title: Quidditch

text: The Nimbus is introduced as one of the best broomsticks in the wizarding world. Harry receives a Nimbus 2000 in "Philosopher's Stone" so that he can play for Gryffindor house. In "Chamber of Secrets", Lucius Malfoy buys a full set of the more advanced Nimbus 2001s for the Slytherin team as a bribe, so they would choose his son Draco as Seeker that year.


title: Quidditch

text: The Firebolt later supersedes the Nimbus as the fastest and one of the most expensive racing brooms in existence. Harry receives a Firebolt model from his godfather, Sirius Black, after his Nimbus 2000 is destroyed during a Quidditch match in "Prisoner of Azkaban". In "Goblet of Fire", Harry uses his Firebolt to escape the Hungarian Horntail during the Triwizard Tournament.


title: Quidditch

text: Quidditch appears in five of the eight "Harry Potter" films. Some Quidditch subplots, such as Ron's Keeper storyline in "Order of the Phoenix", were cut to save time in the films. Video games that feature Quidditch include:


title: Quidditch

text: In the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey attraction in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at the Islands of Adventure theme park, Quidditch is featured near the end where riders are flown through the Quidditch pitch. A storefront near Ollivanders Wand Shop is themed as a Quidditch supply with a Golden Snitch on the sign and a case containing animated Quaffle and Bludgers surrounded by Beaters' bats.


title: Quidditch

text: According to David K. Steege, the books "follow very closely the school story tradition of making games and sports central to the boarding school experience; some of the most vivid and popular scenes in the series take place on the playing field."


title: Quidditch

text: However, some critics have claimed that Rowling's presentation of Quidditch reinforces gender inequality. For example, Heilman and Donaldson argue that the female players ultimately have little impact on the outcome of the game, and it has also been noted that the female players on the Gryffindor Quidditch team have very few lines. This view has been disputed by Mimi R. Gladstein, who points to the presence of female players on the victorious Irish team at the Quidditch World Cup. She argues: "The inclusion of female Quidditch players at the highest level of the sport is done without a trace of self-consciousness and their inclusion isn't an issue within the minds of the characters." On the other hand, D. Bruno Starrs notes Quidditch's rarity as a sport in which males and females compete against each other, and describes it as "levelling" the genders.


title: Quidditch

text: Quidditch has been criticised for its emphasis on catching the Snitch. Rowling claims that Quidditch is a sport that "infuriates" men in particular, who are bothered by the unrealistic scoring system. Because of the emphasis on the Snitch, legal scholar William Baude called Quidditch "a really stupid game".


title: Quidditch

text: In the real world, the word "Quidditch", long predating "Harry Potter", occurs in some English placenames, and seems to come from Anglo-Saxon "cwǣð-dīc" = "mud-ditch".


title: Quidditch

text: A street in Lower Cambourne, Cambridgeshire, England is named Quidditch Lane, supposedly after a type of nearby dry ditch called a Quidditch. Fans have been known to visit the area.


title: Quidditch

text: In November 2014, a plaque appeared outside the entrance of Bristol Children's Hospital attesting that the famous hooped sculptures which stand in front of the paediatric institution are, in fact, not a interactive installation inaugurated in 2001, but instead the goalposts used in the 1998 Quidditch World Cup.


title: Quidditch

text: In 2017, "Quidditch" was defined by Oxford Dictionaries, following the inclusion of "Muggle" in the Third (2003) Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford Dictionaries associate editor Charlotte Buxton explained that Quidditch had gained recognition beyond the books, pointing to its existence as a real-life sport.


title: Quidditch

text: In 2007 the United States Quidditch Association, back then named the Intercollegiate Quidditch Association or (I.Q.A), was founded to regulate quidditch in the United States and abroad, a very popular sport amongst college students. According to the International Quidditch Association, the current international governing body of the sport, the original rules and regulation of the popular collegiate sport known as quidditch were formed ". ... on a sunny Sunday afternoon in 2005 by Xander Manshel and Alex Benepe, students at Middlebury College in Vermont, US". In contrast to the fictional sport, the game is played on foot while using one hand to hold a broom between the legs.


title: Quidditch

text: Since 2005, many American schools, such as UC Berkeley, have added Quidditch to their list of team sports. In the United States, college teams compete in their respective regions and compete in an annual national tournament, last year held in Texas and won by The University of Texas over runner-ups, The University of California, Berkeley (Cal Quidditch). The sport has since then spread across more than 25 countries and includes multiple international tournaments, including a World Cup. In 2012, the International Quidditch Association held the IQA World Cup, then named the IQA Summer Games, as the torch was passing through Oxford, UK for the Summer Olympics.


title: Quidditch

text: Gameplay is based on the description in the books, films, and game adaptations, though the sport has been adapted to suit real-world constraints. Quidditch is still evolving to suit safe play for the members of the teams, male and female. Apart from joining teams registered with their national governing body, individuals are also able to become an official certified referee to officiate tournaments and games throughout the year as teams compete to take part in various national and international tournaments. As the oldest national governing body, USQ has hosted a grand total of ten US Quidditch Cups as of 2017.


title: Quidditch

text: In the United Kingdom, the Quidditch Premier League is played between 10 teams, split between the North and South divisions. In 2017, West Midlands Revolution won the QPL.


title: Quidditch

text: In response to allegations of J.K. Rowling's "anti-trans positions", US Quidditch and Major League Quidditch announced in 2022 that they were renaming the sport "Quadball".


title: Kinder Surprise

text: Kinder Surprise (Italian: "Kinder Sorpresa" or "Ovetto Kinder"), also known as Kinder Egg or Kinder Surprise Egg, is a milk chocolate consisting of a chocolate egg surrounding a yellow plastic capsule with a small toy inside. Manufactured by the Italian company Ferrero since 1974, it was co-created by Michele Ferrero and William Salice, and is one of several candies sold under the Kinder brand. Kinder Surprise was originally created with children in mind, replicating an Italian Easter family tradition in which adults give children large chocolate eggs with toys inside. However, Kinder Surprise toys have become collectible for adults as well. Since 1974, 30 billion Kinder Surprise eggs have been sold worldwide.


title: Kinder Surprise

text: Kinder Surprise is a milk chocolate egg lined with a layer of sweet milk-flavored cream. Inside each egg is a plastic capsule that contains a small surprise toy, which sometimes requires assembly. The capsule case is yellow, reportedly to resemble an egg's yolk. The chocolates have foil packaging with warning labels advising parents to avoid giving the eggs to children under three years old and encouraging supervision during consumption.


title: Kinder Surprise

text: Kinder Surprise was originally created with children in mind, replicating an Italian Easter family tradition in which adults give children a large chocolate egg with a toy inside. However, Kinder Surprise toys have become collectible for adults as well. Collectors often try to acquire all toys within a themed set. Some even share their egg openings on social media, or create their own toys and re-wrap them in Kinder Surprise packaging. More than 100 new toys are distributed each year. Around 12,000 different toys had been included within Kinder Surprise as of 2016.


title: Kinder Surprise

text: According to CNNMoney, Kinder Surprise is most popular in Germany, Russia, and the United Kingdom. Michele Ferrero and William Salice have been credited as co-creators of the candy.


title: Kinder Surprise

text: In 1968, Michele Ferrero raised the idea with his employees of a product that could be given to children so they could have a little "surprise" every day, based on the Italian tradition of large chocolate eggs given to children by their parents at Easter. Ferrero said that at first his attempt to follow through with this idea was unsuccessful after employees questioned the order he placed for a machine to make the chocolate eggs. They thought it would not make any money, since eggs are only for Easter. Ferrero also said that he wanted the product to have a higher milk content and make that a key part of its promotion; he believed mothers would respond well to the idea of giving their children more milk. Ferrero commissioned William Salice to realize the concept.


title: Kinder Surprise

text: The Italian company Ferrero began manufacturing Kinder Surprises in 1974. Since then around 30 billion eggs have been sold worldwide.


title: Kinder Surprise

text: Salice, who has been credited as the inventor of Kinder Surprise but insisted he was just "material executor", died in Italy in December 2016, at the age of 83.


title: Kinder Surprise

text: The toys within Kinder Surprise have been themed for various popular licensed characters. Collections of Kinder Surprise toys have included Asterix, Fantasmini, Smurfs, and Minions. Ferrero and Kinder have also partnered with various companies, institutions, and people to promote Kinder Surprise, including The Walt Disney Company, Universal, and Smart.


title: Kinder Surprise

text: In 2000, three families who had lost children to choking on toys inside edible eggs campaigned for the products to be withdrawn from the European Union. Ten children worldwide have died from choking on parts of the Kinder toy surprises after they had eaten the chocolate egg; another was attributed to another manufacturer's product.


title: Kinder Surprise

text: Defenders of the chocolates said that these had been unfortunate fatalities. This was discussed in the House of Commons and also by the Department of Trade and Industry which said, "The child’s tragic death was caused by the ingestion of a small part of the egg’s contents. Many other products and toys with small parts are available in the market place. If we were to start banning every product that could be swallowed by a child, there would be very few toys left in the market".


title: Kinder Surprise

text: The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act prohibits confectionery products that contain a “non-nutritive object”, unless the non-nutritive object has functional value. Essentially, the Act bans "the sale of any candy that has embedded in it a toy or trinket".


title: Kinder Surprise

text: In 1997, the staff of the Consumer Product Safety Commission examined and issued a recall for some Kinder Surprise illegally brought into the US with foreign labels. The staff determined that the toys within the eggs had small parts. The staff presumed that Kinder Surprise, being a chocolate product, was intended for children of all ages, including those under three years of age. On this basis, the staff took the position that Kinder Surprise was in violation of the small parts regulation and should be banned from importation into the US.


title: Kinder Surprise

text: Kinder Surprise eggs are legal in Canada and Mexico, but are illegal to import into the US. In January 2011, the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) threatened a Manitoba resident with a 300 Canadian dollar fine for carrying one egg across the US border into Minnesota. In June 2012, CBP held two Seattle men for two and a half hours after discovering six Kinder Surprise eggs in their car upon returning to the US from a trip to Vancouver. According to Joseph Cummings of Seattle, WA, one of the men detained, a border guard quoted the potential fine as "$2,500 per egg." In 2015, a couple was detained for 4 hours after returning from Vancouver to the United States via personal vehicle after customs discovered the couple was harboring four Kinder Eggs. They were threatened with three options, (1) A $400 per egg fine, (2) Eat the eggs, effectively disposing of them, in front of the officers, or (3) Separating the nonedible toy from the edible chocolate encasing. The couple elected to separate the chocolate from the toys and were released into their own custody.


