Mark Miller of Sawyer Brown Essay Example

Mark Miller of Sawyer Brown Essay My Idol Mark Miller of Sawyer Brown Joseph Zilar Everest University ENC 1101-80 Composition I Professor: Pirooz  Kalayeh It was in 1984 when introduced to my idol, Mark Miller and Sawyer Brown, the country rock band. I was clicking through the channels and found a show called Star Search. It was the first reality performing arts competition that I had the pleasure to see, other than â€Å"The Gong Show†. I love to sing, so I could relate to the venue at hand. Ed McMahan was the show host, and most may remember him from â€Å"The Tonight Show† with Johnny Carson. I started watching Star Search, and began to root for the country rock band Sawyer Brown each week. Sawyer Brown ended up being the top winner. Here it is almost thirty years later, and Mark Miller and Sawyer Brown are still going strong, and winning over audiences everywhere they go. (Thesis) I picked Mark Miller as my Idol because of; his leadership, his Christian values, sharing personal commonalities, and his love of music. Much of Mark’s music, thanks to his leadership, reflects his deep Christian origins (Evans, and Ross, 2013). Sawyer Brown’s founder and front man of the band, Mark Miller doesn’t sing about cheating. He sings about the common man and having good old fashion fun. When Sawyer Brown was announced the winner of Star Search, the leader Mark Miller thanked God for the opportunity to show their music on TV. I remember them singing a song on Star Search. It was the song â€Å"Step that Step†, and that song was their very first hit. I thought to myself back then that Sawyer Brown would become a big name band as long as Mark’s leadership kept the band grounded in their beliefs. We will write a custom essay sample on Mark Miller of Sawyer Brown specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Mark Miller of Sawyer Brown specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Mark Miller of Sawyer Brown specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Mark is a very quiet and soft spoken Christian man, and makes people wonder where all of his energy on stage comes from and how real it is. You have no idea, says Miller, â€Å"People look at me offstage, and think its an act. But thats how my brother and I were raised. Be good, do right, but when you get to church, you let it go. People talk about my dancing well, where we went to church, thats what people did when the music was pumping. And let me tell you: that music got going† (Sawyerbrown. com, 2013). â€Å"In my Life everything revolves around putting God first, my family second, and then everything lse has to come after that. To this day I’ve never drank a beer. I never have. I was always taught that was wrong† (Evans, and Ross, 2013). Mark Miller was raised up in the Pentecostal church, where the music in church flung down with passion and fire, and that on fire sense of musical explosions happen at all of their performances. I share a lot of things in co mmon with Mr. Mark Miller. My singing voice sounds very much like his. I would say that he sounds like me, but he was born before me, so I sound like him. Mark Miller, like me, has such a love for music too. Mark goes on to say,† Really, I feel music. I feel it through every ounce in me, and through to my bones. You know something rhythmic comes on† (Evans, and Ross, 2013). That is how I feel. Often, someone will speak a phrase, and it will remind me of a song. Then I just start singing that song. Like Mark Miller, I have been writing songs and dancing around since I was 15 years old. Mark has written songs like â€Å"Step that Step†, â€Å"Drive me Wild†, and â€Å"Some Girls do†, just to name a few. I admire Mark very much. Especially for his dedication to follow his passion, and making a living doing what he loves. That’s the one thing I wish I had in common with him. Leader of Sawyer Brown, Mark Miller, and his band have come a long way since 1984 and Star Search. They have most of the original band members, still doing about 80 performances a year, and have their own company, Beach Street Entertainment, which just finished putting out a Christian based movie April 9 of this year (Wyland, 2013). Because of his Christian family values, Mark Miller even finds time to coach his kid’s basketball games. That