title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: A graduate of the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, Prokofiev initially made his name as an iconoclastic composer-pianist, achieving notoriety with a series of ferociously dissonant and virtuosic works for his instrument, including his first two piano concertos. In 1915, Prokofiev made a decisive break from the standard composer-pianist category with his orchestral "Scythian Suite", compiled from music originally composed for a ballet commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev of the Ballets Russes. Diaghilev commissioned three further ballets from Prokofiev—"Chout," "Le pas d'acier" and "The Prodigal Son"—which, at the time of their original production, all caused a sensation among both critics and colleagues. Prokofiev's greatest interest, however, was opera, and he composed several works in that genre, including "The Gambler" and "The Fiery Angel". Prokofiev's one operatic success during his lifetime was "The Love for Three Oranges", composed for the Chicago Opera and subsequently performed over the following decade in Europe and Russia.


title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: After the Revolution of 1917, Prokofiev left Russia with the approval of Soviet People’s Commissar Anatoly Lunacharsky, and resided in the United States, then Germany, then Paris, making his living as a composer, pianist and conductor. During that time, he married a Spanish singer, Carolina (Lina) Codina, with whom he had two sons; they divorced in 1947. In the early 1930s, the Great Depression diminished opportunities for Prokofiev's ballets and operas to be staged in America and Western Europe. Prokofiev, who regarded himself as composer foremost, resented the time taken by touring as a pianist, and increasingly turned to the Soviet Union for commissions of new music; in 1936, he finally returned to his homeland with his family. His greatest Soviet successes included "Lieutenant Kijé", "Peter and the Wolf", "Romeo and Juliet", "Cinderella", "Alexander Nevsky", the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies, "On Guard for Peace", and the Piano Sonatas Nos. 6–8.


title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: The Nazi invasion of the USSR spurred Prokofiev to compose his most ambitious work, an operatic version of Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace"; he co-wrote the libretto with Mira Mendelson, his longtime companion and later second wife. In 1948, Prokofiev was attacked for producing "anti-democratic formalism". Nevertheless, he enjoyed personal and artistic support from a new generation of Russian performers, notably Sviatoslav Richter and Mstislav Rostropovich: he wrote his Ninth Piano Sonata for the former and his Symphony-Concerto for the latter.


title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: Prokofiev was born in 1891 in a rural estate in Sontsovka, Bakhmutsky Uyezd, Yekaterinoslav Governorate, Russian Empire (today Sontsivka, Pokrovsk Raion, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine). His father, Sergei Alexeyevich Prokofiev, was an agronomist from a mercantile family in Moscow. Prokofiev's mother, Maria (née Zhitkova), came from a Saint Petersburg family of former serfs who had been owned by the Sheremetev family, under whose patronage serf-children were taught theatre and arts from an early age. She was described by Reinhold Glière, Prokofiev's first composition teacher, as "a tall woman with beautiful, clever eyes … who knew how to create an atmosphere of warmth and simplicity about her." After their wedding in the summer of 1877, the Prokofievs moved to a small estate in the Smolensk governorate. Eventually, Sergei Alexeyevich found employment as a soil engineer, employed by one of his former fellow-students, Dmitri Sontsov, to whose estate in the Ukrainian steppes the Prokofievs moved.


title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: By the time of Prokofiev's birth, Maria—having previously lost two daughters—had devoted her life to music; during her son's early childhood, she spent two months a year in Moscow or St Petersburg taking piano lessons. Sergei Prokofiev was inspired by hearing his mother practising the piano in the evenings, mostly works by Chopin and Beethoven, and wrote his first piano composition at the age of five, an "Indian Gallop", which was written down by his mother: it was in the F Lydian mode (a major scale with a raised 4th scale degree), as the young Prokofiev felt "reluctance to tackle the black notes". By seven, he had also learned to play chess. Chess remained a passion of his, and he became acquainted with world chess champions José Raúl Capablanca, whom he beat in a simultaneous exhibition match in 1914, and Mikhail Botvinnik, with whom he played several matches in the 1930s. At age nine, he was composing his first opera, "The Giant", as well as an overture and various other pieces.


title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: In 1902, Prokofiev's mother met Sergei Taneyev, director of the Moscow Conservatory, who initially suggested that Prokofiev should start lessons in piano and composition with Alexander Goldenweiser. Unable to arrange that, Taneyev instead arranged for composer and pianist Reinhold Glière to spend the summer of 1902 in Sontsovka teaching Prokofiev. The first series of lessons culminated, at the 11-year-old Prokofiev's insistence, with the budding composer making his first attempt to write a symphony. The following summer, Glière revisited Sontsovka to give further tuition. When, decades later, Prokofiev wrote about his lessons with Glière, he gave due credit to his teacher's sympathetic method but complained that Glière had introduced him to "square" phrase structure and conventional modulations, which he subsequently had to unlearn. Nonetheless, equipped with the necessary theoretical tools, Prokofiev started experimenting with dissonant harmonies and unusual time signatures in a series of short piano pieces he called "ditties" (after the so-called "song form", more accurately ternary form, on which they were based), laying the basis for his own musical style.


title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: Despite his growing talent, Prokofiev's parents hesitated over starting their son on a musical career at such an early age, and considered the possibility of his attending a good high school in Moscow. By 1904, his mother had decided instead on Saint Petersburg, and she and Prokofiev visited the then capital to explore the possibility of moving there for his education. They were introduced to composer Alexander Glazunov, a professor at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, who asked to see Prokofiev and his music; Prokofiev had composed two more operas, "Desert Islands" and "The Feast during the Plague", and was working on his fourth, "Undina". Glazunov was so impressed that he urged Prokofiev's mother to have her son apply for admission to the Conservatory. He passed the introductory tests and enrolled that year.


title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: Several years younger than most of his class, Prokofiev was viewed as eccentric and arrogant, and annoyed a number of his classmates by keeping statistics on their errors. During that period, he studied under, among others, Alexander Winkler for piano, Anatoly Lyadov for harmony and counterpoint, Nikolai Tcherepnin for conducting, and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov for orchestration (though when Rimsky-Korsakov died in 1908, Prokofiev noted that he had only studied with him "after a fashion"—he was just one of many students in a heavily attended class—and regretted that he otherwise "never had the opportunity to study with him"). He also shared classes with the composers Boris Asafyev and Nikolai Myaskovsky, the latter becoming a close and lifelong friend.


title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: As a member of the Saint Petersburg music scene, Prokofiev developed a reputation as a musical rebel, while getting praise for his original compositions, which he performed himself on the piano. In 1909, he graduated from his class in composition with unimpressive marks. He continued at the Conservatory, studying piano under Anna Yesipova and continuing his conducting lessons under Tcherepnin.


title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: In 1910, Prokofiev's father died and Sergei's financial support ceased. Fortunately, he had started making a name for himself as a composer and pianist outside the Conservatory, making appearances at the St Petersburg Evenings of Contemporary Music. There he performed several of his more adventurous piano works, such as his highly chromatic and dissonant Etudes, Op. 2 (1909). His performance of it impressed the organisers of the Evenings sufficiently for them to invite Prokofiev to give the Russian premiere of Arnold Schoenberg's Drei Klavierstücke, Op. 11. Prokofiev's harmonic experimentation continued with "Sarcasms" for piano, Op. 17 (1912), which makes extensive use of polytonality. He composed his first two piano concertos around then, the latter of which caused a scandal at its premiere (23 August 1913, Pavlovsk). According to one account, the audience left the hall with exclamations of "'To hell with this futuristic music! The cats on the roof make better music!'", but the modernists were in rapture.


title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: In 1911, help arrived from renowned Russian musicologist and critic Alexander Ossovsky, who wrote a supportive letter to music publisher Boris P. Jurgenson (son of publishing-firm founder Peter Jurgenson [1836–1904]); thus a contract was offered to the composer. Prokofiev made his first foreign trip in 1913, travelling to Paris and London where he first encountered Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes.


title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: In 1914, Prokofiev finished his career at the Conservatory by entering the 'battle of the pianos', a competition open to the five best piano students for which the prize was a Schroeder grand piano; Prokofiev won by performing his own Piano Concerto No. 1.


title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: Soon afterwards, he journeyed to London where he made contact with the impresario Sergei Diaghilev. Diaghilev commissioned Prokofiev's first ballet, "Ala and Lolli"; but when Prokofiev brought the work in progress to him in Italy in 1915 he rejected it as "non-Russian". Urging Prokofiev to write "music that was national in character", Diaghilev then commissioned the ballet "Chout" ("The Buffoon"). (The original Russian-language full title was Сказка про шута, семерых шутов перешутившего, meaning "The Tale of the Buffoon who Outwits Seven Other Buffoons".) Under Diaghilev's guidance, Prokofiev chose his subject from a collection of folk tales by the ethnographer Alexander Afanasyev; the story, concerning a buffoon and a series of confidence tricks, had been previously suggested to Diaghilev by Igor Stravinsky as a possible subject for a ballet, and Diaghilev and his choreographer Léonide Massine helped Prokofiev to shape it into a ballet scenario. Prokofiev's inexperience with ballet led him to revise the work extensively in the 1920s, following Diaghilev's detailed critique, prior to its first production.


title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: The ballet's premiere in Paris on 17 May 1921 was a huge success and was greeted with great admiration by an audience that included Jean Cocteau, Igor Stravinsky and Maurice Ravel. Stravinsky called the ballet "the single piece of modern music he could listen to with pleasure", while Ravel called it "a work of genius".


title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: During World War I, Prokofiev returned to the Conservatory and studied organ to avoid conscription. He composed "The Gambler" based on Fyodor Dostoyevsky's novel of the same name, but rehearsals were plagued by problems, and the scheduled 1917 première had to be cancelled because of the February Revolution. In the summer of that year, Prokofiev composed his first symphony, the "Classical". The name was Prokofiev's own; the music is in a style that, according to Prokofiev, Joseph Haydn would have used if he were alive at the time. The music is more or less Classical in style but incorporates more modern musical elements (see Neoclassicism).


title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: The symphony was also an exact contemporary of Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major, Op. 19, which was scheduled to premiere in November 1917. The first performances of both works had to wait until 21 April 1918 and 18 October 1923, respectively. Prokofiev stayed briefly with his mother in Kislovodsk in the Caucasus.