title: Kinder Surprise

text: In 2012, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) re-issued their import alert stating “The embedded non-nutritive objects in these confectionery products may pose a public health risk as the consumer may unknowingly choke on the object”.


title: Kinder Surprise

text: Kinder Surprise bears warnings advising the consumer that the toy is "not suitable for children under three years, due to the presence of small parts", and that "adult supervision is recommended".


title: Kinder Surprise

text: As of 2017 Kinder Joy "eggs", a variant, is being sold in the United States. Instead of a toy being encased in a chocolate egg, it is in an egg-shaped package with the toy and chocolate being separated. Kinder Surprise eggs are still illegal in the USA but remain popular on the black market.


title: Kinder Surprise

text: In 2022, the Belgian food agency reported about 20 cases of salmonella in Belgium due to contaminated Kinder Surprise eggs.


title: Kinder Surprise

text: In 2022, Ferrero Canada Ltd. recalled 23 Kinder brand chocolate products in Canada. The recall included Kinder Surprise 100g, and other products containing them. According to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), the recall was voluntary. No illnesses were associated due to the consumption of the product.


title: Near Dark

text: Near Dark is a 1987 American neo-Western horror film co-written and directed by Kathryn Bigelow (in her solo directorial debut), and starring Adrian Pasdar, Jenny Wright, Bill Paxton, Lance Henriksen and Jenette Goldstein. The plot follows a young man in a small Oklahoma town who becomes involved with a family of nomadic American vampires.


title: Near Dark

text: Despite performing poorly at the box office, critic reviews were generally positive. Over the years, the film has gained a cult following.


title: Near Dark

text: One night, Caleb Colton, a young man in a small town, meets an attractive young drifter named Mae. Just before sunrise, she bites him on the neck and runs off. The rising sun causes Caleb's flesh to smoke and burn. Mae arrives with a group of roaming vampires in an RV and takes him away. The most psychotic of the vampires, Severen, wants to kill Caleb but Mae reveals that she has already turned him. Their charismatic leader, Jesse Hooker, reluctantly agrees to allow Caleb to remain with them for a week to see if he can learn to hunt and gain the group's trust. Caleb is unwilling to kill to feed, which alienates him from the others. To protect him, Mae kills for him and then has him drink from her wrist.


title: Near Dark

text: Jesse's group enters a bar and kills the occupants. They set the bar on fire and flee the scene. All except Mae want to kill Caleb after he endangers them by letting the only living occupant escape, but after Caleb endangers himself to help them escape their motel room during a daylight police raid, Jesse and the others are grateful and temporarily mollified. A camaraderie commences, with Caleb asking Jesse how old he is and Jesse responding that he "fought for the South" (during the American Civil War, 1861-1865), making him about 150 years old (Severen had earlier suggested he and Jesse started the Great Chicago Fire of 1871).


title: Near Dark

text: Meanwhile, Caleb's father has been searching for Jesse's group. A child vampire in the group, Homer, meets Caleb's sister, Sarah, and wants to turn her into his companion, but Caleb objects. While the group argues, Caleb's father arrives and holds them at gunpoint, demanding that Sarah be released. Jesse taunts him into shooting him, then regurgitates the bullet before wrestling the gun away. In the confusion, Sarah opens a door, letting in the sunlight and forcing the vampires back. Burning, Caleb escapes with his family.


title: Near Dark

text: Caleb suggests they try giving him a blood transfusion. The transfusion unexpectedly reverses Caleb's transformation. That night, the vampires search for Caleb and Sarah. Mae distracts Caleb by trying to persuade him to return to her while the others kidnap his sister. Caleb discovers the kidnapping and his tires slashed but gives chase on horseback. When the horse shies and throws him, he is confronted by Severen. Caleb commandeers a tractor-trailer and runs Severen over. The injured vampire suddenly appears on the hood of the truck and manages to rip apart the wiring in the engine. Caleb jackknifes the vehicle and jumps out as the truck explodes, killing Severen. Seeking revenge, Jesse and his girlfriend, Diamondback, pursue him but are forced to escape in their car as dawn breaks.


title: Near Dark

text: Attempting to save Sarah, Mae breaks out of the back of the car with her. Mae's flesh begins to smoke as she is burned by the sun but she carries Sarah into Caleb's arms, taking refuge under his jacket. Homer attempts to follow, but as he runs he dies from exposure to the sun. Their sunproofing ruined, Jesse and Diamondback also begin to burn. They attempt to run Caleb and Sarah over but fail, dying as the car blows up. Mae awakens later, her burns now healed. She too has been given a transfusion and is cured. She and Caleb comfort each other in a reassuring hug as the film ends.


title: Near Dark

text: "Near Dark" features three actors from "Aliens", two of whom (Paxton and Henriksen) had also previously been in "The Terminator" and the other of whom (Goldstein) would later be in "". However, there is also a much more obscure casting connection between "Near Dark" and the "Terminator" movies: Robert Winley, who played a biker in the bar scene in "Near Dark", and who had never been in any James Cameron movies at that time, later played the biker whose clothes, boots, and motorcycle are stolen by the T-800 in a very similar bar scene at the beginning of "Terminator 2". His characters are identified in the credits as "Patron in bar" for the former movie and "Cigar Biker" for the latter.


title: Near Dark

text: Vampire films had become "trendy" by the time of "Near Dark"'s production, with the success of "Fright Night" (1985) and "The Lost Boys" (1987), the latter released two months before "Near Dark" and grossing $32 million.


title: Near Dark

text: Kathryn Bigelow wanted to film a Western movie that departed from cinematic convention. When she and co-writer Eric Red found financial backing for a Western difficult to obtain, it was suggested to them that they try mixing a Western with another, more popular genre. Her interest in revisionist interpretation of cinematic tradition led her and Red to combine two genres that they regarded as ripe for reinterpretation: the Western movie and the vampire movie. The combination of the genres had been visited at least twice before on the big screen, with "Curse of the Undead" (1959) and "Billy the Kid Versus Dracula" (1966).


title: Near Dark

text: Bigelow knew (and later married) director James Cameron, who directed "Aliens" (1986), a film that shares three cast members (Paxton, Goldstein and Henriksen) with "Near Dark". Actor Michael Biehn was offered the role of Jesse Hooker, but he rejected the role because he found the script confusing. Lance Henriksen took over the role. A cinema seen in the background early in the film has "Aliens" on its marquee and Cameron played the man who "flips off" Severen.


title: Near Dark

text: Near Dark is the thirty-second major release and tenth soundtrack album by Tangerine Dream. It was released in 1988.


title: Near Dark

text: "Near Dark" was released on October 2, 1987, in 262 theaters, grossing US$635,789 on its opening weekend. It went on to make $3.4 million, below its $5 million budget.


title: Near Dark

text: Part of a late 1980s revival of serious vampire depictions on the big screen, it received mostly positive reviews for its mix of the Western, biker and vampire movie genres. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, "Near Dark" holds an 82% approval rating based on 74 critic reviews with an average rating of 7.3/10. The consensus reads: ""Near Dark" is at once a creepy vampire film, a thrilling western, and a poignant family tale, with humor and scares in abundance.”


title: Near Dark

text: In her review for "The New York Times", Caryn James wrote, "Ms. Bigelow's too-studied compositions – Caleb in silhouette riding a horse toward the camera – clash with her unstudied approach to the characters' looks". Jonathan Rosenbaum of the "Chicago Reader" was impressed by Bigelow's first foray into big budget films with the "hillbilly vampire" movie, describing it as "beautifully shot". Hal Hinson of "The Washington Post" said the intermixing of vampire legends, westerns and biker movies has a result that is "both outrageous and poetic; it has extravagant, bloody thrills plus something else – something that comes close to genuine emotion". In his review for "The Globe and Mail", Jay Scott wrote, "Bill Paxton as the undead sex symbol – is exceptional, but not exceptional enough to put across the cop-out that concludes the film".


title: Near Dark

text: Richard Corliss of "Time" magazine called "Near Dark" "weird (and) beautiful" and "the all-time teenage vampire love story". Richard Schickel (also of "Time") considered the film a clever variant of the vampire film genre. Peter Travers of "Rolling Stone" concurred, calling it "gory and gorgeous". Alan Jones of "Radio Times" awarded it four stars out of five, calling it a "1980s horror landmark" and "one of the best vampire movies ever made." Jones described it as a "visually stunning and frightening package, spinning a genuinely scary tale" and highlighted the "stand-out degenerate performances" of Henriksen and Paxton.


title: Near Dark

text: A remake of the film was announced in October 2006 as a co-production between film companies Rogue Pictures and Platinum Dunes, with Samuel Bayer attached to direct. In December 2008, Platinum Dunes producer Bradley Fuller stated that the project had been put on hold due to similarities in conception with "Twilight" (2008), a film which also contained a romance between human and vampire characters.


title: Hard seltzer

text: Hard seltzer, adult seltzer, mature seltzer, spiked seltzer and hard sparkling alcohol water is a type of highball drink containing seltzer (carbonated water), alcohol, and often fruit flavorings. In the US the alcohol is usually made by fermenting cane sugar; sometimes malted barley is used. Hard seltzer products outside of the US have been found to use either neutral spirit, or fermentation of fruit. The alcohol by volume is around 5% and the calorie-content is relatively low.


title: Hard seltzer

text: The first widely available commercial example of the style was Two Dogs which was brewed from 1993 in Australia and was widely claimed to be the "world’s first brewed alcoholic lemonade" (despite the pre-existence of traditional drinks like sima), paving the way for similar commercial products such as Hooper's Hooch and Mike's Hard Lemonade (known as alcopops in the United Kingdom and malternatives in America).


