), WZPX (Ion) and WLLA (religious). Some channels based in the northern part of the market reach Kalamazoo through a satellite or translator, such as WTLJ Muskegon (religious, through W26BX), WGVU-TV Grand Rapids (PBS, through WGVK), and WXSP-CD Grand Rapids (MyNetworkTV, through WOKZ-CA). WOTV in Battle Creek broadcasts ABC programming for the southern part of the market, including Kalamazoo. Charter offers all West Michigan channels on its system to Kalamazoo subscribers, including WZZM, the ABC affiliate for Grand Rapids and the northern part of the market.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: WIDR is the college student-run, commercial free radio station at Western Michigan University. It is known for playing obscure and underground music of all genres as well as some local news and talk. Broadcasting 100 watts on 89.1 FM, WIDR can be heard from about a 20-mile radius from campus.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: WMUK is also on Western Michigan University's campus. It hosts many local music programs including jazz and classical performances as well as programming from NPR. WMUK broadcasts 50,000 watts in high definition on 102.1 FM.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: WKDS is West Michigan's only high school student-run radio station. The station signed on in 1983 at 89.9 on the FM dial, broadcasting from Loy Norrix High School. The call letters stood for Kalamazoo District Schools (now Kalamazoo Public Schools). For most of its history, WKDS broadcast only during daytime hours and not at all on the weekend. In Fall of 2004, the station began broadcasting 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in an attempt to prevent an outside organization to take over the time WKDS was off the air. WKDS was part of a county wide Education For Employment program for years. The radio station is still owned by Kalamazoo Public Schools although the EFE program has been discontinued. High school students from around the area continue to operate the station.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: Kalamazoo is served by highways I-94, US 131, M-96 and M-343. It was on the original Territorial Road in Michigan of the 19th century, which started in Detroit and ran to Lake Michigan. Much of that, but not all, later became Old US 12—the "old" designation came about when I-94 was built parallel to it—and also was called "Red Arrow Highway" after a World War I army division. The name "US 12" was shifted south to what once was US 112 between Detroit and New Buffalo. Some parts of Old US 12 outside of town, especially in Van Buren and Berrien counties to the west, are still called Red Arrow Highway. The term "Old US 12" has faded from use.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: The Kal-Haven Trail, heavily used by cyclists, runners, walkers, and snowmobilers, extends to downtown Kalamazoo. It runs between South Haven, to a trailhead just west of Kalamazoo. Between that trailhead and South Haven the trail is run by Van Buren County, even the parts within Kalamazoo County. A trail pass is no longer required. The Kal-Haven is a rail trail, built on the former right-of-way of the Kalamazoo and South Haven Railroad.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: The section east of the trailhead was opened in 2008 and extends to downtown Kalamazoo. It's known as the Kalamazoo River Valley Trail and is run by Kalamazoo County. No pass is required on that section.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: Kalamazoo's name is a familiar reference in popular music, since its unique sound makes it a "great word for a lyric". Its use as metonym for a remote place is discussed above—"although when it comes to both Timbuktu and Kalamazoo, most of that brag-worthy exotic allure is merely in their names". Nonetheless, numerous songs use the city's name in their song title or lyrics.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: Probably the most famous and first was "(I've Got a Gal In) Kalamazoo" (1942) by the Glenn Miller Orchestra with Tex Beneke. This #1 popular song was written by Mack Gordon and Harry Warren. The performance was recreated with Gene Morrison Orchestra as the Glenn Miller Orchestra and the Nicholas Brothers (doing a memorable dance) in the 1942 movie "Orchestra Wives". This was nominated: Best Music, Original Song in Academy Awards) Harry Warren (music), Mack Gordon (lyrics). See 15th Academy Awards.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: At least a dozen (and many more versions) of "Kalamazoo" songs have been recorded. In chronological order others include: "I've Been Everywhere" by Hank Snow (1962) (album of the same title) and Johnny Cash (1996) "Unchained"—reworked from the original 1959 Geoff Mack Australian-place-names version made popular by the singer Lucky Starr; "Down on the Corner" (1969) by Creedence Clearwater Revival on their fourth studio album, "Willy and the Poor Boys"—covered by a dozen other groups—though the reference is not to the city but to one of the "Kalamazoo" line of budget priced guitars manufactured by Gibson; "Kalamazoo" (1995) by Luna on "Penthouse"; "Cold Rock a Party" (1997) by MC Lyte on "Bad As I Wanna B"; "Kalamazoo" a song by the rock trio Primus on the 1997 "Brown Album"; "Top of the World" by Rascalz (1999) on "Global Warning"; Andrew Peterson lost his luggage in Kalamazoo, according to the song "Isn't It Love" in his 2001 album, Clear to Venus. "Kalamazoo", a song by Ben Folds on the 2004 EP "Super D"; and "Kalamazoo" (2002) by Mike Craver on his album "Shining Down".


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: The city was also mentioned in the opera "Einstein on the Beach" by Philip Glass and in the chorus of the song "Gotta Get Away" by The Black Keys, from their album "Turn Blue" ("I went from San Berdoo to Kalamazoo/Just to get away from you..."). Like Miller, the Creedence and Axton lyrics probably use the word "Kalamazoo" as an oblique reference to Gibson Guitars, which made various models named "Kalamazoo", all prominently adorned with the city's name as their origin.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: In 2011 rap artist Young Jeezy mentioned the city in the song "Higher Learning" on his album . In 2014 Kalamazoo was mentioned again by Rittz in the song "Bounce" on his album "Next to Nothing".


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: The "Kalamazoo" was one of several names of a railroad Handcar, and was produced by the Kalamazoo Manufacturing Company.


title: Kalamazoo, Michigan

text: In Dr. Seuss's classic children's book "Horton Hatches the Egg", Horton the Elephant visits Kalamazoo while he is in the circus.


title: Johnny Mercer

text: John Herndon Mercer (November 18, 1909 – June 25, 1976) was an American lyricist, songwriter, and singer, as well as a record label executive who co-founded Capitol Records with music industry businessmen Buddy DeSylva and Glenn E. Wallichs.


title: Johnny Mercer

text: He is best known as a Tin Pan Alley lyricist, but he also composed music, and was a popular singer who recorded his own songs as well as songs written by others from the mid-1930s through the mid-1950s. Mercer's songs were among the most successful hits of the time, including "Moon River", "Days of Wine and Roses", "Autumn Leaves", and "Hooray for Hollywood". He wrote the lyrics to more than 1,500 songs, including compositions for movies and Broadway shows. He received nineteen Oscar nominations, and won four Best Original Song Oscars.


title: Johnny Mercer

text: Mercer was born in Savannah, Georgia, where one of his first jobs, aged 10, was sweeping floors at the original 1919 location of Leopold's Ice Cream. Mercer lived on Lincoln Street, a block away from the store's East Gwinnett and Habersham location.


title: Johnny Mercer

text: Mercer's father, George Anderson Mercer, was a prominent attorney and real-estate developer. Mercer's mother, Lillian Elizabeth (née Ciucevich), was the daughter of a Croatian immigrant father and a mother with Irish ancestry. Lillian was the senior Mercer's secretary and second wife. Lillian's father, born in Lastovo, in 1834 to Ivana Cucevic and Marijo Dundovic, was a merchant seaman who ran the Union blockade during the Civil War. Mercer was George's fourth son, and his first son by Lillian. His great-grandfather was Confederate General Hugh Weedon Mercer and he was a direct descendant of American Revolutionary War General Hugh Mercer, a Scottish soldier-physician who died at the Battle of Princeton. Mercer was also a distant cousin of General George S. Patton.


title: Johnny Mercer

text: Mercer liked music as a small child and attributed his musical talent to his mother, who would sing sentimental ballads. Mercer's father also sang, mostly old Scottish songs. His aunt told him he was humming music when he was six months old and later she took him to see minstrel and vaudeville shows where he heard "coon songs" and ragtime. The family's summer home, "Vernon View", was on the tidal waters and Mercer's long summers there among mossy trees, saltwater marshes, and soft, starry nights inspired him years later.


