title: LGBT rights in France

text: In May 2015, PlanetRomeo, an LGBT social network, published its first Gay Happiness Index (GHI). Gay men from over 120 countries were asked about how they feel about society's view on homosexuality, how do they experience the way they are treated by other people and how satisfied are they with their lives. France was ranked 21st, just above South Africa and below Australia, with a GHI score of 63.


title: LGBT rights in France

text: A 2017 Pew Research Center poll found that 73% of French people were in favour of same-sex marriage, while 23% were opposed. The 2019 Eurobarometer found that 79% of French respondents thought same-sex marriage should be allowed throughout Europe, 15% were against. Additionally, 85% believed gay, lesbian and bisexual people should enjoy the same rights as heterosexual people.


title: LGBT rights in France

text: Same-sex marriage is legal in all of France's overseas departments and territories. Despite this, acceptance of homosexuality and same-sex relationships tends to be lower than in metropolitan France, as residents are in general more religious, and religion plays a bigger role in public life. Many of these societies are very family and tribe-oriented where family honor is highly regarded. In some of these territories, homosexuality is occasionally perceived as "foreign" and "practiced only by the white population". The first same-sex marriages in Saint Martin and French Polynesia caused public demonstrations against such marriages. Ignorance about homosexuality can lead to violence and hatred, or on the other hand curiosity. A 2014 study showed that about 20% of Overseas residents saw homosexuality as a sexuality like any other, compared to 77% in metropolitan France. Nevertheless, the 2013 same-sex marriage law has resulted in increased discussion about the previously taboo and neglected topic. LGBT people have gained notable visibility since 2013.


title: LGBT rights in France

text: Of the 27 overseas deputies in the French Parliament, 11 (2 from Mayotte, 3 from Réunion, 1 from French Guiana, 1 from Guadeloupe, 1 from Martinique, 2 from New Caledonia and 1 from Saint Pierre and Miquelon) voted in favor of same-sex marriage, 11 (2 from Guadeloupe, 3 from Martinique, 3 from French Polynesia, 2 from Réunion and 1 from Saint Martin and Saint Barthélemy) voted against, 1 (from French Guiana) abstained and 3 (1 each from Réunion, Guadeloupe and Wallis and Futuna) were not present during the vote.


title: LGBT rights in France

text: The group Let's go (French Creole: ) is an LGBT organization active in the French Caribbean. Other groups include "AIDES Territoire Martinique", "KAP Caraïbe", "Tjenbé Rèd Prévention" and "SAFE SXM" (originally from Sint Maarten). Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint Martin and Saint Barthélemy are famous internationally for their beaches and tourist attractions, which include gay bars, discos, saunas and beaches. The first "Caribbean Gay Pride" was held in the Martinique city of Le Carbet in June 2017. Regarded as successful, the event was attended by a few thousand people and included a beach party and musical dances. In addition, Saint Barthélemy's reputation as an international celebrity tourist destination has resulted in a more open and relaxed social climate for LGBT people than the other French Caribbean territories.


title: LGBT rights in France

text: LGBT people in New Caledonia are widely accepted, and enjoy a large nightlife and dating scene. This is much more notable in the South Province than the Kanak-majority North Province or the Loyalty Islands. According to a 2008 survey, 65% of boys and 77% of girls in New Caledonia agreed with the statement "homosexuals are people like everybody else". However, the Kanak people reported a lower acceptance. In 2006, Lifou Island proposed a "family code", which sought to ban homosexuality and foresee punishments of eviction or lynching for LGBT people. The proposal was not approved.


title: LGBT rights in France

text: Similarly, Réunion is known for being welcoming to LGBT people and has been described as a "gay-friendly haven in Africa". In 2007, the local tourism authorities launched a "gay-welcoming" charter in tour operators, hotels, bars and restaurants. There are famous gay beaches in Saint-Leu and L'Étang-Salé. The association "LGBT Réunion" organised the island's first pride parade in October 2012. Mayotte, on the other hand, is overwhelmingly Muslim and possesses a strong Arab-Bantu culture. This heavily influences public perception of the LGBT community, as there have been frequent reports of family rejections, harassment and discrimination on the island. Homosexuality is typically a taboo topic among the Mahorais, and many LGBT people have chosen to move to neighbouring Réunion or to metropolitan France. Nevertheless, the first same-sex marriage in Mayotte, the first in a majoritarily Muslim jurisdiction, was performed in September 2013 with little fanfare. Mayotte has a long-standing tradition of , which in Shimaore refers to men who choose the follow "the law of women", and thus dress, act and behave as women and partake in traditional female activities. In recent years, the term has been used as an insult towards LGBT people.


title: LGBT rights in France

text: The gay scene is more limited in French Guiana, though local LGBT people have reported a "growing sense of acceptance", which many attribute to French Guiana's closely knit families and communities. Homosexuality tends to be more taboo among the Amerindian and Bushinengue people, where the pressure to conform and to marry a heterosexual partner is very strong. Family and tribal honour are highly regarded in these cultures, and those who "bring shame to their families" are typically ostracised.


title: LGBT rights in France

text: While French Polynesia tends to be more socially conservative, it has become more accepting and tolerant of LGBT people in recent years. In 2009, the first LGBT organization (called "Cousins Cousines") was founded in the territory, and the first LGBT event was also held that same year. Furthermore, French Polynesian society has a long tradition of raising some boys as girls to play important domestic roles in communal life (including dancing, singing and house chores). Such individuals are known as the "māhū", and are perceived by society as belonging to a third gender. This is similar to the "fa'afafine" of Samoa and the "whakawāhine" of New Zealand. Historically, the would hold important positions among nobles, and unlike eunuchs were not castrated. The Tahitian term , on the other hand, refers to modern-day transsexuals who undergo medical operations to change gender. and are not to be confused, as the former is a cultural and traditional recognized Polynesian identity, while the latter encompasses contemporary transgender identity.


title: LGBT rights in France

text: In Saint Pierre and Miquelon, the gay scene is very limited, due mostly to its small population. Nonetheless, homosexuality tends to be accepted and there is very little controversy surrounding the issue. In Wallis and Futuna, like in other Polynesian nations, the family holds a significant societal role. Homosexuality is usually treated with indifference, unless it adversely affects the family. Wallis and Futuna, like French Polynesia, also has a traditional third gender population: the . The first same-sex marriage in Wallis and Futuna was performed in 2016.


title: My Aim Is True

text: My Aim Is True is the debut studio album by English singer-songwriter Elvis Costello, originally released in the United Kingdom on 22July 1977 through Stiff Records. After years of little success performing in Britain, Costello was signed to Stiff through the label's founders Dave Robinson and Jake Riviera. Recording sessions for the album took place at Pathway Studios in Islington, London, from late 1976 to early 1977, over the course of six four-hour studio sessions. Produced by Stiff artist and musician Nick Lowe, the backing band was made up of members of Clover, a California-based country rock act, who were uncredited on the original release due to contractual difficulties. Costello kept his day job as a data entry clerk during the sessions.


title: My Aim Is True

text: At the time performing as D.P. Costello, Riviera suggested that Costello change his name to Elvis after Elvis Presley, and adjusted his image to match the then-rising punk rock movement. The music itself on "My Aim Is True" is influenced by a wide variety of genres, from punk, new wave and British pub rock to elements of 1950s rock and roll, R&B and rockabilly. The more downbeat lyrics are motivated by revenge and guilt, reflecting topics from relationship struggles to politically charged situations and misogynistic characters. The original monochrome cover art, showing Costello in a pigeon-toed stance, was later colourised for reissues.


title: My Aim Is True

text: The album was preceded by three singles, all of which failed to chart. By June 1977, Costello formed a new permanent backing band, the Attractions, to better match his new image and commenced live performances with them for the rest of the year. Shortly after Presley's death in August, "My Aim Is True" reached number 14 on the UK Albums Chart. The American version, released in November 1977 through Columbia Records, added Costello's newest single "Watching the Detectives" as the final track on side one. By then the biggest-selling import album in US history, it peaked at number 32 on "Billboard" Top LPs & Tape chart.


title: My Aim Is True

text: On release, "My Aim Is True" was met with critical acclaim, with many praising Costello's musicianship and songwriting; it appeared on several year-end lists. In later decades, commentators consider it one of Costello's finest works, one of the best debut albums in music history and has appeared on numerous best-of lists. The album was reissued in 1993 and 2001, both of which featured extensive liner notes written by Costello, and in 2007 as a deluxe edition.


title: My Aim Is True

text: Elvis Costello—under his actual name Declan MacManus—began performing in clubs and pubs in Liverpool and London in 1970. Over the years he created some demo tapes, but had little success in obtaining a recording contract. One tape he submitted to record companies contained "Blame It On Cain" and "Mystery Dance", both of which he would record properly for "My Aim Is True". It featured himself solo on vocals and acoustic guitar. He later told "Melody Maker" that he "didn't have enough money to do anything with a band". According to author Graeme Thomson, British DJ Charlie Gillett played songs from the tape on his show throughout the summer of 1976. The exposure garnered interest from labels, although it was rejected by Island Records, Virgin Records and American-based CBS Records.


title: My Aim Is True

text: When London-based Stiff Records was founded in 1976, MacManus, now performing as D.P. Costello after his great-grandmother, submitted his demos there in August and found some interest from label co-founder Dave Robinson. Costello had originally submitted a demo tape to Robinson under a different name and rejected him; he later recalled, "When I submitted the tapes to Stiff, he didn't realise that it was the same person who'd done the earlier tape... It turned out he already had over an hour of me on tape and didn't know it." Stiff initially wanted Costello as a songwriter for Dave Edmunds, who was managed by label co-founder Jake Riviera. After receiving more demo tapes, Riviera offered Costello a record deal as a performer. He was the first artist signed to Stiff, but was the label's eleventh release. The contract featured a record advance of £150, an amp and a tape recorder.


title: My Aim Is True

text: In late 1976, Stiff financed recording sessions for an album at Pathway Studios, an eight-track studio located in Islington, with American band Clover as the backing band. The band, a San Francisco–based country rock act consisting of guitarist John McFee, bassist John Ciambotti, keyboardist Sean Hopper, and drummer Mickey Shine, had moved to Britain after gaining a cult following there and signed to Phonogram Records. The band were not credited on the final album at the time due to contractual difficulties; some early marketing for the album identified them as the Shamrocks. Costello stated that the band arrived in London during the punk revolution and due to appearing as "American hippies", they "just didn't fit in". The band resided at Headley Grange, a country house, during the period.


