title: Becky G discography

text: She released "Can't Stop Dancin'" (2014) as the second single from her debut album; it reached 88 on the Hot 100. Subsequent singles "Lovin' So Hard" (2015) and "Break a Sweat" (2015) fared similarly on the chart, failing to match the success of "Shower" (2014). She collaborated with Pitbull once more for the song "Superstar" (2016), which served as the theme song for the Copa América Centenario. She released her first Spanish single, "Sola" (2016), on June 24, 2016. The song had some success on Latin radio, reaching 24 on the Latin Pop Songs chart. Gomez is also featured on the Lil Jon single "Take It Off" (2016), alongside Yandel on guest vocals. Gomez released her single "Mayores" on July 14, 2017, which saw an immense commercial success. It peaked at number 1 in several countries, including Spain, and has achieved more than 1 billion views on YouTube. She went on to work with long-time friend Leslie Grace on the single "Díganle", which was remixed a year later with vocals from Latin boyband CNCO. She worked with duo Mau y Ricky and Colombian singer Karol G on a remix of their song "Mi Mala", alongside Grace and Argentine singer Lali. Gomez released "Sin Pijama", in collaboration with Dominican singer Natti Natasha, on April 20, 2018, which saw mainstream success similar to that of "Mayores". Having featured singing in English songs beforehand, she released her own single "Zooted", featuring French Montana and Farruko. Shortly after, Gomez released "Cuando Te Besé" with Paulo Londra, which became the first song to top the Argentina Hot 100. She made her official return to the English market with "LBD", released on January 18, 2019.


title: Becky G discography

text: Gomez released her debut studio album "Mala Santa" (2019). Her highest-charting single on the "Billboard" Hot 100 is "Mamiii" in 2022, a collaboration with Karol G, also reaching number one on the Hot Latin Songs chart. Gomez released her second studio album "Esquemas" (2022).


title: Arcade (architecture)

text: An arcade is a succession of contiguous arches, with each arch supported by a colonnade of columns or piers. Exterior arcades are designed to provide a sheltered walkway for pedestrians. The walkway may be lined with retail stores. An arcade may feature arches on both sides of the walkway. Alternatively, a blind arcade superimposes arcading against a solid wall. Blind arcades are a feature of Romanesque architecture that influenced Gothic architecture. In the Gothic architectural tradition, the arcade can be located in the interior, in the lowest part of the wall of the nave, supporting the triforium and the clerestory in a cathedral, or on the exterior, in which they are usually part of the walkways that surround the courtyard and cloisters.


title: Arcade (architecture)

text: Many medieval arcades housed shops or stalls, either in the arcaded space itself, or set into the main wall behind. From this, "arcade" has become a general word for a group of shops in a single building, regardless of the architectural form.


title: Arcade (architecture)

text: The word "arcade" comes from French "arcade" from Provençal "arcada" or Italian "arcata", based on Latin "arcus", ‘bow’ (see arc and arch).


title: Arcade (architecture)

text: Arcades go back to at least the Ancient Greek architecture of the Hellenistic period, and were much used by the Romans, for example at the base of the Colosseum. Church cloisters very often use arcading. Islamic architecture very often uses arcades in and outside mosques in particular. In Renaissance architecture elegant arcading was often used as a prominent feature of facades, for example in the Ospedale degli Innocenti (commissioned 1419) or the courtyard of the Palazzo Bardi, both by Filippo Brunelleschi in Florence.


title: Arcade (architecture)

text: The French architect, Bertrand Lemoine, described the period, 1786 to 1935, as "l’Ère des passages couverts" (the Arcade Era). He was referring to the grand shopping "arcades" that flourished across Europe during that period. A shopping arcade refers to a multiple-vendor space, operating under a covered roof. Typically, the roof was constructed of glass to allow for natural light and to reduce the need for candles or electric lighting. The 18th and 19th century arcades were designed to attract the genteel middle classes. In time, these arcades came to be the place to shop and to be seen. Arcades offered shoppers the promise of an enclosed space away from the chaos that characterised the noisy, dirty streets; a warm, dry space away from the harsh elements, and a safe haven where people could socialise and spend their leisure time. As thousands of glass covered arcades spread across Europe, they became grander and more ornately decorated. By the mid-nineteenth century, they had become prominent centres of fashion and social life. Promenading in these arcades became a popular nineteenth-century pastime for the emerging middle classes.


title: Arcade (architecture)

text: The inspiration for the grand shopping arcades may have derived from the fashionable open loggias of Florence however medieval vernacular examples known as 'butterwalks' were traditional jettied colonnades in British and North European marketplaces; examples remain for example in Totnes and Dartmouth in Devon. During the 16th-century, a pattern of market trading using mobile stalls under covered arcades was established in Florence, from where it spread throughout Italy. Examples of the earliest open loggias include: Mercato Nuovo (1547) by Giovanni Battista del Tasso (and funded by the Medici family); Mercato Vecchio, Florence by Giorgio Vasari (1567) and Loggia del Grano (1619) by Giulio Parigi.


title: Arcade (architecture)

text: Arcades soon spread across Europe, North America and the antipodes. Examples of these grand shopping arcades include: Palais Royal in Paris (opened in 1784); Passage de Feydeau in Paris (opened in 1791); London's Piccadilly Arcade (1810) and Milan's Galleria Vittorio Emanuele (1878). Some examples of arcades in North America include New York's Paddock Arcade (1850), Ohio's Dayton Arcade (1904), and Rhode Island's Westminster Arcade (1828). Other notable nineteenth century grand arcades include the Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert in Brussels which was inaugurated in 1847 and Istanbul's Çiçek Pasajı opened in 1870. Shopping arcades were the precursor to the modern shopping mall, and the word "arcade" is now often used for malls which do not use the architectural form at all.


title: Arcade (architecture)

text: The Palais-Royal, which opened in 1784 and became one of the most important marketplaces in Paris, is generally regarded as the earliest example of the grand shopping arcades. Originally, a royal palace, the complex consisted of gardens, shops and entertainment venues situated under the original colonnades. The area boasted some 145 boutiques, cafés, salons, hair salons, bookshops, museums, and numerous refreshment kiosks as well as two theatres. The retail outlets specialised in luxury goods such as fine jewellery, furs, paintings and furniture designed to appeal to the wealthy elite. Retailers operating out of the Palais complex were among the first in Europe to abandon the system of bartering, and adopt fixed-prices thereby sparing their clientele the hassle of bartering. Stores were fitted with long glass exterior windows which allowed the emerging middle-classes to window shop and indulge in fantasies, even when they may not have been able to afford the high retail prices. Thus, the Palais-Royal became one of the first examples of a new style of shopping arcade, frequented by both the aristocracy and the middle classes. It developed a reputation as being a site of sophisticated conversation, revolving around the salons, cafés, and bookshops, but also became a place frequented by off-duty soldiers and was a favourite haunt of prostitutes, many of whom rented apartments in the building.


title: Arcade (architecture)

text: One of the earliest British examples of a shopping arcade, the Covered Market, Oxford, England was officially opened on 1 November 1774 and is still active today. The Covered Market was started in response to a general wish to clear "untidy, messy and unsavoury stalls" from the main streets of central Oxford. John Gwynn, the architect of Magdalen Bridge, drew up the plans and designed the High Street front with its four entrances. In 1772, the newly formed Market committee, half of whose members came from the town and half from the university, accepted an estimate of nine hundred and sixteen pounds ten shillings, for the building of twenty butchers' shops. Twenty more soon followed, and after 1773 meat was allowed to be sold only inside the market. From this nucleus the market grew, with stalls for garden produce, pig meat, dairy products and fish.


title: Arcade (architecture)

text: Gostiny Dvor in St Petersburg, Russia is another early shopping arcade. Sprawling at the intersection of Nevsky Prospekt and Sadovaya Street for over one kilometer and embracing the area of , the indoor complex of more than 100 shops took twenty-eight years to construct. Building commenced in 1757 to an elaborate design by Bartolomeo Rastrelli, but that subsequently was discarded in favour of a less expensive and more functional Neoclassical design submitted by Jean-Baptiste Vallin de la Mothe (1729–1800).


title: Arcade (architecture)

text: Throughout the following century, Gostiny Dvor was augmented, resulting in ten indoor streets and as many as 178 shops by the 20th century. During the post-World War II reconstructions, its inner walls were demolished and a huge shopping mall came into being. This massive 18th-century structure got a face-lift recently and entered the 21st century as one of the most fashionable shopping centres in Eastern Europe.


title: Arcade (architecture)

text: An early French arcade is the Passage du Caire created in 1798 as a tribute to the French campaign in Egypt and Syria. It was appreciated by the public for its protection from the weather, noise and filth of the streets. A year later American architect William Thayer created the Passage des Panoramas with a row of shops passing between two panorama paintings. Shopping arcades increasingly were built in the second Bourbon Restoration. Upper levels of arcades often contained apartments and sometimes brothels.


title: Because I Got High

text: "Because I Got High" is a song by American rapper Afroman from his eponymous album. The lyrics of the song describe how cannabis use is degrading the narrator's quality of life. The song, which was written in only a few minutes, rose from obscurity to popularity after it was circulated around the Internet and was featured on "The Howard Stern Show".


title: Because I Got High

text: The song explains how the narrator "got high" with the result of not taking responsibility for anything. Examples include neglecting to clean his room, failing his college class (which he intends to take next semester), getting fired from his job (leading him to resort to selling marijuana for a living), missing court dates, having his paycheck garnished due to missed child support payments, gambling away his car payment, becoming a paraplegic as the result of a police chase, and being left by his wife for neglecting to have sex with her. The singer then sums up that, as a result of his constant reliance on cannabis, he lost custody of his children, lost his wife, and ended up homeless and "sleeping on the sidewalk". He ultimately decides to end the song, and admits that he is "singing the whole thing wrong, because [he is] high". The extended version features another verse afterward: "Well my name is Afroman, and I'm from East Palmdale / And all the tumbleweed I be smoking is bomb as hell / I don't believe in Hitler, that's what I said / So all of you skins... please give me more head" (the last two lines are a reference to John Lennon's "God" and a pun on "skinheads", respectively). This version ends with Afroman saying, "We ain't gonna sell none of these motherfuckin' albums cuz... let's go back to Marshall Durbin and hang some more chickens cuz, fuck it", followed by "Fuck the corporate world, biatch!".