title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: After completing the score of "Seven, They Are Seven", a "Chaldean invocation" for chorus and orchestra, Prokofiev was "left with nothing to do and time hung heavily on my hands". Believing that Russia "had no use for music at the moment", Prokofiev decided to try his fortunes in America until the turmoil in his homeland had passed. He set out for Moscow and Petersburg in March 1918 to sort out financial matters and to arrange for his passport. In May, he headed for the US, having obtained official permission to do so from Anatoly Lunacharsky, the People's Commissar for Education, who told him: "You are a revolutionary in music, we are revolutionaries in life. We ought to work together. But if you want to go to America I shall not stand in your way."


title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: Arriving in San Francisco after having been released from questioning by immigration officials on Angel Island on 11 August 1918, Prokofiev was soon compared to other famous Russian exiles, such as Sergei Rachmaninoff. His debut solo concert in New York led to several further engagements. He also received a contract from the music director of the Chicago Opera Association, Cleofonte Campanini, for the production of his new opera "The Love for Three Oranges"; however, due to Campanini's illness and death, the premiere was postponed. The delay was another example of Prokofiev's bad luck in operatic matters. The failure also cost him his American solo career since the opera took too much time and effort. He soon found himself in financial difficulties, and in April 1920, he left for Paris, not wanting to return to Russia as a failure.


title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: In Paris, Prokofiev reaffirmed his contacts with Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. He also completed some of his older, unfinished works, such as his Third Piano Concerto. "The Love for Three Oranges" finally premièred in Chicago, under the composer's baton, on 30 December 1921. Diaghilev became sufficiently interested in the opera to request Prokofiev play the vocal score to him in June 1922, while they were both in Paris for a revival of "Chout", so he could consider it for a possible production. Stravinsky, who was present at the audition, refused to listen to more than the first act. When he then accused Prokofiev of "wasting time composing operas", Prokofiev retorted that Stravinsky "was in no position to lay down a general artistic direction, since he is himself not immune to error". According to Prokofiev, Stravinsky "became incandescent with rage" and "we almost came to blows and were separated only with difficulty". As a result, "our relations became strained and for several years Stravinsky's attitude toward me was critical."


title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: In March 1922, Prokofiev moved with his mother to the town of Ettal in the Bavarian Alps, where for over a year he concentrated on an opera project, "The Fiery Angel", based on the novel by Valery Bryusov. His later music had acquired a following in Russia, and he received invitations to return there, but decided to stay in Europe. In 1923, Prokofiev married the Spanish singer Carolina Codina (1897–1989, stage name Lina Llubera) before moving back to Paris.


title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: In Paris, several of his works, including the Second Symphony, were performed, but their reception was lukewarm and Prokofiev sensed that he "was evidently no longer a sensation". Still, the Symphony appeared to prompt Diaghilev to commission "Le pas d'acier" ("The Steel Step"), a "modernist" ballet score intended to portray the industrialisation of the Soviet Union. It was enthusiastically received by Parisian audiences and critics.


title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: Around 1924, Prokofiev was introduced to Christian Science. He began to practice its teachings, which he believed to be beneficial to his health and to his fiery temperament and to which he remained faithful for the rest of his life, according to biographer Simon Morrison.


title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: Prokofiev and Stravinsky restored their friendship, though Prokofiev particularly disliked Stravinsky's "stylization of Bach" in such recent works as the Octet and the Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments. For his part, Stravinsky described Prokofiev as the greatest Russian composer of his day, after himself.


title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: Prokofiev met Boris Krasin in the violinist Joseph Szigeti's Paris apartment in 1924. In 1927, Prokofiev made his first concert tour in the Soviet Union. Over more than two months, he spent time in Moscow and Leningrad (as St Petersburg had been renamed), where he enjoyed a very successful staging of "The Love for Three Oranges" in the Mariinsky Theatre. In 1928, Prokofiev completed his Third Symphony, which was broadly based on his unperformed opera "The Fiery Angel". The conductor Serge Koussevitzky characterized the Third as "the greatest symphony since Tchaikovsky's Sixth".


title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: In the meantime, however, Prokofiev, under the influence of the teachings of Christian Science, had turned against the expressionist style and the subject matter of "The Fiery Angel". He now preferred what he called a "new simplicity", which he believed more sincere than the "contrivances and complexities" of so much modern music of the 1920s. During 1928–29, Prokofiev composed what was to be his last ballet for Diaghilev, "The Prodigal Son". When first staged in Paris on 21 May 1929, choreographed by George Balanchine with Serge Lifar in the title role, the audience and critics were particularly struck by the final scene in which the prodigal son drags himself across the stage on his knees to be welcomed by his father. Diaghilev had recognised that in the music to the scene, Prokofiev had "never been more clear, more simple, more melodious, and more tender". Only months later, Diaghilev died.


title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: That summer, Prokofiev completed the Divertimento, Op. 43 (which he had started in 1925) and revised his Sinfonietta, Op. 5/48, a work started in his days at the Conservatory. In October of that year, he had a car crash while driving his family back to Paris from their holiday: as the car turned over, Prokofiev pulled some muscles on his left hand. Prokofiev was therefore unable to perform in Moscow during his tour shortly after the accident, but he was able to enjoy watching performances of his music from the audience. Prokofiev also attended the Bolshoi Theatre's "audition" of his ballet "Le pas d'acier", and was interrogated by members of the Russian Association of Proletarian Musicians (RAPM) about the work: he was asked whether the factory portrayed "a capitalist factory, where the worker is a slave, or a Soviet factory, where the worker is the master? If it is a Soviet factory, when and where did Prokofiev examine it, since from 1918 to the present he has been living abroad and came here for the first time in 1927 for two weeks [sic]?" Prokofiev replied, "That concerns politics, not music, and therefore I won't answer." The RAPM condemned the ballet as a "flat and vulgar anti-Soviet anecdote, a counter-revolutionary composition bordering on Fascism". The Bolshoi had no option but to reject the ballet.


title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: With his left hand healed, Prokofiev toured the United States successfully at the start of 1930, propped up by his recent European success. That year, Prokofiev began his first non-Diaghilev ballet "On the Dnieper", Op. 51, a work commissioned by Serge Lifar, who had been appointed "maitre de ballet" at the Paris Opéra. In 1931 and 1932, he completed his fourth and fifth piano concertos. The following year saw the completion of the Symphonic Song, Op. 57, which Prokofiev's friend Myaskovsky—thinking of its potential audience in the Soviet Union—told him "isn't quite for us… it lacks that which we mean by monumentalism—a familiar simplicity and broad contours, of which you are extremely capable, but temporarily are carefully avoiding."


title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: By the early 1930s, both Europe and America were suffering from the Great Depression, which inhibited both new opera and ballet productions, though audiences for Prokofiev's appearances as a pianist were, in Europe at least, undiminished. However, Prokofiev, who saw himself as a composer first and foremost, increasingly resented the amount of time that was lost to composition through his appearances as a pianist. Having been homesick for some time, Prokofiev began to build substantial bridges with the Soviet Union.


title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: Following the dissolution of the RAPM in 1932, he acted increasingly as a musical ambassador between his homeland and western Europe, and his premieres and commissions were increasingly under the auspices of the Soviet Union. One such was "Lieutenant Kijé", which was commissioned as the score to a Soviet film.


title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: Another commission, from the Kirov Theatre (as the Mariinsky had now been renamed) in Leningrad, was the ballet "Romeo and Juliet", composed to a scenario created by Adrian Piotrovsky and Sergei Radlov following the precepts of "drambalet" (dramatised ballet, officially promoted at the Kirov to replace works based primarily on choreographic display and innovation). Following Radlov's acrimonious resignation from the Kirov in June 1934, a new agreement was signed with the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow on the understanding that Piotrovsky would remain involved. However, the ballet's original happy ending (contrary to Shakespeare) provoked controversy among Soviet cultural officials; the ballet's production was then postponed indefinitely when the staff of the Bolshoi was overhauled at the behest of the chairman of the Committee on Arts Affairs, Platon Kerzhentsev. Nikolai Myaskovsky, one of his closest friends, mentioned in a number of letters how he would like Prokofiev to stay in Russia.


title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: In 1936, Prokofiev and his family settled permanently in Moscow, after shifting back and forth between Moscow and Paris for the previous four years.


title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: That year, Prokofiev composed one of his most famous works, "Peter and the Wolf", for Natalya Sats' Central Children's Theatre. Sats also persuaded him to write two songs for children, "Sweet Song", and "Chatterbox"; they were eventually joined by "The Little Pigs" and published as "Three Children's Songs", Op. 68. Prokofiev also composed the gigantic "Cantata for the 20th Anniversary of the October Revolution," originally intended for performance during the anniversary year but effectively blocked by Kerzhentsev, who demanded at the work's audition before the Committee on Arts Affairs, "Just what do you think you're doing, Sergey Sergeyevich, taking texts that belong to the people and setting them to such incomprehensible music?" The Cantata was not performed until 5 April 1966, just over 13 years after the composer's death.


title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: Forced to adapt to the new circumstances (whatever private misgivings he had about them), Prokofiev wrote a series of "mass songs" (Opp. 66, 79, 89), using the lyrics of officially approved Soviet poets. In 1938, he collaborated with Eisenstein on the historical epic "Alexander Nevsky", composing some of his most inventive and dramatic music. Although the film had very poor sound recording, Prokofiev adapted much of his score into a large-scale cantata for mezzo-soprano, orchestra and chorus, which was extensively performed and recorded. In the wake of "Alexander Nevsky"'s success, Prokofiev composed his first Soviet opera, "Semyon Kotko", which was intended to be produced by the director Vsevolod Meyerhold. The opera's première was postponed because Meyerhold was arrested on 20 June 1939 by the NKVD, and shot on 2 February 1940. At the end of the same year, Prokofiev was commissioned to compose "Zdravitsa" (literally "Cheers!", but sometimes subtitled "Hail to Stalin" in English) (Op. 85) to celebrate Joseph Stalin's 60th birthday.