title: My Aim Is True

text: Due to Stiff's limited finances at the time, two tracks were initially taped at Pathway for release as a single: "Radio Sweetheart" and "Mystery Dance". The session was produced by fellow Stiff artist and house producer Nick Lowe, who also doubled on bass and "drumstick", with a stripped-down lineup of Costello, McFee and Shine. The studio was compact, with Costello likening it to a telephone booth. However, the session was a massive success so Stiff suggested that he share a debut album with Wreckless Eric—in a style similar to Chess Records' "Chuck Meets Bo" album—but Costello had written enough songs, most of them at home late at night (so as not to wake his wife and young son) or on the London Underground while commuting to work, to have an entire album of his own.


title: My Aim Is True

text: "My Aim Is True" was recorded in a series of six four-hour sessions, from late 1976 to early 1977 for about £2,000. Costello kept his day job as a data entry clerk at Elizabeth Arden during the sessions. He called in sick to his day job, travelled to Headley Grange to rehearse the songs with Clover and travelled back to Pathway the next day to record. Costello recalled disliking the time at Headley Grange and that he and Clover had musical disagreements, but nevertheless praised their musicianship. According to Thomson, Clover were paid little for their contributions. Most of the tracks were recorded live and in first takes with little overdubbing. While Clover provided most of the instrumentation, Stan Shaw of the Hitmen played keyboards on "Less Than Zero" while Lowe produced and sang backing vocals. Clover's lead singer Alex Call and harmonica player Huey Lewis, who later found fame with the News, were absent from the sessions. Lewis later explained: "I took a vacation. I could have sung a bit or played a bit of harmonica, but we'd been on the road since 1970." Regarding his guitar work, Costello stated in his memoir that at the time, he did not own his signature Jazzmaster guitar so he used a "shrill" Telecaster on the album. He also lacked substantial knowledge on guitars themselves, stating that he played his guitar unadjusted until halfway through the sessions.


title: My Aim Is True

text: The majority of the songs on "My Aim Is True" were written in about two weeks. Most of them came from Costello's earlier demo tapes and live performances with his former band Flip City. Some tracks would appear on later albums, such as "Hand In Hand", which was written specifically for Lowe, who rejected it. More adventurous numbers such as "Hoover Factory", "Dr. Luther's Assistant", "Ghost Train" and "Stranger in the House" were also recorded during the sessions, but were omitted from "My Aim Is True" and instead appeared on EPs and singles. According to biographer Brian Hinton, these tracks would have contrasted with Costello's aspiring image of a "straight talking psychopath". In the liner notes for the 1993 reissue of "My Aim Is True", Costello stated that the three main outtakes from the sessions were "Radio Sweetheart", "Stranger in the House" and "Living in Paradise", the first two being left off the final track list due to differences in sound and the last being properly recorded for Costello's follow-up album "This Year's Model" (1978).


title: My Aim Is True

text: After the first session, Lowe acted as producer for the rest of the album. Regarding his role as producer, Thomson states that Lowe's priority was to keep the feel of the songs and create appropriate atmospheres for each. However, Lowe himself later stated that the musicians did all the work and all he contributed was "switch[ing] everything on". He rough-mixed the tracks with engineer Barry "Bazza" Farmer, the final mix completed in a single five-hour session at Pathway on 27 January 1977.


title: My Aim Is True

text: At the time, Costello was performing under the stage name "D.P. Costello" as a tribute to his father. With "Less Than Zero" being readied for release as a single in March 1977, Robinson and Riviera decided to adjust his image to better match the rising punk rock movement. Looking like, in Clayton-Lea's words, an "average ordinary-looking computer operator geek", he lacked "neither aggression nor energy" in his live performances, as musician Graham Parker told "Mojo".


title: My Aim Is True

text: As a marketing tactic, Riviera suggested changing Costello's name from Declan to Elvis after American singer Elvis Presley. Considered irrational but accepted by Costello himself, the change sparked controversy in both Britain and America, facing opposition from both Costello's supporters and Presley's fans. Costello later stated that the change was not meant to "insult" Presley; it "meant people would pause just that little bit longer". Wardrobe-wise, Costello became more exaggerated, donning Buddy Holly-style glasses, tight jackets and "turned-up" jeans. He made his live solo debut under the new name and look on 27 May 1977.


title: My Aim Is True

text: According to biographer Tony Clayton-Lea, Costello and Lowe aimed to create "a collection of songs that were not only of their time, but which were also rooted in classic songwriting values". As such, commentators have written that the album combines various musical genres, including new wave, British pub rock, punk rock, and power pop. William Goodman of "Billboard" magazine called it "rough edged and bluesy" in a style reminiscent of New Orleans, and recognised the presence of punk, rockabilly, UK pub rock, jazz and honky-tonk country. "Consequence of Sound" Nick Freed wrote that the album combines elements of the British punk movement with 1950s and 1960s-style rock and roll. He found tracks like "Miracle Man", "No Dancing" and "Alison" utilise that style to create doo-wop and R&B melodies, thereby "taking the '50s and '60s ideas and adding the modern spin". Meanwhile, the rockabilly sound is present on "Less Than Zero", "Mystery Dance" and "Sneaky Feelings". Clayton-Lea states that while it shared similarities with punk, it displayed musicianship and lyricism that were in control, showcasing a softer touch while underlined with a "unique savagery".


title: My Aim Is True

text: While the music presents a wide range of styles, the lyrics are mostly downbeat, discussing topics such as "deceit, sarcasm, bitterness, disdain, scorn [and] disgust". In an interview with Nick Kent of the "NME", Costello stated that the songs are motivated solely by "revenge and guilt". Biographer David Gouldstone writes that the album's primary theme is "the unaccommodating nature of the world", which is explored in two distinct ways: "the personal songs as the microcosm, and the public as the macrocosm". The lyrics range from complex and surreal ("Waiting for the End of the World") to unsympathetic ("Less Than Zero") and misogynistic ("I'm Not Angry"). Dave Schulps of "Trouser Press" described the album as "12 songs of revenge, guilt, jealousy, humiliation and rage". Goodman found the lyrics and production matches a bedroom performance, a sentiment echoed by LeMay, who similarly stated that Lowe's production has a "latent energy" that grants the album "all the immediacy of a live show". Painter and art critic Julian Bell wrote that Costello's work "relies heavily on being "between" emotions, between sensations, ideas [and] informations." Regarding Costello's vocal performance on the record, Gouldstone writes that his directness contributes to listeners' constant interest: "he continually grabs us by the shirtfront and harangues us, and we are sucked into the vortex."


title: My Aim Is True

text: The opening track, "Welcome to the Working Week", expresses frustration at the ruthlessness of business. The lyrics are directed at "you", which Gouldstone analyses as the song's female character, the listener or the world itself. With a runtime of only 82 seconds, the song contains a punk-style beat and handclaps and utilises elements of doo-wop and new wave. Compared to the previous track, "Miracle Man" deals with the relationship between a man and a woman rather than society. Like the next track "No Dancing", "Miracle Man" concerns a man dominated by his female companion.


title: My Aim Is True

text: "No Dancing" contains a Phil Spector-type beat and various key changes, which was a rarity in Costello's early work. Costello stated that he was attempting to merge a "Merseybeat bridge" into "He's a Rebel" by Gene Pitney. Unlike other tracks on the album, the song's narrator is primarily observant, only directly appearing in the first verse. Commentators have analysed "dancing" on the record as a metaphor for sex, while Gouldstone goes further and writes that Costello is implying a lack of world order and harmony. Returning to the lyrical themes of the opening track is "Blame It on Cain", although Costello is more specific in this track, targeting entities such as "government buglers" and the radio. According to Gouldstone, the "it" in the chorus is not explicitly stated, only that it must be blamed on Cain. Taking the name Cain from the first murderer in the Bible, he analyses the track as fundamental frustrations that cannot be pinned on anyone and thus cannot be fixed, concluding that nothing wrong will become right. This growing tension is reflected in the music, which has an increased number of bars in each verse. Musically, the song was described by one reviewer as upbeat blues with a "Jersey Shore rock shine".


title: My Aim Is True

text: Described by Goodman as the album's "spiritual centrepiece", "Alison" is a ballad that combines jazzy guitars with soulful vocals. It was written about a checkout girl at a local supermarket. Unlike other tracks on the album, "Alison" is more upbeat in tone and contains more caring and tender lyrics rather than feelings of maliciousness and anger; these feelings are present, but are muted compared to the preceding tracks. In the track, the narrator longs for the title character, who has married an inferior man even though he knows she is making a mistake. The album takes its title from a line in the song. "Sneaky Feelings" marks a return to upbeat blues and standard pop. Much lighter in tone, the song concerns unfaithfulness. Gouldstone states that the 'sneaky feelings' are our desires for the unfeasible: "feelings which will only cause suffering and so must be suppressed."


title: My Aim Is True

text: Biographer Brian Hinton calls "(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes" a "harder take" on "Alison". Gouldstone describes the characters' relationship in the song as "fractured" and "punctured". The woman is, like other tracks, portrayed as a heartless prosecutor of men but also a victim of them. He also identifies it as a rare example of Costello's that is sympathetic towards women. The red shoes are an allegory for an individual's freedoms and as such, metaphorical forces (referred to as 'angels') want to take away the narrator's freedom. The song also deals with the passage of time, which several subsequent tracks revisit. The most overtly political song on the album, "Less Than Zero" is a steady rocker that concerns the 1920s British Union of Fascists leader Oswald Mosley. Costello accuses him of various crimes, such as brutality and possibly rape and incest, after Mosley denied any wrongdoings on television in the mid-1970s. The song's chorus suggests the media suppresses knowledge of government corruption, thereby invoking censorship. Listeners in the United States assumed that "Mr. Oswald" was Lee Harvey Oswald, the assassin of president John F. Kennedy, so Costello wrote an alternative lyric to refer to the assassin.


title: My Aim Is True

text: "Mystery Dance" is a 1950s-style rocker that uses dancing as a metaphor for sex, but unlike "No Dancing", concerns a couple's first experience with it; as such, the narrator is confused by it. Writing for AllMusic, Tom Maginnis considered the track reminiscent of the "sock-hop rock" of Buddy Holly. "Pay It Back" affirms the implication that the media lies to the public. In the song, the narrator finds out not everything in life is guaranteed and feels betrayed. Hinton describes it as "deeply cynical". Meanwhile, misogyny is prevalent on "I'm Not Angry", where sex is portrayed as demeaning rather than joyful. The ideal is acknowledged through the spite in Costello's vocal performance, while the music has been likened to hard rock. "Waiting for the End of the World" depicts a surrealistic narrative that takes place on a train, which Gouldstone analyses as a symbol for life. Furthermore, Costello suggests God created the universe but allowed it to be manipulated through individuals that seize power.