title: Because I Got High

text: The music video was directed by Michael Alperowitz and features Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes as Jay and Silent Bob smoking with Afroman, a cameo by "Beer Man", as well as a glimpse of the Quick Stop where "Clerks" was filmed.


title: Because I Got High

text: Afroman released his album "Because I Got High" in 2000; he distributed it mainly through concerts. The title track was soon posted on file-sharing service Napster and made it to "The Howard Stern Show". This song was the theme song of the film "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" and was later featured in the films "Disturbia", "A Thousand Words", "The Perfect Score" and the "Snowpiercer" show.


title: Because I Got High

text: On the album "Mobilize" by punk band Anti-Flag, after several minutes of silence on the album's end track, a friend of the band called Spaz can be heard singing parts of the song with Anti-Flag.


title: Because I Got High

text: Afroman re-recorded the song with new lyrics for his 2009 album "Frobama Head of State". A second re-recording of the song, called the "Positive Remix", was released by Afroman through YouTube on October 15, 2014 as part of a collaboration with Weedmaps and NORML. In contrast to the original version, the lyrics of this version deal with the positive effects of marijuana legalization.


title: Because I Got High

text: Bob Rivers included a Christmas-themed version, "Be Claus I Got High", on the 2002 album "White Trash Christmas", the fifth in Rivers's line of Christmas parody albums.


title: Because I Got High

text: BBC Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles recorded a parody under the pseudonym "Afro-Blair" featuring Jon Culshaw and another impressionist singing in the guise of the serving Prime Minister Tony Blair, then Leader of the Opposition William Hague and former Prime Ministers John Major and Margaret Thatcher.


title: Because I Got High

text: The controversial parody artist Rucka Rucka Ali made a version of the song called "Because I'm White" about stereotypes of White Americans and white privilege in general.


title: Starbucks unions

text: In 2021 and 2022, over 6,500 workers at over 250 corporate-owned Starbucks stores in the U.S. have voted to unionize with Workers United at the multinational coffeehouse chain, starting with a store in Buffalo, New York, for the first time since the 1980s in an ongoing unionization effort. About a third of Starbucks' Chilean workforce is unionized, as well as 450 workers in New Zealand and one store in Canada.


title: Starbucks unions

text: Previously in the United States, there had been inconsistent unionization efforts beginning in the 1980s. Many of those unions folded, in part due to the company's long history of opposing unionization efforts. Warehouse and roasting plant workers in Seattle were Starbucks' first to unionize in 1985. During contract negotiation, the bargaining unit expanded to include store workers but the same workers moved to decertify their representation within two years.


title: Starbucks unions

text: Starbucks stores and a distribution plant unionized in British Columbia in the mid-1990s through the mid-2000s. The company strongly opposed unionization efforts in the 2000s through present day, with multiple National Labor Relations Board complaints ending in settlements or findings of labor law violations. The Industrial Workers of the World led an organizing campaign in the mid-2000s based in New York City that did not result in union recognition.


title: Starbucks unions

text: In December 2021, the Elmwood Avenue store in Buffalo became the first location in the United States to unionize in the 2020s. The first union vote in Starbucks' hometown of Seattle was unanimously in favor of the union. As of October 2022, a total of 256 stores in 35 states voted in favor of unionizing and stores across the country are awaiting union votes.


title: Starbucks unions

text: Starbucks is the world's predominant multinational coffeehouse chain, selling specialty coffee, beverages, and assorted food in nearly 34,000 stores across 83 markets. The company is worth $100 billion as of 2021. Its largest markets are the United States (9,000 company-owned stores with 220,000 workers) and China (5,360 stores). Starbucks aims to grow its store count by 66% across 100 international markets by 2030. Beverages in the Americas, including United States, Canada and Latin America, are Starbucks's largest sales segments.


title: Starbucks unions

text: Starbucks refers to its baristas as "partners", calling them "partners in shared success". Staff are given vested shares of Starbucks stock after working for two years. Those who work 20 hours a week receive healthcare.


title: Starbucks unions

text: Starbucks workers first voted to unionize with United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 1001 in March 1985. The unit included about 120 people. Their contract, secured in 1986, brought health care coverage, paid vacation, and sick leave to Starbucks part-time workers in Seattle and its suburbs. Howard Schultz has oddly claimed credit for initiating "the first company in America to provide comprehensive health insurance to part-time people" despite that when Schultz became president of the company in 1987, he reneged on his pledge to honor that contract, and that it had been the standard for more than a decade prior for UFCW part-timers. In new negotiations, Schultz wanted to expand the warehouse and roasting plant bargaining unit to include workers from the 11 Starbucks stores. This approach intended for the larger, diluted unit to reject the union but backfired when the store workers did the opposite. Schultz proposed reductions in medical benefits, work hours, just-cause termination protections established in the prior contract. These negotiations, interrupted by a movement to decertify the union, did not result in a collective bargaining contract.


title: Starbucks unions

text: One store employee, Daryl Moore, together with signatures of other workers opposed to the union, successfully moved to decertify the union in late 1987. The union for warehouse and roasting plant workers was also decertified in 1992. While company president Schultz wrote that the company had no involvement in the employee's decertification filing, local union leaders said that the company management had made the decertification filing and hired anti-union consultants and lawyers to help. In his 1997 memoir, "Pour Your Heart Into It," Schultz defended his decisions saying, "If [Starbucks workers] had faith in me and my motives, they wouldn’t need a union."


title: Starbucks unions

text: In 2014, Starbucks workers started two petitions on Coworker.org, one demanding the company overturn its "no-tattoo policy", and the other to better scheduling practices.


title: Starbucks unions

text: Between 1992 and 2021, the only unionized Starbucks employees were those who worked for other companies with unionized labor and a licensing agreement, such as those who operated kiosks in unionized supermarkets.


title: Starbucks unions

text: In 2004, Industrial Workers of the World (IWW or wobblies) led a grassroots campaign called "Starbucks Workers Union" in which workers across a number of cities, including Chicago, Illinois and New York City started organizing unions. The IWW, which works outside the mainstream American labor movement, intended to prove that unions could break into the fast food industry. In New York City in 2006, four Manhattan stores ran an unsuccessful union drive with the campaign. The workers cited unlivable wages and difficulty securing enough hours to earn health benefits. The campaigns led to a series of National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) cases that uncovered how corporate executives coordinated to fill union-supporting stores with anti-union hires.


title: Starbucks unions

text: In 2008, the NLRB found that during the campaign, Starbucks committed 30 labor violations, including unlawfully terminating and threatening to discharge other union organizers to ward off union activity, unlawful surveillance and interrogation, and prohibiting the workers from discussing the union on their breaks. Starbucks denied any wrongdoing, and one charge that an employee was fired for organizing, to be rehired with back pay, was reversed on appeal. A 2007 complaint to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration about animal and insect infestation found other violations but no health hazards.


title: Starbucks unions

text: Barista Erik Forman at the Mall of America 1 Starbucks in Bloomington, MN was fired and then reinstated in 2008 under an NLRB settlement of a complaint of being fired for organizing. In a 2019 Philadelphia union drive, the company fired two organizing employees, which the labor board ruled unlawful. Starbucks appealed the verdict. In June 2021, the company was again found to have been engaged in certain unfair labor practices in the case.


title: Starbucks unions

text: When 12 stores and a distribution plant in British Columbia unionized in the mid-1990s, Starbucks extended the contract to non-union stores to mitigate unionization incentives, which it tried to undo in the subsequent contract. Western Canada union representation ended in the mid-2000s. More Starbucks stores unionized in Canada. A Quebec City store briefly unionized in 2009 through the IWW.


title: Starbucks unions

text: In August 2020, a Victoria store joined United Steelworkers as the only unionized store in the country. Among their top grievances were COVID-19 pandemic safety precautions. They signed a three-year agreement in 2021.


title: Starbucks unions

text: In 2011, the 200 workers in the Chilean Starbucks union "Sindicato de Trabajadores de Starbucks Coffee Chile" went on strike for better wages and health care, the first strike in the company's history. Their leaders began a hunger strike after receiving no corporate response from two weeks of striking. At the time, Chile had the company's largest union population, including about 30% of its 670 workers since the company entered the country in 2003. American IWW Starbucks Workers Union employees planned a "global week of action" in solidarity with the unaffiliated Chilean union.


title: Starbucks unions

text: Unite, a new union in New Zealand, led demonstrations against Starbucks in 2005 and negotiated a contract with the country's Starbucks operator offering 450 workers better pay and hours.


title: Starbucks unions

text: Workers led by Jaz Brisack from the Elmwood Avenue Starbucks store in Buffalo, New York, voted to unionize in late 2021, making it the only unionized shop among the chain's 9,000 company-owned stores in the United States. Two other Buffalo stores voted concurrently, of which one voted to unionize and the other did not. The workers joined Workers United of the Service Employees International Union. They sought to redress issues of under-staffing and under-training, issues that have been long associated with the company and exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic. The successful union vote was recognized as a symbolic victory for the American labor movement and came during a time of heightened unionization activity in the country in an industry known for low unionization rates (1.2% of American food service workers).


title: Starbucks unions

text: During the union drive, the company sent other managers and executives, including its North America retail president, to Buffalo to engage with employees about operational issues and participate in their work. Employees were forced to attend captive audience meetings that contained anti-union messages. Starbucks temporarily closed some area stores for remodeling and added excessive staff to one of the stores preparing to vote. Workers said this reduced union support there, while Starbucks said the support was meant to compensate for increased sick leave during the pandemic as it had done elsewhere in the country.


title: Starbucks unions

text: The company also requested that all 20 Buffalo-area stores vote simultaneously, as close to half of area employees worked at more than one store that year. This approach generally works against unionization and would have expanded the voting pool from 81 employees to 450. The NLRB sided against the company twice, letting stores vote as individual units and not delaying the vote count further. The ballot was conducted by mail. Separately, workers filed a NLRB complaint of company intimidation and surveillance to discourage the union drive. Prior to the vote's scheduling, Starbucks announced a minimum wage increase to $15 per hour and pay raises for tenured workers. Starbucks is represented by Littler Mendelson.


