Taproot (band)
Encyclopedia
Taproot is a four-piece rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 group from Ann Arbor, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

. They are most known for their hit single "Poem
Poem (song)
"Poem" is a song by nu metal band Taproot and the lead single from their second major label album, Welcome. It was released in 2002 and met with the highest success of any Taproot single, reaching #5 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks...

" (#5 most played rock track in 2002), as well as a number of other singles from 2000 to the present.

Pre-formation

Back in the mid 90's, a band called Cymonic Drive featured Dan (now in the band Madhops) on bass and Dennis AKA D-hauz (now ex-20 Dead Flower Children) on vocals. While another band called Skumbag featured Steve (now of Taproot) on drums and Mike (now of Taproot) on guitar. One day these bands played a gig together and they both took an interest in each others' band. After a few conversations, the 4 members dissolved their current bands and got together to form the first incarnation of a band we now know as Taproot. The line-up then featured D-hauz on vocals, Mike on guitar, Dan on bass and Steve on drums.

The band's first song was "Coma 99" which later went on to become a 20 Dead Flower Children song in a different version. Things went well at the start but the band's line-up only lasted about 3–4 months when it was cut short by D-hauz leaving the band to join 20 Dead Flower Children after their original singer left the band. With no singer to front the band Dan left shortly after and formed Madhops. Taproot's future wasn't looking too bright until Steve stepped out from behind the drumkit and attempted the vocal duties, it turned out that Steve could sing quite well which brought Dan back into the fold to lay down the bass on some demo tracks (one of which included the song from Taproot's debut album, ...Something More Than Nothing, called "Negative Rein4sment", in which Dan can also be heard busting a freestyle on). The new band configuration worked out well but Dan was well into Madhops and returned to them leaving Steve and Mike to search out a few new musicians to take their place. They first found Phil, their current bass player, before finding J-rod, their current drummer, which worked well and is now their current line-up.

The beginnings (1998–1999)

In 1997, Taproot sent their demo to Limp Bizkit
Limp Bizkit
Limp Bizkit is an American rock band from Jacksonville, Florida. Formed in 1995, the group's lineup consists of Fred Durst , Wes Borland , Sam Rivers , John Otto and DJ Lethal . The band achieved mainstream success with their second studio album Significant Other, released in 1999...

 frontman Fred Durst
Fred Durst
William Frederick "Fred" Durst is an American musician, director, producer and actor, well known as the frontman of the band Limp Bizkit.-Early life:...

. Impressed with their material, he offered to get them a recording contract through Interscope Records
Interscope Records
Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that currently operates as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-History:...

. However, after extended negotiations, Taproot looked elsewhere, where they finally landed a lucrative record deal with Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...

. Durst heavily cursed the band on vocalist Stephen Richards' answering machine. He also put some blame on System of a Down
System of a Down
System of a Down, also known by the acronym SOAD and often shortened to System, is a rock band from Southern California. The band was formed in 1994. It consists of Serj Tankian , Daron Malakian , Shavo Odadjian and John Dolmayan...

, who assisted Taproot in securing the Atlantic deal. In retaliation, Durst also kicked System of a Down off the 1999 Family Values Tour
Family Values Tour
The Family Values Tour was created by the band Korn in 1998 to be an annual rock & rap tour.The tour began in 1998 and would take the year off in 2000, due to heavy competition from other tours, such as the Anger Management Tour and the Summer Sanitarium Tour. After a four year hiatus, the Family...

, replacing them with Psycho Enhancer. Taproot later went on to independently release three albums: ...Something More Than Nothing (1998), Mentobe (1998) and Upon Us
Upon Us (album)
Upon Us is the second album by the rock music group Taproot. It was released in 1999. This album is notable for featuring highlights of material from their first album ...Something More Than Nothing and the hard-to-find EP Mentobe...

(1999).

Gift/Welcome (2000–2004)

The band released their debut album Gift on June 27, 2000. With the album's lead single "Again & Again" gaining heavy exposure through MTV2
MTV2
MTV2 is a cable network that is widely available in the United States on digital cable and satellite television, and is progressively being added to analogue cable lineups across the nation...

, the band's mainstream rise gained momentum.

With the help of Ozzy Osbourne
Ozzy Osbourne
John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne is an English vocalist, whose musical career has spanned over 40 years. Osbourne rose to prominence as lead singer of the pioneering English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, whose radically different, intentionally dark, harder sound helped spawn the heavy metal...