title: My Aim Is True

text: The album cover was designed by Barney Bubbles who, like Clover, was uncredited on the sleeve. It depicts a checkerboard pattern (surrounding the photo of Costello) on which the phrase "Elvis Is King" is written, which Hinton states was intended as a parody of Bridget Riley's Swinging Sixties op art paintings. In the centre, Costello dons his new look and stands in a stiff, pigeon-toed pose clutching a Fender guitar with his large shadow behind him. Author Mick St. Michael commented: "This fellow looked like he'd find it hard to aim a paper aeroplane." According to Costello, the final shot was one of the only usable images due to the comical nature during the photo session. He struck a similar pose in the photo on the back of the original sleeve, where he appeared in monochrome against a coloured background while his head appeared disproportionately large. Gouldstone compares his look to "a demented version" of Brains from the 1960s British science fiction series "Thunderbirds", actor Woody Allen and Piggy from "Lord of the Flies" (1954).


title: My Aim Is True

text: Initially, the cover art was in black-and-white on the front and came in four different colours; later reissues added seven additional variants. The first pressings of the record included a flyer that read "Help Us Hype Elvis", which asked buyers to send in a 25-word description of "why they liked the 'English' Elvis". According to Hinton, the first 1,000 purchasers earned them a free copy of the LP to be sent to a friend of their choice. The idea originated from Warner Bros. Records' attempts to gain American musician Van Dyke Parks a larger audience.


title: My Aim Is True

text: Stiff issued "Less Than Zero" as a single on 11March 1977, backed by the outtake "Radio Sweetheart". Despite receiving praise from various reviewers, such as the "NME" Charles Shaar Murray, the single failed to reach the UK charts. "Alison" followed on 14May, backed by "Welcome to the Working Week", which also did not chart. In early July, Stiff released "(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes" as a single, backed by "Mystery Dance"; it lacked a picture sleeve and failed to chart. Regarding the poor commercial performances, Costello later recalled: "I remember it being very demoralising, feeling that my only contact with the world was those singles, and those people who I didn't know or I'd never met had to make or break of it…that was very depressing." Nevertheless, Costello continued to garner attention from music journalists, from "Melody Maker" Allan Jones and the "NME" Nick Kent, who gave positive assessments to live shows in May and June. Costello also refused to give biographical details in interviews, even telling "Sounds" magazine's John Ingham he did not want to be photographed. Costello left his day job at Elizabeth Arden on 5 July. Riviera guaranteed he'd make as much money as he had there, so he "turned professional the week the album came out".


title: My Aim Is True

text: Initially intended for release shortly after the first single, "My Aim Is True" was delayed to July while Stiff resolved a distribution dispute with Island Records. In the meantime, Costello wanted to form a permanent backing band that better fitted his aspiring image compared to the laid-back approach of Clover. Regarding the dismissal, McFee later said: "I would have been very happy to do it, but I don't think it was ever really a serious consideration." Desiring himself solely on guitar, the first person hired was drummer Pete Thomas, followed by bassist Bruce Thomas. Submitting a wanted ad to "Melody Maker" in June 1977, further auditions took place that month in Putney with Costello using drummer Steve Goulding and bassist Andrew Bodnar of the Rumour. During the audition, the trio rehearsed Costello's new tracks "Watching the Detectives" and "No Action", which were quickly recorded at Pathway days later with Lowe producing; Steve Nason later provided organ and piano overdubs. "Watching the Detectives", influenced by the Clash's debut album, was a departure from the sound of "My Aim Is True", displaying reggae-style rhythms. Costello later called it his "first real record". "Watching the Detectives" was subsequently issued as a single in the UK on 14October 1977, backed by live versions of "Blame It on Cain" and "Miracle Man".


title: My Aim Is True

text: Stiff issued "My Aim Is True" in the UK on 22July 1977, with the catalogue number SEEZ 3. By the time it came out Costello was already performing with his new backing band, donned the Attractions, who made their live debut on 14July. Shortly after its release, Costello and the Attractions performed an unauthorised show outside a Columbia Records convention that gathered executives from around the world. Partly due to the antics of Riviera, Costello was arrested and charged with obstruction, fined £5 and released from the police station in time for a gig later that evening. The stunt attracted the attention of executive Greg Geller, who was integral in Costello's signing to Columbia in the United States months later.


title: My Aim Is True

text: To support "My Aim Is True", Costello and the Attractions conducted a short five-week tour starting 28July 1977 and ending on 4September. The gigs took place in major cities throughout Britain, alongside a residency at the Nashville Rooms in London on Sunday nights. The setlist consisted mostly of "My Aim Is True" tracks plus various new songs. In the middle of the tour, Elvis Presley died of a heart attack on 16August. Presley's death had an immediate impact on Costello: British newspapers "Daily Mail" and "Daily Observer" cancelled their planned features on the artist while Stiff ran a new slogan for the label that read "The King Is Dead, Long Live the King". According to Thomson, Presley's death helped earn Costello more stature in the music press, with his name becoming "the mood of the zeitgeist". Four days after Presley's death, "My Aim Is True" reached number 14 on the UK Albums Chart.


title: My Aim Is True

text: On 3October 1977, Costello and the Attractions embarked on another tour with other Stiff artists, including Lowe and Wreckless Eric, dubbed the Greatest Stiffs Live Tour. It was plagued with disorder and self-inflicted sabotage, partly due to Costello's refusal to play songs from "My Aim Is True", declaring "If you wanna hear the old songs, buy the fucking record;" he reversed this stance after audience backlash. Costello also fought with fellow artist Ian Dury throughout the tour. Riviera departed Stiff around this time due to disputes with Robinson. Per his management contract, Costello–and Lowe–followed Riviera and departed Stiff for Radar Records; his final release for Stiff was "Watching the Detectives", which became both the artist and label's first single to reach the UK top 20. In the meantime, Costello had amassed a large amount of new material that would appear on his second album "This Year's Model". In mid-November, he began his first tour of America.


title: My Aim Is True

text: "My Aim Is True" was released in revised form in the United States through Columbia Records on 1November 1977, adding "Watching the Detectives" as the final track on side one. By then, it was the biggest-selling import album in US history. Marketing for the American release was spearheaded by Columbia's product manager Dick Wingate, who commissioned a billboard for the LP on Los Angeles's Sunset Boulevard, which was usually reserved for more major acts. Other merchandise created included a dartboard for Columbia's staff. On 13October, Wingate sent a memo to key Columbia staff, which read: "Despite his appearance, Costello is a deadly serious artist, singer and songwriter... in the R&B revivalist/rock-and-roll school of Graham Parker, Southside Johnny, or even Springsteen. His music is not punk-rock, and should never be labeled so." Later the same month, Columbia's VP of National Album Promotion Mike Pillot sent a memo to staff calling it "One of the most unique and exciting new albums that has graced any turntable during the last few years".


title: My Aim Is True

text: According to Thomson, Costello's fame in the US skyrocketed faster than in the UK. He was earning acclaim in publications such as "Time" and "Newsweek" and was also approached to appear on NBC's "Saturday Night Live". His newfound popularity led "My Aim Is True" to selling 100,000 copies towards the middle of the tour, and shortly before Christmas 1977, it reached number 32 on "Billboard" Top LPs & Tape chart. After leaving Stiff, Costello retained his deal with Columbia for distribution in America. Costello was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best New Artist at the 20th Annual Grammy Awards in 1978, but lost to the group A Taste of Honey.


title: My Aim Is True

text: "My Aim Is True" received rave reviews from British and American music journalists on release. Writing for "Trouser Press", Schulps hailed "My Aim Is True" as 1977's "most auspicious debut album", praising Costello's musicianship and songwriting, concluding he has "produced a classic in his first try". Chas de Whalley of "Sounds" magazine called Costello "a songwriter of rare sensitivity and talent" but had trouble getting a grip with the songs, nevertheless concluding: "Like a flower, Elvis' debut album is opening up into something of metallic beauty." In "Melody Maker", Jones found that "hell, you can dance to it, swoon and romance with it, smooch and romance to it". He further noted the record contained "enough potential hit singles to stock a bloody juke-box", concluding "I can think of only a few albums released this year that rival its general excellence." Roy Carr of the "NME" came across "sexual psychoanalysis set to a dozen superb juke joint anthems... a Seventies interpretation of Sixties rhythm and roll," while the songs "spill over with emotional torture and melodrama". He commented that "Costello must have taken a lot of emotional knocks to come up with such a powerful album. To the extent that one is reticent to guess to what lengths he may have to go to enact a second instalment."


title: My Aim Is True

text: Several reviewers praised Costello as an artist. Greil Marcus of "Rolling Stone" wrote: "How far Costello can go... remains to be seen, but I have a feeling that once he is heard, he is going to shake up a lot of his erstwhile peers and make many musicians whom he would not consider his peers seem quite irrelevant." In "Stage Life", Jeffrey Morgan wrote that at only 22 years old, Costello "gashed a line in his soul using rock 'n' roll as the blade", creating an LP that, as "flawed as it is, cannot be ignored". Sam Sutherland of "High Fidelity" hailed Costello as a "new wave rock classicist", creating an album that "rediscovers the raw vitality of rock" in the midst of '70s pop. He also called Lowe's production "exciting" and "deliberately crude". Meanwhile, Robin Denselow of "The Guardian" considered the lyrics the best from a British artist in years. "The Philadelphia Inquirer" gave "My Aim Is True" three out of four stars, also praising the lyrical content and felt Costello would achieve a commercial breakthrough.


title: My Aim Is True

text: Writing for "Creem", Mitchell Cohen hailed "My Aim Is True" as one of the year's best albums and praised the songs for their "memorable" choruses and strong ideas. However, he criticised the misogynistic lyrics, which he compared to the mid-1960s material of Mick Jagger, concluding that Costello has "some way to go before his emotional maturity matches his prodigious artistic skill". In "The Village Voice", veteran critic Robert Christgau wrote: "I like the nerdy way this guy comes on, I'm fascinated by his lyrics, and I approve of his rock and roll orientation." However, he negatively compared Costello to Jackson Browne in that "he's a little boring", which he states comes from an "overconcentration on lyrics" and can be solved by "a healthy relationship with a band". Danny Baker in "ZigZag" magazine, who also made comparisons to Browne in his review, simply called "My Aim Is True" a "good, good album".