title: Hard seltzer

text: Nick Shields developed the beverage branding and style with Spiked Seltzer, in Westport, Connecticut, brewing the first commercial batches in November 2013. The category saw a spike in popularity around 2018–2019 in the U.S. As of 2019, in the U.S. the most popular brand was White Claw. Hard seltzer is expected to generate $2.5 billion in sales in the US by 2021. Analysts attribute the success of White Claw and the appeal of hard seltzer in general to increased demand from health-conscious consumers. The rise of hard seltzers in the beer category may also be seen as a reflection of the broader surge in popularity of non-alcoholic flavored seltzers evidenced by the sudden and massive popularity of brands like LaCroix and Spindrift. On the back of this popularity, hard seltzer brands have launched in numerous countries outside of the U.S., including in Canada, Australia and the UK. In February 2020, White Claw launched in Canada and subsequently Australia and the UK.


title: 2channel

text: , also known as 2ch, Channel 2, and sometimes retrospectively as 2ch.net, was an anonymous Japanese textboard founded in 1999 by Hiroyuki Nishimura. Described in 2007 as "Japan's most popular online community", the site had a level of influence comparable to that of traditional mass media such as television, radio, and magazines. At the time, the site drew an annual revenue of around (about US$1 million), and was the largest of its kind in the world, with around ten million visitors and 2.5 million posts made per day.


title: 2channel

text: The site was hosted and had its domain registration provided by Jim Watkins, based in San Francisco, California. In 2009, ownership of the site was transferred to Singapore-based Packet Monster Inc., under which Nishimura remained in control. In February 2014, Watkins seized the 2ch.net domain, taking full control over the website and assuming the role of site administrator. This has resulted in two textboards claiming to be the legitimate 2channel: 2ch.sc, owned by Nishimura through Packet Monster Inc., and , established in 2017 by redirect from the original domain and owned by Watkins through Philippines-based Loki Technology Inc.


title: 2channel

text: 2channel and its successors are more controversial than other social media in Japan; they are extremely popular among Japan's extreme right-wing, known as the "netto-uyoku", who post xenophobic comments, often targeting Koreans. Defamation is of particular concern; by August 2008, Nishimura had received more than one hundred lawsuits for defamatory comments left on the website. Announcements of crimes also have drawn scrutiny towards 2channel and its successors. In 2012, 2channel was accused by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police of allowing its platform to be used by amphetamine dealers, although no charges were filed.


title: 2channel

text: In September 2007, 2channel averaged over 2.4 million posts per day. As of July 2020, 5channel had 1,031 boards receiving around 2.7 million posts per day on weekends, with no growth since March 2016. Meanwhile, 2ch.sc then had 826 boards receiving around 5,700 posts daily.


title: 2channel

text: Textboards like 2channel were rooted in two earlier technologies: dial-in bulletin boards, known in Japan as , and Usenet. 2channel has two predecessors: Ayashii World created in 1996 by Shiba Masayuki, and Amezou (), created in 1997. Ayashii World was the first large anonymous web bulletin board in Japan, while Amezou originated the more familiar "textboard" concept wherein threads are displayed chronologically, with new comments bumping old threads to the top, rather than in a branching tree. Ayashii World closed in 1998, leading most of its former users to go to Amezou; Nishimura advertised 2channel in a post on Amezou in May 1999, calling it "Amezou's second channel". From June, Amezou became increasingly unable to handle the load on its servers, until its host shut it down after threats against Amezou's anonymous owner which contained his dox were posted on it.


title: 2channel

text: 2channel was founded on 30 May 1999 in a college apartment in Conway, Arkansas on the campus of University of Central Arkansas by Hiroyuki Nishimura. Success came quickly; many of Amezou's users began using it as soon as it opened. When compared with other bulletin boards, 2channel's technology wasn't much different; what led to its success was instead its being an "outlet for unfettered expression"; by being hosted in the United States, 2channel was able to bypass more restrictive Japanese censorship rules, while still being accessible from Japan. The site also enjoyed greater immunity from legal action within Japan due to the location of its servers. By 2002, Google said that the most searched word in Japan was "2channel". By 2004, 2channel was already the largest internet forum in Japan.


title: 2channel

text: The name "2channel" is a reference to VHF channel 2, the default setting for the RF modulators used in earlier-generation game consoles (such as Nintendo's Family Computer) when connecting to Japanese television sets. Where Amezou was originally meant to be "channel one", 2channel was meant to be "channel two". The site's iconic jar logo is a reference to deprecatory remarks some former users of Ayashii World would make about 2channel early on in the site's history, likening it to a spittoon (). Nishimura took this nickname and adopted it as the site's logo by 2002.


title: 2channel

text: Jim Watkins, an ex-US army non-commissioned officer (sergeant first class), domain name registrar, and dedicated hosting service provider, hosted 2channel since at least 2004 through various corporate identities, including Big-server.com Inc., Pacific Internet Exchange LLC and N. T. Technology Inc. Before 2channel, Watkins' company primarily specialized in using servers and domains in the United States to serve uncensored pornographic content to users in Japan.


title: 2channel

text: On 2 January 2009, Nishimura claimed to have transferred ownership of 2channel to Packet Monster Inc., a company based in Chinatown, Singapore, and to no longer be involved in the site's management. However, Nishimura was charged with violating Japanese narcotic control laws anyway on 20 December 2012. As part of their case, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) claimed Nishimura remained involved in 2channel's operations, alleging Packet Monster Inc. is a shell company (). The main thrust of the complaint was that Nishimura allegedly did not delete posts seeking to purchase illicit amphetamine from other 2channel users online; the , an agency of the MPD, alleged that in 2011 97% of its 5,223 deletion requests did not result in deletion. On 19 March 2013, the Public Prosecutors Office decided not to prosecute the case.


title: 2channel

text: In August 2013, the Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau declared in a tax audit that Nishimura had failed to declare worth of website revenue which should have been taxed between 2009 and 2012, years in which he financially benefited from Packet Monster Inc.; Nishimura settled the matter by paying the owed tax, .


title: 2channel

text: In August 2013, a hacker using the name the personal details (including names, addresses, and phone numbers) and credit card numbers of thousands of 2channel users who had used 2channel's paid services into the public domain, exposing the anonymous profiles of various high level personas such as politicians and writers, including an attorney involved in 2channel cases, Takahiro Karasawa (), and a staff member of AKB48. More than 74,000 users had their personal information exposed by the leak.


title: 2channel

text: The paid service involved in the leak was known as the "2channel viewer" (), or . Its main utility was that it allowed users to read old threads; if a thread on 2channel received 1,000 posts, it would become part of the by a process of ".dat omission" () of such threads, after which time a thread was no longer freely accessible. 2channel charged per year for the service, which was typically paid by credit card; logs of these payments were the source of the data leak.


title: 2channel

text: At the time of the leak, Watkins apologized on behalf of N. T. Technology, Inc., saying he was the victim of a "cyber attack" and that "some data [of my] customers was compromised."


title: 2channel

text: On 19 February 2014, Jim Watkins, as chairman of N.T. Technology, Inc., 2channel's domain registrar, seized 2channel's domain. He took full control over the website, relieved Nishimura of all power, and assumed the role of website administrator. Watkins made the "kako rogu" free to all users shortly after assuming control.


title: 2channel

text: Watkins claimed that Nishimura had failed to pay him money owed which led to the seizure as a way to cover Nishimura's debts, while Nishimura claimed that he had in fact paid everything owed and that the domain transfer was an illegal domain hijacking. In response, Nishimura created his own clone of 2channel at , scraping the contents of the entire 2channel website and updating 2ch.sc as new posts appeared on 2ch.net. In a Q&A session on 4chan shortly after becoming the site's owner, Nishimura claimed that 2channel was stolen by Watkins.


title: 2channel

text: Nishimura has attempted to repossess the domain both through WIPO's Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy and through the Japanese court system. Through the Japan Patent Office, Nishimura owns the trademark "2channel", though the WIPO refused to intervene on his behalf on account of that, suggesting the parties go to court instead as it was not, in its view, a case of "cybersquatting" but rather a "business dispute".


title: 2channel

text: Ron Watkins, Jim's son, in 2016 registered the trademark "5channel" in Japan. On 1 October 2017, 2ch.net began redirecting to 5ch.net, a domain owned by Loki Technology, Inc. The chairman of Loki Technology Inc. is also Jim Watkins; his wife, Liziel, is the treasurer and majority shareholder. According to a press release, the name was changed to 5channel to avoid potential legal issues due to Nishimura's ownership of the "2channel" trademark.


title: 2channel

text: Due to its large number of boards, the types of information exchanged on 2channel are very diverse. There are boards for topics as diverse as sports, sex, celebrity gossip, computer programming and ongoing earthquakes; even some academic research has gotten its start on 2channel.


title: 2channel

text: One of the most distinctive features of 2channel is its use of anonymous posting. Nishimura explained his reasons for preferring anonymity online to USC Annenberg's "Japan Media Review" thus:If there is a user ID attached to a user, a discussion tends to become a criticizing game. On the other hand, under the anonymous system, even though your opinion/information is criticized, you don't know with whom to be upset. Also with a user ID, those who participate in the site for a long time tend to have authority, and it becomes difficult for a user to disagree with them. Under a perfectly anonymous system, you can say, "it's boring," if it is actually boring. All information is treated equally; only an accurate argument will work.However, a frequent criticism directed toward anonymous textboards like 2channel, most notably by Kazuhiko Nishi, is that their anonymous nature make them mere "toilet graffiti" (). 2channel's anonymity is a departure from most English language internet forums which require some form of registration, usually coupled with email verification for further identification of an individual; its anonymity in part inspired the creation of 4chan. On 2channel, a name field is available, but it is seldom used. However, as open proxies such as the Tor network are banned from posting on 2channel, the administrators have some degree of ability to help law enforcement unmask users if necessary.


title: 2channel

text: While 2channel and its successors are commercial, 2channel was moderated by volunteers. 2channel relied on advertisements from "obscure" companies. In 2007, it had an annual revenue of around . Between 2009 and 2012, in ad profits were transferred to Nishimura's Singaporean shell company.


title: 2channel

text: As early as 2004, companies such as Dentsu were data mining the website for their clients, keeping them informed of how they were being portrayed by 2channel users; by 2006, 75% of the content Dentsu analyzed on behalf of its customers was posted to 2channel.


title: 2channel

text: 2channel also received revenue from subscription services like the aforementioned "maru". For its part, 5channel has a subscription service, , that allows people outside Japan to post on it; this service also hides ads from its subscribers.


