Background.

On 30 October 1918, towards the end of World War I, the Sharifian Army led by Emir Faisal, backed by the British Army, captured Damascus from the Ottomans as part of the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire. The war ended less than a month after the Sharifian–British conquest of Damascus. In correspondences between the Sharifian leadership in Mecca and Henry McMahon, the British high commissioner in Cairo, the latter promised to support the establishment of a Sharifian kingdom in the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire in return for launching a revolt against the Ottomans. However, the British and French governments secretly made previous arrangements regarding the division of the Ottomans' Arab provinces between themselves in the 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement.  To ensure his throne in Syria, Faisal attended the January 1919 Paris Conference, where he was not recognized by the French government as the sovereign ruler of Syria; Faisal called for Syrian sovereignty under his rule, but the European powers attending the conference called for European mandates to be established over the former Arab territories of the Ottoman Empire. In the US-led June 1919 King–Crane Commission, which published its conclusions in 1922, the commission determined that the people of Syria overwhelmingly rejected French rule. Furthermore, Emir Faisal stated to the commission that "French rule would mean certain death to Syrians as a distinguished people".  French forces commanded by General Henri Gouraud landed in Beirut on 18 November 1919, with the ultimate goal of bringing all of Syria under French control. Shortly thereafter, French forces deployed to the Beqaa Valley between Beirut and Damascus. Against King Faisal's wishes, his delegate to General Gouraud, Nuri al-Said, agreed to the French deployment and the disbandment of Arab troops from al-Mu'allaqa, near Zahle. The agreement between al-Said and Gouraud was contrary to an earlier agreement Faisal had made with French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau, which held that French troops would not deploy in the Beqaa Valley until the League of Nations ruled on the matter. Faisal condemned al-Said and accused of him of treachery. Following the Arab Army withdrawal from al-Mu'allaqa, Christian militiamen from Zahle raided the town, prompting attacks from local Muslim militiamen, which forced several Christian families to the coast. Amid these developments, armed groups of rebels and bandits emerged throughout the Beqaa Valley. When a French officer in Baalbek was assaulted by Shia Muslim rebels opposed to the French presence, Gouraud held the Arab government responsible and demanded that it apologize, which it did not. In response, Gouraud violated his agreement with al-Said and occupied Baalbek. The French deployment along the Syrian coast and the Beqaa Valley provoked unrest throughout Syria and sharpened political divisions between the political camp calling for confronting the French and the camp preferring compromise.  On 8 March 1920, the Syrian National Congress proclaimed the establishment of the Kingdom of Syria, with Faisal as king. This unilateral action was immediately rejected by the British and French. In the San Remo Conference, which was called by the Allied Powers in April 1920, the allocation of mandates in the Arab territories was finalized, with France given a mandate over Syria. France's allocation of Syria was, in turn, repudiated by Faisal and the Syrian National Congress. After months of instability and failure to make good on the promises Faisal had made to the French, General Gouraud gave an ultimatum to Faisal on 14 July 1920 demanding that he disband the Arab Army and submit to French authority by 20 July or face a French military invasion. On 18 July, Faisal and the entire cabinet, with the exception of War Minister Yusuf al-'Azma, agreed to the ultimatum and issued disbandment orders for the Arab Army units at Anjar, the Beirut–Damascus road and the hills of the Anti-Lebanon Mountains overlooking the Beqaa Valley. Two days later, Faisal informed the French liaison in Damascus of his acceptance of the ultimatum, but for unclear reasons, Faisal's notification did not reach Gouraud until 21 July. Sources suspicious of French intentions accused the French of intentionally delaying delivery of the notice to give Gouraud an official excuse for advancing on Damascus. However, there has been no evidence or indication of French sabotage. News of the disbandment and Faisal's submission led to riots in Damascus on 20 July and their suppression by Emir Zeid, which led to around 200 deaths. Al-'Azma, who staunchly opposed surrender, implored Faisal to allow him and the remnants of his army to confront the French.

Prelude.

On 22 July, Faisal dispatched Education Minister Sati al-Husri and the Arab government's former Beirut representative, Jamil al-Ulshi, to meet Gouraud at his headquarters in Aley and persuade him to end his army's advance to Damascus. Gouraud responded by extending the ultimatum by one day and with new, more stringent conditions, namely that France be allowed to establish a mission in Damascus to supervise the implementation of the original ultimatum and the establishment of the French mandate. Al-Husri returned to Damascus the same day to communicate Gouraud's message to Faisal, who called for a meeting of the cabinet on 23 July to consider the new ultimatum. Colonel Cousse, a French liaison officer to Damascus, interrupted the meeting with a demand from Gouraud that the French army be allowed to advance toward Maysalun, where water wells were abundant. Gouraud had originally planned to launch the offensive against Damascus from Ayn al-Judaydah, a spring in the Anti-Lebanon Range, but the lack of water sources there amid the steep, barren mountains led to a change of plans. Accordingly, Gouraud sought to occupy Khan Maysalun, an isolated caravanserai on the Beirut–Damascus road situated at the crest of the Wadi al-Qarn mountain pass in the Anti-Lebanon, located west of Damascus. Gouraud was also motivated to occupy Khan Maysalun because of its proximity to the Hejaz Railway. Cousse's message confirmed the fears of Faisal's cabinet that Gouraud was intent on taking over Syria by force. The cabinet subsequently rejected Gouraud's ultimatum and issued a largely symbolic appeal to the international community to end the French advance. On 23 July, Al-'Azma set out from Damascus with his motley force of army regulars and volunteers, which was divided into northern, central and southern columns each headed by camel cavalry units. French forces launched their offensive towards Khan Maysalun and Wadi al-Qarn shortly after dawn on 24 July, at 5:00, while Syrian forces were waiting at their positions overlooking the low end of Wadi al-Qarn.

Combatants and arms.

French forces.

Estimates of the combined size of the French Army of the Levant forces that participated in the battle ranged from 9,000 to 12,000 troops. The troops were mostly made up of Senegalese and Algerian units, and consisted of ten infantry battalions and a number of cavalry and artillery units. Among the participating units were the 415th Infantry Regiment, the 2nd Algerian Riflemen Regiment, the Senegalese Division, the African Riflemen Regiment and the Moroccan Sipahi Battalion. A number of Maronite volunteers from Mount Lebanon reportedly joined the French forces as well. The Army of the Levant was equipped with plain and mountain artillery batteries and 155mm guns, and backed by tanks and fighter bombers. The commander of the French forces was General Mariano Goybet.

Syrian forces.

Syrian forces consisted of remnants of the Arab Army assembled by General al-'Azma, including soldiers from General Hassan al-Hindi's disbanded Anjar-based garrison, disbanded units from Damascus and Bedouin camel cavalry; most Arab Army units had been disbanded days prior to the battle by order of King Faisal as part of his acceptance of General Gouraud's terms. In addition to Arab Army troops, numerous civilian volunteers and militiamen from Damascus joined al-'Azma's forces. Estimates put the number of Syrian soldiers and irregulars at around 4,000, while historian Eliezer Tauber asserts that al-'Azma recruited 3,000 soldiers and volunteers, of whom only 1,400 participated in the battle. According to historian Michael Provence, the "quarters of Damascus had been emptied of young men as crowds walked west, some armed only with swords or sticks, to meet the mechanized French column".  Part of the civilian militia units were assembled and led by Yasin Kiwan, a Damascene merchant, Abd al-Qadir Kiwan, the former imam of the Umayyad Mosque, and Shaykh Hamdi al-Juwajani, a Muslim scholar. Yasin and Abd al-Qadir were killed during the battle. Shaykh Muhammad al-Ashmar also participated in the battle with 40–50 of his men from the Midan quarter of Damascus. Other Muslim preachers and scholars from Damascus, including Tawfiq al-Darra (ex-mufti of the Ottoman Fifth Army), Sa'id al-Barhani (preacher at the Tuba Mosque), Muhammad al-Fahl (scholar from the Qalbaqjiyya Madrasa) and Ali Daqqar (preacher at the Sinan Pasha Mosque) also participated in the battle.  The Syrians were equipped with rifles discarded by retreating Ottoman soldiers during World War I and those used by the Sharifian Army's Bedouin cavalry during the 1916 Arab Revolt. The Syrians also possessed a number of machine guns and about 15 artillery pieces. According to various versions, ammunition was low, with 120–250 bullets per rifle, 45 bullets per machine gun, and 50–80 shells per cannon. Part of this ammunition was also unusable because many bullet and rifle types did not correspond to each other.