title: My Aim Is True

text: In "The Village Voice" annual Pazz & Jop critics' poll of the year's best albums, "My Aim Is True" finished at number two, behind the Sex Pistols' "Never Mind the Bollocks". It further placed in other year-end lists by "Rolling Stone", "NME" (3) and "Sounds" (9).


title: My Aim Is True

text: In later decades, "My Aim Is True" has received critical acclaim, with some naming it one of the best debut albums in rock history. Terry Staunton of "Record Collector" magazine summarised: "As opening salvos go, "My Aim Is True" has to be one of the most important, impressive and enduring debuts of all time." Senior AllMusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote: "Costello went on to more ambitious territory fairly quickly, but "My Aim Is True" is a phenomenal debut, capturing a songwriter and musician whose words were as rich and clever as his music." In "Paste" magazine, Mark Baker similarly wrote that although the record was not Costello's greatest work, it still remains "a landmark, highly influential first album". Goodman concurred, calling the album Costello's most essential album. Writing in 2010, Nick Freed of "Consequence of Sound" called "My Aim Is True" one of the strongest debut albums, stating, "You couldn't find a stronger way to bring your style to the world", further recognising Costello's influence on bands such as They Might Be Giants and the Hold Steady. "Entertainment Weekly" Armond White wrote that out of the British pub rock scene, "My Aim Is True" stands out as a debut "with lots to say". "PopMatters" reviewers Jason Mendelsohn and Eric Klinger, while positive overall, commented on the lack of the Attractions and subdued production over Costello's subsequent albums. Nevertheless, the two called it a "solid" debut whose faults would be resolved the next year on "This Year's Model".


title: My Aim Is True

text: Many have commented on the record's influence on music. Reviewing in 2001, Adam Bresnick of "Rolling Stone" wrote: "Balancing the rage of punk with the formalism of the century's best songcraft, the album delivers passion and intelligence in equal measure." In 2007, LeMay highlighted "Alison", "Red Shoes", "Less Than Zero" and "Watching the Detectives" as tracks that represent a "vital chapter" in the development of punk and new wave. Furthermore, he found the album as a whole remains as relevant as it did when it was first reissued. Ten years later, a reviewer for "Classic Rock Review" stated that "My Aim Is True" "introduced the world to a hybrid sound that drew near equal influence from 1950s old time rock n' roll and 1970s cutting edge new wave and punk." LeMay summarised the album as: "Wordy, witty, and geeky as fuck, "My Aim Is True" is without question one of the finest statements of brilliant nerddom ever to be released." Gouldstone appraises "My Aim Is True" as "a magnificently measured cry of rage" and remains a "remarkable achievement" for someone only 22 years old at the time. Thomson later told "Record Collector":


title: My Aim Is True

text: "My Aim Is True" has frequently appeared on lists of the greatest albums of all time. In 2000, "My Aim Is True" was voted number 266 in the third edition of writer Colin Larkin's book "All Time Top 1000 Albums" (2000). In 1987, "Rolling Stone" placed it at number 29 on its list of the best albums of the past 20 years. The same magazine ranked the album number 168 in its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time in 2003, maintaining the rating in a 2012 revised list, and dropping to number 430 on the 2020 list. The same magazine ranked it the 21st best debut album in 2013. "Uncut" magazine also placed it at number 31 in their 2006 list of the 100 best debut albums and number 125 in their 2016 list of the 200 greatest albums of all time. Other publications that have included "My Aim Is True" in their lists of the 100 greatest albums of all time include "Sounds" (29), "The Times" (32) and "Entertainment Weekly" (75). In 2004, "Pitchfork" ranked "My Aim Is True" the 37th best album of the 1970s, while in 2012, "Paste" placed it at number 20 in a similar list. The staff of "Paste" later voted it the best new wave album of all time in 2020, arguing that it set both the "musical and fashion stage" for the genre.


title: My Aim Is True

text: In 2007, "My Aim Is True" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. The album was also included in the 2018 edition of Robert Dimery's book "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die". Based on the album's appearances in professional rankings and listings, the aggregate website Acclaimed Music lists "My Aim Is True" as 7th most acclaimed album of 1977, the 41st most acclaimed album of the 1970s and the 131st most acclaimed album in history.


title: My Aim Is True

text: In lists ranking Costello's albums, "My Aim Is True" has consistently ranked as one of Costello's best. In 2021, writers for "Stereogum" placed it at number six, calling it "one of rock music's great opening salvos". A year later, writing for "Spin" magazine, Al Shipley placed it at number two, behind "This Year's Model", stating that had he not made another record after "My Aim Is True", he would "still be a legend". The same year, Michael Gallucci of "Ultimate Classic Rock" also placed it at number two, behind "This Year's Model". He noted Clover's lack of force compared to the Attractions, but nevertheless wrote that fewer have arrived with debuts as "instantly significant" as "My Aim Is True".


title: My Aim Is True

text: On 8 November 2007, Costello reunited with the members of Clover from the original recording sessions to perform the songs from "My Aim Is True". This marked the first (and to date only) live public performances of these songs by the original ensemble that recorded them. The event took place at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, and was a benefit for the Richard de Lone Special Housing Fund, which assists those with Prader–Willi syndrome.


title: My Aim Is True

text: "My Aim Is True" was first released on CD through Columbia and Demon Records in July 1986. Its first extended reissue came in October 1993 through Demon in the UK and Rykodisc in the US, which featured nine bonus tracks and extensive liner notes written by Costello himself. In 2001, it was again reissued on CD by Rhino Entertainment, featuring the original album on disc one and a bonus disc of demos, live versions and outtakes, along with a new set of more elaborate Costello-written liner notes; all nine bonus tracks from the 1993 reissue were included with an added four. LeMay considers this reissue the most essential for the album itself.


title: My Aim Is True

text: Six years later, "My Aim Is True" was reissued again by Universal/Hip-O on 11 September 2007 in a single-disc "Original Masters" package and a two-disc deluxe edition comprising 48 tracks, 26 previously unreleased. This package boasts the original album, outtakes and solo demos on disc one and a complete live show (with soundcheck) recorded on 7 August 1977 at the Nashville Rooms in London on disc two. The tracks from the live show were mostly from "My Aim Is True", with some that appeared on "This Year's Model", while the demos are previously unreleased tracks including "Blue Minute", "Call on Me", "I Don't Want to Go Home" and "I Hear a Melody". Hip-O hailed the deluxe edition as "the most definitive version of 'My Aim Is True' yet!" Despite this, the deluxe edition received mixed reviews. LeMay felt it was inferior to the previous reissues, stating that it "lacks the reverent and enthusiastically geeky perspective of the Rhino reissue". He further noted the absence of several tracks and in-depth liner notes present on the other reissues. Erlewine similarly questioned the release of the deluxe edition, as he felt it was superfluous following the Rhino reissue. He nevertheless stated that hardcore fans would appreciate the new material, albeit having to purchase an album likely already purchased before.


title: Alanyaspor

text: Alanyaspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional football club located in the city of Alanya in Antalya Province. Formed in 1948, the club colours are orange and green. Home matches are played at Kırbıyık Holding Stadium. The most recent club manager is Francesco Farioli.


title: Alanyaspor

text: The Kırbıyık Holding Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Alanya, Turkey. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of Alanyaspor. The stadium was completed in 2011 and holds 10,842, all seated.


title: Mythica (film series)

text: Mythica is a series of primarily direct-to-video fantasy films. The films are produced by Arrowstorm Entertainment, with first film "Mythica: A Quest for Heroes" being partly funded by a Kickstarter campaign that collected $94,294. There are five films in the "Mythica" series, all produced and co-written by Jason Faller and Kynan Griffin. The films star Melanie Stone as Marek, an escaped slave girl and budding magician, and co-star Kevin Sorbo as Gojun Pye the magician who trains her, along with Adam Johnson, Jake Stormoen, and Nicola Posener as those that team up with Marek on various quests together.


title: Mythica (film series)

text: The film was partly funded by a Kickstarter campaign that collected $94,294, and which described the proposed film as an "epic fantasy". It was produced by Jason Faller and Kynan Griffin for Arrowstorm Entertainment, directed by Anne K. Black, and written by Black, Faller and Griffin.


title: Mythica (film series)

text: "Mythica" was filmed in Utah, where producers/writers Faller and Griffin are from, and where Arrowstorm Entertainment is based. The films received a tax credit of up to $278,000 in 2015 for filming in Utah from the Governor's Office of Economic Development Board.


title: Mythica (film series)

text: Kevin Sorbo, who plays one of the roles in the film, said about the project: "Mythica"— a movie like "The Lord of the Rings", where I play someone like Gandalf...


title: Mythica (film series)

text: Mythica: A Quest for Heroes is a 2014 Arrowstorm Entertainment fantasy film written and directed by Anne K. Black and starring Melanie Stone and Kevin Sorbo. The movie is the first of a five-part film series, and was partly funded by a Kickstarter campaign that collected $94,294.


title: Mythica (film series)

text: Marek, a young aspiring magician and slave girl, dreams of escaping her drab life and taking on exciting adventures, while being taught by sorcerer Gojun Pye. When she meets the priestess Teela in Hammerhead's tavern who is seeking help, Marek offers her assistance, running away from her owner. While beginning to use her magic abilities and using a brace to help her with her injured leg, Marek assembles a motley troupe, consisting of herself; Teela; Thane, who is a former soldier/warrior and who rescued Marek from a harassing Peregus Malister; and Dagen, who is a half-elf, thief, and womanizer. Together, they go in search of Teela's sister, who is in possession of a mysterious stone that was taken from a temple of Teela's people, and who was kidnapped by a wild ogre and a few orcs who want the stone for their necromancer master, Sung Hill.


title: Mythica (film series)

text: Mythica: The Darkspore is a 2015 Arrowstorm Entertainment fantasy film, the second installment in the "Mythica" series.It is directed by Anne K. Black and co-written by Jason Faller and Kynan Griffin, starring Kevin Sorbo and Melanie Stone.


title: Mythica (film series)

text: Following immediately from the end of the "A Quest for Heroes", Teela's sister is killed by Kishkumen, a dark magician with yellow eyes, who also steals the mysterious stone that she was carrying, and wants to give it to his master Szorlok.