title: Johnny Mercer

text: Mercer's exposure to black music was perhaps unique among the white songwriters of his generation. As a child, Mercer had African American playmates and servants, and he listened to the fishermen and vendors about him, who spoke and sang in the Gullah language (also known as "Geechee"). He was also attracted to Black church services. Mercer later stated, "Songs always fascinated me more than anything." He had no formal musical training but was singing in a choir by six and at 11 or 12 he had memorized almost all of the songs he had heard and became curious about who wrote them. He once asked his brother who the best songwriter was, and his brother said Irving Berlin, among the best of Tin Pan Alley.


title: Johnny Mercer

text: Despite Mercer's early exposure to music, his talent was clearly in creating the words and singing, not in playing music, though early on he had hoped to become a composer. In addition to the lyrics that Mercer memorized, he was an avid reader and wrote adventure stories. His attempts to play the trumpet and piano were not successful, and he never could read musical scores with any facility, relying instead on his own notation system.


title: Johnny Mercer

text: As a teenager in the Jazz Era, he was a product of his age. He hunted for records in the black section of Savannah and played such early black blues/jazz figures as Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Louis Armstrong. His father owned the first car in town, and Mercer's teenage social life was enhanced by his driving privilege, which sometimes verged on recklessness. The family would motor to the mountains near Asheville, North Carolina to escape the Savannah heat and there Mercer learned to dance (from Arthur Murray himself) and to flirt with Southern belles, his natural sense of rhythm helping him on both accounts. (Later, Mercer wrote a humorous song called "Arthur Murray Taught Me Dancing in a Hurry".)


title: Johnny Mercer

text: Mercer attended the exclusive Woodberry Forest School in Virginia until 1927. Although not a top student, he was active in literary and poetry societies and as a humor writer for the school's publications. In addition, his exposure to classic literature augmented his already rich store of vocabulary and phraseology. He began to scribble ingenious, sometimes strained, rhymed phrases for later use. Mercer was also the class clown and a prankster, and member of the "hop" committee that booked musical entertainment on campus.


title: Johnny Mercer

text: Mercer was already somewhat of an authority on jazz at an early age. His yearbook stated, "No orchestra or new production can be authoritatively termed 'good' until Johnny's stamp of approval has been placed upon it. His ability to 'get hot' under all conditions and at all times is uncanny." Mercer began to write songs, an early effort being "Sister Susie, Strut Your Stuff".


title: Johnny Mercer

text: Given his family's long association with Princeton, New Jersey, and Princeton University, Mercer was groomed to go to school there, but those ambitions were dashed by his father's financial setbacks in the late 1920s. He went to work in his father's recovering business, collecting rent and running errands, but soon grew bored with the routine and with Savannah.


title: Johnny Mercer

text: Mercer moved to New York in 1928, when he was 19. The music he loved, jazz and blues, was booming in Harlem and Broadway was bursting with musicals and revues from George Gershwin, Cole Porter, and Irving Berlin. Vaudeville, though beginning to fade, was still a strong musical presence. Mercer's first few jobs were as a bit actor (billed as John Mercer). Holed up in a Greenwich Village apartment with plenty of time on his hands and a beat-up piano to play, Mercer soon returned to singing and lyric writing. He secured a day job at a brokerage house and sang at night. Pooling his meager income with that of his roommates, Mercer managed to keep going, sometimes on little more than oatmeal. One night he dropped in on Eddie Cantor backstage to offer a comic song, but although Cantor didn't use the song, he began encouraging Mercer's career. Mercer's first lyric, for the song "Out of Breath (and Scared to Death of You)" (1930), composed by friend Everett Miller, appeared in a musical revue "The Garrick Gaieties" in 1930. Mercer met his future wife at the show, chorus girl Ginger Meehan. She had earlier been one of the many chorus girls pursued by the young crooner Bing Crosby. Through Miller's father, an executive at the prominent music publisher T. B. Harms, Mercer's first song was published. It was recorded by Joe Venuti and his New Yorkers.


title: Johnny Mercer

text: The 20-year-old Mercer began to frequent the company of other songwriters and to learn the trade. He traveled to California to undertake a lyric writing assignment for the musical "Paris in the Spring" and met his idols Bing Crosby and Louis Armstrong. Mercer found the experience sobering and realized that he much preferred free-standing lyric writing to writing on demand for musicals. Upon his return, he got a job as staff lyricist for Miller Music for a $25-a-week draw, which give him a base income and enough prospects to win over and marry Ginger in 1931. The new Mrs. Mercer quit the chorus line and became a seamstress, and to save money the newlyweds moved in with Ginger's mother in Brooklyn. Johnny did not inform his own parents of his marriage until after the fact, perhaps in part because he knew that Ginger being Jewish would not sit comfortably with some members of his family, and he worried they would try to talk him out of marrying her.


title: Johnny Mercer

text: In 1932, Mercer won a contest to sing with the Paul Whiteman orchestra, but singing with the band did not help his situation significantly. He made his recording debut, singing with Frank Trumbauer's Orchestra, on April 5 of that year. Mercer then apprenticed with Yip Harburg on the score for "Americana," a Depression-flavored revue famous for "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" (not a Mercer composition), which gave Mercer invaluable training. While with Whiteman, he recorded two duets with fellow band member Jack Teagarden, "Fare Thee Well to Harlem" and "Christmas Night in Harlem." Both are talk songs in a heavy Black accent. The latter was a best-selling record. After several songs which didn't catch fire during his time with Whiteman, he wrote and sang "Pardon My Southern Accent" (1934). Mercer's fortunes improved dramatically with a chance pairing with Indiana-born Hoagy Carmichael, already famous for the standard "Stardust", who was intrigued by the "young, bouncy butterball of a man from Georgia." Mercer, later well known for rapidly writing lyrics, spent a year laboring over the ones for "Lazybones", which became a hit one week after its first radio broadcast, and each received a large royalty check of $1250. A regional song in pseudo-black dialect, it captured the mood of the times, especially in rural America. Mercer became a member of ASCAP and a recognized "brother" in the Tin Pan Alley fraternity, receiving congratulations from Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, and Cole Porter among others. Paul Whiteman lured Mercer back to his orchestra (to sing, write comic skits and compose songs), temporarily breaking up the working team with Carmichael.


title: Johnny Mercer

text: During the golden age of sophisticated popular song of the late Twenties and early Thirties, songs were put into revues with minimal regard for plot integration. The 1930s saw a shift from revues to stage and movie musicals using song to further the plot. Demand diminished accordingly for the pure stand-alone songs that Mercer preferred. Thus, although he had established himself in the New York music world, when he was offered a job in Hollywood to compose songs and perform in low-budget musicals for RKO, he accepted and followed idol Bing Crosby west.


title: Johnny Mercer

text: Mercer moved to Hollywood in 1935, and began writing music for films. His first Hollywood assignment was a B-movie college musical, "Old Man Rhythm", to which he contributed two songs and appeared in a small role. His next project, "To Beat the Band", was a commercial flop, but it led to a meeting and a collaboration with Fred Astaire on the moderately successful song "I'm Building Up to an Awful Let-Down".


title: Johnny Mercer

text: Mercer landed into a hard-drinking circle, and began to drink more at parties and was prone to vicious outbursts when under the influence of alcohol, contrasting sharply with his ordinarily genial and gentlemanly behavior. Often he would assuage the guilt he felt for this behavior by sending roses the following day to the friend or acquaintance he had treated unkindly while drunk. Ironically, he would later say that he found the Hollywood nightlife lacking: "Hollywood was never much of a night town. Everybody had to get up too early ... the movie people were in bed with the chickens (or each other)."


