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Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra

(Encyclopedia)Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, founded in Buffalo, NY in 1935. Since 1940 its home has been the 2,839-seat Kleinhans Music Hall, designed by Eliel Saarinen and Eero Saarinen. Its first conductor was ...

Upshaw, Gene

(Encyclopedia)Upshaw, Gene (Eugene Upshaw, Jr.), 1945–2008, American football player and labor union leader, b. Robstown, Tex. He attended Texas College of Arts and Industries (now Texas A&M, Kingsville), whe...

West, Jerry

(Encyclopedia)West, Jerry (Jerome Alan West), 1938–, American basketball player, b. Cheylan, W.Va. One of the game's great shooting guards, he led West Virginia Univ. to the 1959 National Collegiate Athletic Asso...

Monroe, Bill

(Encyclopedia)Monroe, Bill (William Smith Monroe), 1911–96, country singer, musician, and songwriter, often called the “father of bluegrass,” b. Rosine, Ky. A m...

Gaye, Marvin

(Encyclopedia) Gaye, Marvin, 1939-1984, African-American singer and songwriter, b. Washington, D.C., as Marvin Pentz Gay Jr. Gaye’s father was a minister, and Gaye...

De Long, George Washington

(Encyclopedia)De Long, George Washington də lôngˈ [key], 1844–81, American arctic explorer, b. New York City, grad. Annapolis, 1865. In 1873 he was assigned to the Juniata, which was sent to the arctic to sear...

Rainey, Gertrude "Ma"

(Encyclopedia)Rainey, Gertrude "Ma," 1886–1939, African-American blues singer and songwriter, b. Columbus, Ga., as Gertrude Melissa Nix Pridgett. Rainey's place and...

Gehry, Frank Owen

(Encyclopedia)Gehry, Frank Owen gĕrˈē [key], 1929–, American architect, b. Toronto, Ont., as Frank Owen Goldberg. He is widely considered one of the finest and most artful of contemporary architects. In 1947, ...

Bruges

(Encyclopedia)Bruges brŭˈgə, Du. brüpstr;khə [key], city, capital of West Flan...

Lippold, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Lippold, Richard lĭpˈōld [key], 1915–2002, American sculptor, engineer, and designer, b. Milwaukee. Until 1941, Lippold worked as an industrial designer. As a sculptor, he achieved startling effe...