Battle.

The first clashes took place at 6:30 when French tanks stormed the central position of the Syrian defensive line while French cavalry and infantry units assaulted the Syrians' northern and southern positions. The camel cavalry were the first Syrian units to engage the French. Syrian forces initially put up stiff resistance along the front, but lacked coordination between their different units. Early in the clashes, Syrian artillery fire inflicted casualties on a battery of French soldiers. French tanks faced heavy fire as they attempted to gain ground against the Syrians. However, French artillery took a toll on Syrian forces and by 8:30 the French had broken the Syrians' central trench. At one point in the first few hours of the clashes, Syrian forces managed to briefly pin down two Senegalese companies that were relatively isolated on the French right flank. The losses inflicted on the two Senegalese units represented roughly half of the French army's total casualties. Nonetheless, by 10:00, the battle was effectively over, having turned decisively in favor of the French.  At 10:30, French forces reached al-'Azma's headquarters, unhindered by the mines laid en route by the Syrians. Little information is known about the battle from the Syrian side. According to one version, when French forces were about 100 meters in the distance, al-'Azma rushed to a Syrian artilleryman stationed near him and demanded him to open fire. However, before any shells could be fired, a French tank unit spotted al-'Azma and gunned him down by machine gun. In another account, al-'Azma had attempted to mine the trenches as the French forces approached his position, but was shot down by the French before he could set off the charges. Al-'Azma's death marked the end of the battle, although intermittent clashes continued until 13:30. Surviving Syrian fighters were bombed from the air and harried by the French as they retreated toward Damascus.  After the battle, General Gouraud addressed General Goybet as follows:  GENERAL ORDER No. 22
  Aley, 24 July 1920

Aftermath.

Initial estimates of the casualties which claimed 2,000 Syrian dead and 800 French casualties turned out to be exaggerated. The French Army claimed 42 of its soldiers were killed, 152 wounded and 14 missing in action, while around 150 Syrian fighters were killed and 1,500 wounded. King Faisal observed the battle unfold from the village of al-Hamah, and as it became apparent that the Syrians had been routed, he and his cabinet, with the exception of Interior Minister 'Ala al-Din al-Durubi, who had quietly secured a deal with the French, departed for al-Kiswah, a town located at the southern approaches of Damascus.  French forces had captured Aleppo on 23 July without a fight, and after their victory at Maysalun, French troops besieged and captured Damascus on 25 July. Within a short time, the majority of Faisal's forces fled or surrendered to the French, although parties of Arab groups opposed to French rule continued to resist before being quickly defeated. King Faisal returned to Damascus on 25 July and asked al-Durubi to form a government, although al-Durubi had already decided on the composition of his cabinet, which was confirmed by the French. General Gouraud condemned Faisal's rule in Syria, accusing him of having "dragged the country to within an inch of destruction", and stating that because of this, it was "utterly impossible for him to remain in the country". Faisal denounced Gouraud's statement and insisted that he remained the sovereign head of Syria whose authority he was "granted by the Syrian people".  Although he verbally dismissed the French order expelling him and his family from Syria, Faisal departed Damascus on 27 July with only one of his cabinet members, al-Husri. He initially traveled south to Daraa in the Hauran region where he gained the allegiance of local tribal leaders. However, a French ultimatum to the tribal leaders to expel Faisal or face the bombardment of their encampments compelled Faisal to head west to Haifa in British-held Palestine on 1 August and avoid further bloodshed. Faisal's departure from Syria marked an end to his goal of establishing and leading an Arab state in Syria.

Legacy.

The French took control of the territory that became the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon. France divided Syria into smaller statelets centered on certain regions and sects, including Greater Lebanon for the Maronites, Jabal al-Druze State for the Druze in Hauran, the Alawite State for the Alawites in the Syrian coastal mountains and the states of Damascus and Aleppo. Gouraud reportedly went to the tomb of Saladin, kicked it, and said:  Although the Syrians were decisively defeated, the Battle of Maysalun "has gone down in Arab history as a synonym for heroism and hopeless courage against huge odds, as well as for treachery and betrayal", according to Iraqi historian Ali al-Allawi. According to British journalist Robert Fisk, the Battle of Maysalun was "a struggle which every Syrian learns at school but about which almost every Westerner is ignorant". Historian Tareq Y. Ismael wrote that following the battle, the "Syrian resistance at Khan Maysalun soon took on epic proportions. It was viewed as an Arab attempt to stop the imperial avalanche." He also states that the Syrians' defeat caused popular attitudes in the Arab world that exist until the present day which hold that the Western world dishonors the commitments it makes to the Arab people and "oppresses anyone who stands in the way of its imperial designs." Sati' al-Husri, a major pan-Arabist thinker, asserted that the battle was "one of the most important events in the modern history of the Arab nation." The event is annually commemorated by Syrians, during which thousands visit the grave of al-'Azma in Maysalun.

The Battle of Maysalun (), also called the Battle of Maysalun Pass or the Battle of Khan Maysalun, was a four-hour battle fought between the forces of the Arab Kingdom of Syria and the French Army of the Levant on 24 July 1920 near Khan Maysalun in the Anti-Lebanon Mountains, about west of Damascus.

La bataille de Khan Maysaloun (en ) est une bataille survenue le, lors de la guerre franco-syrienne. Elle a opposé les forces du Royaume arabe de Syrie et l'Armée française du Levant.


Personal life.

Tom Murton was born in 1928. His parents were E.T. Murton and Bessie Glass Stevens. He was married to Margaret E. Conway and had four children, Marquita (Marquita Schendel), Teresa (Teresa Kress), Melanie (Melanie Sandstrom) and Mark Murton.  Murton died of cancer at the age of 62 on October 10, 1990, at a Veterans Affairs Hospital in Oklahoma City. Both of his parents and the four children survived him.

Education and penological views.

Before his career as a penologist, Murton attained a bachelor's degree in animal husbandry from Oklahoma State University in 1950. He earned a degree in mathematics at Fairbanks, Alaska between 1957 and 1958 with benefits under the GI bill. He enrolled in the University of California, Berkeley in 1964 and completed a Master of Arts Degree in criminology and satisfied residency requirements for a doctorate in 1966. After he was dismissed from the Arkansas correctional system in 1968, he completed a doctoral degree in criminology at the University of California, Berkeley.  According to his obituary in "The New York Times",  Mr. Murton's ideas on prison reform included treating prisoners with respect, abolishing corporal punishment, providing better food and rooting out extortion and other rackets among the inmates. Vehemently opposed to the death penalty, he dismantled the electric chair at Cummins. He also opposed life sentences. "When you sentence a man to life in prison, with no chance of getting out, he's going to die one day at a time because he knows he's doomed to walk the halls of purgatory for as long as he's alive," he once told an interviewer.

Career.

Murton had helped establish the correctional system of the new state of Alaska during the 1960s.  He was teaching at Southern Illinois University when he was hired to reform the Arkansas prison system in 1968. He wrote about his experiences there (with co-author Joe Hyams) in "Accomplices to the Crime: The Arkansas Prison Scandal," published in 1969 by Grove Press. He was unable to find work in the correctional industry after that, and believed he had been blackballed for his work in Arkansas.  From 1971 to 1979, he taught at the University of Minnesota. In 1980, he left full-time teaching and returned to farming, raising wheat and ducks on his mother's farm in Deer Creek, Oklahoma. He occasionally taught courses in Corrections in the early to mid-1980s as an adjunct professor at San Jose State University and Chaminade University of Honolulu, which were affiliated at the time in their Criminal Justice programs. He died in Deer Creek in 1990.  In 1976, he wrote his second book on penal reform, "The Dilemma of Prison Reform," published by Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Prison scandal.

Hired to end corruption.