title: Johnny Mercer

text: Mercer's first big Hollywood song, the satirical "I'm an Old Cowhand from the Rio Grande", was inspired by a road trip through Texas (he wrote both the music and the lyrics). It was performed by Crosby in the film "Rhythm on the Range" in 1936, and from then on the demand for Mercer as a lyricist took off. His second hit that year was "Goody Goody", music by Matty Malneck. In 1937, Mercer began working for Warner Bros., working with the composer Richard Whiting, soon producing his standard, "Too Marvelous for Words", followed by "Hooray for Hollywood", the opening number in the film "Hollywood Hotel" (1937). After Whiting's sudden death from a heart attack, Mercer collaborated with Harry Warren and wrote "Jeepers Creepers", which earned Mercer his first Oscar nomination for Best Song (1938). Another hit with Warren in 1938 was "You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby". The pair also created "Hooray for Spinach", a comic song produced for the film "Naughty but Nice" in 1939.


title: Johnny Mercer

text: During a lull at Warners, Mercer revived his singing career. He joined Crosby's informal minstrel shows put on by the "Westwood Marching and Chowder Club", which included many Hollywood luminaries. Mercer worked on numerous duets for himself and Crosby to perform, several were recorded and two, "Mr. Gallagher and Mr. Shean" (1938) a reworking of an old vaudville song and "Mister Meadowlark" (1940) became hits.


title: Johnny Mercer

text: In 1939, Mercer wrote the lyrics to a melody by Ziggy Elman, a trumpet player with Benny Goodman. The song was "And the Angels Sing" and, although recorded by Crosby and Count Basie, it was the Goodman version with vocal by Martha Tilton and klezmer style trumpet solo by Elman that became a major hit. Years later, the title was inscribed on Mercer's tombstone.


title: Johnny Mercer

text: Mercer was invited to the "Camel Caravan" radio show in New York to sing his hits and create satirical songs, like "You Ought to be in Pittsburgh", a parody of "You Ought to be in Pictures", with the Benny Goodman orchestra, then becoming the emcee of the nationally broadcast show for several months. Two more hits followed shortly, "Day In, Day Out" and "Fools Rush In" (both with music by Rube Bloom), and Mercer in short order had five of the top ten songs on the popular radio show "Your Hit Parade." Mercer also started a short-lived publishing company during his stay in New York. Mercer undertook a musical, "Walk with Music" (originally called "Three After Three"), with Hoagy Carmichael, but it was critically panned and commercially unsuccessful.


title: Johnny Mercer

text: Shortly thereafter, Mercer began working with Harold Arlen, who wrote jazz and blues-influenced compositions while Mercer wrote lyrics. Their first hit was "Blues in the Night" (1941), which Arthur Schwartz called "probably the greatest blues song ever written."


title: Johnny Mercer

text: They went on to compose "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)" (1941), "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive" (1944), "That Old Black Magic" (1942), and "Come Rain or Come Shine" (1946), among others.


title: Johnny Mercer

text: "Come Rain" was Mercer's only Broadway hit, composed for the show "St. Louis Woman" with Pearl Bailey. "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe" with music by Harry Warren, was a big smash for Judy Garland in the 1946 film "The Harvey Girls", and earned Mercer the first of his four Academy Awards for Best Song, after eight unsuccessful nominations.


title: Johnny Mercer

text: Mercer re-united with Hoagy Carmichael with "Skylark" (1941), and, ten years later, the Oscar-winning "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening" (1951). With Jerome Kern, Mercer created "You Were Never Lovelier" for Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth in the movie of the same name, as well as "I'm Old Fashioned".


title: Johnny Mercer

text: Mercer founded Capitol Records in Hollywood in 1942, with the help of producer Buddy DeSylva and record store owner Glen Wallichs. He also co-founded Cowboy Records. As the founder active in the management of Capitol during the 40s, he signed many of its important recording artists, including Nat "King" Cole. It also gave him an outlet for his own recordings. His hit "Strip Polka" was its third release. But Mercer recorded not only his own songs but ones by others as well. His four million-sellers were his own "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive" and "On the Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe", and two by other composers, "Candy" and "Personality". One recording of a song that has lived on is his recording of "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah", written by Allie Wrubel and Ray Gailbert for Disney's 1946 movie, "Song of the South". Mercer's recording was a top hit for eight weeks in December 1947 and January 1948, reaching number 8. Today it continues to be the version most played on Sirius's 40s satellite channel.


title: Johnny Mercer

text: Mercer by the mid-1940s enjoyed a reputation as one of the premier Hollywood lyricists. He was adaptable, listening carefully and absorbing a tune and then transforming it into his own style. Like Irving Berlin, he was a close follower of cultural fashion and changing language, which in part accounted for the long tenure of his success. He loved many words ("Too Marvelous for Words"), including puns ("Strip Polka"), and current terms ("G. I. Jive"). He employed sound effects, as well, such as the train whistle sounds in "Blues in the Night" and "On the Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe."


title: Johnny Mercer

text: Mercer preferred to have the music first, taking it home and working on it. He claimed composers had no problem with this method provided that he returned with the lyrics.


title: Johnny Mercer

text: Mercer was often asked to write new lyrics to already popular songs. The lyrics to "Laura", "Midnight Sun", and "Satin Doll" were all written after the melodies had become hits. He was also asked to compose English lyrics to foreign songs, the most famous example being "Autumn Leaves", based on the French song "Les Feuilles Mortes".


title: Johnny Mercer

text: In 1943, "Johnny Mercer's Music Shop" was a summer replacement for "The Pepsodent Show" on NBC. Mercer was the star, and singers Ella Mae Morse and Jo Stafford were regulars on the program, with musical support from The Pied Pipers and Paul Weston and his orchestra. "The Chesterfield Music Shop", a similar program in a 15-minute version, was broadcast in 1944.


title: Johnny Mercer

text: In the 1950s, the advent of rock and roll cut deeply into Mercer's natural audience, and dramatically reduced venues for his songs. Mercer wrote for several MGM films, including "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" (1954) and "Merry Andrew" (1958). He collaborated on three Broadway musicals in the 1950s—"Top Banana" (1951), "Li'l Abner" (1956), and "Saratoga" (1959).


title: Johnny Mercer

text: Mercer made occasional television appearances. In the 1953–1954 season, he guest starred as himself on ABC's "Jukebox Jury," a musical/quiz program on which celebrities judge the latest releases from the recording companies. In 1954, he appeared on NBC's "The Donald O'Connor Show."


title: Johnny Mercer

text: His more successful songs of the 1950s include "The Glow-Worm" (sung by the Mills Brothers) and "Something's Gotta Give". In 1961, he wrote the lyrics to "Moon River" for Audrey Hepburn in "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and for "Days of Wine and Roses," both with music by Henry Mancini, and Mercer received his third and fourth Oscars for Best Song. The back-to-back Oscars were the first time a songwriting team had achieved that feat. Mercer, also with Mancini, wrote "Charade" for the 1963 romantic thriller of the same name. The Tony Bennett classic "I Wanna Be Around" was written by Mercer in 1962, as was the Frank Sinatra hit "Summer Wind" in 1965.


title: Johnny Mercer

text: An indication of the high esteem in which Mercer was held can be observed in that he was the only lyricist to have his work recorded as a volume of Ella Fitzgerald's series of Song book albums. "Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Johnny Mercer Song Book" was released by Verve Records in 1964.


title: Johnny Mercer

text: Mercer was humble about his work, attributing much of his success to luck and timing. He was fond of telling the story of how he was offered the job of doing the lyrics for Johnny Mandel's music on "The Sandpiper," only to have the producer turn his lyrics down. The producer offered the commission to Paul Francis Webster and the result was "The Shadow of Your Smile", which became a huge hit, winning the 1965 Oscar for Best Original Song. However, Mercer and Mandel did collaborate on the 1964 song "Emily" from the film "The Americanization of Emily" starring Julie Andrews.


title: Johnny Mercer

text: In 1969, Mercer helped publishers Abe Olman and Howie Richmond found the National Academy of Popular Music's Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 1971, Mercer presented a retrospective of his career for the "Lyrics and Lyricists Series" in New York, including an omnibus of his "greatest hits" and a performance by Margaret Whiting. It was recorded live as "An Evening with Johnny Mercer". In 1974, he collaborated on the West End production "The Good Companions". He also recorded two albums of his songs in London in 1974, with the Pete Moore Orchestra and with the Harry Roche Constellation, later compiled into a single album and released as "...My Huckleberry Friend: Johnny Mercer Sings the Songs of Johnny Mercer".