title: Mythica (film series)

text: Meanwhile, sorcerer Gojun Pye tells Marek about the stone: a fragment/shard of the full Darkspore, a piece that can give the user a great immense power, which once belonged to the Lich King, and that was found by Szorlok and his followers years ago, split into fragments, but after using his followers to reunite the Darkspore he was stopped by Gojun Pye and other sorcerers from getting the power from the piece, and in the aftermath, the sorcerers split the piece into four fragments/shards and hid them apart in the world (one was with Teela's sister and her people, a second was hidden in a dragon's lair in an ancient ruined city).


title: Mythica (film series)

text: Gojun Pye also tells Marek about who she is: a necromancer, just like Szorlok, and that is why Szorlok also wants Marek at his side, because the potential power she holds within. That power is also what Teela sensed in the previous film, while trying to heal Marek's leg, and it's also what might drive Marek to the darkness if she is not careful when using it.


title: Mythica (film series)

text: Marek and her company must go on a journey to the ruined city, and prevent the evil necromancer Szorlok from obtaining all the shards of the Darkspore, or all will be lost. Therefore, they must get the hidden shard from the ruined city before Kishkumen does. Along the way they meet Qole, a mysterious dark-elf warrior with his face marked with strange drawings that allows him to be unharmed by dark magic, who allies himself with Marek after she saves him from faeries, and they are also pursued by Peregus Malister and his forces, who wants revenge from events of the previous film.


title: Mythica (film series)

text: Mythica: The Necromancer is the third installment of "Mythica", directed by A. Todd Smith and written by Jason Faller, Liska Ostojic, and Justin Partridge. It stars Kevin Sorbo and Melanie Stone.


title: Mythica (film series)

text: Marek is beginning to master more advanced magic, by training with Gojun Pye and receiving a staff from him, and even helping him stop some orcs who had set a trap for him, although he reminds her that she needs to be careful about her necromancer powers which can lead her to darkness, because by taking life force from someone it would be hard for her to come back from it. He details a bit more of the past (which he began telling Marek in the ) and about his former team of sorcerers and their enemy Szorlok: they were called The Red Thorns, they were powerful and invincible, the envy of the realm, and Szorlok wanted to stop the invading vitalian soldiers, by becoming the Lich King and thus rising and controlling hordes of undead. By defeating Szorlok, one of the sorcerers sacrificed himself, and that led to the disband of the group, and also to the accomplished invasion by the vitalian soldiers as a side-effect. For the ritual to become the Lich King, after gathering the four pieces of the Darkspore, Szorlok will need other necromancers, and that includes Marek, so she must lay low as to not be found by Szorlok. Gojun Pye reminds Marek that Szorlok already has two pieces of the Darkspore.


title: Mythica (film series)

text: Meanwhile, Marek and her group have become respected in Hammerhead's tavern, they adopt the name of Red Thorns, and Thane becomes more involved with Teela. When he is taken hostage by Peregus Malister, the cruel master of the Thieves Guild who is seeking revenge for having been forced to sign for the freedom of Marek, she must embark on a corrupt mission to serve the Thieves Guild with her team of would-be heroes, by retrieving some ilystrium from The Eel (his name later revealed to be Kelton) whose whereabouts are known to a Captain named Purio, while in the midst of creatures called "gooches", and also several golgotians, as well as cave demons.


title: Mythica (film series)

text: The fourth film in the Mythica series. Directed by John Lyde and written by Jason Faller and Kynan Griffin.


title: Mythica (film series)

text: When daring young wizard Marek steals the final piece of the all-powerful Darkspore she embarks on a desperate quest to deliver the cursed artefact to the gods. But is caught in a death race between a ruthless team of elite mercenaries and a trinity of demons.


title: Mythica (film series)

text: "'Mythica: The Godslayer" (titled "Mythica: The Dragon Slayer" in the United Kingdom) is the fifth installment of "Mythica", directed by John Lyde and written by Jason Faller, Kynan Griffin, starring Kevin Sorbo and Melanie Stone.


title: Mythica (film series)

text: As the Lich King's zombie legions ravage the world, Marek and Dagen embark on a quest to obtain a weapon from the gods.


title: Mythica (film series)

text: "Mythica: Stormbound" is slated to be the sixth installment, which was successfully funded on Kickstarter on December 09, 2022 with Jake Stormoen returning to direct the film. Confirmed returning cast include Matthew Mercer, Nicola Posener, and Adam Johnson. The story is set to take place some time after the events of the fifth film and will introduce new heroes and villains.


title: Mythica (film series)

text: SciFiPulse.Net called "Mythica: A Quest for Heroes" "a solid opening chapter" and said that although the show was not particularly original it was "an unabashed celebration of role-playing tropes" and that "Despite the engaging storyline and confident acting some of the CGI [...] was ropey to say the least."


title: Antonio Aguilar

text: José Pascual Antonio Aguilar Márquez Barraza (17 May 191919 June 2007) was a Mexican singer, actor, songwriter, equestrian, film producer, and screenwriter with a dominating career in music. He recorded over 150 albums, which sold 25 million copies, and acted in more than 120 films. He was given the honorific nickname ""El Charro de México"" (Mexico's Horseman) because he is credited with popularizing the Mexican equestrian sport "la charrería" to international audiences.


title: Antonio Aguilar

text: Aguilar began his career singing on the Mexican radio station XEW in 1950. That year, he signed a contract with the Mexican independent label Musart Records and became one of its best-selling artists. He made his acting debut with Pedro Infante in the drama "Un rincón cerca del cielo" (1952). After appearing in gentleman roles in several films, he achieved popularity as a film star with his performance as lawman Mauricio Rosales in a series of seven films in the mid-1950s. His success increased with his tours throughout Latin America and his studio albums, which included Mexican folk songs ("rancheras") and ballads ("corridos"). In the 1960s, he focused on producing and starring in films set in the Mexican Revolution. In 1970, he won Latin ACE Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Emiliano Zapata in the 1970 epic film of the same name. He also portrayed Pancho Villa twice in film. In 1997, Aguilar was awarded the Golden Ariel for his "invaluable contribution and spreading of Mexican cinema". To this day, he has been the only Hispanic artist to sell out the Madison Square Garden of New York City for six consecutive nights in 1997.


title: Antonio Aguilar

text: His second wife was famous singer and actress Flor Silvestre. They had two sons, Antonio Aguilar Hijo and Pepe Aguilar, who also became singers and actors. His family is known as ""La Dinastía Aguilar"" (The Aguilar Dynasty).


title: Antonio Aguilar

text: Aguilar was born in Villanueva, Zacatecas, the son of Jesús Aguilar Aguilar and Ángela Márquez Barraza Valle, both of Villanueva. His parents had six other children: José Roque, Salvador (deceased), Guadalupe (deceased), Luis Tomás (deceased), Mariano (deceased) and Josefina. His cousin is Jose Rodriguez of Maravillas Villanueva Zac. He spent his early childhood in La Casa Grande de Tayahua, an hacienda first built in 1596 in the town of Tayahua, about 35 km from Villanueva. Aguilar's ancestors acquired this property in the early 19th century.


title: Antonio Aguilar

text: Aguilar began his recording career in 1950, eventually making over 150 albums and selling more than 25 million records. He was known for his corridos, with some of his best known songs including "Gabino Barrera", "Caballo prieto azabache", "Albur de amor", and "Un puño de tierra". He was the first Mexican performer to mix rodeos and concerts while touring his show in Latin America and the United States. He has been compared to American actors like Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, and Ronald Reagan.


title: Antonio Aguilar

text: He began his acting career in 1952 during the Golden Age of Mexican cinema. In the 1950s, Aguilar was cast in a series of films centered on rural hero "Mauricio Rosales" in "El rayo justiciero" (1955), "La barranca de muerte" (1955), "La sierra del terror" (1956), "La huella del chacal" (1956), "La pantera negra" (1957), "La guarida del buitre" (1958), and "Los muertos no hablan" (1958). A total of seven low-budget ranchera films produced by Rosas Films S.A. Aguilar gained cinematic notice when cast in Ismael Rodríguez's "Tierra de hombres" in 1956. Other collaborations with Rodríguez include "La Cucaracha" (1959) and "Ánimas Trujano" (1962), where he received starring roles. Amongst his best ranchera films are "Yo... el aventurero" (1959), "Caballo prieto azabache" (1968), "El ojo de vidrio" (1969), and "Valente Quintero" (1973). Aguilar appeared in American western films like 1969's "The Undefeated" starring John Wayne. He also made a memorable starring role alongside his wife Flor Silvestre in "Triste recuerdo" (1991).


title: Antonio Aguilar

text: Aguilar was also largely responsible for the renewed popularity of the tambora music in the mid-1980s, when he single-handedly resuscitated the genre with the hit "Triste recuerdo".


title: Antonio Aguilar

text: Aguilar was married to dancer Otilia Larrañaga and after their divorce he married singer and actress Flor Silvestre (whose real name was Guillermina Jiménez Chabolla). One of their children, José "Pepe" Aguilar, is among Mexico's most popular modern singers. In addition to Pepe Aguilar, he had another child with Flor Silvestre who is the eldest, Antonio Aguilar, Jr. Aguilar's grandchildren include Emiliano, Aneliz, Leonardo, Ángela, María José and Flor Susana: Emiliano, Aneliz, Leonardo, and Ángela are Pepe Aguilar's children; María José and Flor Susana are Antonio Aguilar Jr.'s. children.


title: Antonio Aguilar

text: On 18 June 2007, doctors announced that Aguilar was no longer responding to treatment and was expected to pass away before the end of the night. On 19 June 2007, the doctor spoke out to the media that Aguilar was still alive, and his body was responding to the medication, but was still in critical condition. While there, the family received visits from many famous people including Vicente Fernández.


title: Antonio Aguilar

text: Aguilar died on 19 June 2007 at 11:45 p.m. from pneumonia. His coffin was carried through the streets of Zacatecas, the state capital, and was honored at a memorial service attended by hundreds at a church there.


title: Antonio Aguilar

text: His body was then taken to the hamlet of Tayahua, about to the south, where residents waited in the streets to bid Aguilar a final farewell before he was buried at his family's "El Soyate" ranch nearby, the government news agency Notimex reported.