In the 1960s, Arkansas maintained two large prison farms: the Tucker State Prison Farm and Cummins State Prison Farm. The farms used over a thousand inmates as forced labor to produce profits which annually "averaged about $1,400,000 over the years...".  In 1967, Arkansas inaugurated a new governor to follow Orval Faubus, who had held that office for twelve years (six terms). State Governor Winthrop Rockefeller released a report on the state prison system which had been ordered and then suppressed by Faubus. The 67-page report detailed horrific conditions at the two state penal farms, including endemic sexual assault, electrical torture, flogging, beatings with blackjacks and hoses, extortion of money from other inmates by the armed prisoners who were working as "trusty" guards (due to the absence of a salaried guard force), open marketing of illegal drugs and alcohol, and a host of other malicious and criminal practices. Particularly ironic, as well as harsh, was the poor quality and quantity of food given to the prisoners—on a farm which marketed enough produce and dairy products to produce profits that were averaging $1.4 million (US) in 1960s dollars (more than $ in current dollars).  In his own later writings about Tucker, Murton noted the cruelty of the "trustees":  Discipline was routinely enforced by flogging, beating with clubs, inserting of needles under fingernails, crushing of testicles with pliers, and the last word in torture devices: the "Tucker telephone," an instrument used to send an electric current through genitals.  In 1967, along with releasing the Faubus report, Rockefeller sought to reform the system by bringing in Murton, who had made his reputation by helping establish the Alaskan correctional system after that territory achieved statehood in 1959. Murton, then 39 years old, was chosen to be the first professional penologist the state of Arkansas had ever hired as a warden.  In early February 1968, Murton ordered excavations on the grounds of the Cummins prison farm. Three bodies were uncovered before the excavation was halted, although 15 to 25 depressions were clearly visible. Murton's inmate informant told him that as many as 200 bodies had been buried there; also, the number of prisoners listed as "escapees" since 1915 was reported as "more than 200".  According to the informant, Reuben Johnson, most of the men had been killed after refusing extortion demands from the "trusty" guards. Their deaths were either falsely recorded as successful escapes, or recorded as deaths, but under false pretenses. Johnson, a lifer, gave details of murders and burials on the prison grounds dating back for decades, including a mass murder of about 20 inmates around Labor Day of 1940. Johnson was backed up by at least one other inmate, James Wilson. Wilson also asserted that returning escapees were routinely murdered.

Fired to end exposure.

The Rockefeller administration, though not directly implicated in crimes which took place before 1967, was deeply embarrassed by the national attention drawn to the brutality Murton revealed. Claims were made that the bodies must have been from a nearby potters field, a cemetery for the poor. However, as "Time" noted in February 1968, the cemetery in question was over a mile away from where Murton found the bodies, at least one of which was positively identified as prisoner Joe Jackson, buried by Reuben Johnson on Christmas Eve, 1946.  The skeletons were turned over to another arm of state government, the University of Arkansas Medical Center. At the time, Governor Rockefeller stated his intention to withhold details of the investigation from the public until the Arkansas state police issued a report of their findings, incorporating the University's results. Rockefeller was quoted nationwide when he said that there could be no point in "washing dirty linen for weeks on end as each body is dug up".  Murton's agitation eventually disrupted the Rockefeller administration to the extent that not only was he fired two months after the bodies were exhumed, he was told he had twenty-four hours to get out of the state, or be arrested for grave-robbing—a charge with a sentence of twenty-one years, under Arkansas law at that time. He left.  Murton was dismissed in early spring 1968, less than a year after his 1967 hire. Governor Rockefeller claimed that Murton's excavations had become a "sideshow". The governor halted the excavations after the first three bodies were found. The official report by the Rockefeller administration, written by the Arkansas state police, took the position that the bodies must have been from the paupers' cemetery—although the cemetery was a mile away from where the bodies were located.  Murton's book about the scandalous conditions was released the next year, 1969, and the Redford movie was released eleven years later, in 1980 (see "Brubaker").  Murton's career as a correctional administrator was over. In 1982, Murton shared with students in a criminal justice graduate seminar course at the University of Central Oklahoma that he was "blackballed" by the "correctional community". To make a living, he started and maintained a duck farm north of Oklahoma City, where he lived until his death. Dr. William Parker, then department chair over the criminal justice program and subsequently the assistant dean, invited Murton to teach at the University of Central Oklahoma in the mid-1980s. He returned to academia for the next several years, including a short stint teaching criminology and corrections at Oklahoma State University in the mid-1980s. Murton continued to maintain his duck farm until his death in late 1990.

Film.

The book written by Murton and Hyams was published in 1969. In 1980, a fictionalized film treatment starring Robert Redford as "Warden Henry Brubaker" was released to wide acclaim, earning an Oscar nomination. Although the dramatic opening of the film, in which Brubaker impersonates an inmate in order to see the system literally "from inside" before taking up the warden's post, was a fabrication, much of the movie's drama was taken directly from the book.  The fabricated prisoner-impersonation device may have been inspired by Thomas Mott Osborne, a former warden at Sing Sing, who had had himself committed to Auburn Penitentiary in 1913 under an assumed name.

Song.

In 1968, the popular singer Bobby Darin wrote and recorded "Long Line Rider", a song which described the incident, on his album "Bobby Darin Born Walden Robert Cassotto". Some of its lyrics were: "There's a farm in Arkansas, got some secrets in its floor, in decay, in decay. You can tell where they're at, nothing grows, the ground is flat, where they lay, where they lay." It also includes the line "This kind of thing can't happen here, especially not in election year." Darin was due to perform the song on "The Jackie Gleason Show", but when they ordered him to cut that particular line, rather than censor himself, he walked off the set.

Quotes.

"Prisons, mental hospitals, and other institutions are a thermometer that measures the sickness of the larger society. The treatment society affords its outcasts reveals the way in which its members view one another—and themselves."—From the Preface of his book: "Accomplices to the Crime", 1969, Grove Press, Inc., New York.

Thomas O. "Tom" Murton (March 15, 1928 – October 10, 1990) was a penologist best known for his wardenship of the prison farms of Arkansas. In 1969, he published an account of the endemic corruption there which created a national scandal, and which was popularized in a fictional version by the film "Brubaker".

Thomas O. Murton, mieux connu sous le nom de Tom Murton (1928 - 1990), était un pénaliste américain du. En 1969, il publia, avec Joe Hyams, "Accomplices To The Crime: The Arkansas Prison Scandal", un livre sur la corruption du système pénal de l'Arkansas qui fut adapté au cinéma en 1980 dans "Brubaker", un film mettant en vedette Robert Redford.


Biography and career.

Early life and education.

Debbie Joy Voigt was born into a religious Southern Baptist family in 1960 and raised in Wheeling, Illinois, just outside Chicago. At the age of five, she joined the choir at a Baptist church and began learning the piano. Her mother sang and played piano at church while her two younger brothers sang in rock music bands. Those early experiences in church inspired her interest in music. When she was 14, her family moved to Placentia in Orange County, California. It was traumatic to Voigt, then in her teens, to adjust to Southern California, "land of endless sunshine and impossibly perfect bodies."  She attended El Dorado High School, where she was a member of El Dorado's Vocal Music and Theater programs, starring in musicals including "Fiddler on the Roof", "The Music Man" and "Mame". At that time, Voigt recalled in an interview, she did not seriously consider becoming an opera singer and was unaware of the existence of the Metropolitan Opera. Upon graduation in 1978, she won a vocal scholarship funded by the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California so that she could enroll in the voice program at California State University, Fullerton, where she met the voice teacher Jane Paul Hummel, under whom she trained for about eight years. Voigt was the finalist of the Met National Council Auditions for Young Singers in 1985. She won awards from many prestigious singing competitions (see below) and made her Carnegie Hall debut in 1988. Named an Adler Fellow, she apprenticed at San Francisco Opera's Merola Program for two years, studying seven major roles. There, she also took a class from Leontyne Price, the internationally acclaimed, American soprano.

1990s to mid-2000s.