Starbucks unions


title: Starbucks unions

text: Inspired by the success at Elmwood in Buffalo, union organizing drives proliferated across the United States. At the beginning of November 2021, workers at 3 other Buffalo locations had filed petitions with the NLRB for union votes. In early January 2022, the number of stores that had filed petitions extended outside of the Buffalo area and the state of New York increased to more than 10. By the end of that January, more than 50 company-owned Starbucks stores in locations across the United States had petitioned for union recognition. By mid-February, the number increased to more than 70 across 20 states, and by the end of the month, to more than 100 stores across 25 states. In mid March 2022, the number grew to more than 150. "Vice" described the union drive as among the most promising initiatives to rebuild what had been a declining American labor movement.


title: Starbucks unions

text: The NLRB certified the first union outside of the Buffalo area on February 25, 2022 with a Mesa, Arizona location voting 25 to 3, with 3 votes being challenged.


title: Starbucks unions

text: On March 22, 2022, the first Seattle store voted to unionize, with the workers voting unanimously in favor of the union.


title: Starbucks unions

text: , a total of 100 stores voted in favor of unionizing. Workers and the NLRB at the challenged stores alleged stores that voted majority against unionizing were due to union busting, an allegation which Starbucks denies. 200 stores had organized by late July.


title: Starbucks unions

text: Union organizers across the United States accused the company of a strong union-busting campaign during the Workers United campaign during 2021 and 2022. In early February, Starbucks fired multiple leaders of a Memphis, Tennessee, store's unionization efforts for breaking company store access policy, which the union described as an act of retaliation. Workers also alleged that Starbucks terminated other workers in the Buffalo stores. Baristas in Denver, Colorado, went on strike on March 11, 2022 due to what they alleged were threats to their job security and benefits if they petitioned to form a union. In the spring of 2022, VICE News obtained a leaked memo from Starbucks management telling baristas in Olympia, Washington, that "benefits and wages will essentially be frozen" during collective bargaining that could take a year or longer "if a contract is reached at all."


title: KeyBank Center

text: KeyBank Center is a multipurpose indoor arena located in Buffalo, New York. Originally known as Marine Midland Arena, the venue has since been named HSBC Arena and First Niagara Center. Home to the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League since 1996, is the largest indoor arena in Western New York, seating 19,070. It replaced the Sabres' former home, Buffalo Memorial Auditorium, where the team played from 1970 to 1996. The venue is also home to the Buffalo Bandits of the National Lacrosse League.


title: KeyBank Center

text: KeyBank Center was previously home to the Canisius Golden Griffins (NCAA), Buffalo Blizzard (NPSL), Buffalo Wings (RHI) and Buffalo Destroyers (AFL).


title: KeyBank Center

text: In addition to concerts and professional wrestling, the venue has hosted major events including the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, 1999 Stanley Cup Finals, 2003 Frozen Four and UFC 210.


title: KeyBank Center

text: What was originally known during construction as Crossroads Arena opened September 21, 1996, replacing the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium. The construction cost was $127.5 million, (approximately $ in dollars).


title: KeyBank Center

text: The venue was named after its central downtown location, which was originally proposed as the site of a domed stadium in the 1960s for the Buffalo Bills and a potential Major League Baseball team before that project was abandoned.


title: KeyBank Center

text: On November 16, 1996, the arena's first JumboTron, an eight-sided scoreboard made by Daktronics with Sony video screens, fell to the ice while it was being remotely moved. This happened minutes after a few players ended practice and hours before a game between the Buffalo Sabres and Boston Bruins. Nobody was injured, but the game was postponed. The scoreboard was replaced later that season.


title: KeyBank Center

text: The first update to the arena took place after the conclusion of the 1998-1999 hockey season. 95 seats were added behind the last row of the 300 level, raising the arena's hockey and lacrosse capacity from 18,595 to 18,690.


title: KeyBank Center

text: The second update to the arena took place in 2002–2003, when the Sabres replaced matrix board on the face of the second bowl with a LED ribbon. The original seamless glass boards were also removed, and replaced with boards with clear plastic stanchions, which gave when players were hit into them.


title: KeyBank Center

text: The third update to the arena took place prior to the 2007–2008 season. Two illuminated Sabres logos were added in the upper level of the pavilion on both sides of the Sports Headlines bar. Also, new LED ribbon boards were installed in the arena seating bowl in conjunction with the new HD scoreboard manufactured by Daktronics. In addition, the four main speaker racks were removed and replaced and two additional speaker racks were added. The new scoreboard features four large HD video screens, surrounded by two 360-degree LED ribbon boards. The bottom of the board features large Buffalo Sabres logos with giant sabres crossed behind them. The handles of the sabres are lit with blue LEDs. The Sabres logos shoot smoke out of the Buffalo's nostrils every time a Sabres goal is scored or when the Sabres win at home. Later in 2008, a mural was installed in the lower pavilion near the main entrance, containing pictures from the 2008 NHL Winter Classic held at Ralph Wilson Stadium, now known as Highmark Stadium, in nearby Orchard Park.


title: KeyBank Center

text: The fourth update took place during the summer and early fall of 2011. The major renovation included the demolition and installation of brand new locker rooms, decor and concession updates as well as fan enhancements. This $6 million locker room project led by Cannon Design of Grand Island saw an expansion from in size. The new Sabres locker room is designed as a circular room, complete with illuminated team logos on the floor and ceiling. Additional new facilities include a state of the art fitness center, new coaching offices, film rooms where players and coaches can watch previous games, and a players lounge with a kitchen and team chef. Also, the new Sabres locker room features a Wall of Fame featuring team history, the names and numbers of retired team jerseys. Limestones that were salvaged from the former Buffalo Memorial Auditorium are surrounded by glass, which features the names of all team players throughout franchise existence. Visiting team locker rooms were also expanded from . Finally, a new post-game interview room was also built. In addition to the new locker rooms and training facilities, the public spaces within the arena were also upgraded.


title: KeyBank Center

text: Also as part of the update, the arena took on the Sabres Blue and Gold color scheme inside the arena bowl. It replaced the red color used on the team logo from 1996 to 2006. The previous Sabres logo (known infamously as the "Buffaslug", and used from 2006 to 2010) was removed from the scoreboard and replaced with the current logo. All of the original TV sets were replaced with new HDTVs. New food choices were added as part of the upgraded concessions. Signage was replaced or upgraded where needed. Restrooms saw cup holders and HDTVs added for fan convenience. Also, new chimes were added, which sound two minutes prior to the opening faceoff each period. This lets fans know to head towards the seating areas. Finally, the Sports Headlines bar has now been replaced by the Labatt Blue Zone.


title: KeyBank Center

text: The ice rink itself also saw a multimillion-dollar upgrade with adding a new dehumidifier system and cooling tower. All of the Zamboni machines were replaced and upgraded to feature laser beam leveling. These upgrades improve the quality of the ice surface. Outside, a new LED ribbon board was added to the entrance pavilion which can display upcoming events, scores, and team information, though it was subsequently removed to make way for the construction of a new pedestrian bridge to the adjacent LECOM Harborcenter complex in 2014.


title: KeyBank Center

text: The fifth update features the creation of the Tops Markets Alumni Plaza. In July 2012, the space located between the arena's entrance pavilion and the parking ramp saw the concrete bridge columns covered with brick. All of the team members that the Buffalo Sabres have had throughout existence are now featured on plaques that are mounted to the bricks. In addition, fans of the Sabres are able to purchase custom plaques that will be featured alongside the team members. Alumni Plaza's centerpiece is a 10' high bronze statue of The French Connection. These renovations were completed in October 2012.


title: KeyBank Center

text: The sixth update included multiple changes, including modifying the entrance pavilion due to the LECOM Harborcenter construction. That building is attached to the arena by an elevated walkway. LECOM Harborcenter is a mid-rise building with 2 hockey rinks, a Marriott hotel, retail space, IMPACT Training facility, restaurants including 716 Food and Sport and flagship Tim Hortons and a parking garage. Construction began in early 2013, while the restaurants and rinks opened in late October 2014. The elevated walkway connecting the KeyBank Center and LECOM Harborcenter buildings was completed and opened in early 2015, while the Marriott hotel opened in the summer of 2015. Also, after the 2011-12 Buffalo Sabres season, the Sabres added 380 seats, mainly as an additional row in the 200 level, to raise the arena's capacity to 19,070. This number is symbolic of the team's founding in 1970. In 2013, the Buffalo Sabres announced that all 80 luxury suites would be renovated over a 3-year period. All suites will now feature the Sabres Blue and Gold color scheme, 50" TVs, new carpeting, new furniture and gathering islands. Construction began on this project in July 2013.


title: KeyBank Center

text: The seventh update took place during the summer of 2016 on the exterior due to the renaming from First Niagara Center to KeyBank Center. The entrance canopies that featured hockey images were replaced. New exterior signage was installed during the week of August 11, 2016 and KeyBank debuted the rebranded arena on September 19, 2016. Also, a new LED lighting system was installed by Ephesus. This allows the arena to provide better lighting while significantly reducing the number of light fixtures needed and reducing energy consumption.


title: KeyBank Center

text: Naming rights were sold to Marine Midland Bank, part of the HSBC banking group in 1996, and the building was renamed Marine Midland Arena before the first game had been played. The bank bought the naming rights for 30 years then to expire in 2026.


title: KeyBank Center

text: In 1999, as part of HSBC's worldwide corporate rebranding, the arena's name was changed to HSBC Arena, with the official renaming taking place on March 17, 2000. This name change coincided with the playing of the first college basketball tournament game in the arena's history.


title: KeyBank Center

text: In 2011, Buffalo-based First Niagara Financial Group reached an agreement to purchase HSBC Bank's upstate New York and Connecticut branch network, including much of the core of the old Marine Midland. While naming rights to HSBC Arena were not included in the sale, First Niagara, HSBC, the Buffalo Sabres and other parties reached an agreement to establish a new naming rights deal with First Niagara. The name of the arena became First Niagara Center that summer, with the official renaming taking place that fall. First Niagara bought the naming rights for 15 years, approximately the remainder of the time that was left on HSBC's naming rights deal with the arena.


title: KeyBank Center

text: KeyCorp announced its plans to purchase First Niagara—and thus also the naming rights to the arena—on October 30, 2015. Although exterior signage was installed during the week of August 11, 2016, the renamed KeyBank Center became official on September 19, 2016.


title: KeyBank Center

text: On September 10, 2019, Pegula Sports and Entertainment reached a 10-year naming rights agreement for the building connected to KeyBank Center with Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM). LECOM Harborcenter was developed by Pegula Sports and Entertainment and occupies a full city block formerly known as the Webster Block, directly across from and connected to the KeyBank Center and Canalside.


title: KeyBank Center

text: The arena was host to a house party for the 2008 NHL Winter Classic. Festivities included the Buffalo Sabres Alumni Hockey Team playing in pre-game action, followed by the Winter Classic shown on the scoreboard.