title: 2channel

text: 2channel historically allowed anyone to use its data, providing it in an easily parsable format; this made it simple to create third party "dedicated browsers" () for posting on and using 2channel. The openness of the data allowed for the proliferation of and , which summarize 2channel threads and attempt to collect what they see as the "best of" 2channel. In 2007, due to growing discontentment towards such sites, Nishimura added a board, /poverty/, which marked every post on it with the phrase . This caused many users to abandon other boards for that board.


title: 2channel

text: Watkins made it a priority to combat "piracy" of 5channel by third-party "matome" sites in March 2014, adding "tensai kinshi" to many popular boards. Such sites siphon users from 2channel itself, with some receiving in excess of 100 million monthly pageviews; in one case a "matome" site earned its owner per month. Watkins followed up the rule change by restricting access to 2channel's data in March 2015, by requiring that dedicated browser authors use a special API to access 2channel's, and later 5channel's, thread data.


title: 2channel

text: "Densha Otoko" is a Japanese franchise consisting of a movie, television series, manga, and other media, all based on the purportedly true story of a 23-year-old man who intervened when a drunk man started to harass several women on a train. The man ultimately begins dating one of the women. The event and the man's subsequent dates with the woman, chronicled on 2channel, directly inspired the franchise. Whether or not the original 2channel story is actually true is debated.


title: 2channel

text: 2channel and its successors, being textboards, cannot have images posted to them. Users get around this, however, by posting a more expressive form of ASCII art: Shift_JIS art. Below is a small sample:


title: 2channel

text: During Hiroyuki's administration, he was often openly defiant of Japanese law, especially around libel, and his duty to follow it, telling "Yomiuri Shimbun" in March 2007:


title: 2channel

text: By May 2008, Nishimura had lost more than fifty libel lawsuits in Japanese civil courts, and had been assessed millions of dollars in penalties; by August, according to him, he'd received more than one hundred lawsuits. While according to the official pages of the website, slander was prohibited, activists such as Debito Arudou claimed that the site did not actually respond to requests to delete posts in his case, returning mail unopened. After the transfer to Packet Monster Inc., Arudou, who had still not received any of the court ordered penalty, wrote in an op-ed that Nishimura had only transferred his assets to increase his "unaccountability". While Nishimura at that point had never paid any of the compensation courts ordered in his cases, in 2010 one of his plaintiffs was successful in getting compensated through the publisher of one of Nishimura's books.


title: 2channel

text: Crime announcements () were a regular occurrence on 2channel, including of mass suicides and murders. After the 2000 Neomugicha incident, in which a bus was hijacked by a man who posted on 2channel, police officers started regularly policing 2channel; such surveillance only increased after the Akihabara massacre announced his 2008 attack on 2channel as well. Former superintendent of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Tateshi Higuchi called the site a "den of iniquity". According to "The Japan Times", however, 2channel cooperated with police in the past to aid them in catching criminals using 2channel by giving police their IP addresses, from which their locations were determined.


title: 2channel

text: Such crime announcements have continued to be a problem on 5channel: it was speculated that the man who carried out the Kyoto Animation arson attack posted an advance warning of the crime on 5channel.


title: 2channel

text: 2channel, with its massive size and anonymous posting, is abundant with slander, hate speech and defamation against public figures, institutions, and minority ethnic groups. Far-right users of 2channel are referred to as "netto-uyoku", a term roughly analogous to "alt-right". Though the site has rules against posts illegal under Japanese law, the scale and anonymous nature of the site makes prompt deletions difficult to realize in practice. Furthermore, on occasion, 2channel has been accused of being reluctant to remove defamatory posts. The discussion boards are also often used to coordinate real-life demonstrations; as an example, 2channel users organized an August 2011 rally against Fuji Television, their complaint being that the channel was broadcasting too many Korean television shows. "Sankei Shimbun" reported in 2018 that 5channel, which received most of 2channel's users, has the same reputation for attracting "netto-uyoku".


title: 2channel

text: 2channel "netto-uyoku" frequently make racist comments against Koreans. In 2009, it was even discovered that an "Asahi Shimbun" employee had posted racist remarks towards Koreans on 2channel. After the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, fake news proliferated on 2channel, falsely accusing Chinese and Korean people of "plundering" evacuation centers.


title: 2channel

text: 2channel operated on forum software that was considered innovative at the time of its founding, originally written by Hiroyuki himself, but later replaced through the collective effort of his Unix-savvy users; the software is known as . It was a major departure from Usenet; however, when compared to other Japanese textboards at the time, such as Amezou, 2channel's format was not much different.


title: 2channel

text: Boards in the textboard software have their threads sorted by the time of their last post, so making a post would "bump" (, "age") the thread to the top of the board index. However, when posting in a thread, users may use a function known as to avoid bumping a thread in this way. Often, posters will use "sage" on purpose, to avoid unwanted attention.


title: 2channel

text: In response to racism towards Koreans by 2channel users, especially against Yuna Kim, an athlete who defeated Japan in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, the site suffered an extended outage in March 2010 due to a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack conducted by a Korean hacking group. The attack against Jim Watkins' Pacific Internet Exchange LLC affected other sites on the shared network as well, including some belonging to US government agencies; it is estimated to have cost . Watkins requested the American government investigate the event as an instance of "cyberterrorism"; according to him, sporadic DDoS attacks by Koreans continued into 2011.


title: 2channel

text: Beginning on 8 January 2015, 8chan, also owned by Jim Watkins and hosted on the network of N. T. Technology, Inc., suffered an outage due to a DDoS attack. Due to the attack, 2ch.net, then owned by Watkins but not yet operated under the name 5channel, went down as well. The attacks against the messageboards lasted until at least 13 January, leading "many 2channel users to become angry with the management".


title: 2channel

text: In September 2007, 2channel averaged over 2.4 million posts per day. As of July 2020, 5channel had 1,031 boards receiving around 2.7 million posts per day on weekends, with no growth since March 2016. Meanwhile, 2ch.sc then had 826 boards receiving around 5,700 posts daily. Due to its popularity, 2channel and its successors have had considerable influence on Japanese society.


title: 2channel

text: Use of sites like 2channel by minors is a major concern in Japan. Some children's search sites, such as , filtered textboards like 2channel. In Tokyo, a local ordinance requires that internet service providers develop filters to prevent minors from accessing sites which could harm the "sound and wholesome fostering [of their youth]"; they must also confirm before installing a connection if any minors live in the household.


title: 2channel

text: Despite this, however, web filter provider Net Star in February 2007 released the results of a survey which showed that the utilization rate of 2channel for primary and secondary students was 12.2%. In response to threads on 2channel about certain schools which were leading to cyberbullying, the Ministry of Education in 2008 released a 65-page manual for teachers and parents on how to handle the issue. Concerned about the popularity of 2channel among children and teenagers, a team of childhood education professors at the University of the Ryukyus in 2009 published a paper making recommendations to lawmakers on how to curb such use.


title: 2channel

text: In February 2020, Nishimura himself wrote an op-ed in "Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun" warning parents about the dangers of allowing their children unfettered access to social media sites like YouTube and 2channel.


title: 2channel

text: Naoto Kan, a future Prime Minister who was then a member of the National Diet, sent a legal notice on 10 May 2000 demanding that 2channel delete a post by someone falsely claiming to be him.


title: 2channel

text: After the Liberal Democratic Party presidential election in 2007, Prime Minister Tarō Asō stated in a Fuji TV interview that he sometimes posts on 2channel. During each election season, supporting posts for perennial candidates Matayoshi Jesus and Mac Akasaka were frequently made on 2channel, turning them into something of a meme, similar to the repeated candidacies of Vermin Supreme in the United States. After more than ten failed candidacies for various political offices, including Governor of Tokyo, Akasaka was eventually elected to the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly, representing Minato, in April 2019. "Asahi Shimbun" credited Akasaka's online fame with helping him win the surprise victory.


title: 2channel

text: Japanese news organizations often relied on 2channel to determine the issues the public was thinking about, and for leads. However, the mass media often reports on it negatively, similar to how it reported on "otaku" culture a decade ago, before it went more mainstream, even though internet trends nowadays routinely slip through into other media. The phrase "the online bulletin board says" (), when used in reporting, may refer either to 2channel or to other forums. Movements spawned on 2channel often receive media attention, noting how the methods of 2channel activists break socially normative behavior and bring pressure to bear through sheer numbers. Beyond this, though, 2channel posts were often a basis for media reports in Japan.


title: 2channel

text: TV programs have even featured 2channel's moderators and users; comedian Hikari Ōta, for example, criticized Nishimura during a discussion on the Tokyo Broadcasting System's "Sandējapon" on the ideal limits of free expression as applied to social networks.


title: 2channel

text: "Shokun!" magazine, during its operation, ran a column known as which shared "patriotic" 2channel posts. "Weekly Bunshun" (, published by Bungeishunjū), meanwhile, has been criticized for being seen as overly pro-2channel and relying on its posts too much in its reporting.


title: Randy Bachman

text: Randolph Charles Bachman (; born September 27, 1943) is a Canadian guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He was a founding member of the bands The Guess Who and Bachman–Turner Overdrive. Bachman recorded as a solo artist and was part of a number of short-lived bands such as Brave Belt, Union and Ironhorse. He was a national radio personality on CBC Radio, hosting the weekly music show, "Vinyl Tap". Bachman was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2016.


title: Randy Bachman

text: Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, to Karl (Charlie) Bachman and Anne (Nancy) Dobrinsky, Bachman is of half-German and half-Ukrainian descent. At age three, he won a singing contest on CKY's King of the Saddle program and age five he had started studying the violin in the Royal Toronto Conservatory system. He studied violin until the age of 12 when he grew dissatisfied with the structured lessons. He found that while he could not read music, he could play anything if he heard it once; he referred to it as his phonographic memory.


title: Randy Bachman

text: At age 15, Bachman saw Elvis Presley play on Tommy Dorsey's television show and the sight of the guitar around Presley's neck inspired him. He learned three chords from his cousin, then started practising on a modified Hawaiian dobro. At age 16, Bachman met Lenny Breau and during the next two years Breau taught Bachman finger picking. Breau also introduced him to Chet Atkins' music.