Voigt slowly but surely established her career, entering the professional opera world after winning several first prizes from music competitions. Her breakthrough role was Ariadne in Richard Strauss' "Ariadne auf Naxos" at Boston Lyric Opera in January 1991. The performance was praised by noted arts critic John Rockwell in "The New York Times", who said "it introduced one truly remarkable singer in Deborah Voigt." He predicted that she would soon become an important Wagnerian soprano comparable to American soprano Eileen Farrell. "Ariadne" first brought her to public notice and international success and remains one of her greatest achievements. Later she often refers to her operatic career jokingly as "Ariadne Inc."  When Voigt made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera on October 17, 1991, in the lead role of Amelia in Verdi's "Un ballo in maschera", critic Allan Kozinn stated that she had come to the Met with a big reputation. He noted that "Voigt's deep, mezzolike darkness brought impressive range of color to Amelia's music". He also commented on how well she conveyed Amelia's feeling of urgency and despair in the second act soliloquy, sung with a warm and golden tone. Although Kozinn criticized her acting, which did not match her singing, he emphasized that she did not lose any clarity or smoothness in her big voice. In March 1992, Voigt returned to the Met to sing as Chrysothemis in Strauss' "Elektra".  In the same month, she won the coveted Richard Tucker Award from the Richard Tucker Music Foundation. The prize for winning was to participate in the annual gala of the foundation held on November 22, 1992, at Avery Fisher Hall. Critic Bernard Holland noted that her "Ozean, du Ungeheuer", a long sequence from Weber's "Oberon", brightened the mood and elevated the gala. He complimented her performance as "the Tucker gala's most satisfying". Her big, beautiful soprano was not only agreeable to the ear, but also showed splendid evenness and developed emotion. Two months later Holland, reviewing her substitution for Aprile Millo at the Met, said that her attractive singing in the opening sequence as Leonora in Verdi's "Il trovatore", "reached out and settled comfortably in every corner of this big hall." However, he pointed out that she did not fully immerse herself in the passion of the heroine.  In May 2003, she sang and recorded (for DG) the role of Isolde at the Vienna State Opera.  Since then she has regularly appeared at the Met and at other major opera houses around the world such as San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Opéra Bastille in Paris.

2004: The "little black dress".

In 2004, Voigt was removed from the role of Ariadne at the Royal Opera House when she could not fit into one of the costumes, a "little black dress." The casting director, Peter Mario Katona, wanted her to wear it instead of the typical period costume used in such operas, letting out the dress with tailoring, or replacing it with another costume. She was replaced by Anne Schwanewilms, a German singer of slimmer appearance. She was "very angry" about the incident, but kept silent about it for several months. When the decision became public, the Royal Opera House received significant criticism in the media. It was pointed out that many notable sopranos, such as the Italian Luisa Tetrazzini, American Jessye Norman and English Jane Eaglen, had been "large-boned, zaftig, even the enormous", and Voigt had merely "followed in their heavy footsteps."  The decision was also criticized because of the popular stereotype that female opera singers have to be heavy anyway in order to do a good job. There is the old expression that "in opera, great voices often come in large packages" and the well-worn saying about opera that "It ain't over till the fat lady sings". She was headlined in the British tabloid press as "The show ain't over till the fat lady slims." There was also an outcry because, it seemed at the time, that high culture performing arts, such as opera, should not emulate low culture Hollywood images of thin female stars.  By a strange twist of fate, the incident may have helped her in the long run. Voigt had tried many well-known diets, such as Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers, unsuccessfully over the years. Maestro Georg Solti, "who never minced words", had once expressed concern about her weight. She underwent three-hour gastric bypass surgery in June 2004, which she has discussed publicly. It is highly risky for any person, but especially for a singer, who depends on a strong thoracic diaphragm "to support the column of sound". The operation, performed at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, was successful. She lost over 100 pounds (7 stone), and went from a size 30 to size 14; but has kept her exact weight, both before and after the operation, private.  Voigt has said she went through the surgery not only because of the Royal Opera House but also because of her concern about health problems caused by the weight. In other interviews with "The New York Times" in 2005 and 2008, she said the fees that she was owed from the Royal Opera House paid in part for the surgery. Her concern was that the firing was done so cruelly. In several interviews over the past few years, she has expressed relief and delight in the weight loss.  Since her dramatic weight loss, Voigt has been rehired by the Royal Opera House for the role she was originally fired from in 2004. The public reaction was positive. Voigt said in 2005 that she felt "good will from fans and the public." She said in 2008 that she had "assumed" the "rapprochement" would not happen until they had new management.

2006 to 2008.

In April 2006, she performed her first "Tosca" at the Vienna State Opera and the Metropolitan Opera; her first fully staged "Salome" at Lyric Opera of Chicago premiered in October of the same year. She performed Ariadne in Richard Strauss's "Ariadne auf Naxos" for the theatre during the 2007/08 season, to rave reviews.  In January 2006, she sang Broadway tunes and other popular songs at UCLA's Royce Hall. She performed a similar concert from "the American songbook" in January 2008 at Lincoln Center. This included tributes to Broadway sopranos Barbara Cook and Julie Andrews.  Although Voigt's Fach is that of the "dramatischer" soprano, she has recently—overlooking the 2003 Vienna performances as Isolde—made the transition into singing the "" soprano with her interpretation of Isolde from Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde". She sang the role in the 2007/08 season at the Metropolitan Opera and in the 2008/09 season at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. During one of the performances at the Met, Voigt took ill and had to leave the stage. She returned at the next performance of "Tristan und Isolde" and finished the run to acclaim by most reviewers, including "The New York Times". However, some critics, including "The New York Sun", panned her performance.  On September 28, 2008, Voigt joined American soprano Patricia Racette and American mezzo-soprano Susan Graham in singing a comedic tribute to Spanish tenor Plácido Domingo. The three

2009 to 2010.

In May 2009, Voigt began mentoring a younger soprano, Christina Borgioli, in a new program that she has set up. Borgioli has "been selected as the first participant in the Deborah Voigt/Vero Beach Opera Foundation's Protegee Mentoring Program." This will involve both voice and acting training, and a shadowing experience.  She was set to sing Strauss at the Aspen Music Festival's 60th anniversary concert on August 6, 2009 with David Zinman conducting.  Voigt's next planned formal opera engagement was in the title role of "Tosca" in September and October 2009, at the Lyric Opera in her home town of Chicago. Christina Borgioli, her mentee, will accompany Voigt in this production.  In February and March 2010, she was set to sing Ariadne in "Ariadne auf Naxos" at the Zürich Opera House.  Voigt sang again with the Metropolitan Opera during the 2009/10 Season. She sang Chrysothemis in Richard Strauss's "Elektra" in December 2009, and Senta in "The Flying Dutchman" in April 2010, an "iconic Wagnerian role... for the first time on the Met stage." "The New York Times" review stated that she "brought steely power and lyrical elegance to her first Met Senta..."

"Alceste".

In May 2009, Voigt starred in the rarely heard 1776 opera "Alceste" by Christoph Willibald Gluck, in concert at Lincoln Center's Rose Theatre. She performed with the Collegiate Chorale and American tenor Vinson Cole, as King Admète, and the New York City Opera Orchestra." According to a "New York Times" preview, "The chance to hear Deborah Voigt in her first performance of the title role in Gluck's "Alceste" is clearly driving the ticket sales for the Collegiate Chorale's concert performance of this remarkable opera..." "Time Out" said that Voigt "already proved her affinity for similar material a few years back when she sang Cassandre in Berlioz's "Les Troyens" at the Met." The "France-Amérique" noted that Voigt and the chorus received French diction training for the performance from Thomas Grubb, a teacher at the Juilliard School.  Unfortunately, Voigt caught the flu when she was to perform, yet went on with the show; the photograph caption for the "New York Times" review was, "Deborah Voigt, even with the flu, led a Collegiate Chorale concert performance on Tuesday." The reviewer wrote, "she did some impressive work, singing with power, gleaming sound and sensitive phrasing, though she clearly struggled. Often her voice sounded congested and her top range tight... her voice nearly gave out, and she had to drop down an octave to get through a phrase." The review reserved judgment but noted that some fans were "disappointed." Another reviewer wrote, "One would like very much to hear Voigt undertake this dramatic role again when she is in peak form."

2010 to 2012.