title: KeyBank Center

text: During the 2012 NHL lockout, the arena hosted several Rochester Americans games and continues to host occasional Americans games at the arena.


title: KeyBank Center

text: In October 2014, the arena hosted its first Ontario Hockey League contest, a neutral-site game between the Erie Otters (who counted among its players marquee prospect Connor McDavid) and the Niagara IceDogs.


title: KeyBank Center

text: The NBA carried over their annual preseason contest from Buffalo Memorial Auditorium with annual Toronto Raptors preseason games at the new venue.


title: KeyBank Center

text: Canisius College played select home games at the arena from 1996 to 1998, moving there after decades at the Aud. However, they moved all games on campus to the Koessler Center after the 1997–98 season.


title: KeyBank Center

text: The arena has been home to the NCAA (2000, 2004, 2007, 2010, 2014, 2017, 2022) and MAAC (1997, 1999, 2001, 2005) men's basketball tournaments.


title: KeyBank Center

text: The arena was the centerpiece of a longshot bid to bring the National Basketball Association back to Buffalo by luring the Vancouver Grizzlies; the Grizzlies instead relocated to Memphis, Tennessee in 2001.


title: KeyBank Center

text: KeyBank Center has hosted professional wrestling events from WCW, WWE, and AEW. This included TV tapings of "Monday Nitro", "Raw is War", "SmackDown", "ECW", "Superstars", "Main Event", "NXT", "Dynamite", and "Rampage". WCW produced the annual Ilio DiPaolo Memorial Show at the venue between 1997 and 1999.


title: KeyBank Center

text: In addition, the venue hosted several pay-per-view events including Fully Loaded (1999), Fall Brawl (2000), The Great American Bash (2005), Armageddon (2008), Night of Champions (2011) and Battleground (2013).


title: KeyBank Center

text: On April 8, 2017, KeyBank Center hosted UFC 210: Cormier vs. Johnson 2, which was the first UFC event held in Buffalo for over 20 years.


title: KeyBank Center

text: Performances from Barenaked Ladies' October 9, 1998 concert at the venue are featured in their 1999 documentary "Barenaked in America".


title: KeyBank Center

text: In March 2015, the arena hosted country music legend Garth Brooks for a 4-night, 6 show, sold out string of shows, bringing over 100,000 people to Downtown Buffalo. He also had his wife, Trisha Yearwood, along for the shows.


title: KeyBank Center

text: A live recording of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's performance at the arena in 2009 titled "HSBC Arena, Buffalo, NY, 11/22/09" was released on December 24, 2016.


title: KeyBank Center

text: The press box in the arena is named after former Sabres broadcaster and Hockey Hall of Fame member Ted Darling.


Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies is a music reference book by American music journalist and essayist Robert Christgau. It was first published in October 1981 by Ticknor & Fields. The book compiles approximately 3,000 of Christgau's capsule album reviews, most of which were originally written for his "Consumer Guide" column in "The Village Voice" throughout the 1970s. The entries feature annotated details about each record's release and cover a variety of genres related to rock music.


title: Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies

text: Christgau's reviews are informed by an interest in the aesthetic and political dimensions of popular music, a belief that it could be consumed intelligently, and a desire to communicate his ideas to readers in an entertaining, provocative, and compact way. Many of the older reviews were rewritten for the guide to reflect his changed perspective and matured stylistic approach. He undertook an intense preparation process for the book during 1979 and 1980, which temporarily hindered both his awareness of current music and his marriage to fellow writer Carola Dibbell, whom he later credited as an influence on his work.


text: The guide was critically well received, earning praise for its extensive discography, Christgau's judgment, and his colorful writing. Reviewers also noted his opinionated tastes, analytical commentary, pithy language, and critical quips. A staple of rock-era reference works, "Christgau's Record Guide" became widely popular in libraries as a source for popular music studies and as an authoritative guide for fellow critics, record collectors, and music shops, influencing the development of critical standards for evaluating music. It later appeared on several expert lists of the best popular music literature.


text: "Christgau's Record Guide" has been reprinted several times in book form and later on Christgau's website in its entirety. Two more "Consumer Guide" collections have been published, compiling his capsule reviews from and , respectively.


text: In 1969, Robert Christgau began reviewing contemporary album releases in his "Consumer Guide" column, which was published more-or-less monthly in "The Village Voice" – an alternative weekly newspaper local to New York City – and for brief periods in "Newsday" and "Creem" magazine during the 1970s. His method was to select about 20 albums to review in capsule format, averaging approximately 50 words each, and to assign each album a letter grade rating on a scale from to . The column was a product of "The Village Voice"s deal with Christgau – allotting him one 2,500-word piece per month – and his desire to provide prospective buyers with ratings of albums, including those that did not receive significant radio airplay. Some of Christgau's early columns were reprinted in his first book, "Any Old Way You Choose It", a 1973 anthology of essays previously published in the "Voice" and "Newsday".


text: Among the most revered and influential of the early rock critics, Christgau wrote the "Consumer Guide" with a conviction that popular music could be consumed intelligently and discussed in a manner similar to books in literary criticism. His opinions and enthusiasms for music were informed by left-leaning politics, principles of humanism and secularism, and an interest in finding new understandings of the aesthetic and political dimensions in popular culture's intersection with the avant-garde. As a journalist, he wanted to convey his findings confidently and in a way that would entertain and provoke his readership. As such, his writing took on a densely compressed style featuring insulting language, slang, personal asides, and highbrow allusions meant to engage readers with an extensive knowledge of culture and music history, including popular music's canon and the metanarratives of specific musicians.


text: Over the course of the 1970s, Christgau broadened "The Village Voice"s readership nationally with his writing and editorial leadership, transforming the newspaper into a premier venue for popular music criticism at a time when the field began to peak in cultural influence. His own reputation developed as the field's leading American writer, with a cult following of the "Consumer Guide" column.


text: In the late 1970s, Christgau conceived of a book that would collect reviews from his columns through that decade. He began to pitch "Christgau's Record Guide" to publishers in early 1979 and received a publishing deal shortly thereafter. He soon realized that the proposed book would not adequately represent the decade unless he significantly revised and expanded his existing columns. He believed his existing body of reviews overlooked important musical artists and would likely comprise less than two-thirds of the needed material for the book. In July of that year, he took a vacation from "The Village Voice" and left New York for Maine with his wife, fellow writer Carola Dibbell, to work on the book. They chartered a boathouse and brought with them a stereo system and numerous LP records. As Christgau recalled in his memoir "Going Into the City"(2015), "I had hundreds of records to find out about, hundreds to find, hundreds to re-review, hundreds to touch up."


text: Christgau continued working on the book after his return to New York. He was aided significantly by access to the record library of his neighbor, fellow journalist Vince Aletti, who owned all of James Brown's scarcely catalogued Polydor LPs from the 1970s. Beginning with Brown, Christgau re-examined the discographies of major artists in a chronological manner to curtail a sense of hindsight in the writing. "When possible", he said, "I piled on the changer artists I actually felt like hearing that day in a ploy intended to scare up the excited little feeling in the pit of my stomach without which I am loath to give any album an A." The work intensified in 1980; from the beginning of February to the end of July he spent every day preparing the book. Recounting in his memoir, he said he worked 14 hours daily while "in book mode", which "was so grueling that for most of 1980 I was barely aware of the music of the moment, the only such hiatus in what is now fifty years."


text: Christgau's intense immersion into preparing the book also put a strain on his marriage to Dibbell, as did their efforts to overcome infertility. In his words, the guide almost ruined his personal life: "We postponed further parenthood strategization. We hardly ever went out. The apartment sank to new depths of disarray as LPs and paper migrated into the dining room. And since I was home every minute with the stereo on, my life partner could never be alone, with herself or with her work." Dibbell's admission of an affair at the time led to a brief separation before she and Christgau reunited with a stronger commitment to each other, reflected in the book's dedication: "TO CAROLA – NEVER AGAIN." As they mended their relationship, Christgau slowed down his work pace in August 1980 while allowing Dibbell to "provide the tough edits I needed". In his memoir, he paid tribute to her influence on his work: "Her aesthetic responsiveness was unending... no one affected my writing like Carola". Christgau finished the guide in mid-September, submitting the manuscript a few weeks past his publisher's deadline.


text: "Christgau's Record Guide" collects approximately 3,000 "Consumer Guide" reviews of albums through the 1970s. The reviews are arranged alphabetically by artist name and accompanied by annotations for each record. Christgau regraded some older albums to reflect his changed perspective, while omitting other records and text from the original columns in favor of new material. Much of the material was previously unpublished, as more than half of the original reviews were expanded and extensively revised by Christgau for the guide, especially those covering the decade's first half. "Much of the early CG material was rewritten for the book for a reason", Christgau explained: "I didn't evolve my current high-density stylistic approach until 1975 or so". He wanted to retain parts of the original text as much as possible, "not just to poach language but to inject what sense of the moment I could".


text: The book covers albums from a variety of rock-related genres including hard rock, heavy metal, punk rock, funk, disco, soul, blues, country, and reggae. With regard to its scope, Christgau said he "tried to grade every '70s rock album worth owning" and what he called "semipopular" music, while maintaining a perspective of being "equal" with rock listeners. The reviews often feature analytical commentary on the aesthetic or cultural significance of the music, as well as critical one-liner jokes. For example, his review of the Leonard Cohen album "Live Songs"(1973) states Cohen "risks turning into the Pete Seeger of romantic existentialism", while the Doobie Brothers' "Takin' It to the Streets"(1976) is panned in a single sentence: "You can lead a Doobie to the recording studio, but you can't make him think."


text: The book is appended with introductory essays by Christgau, including a historical overview of rock and an explanation of his grading system; an record is defined as "an organically conceived masterpiece that repays prolonged listening", while "E records are frequently cited as proof that there is no God." Other unworthy music of note is relegated to two pages of lists toward the end of the guide, titled "Who Cares?" and "Meltdown". The last section of the book, titled "A Basic Record Library", lists the albums he regarded as the essential records of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, respectively.


text: "Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies" was first published in October 1981 by Ticknor & Fields (an imprint of Houghton Mifflin) in New Haven, Connecticut. It was released at a time when bookstores saw an influx of rock music reference books as publishers competed with one another for the market. The book was published in the United Kingdom the following year through the London-based Vermilion imprint, and was reprinted in 1985 by Houghton Mifflin in New York.