title: Antonio Aguilar

text: Obituaries appeared in many newspapers, including "Los Angeles Times" (US), "The New York Times" (US), "The Washington Post" (US), "The Guardian" (UK) and "The Independent" (UK). News of Antonio's death were reported in newspapers of many Spanish-speaking countries, including Guatemala ("El Periódico"), Honduras ("La Tribuna"), El Salvador ("El Diario de Hoy"), Nicaragua ("El Nuevo Diario"), Costa Rica ("Diario Extra"), Venezuela ("Correo del Caroní"), Peru ("Crónica Viva"), Colombia ("El Tiempo"), Ecuador ("El Diario") and Chile ("El Mercurio").


title: Antonio Aguilar

text: In 2000, for his contributions to the recording industry, Aguilar was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7056 Hollywood Boulevard. In the same year, he was the recipient of the Excellence Award at the 2000 Lo Nuestro Awards and the ASCAP Latin Heritage Award. In 2004, he was the presented with the Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. He was similarly honored with his handprints and star on the Paseo de las Luminarias in Mexico City for his work in movies and in the recording industry.


title: Sleeping Beauty Castle

text: Sleeping Beauty Castle is a fairy tale castle at the center of Disneyland and formerly at Hong Kong Disneyland. It is based on the late 19th century Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria, Germany. It appeared in the Walt Disney Pictures logos from 1985 to 2006 before being merged with Cinderella Castle, both iconic symbols of The Walt Disney Company. The version at Disneyland is the only Disney castle whose construction was overseen by Walt Disney.


title: Sleeping Beauty Castle

text: Opened July 17, 1955, the castle is the oldest of all Disney castles. Though it reaches a height of , it was designed by Roland E. Hill to appear taller through a process known as forced perspective; design elements are larger at the foundation and smaller at the turrets. The castle initially featured an empty upper level that was never intended to house an attraction, but Walt Disney was not satisfied with what he viewed as wasted space, and challenged his Imagineers to find some use for the space.


title: Sleeping Beauty Castle

text: Beginning on April 29, 1957, the visitors were able to walk through the castle and view several dioramas depicting the story of Sleeping Beauty. The voice of Jiminy Cricket from Walt Disney's "Pinocchio" (1940) singing "When You Wish Upon a Star" is piped into the castle. The original dioramas were designed in the style of Eyvind Earle, production designer for Disney's 1959 film "Sleeping Beauty" (released nearly four years after the Disneyland Sleeping Beauty Castle was opened), and were then redone in 1977 to resemble the window displays on Main Street, U.S.A. The walkthrough was closed for unspecified reasons on October 7, 2001; popular belief claims the September 11th attacks and the potential danger that ensued played a major factor in the closing. Disney spokesman John McClintock said that the 9–11 attacks rumors weren't true. “"I am aware of those rumors",” he said. “"But in 2001, it really wasn’t resonating with guests. In the late 90s, early 2000s, arguably the most popular thing about Sleeping Beauty was that you could always get in because nobody went to it."”


title: Sleeping Beauty Castle

text: On July 17, 2008, Disney announced that the Sleeping Beauty Castle walkthrough would reopen in the style of the original Earle dioramas, enhanced with new technology not available in 1957. The walkthrough reopened on November 27, 2008 at 5:00 p.m., drawing long lines going as far back as the Hub at the center of the park. Unlike previous incarnations, visitors who are unable to climb stairs or navigate the passageways of the Castle can still experience the walkthrough "virtually" in a special room on the Castle's ground floor. This room is lavishly themed, and presents the closed-captioned CGI walkthrough recreation on a high-definition TV. This same virtual recreation is included on the "Sleeping Beauty " 50th Anniversary Platinum Edition DVD.


title: Sleeping Beauty Castle

text: The castle walkthrough entrance is on the west side of the building inside Fantasyland. Guests first see a large medieval-themed story book open to a page that announces the birth of the princess Aurora. After climbing the stairs inside, a scene depicts Aurora as a baby, being blessed with magic gifts by her fairy godmothers. Behind a glass window, there is an animation of the castle courtyard, and the king and queen watching as a large fire burns all the spinning wheels in the kingdom. At the top of the stairs, as guests reach the center of the castle's top level, another window looks out on the castle's great hall, where everyone in the kingdom is asleep, including servants and the cat and dog. The second half of the walkthrough becomes darker, featuring appearances by Maleficent, her crow, and several gargoyles which fly out of her nearby castle. At the end, the prince fights against Maleficent's incarnation as a dragon, amid a forest of thorny brambles, and then a field of roses appears with doves flying above, as he kisses Aurora and breaks the spell. As guests exit the walkthrough at the bottom of the stairs on the east side of the castle, another medieval-themed oversized book depicts an image of the prince and princess dancing together, as her dress changes colors from pink to blue and back again.


title: Sleeping Beauty Castle

text: The Disney family coat of arms hangs above the archway to the castle. It is composed of three lions passant in pale. It is known that the coat of arms was not originally on the castle, but was placed there sometime between June 1965 and July 1965.


title: Sleeping Beauty Castle

text: At the rear of the castle, shaded by the archways and driven into the ground is a gold spike that is widely, but wrongly, believed to mark the geographical center of Disneyland. In reality, the spike is a surveyor's mark that was used to ensure that the castle bridge and entrance lined up with Main Street USA when the park was first constructed. The original geographical center of the Magic Kingdom was in the middle of the round park, where the "Partners" statue of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse stands. The addition of Mickey's Toontown in 1993 moved the actual center of the park a few yards northward, but still on the hub side of the castle drawbridge.


title: Sleeping Beauty Castle

text: In January 2019, renovations on Sleeping Beauty Castle began in Disneyland. The entrance to Fantasyland was blocked through the archway of the castle during this refurbishment.


title: Sleeping Beauty Castle

text: In celebration of Disneyland's 50th anniversary, both Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella Castle received makeovers. In Disneyland, the castle was repainted and five turrets were decorated with stylized crowns, each representing a decade in the park's history:


title: Sleeping Beauty Castle

text: The gold railings were also added into the second floor of the castle for the safety of pyrotechnics workers. They were removed after 10 years and replaced with hidden railings that move up only when needed.


title: Sleeping Beauty Castle

text: For Disneyland's 60th anniversary, World of Color changed to the "World of Color: Celebrate! The Wonderful World of Walt Disney". Disneyland introduced Paint The Night and a new fireworks show, "Disneyland Forever". A 24-hour kickoff event occurred May 22, 2015.


title: Sleeping Beauty Castle

text: As part of the celebration, the castle was covered with diamonds and glitter, with a large 60th logo in the center. Carthay Circle Restaurant at Disney California Adventure was also decorated for the Diamond Celebration. Most of the decoration on the castle was removed shortly after the celebration, although the decorative faux roofs remained until January 2018.


title: Sleeping Beauty Castle

text: Sleeping Beauty Castle (English for Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant) is at the centre of Disneyland Park and a continuation of Sleeping Beauty Castle first seen at Disneyland in California.


title: Sleeping Beauty Castle

text: The Castle features two parts, a dungeon area in the base featuring an Audio-Animatronic dragon and, above, a concrete balcony walkthrough area with Sleeping Beauty–themed stained glass windows and tapestries. There are also several shops selling glass figures, ornaments and gifts.


title: Sleeping Beauty Castle

text: ""Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland was inspired by the Neuschwanstein Castle in Southern Germany. This European influence was fine for building a castle in Anaheim, but the fact that castles exist just down the road from Disneyland Paris challenged us to think twice about our design."" —Tony Baxter, executive designer Walt Disney Imagineering


title: Sleeping Beauty Castle

text: The castle has received several overlays throughout the years. The first occurred during the park's first anniversary celebration in 1993, when the castle was dressed up as a cake complete with strawberries, icing and candles. This overlay was removed after the celebration ended. The cake overlay concept was later copied by Walt Disney World's Cinderella Castle in 1996 for the 25th Anniversary of the resort.


title: Sleeping Beauty Castle

text: During the fifth anniversary of Disneyland Paris in 1997, the castle was decorated in carnival masks, jester hats, frills and bells to promote the animated film "The Hunchback of Notre Dame". This overlay lasted until the beginning of 1998.


title: Sleeping Beauty Castle

text: During the tenth anniversary of Disneyland Paris in 2002, the front of the castle was fitted with a golden scroll displaying a large 10. The celebration also saw the opening of Walt Disney Studios next door. The scroll and other anniversary material in the park were removed in 2003.


title: Sleeping Beauty Castle

text: In 2007, the castle received another overlay, celebrating the park's fifteenth anniversary. It featured golden Disney characters displayed on the turrets and spires, each holding a candle, and Tinkerbell on the highest spire. The candles were illuminated each night during a special 'Candlebration' ceremony which took place on a raised temporary stage at Central Plaza, in front of the Castle. A huge illuminated gold plaque featuring a large '15' was hung on the front of the castle. This echoed the overlay from the tenth anniversary in 2002. The fifteenth anniversary and the 'Candlebration' ceremony ended on March 7, 2009.


title: Sleeping Beauty Castle

text: The fifteenth anniversary overlay quickly followed on April 4, 2009 by Mickey's Magical Party, a "theme year" celebration held at the park. The castle was again overlaid, this time with a Mickey and Friends plaque over the main window, and the spire heads were changed from being characters to being 3 circles "of ribbon" representing Mickey Mouse. A more permanent Central Plaza stage was built outside the castle to host the "It's dance time... with Mickey and Friends" show.


title: Sleeping Beauty Castle

text: The castle was repainted in a new colour-scheme, restored and fitted with multicolored LED lighting during 2011. For the Disney Dreams nighttime spectacular show its moat was fitted with water fountains, the upper window was replaced by doors that open to reveal a LED lighted star and Central Plaza stage was removed in order to increase the viewing area.


title: Sleeping Beauty Castle

text: Hong Kong's Sleeping Beauty Castle was a nearly identical copy of the original in California. However, the two castles were differentiated through very subtle details. Hong Kong Disneyland used a different color scheme compared to that of Disneyland, with more natural white and pink colours for the accents and cornice. It also had fewer trees surrounding its castle, which allowed a more open view to accompany the nightly fireworks show.


title: Sleeping Beauty Castle

text: The castle closed on January 1, 2018 for a redesign as part of the park's 15th anniversary celebration. This redesign is meant to pay tribute to 14 Disney princesses and heroines. It has been renamed Castle of Magical Dreams.