title: Randy Bachman

text: In 1959, Bachman bought a ticket to see Les Paul in concert at a Winnipeg supper club but could not get in as he was too young. He instead helped Paul set up before the show and also helped him reload everything into the car after the show. Still a budding guitarist at this point, Bachman asked Paul if he could teach him a guitar lick; Paul ended up teaching his version of "How High the Moon".


title: Randy Bachman

text: He was initially a good student at school until he took up the guitar, when he focused on that instrument to the exclusion of his education. He passed Grade 9 at Edmund Partridge Junior High School, but repeated both the 10th and 11th grades, initially at West Kildonan Collegiate. In his second year of Grade 11, he was placed in a class of students who mostly either "flunked or dropped out and came back", and was asked to be class president by the teacher, who thought he had "discipline and determination" because he had been playing violin since the age of five. He was expelled from West Kildonan in the middle of that year because of his "lack of studiousness", and finished his schooling at Garden City Collegiate. He went on to study business administration at what is now Red River College, but did not graduate.


title: Randy Bachman

text: In 1960, Bachman and Chad Allan co-founded Al and The Silvertones in Winnipeg. By 1962, the band changed their name to Chad Allan and the Expressions and later to The Guess Who. In 1965, the Guess Who had a No. 1 hit in Canada with their cover of Johnny Kidd's "Shakin' All Over", which also charted in the US at No. 22. In 1966, Chad Allan left the band and Burton Cummings became the primary vocalist. Between 1966 and 1968, The Guess Who laboured mostly in their home country, releasing a few singles that managed to crack the Top 40 in Canada. In early 1969, the group finally broke through internationally with the hit song "These Eyes", co-written by Bachman and Cummings. The Guess Who released three successful albums over the next two years: "Wheatfield Soul" (1969), "Canned Wheat" (1969), and "American Woman" (1970), which brought them mainstream attention. Bachman wrote or cowrote (primarily with Cummings) most of the group's songs during this period.


title: Randy Bachman

text: In early 1970, the single "American Woman" hit No. 1 on the US Hot 100 charts, a first for a band from Canada. A group composition, the song critiques the "ghetto scenes" and "war machines" of the US, reflecting the Guess Who's experiences of extensive touring in large American cities. With the Vietnam War at its peak, many American men went to Canada to escape US Military service. Bachman left the band at the height of its popularity, shortly after the release of "American Woman". He has been quoted as leaving due to the other band members' lifestyle choices conflicting with his beliefs upon converting to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in addition to wanting to spend more time with his family members. He was also suffering health problems related to his gall bladder and needed to be under a doctor's care, something that was difficult to do while on the road.


title: Randy Bachman

text: Before his departure from The Guess Who in May 1970, Bachman recorded an instrumental solo album for RCA Records, "Axe", over three days in March 1970. The following year, he formed the country rock band Brave Belt with Chad Allan. Brave Belt released its first self-titled LP in 1971. Robbie Bachman was the drummer for Brave Belt, at barely 18 years-old. Fred Turner subsequently joined Brave Belt on bass and vocals, resulting in the band evolving into a heavier sound, which led to the departure of Chad Allan.


title: Randy Bachman

text: Left with a three-member line-up, Brave Belt added Tim Bachman as a second guitarist. With this lineup, the members signed a record deal with Mercury Records and renamed the band Bachman-Turner Overdrive. Often referred to as "B.T.O." for short, they released their first self-titled album, "Bachman–Turner Overdrive" in May 1973.


title: Randy Bachman

text: In December 1973, the band released their second album, "Bachman–Turner Overdrive II". This album brought the band a greater commercial success than their debut, with hits such as "Takin' Care of Business" and "Let It Ride", which charted at Nos. 12 and 23 in the US, respectively. In 1974, they released their third album titled, "Not Fragile". The release hit No. 1 on the album charts in both Canada and the United States. The album contained the hits, "Roll On Down the Highway" and "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet", which charted at Nos. 14 and 1, respectively. With the latter, Randy had the rare accomplishment of recording an American chart-topper for two different Canadian bands; the other being "American Woman" while he was in The Guess Who.


title: Randy Bachman

text: The band remained on the charts through the mid-1970s with their next two albums, "Four Wheel Drive" and "Head On". With these albums, they successfully had additional hit songs with "Hey You", "Take It Like a Man", and the jazz-oriented "Lookin' Out For No. 1". In late-1976, during the recording of their sixth studio album "Freeways", some disagreements surfaced within the band. Bachman wrote all but one song and sang on every song but two, while some of the other band members felt that they did not have enough good material to record and wanted to delay the release. Upon its release, the album charted at No. 70 in the US, but had no hit singles. Randy Bachman officially quit the band in mid-March 1977. The rest of the band would continue to record and tour until the end of the decade, after Randy agreed to sell the rights to the "BTO" name to the remaining band members.


title: Randy Bachman

text: After his departure from Bachman–Turner Overdrive, Bachman recorded a second solo album titled, "Survivor". This release failed to chart in the US. Following the solo album, he formed a new rock band with bassist/singer Tom Sparks, called Ironhorse. Ironhorse released their debut self-titled album in 1979. It contained the single "Sweet Lui-Louise", which charted at No. 36 in the US and No. 26 in Canada, and performed well in other parts of Europe including Italy. After the tour for this album, Tom Sparks left the band and was replaced by Frank Ludwig. The band released a second album in 1980 titled, "Everything Is Grey". The release contained pop rock influences with greater use of keyboards than the first album. After BTO broke up in early-1980, Fred Turner and Randy formed a new band called Union, and released only one album titled, "On Strike" in 1981.


title: Randy Bachman

text: Later in the documentary "From Rags to Riches and Back", Randy recalled building up a net worth of close to $10 million by 1977, only to go broke within four years. He credits these events to his divorce from his first wife Lorayne Stevenson and the court battles over custody of their children, as well as heavy investment in musical projects that did not become fruitful.


title: Randy Bachman

text: Bachman rejoined The Guess Who in 1983 with Burton Cummings and other members of the "American Woman" era, for a publicized reunion. The band toured Canada and released a video of live performances. After The Guess Who reunion ended, Bachman rejoined Bachman-Turner Overdrive with Fred Turner, Tim Bachman, and Garry Peterson of The Guess Who taking over on drums. The reformed band released the self-titled "Bachman-Turner Overdrive" in 1984, as well as a live album in 1986, after which they opened for Van Halen during the "5150" tour in 1986. By 1987, Randy left the band.


title: Randy Bachman

text: By 1988, Bachman-Turner Overdrive had reformed again, this time with the popular 1974–77 lineup. The band toured together until 1991, when Randy again departed. Randy returned to The Guess Who for a reunion performance in August 1999, in Winnipeg at the end of the XIII Pan Am Games.


title: Randy Bachman

text: Bachman continued as a member of The Guess Who, and played with them on several tours. In 2000, he made a guest appearance on "The Simpsons" in an episode as himself, in a fictionalized reunion with his former Bachman–Turner Overdrive band-mates, C. F. Turner and Robin Bachman. Series creator Matt Groening, whose father is originally from Winnipeg, is a fan of the band. During their performance in the episode, Homer Simpson humorously yells "get to the working overtime part" while they perform "Takin' Care of Business".


title: Randy Bachman

text: In 2001, Bachman received an honorary Doctorate of Music from Brandon University in Brandon, Manitoba, along with the other members of The Guess Who. That year he won three SOCAN Classic Awards. In 2005, Bachman was awarded the Order of Manitoba, the highest award in the Province of Manitoba. He was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame for the first time, for his time with The Guess Who in 2001. In 2002, The Guess Who were recipients of The Governor General's Performing Arts Award, Canada's foremost distinction for excellence in the performing arts. By July 2003, Bachman left The Guess Who with singer Burton Cummings, only to form a new project called, Bachman Cummings.


title: Randy Bachman

text: In 2004, Bachman helped Kalan Porter on his debut album, "219 Days". He reportedly suggested that Kalan do a drone on the violin during "In Spite of It All". He was also featured performing a guitar solo near the end of the song, "And We Drive". During this period, Bachman has also released an album of original melodic-jazz songs titled, "Jazz Thing".


title: Randy Bachman

text: By the summer of 2005, Bachman began hosting the coast-to-coast radio show "Vinyl Tap" on CBC Radio One. For the show, he played audio recordings, primarily Classic rock music, while reminiscing about personal encounters with famous artists and musicians from his 50-year career in rock music. The show ran for 16 seasons with its final episode on Canada Day, July 1, 2021, after it was cancelled by CBC, though Bachman said he planned to take the program to another broadcaster or turn it into a podcast.


title: Randy Bachman

text: On July 2, 2005, Bachman performed at the Canadian leg of the global Live 8 mega-concert organized by Bob Geldof. In 2008, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.


title: Randy Bachman

text: Bachman continued his career touring with the Randy Bachman Band, as well as the Bachman-Cummings Band. During this time he featured in a theater-styled show called "Every Song Tells A Story", where he performed live and unplugged with his band, often telling the stories behind writing his most famous from the 1960s and 1970s. Bachman and Burton Cummings performed throughout Canada as Bachman & Cummings in the summer of 2006, while on tour with The Carpet Frogs. Bachman and Fred Turner completed a new Bachman & Turner album that was released in September 2010. The album's single titled "Rollin' Along", was released in June 2010 on iTunes. The pair launched a two-year world tour (2010–11) under their Bachman & Turner moniker, beginning at the Sweden Rock Festival in June 2010. Other confirmed dates included the High Voltage Festival in London, UK, in July 2010 and the Manitoba Homecoming Event in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The pair released the next single, "Rock n' Roll Is the Only Way Out" on their official website.


title: Randy Bachman

text: Bachman was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame for the second time, albeit as a solo artist in 2012. In June 2015, he also received SOCAN's Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2014, he released a home video package of his "Every Song Tells A Story" performances, which includes an occasional accompanying symphonic orchestra.


title: Randy Bachman

text: In 2015, he released an album titled "Heavy Blues" from his newly-formed self-titled band, Bachman. The album was influenced by classic 1960s blues rock and features musical contributions from other musicians including: Neil Young, Joe Bonamassa, Peter Frampton, Robert Randolph, and Jeff Healey. Later in March 2018, Randy Bachman released a tribute to George Harrison containing cover version of the latter's hits. The album featured one original song titled "Between Two Mountains", and also featured Walter Trout on the album's version of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps".