text: In 1990, "Christgau's Record Guide" was reprinted by Da Capo Press under the title "Rock Albums of the Seventies: A Critical Guide". In the reprint's introduction, Christgau said he had revised some of the content. It was followed by "" that same year and "" in 2000, forming a three-volume series of books compiling the capsule reviews. The contents of all three "Consumer Guide" collections were made freely available on Christgau's website when it went online in 2001 with the help of fellow critic and web designer Tom Hull.


text: "Christgau's Record Guide" was well received in the popular music press during the 1980s. Reviewing the book in 1982 for "The New York Times", Robert Palmer found it notable among the recent slew of rock reference publications "because it is both obsessively complete and caustically outspoken". He identified qualities of maturity, intelligence, and humor in Christgau's music criticism, and recommended the book as a valuable resource for those with a serious interest in contemporary rock, even if some of the opinions may prove divisive. "It is a bit too cantankerously opinionated to deserve an ," Palmer wrote, "but it certainly repays reading and rereading." Liam Lacey of "The Globe and Mail" called the guide "archly entertaining", while a reviewer for "The Washington Post" said Christgau "writes beautifully, and his book is a provocative capsule history of '70s pop". In "The Harvard Crimson", David M. Handelman gave the guide an "A" grade and deemed Christgau "everything a rock critic should be" and without the pretensions of contemporaries like John Rockwell, Kit Rachlis, and Dave Marsh: "There's non ["sic"] of the tortured delving into non existent souls. He trashes trash, and embraces fun, genius, and things between." Handelman also supported his brevity of style and the capsule-style format, arguing that anything longer is often unreasonable for a review of an album; "how many people read beyond the good/bad label?", he questioned. Herb Hendler named "Christgau's Record Guide" among the books and magazines "relevant to youth and the rock era" in "Year by Year in the Rock Era"(1983), a chronicle of rock music's cultural impact from 1954 to 1982.


text: Steve Simels, who had been inspired to pursue a journalistic career by Christgau's early 1970s writing, ended up reviewing the book for "Stereo Review" and offered qualified praise. He regarded Christgau's reviews as indisputably well-written with fair-minded critical judgment, impressive witticisms and one-liners, and a deeper interest in black music than most other white critics. But Simels expressed reservations about what he perceived to be a mawkish sense of feminist conscience, "knee-jerk" liberal politics, and a predilection for "conceptual music", exemplified by "A" grades for all four Ramones albums. After laboring through the entire guide, he found himself "surprised to discover how even-handed [Christgau]'s been over the long haul", and wrote in sum that it is worth reading, even if not entirely reliable. In "High Fidelity", David Browne said some of Christgau's musings would be too complicated for newcomers to rock journalism, but concluded that "he remains one of pop's most astute critics" and the guide functions best as a way of discovering good records – such as Bill Withers's "Still Bill" (1972) – otherwise obscured by the complex discography of 1970s popular music.


text: Some reviewers were more critical of the book. Marsh, who had cited the "Consumer Guide" concept as an influence on his contemporaneous "Rolling Stone Record Guide", gave the collection a in "Musician". He found Christgau "concise, contentious, condescending, provocative and pedagogic" with a shrewd sense of judgment and sharp insight, but complained of gratuitous, off-topic commentary and possible attempts to keep up with fashionable consensus, as there were no clear indications which reviews had been rewritten in retrospect for the book. Marsh ultimately questioned whether Christgau's tough-mindedness and ideological rigidity made him ideal for a guide book and asked what it means if "the most influential rock critic has never written a book that wasn't an anthology". A response by Christgau was published in the magazine a few months later, in which he expressed appreciation for Marsh's "kind words" about the book and referred back to its introductory essay to answer questions posed in the review:


text: British music scholar Paul Taylor issued different complaints about the book in his 1985 guide to literature on popular music, "Popular Music Since 1955". He called "Christgau's Record Guide" "an odd collection" for several reasons. "Included are certainly the best albums", he observed, "but it is the way in which the bad examples are selected that is dubious, and simply mediocre records are avoided."


text: Beyond the popular press, the book also garnered positive notice among academic journals focusing on reference works and curation of library collections. A review in "" magazine highly recommended the guide, arguing that it functions superbly as a read for spontaneous pleasure and a reference to rock's "major and minor classics" while highlighting the last section for librarians assembling a rock record collection. "Illinois Libraries", the journal publication of the Illinois Library Association, advised AV librarians to consult the guide for help in selecting music recordings to archive. The journal's reviewer called Christgau "a senior critic if rock music has such a thing" and suggested readers focus less on his dislikes of artists like John Denver and more on his "well-founded and meaningful" enthusiasm for Terry Garthwaite, Brian Eno, and the Ramones.


text: Lee Ash, general editor of the Haworth Press's "Special Collections" journal, reviewed "Christgau's Record Guide" as among books recommended to library special collections. The guide's "quality, content, scope, and evaluative notes" impressed Ash, who had a greater familiarity with discographies of early chamber music and only a mild enthusiasm for rock music. He concluded it is an essential guide for music collection and providing "critical material for argument". In "Library Journal", P. G. Feehan regarded Christgau as a rigorous, smart critic and the book an excellent companion to "The Rolling Stone Record Guide", particularly because of his extensive coverage of albums from fringe and import record labels. Feehan's one cavil was "his four-letter-word-studded, hip/smart style, which may turn off readers from west of the Hudson River".


text: "Christgau's Record Guide" and similar review collections played a role in the rise of rock critics as tastemakers, promoters, and cultural historians in the music industry, whose standards were being reinvented by rock music. These critics constructed their own versions of what popular music academic Roy Shuker called "the traditional high-low culture split, usually around notions of artistic integrity, authenticity, and the nature of commercialism". As with "The Rolling Stone Record Guide", "Christgau's Record Guide" became popular with music aficionados, collectors, and both secondhand and specialty record stores, who kept copies of different volumes on hand. Christgau's guides to the 1970s and 1980s were "bibles in the field", as Shuker described, "establishing orthodoxies as to the relative value of various styles or genres and pantheons of artists". While reviewing the 1980s volume for the "Chicago Tribune" in 1990, Greg Kot said "Christgau's Record Guide" and Ira Robbins's "Trouser Press Record Guide" had been "the bibles of my existence as a rock critic". Fellow critic Rob Sheffield named it among his six favorite books in a list published by "The Week", believing other "obsessive music freaks" likely own it too. "This book is the all-time rock-'n'-roll argument starter", he said, "and I'll be arguing with it for the rest of my life." It was also read by novelists Dylan Hicks and Jonathan Lethem when they were young adults; Lethem later revealed that "for years, I calibrated my record collection against the grades... jotting dissenting views in pencil in the margins". In retrospect, Christgau said the book "greatly enhance[d] my personal profile as well as reaching readers I'm proud are still out there."


text: The guide was published in an era when popular music studies were the domain of non-academic sources such as journalists rather than music departments and classical academics. It became widely popular in library catalogues by the late 1980s, along with other anthologized works of rock journalism by critics like Ellen Willis and Lester Bangs. The "Consumer Guide" reviews collected in the book were cited by Weisbard as part of rock and popular music's reinvention of critical standards. The end of the 20th century saw another paradigm shift, as paid journalism declined and academic departments gradually embraced popular music studies. In 1997, the Music Library Association used both 1970s and 1980s volumes as references to prepare select rock recordings for "A Basic Music Library: Essential Scores and Sound Recordings", published by the American Library Association as a guide for librarians and other specialist collectors.


text: Christgau believed the 1970s guide was the most "authoritative" in the "Consumer Guide" book series because the decade's smaller music market was easier to process. He characterized the first volume as "a kind of canon-defining work, making the case for Van Morrison and, say, the McGarrigle sisters, and against Black Sabbath and, say, Donny Hathaway." In comparison to "The Rolling Stone Record Guide", Christgau said "I think mine is better, but that's not worth arguing. What's undeniable is that mine was written by one person, and was therefore an act of sensibility rather than cultural fiat, with no canonizing intention albeit some canonizing effect (which was soon nullified by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame [in 1983], a status grab far more effective than any book)." In the two decades that followed, he felt the canon grew "far murkier, vaster, and more various", while his personal taste became more idiosyncratic and divergent from general critical consensus. According to "The Boston Globe"s Ivan Kreilkamp, the "audacious, canon-defining work" remained the critic's most impactful work. In Eric Weisbard's opinion, Christgau "wasn't so much canonizing as using the endless listening party to find new wrinkles in his, and popular music's, unsummarizable aesthetic".


text: "Christgau's Record Guide" has been regarded as "essential rock writing" by literary academic Cornel Bonca. Chuck Eddy included it in his buying guide to books on rock music, while Jon Savage recommended it as a useful discography of 1970s punk rock. In 2006, all three "Consumer Guide" books were collectively ranked fifth on "The A.V. Club"s list of the 17 essential books about popular music; in the opinion of the list's writers, Christgau "made a sublime art of the capsule review, packing pithy observations and heartfelt appreciation into 150-word boxes". Michaelangelo Matos, a staff writer for the website, was greatly influenced by Christgau and said the first two volumes were books he had read most frequently as an adult. He highlighted Christgau's humor, ability to extract the essence of an album in a few sentences, and punctuating of reviews with letter grades, "a cunning rhetorical device as much as simple judgment". In 2016, "Billboard" placed the first volume at number 47 on a list of the 100 greatest music books; an accompanying blurb read: "His '70s collection offers a fantastic primer on rock and soul's most fruitful decade. Whether or not you share Christgau's passion for Al Green's 'Let's Get Married' or his disdain for all things Eagles, you'll love his pith and wit."


text: On June 23, 2019, after a Twitter user directed Christgau's attention to the Wikipedia article about the book, the critic tweeted the following response: "Wow... I had no idea this full-bodied, even-handed, remarkably accurate article existed. I'm proud of all my books, but this convinces me that the '70s guide is the most influential." Dibbell also tweeted a response to the article, saying it is a "very thorough account of the arduous preparation and enduring reception for this great collection".


title: Carabao Energy Drink

text: Carabao Dang Energy Drink (; ; "red water buffalo") is a Thai energy drink launched in 2002 by Carabao Tawandang Co Ltd. It is now Thailand's second most popular energy drink. It is the key brand of Carabao Tawandang in Thailand, with an estimated 21 per cent market share in 2014.