title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: Later in 1939, Prokofiev composed his Piano Sonatas Nos. 6, 7, and 8, Opp. 82–84, widely known today as the "War Sonatas". Premiered respectively by Prokofiev (No. 6: 8 April 1940), Sviatoslav Richter (No. 7: Moscow, 18 January 1943) and Emil Gilels (No. 8: Moscow, 30 December 1944), they were subsequently championed in particular by Richter. Biographer Daniel Jaffé argued that Prokofiev, "having forced himself to compose a cheerful evocation of the nirvana Stalin wanted everyone to believe he had created" (i.e. in "Zdravitsa") then subsequently, in the three sonatas, "expressed his true feelings". As evidence, Jaffé has pointed out that the central movement of Sonata No. 7 opens with a theme based on the Robert Schumann lied "Wehmut" ("Sadness", from the "Liederkreis", Op. 39): its words translate, "I can sometimes sing as if I were glad, yet secretly tears well and so free my heart. Nightingales … sing their song of longing from their dungeon's depth … everyone delights, yet no one feels the pain, the deep sorrow in the song." Sonata No. 7 received a Stalin Prize (Second Class) and No. 8 a Stalin Prize (First Class).


title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: Meanwhile, "Romeo and Juliet" was staged by the Kirov Ballet, choreographed by Leonid Lavrovsky, on 11 January 1940. To the surprise of all of its participants, the dancers having struggled to cope with the music's syncopated rhythms and almost having boycotted the production, the ballet was an instant success and became recognised as the crowning achievement of Soviet dramatic ballet.


title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: Prokofiev had been considering making an opera out of Leo Tolstoy's epic novel "War and Peace", when news of the German invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941 made the subject seem all the more timely. Prokofiev took two years to compose his original version of "War and Peace". Because of the war, he was evacuated together with a large number of other artists, initially to the Caucasus, where he composed his Second String Quartet. By now, his relationship with the 25-year-old writer and librettist Mira Mendelson (1915–1968) had finally led to his separation from his wife Lina. Despite their acrimonious separation, Prokofiev had tried to persuade Lina and their sons to accompany him as evacuees out of Moscow, but Lina opted to stay.


title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: During the war years, restrictions on style and the demand that composers write in a 'socialist realist' style were slackened, and Prokofiev was generally able to compose in his own way. The Violin Sonata No. 1, Op. 80, "The Year 1941", Op. 90, and the "Ballade for the Boy Who Remained Unknown", Op. 93 all came from this period. In 1943, Prokofiev joined Eisenstein in Alma-Ata, the largest city in Kazakhstan, to compose more film music ("Ivan the Terrible"), and the ballet "Cinderella" (Op. 87), one of his most melodious and celebrated compositions. Early that year, he also played excerpts from "War and Peace" to members of the Bolshoi Theatre collective, but the Soviet government had opinions about the opera that resulted in many revisions. In 1944, Prokofiev composed his Fifth Symphony (Op. 100) at a composer's colony outside Moscow. He conducted its first performance on 13 January 1945, just a fortnight after the triumphant premieres on 30 December 1944 of his Eighth Piano Sonata and, on the same day, the first part of Eisenstein's "Ivan the Terrible". With the premiere of his Fifth Symphony, which was programmed alongside "Peter and the Wolf" and the "Classical" Symphony (conducted by Nikolai Anosov), Prokofiev appeared to reach the peak of his celebrity as a leading Soviet composer.


title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: On 20 January 1945, Prokofiev suffered a concussion after fainting in his apartment due to untreated chronic hypertension. The composer Dmitry Kabalevsky visited him in hospital and found him semi-conscious, and "with a heavy heart, I left him, I thought it was the end." He never fully recovered from the injury, and, following medical advice, restricted his composing activity.


title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: Prokofiev had time to write his postwar Sixth Symphony and his Ninth Piano Sonata (for Sviatoslav Richter) before the so-called "Zhdanov Decree". On the day before the decree was published, 10 February 1948, Prokofiev was at a ceremony in the Kremlin to mark his elevation to the status of People's Artist of the RSFSR.


title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: The decree followed a three-day conference of more than 70 composers, musicians and music lecturers convened on 10 January, presided over by Zhdanov. Prokofiev was berated by a minor composer, Viktor Bely, who accused him of "innovation for innovation's sake" and "artistic snobbishness", but unlike Dmitri Shostakovich, Khachaturian and others, Prokofiev gave no speech. His silence set off rumors that he had been deliberately defiant and uncooperative. There is no official record, but according to a variety of witnesses, Prokofiev did not attend on the first day, and had to be fetched, arriving on day two wearing a brown suit and baggy-kneed trousers tucked into his felt boots. Ilya Ehrenburg, who was not in the hall, claimed in his memoirs that Prokofiev fell asleep, woke up suddenly and loudly asked who Zhdanov was. The cellist Mstislav Rostropovich heard that Prokofiev was chatting to the person next to him when a senior figure sitting nearby warned him to be quiet. Prokofiev asked: "Who are you?" The official said that his name did not matter, but that Prokofiev had better pay attention to him, to which Prokofiev retorted: "I never pay attention to comments from people who haven't been introduced to me." This possibly apocryphal story was corroborated by the head of the composers' union, Tikhon Khrennikov, who said that the person Prokofiev snubbed was the Stalinist official Matvei Shkiryatov.


title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: The decree, published on 11 February, denounced six artists—Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Khachaturian, Vissarion Shebalin, Gavriil Popov, and Myaskovsky, in that order—for the crime of "formalism", described as a "renunciation of the basic principles of classical music" in favor of "muddled, nerve-racking" sounds that "turned music into cacophony". Eight of Prokofiev's works were banned from performance: "The Year 1941", "Ode to the End of the War", "Festive Poem", "Cantata for the Thirtieth Anniversary of October", "Ballad of an Unknown Boy", the 1934 piano cycle "Thoughts", and Piano Sonatas Nos. 6 and 8. Such was the perceived threat behind the banning of the works that even works that had avoided censure were no longer programmed. By August 1948, Prokofiev was in severe financial straits, his personal debt amounting to 180,000 rubles.


title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: On 22 November 1947, Prokofiev filed a petition in court to begin divorce proceedings against his estranged wife. Five days later the court ruled that the marriage had no legal basis since it had taken place in Germany, and had not been registered with Soviet officials, thus making it null and void. After a second judge upheld the verdict, he and his partner Mira wed on 13 January 1948. On 20 February 1948, Prokofiev's first wife Lina was arrested and charged with espionage for trying to send money to her mother in Spain. After nine months of interrogation, she was sentenced by a three-member Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR to 20 years of hard labor. She was released eight years later on 30 June 1956 and in 1974 left the Soviet Union.


title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: Prokofiev's latest opera projects, among them his desperate attempt to appease the cultural authorities, "The Story of a Real Man", were quickly cancelled by the Kirov Theatre. The snub, in combination with his declining health, caused Prokofiev to progressively withdraw from public life and from various activities, even chess, and increasingly devote himself to his own work. After he had a stroke on July 7, 1949, his doctors ordered him to limit his composing to an hour a day.


title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: In spring 1949, Prokofiev wrote his Cello Sonata in C, Op. 119, for the 22-year-old Mstislav Rostropovich, who gave the first performance in 1950, with Sviatoslav Richter. For Rostropovich, Prokofiev also extensively recomposed his Cello Concerto, transforming it into a Symphony-Concerto, a landmark in the cello and orchestra repertory today. The last public performance he attended, on 11 October 1952, was the première of the Seventh Symphony, his last completed work. The symphony was written for the Children's Radio Division.


title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: Prokofiev died at age 61 on 5 March 1953, the same day as Joseph Stalin. He had lived near Red Square, and for three days throngs gathered to mourn Stalin, making it impossible to hold Prokofiev's funeral service at the headquarters of the Soviet Composers' Union. Because the hearse was not allowed near Prokofiev's house, his coffin had to be moved by hand through back streets in the opposite direction of the masses of people going to visit Stalin's body. About 30 people attended the funeral, Shostakovich among them. Although they had not seemed to get along when they met, in the later years their interactions had become far more amicable, with Shostakovich writing to Prokofiev, "I wish you at least another hundred years to live and create. Listening to such works as your Seventh Symphony makes it much easier and more joyful to live." Prokofiev is buried in Moscow's Novodevichy Cemetery.


title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: The leading Soviet musical periodical reported Prokofiev's death as a brief item on page 116. (The first 115 pages were devoted to Stalin's death.) Prokofiev's death is usually attributed to cerebral hemorrhage. He had been chronically ill for eight years.


title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: Prokofiev’s wife Mira Mendelson spent her final years living in the Moscow apartment they had shared. She occupied her time organizing her husband's papers, promoting his music, and writing her memoirs, having been strongly encouraged by Prokofiev to embark on the latter. Work on the memoirs was difficult for her; she left them incomplete at her death. Mendelson died of a heart attack in Moscow in 1968, 15 years after Prokofiev. Inside her purse a message dated February 1950 and signed by Prokofiev and Mendelson instructed: "We wish to be buried next to each other." Their remains are buried together at Novodevichy Cemetery.


title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: Lina Prokofiev outlived her ex-husband by many years, dying in London in early 1989. Royalties from his music provided her with a modest income, and she acted as storyteller for a recording of her husband's "Peter and the Wolf" (released on CD by Chandos Records) with Neeme Järvi conducting the Scottish National Orchestra. Their sons Sviatoslav (1924–2010), an architect, and Oleg (1928–1998), an artist, painter, sculptor and poet, dedicated much of their lives to promoting their father's work.


title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: Arthur Honegger said that Prokofiev would "remain for us the greatest figure of contemporary music", and the American scholar Richard Taruskin wrote of Prokofiev's "gift, virtually unparalleled among 20th-century composers, for writing distinctively original diatonic melodies". Yet for some time Prokofiev's reputation in the West suffered as a result of Cold War antipathies, and his music has never won from Western academics and critics the same esteem as Igor Stravinsky's and Arnold Schoenberg's, which had greater influence on younger musicians.


title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: In Donetsk Oblast, the and Donetsk Sergei Prokofiev International Airport are named in Prokofiev's honor. The latter facility was destroyed in 2014 during the First and Second Battle of Donetsk Airport.


title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: The All-Ukrainian open pianists' competition named after Prokofiev is held annually in Kyiv and comprises three categories: piano, composition, and conducting.


title: Sergei Prokofiev

text: Prokofiev was a soloist with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Piero Coppola, in the first recording of his Piano Concerto No. 3, recorded in London by His Master's Voice in June 1932. Prokofiev also recorded some of his solo piano music for HMV in Paris in February 1935; these recordings were issued on CD by Pearl and Naxos. In 1938, he conducted the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra in a recording of the second suite from his "Romeo and Juliet" ballet; this performance was later released on LP and CD. Another reported recording with Prokofiev and the Moscow Philharmonic was of the First Violin Concerto with David Oistrakh as soloist; Everest Records later released this recording on an LP. Despite the attribution, the conductor was Aleksandr Gauk. A short sound film has been discovered of Prokofiev playing some of the music from his opera "War and Peace" and then explaining the music.