title: Johnny Mercer

text: Late in his life, Mercer became friends with pianist Emma Kelly. He gave her the nickname "The Lady of Six-Thousand Songs" after challenging her, over several years, to play numerous songs he named. He kept track of the requests, and estimated she knew 6,000 songs from memory.


title: Johnny Mercer

text: In the last year of his life, Mercer became fond of pop singer Barry Manilow, in part because Manilow's first hit record was "Mandy", which was also the name of Mercer's daughter Amanda. After Mercer's death, his widow, Ginger Mehan Mercer, arranged to give some unfinished lyrics he had written to Manilow to possibly develop into complete songs. Among these was a piece titled "When October Goes", a melancholy remembrance of lost love. Manilow applied his own melody to the lyric and issued it as a single in 1984, when it became a top 10 Adult Contemporary hit in the United States. The song has since become a jazz standard, with notable recordings by Rosemary Clooney, Nancy Wilson, and Megon McDonough, among other performers.


title: Johnny Mercer

text: Well regarded also as a singer, with a folksy quality, Mercer was a natural for his own songs such as "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive", "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe", "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)", and "Lazybones". He was considered a first-rate performer of his own work.


title: Johnny Mercer

text: It has been said that he penned "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)"—one of the great torch laments of all times—on a napkin while sitting at the bar at P. J. Clarke's when Tommy Joyce was the bartender. The next day Mercer called Joyce to apologize for the line "So, set 'em up, Joe," explaining "I couldn't get your name to rhyme."


title: Johnny Mercer

text: ATCO Records issued "Two of a Kind" in 1961, a duet album by Bobby Darin and Johnny Mercer with Billy May and his Orchestra, produced by Ahmet Ertegun.


title: Johnny Mercer

text: In 1931, Mercer married Ginger Meltzer, a chorus girl, later a seamstress; and in 1940, when he was 30, the Mercers adopted a daughter, Amanda ("Mandy"). In 1960, Mandy married Bob Corwin, who was a pianist for Peggy Lee, Anita O'Day, and Carmen McRae, and also Mercer's long-time accompanist. They had a son, Jim Corwin, in 1961.


title: Johnny Mercer

text: In 1941, Mercer began an affair with 19-year-old Judy Garland, while she was engaged to composer David Rose. Garland ended her involvement when she married Rose. In later years, Garland and Mercer rekindled their affair. Mercer stated that his song "I Remember You" was the most direct expression of his feelings for Garland.


title: Johnny Mercer

text: Mercer died on June 25, 1976, from an inoperable brain tumor, in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. He was buried in Savannah's historic Bonaventure Cemetery. The line drawing caricature adorning his memorial bench is a reproduction of a self-portrait.


title: Johnny Mercer

text: Mercer was also nominated for Best Original Song Score for the 1970 Mancini collaboration "Darling Lili".


title: Johnny Mercer

text: In 1980, the Songwriters Hall of Fame established the annual Johnny Mercer Award as its highest honor, for songwriters with a history of outstanding creative works. Mercer was honored by the United States Postal Service with his portrait placed on a stamp in 1996. Mercer's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1628 Vine Street is a block away from the Capitol Records building at 1750 Vine Street.


title: Johnny Mercer

text: In 1983, Mercer earned a posthumous nomination for a Tony Award for Best Original Score for his original lyrics and for Gene de Paul's original music and score with new songs by Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn for the stage musical "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" at the 37th Tony Awards, but lost to Andrew Lloyd Webber and T. S. Eliot for "Cats".


title: Johnny Mercer

text: Mercer was given tribute in John Berendt's 1994 novel "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil". The 1997 film adaptation directed by Clint Eastwood features prominently Hoagy Carmichael/Johnny Mercer song "Skylark", sung by k.d. lang. The movie soundtrack contains 14 Mercer songs performed by artists such as Alison Krauss, Paula Cole, and Cassandra Wilson; the film's star, Kevin Spacey, sang Mercer's 1942 hit "That Old Black Magic".


title: Johnny Mercer

text: For the occasion of Mercer's 100th birthday in 2009, Eastwood produced a documentary film about Mercer's life and work called "The Dream's on Me" (Turner Classic Movies). The film was nominated for a Primetime Emmy in the category of Outstanding Nonfiction Special.


title: Johnny Mercer

text: "The Complete Lyrics of Johnny Mercer" was published by Knopf in October 2009. "The Complete Lyrics" contains the texts to nearly 1,500 of his lyrics, several hundred of them appearing in print for the first time.


title: Johnny Mercer

text: In November 2009, a bronze statue of Mercer was unveiled in Ellis Square in Savannah, Georgia, his hometown and birthplace. It was commissioned by the Friends of Johnny Mercer.


title: Johnny Mercer

text: The Johnny Mercer Collections, including his papers and memorabilia, are preserved in the library of Georgia State University in Atlanta. GSU occasionally holds events showcasing Mercer's works.


title: Johnny Mercer

text: On March 25, 2015, it was announced that Mercer's version of the popular song "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive" would be inducted into the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry for the song's "cultural, artistic and/or historical significance to American society and the nation's audio legacy". The music was written by Harold Arlen and the lyrics by Mercer. The song was nominated for the "Academy Award for Best Original Song" at the 18th Academy Awards in 1945 after being used in the film "Here Come the Waves." In describing his inspiration for the lyrics, Mercer told the "Pop Chronicles" radio documentary "[my] publicity agent ... went to hear Father Divine and he had a sermon and his subject was 'you got to accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative.' And I said, 'Wow, that's a colorful phrase!'"


title: Hungry Jack's

text: Hungry Jack's Pty Ltd. is an Australian fast food franchise of the Burger King Corporation. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Competitive Foods Australia, a privately held company owned by Jack Cowin. Hungry Jack's owns and operates or sub-licences all of the Burger King/Hungry Jack's restaurants in Australia.


title: Hungry Jack's

text: As the master franchise for Australia, the company is responsible for licensing new operators, opening its own stores and performing standards oversight of franchised locations in Australia. With over 400 locations across Australia, Hungry Jack's is the second-largest franchise of Burger King in the world (second to Carrols Corporation).


title: Hungry Jack's

text: When Burger King moved to expand its operations into Australia, it found that its business name was already trademarked by a takeaway food shop in Adelaide, South Australia. As a result, Burger King provided the Australian franchisee, Jack Cowin, with a list of possible alternative names derived from pre-existing trademarks already registered by Burger King and its then corporate parent Pillsbury that could be used to name the Australian restaurants.


title: Hungry Jack's

text: Cowin selected the "Hungry Jack" brand name, one of Pillsbury's U.S. pancake mixture products, and slightly changed the name to a possessive form by adding an apostrophe and "s" to form the new name "Hungry Jack's". The first Australian franchise of Burger King Corporation was established in Innaloo, Perth, on 18 April 1971, under the auspices of Cowin's new company Hungry Jack's Pty Ltd.


title: Hungry Jack's

text: By the end of its first decade of operation in the 1970s, Hungry Jack's had expanded to 26 stores in three states. In October 1981, the company opened its first New South Wales store in the Sydney central business district on the corner of Liverpool and George Street. In 1986, the chain entered Victoria by purchasing 11 stores from the ailing Wendy's Hamburger chain, later converting them to Hungry Jack's.


title: Hungry Jack's

text: After Burger King Corporation lost the case, it decided to terminate its operations in the country and in July 2002 the company transferred its assets to its New Zealand franchise group, Trans-Pacific Foods (TPF). The terms of the sale had TPF assume oversight of the Burger King franchises in the region as the Burger King brand's master franchisee. Trans-Pacific Foods administered the chain's 81 locations until September 2003 when the new management team of Burger King Corporation reached an agreement with Hungry Jack's Pty Ltd. to rebrand the existing Burger King locations to Hungry Jack's and make Hungry Jack's Pty the sole master franchisee of both brands.