In December 2010, Voigt returned to the Met as Minnie in the 100th anniversary production of the world premiere of Puccini's "La fanciulla del West". She reprised this rôle at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in January 2011 and at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liège in February 2013.  In April 2011, Voigt sang her first Brünnhilde at the Metropolitan Opera in Canadian stage director Robert Lepage's new production of "Die Walküre", the second installment of the Met's highly publicized new production of Wagner's Ring Cycle directed by Lepage. She sang the role again as the cycle was presented in its entirety during the 2011/2012 season, adding to her repertoire the final two operas of the four opera cycle, "Siegfried" and "Götterdämmerung". She also appeared in a 2012 documentary film, "Wagner's Dream", about the "Ring" production.  In the summer of 2011, she sang the lead of Annie Oakley in the Irving Berlin musical "Annie Get Your Gun" at the Glimmerglass Festival. For that festival, Terrence McNally, Francesca Zambello, and Voigt collaborated to produce the stage show "Voigt Lessons". Voigt revived that show in 2015 at the Art House in Provincetown, Massachusetts.

2013 to 2015.

In September 2013, Voigt dropped out of a performance of "Tristan und Isolde" and considered removing Isolde from her repertoire due to having found "the long, punishing role beyond her current vocal capacities" as reported by "The New York Times". Her stage performances have dwindled since.  In 2015, HarperCollins published her autobiography "Call Me Debbie: True Confessions of a Down-to-Earth Diva".

Personal life.

, Voigt has been a New Yorker for about five years. Voigt was once married to her high school sweetheart, John Leitch. She said she relied on him and he worked for her career. However, they divorced in 1995 after seven years of marriage. As she was getting more famous, she traveled around the world with him. However, her crowded schedule and the accompanying stress eventually led to the couple's divorce.

Awards.

Voigt has received various awards for her artistic achievement since her debut as a singer. Voigt was the first prize winner of Philadelphia's Luciano Pavarotti Vocal Competition in 1988, the Verdi Competition in 1989, and won the gold prize for best female singer at the prestigious 1990 International Tchaikovsky Competition.  In March 1992, she won the Richard Tucker Award, the top award presented by the Richard Tucker Music Foundation, including a $30,000 cash award.  Voigt has been nominated for a Grammy Award several times and shared the 1996 "Best Opera Recording" award for the recording of Berlioz's "Les Troyens" directed by Charles Dutoit with Montreal Symphony Orchestra. She was also co-nominated in 2002 for "Best Choral Performance" on a Columbia Records recording. In 2013, she shared the "Best Opera Recording" award for the Metropolitan Opera's recording of Richard Wagner's "Der Ring des Nibelungen".  Voigt garnered "Musical America"'s Vocalist of the Year in 2003, and an "Opera News" award for distinguished achievement in 2007. She was honored as a Chevalier of "Ordre des Arts et des Lettres" at the Opéra Bastille on 27 March 2002.  She was inducted into the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District Hall of Fame in 1997.

Recordings.

Voigt has made a number of recordings which include two solo compact discs. She is on the live recording of the Vienna State Opera's production of Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde" for Deutsche Grammophon (2003). In a 2001 interview with Associated Press, however, Voigt expressed that she was unlucky with recording because of unexpected cancellations and postponements. The opportunities of cooperation with high profile musicians could have made her a major prima donna more quickly. She had a chance to work with Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti in a televised production of Verdi's "La forza del destino" in 1997. However, the performance did not take place since Pavarotti had not learned the role of Alvaro and another opera was substituted. Later the same year, Voigt was cast to sing for a new recording of "Tristan und Isolde" under the direction of Sir Georg Solti. Before it proceeded, Solti suddenly died of a heart attack.  In April 2001, The Metropolitan Opera intended to broadcast a taping of Strauss' "Ariadne auf Naxos" in which Voigt sang the title role. However, it was put off until 2003, for co-star, French soprano Natalie Dessay. She felt frustration over the fact that every recording plan for "Ariadne" had been delayed or stopped for five years until late 2001. Finally, Voigt presented her Ariadne in a 2001 recording released by Deutsche Grammophon in which Natalie Dessay, Swedish mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter and Canadian tenor Ben Heppner co-starred, and Giuseppe Sinopoli conducted. Voigt said that if he had not participated in the project, she doubts she could have ever recorded "Ariadne". In the end, her long struggle paid off and turned out to have a bright side since the album was mentioned as one of the "Top Classical Recordings of 2001" according to the "New York Times".

Deborah Voigt (born August 4, 1960) is an American dramatic soprano who has sung roles in operas by Wagner and Richard Strauss.

Deborah Voigt (née le ) est une soprano dramatique américaine. Elle est connue pour sa voix dense et son interprétation des rôles les plus lourds du répertoire, comme Isolde, Sieglinde, Elsa, Senta de Richard Wagner ou Ariane, Chrysothemis, l'Impératrice, Salomé, la Maréchale de Richard Strauss. Elle a obtenu en 1990 le premier prix de chant du Concours international Tchaïkovski.


Missions.

The missions of the Italian Coast Guard include:

History.

The Italian Coast Guard is the operational SAR branch of the "Corpo delle Capitanerie di Porto" or Corps of the Port Captaincies, which was organized first by royal decree in 1865. It was reorganized as part of the "Regia Marina" in 1915 (since 1946 as "Marina Militare") and on June 8, 1989, redesignated as "Guardia costiera".

Structure and organization.

Structure.

The Corps of the Port Captaincies – Coast Guard is structured as follows:  Moreover, the following services are also part of the Corps:

Tasks.

The Corps of the Port Captaincies – Coast Guard is a Corps of the Italian Navy that has tasks and functions connected mostly to the civil use of the sea and with functional dependence of various ministries that avail themselves on their work: first of all the "Ministero dei trasporti" (Ministry for Transports) which has "inherited" in 1994, from the Ministry of the Merchant Navy, the major part of the functions connected to the use of the sea and the connected activities with the commercial and pleasure navigation an on whose budget weighs the costs for the running of the corps.  The principal tasks of the Corps activities are the following:  Other functions are carried out for the Ministries of defence (enrollment of the military personnel), for Cultural Activities and Treasures (underwater archaeology), of internal affairs (anti-illegal immigration), of Justice and the department of civil protection, all having as a common denominator the sea and navigation. The broadness and the variety of activities carried out present the Corps of the Port Captaincies – Coast Guard as an organism of reference for the maritime activities and make of them a true "sole counter" for the relations with the seafarers. The Corps is represented in a highly specialized structure, as well under the administrative profile as under the technical-operational one, for the completing of the Public functions that are carried out in the maritime spaces of national interest. These spaces include 155 000 km2 of maritime waters, internal and territorial, which are in every respect part of the national territory, and other 350 000 km2 of waters on which Italy has exclusive rights (exploitation of the depths resources) or duties (rescue in sea and safeguard of the marine environment): a number of marine areas whose extension is almost the double of the entire national territory, which as it is known amounts to 301 000 km2. Following the tendency that is affirming itself in Europe, the maritime authority – coast guard must exercise an effective control in sea for the safeguard of human life, for the safety of navigation, for the correct going on of the economic activities (fishing and exploitation of the continental platform) and for the protection of the marine environment.  The Italian Marine Casualty Investigation Central Board (MCICB "Commissione centrale di indagine sui sinistri marittimi", CCISM), a division of the Corps, investigates maritime accidents and incidents. It is not an independent maritime accident investigation unit.

Insignia.

Like related coast guards around the world, the "Guardia Costiera" uses "Racing stripe" on its vessels. This marking is in the national colors, with a narrow green band, a narrow white spacing, and a broad red band. Inside the red band is a white circle with a black anchor. Racing stripe is also serve as logo of the "Guardia Costiera".

The Corps of the Port Captaincies – Coast Guard ("") is the coast guard of Italy and is part of the Italian Navy under the control of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport. Its head office is in Rome.

Le Corps des capitaineries de port - Garde côtière ("Corpo delle capitanerie di porto - Guardia Costiera" en italien) est la Garde côtière Italienne. C'est un organisme à qui est dévolue l'action de l’État en mer (application de la loi en mer et des règlements maritimes, police de la navigation et des pêches, lutte contre les trafics illicites, protection de l'environnement maritime, sauvetage et assistance en mer...).