title: Jimmy Bennett

text: James Michael Bennett (born February 9, 1996) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as a child actor in "Daddy Day Care", "Hostage", "The Amityville Horror", "Poseidon", "Evan Almighty", "Orphan", "Shorts", and as young James T. Kirk in the 2009 film "Star Trek". He also starred on the ABC series "No Ordinary Family" as JJ Powell, a teenager gifted with vast intelligence after a plane crash.


title: Jimmy Bennett

text: Bennett was born on February 9, 1996, in Seal Beach, California, and lives with his parents and sister in Huntington Beach, California, where the family runs a hard rock-themed crepe restaurant. Bennett also plays guitar and sings on his official YouTube channel. He also wrote and performed the song "Summer Never Ends", which can be heard at the end of "Shorts".


title: Jimmy Bennett

text: Bennett appeared in nearly 30 television advertisements, as well as in episodes of the television series "The Guardian" and "Strong Medicine", before being cast in the role of "Tony", the boy who wants to be The Flash, in the Eddie Murphy comedy "Daddy Day Care". He had smaller roles in the films "" and "Arthur Hailey's Detective", and also appeared in "Judging Amy", "" and "Everwood", and lent his voice to characters in the animated films "The Polar Express", "The Jungle Book 2", "" and "I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown". He has been nominated for Young Artist Awards five times.


title: Jimmy Bennett

text: According to documents obtained by "The New York Times", a $380,000 settlement was made between Bennett and actress Asia Argento after Bennett claimed that Argento sexually assaulted him in a California hotel room in 2013, when he was 17 and Argento was 37. Bennett said that after the encounter he began to feel "extremely confused, mortified, and disgusted".


title: Jimmy Bennett

text: Bennett's lawyer wrote that in the years after the incident, Bennett was so traumatized that his job performance, income, and mental health declined. They first met when Bennett played Argento's son in the 2004 film "The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things" when Bennett was seven years old. He notified Argento that he intended to sue in November 2017, shortly after she went public with rape accusations against Harvey Weinstein. Argento countered that Bennett "sexually attacked" her, and that her partner Anthony Bourdain had arranged to pay $380,000 as part of the settlement.


title: Jimmy Bennett

text: Bennett and his lawyer, Gordon Sattro, are working with a Los Angeles County Sheriff's investigation regarding the claims of sexual assault against Argento.


title: Blue-collar worker

text: A blue-collar worker is a working class person who performs manual labor. Blue-collar work may involve skilled or unskilled labor. The type of work may involving manufacturing, warehousing, mining, excavation, electricity generation and power plant operations, electrical construction and maintenance, custodial work, farming, commercial fishing, logging, landscaping, pest control, food processing, oil field work, waste collection and disposal, recycling, construction, maintenance, shipping, driving, trucking and many other types of physical work. Blue-collar work often involves something being physically built or maintained.


title: Blue-collar worker

text: In contrast, the white-collar worker typically performs work in an office environment and may involve sitting at a computer or desk. A third type of work is a service worker (pink collar) whose labor is related to customer interaction, entertainment, sales or other service-oriented work. Many occupations blend blue, white, or pink-collar work and are often paid hourly wage-labor, although some professionals may be paid by the project or salaried. There are a wide range of payscales for such work depending upon field of specialty and experience.


title: Blue-collar worker

text: The term "blue collar" was first used in reference to trades jobs in 1924, in an Alden, Iowa newspaper. The phrase stems from the image of manual workers wearing blue denim or chambray shirts as part of their uniforms. Industrial and manual workers often wear durable canvas or cotton clothing that may be soiled during the course of their work. Navy and light blue colors conceal potential dirt or grease on the worker's clothing, helping them to appear cleaner. For the same reason, blue is a popular color for boilersuits which protect workers' clothing. Some blue collar workers have uniforms with the name of the business and/or the individual's name embroidered or printed on it.


title: Blue-collar worker

text: Historically, the popularity of the colour blue among manual labourers contrasts with the popularity of white dress shirts worn by people in office environments. The blue collar/white collar colour scheme has socio-economic class connotations. However, this distinction has become blurred with the increasing importance of skilled labor, and the relative increase in low-paying white-collar jobs.


title: Blue-collar worker

text: Since many blue-collar jobs consist of mainly manual labor, educational requirements for workers are typically lower than those of white-collar workers. Often, not even a high school diploma is required, and many of the skills required for blue-collar jobs are learned by the employee while working. In higher level blue collar jobs, such as becoming an electrician or plumber, vocational training or apprenticeships are required and state-certification is also necessary.


title: Blue-collar worker

text: For this reason, it is common to apply the label "blue collar" or "working class" to people without a college education, whether or not they work in a blue-collar job.


title: Blue-collar worker

text: With the information revolution, Western nations have moved towards a service and white-collar economy. Many manufacturing jobs have been offshored to developing nations which pay their workers lower wages. This offshoring has pushed formerly agrarian nations to industrialized economies and concurrently decreased the number of blue-collar jobs in developed countries.


title: Blue-collar worker

text: In the United States, blue collar and service occupations generally refer to jobs in precision production, craft, and repair occupations; machine operators and inspectors; transportation and moving occupations; handlers, equipment cleaners, helpers, and laborers.


title: Blue-collar worker

text: In the United States, an area known as the Rust Belt comprising the Northeast and Midwest, including Western New York and Western Pennsylvania, has seen its once large manufacturing base shrink significantly. With the de-industrialization of these areas starting in the mid-1960s, cities like Cleveland, Ohio; Detroit, Michigan; Buffalo, New York; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Erie, Pennsylvania; Youngstown, Ohio; Toledo, Ohio; Rochester, New York; and St. Louis, Missouri have experienced a steady decline of the blue-collar workforce and subsequent population decreases. Due to this economic osmosis, the rust belt has experienced high unemployment, poverty, and urban blight.


title: Blue-collar worker

text: Due to many blue-collar jobs involving manual labor, automation poses a threat of unemployment for blue-collar workers. One study from the MIT Technology Review estimates that 83% of jobs that make less than $20 per hour are threatened by automation. Some examples of technology that threaten workers are self-driving cars and automated cleaning devices, which could place blue-collar workers such as truck drivers or janitors out of work.


title: Blue-collar worker

text: Others have suggested that technological advancement will not lead to blue-collar job unemployment, but rather shifts in the types of work performed. Proponents of this idea view coding as a replacement for blue-collar jobs, and suggest that more coders will be needed in a technologically advancing world, and posit that, ostensibly, new white-collar IT jobs could be filled by displaced blue-collar workers. Others see future of blue-collar work as humans and computers working together to improve efficiency.


title: Blue-collar worker

text: "Blue-collar" can be used as an adjective to describe the environment of the blue-collar worker or a setting reflective of that environment, such as a "blue-collar" neighborhood, restaurant, or bar.


title: Peng Liyuan

text: Peng Liyuan (; born 20 November 1962) is a Chinese soprano and contemporary folk singer and the spouse of Xi Jinping, current General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and President of the People's Republic of China. Peng gained popularity as a singer from her regular appearances on the annual CCTV New Year's Gala, a widely viewed Chinese television program that airs during the Chinese New Year. She won honors in singing competitions nationwide. Her most famous singles include《父老乡亲》("People from Our Village"),《珠穆朗玛》("Zhumulangma"), and《在希望的田野上》("In the Field of Hope"). Peng also sang the theme songs of several popular TV series, such as "The Water Margin" (1998). She also starred in musical productions. In 1986, she received the Plum Blossom Award, China's highest theatrical award, for her lead role in "The White Haired Girl". She was the president of then People's Liberation Army Academy of Art between 2012 and 2017, and vice president of the All-China Youth Federation between 2005 and 2010. Peng was a civilian member of the People's Liberation Army and held the civilian rank equivalent to Major General before she was appointed the Art Academy's dean, upon which she was given the formal rank. She is known within China for her fashion sense, credited to her personal couturier Ma Ke. In 2014, Peng was listed as the 57th Most Powerful Woman in the World by "Forbes".


title: Peng Liyuan

text: Peng Liyuan is a native of Yuncheng County, Shandong province. She is the daughter of Peng Longkun, an official in charge of cultural affairs who was branded a "counter-revolutionary" during the Cultural Revolution because some of his relatives had served in the Taiwanese army. Peng Liyuan joined the People's Liberation Army in 1980, when she was 18 years old, as an ordinary soldier. Because of her vocal talent, Peng later performed during front-line tours to boost troop morale during the Sino-Vietnamese border conflicts. She first performed nationally and came to fame during the earliest rendition of the CCTV New Year's Gala in 1982, when she performed "On the Plains of Hope".


title: Peng Liyuan

text: Directly after the Tiananmen Square protests in June 1989, Peng sang for the troops. A photo of Peng, wearing a green military uniform, singing to helmeted and rifle-bearing troops seated in Tiananmen Square was scrubbed from China's Internet. The image was from the back cover of a 1989 issue of the "People's Liberation Army Pictorial", a publicly available military magazine.


title: Peng Liyuan

text: For the greater part of their relationship, Peng has enjoyed a positive reputation within China. Since her husband became the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party in November 2012, and President of the People's Republic of China in March 2013, she has often been referred to as the First Lady of China internationally. Peng is actively involved in politics and is a member of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. She has been a WHO Goodwill Ambassador for tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS since 2011.


title: Peng Liyuan

text: On 20 November 2014, Massey University in New Zealand conferred Peng an Honorary Doctorate in recognition of her international contributions to performing arts, health, and education. Peng sang in a song-and-dance number in 2007 shown on Chinese television that featured Tibetans thanking the Chinese military for liberating them. On 6 December 2017, Juilliard School, a private performing arts conservatory in New York City, also conferred Peng an Honorary Doctorate at the China Conservatory of Music in Beijing, in recognition of her accomplishment as an outstanding artist, and also for her contribution to cultural exchanges between China and the United States.