's son Jack
Jack Osbourne
Jack Joseph Osbourne is an English media personality, best known as the son of musician Ozzy Osbourne and music manager Sharon Osbourne, and brother of Aimee and Kelly Osbourne.-Early life and family:...

, Taproot landed a spot on the second stage of the 2000 and 2001 Ozzfest
Ozzfest
Ozzfest is an annual festival tour of the United States featuring performances by many heavy metal and hard rock musical groups. It was founded by Ozzy Osbourne and his wife Sharon Osbourne, both of whom also organize each yearly tour with their son Jack Osbourne...

 tour.

After spending seven months in Los Angeles, the band released their second album Welcome on October 15, 2002. Considered to be a more melodic effort, the album debuted at #17 on the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

, selling over 51,000 copies in its first week of release. Much of this was due to the success of the album's first single, "Poem", which shot to #5 on the Mainstream Rock charts. The album's second single, "Mine", followed with more moderate success. Welcome is Taproot's most successful album to date, almost achieving gold
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...

 status, with approximately 475,000 copies sold.

After touring across the country on Disturbed's Music as a Weapon Tour
Music as a Weapon Tour
Music as a Weapon is a concert tour created by American rock band Disturbed. As of 2010, there have been five editions of the tour: four which took place in North America, and one in Oceania...

 http://www.musicasaweapon.net/, as well as a European tour, the band took a two-year break.

Blue-Sky Research (2005–2006)

Returning from their break, the band released their third major album Blue-Sky Research
Blue-Sky Research
- Notes :* "Calling" was released in late 2005. It was used by the WWE as the theme song for their Unforgiven pay-per-view event in 2005.** Received radio airplay on June 27, 2005.** Music video premiered on MTV.com....

on August 16, 2005. Billy Corgan
Billy Corgan
William Patrick "Billy" Corgan, Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional poet best known as the frontman and sole permanent member of The Smashing Pumpkins. Formed by Corgan and guitarist James Iha in Chicago, Illinois in 1987, the band quickly gained steam with the...

 (Smashing Pumpkins frontman) assisted in songwriting on the album, which was produced by Toby Wright. It debuted at #33 on the Billboard 200, with approximately 28,000 first week sales. The band's single "Calling" was used by the WWE as the theme song for the 2005 pay-per-view "Unforgiven
Unforgiven (2005)
Unforgiven was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment . It was the seventh annual Unforgiven event and took place on September 18, 2005 at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma...

."

The band headlined a major tour with Evans Blue
Evans Blue
Evans Blue is an alternative rock band from Toronto, Ontario, Canada founded in 2005.- Origins :Evans Blue came together in early 2005. Five musicians, then in three separate bands, met through a local musician's message board...

 and From Satellite
From Satellite
From Satellite is an alternative rock band from Ventura, California. They have gained most of their recognition from touring with Hoobastank and Alien Ant Farm. Also, some of their music was featured in the soundtrack for the video game ESPN NHL 2K5.-Members:...

 to promote its release. Prior to the headline tour, Taproot acted as direct support to Chevelle
Chevelle
Chevelle is an American alternative metal trio that formed in 1995 in Grayslake, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. The band was originally composed of two brothers and a local friend: Pete Loeffler , Sam Loeffler , and Matt Scott . Matt was later replaced by brother Joe Loeffler...

 on their tour alongside 30 Seconds to Mars
30 Seconds to Mars
30 Seconds to Mars is an American rock band from Los Angeles, formed in 1998. Since 2007, the band has consisted of actor Jared Leto , Shannon Leto and Tomo Miličević...

. They also participated in the Fall Brawl Tour, which featured Staind
Staind
Staind is an American rock band that was formed in 1995 in Springfield, Massachusetts. For 16 years, the band consisted of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Aaron Lewis, lead guitarist Mike Mushok, bassist Johnny April, and drummer Jon Wysocki...

 and P.O.D.
P.O.D.
Payable on Death is an American Christian metal band formed in 1992. The band's line-up consists of vocalist Sonny Sandoval, drummer Wuv Bernardo, guitarist Marcos Curiel, and bassist Traa Daniels. Their Christian faith is an important part of their music.They have released seven studio albums and...

 as headliners, and is notable for taking the then-unknown Flyleaf
Flyleaf
Flyleaf is an American alternative metal band, formed in the Belton and Temple, Texas regions in 2000. The band has charted on mainstream rock, Christian pop and Christian metal genres. They performed around the United States in 2003 until releasing their eponymous debut album, Flyleaf, in 2005....

 along as the opening act for the three bands.