title: Hungry Jack's

text: An additional part of the agreement required Burger King Corporation to provide administrative and advertising support as to ensure a common marketing scheme for the company and its products. Trans-Pacific Foods transferred its control of the Burger King franchises to Hungry Jack's Pty Ltd., which subsequently renamed the remaining Burger King locations as "Hungry Jack's," joining the other 210 outlets at the time.


title: Hungry Jack's

text: In the 2009 to 2010 financial year, Competitive Foods Australia reported an after-tax profit of $32.1 million on sales of $1.043 billion.


title: Hungry Jack's

text: As of September 2021, Hungry Jack's has 440 stores, with 75% being company owned. The company intends to open more than 20 new stores per year in future, with an upper aim of 700 stores in total.


title: Hungry Jack's

text: The only Burger King trademarks that are currently sold at Hungry Jack's are the Whopper range of beef burgers and the TenderCrisp range of chicken burgers. Other products sold by Hungry Jack's include the Baconator, the Brekky Wrap range and the Grill Masters premium Angus beef burger range, as well as more generic items such as cheeseburgers, chicken nuggets, and chips.


title: Hungry Jack's

text: Hungry Jack's breakfast menu, introduced in late 2005 in three states (Queensland, Western Australia, and Northern Territory) and the other states the following year, bears little resemblance to Burger King's US breakfast menu, and includes items such as English muffins and toasties. In 2021 Hungry Jack's released two new breakfast menu items, the Turkish Brekky BLAT and the Turkish Brekky BLAT with egg. A BLAT sandwich is popular in Australia; the acronym stands for Bacon, Lettuce, Avocado and Tomato.


title: Hungry Jack's

text: Due to the increase in popularity of plant-based meat alternatives being consumed across Australia, Hungry Jack's introduced the "Rebel Whopper" in partnership with V2food in late 2019, which is a variation of the Whopper containing a meat-free patty made with protein extracted from legumes. A large promotional campaign was run, including partnering with online creator Natalie Tran. The restaurant also serves a vegan Whopper burger and English muffins, which contain a vegetable patty.


title: Hungry Jack's

text: In 2022 Hungry Jack's launched its Jack's Café coffee chain brand as a response to McDonald's McCafé offering.


title: Hungry Jack's

text: In mid-2020 the chain introduced the "Big Jack" burger, which is essentially a slightly altered version of the Big King, and similar to McDonald's Big Mac burger. The close similarities in the name, appearance and the marketing of the burger led to McDonald's suing Hungry Jack's in the Federal Court of Australia in August 2020 over trademark infringement, and they sought to cancel Hungry Jack's Big Jack trademark which was filed the previous year. They also accused the company of deliberately copying the ingredients and appearance of the Big Mac in bad faith.


title: Hungry Jack's

text: Hungry Jack's argues that the burger's name is simply a play on the company's name and that of its founder Jack Cowin, and that a burger's appearance and composition cannot be protected by a trademark, noting that their product features "common characteristics of hamburgers" sold everywhere. The company eventually released a number of variants of the burger to the range, including a larger version — the Mega Jack, the Outlaw Big Jack (which added bacon and barbeque sauce), and the Chicken Big Jack. The case was expected to return to court in 2021. The burger and all its variants was removed from the menu in late 2021.


title: Hungry Jack's

text: The Hungry Jack's logo is still based on the 1994 Burger King logo, despite subsequent revisions to the logo used by Burger King in other markets.


title: Hungry Jack's

text: Hungry Jack's Kid's Club mascots are unique to the Australian franchisee, as opposed to other international locations that use one of the two existing Burger King kid's mascots, the Burger King Kids' Club or the Honbatz. Hungry Jacks does have a Kid's Club program similar to the US offering, offering themed birthday parties at its restaurants along with its Kid's Club Meals.


title: Hungry Jack's

text: Hungry Jack's retains strong links with Perth: the city's first team in the Australian Football League, the West Coast Eagles, have been sponsored by Hungry Jack's since their entry into the league in 1987.


title: Hungry Jack's

text: On 5 October 2017, Hungry Jack's became the naming rights sponsor for the National Basketball League. The Hungry Jack's logo is featured on player jerseys, in and around venues, and the company was closely associated with Heritage Month in January.


title: Ambassadors of the United States

text: Ambassadors of the United States are persons nominated by the president to serve as the country's diplomatic representatives to foreign nations, international organizations, and as ambassadors-at-large. Under Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution, their appointment must be confirmed by the United States Senate; while an ambassador may be appointed during a recess, they can serve only until the end of the next session of Congress, unless subsequently confirmed.


title: Ambassadors of the United States

text: Ambassadors are the highest-ranking diplomats of the U.S. and are usually based in the embassy in the host country. They are under the jurisdiction of the Department of State and answer directly to the secretary of state; however, ambassadors serve "at the pleasure of the President", meaning they can be dismissed at any time. Appointments change regularly for various reasons, such as reassignment or retirement.


title: Ambassadors of the United States

text: An ambassador may be a career Foreign Service Officer (career diplomatCD) or a political appointee (PA). In most cases, career foreign service officers serve a tour of approximately three years per ambassadorship, whereas political appointees customarily tender their resignations upon the inauguration of a new president.


title: Ambassadors of the United States

text: The State Department provides lists of ambassadors that are updated periodically; the most recent listing was published 1 November 2021. A listing by country of past chiefs of mission is maintained by the Office of the Historian of the U.S. Department of State, along with the names and appointment dates of past and present ambassadors-at-large and mission to international organizations.


title: Ambassadors of the United States

text: Note that the information in this list is subject to change due to regular personnel changes resulting from retirements and reassignments. The State Department posts updated lists of ambassadors approximately monthly, accessible via an interactive menu-based website.


title: Ambassadors of the United States

text: Senior diplomatic representatives of the United States hosted in posts other than embassies. Unlike other consulates, these persons report directly to the Secretary of State.


title: Ambassadors of the United States

text: These diplomatic officials report directly to the Secretary of State. Many oversee a portfolio not restricted to one nation, often an overall goal, and are not usually subject to Senate confirmation. Unlike the State Department offices and diplomats listed in other sections of this Article, the offices and special envoys/representatives/coordinators listed in this Section are created and staffed by direction of top Federal Executive administratorsprimarily U.S. Presidents and Secretaries of Statewhose political or organizational management philosophies may not be shared by their successors. As such, many of these positions may go unfilled upon assumption of office by successor Presidential Administrations, with their offices sometimes merged with or subsumed into other offices, or abolished altogether.


title: Ambassadors of the United States

text: Many well-known individuals have served the United States as ambassadors, or in formerly analogous positions such as envoy, including several who also became President of the United States (indicated in boldface below). Some notable ambassadors have included:


title: Ambassadors of the United States

text: Eight United States Ambassadors have been killed in officesix of them by armed attack and the other two in plane crashes.


title: Jessie Eden

text: Jessie Eden (née Shrimpton; 24 February 1902 – 27 September 1986) was a British trade union leader and communist activist, most famous for leading between 40,000 to 50,000 households during the Birmingham rent-strike of 1939. She was also involved in the construction of the Soviet Union's Moscow Metro, convincing women at Birmingham's Joseph Lucas motor factory to join the 1926 UK General Strike, and leading an unprecedented and successful strike of 10,000 factory worker women in 1931. For her commitment to helping improve the working conditions of English factory workers, she was awarded the T&G gold medal from Ernest Bevin. Later in life, she served for three decades as Birmingham city's federation of council house tenants. Her involvement in the trade unions of the English Midlands led to a massive increase in women joining British trade unions. She was a lifelong supporter of both the Transport and General Workers' Union (T&G), and of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) of which she was a leading member.


title: Jessie Eden

text: In popular culture, she is best known for her depiction in the fictional British television series "Peaky Blinders" (played by Charlie Murphy), causing both controversies over how her personal life was portrayed and a renewed interest in British trade union history.