title: Peng Liyuan

text: Peng Liyuan met Xi Jinping in 1986, when Xi was working as the deputy mayor of the eastern port city of Xiamen, Fujian. Xi and Peng were introduced by friends, as many Chinese couples were in the 1980s. Xi was reputedly academic during their courtship, inquiring about singing techniques. The couple married on 1 September 1987. Four days later, Peng Liyuan returned to Beijing to appear in the National Art Festival, and then immediately departed for the United States and Canada to perform. Since that time, Xi and Peng have led largely separate lives, with Peng spending most of her time in Beijing and her husband spending his time in Fujian and later in Zhejiang. They have only one child, a daughter named Xi Mingze (), who was born in 1992. Peng is an artist, a practicing Buddhist, and an enemy of tobacco in a country of inveterate smokers.


title: Lee Thompson Young

text: Lee Thompson Young (February 1, 1984 – August 19, 2013) was an American actor who began his career as a teenager, playing the titular character on the Disney Channel television series "The Famous Jett Jackson" (1998–2001). As an adult, major roles included playing Chris Comer in the movie "Friday Night Lights" (2004) and Boston police detective Barry Frost on the TNT police drama series "Rizzoli & Isles" (2010–14).


title: Lee Thompson Young

text: Young was born in Columbia, South Carolina, the son of Velma Elaine (née Love) and Tommy Scott Young. He was in the second grade when his parents' marriage ended, and he went to live with his mother. At age ten, he portrayed Martin Luther King Jr. in a play called "A Night of Stars and Dreams" by Dwight Woods, and the Phillis Wheatley Repertory Theater of Greenville, South Carolina. It was then that Young decided he wanted to become an actor.


title: Lee Thompson Young

text: Young moved to New York City in June 1996, but it was not until the next year that he auditioned for the part of Jett Jackson in "The Famous Jett Jackson". He filmed the pilot and found out in June 1998 that the Disney Channel had picked up the show; it would go on to become a in June 2001. Young also starred in "Johnny Tsunami" (1999), another Disney Channel Original Movie, as Sam Sterling. Although the movie was successful, he did not reprise the role in the sequel, "" (2007).


title: Lee Thompson Young

text: After the cancellation of "The Famous Jett Jackson", Young had guest spots in the CBS series "The Guardian". He also had a part in the movie "Friday Night Lights" (2004), portraying Chris Comer, and a part in the Jamie Foxx movie "" (2004). Lee appeared on UPN's TV drama series "South Beach", and he portrayed Victor Stone (known in DC Comics as Cyborg) in a fifth-season episode of the television series "Smallville", in 2006; which character he reprised in the Season Six episode "Justice" (airdate January 18, 2007), and again in the Season Nine finale "Salvation" (airdate May 14, 2010).


title: Lee Thompson Young

text: Young appeared in the feature film "Akeelah and the Bee" (2006), playing Akeelah's brother Devon. He played National Guard rookie Delmar in "The Hills Have Eyes 2" (2007). In 2009, Young played a cocky surgical intern in the hit comedy show "Scrubs". It is revealed that his character had been overweight during childhood. The character becomes involved in a romance with one of the medical interns.


title: Lee Thompson Young

text: Young played the role of Al Gough, an FBI agent, in the ABC television drama "FlashForward". He was written off the show in episode 7, when his character committed suicide to prevent the death of an innocent civilian. His last acting role was playing Barry Frost, partner of Jane Rizzoli (Angie Harmon) on the TNT drama "Rizzoli & Isles", and he made an appearance on the Fox drama "The Good Guys" as the brother and business partner of an arms dealer.


title: Lee Thompson Young

text: Young graduated with honors from the University of Southern California, where he majored in cinematic arts and was a member of the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity. Young enjoyed writing and wrote the screenplay for the 2007 short film "Mano".


title: Lee Thompson Young

text: On August 19, 2013, Young failed to show up to film an episode of "Rizzoli & Isles". Police were called to do a wellbeing check on him at his Los Angeles apartment, where he was found dead. His manager stated that the actor died by suicide. Police confirmed the cause of death as a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Young had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, for which he had been taking medication, and had been suffering from depression before his death.


title: Lee Thompson Young

text: After funeral services at Inglewood Park Cemetery, Young was interred at Lakeview Memorial Garden, York, South Carolina. A memorial service was held on the Paramount Studios lot.


title: Lee Thompson Young

text: Young's family launched the Lee Thompson Young Foundation in an effort to help remove the stigma surrounding mental illness.


title: Enemy of the State (film)

text: Enemy of the State is a 1998 American political action thriller film directed by Tony Scott, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and written by David Marconi. The film stars Will Smith and Gene Hackman and features an ensemble supporting cast consisting of Jon Voight, Lisa Bonet, Gabriel Byrne, Dan Butler, Loren Dean, Jack Black, Jake Busey, Barry Pepper, and Regina King. The film tells the story of a group of corrupt National Security Agency (NSA) agents conspiring to kill a congressman and the cover-up that ensues after a tape of the murder ends up in the possession of an unsuspecting lawyer.


title: Enemy of the State (film)

text: "Enemy of the State" was released on November 20, 1998 by Buena Vista Pictures through its Touchstone Pictures label. The film grossed $250.8 million worldwide, and garnered positive reviews from film critics and audiences, with many praising the writing and direction as well as the chemistry between Smith and Hackman.


title: Enemy of the State (film)

text: NSA official Thomas Brian Reynolds meets with Congressman Phil Hammersley to discuss a new piece of counterterrorism legislation that dramatically expands the surveillance powers of intelligence agencies over individuals and groups. Hammersley remains committed to blocking its passage, wanting to protect U.S. citizens' privacy. Reynolds, wanting the bill passed to obtain a long-delayed promotion, has Hammersley murdered, making it appear he suffered a heart attack. Meanwhile, labor lawyer Robert Clayton Dean is involved in a case implicating mobster Paulie Pintero. Dean meets with his ex-girlfriend, Rachel Banks; Rachel works for "Brill," who Dean sometimes uses for undercover surveillance but has never met in person. She delivers a tape incriminating Pintero for labor racketeering, which Dean threatens him with.


title: Enemy of the State (film)

text: As police investigate Hammersley's murder scene, Reynolds and his team notice a biologist swapping out a tape from a remote wildlife camera stationed across the lake. They identify the biologist as Daniel Zavitz. When Zavitz views footage of the murder, he immediately contacts a journalist to publicize the tape. Reynolds' team intercepts the call and rush to Zavitz's apartment. Zavitz transfers the video to a disc and hides it in an NEC TurboExpress game console before fleeing. He bumps into Dean, his old college friend. Panicked, Zavitz slips the disc into Dean's shopping bag without his knowledge. He runs into the path of an oncoming fire truck and is killed instantly, while Reynolds has Zavitz's journalist contact murdered.


title: Enemy of the State (film)

text: Reynolds' team identify Dean and visit him disguised as cops. When Dean refuses to let them search his belongings, they later plant surveillance devices in his house and on his clothes. They also disseminate false evidence that Dean is secretly on Pintero's payroll, laundering money and having an affair with Rachel. The subterfuge destroys Dean's life: he is fired from his law firm, his bank accounts are frozen, and his wife, Carla, throws him out. Dean asks Rachel to contact Brill for help. Reynolds intercepts the call and sends one of his men to impersonate Brill. The real Brill rescues Dean and warns him that the NSA is responsible for ruining his life. After Dean manages to evade the team, he is horrified to find Rachel shot dead in her home.


title: Enemy of the State (film)

text: Dean finds the disc and shows it to Brill, who identifies Reynolds. The NSA agents raid Brill's hideout; Brill and Dean escape but the disc is destroyed. Brill reveals that his real name is Edward Lyle, a former NSA communications expert stationed in Iran during the Iranian Revolution. His partner, Rachel's father, was killed, but Lyle escaped and has been working covertly ever since, employing Rachel as a courier to watch over her. Lyle urges Dean to start a new life, but he insists on clearing his name. Dean and Lyle trail Congressman Sam Albert, a key supporter of the bill, and record a videotape of him with his mistress. Dean and Lyle hide an NSA listening device in Albert's hotel room, knowing that he will find it and then demand an internal investigation. Lyle then hacks into Reynolds' personal bank account and deposits large sums of money to make it look like he's being paid to blackmail Albert.


title: Enemy of the State (film)

text: A meeting is arranged with Reynolds to exchange the video and to get Reynolds to incriminate himself. Reynolds' men instead ambush the meeting and hold Lyle and Dean at gunpoint, demanding the tape. Dean, anticipating this, lies and says that the evidence is hidden at Pintero's restaurant, which is currently under FBI surveillance. He then tricks Pintero and Reynolds into believing that the other man has the "tape". The encounter quickly escalates into a deadly close-quarters firefight when a gangster shoots an NSA agent in the back; Pintero, his men, Reynolds, and the agents are killed. During this ordeal, Lyle sends the FBI a live feed of the incident to trigger a raid on the restaurant before slipping out in disguise. Dean is rescued, and the conspiracy is exposed.


title: Enemy of the State (film)

text: Congress abandons the bill to avoid a national scandal, covering up the NSA's involvement to preserve the agency's reputation. Dean is cleared of all charges and reconciles with Carla. Lyle sends Dean a "farewell" message via his TV, partially showing himself relaxing on a tropical island with his cat.


title: Enemy of the State (film)

text: The story is set in both Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, and most of the filming was done in Baltimore. Location shooting began on a ferry in Fell's Point. In mid-January, the company moved to Los Angeles to complete production in April 1998. David Marconi spent over 2 1/2 years developing his original script at Don Simpson-Jerry Bruckheimer Films under the direction of Lucas Foster, their development executive at the time. Oliver Stone expressed early interest in directing Marconi's script, but ultimately Bruckheimer went with Tony Scott who he had a long standing relationship with because of their previous collaborations. The writers Aaron Sorkin, Henry Bean and Tony Gilroy each performed an uncredited rewrite of the script.


title: Enemy of the State (film)

text: Mel Gibson and Tom Cruise were considered for the part that went to Will Smith, who took the role largely because he wanted to work with Hackman, and had previously enjoyed working with the producer Jerry Bruckheimer on "Bad Boys". George Clooney was also considered for a role in the film. Sean Connery was considered for the role that went to Hackman. The film is notable for having cast several soon-to-be stars in smaller supporting roles, which casting director Victoria Thomas credited to people's interest in working with Gene Hackman.


