Portal:Philadelphia/Music, Arts & Culture archive/2006
2006 Philadelphia music, arts & culture archive[edit]
The old candidates section, Portal:Philadelphia/Music, Arts & Culture candidates.
- December
The Wanamaker Organ, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the largest operational pipe organ in the world, located within a spacious 7-story court in a Macy's department store. It is played twice a day, Monday through Saturday, and much more often during the Christmas season. The organ is also featured at several concerts held throughout the year, often with a small brass ensemble, string ensemble, or even the Philadelphia Orchestra.
- November
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, nonsectarian research university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. According to the university, it is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the U.S. and America's first university. Penn is a member of the Ivy League and is also one of the Colonial Colleges. Penn has also been recognized as a leader in the arts and humanities, the social sciences, architecture, communications, and education. It is particularly noted for its professional programs, including schools of business, law and medicine. About 4,500 professors serve nearly 10,000 full-time undergraduate and 10,000 graduate and professional students. Penn is incorporated as "The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania." Penn's academic research programs undertake more than US$700 million in sponsored research a year, involving some 1,000 faculty, 1,000 postdoctoral fellows, 3,000 graduate students, and 5,000 support staff. Much of the funding is provided by the National Institutes of Health for biomedical research, from which Penn is the fourth most funded University.
- October
Rocky is a 1976 motion picture written by and starring Sylvester Stallone as an underdog boxer. It tells the rags-to-riches American Dream story of Italian-American "Rocky Balboa", a slightly dull-witted but good-hearted "collection agent" for a loan shark in Philadelphia with a penchant for boxing, who gets a shot at the world heavyweight title. It was directed by John G. Avildsen who won an Oscar for his direction. The final fight scene in the movie was inspired by a real-life fight between Muhammad Ali and Chuck Wepner. Made for a budget of only $1.1 million dollars and shot in a record 28 days the film went on to make over US $117.2 million at the box office and spawn five sequels.
- September
The Three Degrees are a female Philly soul and disco vocal musical group formed in 1963 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Although always fronted by a three person line-up, a total of eleven women have rotationally represented the group so far. The original members were Fayette Pickney, Shirley Porter, and Linda Turner.
- August
The Philadelphia Sound, sometimes called the Philadelphia (or Philly) soul or Sweet Philly, is a style of soul music characterized by lush instrumental arrangements often featuring sweeping strings and horns. The result is a much smoother sound compared to the more funky and gritty deep soul found in Atlanta or Houston, and also set itself apart from Motown with its gentler sound.
- July
Hall & Oates is the popular music duo made up of Daryl Hall and John Oates. The act achieved its greatest fame in the late 1970s and early-to-mid 1980s, and used a unique variety of ballad-oriented pop-blue-eyed soul to dominate the charts.
They are best known for hits like "Sara Smile", "Out of Touch," "Private Eyes," "Maneater," "Rich Girl," "She's Gone," "Kiss on My List," "Say It Isn't So" and "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)."