On May 23, 2006, it was reported that Taproot had parted ways with Atlantic Records, after disappointing sales of Blue-Sky Research. At the time, the album had sold 112,000 copies since its release. On June 13, 2006, drummer Jarrod Montague, via Taproot's MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....

 blog, confirmed the news.

Our Long Road Home (2008–2009)

On March 5, 2007, the band confirmed that they were in the process of recording their new album with producer Tim Patalan.

According to Philip Lipscomb's (bassist) MySpace blog, their new album Our Long Road Home
Our Long Road Home
Our Long Road Home is the sixth studio album and third independent album by alternative metal band Taproot and was released on September 16, 2008...

is complete and will be released sometime in early 2008. On March 2, 2008, the band released a song from Our Long Road Home entitled "You're Not Home Tonight" on their website. This song has been played on XM Satellite Radio
XM Satellite Radio
XM Satellite Radio is one of two satellite radio services in the United States and Canada, operated by Sirius XM Radio. It provides pay-for-service radio, analogous to cable television. Its service includes 73 different music channels, 39 news, sports, talk and entertainment channels, 21 regional...

, Squizz 48 Indicent Exposure with Grant Random Sirius Satellite Radio
Sirius Satellite Radio
Sirius Satellite Radio is a satellite radio service operating in North America, owned by Sirius XM Radio.Headquartered in New York City, with smaller studios in Los Angeles and Memphis, Sirius was officially launched on July 1, 2002 and currently provides 69 streams of music and 65 streams of...

 on Octane.

A teaser trailer for Our Long Road Home was added to the Taproot YouTube page on April 28, 2008. At the end of the video, it was stated that the album would be released on August 5, 2008.

According to the Taproot website, the band has decided to forgo signing to a major label. Their new album Our Long Road Home will be released independently through their management firm Velvet Hammer Music in a 50/50 partnership with the band themselves. Distribution was handled with Sony-owned RED Distribution.

Our Long Road Home was released on September 16, 2008. The disc was distributed in a cardboard sleeve and released to all major outlets.

Just over a week after the album's release, it was announced that long-time drummer Jarrod Montague would be leaving the band and replaced by Nick Fredell. The band released a statement regarding the change in lineup:
"After 10 years of touring, our drummer and good friend Jarrod will be sitting out this cycle and we will be replacing him with our long time friend Nick Fredell. We'll miss Jarrod's presence out on the road, but Nick has fit in perfectly and we're excited for all of our fans to meet him. Jarrod's still very much a part of our family, so you'll be seeing him in press and the 'Wherever I Stand' video which is out now on Youtube..."


In Spring 2009, Taproot went on the road with Dear Enemy and Adakain for the Take It! tour. Later that year, they co-headlined a U.S. tour with Cold
Cold (band)
Cold is an American post-grunge band, formed in 1996 in Jacksonville, Florida. With two gold-albums Cold has sold over 1.2 million records in the US alone. On November 17, 2006, Ward announced on MySpace that, after a period of uncertainty since that February, the group had decided to disband. In...

, in addition to releasing the following statement: "Taproot has a few upcoming shows in November and December and will start writing their new
record in January/ February of 2010. We hope to get into the studio sometime in February and March.
We will be looking at a release date sometime in the late spring possibly early summer of 2010!"

Signing with Victory Records & Plead the Fifth (2010-present)

After a brief period without a record label, Taproot signed with Victory Records
Victory Records
Victory Records is a Chicago-based record label founded by Tony Brummel. It is a privately held corporation. It also operates a music publishing company called "Another Victory, Inc." and is the distributor of several smaller independent record labels....

. On April 1, 2010, at midnight, the band released the lead single for their upcoming album. The song was "Fractured (Everything I Said Was True)". A video for the song followed the release soon after debuting on the band's YouTube channel on April 16. Soon after, the band released their 7th studio album Plead The Fifth.

Taproot supported Plead the Fifth with a headlining run in the summer of 2010 with support from Ice Nine Kills
Ice Nine Kills
Ice Nine Kills is an American metalcore band from Boston, Massachusetts. Formed in 2002 by Spencer Charnas and Jeremy Schwartz, the group originally pursued a style combining emo, post-hardcore and ska into their own innovative blend of rock but have since shifted into more of an experimental...

 and labelmated Destrophy
Destrophy
Destrophy is an alternative metal band from Des Moines, Iowa City, Iowa, formed in 2002 by singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer Ari...