title: Enemy of the State (film)

text: The film's crew included a technical surveillance counter-measures consultant who also had a minor role as a spy shop merchant. Hackman had previously acted in a similar thriller about spying and surveillance, "The Conversation" (1974). The photo in Edward Lyle's NSA file is of Hackman in "The Conversation".


title: Enemy of the State (film)

text: "Enemy of the State" grossed $111.5 million in the United States and $139.3 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $250.8 million, against a production budget of $90 million.


title: Enemy of the State (film)

text: The film opened at #2, behind "The Rugrats Movie", grossing $20 million over its first weekend at 2,393 theaters, averaging $8,374 per venue. It made $18.1 million in its second weekend and $9.7 million in its third, finishing third place both times.


title: Enemy of the State (film)

text: On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 72% based on 86 reviews, with an average rating of 6.44/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "An entertaining, topical thriller that finds director Tony Scott on solid form and Will Smith confirming his action headliner status." Metacritic assigned the film a normalized score of 67 out of 100, based on 22 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of A− on an A+ to F scale.


title: Enemy of the State (film)

text: Kenneth Turan of the "Los Angeles Times" expressed enjoyment in the movie, noting how its "pizazz [overcame] occasional lapses in moment-to-moment plausibility". Janet Maslin of "The New York Times" approved of the film's action-packed sequences, but cited how it was similar in manner to the rest of the members of "Simpson's and Bruckheimer's school of empty but sensation-packed filming. In a combination of the two's views, Edvins Beitiks of the "San Francisco Examiner" praised many of the movie's development aspects, but criticized the overall concept that drove the film from the beginning — the efficiency of government intelligence — as unrealistic. Roger Ebert of "The Chicago Sun-Times" felt "the climax edges perilously close to the ridiculous" but overall enjoyed the film, particularly Voight and Hackman's performances.


title: Enemy of the State (film)

text: Kim Newman considered "Enemy of the State" a "continuation of "The Conversation"", the 1974 psychological thriller that starred Hackman as a paranoid, isolated surveillance expert.


title: Enemy of the State (film)

text: In October 2016, ABC announced it had green-lit a television series sequel to the film, with Bruckheimer to return as producer. The series would take place two decades after the original film, where "an elusive NSA spy is charged with leaking classified intelligence, an idealistic female attorney must partner with a hawkish FBI agent to stop a global conspiracy". However, nothing ever came to fruition.


title: Enemy of the State (film)

text: An episode of PBS' "Nova" titled "Spy Factory" reported that the film's portrayal of the NSA's capabilities was fiction: although the agency can intercept transmissions, connecting the dots is difficult. However, in 2001, the then-NSA director Gen. Michael Hayden, who was appointed to the position during the release of the film, told CNN's Kyra Phillips that "I made the judgment that we couldn't survive with the popular impression of this agency being formed by the last Will Smith movie." James Risen wrote in his 2006 book "" that Hayden "was appalled" by the film's depiction of the NSA, and sought to counter it with a PR campaign on behalf of the agency.


title: Enemy of the State (film)

text: Given the events of 9/11, the Patriot Act and Edward Snowden's revelations about the NSA's PRISM surveillance program, the film has become noteworthy for being ahead of its time regarding issues of national security and privacy.


title: Enemy of the State (film)

text: In June 2013, the NSA's PRISM and Boundless Informant programs for domestic and international surveillance were uncovered by "The Guardian" and "The Washington Post" as the result of information provided by the whistleblower Edward Snowden. This information revealed capabilities such as collection of Internet browsing, e-mail and telephone data of not only many Americans, but citizens of other nations as well. "The Guardian"s John Patterson argued that Hollywood depictions of NSA surveillance, including "Enemy of the State" and "Echelon Conspiracy", had "softened" up the American public to "the notion that our spending habits, our location, our every movement and conversation, are visible to others whose motives we cannot know".


title: 2022 Oregon gubernatorial election

text: The 2022 Oregon gubernatorial election took place on November 8, 2022, to elect the governor of Oregon. Incumbent governor Kate Brown of the Democratic Party took office on February 18, 2015, upon the resignation of John Kitzhaber. She was subsequently elected in the gubernatorial special election in 2016, and was re-elected to a full term in 2018. Due to term limits, she was ineligible for re-election in 2022.


title: 2022 Oregon gubernatorial election

text: "The Oregonian" anticipated the election to have "the first competitive Democratic primary in more than a decade and potentially the closest such race since 2002." "Willamette Week" anticipated a "wide open field of Democrats", citing the lack of an incumbent. Almost 20 Republican Party candidates ran for the office, including two previous nominees for governor in 1998 and 2016, as well as 15 Democrats and some non-affiliates/third-party members.


title: 2022 Oregon gubernatorial election

text: In the May 17 primary elections, former House Speaker Tina Kotek was declared the winner of the Democratic primary half an hour after the ballot deadline. The next day, former House Minority Leader Christine Drazan was determined to have won the Republican primary. Notably, the general election featured three prominent female candidates, including former state senator Betsy Johnson, who was a moderate Democrat, running as an independent politician.


title: 2022 Oregon gubernatorial election

text: Oregon was considered a possible Republican pickup, as Brown had the lowest approval rating of any governor in the United States at the time and Johnson could have siphoned votes from Kotek. Nonetheless, Kotek won the election by a slim margin, becoming Oregon's 7th consecutive Democratic governor. She is set to be one of the first lesbian governors in the United States, along with Maura Healey in Massachusetts.


title: 2022 Oregon gubernatorial election

text: In order to be listed as candidates on the general election ballot, non-affiliated candidates for governor needed to collect 23,744 signatures from Oregon voters (1% of votes cast for president in the 2020 election).


title: The Satanic Temple

text: The Satanic Temple, often abbreviated TST, is a nontheistic religious organization that is primarily based in the United States, with additional congregations in Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom. Co-founded by Lucien Greaves, the organization's spokesperson, and Malcolm Jarry, the organization uses Satanic imagery to promote egalitarianism, social justice, and the separation of church and state, supporting their mission "to encourage benevolence and empathy [among all people]." The Satanic Temple has utilized satire, theatrical ploys, humor, and legal action in their public campaigns to "generate attention and prompt people to reevaluate fears and perceptions", and to "highlight religious hypocrisy and encroachment on religious freedom."


title: The Satanic Temple

text: The Satanic Temple does not believe in a supernatural Satan; instead it employs the literary Satan as a metaphor to promote pragmatic skepticism, rational reciprocity, personal autonomy, and curiosity. Satan is thus used as a symbol representing "the eternal rebel" against arbitrary authority and social norms. Adherents generally refer to their religion as "Satanism" or "Modern Satanism", while others refer to TST's religion as Compassionate Satanism or Seven Tenet Satanism.


title: The Satanic Temple

text: The organization's participation in public affairs includes political actions as well as lobbying efforts, with a focus on exposing Christian privilege when it interferes with personal religious freedom. It considers marriage a religious sacrament that should be governed under the First Amendment's protection of religious liberty which should prevail over state laws. Because the group regards inviolability of the body as a key doctrine, it also views all restrictions on abortion, including mandatory waiting periods, as an infringement on the rights of Satanists to practice their religion.


title: The Satanic Temple

text: Cofounders Lucien Greaves and Malcolm Jarry met in 2012, and The Satanic Temple was active by January 2013. In an interview with "The New York Times", Malcolm Jarry stated that the idea of starting a Satanic faith-based organization was first conceived to meet "all the Bush administration's criteria for receiving funds, but was repugnant to them". The idea was motivated by the former president George W. Bush's formation of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.


title: The Satanic Temple

text: The Satanic Temple opened its official headquarters in Salem, Massachusetts, in 2016. The former Victorian funeral home is painted charcoal and doubles as the Salem Art Gallery.


title: The Satanic Temple

text: On April 25, 2019, the Temple announced it had received tax-exempt status from the Internal Revenue Service, being classified as a "church or a convention or association of churches." The Satanic Temple had previously been reluctant to pursue tax-exempt status until the Johnson Amendment was weakened by an signed by President Trump in May 2017.


title: The Satanic Temple

text: Announcing the new tax status co-founder Lucien Greaves stated: "In light of theocratic assaults upon the Separation of Church and State in the legislative effort to establish a codified place of privilege for one religious viewpoint, we feel that accepting religious tax exemption — rather than renouncing in protest — can help us to better assert our claims to equal access and exemption while laying to rest any suspicion that we don’t meet the qualifications of a true religious organization. Satanism is here to stay."


title: The Satanic Temple

text: TST has had challenges acclimating to the diverse needs of international followers, chapters, and congregations. These difficulties largely stem from practical organization, as TST had already been struggling to meet demand for the establishment of new chapters across the United States and was structured based on the assumption of operating within the United States. To complement this, the organization was unwilling to assist members in establishing chapters where the risk of religiously motivated violence was considered too high (such as Peru and Uganda) out of concerns for their well-being. The difficulties associated with incorporating international members into the organization has led to at least one religious schism, which gave birth to another religious Satanic organization called the Global Order of Satan.


title: The Satanic Temple

text: The Satanic Temple Sober Faction is a peer support group that offers a Satanic approach to recovery from addiction. Sober Faction meetings assist those who are suffering from addiction in finding sobriety without including or invoking religion in the recovery process.


title: The Satanic Temple

text: The Sober Faction’s method is guided by TST’s Seven Tenets and utilizes the Seven Rituals, which were crafted specifically for the Sober Faction's recovery program. The ritual process promotes self-empowerment while giving structure to each individual’s recovery journey.


title: The Satanic Temple

text: The group recognizes and respects that there are multiple perspectives and multiple approaches to recovery. The group explicitly say that meetings are not a professional form of therapy, and that anyone struggling with addiction should also seek help from a medical professional.


title: The Satanic Temple

text: The Grey Faction is a project of The Satanic Temple with the goal of exposing malpractice and pseudoscience associated with Satanic ritual abuse conspiracy theories. The Grey Faction protests medical conferences, initiates legal action, and petitions medical boards. The faction has protested conferences held by the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation, which advocates for the discredited practice of recovered-memory therapy. The group has also petitioned for investigation into the killing by Gigi Jordan of her child, which was connected to the discredited practice of facilitated communication.


title: The Satanic Temple

text: The organization first gained media attention in January 2013 after a group of Satanists assembled at the Florida State Capitol to show their approval over a bill Governor Rick Scott signed into law the prior year, Senate Bill 98, which allowed student-led prayer at school assemblies. The group further stated that as the bill did not specify a religion, the prayers could be led by a student from any religion—including Satanism. The TST members announced they "were coming out to say how happy we were because now our Satanic children could pray to Satan in school."