title: Jessie Eden

text: Jessie Eden was born on 24 February 1902 at 61 Talbot Street, which was then listed as Birmingham's All Saints sub-district. Her mother was a 17-year-old suffrage campaigner also called Jessie, and her father was a "jeweller journeyman" called William. She grew up with her family in the Jewellery Quarter of Hockley, Birmingham. This district of Birmingham was close to the Lucas Electrics factory, where Eden later become a worker, and would become famous for due to her trade union activism. Jessie was the eldest of three daughters belonging to Jessie and William, the other two called May and Nell. By 1911 the family were living at 32 Court 2 House, Bridge Street, and her father now aged 27 was working as a "wireman".


title: Jessie Eden

text: A brief marriage in the summer of 1923 in Kings Norton to a man called Albert Eden would see Jessie change her last name from Shrimpton to Eden, the name for which she would become most known. Later in life, she described her short marriage to Albert Eden as a "folly", and that she was unsatisfied with being married to somebody who did not share her political beliefs. Despite the marriage's short length, the couple adopted a son called Douglas (Douggie to friends), however, his parental status is disputed and many members of Eden's family believe that Douglas was a blood relative of Jessie Eden (see Personal and Family Life).


title: Jessie Eden

text: Eden became a factory worker filling shock absorbers at Birmingham's Lucas Electronics factory and a union steward for the factory's only section of unionised women. During the 1926 United Kingdom general strike, she convinced these same unionised worker women to walk out of the factory and join the strike. Both of her parents were very supportive of her trade union activism, with her father joining her during the general strike and her mother hanging a red flag from their home's front window.


title: Jessie Eden

text: In 1931 Eden organised another strike, this time leading 10,000 non-unionised women on a week-long strike, during which she joined the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB). Before the strike, Eden had noticed that factory supervisors had been closely observing her work, and it was soon discovered by Eden and her fellow workers that the supervisors were monitoring her because she was a fast worker and that they planned to use her work speed as a standard for all the other workers in the factory. Eden approached the Amalgamated Engineering Union (AEU), however, they did not allow women to join their membership, so she instead approached the Transport and General Workers' Union (T&W). In protest to the factory's plans, Eden organised a mass walkout of 10,000 women, who refused to work for a week. The strike was successful and the Lucas Electrics factory management was forced to back down. After the victory, the overjoyed factory workers were so ecstatic that the factory could not function during normal hours and had to be closed early. One of the communist activists who had encouraged Eden was raised up upon the shoulders of factory workers at a dinner hour in celebration.


title: Jessie Eden

text: This strike was described by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) as "unprecedented at the time", and led to the T&G's leader (then Ernest Bevin) to award Jessie Eden with the union's Gold Medal. Eden's leadership and organisation of the strike prompted a massive increase in the number of women in the midlands joining British trade unions.


title: Jessie Eden

text: After the 1931 strike the Communist Party (of which she was a lifelong member) arranged for her to travel to the Soviet Union to help rally women workers to help build the Moscow Metro in 1934. She spent two and a half years in the Soviet Union, although despite her skills in worker organisation, her work did very little to speed up the progress of the Moscow Metro, due largely to language difficulties. During her time in the Soviet Union, she became involved with the Comintern's Lenin School, and was elected a Shock Worker at the Stalin automotive plant (later renamed the ZiL automotives).


title: Jessie Eden

text: Later in life, Eden told her daughter-in-law that she had travelled to the Soviet Union in secret, and that most people believed she had disappeared.


title: Jessie Eden

text: After returning from the Soviet Union, Eden again led another successful strike in the city of Birmingham. In 1939, as a protest against slum-like conditions of housing in the city of Birmingham, Eden organised a mass rent strike of nearly 50,000 tenants. She would continue her activism in the field of housing rights and spend nearly three decades as the leader of Birmingham city's federation of council house tenants.


title: Jessie Eden

text: Jessie contested the Handsworth constituency during the August 1945 general election, winning 3.4% (1,390) of the votes.


title: Jessie Eden

text: Later in November 1945, she took part as a candidate in the municipal elections, short of winning by 2,887 votes.


title: Jessie Eden

text: Season 4 and 5 of "Peaky Blinders" introduced a character named Jessie Eden, portrayed by Irish actress Charlie Murphy. Although the reception was mixed, some people who had known Eden personally took offence to the way she was depicted. Graham Stevenson, a historian of British communism, a personal friend of Eden and the author of her biography, criticised the show."I knew Eden, and as a callow 22-year-old, I didn't ask the 70-year-old Jessie about her relationships, let alone sex life. But I doubt her private life was as complicated or dramatic as her eponymous character's. Nor can I see any young woman during the 1920s gratuitously going into a gents’ toilets, as Eden is shown doing, for any reason at all other than life or death. The social values of the programme are ahistorical. It is surely the conceit that Tommy Shelby, the gangster villain-hero of the series, could ever convince a woman like Eden to be wined and dined, let alone be seduced, that finally reveals the true motives of the creators of the programme."


title: Jessie Eden

text: At a round table event featuring Stevenson, poet Dave Puller, and cultural historian Professor Paul Long, the three discussed the series and its depictions of the British working class. Long rated the series positively and praised the series as a "great representation of interesting working-class protagonists". Puller had mixed feelings and was disappointed that the show chose to focus on Eden's fictional romance with Tommy Shelby, rather than her real achievements as a communist and a trade union leader.


title: Jessie Eden

text: Eden married twice, once briefly in 1923 to Albert Eden who she quickly broke up with, citing his differing political views. During this short marriage, the couple adopted a son called Douglas (Douggie to friends), who later joined the Royal Navy, and became a lifelong communist party member until he died in 1977. After his death, various members of the Eden family spoke of him as being a blood relative, and that Douglas had lived his entire life never knowing that he was not Jessie Eden's biological son.


title: Jessie Eden

text: In 1948 she married for a second and final time to fellow communist party activist Walter McCulloch, and they stayed together until his death in 1978. McCulloch was a carpenter and CPGB member who oversaw the construction of the communist party's Star Social Club for the Midlands branch.


title: Radiology

text: Radiology ( ) is the medical discipline that uses medical imaging to diagnose diseases and guide their treatment, within the bodies of humans and other animals. It began with radiography (which is why its name has a root referring to radiation), but today it includes all imaging modalities, including those that use no electromagnetic radiation (such as ultrasonography and magnetic resonance imaging), as well as others that do, such as computed tomography (CT), fluoroscopy, and nuclear medicine including positron emission tomography (PET). Interventional radiology is the performance of usually minimally invasive medical procedures with the guidance of imaging technologies such as those mentioned above.


title: Radiology

text: The modern practice of radiology involves several different healthcare professions working as a team. The radiologist is a medical doctor who has completed the appropriate post-graduate training and interprets medical images, communicates these findings to other physicians by means of a report or verbally, and uses imaging to perform minimally invasive medical procedures. The nurse is involved in the care of patients before and after imaging or procedures, including administration of medications, monitoring of vital signs and monitoring of sedated patients. The radiographer, also known as a "radiologic technologist" in some countries such as the United States and Canada, is a specially trained healthcare professional that uses sophisticated technology and positioning techniques to produce medical images for the radiologist to interpret. Depending on the individual's training and country of practice, the radiographer may specialize in one of the above-mentioned imaging modalities or have expanded roles in image reporting.


title: Radiology

text: Radiographs (originally called roentgenographs, named after the discoverer of X-rays, Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen) are produced by transmitting X-rays through a patient. The X-rays are projected through the body onto a detector; an image is formed based on which rays pass through (and are detected) versus those that are absorbed or scattered in the patient (and thus are not detected). Röntgen discovered X-rays on November 8, 1895, and received the first Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery in 1901.


title: Radiology

text: In film-screen radiography, an X-ray tube generates a beam of X-rays, which is aimed at the patient. The X-rays that pass through the patient are filtered through a device called a grid or X-ray filter, to reduce scatter, and strike an undeveloped film, which is held tightly to a screen of light-emitting phosphors in a light-tight cassette. The film is then developed chemically and an image appears on the film. Film-screen radiography is being replaced by phosphor plate radiography but more recently by digital radiography (DR) and the EOS imaging. In the two latest systems, the X-rays strike sensors that converts the signals generated into digital information, which is transmitted and converted into an image displayed on a computer screen. In digital radiography the sensors shape a plate, but in the EOS system, which is a slot-scanning system, a linear sensor vertically scans the patient.


