Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American composer, pianist and bandleader of a jazz orchestra. He led his orchestra from 1923 until his death, his career spanning over 50 years.
Born in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based in New York City from the mid-1920s onward, and gained a national profile through his orchestra's appearances at the Cotton Club in Harlem. In the 1930s, his orchestra toured in Europe. Though widely considered to have been a pivotal figure in the history of jazz, Ellington embraced the phrase "beyond category" as a liberating principle, and referred to his music as part of the more general category of American Music, rather than to a musical genre such as jazz.
Some of the musicians who were members of Ellington's orchestra, such as saxophonist Johnny Hodges, are considered to be among the best players in jazz. Ellington melded them into the best-known orchestral unit in the history of jazz. Some members stayed with the orchestra for several decades. A master at writing miniatures for the three-minute 78 rpm recording format, Ellington often composed specifically to feature the style and skills of his individual musicians.
In Greek mythology the lotus-eaters (Greek: λωτοφάγοι, lōtophagoi), also referred to as the lotophagi or lotophaguses (singular lotophagus/ləˈtɒfəɡəs/) or lotophages (singular lotophage/ˈloʊtəfeɪdʒ/), were a race of people living on an island dominated by lotus plants. The lotus fruits and flowers were the primary food of the island and were narcotic, causing the people to sleep in peaceful apathy.
In the Odyssey IX, Odysseus tells how adverse north winds blew him and his men off course as they were rounding Cape Malea, the southernmost tip of the Peloponnesus, headed westwards for Ithaca:
Herodotus, in the fifth century BC, was sure that the lotus-eaters still existed in his day, in coastal Libya:
Polybius identifies the land of the lotus-eaters as the island of Djerba (ancient Meninx), off the coast of Tunisia. Later this identification is supported by Strabo.
The lotus plant
Because the Greek word lôtos can refer to several different plants, there is some ambiguity as to which "lotus" appears in the Odyssey. Some of the proposed species, based in part on Herodotus' assertion, include:
Their first release was a very limited edition LP/CD-R called Alienist on a Pale Horse, released by Double H Noise Industries. They later released a CD called Mind Control for Infants on Neurot Recordings, an untitled 7" on Drone Records from Germany, and a very limited self-released CD-R called 4 Demonstrations. Their latest album is a CD released in mid-2007 on Troubleman Unlimited named Wurmwulv. "Mind Control for Infants" was expanded, remixed and reissued on 2xLP in November 2009 via TAIGA records of Minneapolis.
Alienist on a Pale Horse (CD & LP 2001)
Four Demonstrations (CD 2001)
DR-55 (7" 2002)
Mind Control for Infants (CD 2002) (remixed/reissued 2xLP 2009)