History.

Once a bustling fishing community and Uzbekistan's only port city with tens of thousands of residents, Mo‘ynoq is now dozens of kilometers from the rapidly receding shoreline of the Aral Sea. Fishing had always been part of the economy of the region, and Mo‘ynoq became a center of industrial fishing and canning. However, a 1960s Soviet government diversion of the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers sapped the Aral Sea of its inflows, causing much of the lake to dry up and thus leaving the area susceptible to economic collapse. The regional Soviet-led agricultural monoculture dominated by cotton production diverted water from the aforementioned tributary rivers of the sea into irrigation, which resulted in severe pollution caused by agricultural chemical runoff. This, in turn, caused the sea to evaporate and left the remaining water with extremely high levels of salinity, which made it toxic and led to the ecological disaster that is destroying the sea and killing the residents of the towns in its vicinity, including Mo‘ynoq.  Mo‘ynoq's major attractions are the armada of rusting hulks that once made up its fishing fleet during the Soviet era, and a one-room museum devoted to Mo‘ynoq's heritage as a center of the fishing industry. Poisonous dust storms kicked up by strong winds across the dried and polluted seabed give rise to a multitude of chronic and acute illnesses among the few residents who have chosen to remain, most of them ethnic Karakalpaks, and weather unmoderated by the sea now buffets the town with hotter-than-normal summers and colder-than-normal winters.

Mo‘ynoq, also spelled as Muynak and Moynaq (; ; /Muynak), is a city in northern Karakalpakstan in western Uzbekistan. Formerly a sea port, now home to only a few thousand residents at most, Mo‘ynoq's population has been declining precipitously since the 1980s due to the recession of the Aral Sea.

Moynaq (en karakalpak), Moʻynoq (en ouzbek) ou Mouïnak (en ) est une ville de la république du Karakalpakistan, en Ouzbékistan. Elle est située à au nord-ouest de Tachkent. Sa population s'élevait à en 2018.


Career.

1977–1979: Early years.

Jeremy Ryder, known professionally as Jack Hues (vocalist/guitarist), and Nick Feldman (guitar) would eventually form the core of Wang Chung. They first met when Hues answered Feldman's advert for musicians in the classifieds section of the weekly British music magazine "Melody Maker" in 1977. They were joined by Bud Merrick on bass and Paul Hammond (ex-Atomic Rooster) on drums, forming The Intellektuals.  In less than a year, that band split up. Hues and Feldman then joined up with future Wang Chung drummer Darren Costin, bassist Leigh Gorman, keyboardist Simon Campbell and vocalist Glenn Gregory, to form 57 Men. This band lasted for about eighteen months before breaking up. Gorman would go on to play bass in Adam and the Ants, Gregory went on to become the vocalist for Heaven 17, and Gorman later played in Bow Wow Wow.  Hues, Feldman and Costin stayed together and renamed themselves Huang Chung. According to Feldman, he came across the term "Huang Chung" meaning "yellow bell" in Mandarin in a book he was reading, and used it as the name for the band.

1980–1982: Huang Chung years.

At the beginning of Huang Chung's career, all the members performed under pseudonyms. Jeremy Ryder was "Jack Hues" (a play on Emile Zola's 1898 French open letter "J'Accuse...!"), Nick Feldman was "Nick DeSpig", and Darren Costin was "Darren Darwin" (and later, just "Darwin"). The band then signed to a label called 101 Records. The first Huang Chung release, "Baby I'm Hu-man", appeared on a 101 compilation album in 1980. Three live tracks were subsequently released on another 101 Records compilation in 1981.  Later in 1980, the independent record company Rewind Records signed the band for a two-single deal. Huang Chung's debut single for Rewind Records was "Isn't It About Time We Were on TV", followed by "Stand Still". Neither single charted, but the group had begun to attract the attention of Arista Records, who signed them on a two-album deal in early 1981. Around the same time, the group expanded to a quartet, with the addition of sax player Dave Burnand. In keeping with the all-pseudonymous nature of the band, Burnand was known as "Hogg Robinson" for the first Arista single, and later, simply as "Hogg".  Under the direction of producer Rhett Davies, Huang Chung issued two singles on Arista in 1981, neither of which charted. A third single, produced by Roger Bechirian, appeared in early 1982; it too failed to chart. The band's first album was issued in 1982. Self-titled, it compiled the three non-charting Arista A-sides, one of the Arista B-sides, and six other new tracks. Like the associated singles, the "Huang Chung" album failed to chart.  At the time the band's self-titled album was issued, Hues, DeSpig and Burnand also contributed to the lone LP by the mysterious pseudonymous group Blanket of Secrecy. Hues and DeSpig wrote the song "Lovers" for the album, and Hues scored the strings for that song, while Burnand played sax on the album. Despite some speculation at the time, no member of Huang Chung was actually a member of Blanket of Secrecy — that band consisted of Roger Bechirian, Andrew Howell and Pete Marsh, operating under the pseudonyms Tinker, Soldier, and Tailor.  In late 1982, Huang Chung returned to the studio to start work on their second album for Arista Records. A new single, "Dance Hall Days", was produced by Tim Friese-Greene and appeared as both a 7" and 12" single in October, but did not chart. The band were still a quartet at this point, with Feldman dropping the assumed "De Spig" surname and billing himself simply as "Nick".  After the failure of "Dance Hall Days", the group's manager, David Massey, convinced Arista to close their contract with Huang Chung, and instead placed the band with American label Geffen Records, making the group the second UK-based act to be signed to Geffen worldwide after Asia (not counting then-New York-based John Lennon in 1980). Burnand left the group around this time, citing "musical differences".

1983–1985: Name change and initial success.

In 1983 they were still guest under the band name "Huang Chung" at BBC 2 music show The Old Grey Whistle Test.  At this juncture, according to Hues, the band changed their name to "Wang Chung" at Geffen's suggestion to make the pronunciation easier for English-speakers. (This explanation of the group's name change is consistent with the claim by VH1's "Pop Up Video" that they changed it because people kept calling them "Hung Chung".)  At the same time, Nick Feldman and Darren Costin opted to be billed under their real full names; only Jack Hues kept his pseudonym. The band spent most of 1983 recording their second album, "Points on the Curve". Released in January 1984, the album yielded two moderately successful hits, "Don't Let Go" (No. 38 US) and a re-recorded version of "Dance Hall Days" (No. 16 US, No. 21 UK). The popularity of the latter song gave Wang Chung the ability to spend two months touring the United States on their own and with the Romantics and Berlin. In 1984 they would be the opening act for The Cars on their "Heartbeat City" tour, Costin would leave the band following this tour.  In late 1983, Hues and Feldman collaborated in a one-off project with vocalist David Van Day. A demo of the track "Ringing the Bell" was submitted to David by their publisher as one of many songs for consideration by David as a possible follow up to his hit "Young Americans Talking". It was recorded in November 1983 but remained unreleased for some time before eventually surfacing under the band name "Music Academy" in 1985. Wang Chung followed up the release of "Points on the Curve" with a spate of soundtrack work. Director William Friedkin specifically sought out Wang Chung to score his 1985 film "To Live and Die in L.A".  The resulting soundtrack became the group's third album, and is recognizable as one of their more mainstream works. It went top ten on the US Billboard chart for soundtracks. The band recorded "Fire in the Twilight" for the 1985 John Hughes film "The Breakfast Club" and contributed "There is a Nation" for the soundtrack to "First Born". With Costin gone, Hues and Feldman continued to record new material, employing producer Peter Wolf as their new drummer (although he never became an official member of the band).

1986–1989: US commercial peak.