.

Taproot is currently headlining a U.S. tour that began in early 2011 with direct support duties handled by MeTalkPretty
MeTalkPretty
Me Talk Pretty also known by the acronym MTP or "MeTalkPretty" is a Rock band from New York, New York. The band was formed in 2006 by Iulia Preotu and Leon Lyazidi and James Kluz . Nate Meng joined in 2008. Guerin Blask joined in 2010.The band’s debut EP RUBY, produced and mixed by Arun...

  followed by the Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania heavy hitting band Absolution (www.noabsolution.com).

On September 14, 2011 Taproot announced they are preparing to record their 6th studio album this fall. They will once again be working with producer Tim Patalan and will be recording at The Loft Studios in Saline, Michigan.

Side Projects & Collaborative Work

  • Bassist Phil Lipscomb is part of a side project called The Toques. They have released the song "Breakdown", which was featured on the soundtrack to the film Stick It
    Stick It
    Stick It is an American teen comedy-drama film starring Jeff Bridges, Missy Peregrym, and Vanessa Lengies. It was written and directed by Jessica Bendinger, writer of Bring It On; the film marks her directorial debut...

    .
  • Stephen Richards was featured on the Linkin Park
    Linkin Park
    Linkin Park is an American rock band from Agoura Hills, California. Formed in 1996, the band rose to international fame with their debut album, Hybrid Theory, which was certified Diamond by the RIAA in 2005 and multi-platinum in several other countries...

     album Reanimation
    Reanimation (album)
    Reanimation helped the many underground hip-hop artists that it featured reach a larger audience, as well as changing the nature of the work so significantly that it could be considered an entirely new album...

    in the track "P5hng Me A*wy".
  • Stephen Richards was also featured on the Pulse Ultra
    Pulse Ultra
    -History:Pulse Ultra was initially formed as Head Space in 1997 by guitarist Dominic Cifarelli and bassist Jeff Feldman. Drummer Maxx Zinno was added that same year, followed by vocalist Zo Vizza two years later....

     album Headspace, on a track called "Big Brother".
  • Stephen Richards was featured on the Reveille
    Reveille (band)
    Reveille was a nu metal/rap metal group from Harvard, Chelmsford, and Shirley, Massachusetts, USA.-History:The band formed in 1998 and recorded a six-track demo that attracted the attention of major labels. After a standout performance at the famous CBGB in Manhattan, New York the band signed with...

     album Bleed the Sky
    Bleed the Sky (album)
    -Re-release track listing :-Trivia:*A portion of the track "Unborn" was censored by the record label.*During the album session, there was an intro for the song "Unborn".-Personnel:* Drew Simollardes - Vocals* Steve Miloszewski - Guitar...

    on the track "Plastic".
  • Jarrod Montague plays drums on the Celldweller
    Celldweller
    Celldweller is a Detroit, Michigan-based Electronic Rock project that was created by multi-instrumentalist Klayton, former frontman and songwriter of the bands Circle of Dust, Argyle Park, Angeldust . Celldweller's music is multi-faceted, often labeled electronic rock and more commonly being...

     song "I Believe You".

Studio albums

Year Album details Peak chart positions
US
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

US
Ind.
Independent Albums
The Billboard Independent Albums is a chart of the highest-selling independent music albums and extended plays in the United States, compiled by Nielsen SoundScan and published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is used to list artists who are not signed to major labels...

UK
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...

1998 ...Something More Than Nothing
  • Released: 1998
  • Label: Pimp Ass
  • Format: CD
    Compact Disc
    The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...

1999 Upon Us
Upon Us (album)
Upon Us is the second album by the rock music group Taproot. It was released in 1999. This album is notable for featuring highlights of material from their first album ...Something More Than Nothing and the hard-to-find EP Mentobe...

  • Released: 1999
  • Label: Taproot Sounds
  • Format: CD
  • 2000 Gift
  • Released: June 27, 2000
  • Label: Atlantic
    Atlantic Records
    Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...

    /Velvet Hammer (83341)
  • Format: CD, CS
    Compact Cassette
    The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...

  • 160 198
    2002 Welcome
  • Released: October 15, 2002
  • Label: Atlantic/Velvet Hammer (83561)
  • Format: CD
  • 17 104
    2005 Blue-Sky Research
    Blue-Sky Research
    - Notes :* "Calling" was released in late 2005. It was used by the WWE as the theme song for their Unforgiven pay-per-view event in 2005.** Received radio airplay on June 27, 2005.** Music video premiered on MTV.com....