title: The Satanic Temple

text: In July 2013, The Satanic Temple held a "Pink Mass" over the grave of Catherine Johnston, the mother of Westboro Baptist Church founder Fred Phelps. The mass was held after the Westboro Baptist Church announced their intention to picket the funerals of the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing. Queerty.com suggested they had based the idea of the mass on similar activities held by factions of the Latter Day Saint movement, where they would perform proxy baptisms. The Pink Mass was officiated by Greaves and consisted of two gay men kissing over Johnston's grave while Greaves touched the tombstone with his genitals and chanted an incantation intended to change the deceased's sexual orientation. A misdemeanor charge was issued against Greaves and he was told that if he returned to Lauderdale County, Mississippi (where Johnston's grave is located), he would be arrested. Shortly before Phelps's death on March 19, 2014, The Satanic Temple expressed interest in holding a similar ceremony for the church founder. The Blessing of same-sex marriages is allowed in The Satanic Temple.


title: The Satanic Temple

text: In May 2014, the Temple scheduled a Black Mass to be held on the Harvard University campus, sponsored by the Harvard Extension Cultural Studies Club; the event was forced to relocate off campus due to significant opposition by Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston and school administrators.


title: The Satanic Temple

text: A monumental bronze sculpture depicting Baphomet, the goat-headed, angel-winged occult idol, was crowdfunded in 2014 and unveiled the following year. The statue has figured prominently in challenges regarding the display of the Ten Commandments at the State Capitols of both Oklahoma and Arkansas.


title: The Satanic Temple

text: Launched by The Satanic Temple in the spring of 2014, the Protect Children Project aims to offer "First Amendment protection to support children who may be at risk for being subjected to mental or physical abuse in school by teachers and administrators through the use of solitary confinement, restraints, and corporal punishment." The Protect Children Project's website asked participants to print out pre-written letters to send to their respective school boards on a day designated as "Protect Children Day" as a form of protest. In March 2017, The Satanic Temple launched an anti-spanking campaign against corporal punishment in schools, as part of the Protect Children Project. They unveiled billboards in Texas which read "Never be hit in school again. Exercise your religious rights."


title: The Satanic Temple

text: On August 22, 2015 the Detroit chapter of The Satanic Temple held a counter-protest outside of a Ferndale Planned Parenthood location in response to anti-abortionist groups that were planning to protest Planned Parenthood on that same date. As part of the protest the Temple held a guerrilla theatre performance that included two men dressed as clergy pouring milk on kneeling actresses. This was not the first protest of this type that the Temple had held in support of the organization, as they had previously held a 2013 protest where they brought children to the Texas State Capitol who chanted "Fuck You" and "Hail Satan", while holding signs reading "Stay Out Of My Mommy's Vagina".


title: The Satanic Temple

text: On April 23, 2016, members of the Detroit chapter of the Temple counter protested the Citizens for a Pro-Life Society's protest of Planned Parenthood. Temple members dressed in bondage fetish clothing, wearing baby masks and diapers while engaging in flagellation. The Temple said that the reason for the protest was to "expose the anti-choice protest as an act of fetal idolatry, highlighting the fetishization and abstraction of the 'baby.'"


title: The Satanic Temple

text: In November 2015 the Temple received media attention for offering to take in Muslims or refugees that were afraid of experiencing backlash over the 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris.


title: The Satanic Temple

text: The Temple's Los Angeles Chapter has also protested the canonization of Junípero Serra by Pope Francis and in October 2015 they held a ceremony where they "demonized" the Christian missionary, stating that Serra helped enslave thousands of Native Americans and that he "also led The Spanish Inquisition in his territories, trying residents of the Missions for the crimes of sorcery, witchcraft and devil worship."


title: The Satanic Temple

text: On June 6, 2016, the Temple performed a pentagram ritual around the California city of Lancaster in Los Angeles County, to support California State Senate candidate Steve Hill, who hoped to be the first Satanic Temple member elected to public office.


title: The Satanic Temple

text: After School Satan is an after school program sponsored by The Satanic Temple. It was created in July 2016 as an alternative to the Christian-based after school group called the Good News Club.


title: The Satanic Temple

text: On January 14, 2017, a week before the Trump presidential inauguration, the Temple hosted what it billed as the largest Satanic gathering in history, hoping to double the attendance of the 2015 gathering in Detroit for the Baphomet unveiling. Film crews from VICE and NatGeo were on hand to document the event. The mass included three parts: Invocation Ritual, Destruction Ritual and a Bloodletting Ritual. Local Los Angeles media was also on hand to cover the event, calling the event "a bloody good time".


title: The Satanic Temple

text: Chapters throughout the United States have erected various displays to appear adjacent to Christian Nativity scenes on public grounds. A display in the Florida State Capitol rotunda in 2014 featured an angel falling from the sky into a pit of flames, which was vandalized and then modified as a result. That same year a display at the Michigan State Capitol featured the message "The Greatest Gift is Knowledge" and a depiction of a snake wrapped around a black Leviathan cross. Sponsored by the Detroit chapter, this "Snaketivity" display returned to Lansing capitol grounds in 2015, and again in 2016.


title: The Satanic Temple

text: The Chicago chapter updated "Snaketivity" as a sculpture for display in the Illinois State Capitol rotunda in 2018: with a serpent coiled around a woman's hand presenting an apple, and the message "Knowledge is the Greatest Gift" inscribed on the supporting pedestal; the same sculpture returned in 2019. The West Michigan chapter installed a Yule goat outside their state's capitol on the 2019 winter solstice.


title: The Satanic Temple

text: Following a pandemic hiatus on holiday displays in their State Capitol, the Illinois congregation announced a new sculpture for the rotunda in celebration of Sol Invictus 2021: Baphomet as a newborn baby. Local Catholic bishop Thomas Paprocki declined an invitation to attend the installation of the statue, which took place December 20. Illinois congregants returned to the rotunda in 2022 with a crochet display of apples and the serpent of Genesis, paired with a book by Copernicus that had been banned by the Vatican for centuries.


title: The Satanic Temple

text: Scottsdale City Council denied a 2016 request from The Satanic Temple's Arizona chapter to give an invocation at the Council meeting; denial was based on the grounds that only groups with 'substantial connections to the community' are allowed (the pastor of First Southern Baptist Church of Scottsdale was selected instead). The Satanic Temple maintains there was never any "local community" question during the application process. The Arizona chapter's co-founder Michelle Shortt filed suit against the city, saying they had "no written policy regarding prayer and only reversed its decision after backlash from the community and city officials." The City Council unanimously approved additional funds to litigate a January 2020 federal court trial in Phoenix.


title: The Satanic Temple

text: Following a failed abortion lawsuit in June 2020, the Satanic Temple announced a religious abortion ritual on August 5, 2020, exempting members in RFRA states from "enduring medically unnecessary and unscientific abortion regulations when seeking to terminate their pregnancy". In September 2021, as part of its opposition to the Texas Heartbeat Act, the Satanic Temple wrote the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, saying that it had a faith-based right to access medical abortion drugs, including misoprostol and mifepristone. Temple lawyers protest a specific Texas abortion law, recently sustained by the US Supreme Court, arguing that the Temple's status as a non-theistic religious organization should ensure access to abortion as a faith-based right.


title: The Satanic Temple

text: In 2022, "Roe v. Wade" was overturned in "Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization", ending federal abortion rights and allowing individual states to regulate their own abortion laws. Following this, the Satanic Temple commented on Twitter that the organization was "the leading beacon of light in the battle for abortion access", and that "a religious exemption [from the Satanic Temple] will be the only available challenge to many restrictions to access".


title: The Satanic Temple

text: In response, "Jezebel" magazine critiqued the organization's position that a religious exemption would guarantee its members freedom to seek abortions even in states where they were no longer legal, criticizing its position as overly-simplistic, unproven, and put pregnant people attempting to use the Satanic Temple's religious exemption to have an abortion in legal jeopardy. Other organizations focused on reproductive rights, such as the Texas Equal Access (TEA) Fund, also commented on the Satanic Temple's position, with both the TEA Fund and the Yellowhammer Fund – an abortion fund serving the states of Alabama and Mississippi – having previously spoken out against the Satanic Temple's position. Though the Satanic Temple offers a dedicated email address for members who encounter legal problems when seeking an abortion using its religious exemption form, former TST reproductive rights spokesperson, Jex Blackmore, stated that there was "no guarantee" that the Temple would cover a member's legal fees or provide legal support. In response, the Temple's lawyer, Matthew Kezhaya, stated that part of the abortion ritual outlined by the Satanic Temple as the reason for its members' religious exemption required "consulting with your local minister", a step "Jezebel" noted was not mentioned on the Temple's website or either of its abortion ritual guides, and that in the case of "foreseeable legal complications", the Temple refers its members to Kezhaya "for further evaluation and discussion."


title: The Satanic Temple

text: On February 12, 2022, the Satanic Temple held their first SatanCon convention inside Saguaro Hotel in Scottsdale, Arizona. Outside the hotel, hundreds of Christians protested the convention holding crucifixes, crosses, and signs denouncing Satan. According to one report based on a tweet, at one point, police were forced to intervene at the protest after some Protestant and Catholic protesters started fighting against each other over their theological differences.


title: The Satanic Temple

text: The Satanic Temple announced the celebration of its 10th anniversary at SatanCon 2023 from April 28-30, 2023 in downtown Boston, Massachusetts.


title: The Satanic Temple

text: Individuals dedicated to the tenets of The Satanic Temple can join on the organization's website. Members can apply to join local congregations, though local requirements may differ: "If there's a local [congregation] where you are, to join you do have to be accepted, but there's no initiation or anything. You don't even have to be a Satanist, you can just be a strong ally who believes in the political and secular actions without being super stoked about all the aesthetic aspects."


title: The Satanic Temple

text: Membership is subject to termination for "failure to uphold the spirit of The Satanic Temple and its tenets." A member who used a TST event to call for violence against (then-president) Donald Trump was expelled.


title: The Satanic Temple

text: Local groups of organized TST members may form congregations. Some congregations are endorsed by TST to "participate in campaigns, social events, and other activities relevant to their local regions, as well as in concert with national TST campaigns". TST encourages members to form congregations where none exist or join pre-established ones, but does not actively establish them itself. Congregations are currently established across the continental United States, in the UK, Canada, and Australia.