title: Radiology

text: Plain radiography was the only imaging modality available during the first 50 years of radiology. Due to its availability, speed, and lower costs compared to other modalities, radiography is often the first-line test of choice in radiologic diagnosis. Also despite the large amount of data in CT scans, MR scans and other digital-based imaging, there are many disease entities in which the classic diagnosis is obtained by plain radiographs. Examples include various types of arthritis and pneumonia, bone tumors (especially benign bone tumors), fractures, congenital skeletal anomalies, and certain kidney stones.


title: Radiology

text: Mammography and DXA are two applications of low energy projectional radiography, used for the evaluation for breast cancer and osteoporosis, respectively.


title: Radiology

text: Fluoroscopy and angiography are special applications of X-ray imaging, in which a fluorescent screen and image intensifier tube is connected to a closed-circuit television system. This allows real-time imaging of structures in motion or augmented with a radiocontrast agent. Radiocontrast agents are usually administered by swallowing or injecting into the body of the patient to delineate anatomy and functioning of the blood vessels, the genitourinary system, or the gastrointestinal tract (GI tract). Two radiocontrast agents are presently in common use. Barium sulfate (BaSO) is given orally or rectally for evaluation of the GI tract. Iodine, in multiple proprietary forms, is given by oral, rectal, vaginal, intra-arterial or intravenous routes. These radiocontrast agents strongly absorb or scatter X-rays, and in conjunction with the real-time imaging, allow demonstration of dynamic processes, such as peristalsis in the digestive tract or blood flow in arteries and veins. Iodine contrast may also be concentrated in abnormal areas more or less than in normal tissues and make abnormalities (tumors, cysts, inflammation) more conspicuous. Additionally, in specific circumstances, air can be used as a contrast agent for the gastrointestinal system and carbon dioxide can be used as a contrast agent in the venous system; in these cases, the contrast agent attenuates the X-ray radiation less than the surrounding tissues.


title: Radiology

text: In CT, an X-ray tube opposite an X-ray detector (or detectors) in a ring-shaped apparatus rotate around a patient, producing a computer-generated cross-sectional image (tomogram). CT is acquired in the axial plane, with coronal and sagittal images produced by computer reconstruction. Radiocontrast agents are often used with CT for enhanced delineation of anatomy. Although radiographs provide higher spatial resolution, CT can detect more subtle variations in attenuation of X-rays (higher contrast resolution). CT exposes the patient to significantly more ionizing radiation than a radiograph.


title: Radiology

text: Spiral multidetector CT uses 16, 64, 254 or more detectors during continuous motion of the patient through the radiation beam to obtain fine detail images in a short exam time. With rapid administration of intravenous contrast during the CT scan, these fine detail images can be reconstructed into three-dimensional (3D) images of carotid, cerebral, coronary or other arteries.


title: Radiology

text: The introduction of computed tomography in the early 1970s revolutionized diagnostic radiology by providing Clinicians with images of real three-dimensional anatomic structures. CT scanning has become the test of choice in diagnosing some urgent and emergent conditions, such as cerebral hemorrhage, pulmonary embolism (clots in the arteries of the lungs), aortic dissection (tearing of the aortic wall), appendicitis, diverticulitis, and obstructing kidney stones. Continuing improvements in CT technology, including faster scanning times and improved resolution, have dramatically increased the accuracy and usefulness of CT scanning, which may partially account for increased use in medical diagnosis.


title: Radiology

text: Medical ultrasonography uses ultrasound (high-frequency sound waves) to visualize soft tissue structures in the body in real time. No ionizing radiation is involved, but the quality of the images obtained using ultrasound is highly dependent on the skill of the person (ultrasonographer) performing the exam and the patient's body size. Examinations of larger, overweight patients may have a decrease in image quality as their subcutaneous fat absorbs more of the sound waves. This results in fewer sound waves penetrating to organs and reflecting back to the transducer, resulting in loss of information and a poorer quality image. Ultrasound is also limited by its inability to image through air pockets (lungs, bowel loops) or bone. Its use in medical imaging has developed mostly within the last 30 years. The first ultrasound images were static and two-dimensional (2D), but with modern ultrasonography, 3D reconstructions can be observed in real time, effectively becoming "4D".


title: Radiology

text: Because ultrasound imaging techniques do not employ ionizing radiation to generate images (unlike radiography, and CT scans), they are generally considered safer and are therefore more common in obstetrical imaging. The progression of pregnancies can be thoroughly evaluated with less concern about damage from the techniques employed, allowing early detection and diagnosis of many fetal anomalies. Growth can be assessed over time, important in patients with chronic disease or pregnancy-induced disease, and in multiple pregnancies (twins, triplets, etc.). Color-flow Doppler ultrasound measures the severity of peripheral vascular disease and is used by cardiologists for dynamic evaluation of the heart, heart valves and major vessels. Stenosis, for example, of the carotid arteries may be a warning sign for an impending stroke. A clot, embedded deep in one of the inner veins of the legs, can be found via ultrasound before it dislodges and travels to the lungs, resulting in a potentially fatal pulmonary embolism. Ultrasound is useful as a guide to performing biopsies to minimize damage to surrounding tissues and in drainages such as thoracentesis. Small, portable ultrasound devices now replace peritoneal lavage in trauma wards by non-invasively assessing for the presence of internal bleeding and any internal organ damage. Extensive internal bleeding or injury to the major organs may require surgery and repair.


title: Radiology

text: MRI uses strong magnetic fields to align atomic nuclei (usually hydrogen protons) within body tissues, then uses a radio signal to disturb the axis of rotation of these nuclei and observes the radio frequency signal generated as the nuclei return to their baseline states. The radio signals are collected by small antennae, called coils, placed near the area of interest. An advantage of MRI is its ability to produce images in axial, coronal, sagittal and multiple oblique planes with equal ease. MRI scans give the best soft tissue contrast of all the imaging modalities. With advances in scanning speed and spatial resolution, and improvements in computer 3D algorithms and hardware, MRI has become an important tool in musculoskeletal radiology and neuroradiology.


title: Radiology

text: One disadvantage is the patient has to hold still for long periods of time in a noisy, cramped space while the imaging is performed. Claustrophobia (fear of closed spaces) severe enough to terminate the MRI exam is reported in up to 5% of patients. Recent improvements in magnet design including stronger magnetic fields (3 teslas), shortening exam times, wider, shorter magnet bores and more open magnet designs, have brought some relief for claustrophobic patients. However, for magnets with equivalent field strengths, there is often a trade-off between image quality and open design. MRI has great benefit in imaging the brain, spine, and musculoskeletal system. The use of MRI is currently contraindicated for patients with pacemakers, cochlear implants, some indwelling medication pumps, certain types of cerebral aneurysm clips, metal fragments in the eyes and some metallic hardware due to the powerful magnetic fields and strong fluctuating radio signals to which the body is exposed. Areas of potential advancement include functional imaging, cardiovascular MRI, and MRI-guided therapy.


title: Radiology

text: Nuclear medicine imaging involves the administration into the patient of radiopharmaceuticals consisting of substances with affinity for certain body tissues labeled with radioactive tracer. The most commonly used tracers are technetium-99m, iodine-123, iodine-131, gallium-67, indium-111, thallium-201 and fludeoxyglucose (F) (F-FDG). The heart, lungs, thyroid, liver, brain, gallbladder, and bones are commonly evaluated for particular conditions using these techniques. While anatomical detail is limited in these studies, nuclear medicine is useful in displaying physiological function. The excretory function of the kidneys, iodine-concentrating ability of the thyroid, blood flow to heart muscle, etc. can be measured. The principal imaging devices are the gamma camera and the PET Scanner, which detect the radiation emitted by the tracer in the body and display it as an image. With computer processing, the information can be displayed as axial, coronal and sagittal images (single-photon emission computed tomography - SPECT or Positron-emission tomography - PET). In the most modern devices, nuclear medicine images can be fused with a CT scan taken quasisimultaneously, so the physiological information can be overlaid or coregistered with the anatomical structures to improve diagnostic accuracy.