Wang Chung released their fourth album, "Mosaic", in 1986. This album spun off their biggest hits: "Everybody Have Fun Tonight" (No. 2 US) and "Let's Go!" (No. 9 US). "Everybody Have Fun Tonight" features the oft-quoted lyric "Everybody Wang Chung tonight", and also has a well-remembered music video (directed by Godley & Creme) where virtually every frame featured a jump cut. During some US dates in the Summer 1987, they were the opening act for Tina Turner during her "Break Every Rule" world tour.  Their final US Top 40 single, "Hypnotize Me" (No. 36) was also from the same album, as well as being featured on the soundtrack of the 1987 film "Innerspace". Wang Chung released their fifth album, "The Warmer Side of Cool", in 1989. The album featured "Praying to a New God" (No. 63 US), which charted but was not a hit. The album was considered a commercial disappointment. Hues and Feldman then went on to other projects and the band effectively disbanded in 1990.

1990–1997: Hiatus.

During the 1990s, Feldman joined up with Jon Moss of Culture Club to form the band Promised Land, and subsequently released their self-titled debut album, "Promised Land", in 1992. Also in the 1990s, Hues worked on various film soundtracks, including 1990's "The Guardian". He was signed to a solo deal by Sony Records in the early 1990s, but his intended debut solo album, "The Anatomy Lesson", was shelved by the label and remains unreleased. Hues later teamed up with Tony Banks of Genesis to form the one-off group "Strictly Inc", which released a self-titled album in 1995.

1997–2016: Reformation.

1997 saw the return of Wang Chung, still consisting of Hues and Feldman, with a greatest hits collection entitled "." Included on this CD was a new single, "Space Junk". The group also toured North America around this time to promote the new compilation. A 2000 edition of Wang Chung played several dates in the United States, both headlining their own tour and also a part of the Club 80s Flashback Tour with A Flock of Seagulls, Missing Persons, and Gene Loves Jezebel with Michael Aston. Hues was the only original member of this iteration of the band, as Feldman bowed out due to other commitments.  In March 2005, Wang Chung (once again consisting of Hues and Feldman) contributed "Akasha", a previously unreleased song, to the "Of Hands and Hearts" compilation, in response to the 2004 Southeast Asia tsunami crisis. In June 2005, Wang Chung appeared on the reality TV series "Hit Me Baby One More Time", performing "Everybody Have Fun Tonight" and a cover of "Hot in Herre" by Nelly.  Beginning in June 2009, Wang Chung were a part of the Regeneration '80s tour along with ABC, Berlin, Cutting Crew, and Missing Persons. In June 2010, Wang Chung released a digital "double EP" entitled "Abducted by the 80s". This was subsequently released as a double CD set in mid-2011. The eight song collection included four re-recordings of previous hits, and four new songs. Wang Chung toured the United States from June to July 2010 to promote the new release.  On 21 September 2010, The Beatles Complete On Ukulele released Wang Chung's reworking of the Beatles' "Rain", in an arrangement which features the ukulele. On 31 October 2010 their song "Space Junk" was featured in the pilot episode of the AMC series "The Walking Dead" (is also included on the episode "What Comes After") "The Fighter", a 2010 film starring Mark Wahlberg, featured Wang Chung's music.  They played the Rewind Festival in Perth in July 2012, and Henley-on-Thames in August 2012. In December that year, Wang Chung released "Tazer Up!", their first full-length studio album in 23 years. All four original tracks from "Abducted By The 80s" appear on "Tazer Up!" (some in remixed and/or edited form); the album also features a remix of the re-recorded "Abducted" version of "Dance Hall Days". The remaining 6 tracks are unique to this release. In 2013 Darren Costin rejoined Wang Chung for a special one off performance in England.

2016: Departure of Jack Hues.

In 2016, the band began to perform live with Gareth Moulton of Cutting Crew on lead vocals.

2017 – present.

In 2017, Jack Hues returned to performing live with Wang Chung, and in 2019, they recorded a greatest hits album with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra titled "Orchesography." Two EPs consisting of the orchestral versions and remixes were released of "Dance Hall Days" and "Everybody Have Fun Tonight" on both CD and digital download. "Orchesography" was released on 10 May 2019.  On 25 June 2019, "The New York Times Magazine" listed Wang Chung among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.

Wang Chung are an English new wave band, formed in London in 1980 by Nick Feldman, Jack Hues and Darren Costin. The name Wang Chung means "yellow bell" in Chinese (, ), and is the first note in the Chinese classical music scale. The band found their greatest success in the US, with five Top 40 hits there, all charting between 1983 and 1987, including "Dance Hall Days" (No. 16 in the summer of 1984), "Everybody Have Fun Tonight" (No. 2 in 1986) and "Let's Go!" (No. 9 in 1987).

Wang Chung est un groupe britannique associé au mouvement new wave. Fondé en 1979 par Jack Hues et Nick Feldmann, il s'est d'abord appelé "Huang Chung". Rebaptisé Wang Chung, il a rencontré de grands succès, surtout dans les classements nord-américains ainsi qu'en Océanie, alors que le marché britannique - dont il est pourtant originaire - a largement ignoré ses productions.


History.

What is now Logan was initially called "Islands of the Guyandot" by explorers who identified the site in the 1780s. In 1827, a town was laid out at the site to serve as a county seat for Logan County, which had been established in 1824. The city was initially known as "Lawsonsville" after Anthony Lawson, an early merchant, but was shortened to "Lawnsville." In the early 1850s, Thomas Dunn English, a poet and future congressman, led efforts to reorganize the town. When the town incorporated in 1853, it was renamed "Aracoma" after the Shawnee chief Cornstalk's daughter, who had been killed by settlers in the area in 1780. The city was renamed "Logan" in 1907 after the Mingo leader, Chief Logan.  Logan grew continuously during the late 19th and early 20th centuries as a hub of the regional coal industry. At its height in 1940, the city had a population of over 5,000, and was home to numerous businesses, including furniture stores, hotels, banks, and car dealerships. Logan began to decline following World War II, due in large part to the increased mechanization of the coal industry.  The Chafin House, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994. Logan was home to the Logan Indians, a minor league baseball team, from 1937 to 1942.

Geography.

Logan is located at the confluence of the Guyandotte River and Island Creek.  According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of, of which is land and is water.

Demographics.

2010 census.

As of the census of 2010, there were 1,779 people, 808 households, and 469 families living in the city. The population density was. There were 1,016 housing units at an average density of. The racial makeup of the city was 91.6% White, 5.2% African American, 0.3% Native American, 0.7% Asian, 0.2% from other races, and 2.0% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.0% of the population.  There were 808 households of which 26.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 36.8% were married couples living together, 15.7% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.6% had a male householder with no wife present, and 42.0% were non-families. 37.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.20 and the average family size was 2.85.  The median age in the city was 40.4 years. 20.2% of residents were under the age of 18; 9.4% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 26.3% were from 25 to 44; 28.1% were from 45 to 64; and 15.8% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 47.4% male and 52.6% female.

2000 census.

As of the census of 2000, there were 1,630 people, 750 households, and 423 families living in the city. The population density was 1,403.5 people per square mile (542.5/km2). There were 965 housing units at an average density of 830.9 per square mile (321.2/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 92.52% White, 4.79% African American, 0.31% Native American, 0.61% Asian, 0.06% from other races, and 1.72% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.80% of the population.  There were 750 households out of which 20.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 38.3% were married couples living together, 13.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 43.6% were non-families. 40.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 18.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.08 and the average family size was 2.78.  In the city, the population was spread out with 16.8% under the age of 18, 8.5% from 18 to 24, 26.2% from 25 to 44, 26.7% from 45 to 64, and 21.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44 years. For every 100 females, there were 82.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 79.1 males.  The median income for a household in the city was $22,623, and the median income for a family was $26,354. Males had a median income of $26,350 versus $19,167 for females. The per capita income for the city was $15,913. About 18.2% of families and 20.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 29.0% of those under age 18 and 9.7% of those age 65 or over.

Education.

Logan is served by Logan High School, grades 9-12.

Logan is a city in Logan County, West Virginia, United States, along the Guyandotte River. The population was 1,779 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Logan County.

La ville de Logan est le siège du comté de Logan, situé dans l’État de Virginie-Occidentale, aux États-Unis. Sa population s’élevait à lors du recensement, estimée à.


History.

The James Clark McGrew House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993; the Kingwood Historic District was added in 1994.

Geography.

Kingwood is located at (39.4713, -79.6848).  According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of, all of it land.

Education.