title: The Satanic Temple

text: Congregations were initially known as chapters; the first chapter was established in 2014 in Detroit, Michigan. That chapter went on hiatus in 2018, the same year chapters in Portland, Oregon, Los Angeles, California, and the UK seceded from the Satanic Temple over internal disputes with national leadership.


title: The Satanic Temple

text: Lucien Greaves has described the Temple as being a progressive and updated version of LaVey's Satanism. The Temple views itself as separate and distinct from its forerunner, representing "a natural evolution in Satanic thought". Greaves has said that the elements of Social Darwinism and Nietzscheanism within LaVeyan Satanism are incongruent with game theory, reciprocal altruism, and cognitive science. He has also criticized the LaVeyan Church of Satan for its lack of political lobbying and what he sees as their exclusivity, referring to them as autocratic and hierarchical, and saying that the Church fetishizes authoritarianism. Conversely, the Church of Satan has made statements claiming that The Satanic Temple are only "masquerading as Satanists" and do not represent Satanism.


title: The Satanic Temple

text: The Satanic Temple has received some criticism for their actions, most notably from religious organizations and figures. Many critics state that they believe that the Temple is not a serious organization and is instead meant to be a prank, form of satire, or elaborate trolling attempt. Greaves and Blackmore have both dismissed these claims, as Greaves stated in a 2013 interview with "Vice" that the Temple could be both satanic and satirical. Blackmore has also stated that people believe that they are only "trying to cause trouble for no reason except to just be shocking", but the Temple says they are "adding to the dialogue that's already there and asking for rights -- just like anyone else."


title: The Satanic Temple

text: Both Greaves and Blackmore have stated that they have received death threats in response to their activities with The Satanic Temple.


title: The Satanic Temple

text: TST has generated positive attention as well. Valerie Tarico of "Salon" wrote that the tenets were egalitarian and "truer to the words of Jesus than most Christians," referring to the tenets as expressing the primacy of compassion and empathy and conducive to a path to equanimity. This sentiment was echoed by Progressive Secular Humanist blogger Michael Stone who compared the tenets as superior to the Ten Commandments, claiming the tenets offer "a more moral, and more optimistic stance, emphasizing positive, pro-social values."


title: The Satanic Temple

text: The organization argues that freedom of speech prevails regardless of political opinion when responding to such criticism.


title: The Satanic Temple

text: The 2020 book "Speak of the Devil: How the Satanic Temple Is Changing the Way We Talk About Religion" is the first academic monograph to focus on the organization.


title: The Satanic Temple

text: The Satanic Temple has inspired the development of other Satanic religious organizations: some developed amicably and others through religious schism.


title: The Satanic Temple

text: The Global Order of Satan was founded in 2018 following the departure of the TST-UK and London chapters, which had voted no confidence in TST. This schism was motivated by TST removing two consecutive UK chapter heads: the first for engaging in unapproved campaigns, and the second for "personality clashes".


title: The Satanic Temple

text: A group later known as HelLA formed in 2018, following a rift based on ethical concerns; the Los Angeles chapter objected to TST's acceptance of pro-bono legal work from the free speech lawyer Marc Randazza, as well as "the complete lack of racial diversity" among TST leadership. The ex-chapter head also cited a disagreement with Lucien Greaves' "absolut[ist]" philosophy on free speech.


title: The Satanic Temple

text: In March 2020, several "approved administrators" of the TST-Washington chapter left the Temple and took control of the chapter's social media pages.


title: Dan Fogelberg

text: Daniel Grayling Fogelberg (August 13, 1951 – December 16, 2007) was an American musician, songwriter, composer, and multi-instrumentalist. He is known for his 1970s and 1980s songs, including "Longer" (1979), "Same Old Lang Syne" (1980), and "Leader of the Band" (1979). Fogelberg recorded “Leader” as a tribute to his father for his 1979 album Phoenix, but felt it was too sentimental for the album and didn't release it until 1981 on The Innocent Age.


title: Dan Fogelberg

text: Dan Fogelberg was born in Peoria, Illinois. He was the youngest of three sons born to Margaret (née Irvine), a classically trained pianist, and Lawrence Peter Fogelberg, a band director at Woodruff High School in Peoria, at Pekin Community High School in Pekin, and at Bradley University in Peoria. Fogelberg’s mother was a Scottish immigrant, and his father was of Swedish descent. His father was later to be the inspiration for the song "Leader of the Band". Fogelberg often related his memory of his father allowing him to "conduct" the Bradley University school band when he was only four years old.


title: Dan Fogelberg

text: Using a Mel Bay course book, Fogelberg taught himself to play a Hawaiian slide guitar that his grandfather had given him. He also learned to play the piano. At age 14, he joined a band, The Clan, which covered The Beatles. His second band was another cover band, The Coachmen, who, in 1967, released a single with both tracks written by Fogelberg, recorded at Golden Voice Recording studio in South Pekin, Illinois, and released on the Ledger Record label: "Maybe Time Will Let Me Forget" and "Don't Want to Lose Her".


title: Dan Fogelberg

text: After graduating from Woodruff High School in 1969, Fogelberg studied theater arts and painting at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign while playing local venues with a folk-rock band, The Ship. He began performing as a solo acoustic player in area cafes. One of these included the Red Herring, which is where he made his first solo recordings as part of a folk festival in 1971. He was discovered by Irving Azoff, who started his music management career promoting another Champaign-Urbana act, REO Speedwagon. Azoff sent Fogelberg to Nashville, Tennessee, to hone his skills. There he became a session musician and recorded his first album with producer Norbert Putnam. In 1972, Fogelberg released his debut album "Home Free" to lukewarm response, although it eventually reached platinum status.


title: Dan Fogelberg

text: WZZQ, a radio station in Jackson, Mississippi, gave "Home Free" a lot of airplay and some local promoters secured the City Auditorium in Jackson for a concert. They sold out the show in ten days and when they called Fogelberg's agent to let him know the show sold out, he was in disbelief because Fogelberg had been playing in clubs with less than 100 people in attendance. The gig at the City Auditorium was 2,500 seats, which made it Fogelberg's first big gig. On February 22, 1974, this show was broadcast and recorded by WZZQ and can be found on YouTube.


title: Dan Fogelberg

text: Fogelberg's second effort was successful – the 1974 Joe Walsh-produced album "Souvenirs". The song "Part of the Plan" became his first hit. Fogelberg also received contributions from the Eagles throughout the album. He had toured with the Eagles during this time. After "Souvenirs", he released a string of gold and platinum albums, including "Captured Angel" (1975) and "Nether Lands" (1977).


title: Dan Fogelberg

text: His 1978 "Twin Sons of Different Mothers" was the first of two collaborations with jazz flautist Tim Weisberg, which found commercial success with songs such as "The Power of Gold". "Power of Gold" peaked at number 59 on the UK Singles Chart – his sole entry on that chart. The album reached number 42 on the UK Albums Chart, likewise his only entry there.


title: Dan Fogelberg

text: "Phoenix", from 1979, reached the top 10, with "Longer" becoming a #2 pop hit in 1980. This LP eventually sold two million copies. It was followed by a Top 20 hit "Heart Hotels".


title: Dan Fogelberg

text: In 1980, Fogelberg appeared on the soundtrack to the film "Urban Cowboy" with his song "Times Like These" and first performed on a live television program.


title: Dan Fogelberg

text: "The Innocent Age", released in October 1981, was Fogelberg's critical and commercial peak. The double album included four of his biggest hits: "Same Old Lang Syne", "Hard to Say", "Leader of the Band", and "Run for the Roses". He drew inspiration for "The Innocent Age" from Thomas Wolfe's novel "Of Time and the River". A 1982 greatest hits album contained two new songs, both of which were released as singles: "Missing You" and "Make Love Stay". In 1984, he released the album "Windows and Walls", containing the singles "The Language of Love" and "Believe in Me".


title: Dan Fogelberg

text: According to MTV, "Fogelberg couldn't capitalize fully on his popularity, due to stage fright that caused him to cancel live appearances, including a Dodgers Stadium gig with Elton John." This claim was later refuted by Fogelberg himself, citing recurrent streptococcal tonsillitis as the cause of his cancellations, and a dramatic improvement in his health after a tonsillectomy.


title: Dan Fogelberg

text: Fogelberg released "High Country Snows" in 1985. Recorded in Nashville, it showcased his and some of the industry's best talent in bluegrass. Vince Gill, Ricky Skaggs, Doc Watson, Jerry Douglas, David Grisman, Chris Hillman, and Herb Pedersen contributed to the record. In a world he defined as "life in the fast lane", Fogelberg described the music as "life in the off-ramp". In late 1985, he switched gears and took to the road with a group of musician friends, including Joe Vitale, Paul Harris, Tino Gonzales, Jeff Grossberg and Rick Rosas, playing blues in small clubs throughout Colorado as Frankie and the Aliens, covering songs by Cream and Muddy Waters, among others. 1987 heralded a return to rock with "Exiles", an album that contained "What You're Doing", a throwback to the old Stax Records sound made famous in Memphis during the 1960s. "The Wild Places", an album whose theme was the preservation of nature, was released in 1990 followed by a tour. His live "Greetings From The West" album, and full-length concert film (with interview segments) of the same name, was released in 1991.


title: Dan Fogelberg

text: "River of Souls", released in 1993, was Fogelberg's last studio album for Sony Records. In 1997, the box set "Portrait" encompassed his career with four discs, each highlighting a different facet of his music. In 1999, he released a Christmas album, "The First Christmas Morning", and in 2003, "Full Circle" showcased a return to the folk-influenced 1970s soft rock style of music.


title: Dan Fogelberg

text: In May 2017, a live album of Fogelberg's performance at Carnegie Hall, championed by his family and longtime friend Irv Azoff, sourced from a 1979 tape made by his touring sound company, was released. It peaked at No. 71 on the "Billboard" album chart on June 10, 2017, becoming the first of Fogelberg's live albums to chart on the "Billboard" Top 200 chart.


title: Dan Fogelberg

text: Fogelberg was married three times: to Maggie Slaymaker from 1982 to 1985, to Anastasia Savage, from 1991 to 1996; and to musician Jean Marie Mayer, from 2002 until his death in 2007.