is why I admire and look up to the singer and song writer, band leader, Christian family man, and entrepreneur Mark Miller. Works cited Evans M. , and Ross S. (2013) Between the Liner Notes, Mark Miller: Who’s the real Sawyer Brown. The Christian Broadcasting Network, Inc. http://www. cbn. com/cbnmusic/interviews/700club_sawyerbrown060806. aspx Sawyerbrown. com (2013) Biography, Sawyer Brown. Retrieved August 03, 2013 from http://sawyerbrown. com/index. htm? d=256 Shelton, P. ( 1995) Sawyer Brown. Contemporary Musicians.. Retrieved August 06, 2013 from Encyclopedia. com: http://www. encyclopedia. com/doc/1G2-3493100061. html Sweet, J. (2000). Sawyer Brown†, Contemporary Musicians. (2000). Retrieved August 03, 2013 from Encyclopedia. com: http://www. encyclopedia. com/doc/1G2-3494500069. html Wyland, S. (April 8, 2013) Great American Country TV. Retrieved August 03, 2013 from http://blog. gactv. com/blog/2013/04/08/sawyer-browns-mark-miller-releases-first-feature-film/

Oseberg - Viking Ship Burial in Norway

Oseberg - Viking Ship Burial in Norway Oseberg is the name of a Viking ship burial, located near present-day Tà ¸nsberg, Norway, about 60 miles (95 kilometers) south of Oslo, on the banks of the Oslo Fjord in Vestfold county. Oseberg is one of several ship burials in the region, but it is the richest and best preserved of such elite graves. Key Takeaways: Oseberg Ship Burial Oseberg is a Viking boat grave, the interment of two elite women inside a working ship. Created in 834 CE in eastern Norway south of Oslo, the ship and its contents were  remarkably well-preserved.  The ship was likely a royal barge built in 820 CE in western Norway.Completely excavated in 1904, archaeological research has been focused on the analysis and conservation of the recovered artifacts.   Viking Ship Description The Oseberg ship was a karvi, a clinker-constructed ship built almost entirely of oak, and measuring 70.5 feet (21.4 meters) long, 17 ft (5.1 m) wide, and 4.9 ft (1.58 m) deep, from the railing to keel. The hull was constructed of 12 board planks stacked horizontally on either side; the port and starboard upper board planks have 15 oar holes, meaning the ship would have been propelled by a total of 30 oars- the oars were included in the burial. Oseberg was an elaborately decorated ship, with several ornate carvings covering its hull, and it was decidedly not built for strength as a warship might have been. Analysis of the wooden parts of the ship suggested to archaeologists that the ship was originally a royal barge, built in Western Norway about 820 CE and used for short voyages along the coastlines. It wasnt terribly seaworthy, but it was overhauled immediately before the burial. The oars and yardarm were new and not the right size for the ship, and the anchor was too small. Tools found aboard the ship included two small axes, kitchen equipment including a quern for grinding grain located near a butchered ox. The handles on both were well-preserved, with a characteristic herringbone pattern known as spretteteljing in evidence. A small wooden chest was also identified: although it was empty, it is assumed to have been a tool chest. Animals represented in the faunal assemblage included two oxen, four dogs, and 13 horses; there were also sledges, wagons, and a vertical loom. Burial Chamber Gabriel Gustafson excavation: News photo of the Oseberg Viking Ship Burial, 1904. Hulton Archive / Getty Images In the middle of the barge was a timber-built box with a tent-like cover of roughly hewn oak planks and posts. The chamber had been plundered in the 10th century CE- apparently part of ritual disturbances of many mounds during the reign of Harald Bluetooth (911–986 CE), who had ordered the destruction of mounds as part of his Christianization of the Scandinavian people. Despite Harolds efforts, the chamber still included the fragmented skeletal remains of two women, one aged in her 80s and the other in her early fifties. When it was excavated in 1904, the interior of the chamber still contained the remains of several textiles. Some of the textiles may have been bedding, or wall hangings, or both. There were the remains of the womens clothing discovered as well: over 150 fragments of silk were found woven into the garments of the women. Twelve of the fragments were