Kingwood contains three public schools serviced by the Preston County School District, including Kingwood Elementary, Central Preston Middle School and Preston High School.

Demographics.

2010 census.

As of the census of 2010, there were 2,939 people, 1,291 households, and 818 families living in the city. The population density was. There were 1,454 housing units at an average density of. The racial makeup of the city was 97.3% White, 0.9% African American, 0.1% Native American, 0.5% Asian, 0.1% from other races, and 1.0% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.5% of the population.  There were 1,291 households, of which 27.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.1% were married couples living together, 11.8% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.5% had a male householder with no wife present, and 36.6% were non-families. 30.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.28 and the average family size was 2.80.  The median age in the city was 43.8 years. 19.6% of residents were under the age of 18; 8.7% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 23.4% were from 25 to 44; 28.5% were from 45 to 64; and 19.9% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 46.8% male and 53.2% female.

2000 census.

As of the census of 2000, there were 2,944 people, 1,283 households, and 844 families living in the city. The population density was 1,192.9 people per square mile (460.2/km). There were 1,417 housing units at an average density of 574.2 per square mile (221.5/km). The racial makeup of the city was 97.69% White, 1.02% African American, 0.44% Asian, 0.07% from other races, and 0.78% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.34% of the population.  There were 1,283 households, out of which 28.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.5% were married couples living together, 12.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.2% were non-families. 31.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.28 and the average family size was 2.83.  In the city, the population was spread out, with 22.3% under the age of 18, 7.5% from 18 to 24, 25.6% from 25 to 44, 26.3% from 45 to 64, and 18.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 84.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 81.8 males.  The median income for a household in the city was $29,155, and the median income for a family was $36,313. Males had a median income of $30,658 versus $18,190 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,299. About 16.3% of families and 17.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 25.2% of those under age 18 and 13.6% of those age 65 or over.

Kingwood is a city in and the county seat of Preston County, West Virginia, United States, Founded in 1815, Kingwood is part of the Morgantown, WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 2,939 at the 2010 census. Kingwood is home to the West Virginia Zoo.

La ville de Kingwood est le siège du comté de Preston, situé dans l’État de Virginie-Occidentale, aux États-Unis. Sa population s’élevait à lors du recensement.


Etymology.

The name of the town is officially "Addison", but the community is most often referred to by the name of its post office, "Webster Springs". It is also labeled on some maps as "Addison", and some as "Webster Springs". The unofficial name has gone so far that the county commission's letterhead reads "Webster Springs," rather than "Addison", which it had previously.  Other names for the town have included Elk Lick and Fork Lick.

History.

The town's first permanent settlers were named William and Polly, (maiden name, "Friend"), Arthur, who arrived in 1860. The first post office established in Webster County was Fort Lick, present-day Webster Springs. The postmaster at the time was a man by the name of John Hall. It is also the county seat of Webster County  The Morton House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

Salt sulfur wells.

Hall, along with a man whose first name is not known, who is only known as Mr. Skidmore, drilled the first salt sulfur well in the county, it was known as "Old Spring." The well was later owned by Colonel John T. McGraw. The salt sulfur well helped make Webster Springs a popular summer tourist location during the 19th and early 20th Century.  According to "Springs in West Virginia", Webster Springs had a total of four springs: the Addison McLaughlin Well, located to the west of Court Square on the present site of the Mineral Springs Motel; Old Fork Lick Spring, located in the bed of the Elk River; Tracy Well, located on the lot of its owner, W.B. Tracy, in Webster Springs; and the William Smith Well, located in Dorrtown. The wells were popular because people believed that the water from the wells had medicinal qualities. The water was used to treat skin conditions such as psoriasis, eczema, acne and arthritis.

Webster Springs Hotel.

In 1897, Senator Johnson Newlon Camden had built a 265-room hotel of Victorian style architecture, which was larger than The Greenbrier Hotel built in 1913, which only has 250 rooms, named the Webster Springs Hotel. The hotel contained a tennis court, horse stables, garden, bowling alley, power plant, and Russian and Turkish baths, where visitors could enjoy the "medicinal" qualities of its salt sulfur waters. The hotel was also the largest wood frame hotel in West Virginia.  When first built, the hotel was a three-story dark colored building. After it was completed, construction began on a new, much larger section of the hotel, adding more rooms, and a new exterior color, white. The new section of the hotel contained up-to-date Turkish bath equipment, where guests could have a sulfur water bath. For many years, filled to capacity by guests and a greatly increased overflow which necessitated the building of smaller hotels in the town. The hotel also raised its own cattle and provided some of its own food and milk. The hotel's ice house, according to "Elizah Hedding Gillespie, His Ancestors, Descendants and Their Families", was capable of holding 150 tons of ice. The hotel was heated by steam.  In 1903, Colonel McGraw purchased the hotel and expanded it by 115 rooms, completed in the spring of 1904. Of the 89 "non-guest" rooms in the new section, 40 were for salt sulfur baths, which took up the entire first floor of one wing. The entire southern wing of the hotel was given to bath rooms, including; "the plunge," Turkish, Russian, Needle, Shower, and Steam baths. Of which they were offered in both fresh and salt-sulfur water.  On the interior, it contained stuffed bears, elks, and other wildlife of the local county in realistic poses.  At the height of its popularity, the hotel played host to such guests as Senators Thomas Kearns (Utah), Henry G. Davis (West Virginia), his son-in-law, Senator Stephen Benton Elkins (West Virginia), and Camden (West Virginia).  On the night of July 20, 1925, the hotel caught fire and was burned to the ground, being completely destroyed. Flames could be seen as far as one mile away, as well, the sky was seen as a bright red color, up to 19 miles away, in Camden-on-Gauley.

Geography.

Webster Springs is located at (38.476192, -80.410025), along the Elk River. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of, of which, is land and is water. It is at an elevation of 1,460 ft. (445m). It is close to Buffalo Bull Knob, elevation 2,799 ft.

Climate.

The climate in this area has mild differences between highs and lows, and there is adequate rainfall year-round. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Webster Springs has a marine west coast climate, abbreviated "Cfb" on climate maps.

Demographics.

2000 census.

As of the census of 2000, there were 808 people, 403 households, and 222 families living in the town. The population density was 1,729.9 inhabitants per square mile (663.8/km2). There were 463 housing units at an average density of 991.3 per square mile (380.4/km2). The racial makeup of the town was 99.75% White, 0.12% Native American, and 0.12% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.50% of the population.  There were 403 households, out of which 22.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.9% were married couples living together, 12.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 44.7% were non-families. 42.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 20.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.00 and the average family size was 2.70.  In the town, the population was spread out, with 19.9% under the age of 18, 7.4% from 18 to 24, 24.4% from 25 to 44, 27.7% from 45 to 64, and 20.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44 years. For every 100 females, there were 80.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 76.8 males.  The median income for a household in the town was $20,592, and the median income for a family was $27,434. Males had a median income of $27,386 versus $16,389 for females. The per capita income for the town was $13,500. About 22.0% of families and 28.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 35.2% of those under age 18 and 21.9% of those age 65 or over.

2010 census.

As of the census of 2010, there were 776 people, 363 households, and 211 families living in the town. The population density was. There were 447 housing units at an average density of. The racial makeup of the town was 99.2% White, 0.1% African American, 0.1% Native American, and 0.5% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.3% of the population.  There were 363 households, of which 27.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.8% were married couples living together, 13.2% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.1% had a male householder with no wife present, and 41.9% were non-families. 36.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.14 and the average family size was 2.77.  The median age in the town was 45.3 years. 20.6% of residents were under the age of 18; 7.1% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 22.3% were from 25 to 44; 32% were from 45 to 64; and 18% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the town was 47.8% male and 52.2% female.

Addison, commonly known as Webster Springs, is a town in Webster County, West Virginia, United States. Although it was incorporated as Addison in 1892, it is more frequently referred to as Webster Springs, the name of the town's post office. It was named for Addison McLaughlin, upon whose land the town was originally laid out. The population was 776 at the 2010 census.

La ville de Webster Springs est le siège du comté de Webster, dans l’État de Virginie-Occidentale, aux États-Unis. Sa population s’élevait à lors du recensement, estimée à.