title: Randy Bachman

text: Randy and Fred Turner continued to tour as Bachman & Turner through 2018, when Fred amicably retired.


title: Randy Bachman

text: Bachman appeared in a CBC television broadcast benefit called "Stronger Together, Tous Ensemble" on April 26, 2020, featuring various Canadian musicians and entertainers. Bachman made a brief one-minute appearance to thank the front-line Canadian workers and proceeded to play a short parody of "Taking Care of Business".


title: Randy Bachman

text: Bachman has stated that his guitar sound was influenced by his early violin studies, saying "when I wanted to play a rock solo, I played like it was violin ... Violin is mostly slow, melodic stuff. So my guitar solos tend to be smooth, slow lines."


title: Randy Bachman

text: He has mentioned in interviews that his guitar influences include Lenny Breau, Leslie West, Wes Montgomery, George Peterson, and Hank Marvin.


title: Randy Bachman

text: Bachman's first marriage was to Lorayne Stevenson (1966 to 1977). With Stevenson, Bachman had six children. His son, Tal Bachman, is a recording artist best known for his 1999 top-20 hit song "She's So High". His daughter Lorelei Bachman is also a writer/musician. He then married Denise McCann (from 1982 to 2011), and they had one child. They resided on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, Canada. Bachman and McCann separated in 2011.


title: Randy Bachman

text: During his early Guess Who years, his Mormon religious beliefs conflicted with the sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll lifestyle of the other band members.


title: Randy Bachman

text: Bachman had gastric bypass surgery to reduce his weight. Bachman originally lost 60 pounds from a 380 lb frame using diet and exercise but became acutely aware of the threat his obesity posed to his health during a performance at Winnipeg Stadium for the 1999 Pan American Games. He realized that his weight-induced back and knee pain would make touring impossible.


title: Randy Bachman

text: But during an extended ground time following the September 11, 2001 attacks, Bachman began overeating again. At his next physical after the tour, his physician told him he was morbidly obese. He asked, "Doesn't morbid mean death?" The physician told him of the risks he faced as a result of his obesity. Bachman remembered that the daughter of his friend Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys had successfully lost weight using bariatric surgery, and sought out her surgeon to help him. Following surgery, he lost 155 pounds by 2006, reaching his 225 lb target weight.


title: Randy Bachman

text: Bachman also had a successful operation on his shoulder in November 2007 to repair a torn rotator cuff, which he has blamed on his decades-long use of heavy, vintage guitars.


title: Randy Bachman

text: Despite German-Canadian custom, Bachman says his surname is pronounced (with a short 'a' sound as in "back"), and he uses this pronunciation when referring to himself. The more common pronunciation of "bock-mən", especially on American radio, became so widespread however, that he did not bother correcting people after BTO became popular.


title: Control of fire by early humans

text: The control of fire by early humans was a critical technology enabling the evolution of humans. Fire provided a source of warmth and lighting, protection from predators (especially at night), a way to create more advanced hunting tools, and a method for cooking food. These cultural advances allowed human geographic dispersal, cultural innovations, and changes to diet and behavior. Additionally, creating fire allowed human activity to continue into the dark and colder hours of the evening.


title: Control of fire by early humans

text: Claims for the earliest definitive evidence of control of fire by a member of "Homo" range from 1.7 to 2.0 million years ago (Mya). Evidence for the "microscopic traces of wood ash" as controlled use of fire by "Homo erectus", beginning roughly 1 million years ago, has wide scholarly support. Some of the earliest known traces of controlled fire were found at the Daughters of Jacob Bridge, Israel, and dated to 790,000 years ago.


title: Control of fire by early humans

text: Flint blades burned in fires roughly 300,000 years ago were found near fossils of early but not entirely modern "Homo sapiens" in Morocco. Fire was used regularly and systematically by early modern humans to heat treat silcrete stone to increase its flake-ability for the purpose of toolmaking approximately 164,000 years ago at the South African site of Pinnacle Point. Evidence of widespread control of fire by anatomically modern humans dates to approximately 125,000 years ago.


title: Control of fire by early humans

text: The use and control of fire was a gradual process proceeding through more than one stage. One was a change in habitat, from dense forest, where wildfires were common, to savanna (mixed grass/woodland) where wildfires were of higher intensity. Such a change may have occurred about 3 million years ago, when the savanna expanded in East Africa due to cooler and drier climate.


title: Control of fire by early humans

text: The next stage involved interaction with burned landscapes and foraging in the wake of wildfires, as observed in various wild animals. In the African savanna, animals that preferentially forage in recently burned areas include savanna chimpanzees (a variety of "Pan troglodytes verus"), vervet monkeys ("Cercopithecus aethiops") and a variety of birds, some of which also hunt insects and small vertebrates in the wake of grass fires.


title: Control of fire by early humans

text: The next step would be to make some use of residual hot spots that occur in the wake of wildfires. For example, foods found in the wake of wildfires tend to be either burned or undercooked. This might have provided incentives to place undercooked foods on a hotspot or to pull food out of the fire if it were in danger of getting burned. This would require familiarity with fire and its behavior.


title: Control of fire by early humans

text: An early step in the control of fire would have been transporting it from burned to unburned areas and lighting them on fire, providing advantages in food acquisition. Maintaining a fire over an extended period of time, as for a season (such as the dry season), may have led to the development of base campsites. Building a hearth or other fire enclosure such as a circle of stones would have been a later development. The ability to make fire, generally with a friction device with hardwood rubbing against softwood (as in a bow drill), was a later development.


title: Control of fire by early humans

text: Each of these stages could occur at different intensities, ranging from occasional or "opportunistic" to "habitual" to "obligate" (unable to survive without it).


title: Control of fire by early humans

text: Most of the evidence of controlled use of fire during the Lower Paleolithic is uncertain and has limited scholarly support. Some of the evidence is inconclusive because other plausible explanations exist, such as natural processes, for the findings. Recent findings support that the earliest known controlled use of fire took place in Wonderwerk Cave, South Africa, 1.0 Mya.


title: Control of fire by early humans

text: Findings from the Wonderwerk Cave site, in the Northern Cape province of South Africa, provide the earliest evidence for controlled use of fire. Intact sediments were analyzed using micromorphological analysis and Fourier transform infrared microspectroscopy (mFTIR) and yielded evidence, in the form of burned bones and ashed plant remains, that burning took place at the site 1.0 Mya.


title: Control of fire by early humans

text: East African sites, such as Chesowanja near Lake Baringo, Koobi Fora, and Olorgesailie in Kenya, show some possible evidence that fire was controlled by early humans.


title: Control of fire by early humans

text: In Chesowanja, archaeologists found red clay clasts dated to 1.4 Mya. These clasts must have been heated to to harden. However, tree stumps burned in bush fires in East Africa produce clasts, which, when broken by erosion, are like those described at Chesownja. Controlled use of fire at Chesowanja is unproven.


title: Control of fire by early humans

text: In Koobi Fora, sites show evidence of control of fire by "Homo erectus" at 1.5 Mya with findings of reddened sediment that could come from heating at .


title: Control of fire by early humans

text: Evidence of possible human control of fire, found at Swartkrans, South Africa, includes several burned bones, including ones with hominin-inflicted cut marks, along with Acheulean and bone tools. This site also shows some of the earliest evidence of carnivorous behavior in "H. Erectus".


title: Control of fire by early humans

text: A "hearth-like depression" that could have been used to burn bones was found at a site in Olorgesailie, Kenya. However, it did not contain any charcoal, and no signs of fire have been observed. Some microscopic charcoal was found, but it could have resulted from a natural brush fire.


title: Control of fire by early humans

text: In Gadeb, Ethiopia, fragments of welded tuff that appeared to have been burned were found in Locality 8E but refiring of the rocks might have occurred due to local volcanic activity.


title: Control of fire by early humans

text: In the Middle Awash River Valley, cone-shaped depressions of reddish clay were found that could have been formed by temperatures of . These features, thought to have been created by burning tree stumps, were hypothesized to have been produced by early hominids lighting tree stumps so they could have fire away from their habitation site. This view is not widely accepted, though. Burned stones are also found in Awash Valley, but volcanic welded tuff is also found in the area, which could explain the burned stones.


title: Control of fire by early humans

text: Burned flints discovered near Jebel Irhoud, Morocco, dated by thermoluminescence to around 300,000 years old, were discovered in the same sedimentary layer as skulls of early "Homo sapiens." Paleoanthropologist Jean-Jacques Hublin believes the flints were used as spear tips and left in fires used by the early humans for cooking food.


title: Control of fire by early humans

text: In Xihoudu in Shanxi Province, China, the black, blue, and grayish-green discoloration of mammalian bones found at the site illustrates the evidence of burning by early hominids. In 1985, at a parallel site in China, Yuanmou in Yunnan Province, archaeologists found blackened mammal bones that date back to 1.7 Mya.


title: Control of fire by early humans

text: A site at Bnot Ya'akov Bridge, Israel, has been claimed to show that "H. erectus" or "H. ergaster" controlled fires between 790,000 and 690,000 BP. An AI powered spectroscopy in archaeology has helped researchers unearth hidden evidence of the use of fire by humans dating 800,000 and 1 million years ago. In an article published in June 2022, researchers from Weizmann Institute of Science, who pioneered the AI application, along with researchers at University of Toronto and Hebrew University of Jerusalem described the use of deep learning models to analyze heat exposure of 26 flint tools that were found in 1970s at the Evron Quarry in the northwest of Israel. The results showed that the tools were heated up to 600°C.


title: Control of fire by early humans

text: At Trinil, Java, burned wood has been found in layers that carried "H. erectus" (Java Man) fossils dating from 830,000 to 500,000 BP. The burned wood has been claimed to indicate the use of fire by early hominids.


title: Control of fire by early humans

text: The Cave of Hearths in South Africa has burn deposits, which date from 700,000 to 200,000 BP, as do various other sites such as Montagu Cave (200,000 to 58,000 BP) and the Klasies River Mouth (130,000 to 120,000 BP).


title: Control of fire by early humans

text: Strong evidence comes from Kalambo Falls in Zambia, where several artifacts related to the use of fire by humans have been recovered, including charred logs, charcoal, carbonized grass stems and plants, and wooden implements, which may have been hardened by fire. The site has been dated through radiocarbon dating to between 110,000 BP and 61,000 BP through amino-acid racemization.