title: Sleeping Beauty Castle

text: In celebration of Hong Kong Disneyland's fifth anniversary, Celebration in the Air, the castle was transformed into Tinker Bell's Pixie Dusted Castle. The castle was decorated with golden pixie dust, which sparkled and shimmered in the sun and was illuminated by night.


title: Sleeping Beauty Castle

text: Although no significant decorations were added to Hong Kong Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle for the park's 10th anniversary, the nightly "Disney In The Stars" fireworks show was added with elaborate projection mapping with visuals to complement the display. This, however, resulted in the elimination of a few pyrotechnic elements launched from the front of the castle during the show.


title: Sleeping Beauty Castle

text: As Sleeping Beauty Castle is a Disney icon, it was used in the opening of the Walt Disney anthology television series from the show's beginning in 1954 until the late 70s, when it was replaced by the Cinderella Castle. It was also the logo of Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Television, Disney Music Group and Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures from 1985–2006. As of "" in 2006, the logo is now 3D CGI and includes elements of both this castle and Cinderella Castle.


title: Melancholie der Engel

text: Melancholie der Engel (English: The Angels' Melancholia) is a 2009 German independent experimental horror film directed, shot and edited by Marian Dora and co-written by Dora and Carsten Frank (under the pseudonym Frank Oliver, used due to artistic disagreements). It received largely negative reviews, with some praise towards the cinematography, but most condemned it as hardcore exploitation with repetitive and meaningless depravity communicating its nihilistic message.


title: Melancholie der Engel

text: A woman named Katja gives birth to an infant that two mysterious figures immediately behead. Depressed and feeling his mortality, Katze decides to meet his old friend Brauth, who has a Christ-like appearance, at an old house where they used to delve into dark pleasures. They meet two sixteen-year-old girls, Melanie and Bianca. Together, they enter a bar where a woman, Anja, joins the group. Katze also finds two other old acquaintances attending: Heinrich, an elderly artist who claims to be a dead man, accompanied by a young woman named Clarissa, tied to a wheelchair. Clarissa can only excrete through a urine bag or artificial bowel outlet.


title: Melancholie der Engel

text: The group decides Katze can go out in style as their fun turns increasingly depraved and horrific. The film contains explicit representations of coprophilic and urophilic actions: one scene involves a man defecating on a woman while taking her panties off, wiping himself, and shoving the pair in her mouth, all the while gesturing harshly to put her finger in his dirty anus.


title: Melancholie der Engel

text: The protagonists begin to consume alcohol, opium and cocaine and think about different philosophical approaches during the same evening. Katze, Brauth and Anja reveal their nihilistic nature to the two girls, claiming they do not believe in heaven and will not be missed after dying. Then Katze, using a scalpel, deals cuts on Anja's breast as she vomits semen while cutting herself under the enthusiastic look of Brauth and the perplexed facial expressions of Melanie and Bianca.


title: Melancholie der Engel

text: The following morning, the group travels to a pond near a factory, where Brauth reveals that Katze does not have much time to live. During this, Melanie and Katze move away from the others. He meets a nun (Martina Adora) near a farm who leads him to a neighboring church. The nun begins to pray and then undresses and masturbates while Katze enters the crypts, watching the tombs with morbid curiosity; at the same time, Melanie assists in hunting and slaughtering a pig, and Brauth rapes Anja. Several newts, frogs, rats, cats and snails also get killed.


title: Melancholie der Engel

text: That night, Katze has an illness whose cause is attributed to Heinrich's indifference to God towards him. Brauth becomes tired of Clarissa's laments, slams her into a basement, and tortures her by ripping her colostomy device off, jabbing his fingers into the hole, then throwing her down from her wheelchair and abandoning her. During the night, Bianca awakens and claims that she "heard the voice of the dead." Katze checks and finds nothing but a rabbit hanged by Heinrich, beheaded and thrown by Katze.


title: Melancholie der Engel

text: Brauth connects with Melanie and Bianca the next day and locks them in a stable before sending Heinrich to abuse them. However, the two girls succeed in escaping- Heinrich later abuses Clarissa, who commits suicide the next morning, throwing herself off a cliff. At the same time, Anja finds the remains of the pig discarded by the butchers and is sexually excited by touching them while having a goat lick between her legs.


title: Melancholie der Engel

text: Young Bianca, derisively called Snow White, is also murdered by the group. After her womb has been removed with a knife, her skull is thrown. Katze and Brauth murder Heinrich by eviscerating him. Afterward, an orgy takes place in which the four remaining members of the group burn Heinrich, still alive, at a pyre while the participants engage in sexual acts and urinate into the fire.


title: Melancholie der Engel

text: Anja finds Katze in a confused state, bruised and pained. Bianca comes crawling from the old house while Melanie looks at a tiny skull inside a pendulum clock and finds a tape containing the scene shown at the beginning. The figures who killed the infant are Katze and Brauth, and the skull found in the clock is the infant's. Melanie crushes the cassette and uses the tape to masturbate while Bianca is reached and beaten by Anja, Heinrich, Katze, and Brauth. The latter then knocks her with a knife and abandons her. From the flames, a flash hits Katze's face, permanently blinding him. There are only a few hours left for him to live, and the following afternoon, Anja accompanies him to his tomb, where he speaks. Anja honors Katze by ornamenting his grave before reuniting with the nun and walking away silently.


title: Melancholie der Engel

text: "The Angel's Melancholy" premiered at Weekend of Fear Festival in Erlangen and Nuremberg, Middle Franconia, Franconia, Bavaria, Germany, on 1 May 2009. It was also screened at the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival in New York City on 27 October 2009, where it won Best International Feature Film – Arthouse Genre. It was later screened at BUT (B-Movies, Underground, and Trash) Film Festival in the Netherlands on 7 June 2013. The DVD was released on 30 July 2010 in Austria.


title: Melancholie der Engel

text: Sean Leonard of "HorrorNews.net" stated that, even though it was beautifully shot, its "pretentious dialogue", and focus on shock rather than story got in the way of any real enjoyment. "Severed Cinema"s Ray Casta panned the film, highlighting the pacing and runtime, calling it "a depraved, perverse and nihilistic endurance test."


title: Melancholie der Engel

text: Collider selected the film for their list of "The Most Disturbing Movies of All Time". "Taste of Cinema" placed the film at No. 22 in its list of "The 25 Most Disturbing Horror Movies of All Time", stating: "Often described as having beautiful cinematography and being an art house style movie, it suffers from a bloated running time of 165 minutes and a very weak narrative." Some reviewers commended the aspects that others hated, specifically the runtime and storytelling.


title: Melancholie der Engel

text: "Melancholie der Engel" won the Best International Feature Film – Arthouse Genre Award at New York International Independent Film and Video Festival in 2009.


title: John Marshall Harlan

text: John Marshall Harlan (June 1, 1833 – October 14, 1911) was an American lawyer and politician who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1877 until his death in 1911. He is often called "The Great Dissenter" due to his many dissents in cases that restricted civil liberties, including the "Civil Rights Cases", "Plessy v. Ferguson", and "Giles v. Harris". Many of Harlan's views expressed in his notable dissents would become the official view of the Supreme Court starting from the 1950s Warren Court and onward. His grandson John Marshall Harlan II was also a Supreme Court justice.


title: John Marshall Harlan

text: Born into a prominent, slave-holding family near Danville, Kentucky, Harlan experienced a quick rise to political prominence. When the American Civil War broke out, Harlan strongly supported the Union and recruited the 10th Kentucky Infantry. Despite his opposition to the Emancipation Proclamation, he served in the war until 1863, when he won election as Attorney General of Kentucky. Harlan lost his re-election bid in 1867 and joined the Republican Party in the following year, quickly emerging as the leader of the Kentucky Republican Party. After the 1876 presidential election, newly-inaugurated President Rutherford B. Hayes appointed Harlan to the Supreme Court.


title: John Marshall Harlan

text: Harlan's jurisprudence was marked by his life-long belief in a strong national government, his sympathy for the economically disadvantaged, and his view that the Reconstruction Amendments had fundamentally transformed the relationship between the federal government and the state governments. He dissented in both the "Civil Rights Cases" (1883) and "Plessy v. Ferguson" (1896), which permitted state and private actors to engage in segregation. He also wrote dissents in major cases such as "Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co." (1895), which struck down a federal income tax; "United States v. E. C. Knight Co." (1895), which severely limited the power of the federal government to pursue antitrust actions; "Lochner v. New York" (1905), which invalidated a state law setting maximum working hours on the basis of substantive due process; and "Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey v. United States" (1911), which established the rule of reason. He was the first Supreme Court justice to advocate the incorporation of the Bill of Rights, and his majority opinion in "Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Co. v. City of Chicago" (1897) incorporated the Takings Clause.


title: John Marshall Harlan

text: Harlan was largely forgotten in the decades after his death, but many scholars now consider him to be one of the greatest Supreme Court justices of his era.


title: John Marshall Harlan

text: Harlan was born in 1833 at Harlan's Station, 5 miles (8.0 km) west of Danville, Kentucky, on Salt River Road. He was born into a prominent slaveholding family whose earliest members had settled in the region in 1779. Harlan's father was James Harlan, a lawyer and prominent Whig politician who represented Kentucky in the United States House of Representatives and served as Secretary of State of Kentucky. Harlan's mother, Elizabeth, "née" Davenport, was the daughter of a pioneer from Virginia. Harlan grew up on the family estate near Frankfort, Kentucky. He was named after Chief Justice of the United States John Marshall, whom his father admired.


title: John Marshall Harlan

text: John had several older brothers, including a half-brother, Robert James Harlan, born in 1816 into slavery, and whom his father raised in his own household and had tutored by Richard and James Harlan, two of John Marshall Harlan's older brothers. According to historian Allyson Hobbs, Robert became highly successful, making a fortune in the California Gold Rush before returning east and settling in Cincinnati, Ohio. He "remained close to the other Harlans"; she suggests this might have influenced his half-brother John Marshall Harlan, "who argued on behalf of equal rights under the law in "Plessy v. Ferguson"."


title: John Marshall Harlan

text: After attending school in Frankfort, John Harlan enrolled at Centre College. He was a member of Beta Theta Pi and graduated with honors. Though his mother wanted Harlan to become a merchant, James insisted that his son follow him into the legal profession, and Harlan joined his father's law practice in 1852. While James Harlan could have trained his son in the office, as was the norm of "reading the law" in that era, he sent John to attend law school at Transylvania University in 1850, where George Robertson and Thomas Alexander Marshall were among his instructors. Harlan finished his legal education in his father's law office and was admitted to the Kentucky Bar in 1853.