title: Carabao Energy Drink

text: The name "Carabao Dang" comes from the Carabao Group's association with the band Carabao, combined with the German Tawandang Brewery Restaurant. It is marketed with the slogan "Carabao Dang: The Fighting Spirit".


title: Carabao Energy Drink

text: The drink's launch was accompanied by a high-profile TV advertising campaign featuring the company founder (along with Sathien Setthasit), rock star Yuenyong Opakul, also known as Aed Carabao. This campaign was investigated by the Office of the Consumer Protection Board for being too violent, but went on to win a gold and a silver medal at "Media & Marketing" magazine's Asian Brand Marketing Effectiveness Awards in 2003. A second ad, featuring clips of late actor Denholm Elliott, digitally altered so he was drinking Carabao from a trough, was less successful.


title: Carabao Energy Drink

text: The drink was introduced to the United States and Europe under the brand name "Carabao" leading to an increase in sales of the Thai brand on the west coast of the US in 2004. Exports to China and India began in 2007. Carabao was introduced in Australia at the beginning of 2018.


title: Carabao Energy Drink

text: The market for energy drinks in Thailand is estimated at 35 billion baht in 2018. Carabao research indicates that more than eight million Thais consume energy drinks. Nineteen per cent live in Bangkok, 32 per cent in other urban areas and 49 per cent in rural provinces. Carabao aims to increase its market share from 25 per cent in 2018 to 33 per cent in 2020, making it the leader in the domestic energy drinks market. Carabao Group expects 2018 revenues to reach 15 billion baht, up from 13 billion baht in 2017.


title: Carabao Energy Drink

text: Carabao completed work on a new production site in the Bang Pakong District of Chachoengsao Province in mid-2018. The 8.7 billion baht, 180 rai facility includes a glass bottle plant, an aluminium can plant, and a bottling plant. Bottle production will increase to 1.6 billion bottles per year, up from 1 billion, and can production will increase from 800 million per year to 1.5 billion. Future plans include a fourth factory on the site.


title: Carabao Energy Drink

text: Carabao signed a sponsorship deal with Chelsea as the official training wear partner in 2015. Carabao's logo will feature on Chelsea's training kits from the 2016-17 season onwards.


title: Carabao Energy Drink

text: Carabao became the EFL Cup title sponsor (with the competition renamed as the Carabao Cup) from the 2017-18 season onwards.


title: The Cool Kids (TV series)

text: The Cool Kids is an American television sitcom created by Charlie Day and Paul Fruchbom for Fox. The series follows three male residents of a retirement community who are forced to adapt to the arrival of a new, rebellious female occupant and it stars David Alan Grier, Martin Mull, Leslie Jordan, and Vicki Lawrence. On October 19, 2018, it was announced that Fox had ordered an additional nine episodes of the series, bringing the first season total up to twenty-two episodes. On May 10, 2019, "The Cool Kids" was canceled by Fox after one season.


title: The Cool Kids (TV series)

text: "The Cool Kids" is a joint production by 3 Arts Entertainment, FX Productions, and 20th Century Fox Television.


title: The Cool Kids (TV series)

text: "The Cool Kids" follows three male senior citizen friends at Shady Meadows Retirement Community who "are the top dogs until they're blown out of the water by the newest member of the community, a female rebel who's ready to challenge their place – it's high school with 70 somethings."


title: The Cool Kids (TV series)

text: On September 5, 2017, it was announced that Fox had given the production a pilot order. The pilot was written by Charlie Day and Paul Fruchbom with Kevin Abbott set to serve as showrunner if the pilot was ordered to series. Executive producers are set to include Day, Abbott, Rob McElhenney, Glenn Howerton, and Nick Frenkel with Fruchbom co-executive producing. Production companies involved with the pilot include 20th Century Fox Television and FX Productions. On November 16, 2017, it was announced that Don Scardino would direct the pilot.


title: The Cool Kids (TV series)

text: On May 9, 2018, it was announced that Fox had given the production a series order. A few days later, it was announced that the series would premiere in the fall of 2018 and air on Fridays at 8:30 P.M. On June 12, 2018, it was reported that Patrick Walsh was replacing Abbott in the role of showrunner and was also joining the series as an executive producer. On June 28, 2018, it was announced that the series would premiere on September 28, 2018. On October 19, 2018, it was announced that Fox had ordered an additional nine episodes of the series, bringing the first season total up to twenty-two episodes. The series finale aired on May 10, 2019.


title: The Cool Kids (TV series)

text: Alongside the announcement of the pilot's director, it was confirmed that Vicki Lawrence, David Alan Grier, Leslie Jordan, and Martin Mull had been cast in the pilot's lead roles. On November 9, 2018, it was announced that Lesley Ann Warren would make a guest appearance in an episode entitled "Charlie's Angel". The episode was notably set to serve as a reunion for Mull and Warren who had previously starred together in the 1985 film "Clue".


title: The Cool Kids (TV series)

text: On September 13, 2018, the series took part in the 12th Annual PaleyFest Fall Television Previews which featured a preview screening of the series and a conversation with cast members including David Alan Grier, Martin Mull, Vicki Lawrence, and Leslie Jordan.


title: The Cool Kids (TV series)

text: The series has been met with a mixed to positive response from critics upon its premiere. On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an approval rating of 65% with an average rating of 6.1 out of 10, based on 17 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Though the cheesy jokes and cliches are old hat, an all-too-uncommon focus on older characters makes it easier to forgive "The Cool Kids"' lack of fresh wrinkles." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the series a score of 42 out of 100 based on 9 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews."


title: Alex Curran

text: Alexandra Gerrard (née Curran; born 23 September 1982) is an English model, fashion columnist for the "Daily Mirror", and the wife of former Liverpool and England captain Steven Gerrard. She was described as a leading "WAG" of the England national football team, along with women such as Victoria Beckham and Coleen Rooney. In 2007, the "Times" referred to her, then Steven Gerrard's fiancée, as an ""über"-WAG". On 29 October 2007, she launched her own fragrance, named "Alex", which was one of the top sellers of 2007.


title: Alex Curran

text: Curran writes a weekly column for the "Daily Mirror", titled "Go Shopping With Alex Curran". She wrote a weekly column for OK Magazine from 2009 until January 2013.


title: Alex Curran

text: A former nail technician, Curran was born in Aintree, Merseyside and raised in Maghull, and attended Maghull High School. Curran and Steven Gerrard have been a couple since 2002. Prior to her relationship with Gerrard, Curran was dating businessman Tony Richardson, while Gerrard was dating Jennifer Ellison. At some point in 2002, Curran and Ellison switched lovers; "The Guardian" wrote, "who stole whom off whom is still the subject of some debate and perhaps Ellison's autobiography".


title: Alex Curran

text: Curran and Gerrard married on 16 June 2007, at the Cliveden House luxury hotel in Buckinghamshire. They have three daughters and a son.


title: Alex Curran

text: On 11 December 2007, while husband Steven Gerrard was away playing with Liverpool, the couple's home was burgled while she and another female resident were inside. Curran was confronted by four masked robbers who were reportedly there for a £10,000 watch that Curran had bought for Gerrard for Christmas. On the same day she had mentioned the watch in "Closer" magazine. Gerrard was the sixth Liverpool player to be burgled while away playing football.


title: Alex Curran

text: In 2010 Curran took to designing when she launched the Forever Unique by Alex Gerrard Collection. Her first collection was so successful that she launched a second collection in 2011.


title: Daniel Kountz

text: Kountz has been on television and in movies. In 1998, he played Ray "The Hood" Wood in "Fifteen and Pregnant", where he acted alongside Kirsten Dunst. In 2001, he played his most notable character to date, Kal in "", where he acted alongside Kimberly J. Brown. In a 2020 question-and-answer panel, Kountz revealed he had four of five auditions for the film before being cast. He also was in an episode of "Ghost Whisperer", titled Ghost in the Machine, as the avatar. He has also had parts in "Just Shoot Me", "3rd Rock from the Sun", "Crossing Jordan", and a few others. He's now a real estate agent in Los Angeles.


title: Daniel Kountz

text: Kountz has been dating his "Halloweentown II" costar Kimberly J. Brown after reconnecting for a "Halloweentown"-themed project for Brown's YouTube channel. In June 2022, Brown announced their engagement on social media. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California.


title: Sapta Puri

text: The Sapta Puri (Sanskrit: सप्त-पुरी "", a Sanskrit meaning "seven cities") are the seven holy pilgrimage centres in India. These are the seven holy pilgrimage sites in Hinduism, which bless the pilgrims with moksha (liberation from the cycle of birth and death).


title: Sapta Puri

text: Ayodhya, Mathura, Maya (Mayapuri or Haridwar), Kashi (Varanasi), Kanchi (Kanchipuram), Avantika (Ujjain) and Dwaravati (Dwaraka); These seven cities are giver of Moksha (Liberation) (and are called Mokshapuri).</poem>


title: Sapta Puri

text: The Sapta Puri are places of birth of religious and spiritual masters, places where gods have descended as avatars (incarnations) such as Ayodhya where Rama was born, and places considered as "Nitya tirthas", naturally endowed, with spiritual powers since ages such as Varanasi and Haridwar. Kanchipuram is known for its Kamakshi Amman Temple dedicated to the mother goddess. Dwarka represents the place where god Krishna, after leaving Mathura spent 100 years before He left for his divine abode from here, according to the epic Mahabharata. Mathura is the embodiment of events in the life of Krishna during his childhood and young days. Haridwar with shrines of both Shiva and Vishnu, represents the gateway to Uttarakhand, as the sacred river Ganges emerges from the hills into the plains at this place. Varanasi is the place of salvation as it is strongly believed that death at this place will bring salvation. Varanasi is the holiest of all and it is favorite to lord Shiva, thus it is often referred as "City of Lord Shiva". In Hinduism, one should visit the major temples in Varanasi in his/her life. Ujjain, also known by the ancient name Avanti, has one of the 12 Jyotirlingas installed in the Mahakaleshwar Temple. Each of these cities is also famous for the spectacular melas or fairs held. Haridwar and Ujjain are famous for the Kumbh Mela held once every 12 years. Marriage festival of Kamakshi at Kanchipuram is a special occasion. Krishna Janmashtami ( birth day of Krishna - generally held in August as per Hindu calendar) is a special occasion in Dwarka and Mathura.


title: Sapta Puri

text: The seven religious cities are within India's territorial ambit and pilgrimage to these places greatly enhances the unity of the nation, in spite of its linguistic and cultural diversity. The seven sacred urban centers are well connected by road, rail and air transport with the rest of the country.