title: Control of fire by early humans

text: Fire was used for heat treatment of silcrete stones to increase their workability before they were knapped into tools by Stillbay culture in South Africa. These Stillbay sites date back from 164,000 to 72,000 years ago, with the heat treatment of stone beginning by about 164,000 years ago.


title: Control of fire by early humans

text: Evidence at Zhoukoudian cave in China suggests control of fire as early as 460,000 to 230,000 BP. Fire in Zhoukoudian is suggested by the presence of burned bones, burned chipped-stone artifacts, charcoal, ash, and hearths alongside "H. erectus" fossils in Layer 10, the earliest archaeological horizon at the site. This evidence comes from Locality 1, also known as the Peking Man site, where several bones were found to be uniformly black to grey. The extracts from the bones were determined to be characteristic of burned bone rather than manganese staining. These residues also showed IR spectra for oxides, and a bone that was turquoise was reproduced in the laboratory by heating some of the other bones found in Layer 10. At the site, the same effect might have been due to natural heating, as the effect was produced on white, yellow, and black bones.


title: Control of fire by early humans

text: Layer 10 itself is described as ash with biologically produced silicon, aluminum, iron, and potassium, but wood ash remnants such as siliceous aggregates are missing. Among these are possible hearths "represented by finely laminated silt and clay interbedded with reddish-brown and yellow brown fragments of organic matter, locally mixed with limestone fragments and dark brown finely laminated silt, clay, and organic matter." The site itself does not show that fires were made in Zhoukoudian, but the association of blackened bones with quartzite artifacts at least shows that humans did control fire at the time of the habitation of the Zhoukoudian cave.


title: Control of fire by early humans

text: At the Amudian site of Qesem Cave, near the city of Kfar Qasim, Israel, evidence exists of the regular use of fire from before 382,000 BP to around 200,000 BP, at the end of Lower Pleistocene. Large quantities of burned bone and moderately heated soil lumps were found, and the cut marks found on the bones suggest that butchering and prey-defleshing took place near fireplaces. In addition, hominins living in Qesem cave managed to heat their flint to varying temperatures before knapping it into different tools.


title: Control of fire by early humans

text: The earliest evidence for controlled fire use by humans on the Indian subcontinent, dating to between 50,000 and 55,000 years ago, comes from the Main Belan archaeological site, located in the Belan River valley in Uttar Pradesh, India.


title: Control of fire by early humans

text: Multiple sites in Europe, such as Torralba and Ambrona, Spain, and St. Esteve-Janson, France, have also shown evidence of use of fire by later versions of "H. erectus". The oldest has been found in England at the site of Beeches Pit, Suffolk; uranium series dating and thermoluminescence dating place the use of fire at 415,000 BP. At Vértesszőlős, Hungary, while no charcoal has been found, burned bones have been discovered dating from c. 350,000 years ago. At Torralba and Ambrona, Spain, objects such as Acheulean stone tools, remains of large mammals such as extinct elephants, charcoal, and wood were discovered. At Terra Amata in France, there is a fireplace with ashes (dated between 380,000 BP and 230,000 BP). At Saint-Estève-Janson in France, there is evidence of five hearths and reddened earth in the Escale Cave; these hearths have been dated to 200,000 BP. Evidence for fire making dates to at least the Middle Paleolithic, with dozens of Neanderthal hand axes from France exhibiting use-wear traces suggesting these tools were struck with the mineral pyrite to produce sparks around 50,000 years ago.


title: Control of fire by early humans

text: The discovery of fire came to provide a wide variety of uses for early hominids. Its warmth kept them alive during low nighttime temperatures in colder environments, allowing geographic expansion from tropical and subtropical climates to temperate areas. Its blaze warded off predatory animals, especially in the dark.


title: Control of fire by early humans

text: Fire also played a major role in changing food habits. Cooking allowed a significant increase in meat consumption and calorie intake. It was soon discovered that meat could also be dried and smoked by fire, preserving it for lean seasons. Fire was even used in manufacturing tools for hunting and butchering. Hominids also learned that starting brush fires to burn large areas could increase land fertility and clear terrain to make hunting easier. Evidence shows that early hominids were able to corral and trap prey animals by means of fire. Fire was used to clear out caves prior to living in them, helping to begin the use of shelter. The many uses of fire may have led to specialized social roles, such as the separation of cooking from hunting.


title: Control of fire by early humans

text: The control of fire enabled important changes in human behavior, health, energy expenditure, and geographic expansion. They could move into much colder regions that would have previously been uninhabitable after the loss of body hair. Evidence of more complex management to change biomes can be found as far back as 200,000 to 100,000 years ago at a minimum.


title: Control of fire by early humans

text: Fire also allowed major innovations in tool and weapon manufacture. In an archeological dig that dates to around 400,000 years ago, researchers excavating in the 'Spear Horizon' in Schöningen, Germany, unearthed eight wooden spears among a trove of preserved artifacts. The spears were found along with stone tools and horse remains, one of which still had a spear through its pelvis. At another dig site located in Lehringen, Germany, a fire-hardened lance was found thrust into the rib cage of a 'straight-tusked elephant'. These archeological digs provide evidence that the spears were deliberately fire-hardened, allowing early humans to use the spears as thrusting rather than throwing weapons. Researchers further uncovered environmental evidence that these early hunters may have hidden in ambush.


title: Control of fire by early humans

text: More recent evidence dating to roughly 164,000 years ago indicates that early humans in South Africa during the Middle Stone Age used fire to alter the mechanical properties of tool materials applying heat treatment to a fine-grained rock called silcrete. The heated rocks were then tempered into crescent-shaped blades or arrowhead for hunting and butchering prey. This may have been the first time that bow and arrow were used for hunting, with far-ranging impact.


title: Control of fire by early humans

text: Fire was also used in the creation of art. Archaeologists have discovered several 1- to 10-inch Venus figurine statues in Europe dating to the Paleolithic, several carved from stone and ivory, others shaped from clay and then fired. These are some of the earliest examples of ceramics. Fire was also commonly used to create pottery. Although pottery was formerly thought to have begun with the Neolithic around 10,000 years ago, scientists in China discovered pottery fragments in the Xianrendong Cave that were about 20,000 years old. During the Neolithic Age and agricultural revolution about 10,000 years ago, pottery became far more common and widespread, often carved and painted with simple linear designs and geometric shapes.


title: Control of fire by early humans

text: Fire was an important factor in expanding and developing societies of early hominids. One impact fire might have had was social stratification. The power to make and wield fire may have conferred prestige and social position. Fire also led to a lengthening of daytime activities, and allowed more nighttime activities. Evidence of large hearths indicate that the majority of nighttime was spent around the fire. The increased social interaction from gathering around the fire may have fostered the development of language.


title: Control of fire by early humans

text: Another effect of fire use on hominid societies was that it required larger groups to work together to maintain the fire, finding fuel, portioning it onto the fire, and re-igniting it when necessary. These larger groups might have included older individuals such as grandparents, who helped to care for children. Ultimately, fire had a significant influence on the size and social interactions of early hominid communities.


title: Control of fire by early humans

text: Exposure to artificial light during later hours of the day changed humans' circadian rhythms, contributing to a longer waking day. The modern human's waking day is 16 hours, while many mammals are only awake for half as many hours. Additionally, humans are most awake during the early evening hours, while other primates' days begin at dawn and end at sundown. Many of these behavioral changes can be attributed to the control of fire and its impact on daylight extension.


title: Control of fire by early humans

text: The cooking hypothesis proposes the idea that the ability to cook allowed for the brain size of hominids to increase over time. This idea was first presented by Friedrich Engels in the article "The Part Played by Labour in the Transition from Ape to Man" and later recapitulated in the book "" by Richard Wrangham and then in a book by Suzana Herculano-Houzel. Critics of the hypothesis argue that cooking with controlled fire was insufficient to start the increasing brain size trend.


title: Control of fire by early humans

text: The cooking hypothesis gains support by comparing the nutrients in raw food to the much more easily digested nutrients in cooked food, as in an examination of protein ingestion from raw vs. cooked egg. Scientists have found that among several primates, the restriction of feeding to raw foods during daylight hours limits the metabolic energy available. Genus "Homo" was able to break through the limit by cooking food to shorten their feeding times and be able to absorb more nutrients to accommodate the increasing need for energy. In addition, scientists argue that the "Homo" species was also able to obtain nutrients like docosahexaenoic acid from algae that were especially beneficial and critical for brain evolution, and the detoxification of food by the cooking process enabled early humans to access these resources.


title: Control of fire by early humans

text: Besides the brain, other human organs also demand a high metabolism. During human evolution, the body-mass proportion of different organs changed to allow brain expansion.


title: Control of fire by early humans

text: Before the advent of fire, the hominid diet was limited to mostly plant parts composed of simple sugars and carbohydrates such as seeds, flowers, and fleshy fruits. Parts of the plant such as stems, mature leaves, enlarged roots, and tubers would have been inaccessible as a food source due to the indigestibility of raw cellulose and starch. Cooking, however, made starchy and fibrous foods edible and greatly increased the diversity of other foods available to early humans. Toxin-containing foods including seeds and similar carbohydrate sources, such as cyanogenic glycosides found in linseed and cassava, were incorporated into their diets as cooking rendered them nontoxic.


title: Control of fire by early humans

text: Cooking could also kill parasites, reduce the amount of energy required for chewing and digestion, and release more nutrients from plants and meat. Due to the difficulty of chewing raw meat and digesting tough proteins (e.g. collagen) and carbohydrates, the development of cooking served as an effective mechanism to efficiently process meat and allow for its consumption in larger quantities. With its high caloric density and content of important nutrients, meat thus became a staple in the diet of early humans. By increasing digestibility, cooking allowed hominids to maximize the energy gained from consuming foods. Studies show that caloric intake from cooking starches improves 12-35% and 45-78% for protein. As a result of the increases in net energy gain from food consumption, survival and reproductive rates in hominids increased. Through lowering food toxicity and increasing nutritive yield, cooking allowed for an earlier weaning age, permitting females to have more children. In this way, too, it facilitated population growth.