title: John Marshall Harlan

text: A member of the Whig Party like his father, Harlan got an early start in politics when, in 1851, he was offered the post of adjutant general of the state by governor John L. Helm. He served in the post for the next eight years, which gave him a statewide presence and familiarity with many of Kentucky's leading political figures. With the Whig Party's dissolution in the early 1850s, Harlan shifted his affiliation to the Know Nothings, despite his discomfort with their opposition to Catholicism. Harlan's personal popularity within the state was such that he was able to survive the decline of the Know Nothing movement in the late 1850s, winning election in 1858 as the county judge for Franklin County, Kentucky. The following year, he renounced his allegiance to the Know Nothings and joined the state's Opposition Party, serving as their candidate in an unsuccessful attempt to defeat Democrat William E. Simms for the seat in Kentucky's 8th congressional district.


title: John Marshall Harlan

text: Throughout the 1850s, Harlan criticized both abolitionists and pro-slavery radicals. Like many other anti-secession Southerners, he supported the Constitutional Union ticket of John Bell and Edward Everett in the 1860 presidential election. Harlan agreed to serve as a presidential elector for Bell, and he delivered speeches on behalf of the party throughout Kentucky during the campaign. In the secession crisis that followed Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln's victory in the 1860 election, Harlan sought to prevent Kentucky from seceding. He wrote several pro-Union editorials, represented the Union in state court, and joined a militia known as the Crittenden Union Zouaves.


title: John Marshall Harlan

text: After the state legislature voted to expel all Confederate forces from the state, Harlan recruited a company that was mustered into the service as the 10th Kentucky Infantry. Harlan served in the Western Theater of the American Civil War until the death of his father James in February 1863. At that time, Harlan resigned his commission as colonel and returned to Frankfort to support his family.


title: John Marshall Harlan

text: Weeks after leaving the army, Harlan was nominated by the Union Party to run for Attorney General of Kentucky. Campaigning on a platform of vigorous prosecution of the war, he won the election by a considerable margin. As attorney general for the state, Harlan issued legal opinions and advocated for the state in a number of court cases. Party politics, however, occupied much of his time. Though still a committed unionist, he opposed Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation and supported Democratic candidate George B. McClellan's unsuccessful campaign in the 1864 presidential election. Harlan also opposed ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment, attacking it as a "direct interference, by a portion of the states, with the local concerns of other states."


title: John Marshall Harlan

text: After the end of the Civil War in 1865, Harlan initially refused to join either the Democratic Party, which he viewed as too accepting of former rebels, or the Republican Party, whose Reconstruction policies he opposed. He sought re-election in 1867 on a third party ticket, but lost his office in a Democratic sweep of the state. In the aftermath of his defeat, Harlan joined the Republican Party, and he supported Ulysses S. Grant's candidacy in the 1868 presidential election. Moving to Louisville, Harlan formed a successful partnership with John E. Newman, a former circuit court judge, and like Harlan, a Unionist turned Republican. In 1870, Harlan and Newman briefly took on a new partner, Benjamin Bristow, but President Grant appointed Bristow as U.S. solicitor general later that year.


title: John Marshall Harlan

text: While growing his legal practice, Harlan also worked to build up the Republican Party organization in the state. He served as the Republican nominee for governor of Kentucky in 1871; though he finished a distant second to incumbent Democratic Governor Preston Leslie, Harlan nonetheless established himself as the leader of the Kentucky Republican Party during the campaign. Harlan's views on Reconstruction shifted in the early 1870s, and he came to support Reconstruction measures such as the Enforcement Act of 1870, though he still opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1875 as a federal overreach. Harlan reluctantly accepted the party's gubernatorial nomination in 1875, and he once again lost by a substantial margin, this time to Democrat James B. McCreary. The following year, Harlan worked to nominate Bristow at the 1876 Republican National Convention, seeking to position Bristow as a more electable alternative to Republican front-runner James G. Blaine. When Rutherford B. Hayes instead emerged as the compromise candidate, Harlan switched his delegation's votes and subsequently campaigned on Hayes' behalf in the 1876 election.


title: John Marshall Harlan

text: Though Harlan was considered for several positions in the new administration, most notably Attorney General, initially the only job he was offered was as a member of a commission sent to Louisiana to resolve disputed statewide elections there. Justice David Davis, however, had resigned from the Supreme Court in January 1877 after being elected to the Senate by the Illinois General Assembly. Seeking to appoint a Southerner to the Supreme Court in the aftermath of the acrimonious and disputed 1876 presidential election, Hayes settled on Harlan. Though Harlan's nomination prompted some criticism from Republican Stalwarts, he was confirmed unanimously by the Senate on November 29, 1877, and took the judicial oath of office on December 10, 1877.


title: John Marshall Harlan

text: Harlan greatly enjoyed his time as a justice, serving until his death in 1911. From the start, he established good relationships with his fellow justices and he was close friends with a number of them. Though Harlan often disagreed with the other justices, occasionally quite vociferously, he was able to separate differences over legal matters from personal relationship. During his tenure, money problems continually plagued him, particularly as he began to put his three sons through college. Debt was a constant concern, and in the early 1880s, he considered resigning from the Court and returning to private practice. He ultimately decided to remain on the Court, but supplemented his income by teaching constitutional law at the Columbian Law School, which later became the George Washington University Law School.


title: John Marshall Harlan

text: When Harlan began his service, the Supreme Court faced a heavy workload that consisted primarily of diversity and removal cases, with only a few constitutional issues. Justices also rode circuit in the various federal judicial circuits; though these usually corresponded to the region from which the justice was appointed, due to his junior status, Harlan was assigned the Seventh Circuit based in Chicago. Harlan rode the Seventh Circuit until 1896, when he switched to his home circuit, the Sixth, upon the death of its previous holder, Justice Howell Edmunds Jackson. Harlan became the senior associate justice on the Court following the retirement of Stephen Johnson Field in 1897, and he served as acting chief justice after the death of Melville Fuller in 1910.


title: John Marshall Harlan

text: During Harlan's tenure on the Supreme Court, major Supreme Court decisions tended to address issues arising from industrialization and the Reconstruction Amendments. Beginning in the 1880s, the Supreme Court increasingly began to adopt a laissez-faire philosophy, striking down economic regulations while at the same time allowing states to curtail the rights of African Americans. Harlan differed from many of his colleagues, often voting to uphold federal regulations and to protect the civil rights of African Americans. His judicial opinions were influenced by his life-long belief in a strong national government, his sympathy for the economically disadvantaged, and his view that the Reconstruction Amendments had fundamentally transformed the relationship between the federal government and the state governments. Though Harlan believed the Court had the power to review state and federal actions on a broad array of topics, he tended to oppose judicial activism in favor of deference to legislatures.


title: John Marshall Harlan

text: Congress had passed the Civil Rights Act of 1875 in the waning days of Reconstruction, outlawing segregation in public accommodations such as railroads. The Supreme Court did not rule on the Civil Rights Act of 1875 until 1883, when it struck down the law in "Civil Rights Cases". In his majority opinion, Justice Joseph P. Bradley held that the Thirteenth Amendment "simply abolished slavery," and that the Fourteenth Amendment did not authorize Congress to bar racial discrimination by private actors. Only Harlan dissented, vigorously, charging that the majority had subverted the Reconstruction Amendments: "The substance and spirit of the recent amendments of the constitution have been sacrificed by a subtle and ingenious verbal criticism." Harlan argued that the Fourteenth Amendment gave Congress the authority to regulate public accommodations, and further argued that the Thirteenth Amendment empowered Congress to "eradicate" the vestiges of slavery, such as restrictions on freedom of movement.


title: John Marshall Harlan

text: Harlan joined the Court's unanimous decision in "Pace v. Alabama" (1883), which ruled that anti-miscegenation laws were constitutional.


title: John Marshall Harlan

text: Harlan was the first justice to argue that the Fourteenth Amendment incorporated the Bill of Rights (making rights guarantees applicable to the individual states), in "Hurtado v. California" (1884).


title: John Marshall Harlan

text: Harlan was one of four justices to file a dissenting opinion in "Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co." (1895), which struck down a federal income tax levied by the Wilson–Gorman Tariff Act of 1894. Harlan described the majority opinion as a "disaster to the country" because it "impairs and cripples the just powers of the national government." He was the sole dissenter in another 1895 case, "United States v. E. C. Knight Co.", in which the Court severely curtailed the power of the federal government to pursue antitrust actions under the Sherman Antitrust Act. In his dissent, he wrote that "the common government of all the people is the only one that can adequately deal with a matter which directly and injuriously affects the entire commerce of the country." During the 1890s, he also wrote several dissents in cases where Court decisions curtailed the regulatory powers of the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC).


title: John Marshall Harlan

text: In 1896, Associate Justice Henry Billings Brown delivered the majority decision in "Plessy v. Ferguson", which established the doctrine of "separate but equal." Whereas the "Civil Rights Cases" had struck down a federal law barring segregation by private actors, the Court's opinion in "Plessy" allowed state governments to engage in segregation. Rejecting the argument that segregation violated the Thirteenth Amendment, Brown wrote that "a statute which implies merely a legal distinction between the white and colored races has no tendency to destroy the legal equality of the two races, or reestablish a state of involuntary servitude." In response to the plaintiff's claims regarding the Fourteenth Amendment, Brown wrote that the Fourteenth Amendment was designed to "enforce the absolute equality of the two races before the law," but added that the amendment "could not have been intended to abolish distinction based upon color, or to enforce social, as distinguished from political, equality, or a commingling of the two races upon terms unsatisfactory to either."


title: John Marshall Harlan

text: Harlan, the lone dissenting justice, strongly disapproved of the majority opinion, writing that "the judgement this day rendered, will, in time, prove to be quite as pernicious as the decision made by this tribunal in the "Dred Scott Case."" He accepted the appellant's argument that the Thirteenth Amendment barred segregation in public accommodations, as he believed that segregation imposed "badges of slavery or servitude" upon African Americans. He also accepted the appellant's argument that the segregation in public accommodations violated the Fourteenth Amendment on the basis that these accommodations constituted "public highway[s]." He further wrote that "our Constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens." Harlan rejected the idea that the law in question was race-neutral, writing that "everyone knows that the statute in question [was intended] to exclude colored people from coaches occupied by or assigned to white persons," adding that the law was "cunningly devised" to overturn the results of the Civil War.