title: Sapta Puri

text: Ayodhya () is the legendary place where lord Rama was born and it is also sometimes referred to as Ram Janmabhoomi ("Rama's birth place"). The modern town is located on the banks of river Sarayu, also spelt Saryu. There is a surfeit of temples in this town, numbering over 100. Some of the important ones are: Temple of Rama and his wife Sita, called the Kanak Bhavan; Hanuman temple called the Hanuman Garhi on top of a hill where, apart from a Hanuman statue in a sitting posture, there is also a tall image of Hanuman always bedecked by flowers; the Kshireshwaranath temple of Sita, established by Kausalya, Rama's mother. In addition, there are several kunds or ponds and ghats (bathing steps to approach river or tank water level) with linkage to mythological characters; such as the Brahma kund built in honour of Brahma's visit here, Sita kund, Bharat kund, Lakshman ghat where Lakshman, Rama's brother took bath, Rama ghat (also called Swargadwar meaning gateway to heaven).


title: Sapta Puri

text: There is a legend related to Kusha, son of Rama, in support of the Nageshwaranath temple here. The armlet, which Kusha had lost in the Sarayu river was found by a nag-kanya (a damsel of the serpent family), a devotee of god Shiva, who fell in love with Kusha. A temple was built by Kusha in her honour and is stated to be the only surviving ancient temple dated to the reign of Vikramaditya.


title: Sapta Puri

text: Mathura (), Uttar Pradesh located on the right bank of the Yamuna River in the district headquarters of Mathura district, also called Mathura Mandala or Braj Bhoomi, is considered the heart of Indian culture. Krishna was born here and hence it is also popularly known as 'Krishnajanmabhoomi' ("Krishna's birth place").


title: Sapta Puri

text: Mathura is replete with several historic events. Based on archeological findings of ancient pottery, tools and tackles, Mathura's ancient history has been traced to about 1200 BC. Vedic and Puranic literature also link founding of Mathura by Shatrughna (youngest brother of Rama). The Puranas also mention about two clans namely, Andhaka and Vrsni, the later clan was more organized under Krishna, attesting to historic linkage to the period between sixth century and fifth century BC. Mauryan empire's influence from the fourth century BC, when there was domination of Jain and Buddhist religious culture, have been noted from the sculptures recorded in Mathura. From this period, it has been inferred that "the city had a significant impact on the development of figurative sculpture elsewhere in the country". It was also a commercial hub during this period, imbibing composite culture and religious ethos, apart from establishing a prospering commerce both within and across the borders of the region. Following the Mauryan rule, the Kushans ruled till 3rd century AD when the sacred and secular life styles coalesced. Then a number of rulers followed, with the Gupta empire under Samudra Gupta ruling between 330 AD and 380 AD. During the Gupta empire, which lasted till sixth century AD, there was decline in the prosperity of Mathura. The Huns sacked the city in the sixth century. Thereafter, the city was controlled by Maukhari Dynasty of Kanauj when the Krishna cult evolved from the 7th century onwards to make the city a hub of Krishna worship in the country. Then Mahmud of Ghazni invaded and ransacked Mathura and decamped with all religious treasures made of gold and silver. This was followed by ushering in the rule of Slave Dynasty or Delhi Sultanate from 1193 AD and subsequently by the Mughal Dynasty rule, which lasted till the British took over. The Mughal rule, in particular of Aurangzeb saw the highest level of persecution, when in 1669 the Keshava temple was demolished and in its place a mosque was built. Even though the jat community of the region tried unsuccessfully to restore some of the temples but repeated Muslim depredation continued and it was not until the British Raj came into effect, after the Sepoy Mutiny in 1857, that Krishna worship in Mathura got a reprieve. British archeologists were successful in recreating the ancient historicity of the city and providing insight to Indian culture. Krishna temples and ancient history are now both major attractions of the city.


title: Sapta Puri

text: The present Keshav Dev Temple has been built at the same location where several major temples had been built in the 5000 years of hoary past, which is traced to the Vajranabha, the great grandson of Krishna. A grand temple was rebuilt during the reign of Chandra Gupta Vikramaditya in the 5th century that was sacked by Mahmud of Ghazni. Thereafter, at the same location Raja Veer Singh Deva Bundela had built a high temple during Jahangir's reign, which was also destroyed by Aurangzeb in 1669 and a mosque built in its place, which can be seen adjoining the present temple. The present temple (see picture in infobox) was completed in 1958 with installation of images of Radha Krishna. In the adjoining altars several images have been installed; on the left altar images of Jagannath (a form of Krishna), Balarama (Krishna's brother) and Subhadra (Krishna's sister) are seen; on the right altar idols of Rama, Sita and Lakshman are installed, right across there is a Hanuman idol. Images of Shiva and goddess Durga are also seen within the main temple foyer. The main temple complex also has a small shrine where Krishna was born (said to be the prison where he was born) depicting images of Vasudeva, Devaki and four-armed Krishna.


title: Sapta Puri

text: On the bank of the Yamuna River, at Vishrama ghat aarti is offered every evening to the river, since it is stated to be the location where Krishna rested after slaying King Kamsa, his maternal uncle. Images of goddess Yamuna and her brother Yama, the god of death, are also located here.


title: Sapta Puri

text: There are many other temples of importance to pilgrims within Mathura, to name only a few, such as the Prem Mandir Vrindavan, Radha Govind Dev Ji Temple, Radha Madan Mohan Temple, Radha Damodar Temple, Radha Gopinath temple, Banke Bihari temple, Krishna Balarama temple, Rangaji temple, Radha Vallabh Temple, Nidhivan and Seva Kunja. Also, in the nearby Vrindavan where Krishna spent his childhood days, there is a galaxy of temples (said to be 5000), which is also a very pious place for pilgrims. It is away from Mathura.


title: Sapta Puri

text: Other important religious events observed by pilgrims in the precincts of Mathura and Vrindavan are the Vrindavan Parikrama (religious practice) (circumambulation around the temples along a prescribed path) and the Braj Mandal parikrama during October–November, which takes 3 months to complete on foot, as it includes going round the Govardhan hill, apart from several other shrines.


title: Sapta Puri

text: "Haridwar", also written as "Hardwar", literally means "gateway to god Vishnu (Hari)" or "gateway to god Shiva (Har)". It is the holiest city in the state of Uttarakhand. It is strategically located () on the western bank of the river Ganges as it emerges into the plains at the exact location where the Har-Ki-Pauri ghat has been built to facilitate pilgrims to take a holy bath. It is thus also called the "Gangadwara", the place where the Ganges descends to the plains. Every year, thousands of people flock to Haridwar, also called Hardwar, to bathe at the Har-Ki-Pauri ghat (ghat is an embankment structure built out of stone slabs leading to the river edge to facilitate bathing) since it is believed that the feet of Vishnu is imprinted on a rock preserved here. Every evening at sun set time at the ghat, thousands of pilgrims offer arti, a Hindu ritual of offering lights of earthen lamps on small floating leaf holders with flowers, as the temple bells reverberate amidst chanting of hymns.


title: Sapta Puri

text: Legend from Hindu scriptures state that Haridwar is one among the four sites where drops of Amrita, the elixir of immortality, accidentally spilled over from the pitcher, in which it was being carried away by the celestial bird Garuda, after the Samudra manthan (churning of the ocean); the other three places are said to be Ujjain, Nasik, and Prayagraj.


title: Sapta Puri

text: Another legend narrated for this pilgrim place is that sage Kapila had cursed the ancestors of prince Bhagiratha. Bhagiratha, therefore, wanted to atone for their sins by performing penance to god Shiva here. Shiva pleased with the prayers of Bhagiratha, allowed the Ganges to trickle through his locks and fall on earth from heaven.


title: Sapta Puri

text: It is from here that the Ganges emerging out of the Shivalik hills of the Rudra-Himalayas travels a distance of through the fertile Gangetic plains of North India. It is also the site where the river has been tapped for beneficial uses of irrigation and hydro-power generation by a complex system of barrages (low gated weirs) with large canal systems. Its hoary history, closely spun around the epic Mahabharata (also substantiated in the travelogues of the Chinese chronicler Hiuen Tsang), records that Timurlane had ransacked this town in the year 1399 AD. Apart from the holy ghat, there are a large number of temples in the city dedicated to Shiva, goddess Shakti or Durga (a cable car way has been built to approach this temple, apart from the ancient approach by steps over the hills), Vishnu and a galaxy of other deities. It is the pious location where, Hindus from all parts of the country, particularly North India, immerse ashes of the dead and perform last rites.


title: Sapta Puri

text: Apart from the regular annual pilgrimage season from April to November, during February–March "Magh Mela" ('mela' means "fair") is also held on a large scale. Other spectacular events that are held here are the Ardh Kumbha Mela (half Kumbh Mela) held every six years. The 12 years cycle Kumbh Mela is held during January or February depending on the Hindu Calmanac. It is the occasion when lakhs of people congregate here for a holy dip in the Ganges. The Kumbh Mela (literal meaning is ('festival of pots') is the "confluence of faith" since lakhs of people irrespective of their caste affiliations attend it. Astrological combination of planets decide the date for the event; generally when Jupiter, Sun and Moon are in the same zodiacal sign of the Aquarius, but in Haridwar it is fixed when Sun is in Aries and Jupiter in Aquarius, which is called the 'Vaishaki snan' (Vaishakha is the second month of Hindu calendar and "snan" means bathing).


title: Sapta Puri

text: A lyrical poetic expression of the place by Mavis Jones, which succinctly describes the environment and the religiosity of the pilgrims is quoted below.


title: Sapta Puri

text: Haridwar is at a road distance of from Delhi, the capital of the nation, and from Dehradun, the state capital of Uttarakhand.


title: Sapta Puri

text: Varanasi () also called Kashi, Benares, is an ancient city, said to be the oldest inhabited one. The city was known by several names such as "Avimuktaka", "Anandakanana", "Mahasmasana", "Surandhana", "Brahma Vardha", "Sudarsana", and "Ramya".


title: Sapta Puri

text: In view of its ancient historic, cultural and religious heritage it is considered as “the most holy of the seven sacred cities of Hinduism”. Its historical and religious legacy dates to the Buddha period (6th Century BC) and has been the centre of religious “Brahminical learning” with sages, philosophers, writers and musicians making it their home in the past several centuries. But much of its temple glory was subject to plundering and destruction by Mohammad Ghauri in the 12th century. The temples and religious institutions seen now in the city are mostly of the 18th century vintage.