  • Released: August 16, 2005
  • Label: Atlantic/Velvet Hammer (83720)
  • Format: CD
  • 33 186
    2008 Our Long Road Home
    Our Long Road Home
    Our Long Road Home is the sixth studio album and third independent album by alternative metal band Taproot and was released on September 16, 2008...

  • Released: September 16, 2008
  • Label: Velvet Hammer (1)
  • Format: CD
  • 65 6
    2010 Plead the Fifth
  • Released: May 11, 2010
  • Label: Victory
    Victory Records
    Victory Records is a Chicago-based record label founded by Tony Brummel. It is a privately held corporation. It also operates a music publishing company called "Another Victory, Inc." and is the distributor of several smaller independent record labels....

     (566)
  • Format: CD
  • 107 22
    "—" denotes a release that did not chart.

    Singles

    Year Title Peak chart positions Album
    US
    Billboard Hot 100
    The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

    US
    Alt.
    US
    Main.
    UK
    UK Singles Chart
    The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

    2000 "Again & Again" 39 115 Gift
    2001 "I" 34
    2002 "Poem
    Poem (song)
    "Poem" is a song by nu metal band Taproot and the lead single from their second major label album, Welcome. It was released in 2002 and met with the highest success of any Taproot single, reaching #5 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks...

    "
    }
    | align="center"|10
    | align="center"|5
    | align="center"|92
    | rowspan="2"|Welcome
    |-
    | align="center"| 2003
    | "Mine"
    | align="center"|—
    | align="center"|26
    | align="center"|23
    | align="center"|92
    |-
    | align="center" rowspan="2"| 2005
    | "Calling"
    | align="center"|—
    | align="center"|23
    | align="center"|11
    | align="center"|—
    |rowspan="2"| Blue-Sky Research
    |-
    | "Birthday"
    | align="center"|—
    | align="center"|—
    | align="center"|39
    | align="center"|—
    |-
    | align="center"| 2008
    | "Wherever I Stand"
    | align="center"|—
    | align="center"|—
    | align="center"|34
    | align="center"|—
    | rowspan="2"| Our Long Road Home
    |-
    | align="center"| 2009
    | "Path Less Taken"
    | align="center"|—
    | align="center"|—
    | align="center"|—
    | align="center"|—
    |-
    | align="center" rowspan="2"| 2010
    | "Fractured (Everything I Said Was True)"
    | align="center"|—
    | align="center"|—
    | align="center"|18
    | align="center"|—
    | rowspan="2"| Plead the Fifth
    |-
    | "Release Me"
    | align="center"|—
    | align="center"|—
    | align="center"|40
    | align="center"|—
    |-
    |align="center" colspan="16" style="font-size: 8pt"| "—" denotes a release that did not chart.
    |}

    Licensed Use in Media

    • The song "Poem" was featured on the MVP Baseball 2003 soundtrack, as well as the soundtrack for True Crime: Streets of L.A.
    • The song "Calling" was used as the official theme song for WWE Unforgiven 2005
      Unforgiven (2005)
      Unforgiven was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment . It was the seventh annual Unforgiven event and took place on September 18, 2005 at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma...

      .
    • The song "Fractured (Everything I Said Was True)" was used as the official theme song for TNA Slammiversary 2010

    Band Member History

    • Singer Stephen Richards used to be a drummer before he blew out his knee in a hockey accident

    Non-album songs

    • "Day By Day" is featured on the Dracula 2000
      Dracula 2000
      Dracula 2000, also known internationally as Dracula 2001, is a 2000 horror film written and directed by Patrick Lussier. The film stars Gerard Butler, Christopher Plummer, Jonny Lee Miller, Justine Waddell, Omar Epps, Colleen Fitzpatrick, Jeri Ryan, and Jennifer Esposito.Dracula 2000, the...

      soundtrack.
    • "Free" and "Transparent" were cut from Welcome, but can be found on the "Poem" single.
    • "Remain" was cut from "Welcome"
    • There's also an instrumental song from the Welcome-era with the working title "Kevin Spacey"
    • "Get Me" and "Strive" are early cuts from Gift.
    • "Stay Away" was cut from Blue-Sky Research.
    • "These Walls" was cut from Our Long Road Home.
    • "Thriftwhore" was a late cut from their debut album, Gift.
    • "Wake Up" was cut from Our Long Road Home.
    • "Who's To Say", cut from Blue-Sky Research.

    External links

    The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
     
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