title: Radiology

text: Positron emission tomography (PET) scanning deals with positrons instead of gamma rays detected by gamma cameras. The positrons annihilate to produce two opposite traveling gamma rays to be detected coincidentally, thus improving resolution. In PET scanning, a radioactive, biologically active substance, most often F-FDG, is injected into a patient and the radiation emitted by the patient is detected to produce multiplanar images of the body. Metabolically more active tissues, such as cancer, concentrate the active substance more than normal tissues. PET images can be combined (or "fused") with anatomic (CT) imaging, to more accurately localize PET findings and thereby improve diagnostic accuracy.


title: Radiology

text: The fusion technology has gone further to combine PET and MRI similar to PET and CT. PET/MRI fusion, largely practiced in academic and research settings, could potentially play a crucial role in fine detail of brain imaging, breast cancer screening, and small joint imaging of the foot. The technology recently blossomed after passing the technical hurdle of altered positron movement in strong magnetic field thus affecting the resolution of PET images and attenuation correction.


title: Radiology

text: Interventional radiology (IR or sometimes VIR for vascular and interventional radiology) is a subspecialty of radiology in which minimally invasive procedures are performed using image guidance. Some of these procedures are done for purely diagnostic purposes (e.g., angiogram), while others are done for treatment purposes (e.g., angioplasty).


title: Radiology

text: The basic concept behind interventional radiology is to diagnose or treat pathologies, with the most minimally invasive technique possible. Minimally invasive procedures are currently performed more than ever before. These procedures are often performed with the patient fully awake, with little or no sedation required. Interventional radiologists and interventional radiographers diagnose and treat several disorders, including peripheral vascular disease, renal artery stenosis, inferior vena cava filter placement, gastrostomy tube placements, biliary stents and hepatic interventions. Radiographic images, fluoroscopy, and ultrasound modalities are used for guidance, and the primary instruments used during the procedure are specialized needles and catheters. The images provide maps that allow the clinician to guide these instruments through the body to the areas containing disease. By minimizing the physical trauma to the patient, peripheral interventions can reduce infection rates and recovery times, as well as hospital stays. To be a trained interventionalist in the United States, an individual completes a five-year residency in radiology and a one- or two-year fellowship in IR.


title: Radiology

text: The basic technique is optical density evaluation (i.e. histogram analysis). It is then described that a region has a different optical density, e.g. a cancer metastasis to bone can cause radiolucency. The development of this is the digital radiological subtraction. It consists in overlapping two radiographs of the same examined region and subtracting the optical densities . The resultant image only contains the time-dependent differences between the two examined radiographs. The advantage of this technique is the precise determination of the dynamics of density changes and the place of their occurrence. However, beforehand the geometrical adjustment and general alignment of optical density should be done .


title: Radiology

text: Another possibility of radiographic image analysis is to study second order features, e.g. digital texture analysis or fractal dimension . On this basis, it is possible to assess the places where bio-materials are implanted into the bone for the purpose of guided bone regeneration. They take an intact bone image sample (region of interest, ROI, reference site) and a sample of the implantation site (second ROI, test site) can be assessed numerically/objectively to what extent the implantation site imitates a healthy bone and how advanced is the process of bone regeneration . It is also possible to check whether the bone healing process is influenced by some systemic factors .


title: Radiology

text: Teleradiology is the transmission of radiographic images from one location to another for interpretation by an appropriately trained professional, usually a radiologist or reporting radiographer. It is most often used to allow rapid interpretation of emergency room, ICU and other emergent examinations after hours of usual operation, at night and on weekends. In these cases, the images can be sent across time zones (e.g. to Spain, Australia, India) with the receiving Clinician working his normal daylight hours. However, at present, large private teleradiology companies in the U.S. currently provide most after-hours coverage employing night-working radiologists in the U.S. Teleradiology can also be used to obtain consultation with an expert or subspecialist about a complicated or puzzling case. In the U.S., many hospitals outsource their radiology departments to radiologists in India due to the lowered cost and availability of high speed internet access.


title: Radiology

text: Teleradiology requires a sending station, a high-speed internet connection, and a high-quality receiving station. At the transmission station, plain radiographs are passed through a digitizing machine before transmission, while CT, MRI, ultrasound and nuclear medicine scans can be sent directly, as they are already digital data. The computer at the receiving end will need to have a high-quality display screen that has been tested and cleared for clinical purposes. Reports are then transmitted to the requesting clinician.


title: Radiology

text: The major advantage of teleradiology is the ability to use different time zones to provide real-time emergency radiology services around-the-clock. The disadvantages include higher costs, limited contact between the referrer and the reporting Clinician, and the inability to cover for procedures requiring an onsite reporting Clinician. Laws and regulations concerning the use of teleradiology vary among the states, with some requiring a license to practice medicine in the state sending the radiologic exam. In the U.S., some states require the teleradiology report to be preliminary with the official report issued by a hospital staff radiologist. Lastly, a benefit of teleradiology is that it might be automated with modern machine learning techniques.


title: Radiology

text: Radiology is a field in medicine that has expanded rapidly after 2000 due to advances in computer technology, which is closely linked to modern imaging techniques. Applying for residency positions in radiology is relatively competitive. Applicants are often near the top of their medical school classes, with high USMLE (board) examination scores. Diagnostic radiologists must complete prerequisite undergraduate education, four years of medical school to earn a medical degree (D.O. or M.D.), one year of internship, and four years of residency training. After residency, radiologists may pursue one or two years of additional specialty fellowship training.


title: Radiology

text: The American Board of Radiology (ABR) administers professional certification in Diagnostic Radiology, Radiation Oncology and Medical Physics as well as subspecialty certification in neuroradiology, nuclear radiology, pediatric radiology and vascular and interventional radiology. "Board Certification" in diagnostic radiology requires successful completion of two examinations. The Core Exam is given after 36 months of residency. Although previously taken in Chicago or Tucson, Arizona, beginning in February 2021, the computer test transitioned permanently to a remote format. It encompasses 18 categories. A passing score is 350 or above. A fail on one to five categories was previously a Conditioned exam, however beginning in June 2021, the conditioned category will no longer exist and the test will be graded as a whole. The Certification Exam, can be taken 15 months after completion of the Radiology residency. This computer-based examination consists of five modules and graded pass-fail. It is given twice a year in Chicago and Tucson. Recertification examinations are taken every 10 years, with additional required continuing medical education as outlined in the Maintenance of Certification document.


title: Radiology

text: Certification may also be obtained from the American Osteopathic Board of Radiology (AOBR) and the American Board of Physician Specialties.


title: Radiology

text: Following completion of residency training, radiologists may either begin practicing as a general diagnostic radiologist or enter into subspecialty training programs known as fellowships. Examples of subspeciality training in radiology include abdominal imaging, thoracic imaging, cross-sectional/ultrasound, MRI, musculoskeletal imaging, interventional radiology, neuroradiology, interventional neuroradiology, paediatric radiology, nuclear medicine, emergency radiology, breast imaging and women's imaging. Fellowship training programs in radiology are usually one or two years in length.


title: Radiology

text: Some medical schools in the US have started to incorporate a basic radiology introduction into their core MD training. New York Medical College, the Wayne State University School of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, the Uniformed Services University, and the University of South Carolina School of Medicine offer an introduction to radiology during their respective MD programs. Campbell University School of Osteopathic Medicine also integrates imaging material into their curriculum early in the first year.


title: Radiology

text: Radiographic exams are usually performed by radiographers. Qualifications for radiographers vary by country, but many radiographers now are required to hold a degree.


title: Radiology

text: Veterinary radiologists are veterinarians who specialize in the use of X-rays, ultrasound, MRI and nuclear medicine for diagnostic imaging or treatment of disease in animals. They are certified in either diagnostic radiology or radiation oncology by the American College of Veterinary Radiology.