title: Sapta Puri

text: The temples and the bathing ghats (ghats are embankments made in steps of stone slabs along the river bank where pilgrims perform ritual ablutions) are located on the left west bank of the holy Ganges river and the count of temples in the city is claimed to be 23,000 and the bathing ghats number 81. The most venerated and frequented ghats for devotional worship by the pilgrims are the Manikarnika Ghat, Harishchandra Ghat, Dashashwamedh Ghat (pictured), Assi Ghat and Panchganga Ghat. At two of the ghats (Manikarnika and Harishchandra Ghats), Hindus cremate their dead. The rivers 'Varuna' and 'Asi' combined form the name of the city "Varanasi". These two rivers flowing on the left bank of the Ganges enclose the old city of Varanasi. The ghats at the confluence sites of these two streams with the Ganges are also held in veneration. All these factors have contributed to the city being called the religious capital of Hinduism.


title: Sapta Puri

text: Varanasi is also known as the favourite city of the Hindu deity Shiva as it has been mentioned in the Rigveda that this city in older times was known as Kashi or "Shiv ki Nagri". The Pandavas went to Kashi in search of Shiva to atone for their sins of fratricide and bramhanahatya that they had committed during the epic Kurukshetra war of Mahabharata epic.


title: Sapta Puri

text: Among the innumerable temples in the city, most worshipped are: the Kashi Vishvanath Temple of Shiva; the Sankat Mochan Hanuman Temple; and the Durga Temple known for the band of monkeys that reside in the large trees nearby. In addition, there are two new temples, the Tulasi Manas and the Vishvanatha temple located in the Banaras Hindu University campus. Ancient Buddhist monasteries are seen at Sarnath, but they are mostly in ruins. There are also temples built by the Maha Bodhi Society and by the Chinese, Burmese, and Tibetan Buddhists.


title: Sapta Puri

text: Religious festivals are held here. On the occasion of the Mahashivaratri (meaning great night of Shiva) a procession of Shiva is taken from the Mahamrityunjaya Temple to the Kashi Vishvanath Temple. Another popular festival is the Ganges festival held in November or December when the Ganges is venerated by arti offered by thousands of pilgrims who also release lighted lamps to float in the river from the ghats (pictured). The historic event of Rama returning after 14 years of exile, termed vanavas (living in forest) in Sanskrit, and meeting his younger brother Bharat is celebrated during October or November as "Bharat Milap" ('Milap' means "meeting") festival. At the Tulsi Ghat, a classical musical soiree, particularly of dhrupad style, is held during March for 5 days where iconic artists from all parts of India are invited to perform.


title: Sapta Puri

text: In one sentence, Mark Twain, the renowned Indophile, has extolled the greatness of Varanasi thus: "Benares is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together."


title: Sapta Puri

text: Kanchipuram (), the pilgrimage city, in Tamil Nadu, also known as Canjeevaram during the British rule, built during the Pallava Dynasty between 6th and 8th centuries, located on the bank of the Palar River, has an architectural legacy of over 1000 years. Before this period, it was the capital of early Cholas in the 2nd century BC. After the rule of the Pallava Dynasty, the Vijayanagara empire and the Nayaka dynasty period followed, in that order. Prior to the Pallava reign, it is conjectured, based on the chronicles of the Xuanzang, the Chinese pilgrim who visited Pallavas court, that the city was under the influence of Ashoka, the Mauryan emperor in 3rd century BC. Xuanzang had also noted that Buddha had visited this place. Jain and Buddhist temples and stupas of the Chola Dynasty reign have been recorded but mostly do not exist on ground. But South Indian architecture got a fillip only during the Pallava rule, particularly of rock cut temples during Mahendarvarman I's reign after he converted from Jainism to Hinduism . He was considered a man with vision and intelligence, a scholar, musician and a playwright. Kanchipuram was considered second only to Varanasi city in fame and learning. Adi Shankara, the Hindu philosopher saint, who propagated the Advaita philosophy lived and taught here in the eighth century AD.


title: Sapta Puri

text: The city has 108 Shaiva and 18 Vaishnava temples. The Hindu philosopher Ramanujacharya who propagated the Vishishtadvaita philosophy studied here. The temples are distributed in three zones of the city namely, the Vishnu temples are in the east zone, the Shiva shrines are on the outskirts of the city in the northern zone and the Jain mandirs are on the east across the Palar River.


title: Sapta Puri

text: Some of the exquisitely designed and built temples of the Vijayanagar period in Vijayanagara architecture style are the Ekamabaranath temple tower which is in height, and the Varadaraja Swamy temple, which has a 1000-pillar hall.


title: Sapta Puri

text: Kamakshi Amman temple is an ancient temple here and the most famous of all the temples in the city. It is associated with Adi Shankara. Legend has it that Kamakshi offered worship to a Shivaling made out of sand and gained Shiva's hand in marriage. The temple covers an area of about and the sanctum is covered with gold plated Vimana. Kamakshi is enshrined in the temple in a sitting posture called the "Parabramha Swaroopini", seated with the trinity of Bramha, Vishnu and Shiva.


title: Sapta Puri

text: It is located from Chennai, the state capital of Tamil Nadu and from Bangalore, the state capital of Karnataka. It has a good net work of roads, rail links and transport services to all parts of the country, and the nearest domestic and international airports are at Chennai.


title: Sapta Puri

text: Ujjain () with an ancient scriptural name of Avantika compliments both rich historical and religious traditions. The history dates its links to the period of Vikramaditya and Ashoka (3rd century BC). The religious tradition links it to god Shiva triumphing over the demon king Tripurasura and then renaming the city as Ujjainyini (meaning 'conquers with pride').


title: Sapta Puri

text: Ujjain, probably, also marks the spread of Hindu religious beliefs to the Central Asia region. Particular mention could be made to the reign of Vima Kadphises, during the Kushan Dynasty, who considered Shiva as his divine patron. During his reign, apart from the influence of Greek religious practices, worship of Shiva, in particular, was also seen as an accepted practice in Iran. This leaning is attributed to Vima Kadphises's victory over Indian territory. Inscriptions of his times in Iran establish that he had converted the temple of Dioscuri (built during Greeko – Bactrian period) at Dilberjin into a sanctuary for Shiva by decorating the place with a painting of Shiva and his wife Parvati. He got the wall painting of Shiva ("Oeso") done by craftsmen he had taken from Ujjayani (Ujjain), apart from constructing a water conveyance system to the sanctuary of Shiva. Inscriptions further testify that the Kushan king attributed his rise to power to Srava (=Shiva) and Candavira. It is deduced that Candavira may be the same god as Candishvara, the God of Mahakala temple at Ujjain. It is also conjectured that the support of the Indian community (who worshipped Shiva) settled in eastern Iran and the encouragement he got from their priesthood, before and during his Indian campaign, and his relations with Ujjain, contributed to his deep involvement with the cult of Shiva. This devotion was continued by him even after his Indian campaign.


title: Sapta Puri

text: Emperor Ashoka also played a significant role as the Viceroy of Ujjain in enhancing its importance. Ashoka who ruled for three decades between 268 and 233 BC started his career in Taxila (now in Pakistan) in the north west by subduing a revolt. Thereafter, his father Bindusara, of the Mauryan Dynasty, transferred Ashoka as his Viceroy to Ujjain, which was the famous capital of the earlier kingdom of Avanti, in Central India.


title: Sapta Puri

text: It was once the largest city and capital of Malwa region. In the ancient city of Ujjain, Jai Singh II ruled in the 18th century. Jai Singh II built an observatory here, called the Jantar Mantar. The reason for building the observatory here was that it was the centre of Hindu Astronomy since ancient times and it was located on the prime or first meridian (of longitude) established on the canons of Hindu astronomy. According to Indian astronomy, the first meridian of longitude passes through Ujjain. The modern calculations have established that the Tropic of Cancer passes through Ujjain.


title: Sapta Puri

text: Ujjain is about south from Delhi, the capital city of India, and west of Bhopal, the state capital of Madhya Pradesh. It is away from


title: Sapta Puri

text: Krishna, an incarnation of god Vishnu, is believed to have migrated from Mathura to Dwarka () 5000 years ago and made Dwarka his capital., as noted in the scripture Bhagavata Purana. He established the city on the bank of the Gomti River. But after the death of Krishna, there was downfall of his dynasty, the Yadavas. This was further compounded by floods and eventual submergence of Krishna's city in the Arabian Sea. Presently, Dwarka is a small city located at the western tip of Saurashtra peninsular in Gujarat state on the shores of the Arabian Sea.


title: Sapta Puri

text: Chronology of the recorded historic events witnessed at the temple city linked directly to the temple, is dated from 400 B.C. when Vajranabha built an umbrella type temple and deified his grand father Krishna's image there. It has undergone several changes with times under different rulers. Adi Shankaracharya is said to have got the Dwarakadheesh temple renovated and also added a shrine of goddess Adya Shakti. Over the next few centuries more renovations took place with grant of additional land till 1261 AD, when the temple was destroyed by Mohamed Shah. In subsequent years also, renovation took place but there was dispute between two groups for the control of the temple. In 1504, Vallabhacharya established the image of Dwarakadeesh in a well in Ladva village to protect it from Muslim marauders and again it was shifted to Dungarpur where the temple was renovated. In 1861, Maharaja Khanderao renovated the temple. During British rule, the temple tower was rebuilt. A golden pitcher was fixed on the temple tower by Maharaja Gaekwad in the year 1903 and further renovations were undertaken by the then Shankarachrya of Dwarka Peet. Since 1960, the conservation of the temple is under the control of the Government of India.


title: Sapta Puri

text: The present Dwarakhadheesh temple, also called the Jagat Mandir (universal shrine) or "trilok sundar" (most beautiful in all three worlds), is a seven storied structure, in height, appears to be raising above the Arabian sea. It is dated to the 13th century AD on the basis of oceanographic explorations undertaken to trace the ancient temple, which was submerged in the Arabian sea. The elegantly carved temple shikara (tower) is adorned with a huge flag, which is said to be in length with seven colours that can be seen flying from a distance of (hoisting this flag has a great religious significance). There is an approach to the back side of the temple from the Gomti River end, which is built of 56 steps. The temple built in soft limestone has a sanctum enclosed within a large hall with covered entrance from three sides. While the external carvings depict erotic scenes, the temple sanctum is austere in design but the main image is elaborately ornamented.