silk embroidery, the earliest found to date in Scandinavia. Some of the silk had been treated with madder and kermes dyes. Some historians (such as Anne-Stine Ingstad, associated with the discovery of Leif Ericssons Lanse aux Meadows camp in Canada) have suggested the elderly woman was Queen Asa, mentioned in the Viking poem Ynglingatal; the younger woman is sometimes referred to as a hofgyà °ja or priestess. The name of Oseberg- the burial is named after the nearby town- might be interpreted as Asas berg; and the word berg is related to the Old High German/Old Anglo-Saxon terms for hill or grave mound. No archaeological evidence has been found to support this hypothesis. Dating the Oseberg Ship Detail of the Oseberg Cart from the Oseberg ship burial, 9th century. Print Collector / Hulton Archive / Getty Images Dendrochronological analysis of the grave chamber timbers gave a precise date of the construction as 834 CE. Radiocarbon dating of the skeletons returned a date of 1220–1230 BP, consistent with the tree ring dates. DNA could only be retrieved from the younger woman, and it suggests she may have originated from the Black Sea region. Stable isotope analysis suggests the two had a primarily terrestrial diet, with relatively small amounts of fish compared to typical Viking fare. Excavation Prior to excavation, the large mound built over the top by the Vikings had been known as Revehaugen or Fox Hill: after the nearby Gokstad ship was discovered in 1880, Fox Hill was presumed to also hold a ship, and clandestine attempts to uncover parts of the mound began. Much of the soil was removed and used for fill before 1902 when the first official survey of what was left of the mound was conducted. Oseberg was excavated by Swedish archaeologist Gabriel Gustafson (1853–1915) in 1904 and eventually written up by A.W. Brogger and Haakon Shetelig. The remarkable preservation of the contents was the result of the weight of the huge mound built above it, which pressed the ship and its contents down below the water table. The ship has been restored and it and its contents have been on display at the Viking Ship House at the University of Oslo since 1926. But over the last 20 years, scholars have noted that the wooden artifacts have become increasingly brittle. Conservation When Oseberg was discovered over a hundred years ago, scholars used typical preservation techniques of the day: all the wooden artifacts were treated to various mixtures of linseed oil, creosote, and/or potassium aluminum sulfate (alum), then coated in lacquer. At the time, the alum acted as a stabilizer, crystallizing the woods structure: but infrared analysis has shown that the alum has caused the complete breakdown of the cellulose, and the modification of lignin. Some of the objects are only held together by the thin layer of lacquer. The Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres have been addressing the issue, and conservationists at the National Museum of Denmark have been working on developing a comprehensive approach to the preservation of waterlogged wooden objects. Although the answers are as yet unclear, some potential exists for the creation of an artificial wood to replace that lost. Selected Sources Bill, Jan. Ambiguous Mobility in the Viking Age Ship Burial from Oseberg. Materialities of Passing: Explorations in Transformation, Transition and Transience. Eds. Bjerregaard, Peter, Anders Emil Rasmussen and Tim Flohr Sà ¸rensen. Vol. 3. Studies in Death, Materiality and the Origin of Time. New York: Routledge, 2016. 207–253. Print. of Power Politics? Antiquity 86.333 (2012): 808–24. Print.Draganits, E., et al. The Late Nordic Iron Age and Viking Age Royal Burial Site of Borre in Norway: ALS- and GPR-Based Landscape Reconstruction and Harbour Location at an Uplifting Coastal Area. Quaternary International 367 (2015): 96–110. Print.McQueen, Caitlin M. A., et al. New Insights into the Degradation Processes and Influence of the Conservation Treatment in Alum-Treated Wood from the Oseberg Collection. Microchemical Journal 132 (2017): 119–29. Print. Nordeide, Sà ¦bjà ¸rg Walaker. Death in Abundance Quickly! The Duration of the Oseberg Burial. Acta Archaeologica 82.1 (2011): 7–11. Print.Vederler, Marianne. Silk for the Vikings. Ancient Textiles Series 15. Oxford: Oxford Books, 2014.