title: Control of fire by early humans

text: It has been proposed that the use of fire for cooking caused environmental toxins to accumulate in the placenta, which led to a species-wide taboo on human placentophagy around the time of the mastery of fire. Placentophagy is common in other primates.


title: Control of fire by early humans

text: Before their use of fire, the hominid species had large premolars, which were used to chew harder foods, such as large seeds. In addition, due to the shape of the molar cusps, the diet is inferred to have been more leaf- or fruit-based. Probably in response to consuming cooked foods, the molar teeth of "H. erectus" gradually shrank, suggesting that their diet had changed from tougher foods such as crisp root vegetables to softer cooked foods such as meat. Cooked foods further selected for the differentiation of their teeth and eventually led to a decreased jaw volume with a variety of smaller teeth in hominids. Today, a smaller jaw volume and teeth size of humans is seen in comparison to other primates.


title: Control of fire by early humans

text: Due to the increased digestibility of many cooked foods, less digestion was needed to procure the necessary nutrients. As a result, the gastrointestinal tract and organs in the digestive system decreased in size. This is in contrast to other primates, where a larger digestive tract is needed for fermentation of long carbohydrate chains. Thus, humans evolved from the large colons and tracts that are seen in other primates to smaller ones.


title: Control of fire by early humans

text: According to Wrangham, control of fire allowed hominids to sleep on the ground and in caves instead of trees and led to more time being spent on the ground. This may have contributed to the evolution of bipedalism, as such an ability became increasingly necessary for human activity.


title: Control of fire by early humans

text: Critics of the hypothesis argue that while a linear increase in brain volume of the genus "Homo" is seen over time, adding fire control and cooking does not add anything meaningful to the data. Species such as "H. ergaster" existed with large brain volumes during time periods with little to no evidence of fire for cooking. Little variation exists in the brain sizes of "H. erectus" dated from periods of weak and strong evidence for cooking. An experiment involving mice fed raw versus cooked meat found that cooking meat did not increase the amount of calories taken up by mice, leading to the study's conclusion that the energetic gain is the same, if not greater, in raw meat diets than cooked meats. Studies such as this and others have led to criticisms of the hypothesis that state that the increases in human brain-size occurred well before the advent of cooking due to a shift away from the consumption of nuts and berries to the consumption of meat. Other anthropologists argue that the evidence suggests that cooking fires began in earnest only 250,000 BP, when ancient hearths, earth ovens, burned animal bones, and flint appear across Europe and the Middle East.


title: Wagon Wheel (song)

text: "Wagon Wheel" is a song co-written by Bob Dylan and Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show. Dylan recorded the chorus in 1973; Secor added verses 25 years later. Old Crow Medicine Show's final version was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America in April 2013. The song has been covered numerous times, including charting versions by Nathan Carter in 2012 and Darius Rucker in 2013.


title: Wagon Wheel (song)

text: The song describes a hitchhiking journey south along the eastern coast of the United States from New England in the northeast through Roanoke, Virginia, with the intended destination of Raleigh, North Carolina, where the narrator hopes to see his lover. As the narrator is walking south of Roanoke, he meets a trucker who is traveling from Philadelphia through Virginia westward toward the Cumberland Gap and Johnson City, Tennessee.


title: Wagon Wheel (song)

text: Old Crow Medicine Show's version of the song is in swing 2/4 time signature, with an approximate tempo of 76 half notes per minute. It uses the I–V–vi–IV pattern in the key of A major, with the main chord pattern of A–E–Fm–D.


title: Wagon Wheel (song)

text: "Wagon Wheel" is composed of two different parts. The chorus and melody for the song come from a demo recorded by Bob Dylan during the "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid" sessions in February 1973. Although never officially released, the Dylan song was released on a bootleg recording, usually named after the chorus and its refrain, "Rock Me Mama". Dylan left the song an unfinished sketch.


title: Wagon Wheel (song)

text: Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show wrote verses for the song around Dylan's original chorus and melody:


title: Wagon Wheel (song)

text: Chris "Critter" Fuqua, Secor's school friend and future bandmate, first brought home a Bob Dylan bootleg from a family trip to London containing the rough outtake called "Rock Me, Mama". Not "so much a song as a sketch, crudely recorded featuring most prominently a stomping boot, the candy-coated chorus and a mumbled verse that was hard to make out", the tune kept going through Secor's mind.


title: Wagon Wheel (song)

text: A few months later, while attending Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire and "feeling homesick for the South," he added verses about "hitchhiking his way home full of romantic notions put in his head by the Beat poets and, most of all, Dylan." Secor's verses tell "the story of a man who travels from New England, through Philadelphia, and Roanoke, down the eastern coast of the United States, ending up in Raleigh, North Carolina, where he hopes to see his lover."


title: Wagon Wheel (song)

text: The Secor lyrics contain a geographic impossibility: the trucker is said to be heading "west from the Cumberland Gap" to Johnson City, Tennessee, but Johnson City is actually east of the Cumberland Gap. As Secor explains, "I got some geography wrong, but I still sing it that way. I just wanted the word 'west' in there. 'West' has got more power than 'east.'"


title: Wagon Wheel (song)

text: Secor saw the Dylan contribution as "an outtake of something he had mumbled out on one of those tapes. I sang it all around the country from about 17 to 26, before I ever even thought, 'Oh, I better look into this.'" When Secor sought copyright on the song in 2003 to release it on "O.C.M.S." in (2004), he discovered Dylan credited the phrase "Rock me, mama" to bluesman Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup, who recorded a song with this title in 1944. He likely got it from a Big Bill Broonzy recording "Rockin' Chair Blues" from 1940 using the phrase "rock me, baby". The phrase "like a wagon wheel" is used in the 1939 Curtis Jones song "Roll Me Mama" that includes the lines "Now roll me over, just like I'm a wagon wheel" and "just like I ain't got no bone". He re-recorded it in 1963 as "Roll Me Over", with some of the lyrics. In the meantime, Lil' Son Jackson came up with "Rockin' and Rollin" in 1950 using the phrase "Roll me, baby, like you roll a wagon wheel". As Secor says: "In a way, it's taken something like 85 years to get completed." Secor and Dylan signed a co-writing agreement, and share copyright on the song; agreeing to a "50-50 split in authorship." When Secor discovered the famous singer-songwriter was willing to publish the song with Old Crow, he, like earlier claimed originators, disavowed authorship:


title: Wagon Wheel (song)

text: Secor recalls that "I met (Dylan's son) Jakob, and Jakob said it made sense that I was a teenager when I did that because no one in their 30s would have the guts to try to write a Bob Dylan song."


title: Wagon Wheel (song)

text: As Old Crow Medicine Show's signature song, "Wagon Wheel" is in some ways bigger than the group itself—even though the song's origins predate formation of the musical act. The song has become extremely popular since its inclusion on Old Crow Medicine Show's major label debut, "O.C.M.S." in 2004; it was released as its lead single two weeks prior to the album's release, although the song also appeared in an earlier form on the now out-of-print EP "Troubles Up and Down the Road" in 2001. The group reportedly performed the song at the Station Inn in Nashville in 2001, as part of a series of songs commemorating Bob Dylan's 60th birthday.


title: Wagon Wheel (song)

text: This "catchy country-infused sing-along" has "taken on the status of 'Free Bird'"—"in that it has become a bar room staple that drunks love to loudly request at every show, "regardless" of who the band is" John Cranford with music label Swampfire Records—who organize a regular jam session on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina called Swampfire Sessions—says "It has become our generation's 'Freebird.'"


title: Wagon Wheel (song)

text: The song has been performed so often live at venues and events that some actually discourage its performance. At the Swampfire Sessions, Cranford states: "We banned it. (We) literally put signs up that said 'Absolutely No Wagon Wheel.'" The New England Americana Festival sells a shirt with an image of a wagon wheel with a line through it—creating a "no 'Wagon Wheel' zone"—and "hipster bar owners 'ban' it."


title: Wagon Wheel (song)

text: "Man, some of us hate that song," Cranford said. "Others play it all the time." Often playing "Wagon Wheel" on request, he quit doing so after Rucker's cover. "This song was great when Dylan wrote it and Old Crow played it, but once Darius Rucker flooded the airwaves with his version, all hope was lost," Cranford said.


title: Wagon Wheel (song)

text: The group's version of the song was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America in April 2013. To celebrate they released a limited edition 7" vinyl record of the song with "All Night Long (Live)" on the B-side. Secor himself enjoys its popularity, saying in mid-2008, "I don't mind playing it every night. I like to see what it does to people, and it's nice to have something that's guaranteed, especially when you're shuffling through new material." Of its popularity he says:


title: Wagon Wheel (song)

text: Old Crow Medicine Show released a music video for "Wagon Wheel" to YouTube on September 7, 2006. It features the band serving as the musical accompaniment to a burlesque sideshow at a traveling carnival. The video features cameo appearances by Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, who appear as ticket takers for the show. Rawlings also produced and played guitar on the track.


title: Wagon Wheel (song)

text: The English-Irish singer Nathan Carter covered the song in a release June 15, 2012, a few weeks before the song was covered by Darius Rucker in the United States. The Carter version was the title track taken from his 2012 album, "Wagon Wheel". The album was a commercial success, hitting the Top Three in the Irish Album Chart. Carter won the RTÉ Irish Country Music Awards for Live Act of the Year in 2013 and his version won the award of Ireland's All-Time Favourite Country Song. He appeared with a live version of the song on the popular "The Late Late Show" on RTÉ, being his first appearance on the show. In March 2014, he released a live edition on his second live album. The album peaked at number one on the Irish Albums Chart. He also toured in Ireland, Northern Ireland, England and Scotland to promote the album.


title: Wagon Wheel (song)

text: Although released independently on Sharpe Music, the song became a huge hit for Carter and was his first hit song in England and on the Irish Singles Chart. The single spent 47 weeks on the chart in its initial release. It was the biggest commercial success of any Country and Irish release in 2012 and considered a crossover hit in the mainstream pop charts. It is the most successful version in the UK and Ireland with its re-entry in the charts later in 2013, it has totaled 52 weeks in the Irish Singles Chart (as of December 5, 2013).


title: Wagon Wheel (song)

text: Carter released a music video of the song which features an outing on the beach where Carter sings the song with his band to his friends on the beach with those present joining in clapping and dancing. The video was filmed on Rossnowlagh beach in County Donegal, Ireland.