Friends In Low Places Research Articles

Dancing with Welk: Music, Memory and Prairie Troubadours. By Christopher Vondracek

In 2006, contemporaneous with South Dakotan Christopher Vondracek’s reenactment of Lawrence Welk’s musical journey in the Dakotas and beyond, I returned to Mandan, North Dakota. I came from grueling, but uplifting journeys with Lewis and Clark reenactors from the Discovery Expedition of St. Charles, Missouri. While rehabbing my shoulder from paddling 2500lb canoes on the Missouri, Clearwater, and Snake Rivers, my personal trainer, from “Welk Country,” talked of doing therapy for older folks down there. What amazed him was that for all their canes and walkers when the accordion started, they hit the floor youthfully, in perfect time with the beat. That’s definitely dancing with Welk! But so is two-stepping at Mandan’s Lonesome Dove, line dancing in Chicago or Texas, or to “Fishin’ in the Dark” (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band) at a karaoke joint with “friends in low places” (Garth Brooks). Or dancing to The Drifters (“Under the Boardwalk”) on February 3rd in honor of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper. Or moms in skirts and saddle shoes in Iowa, near the setting of Meredith Willson’s The Music Man. Or dancing on an August evening in the twenty-first century to North Dakotan Chuck Suchy’s “Saturday Night at the Hall,” recreating an early twentieth-century scene at St. Anthony’s Bohemian Hall, a few dozen miles from Welk’s farm, across the wide Missouri.

Friends in low places: The impact of political scandals on connected firms' stock prices

In this study, we use the exogenous nature of political scandals to test whether political connections in the form of campaign contributions expose firms to reputational risk. We hand-collect a sample of 218 scandals of members of the U.S. Congress that occurred between 2000 and 2019 and estimate the abnormal returns around the day a scandal first appeared in the news. We find that connected firms and to a lesser extent other politically active firms experience value losses around corruption scandals involving firms or lobbyists. Our results suggest that this effect is mainly driven by reputation spillover and investors updating their beliefs about the risks of political contributions instead of by an expected loss in political benefits. Moreover, shareholders of connected firms are more likely to submit proposals on the disclosure of political contributions following scandals, implying that they require more information to actively manage these risks.

Friends in low places: How peer advice and expected leadership feedback affect staff auditors’ willingness to speak up

Junior auditors collect the bulk of audit evidence, yet they do not always speak up to communicate potentially important audit issues. Such inappropriate “voice” decisions can endanger audit quality. We examine whether and how staff auditors influence each other in making voice decisions. First, a survey provides descriptive evidence that staff auditors consult their peers for advice on whether to speak up. Next, two experiments provide evidence that voice advice among peers at the staff level can be problematic. We find that staff auditors consistently underestimate the importance of raising issues compared to their supervisors, and they rely on social cues that are not diagnostic of issue importance in giving voice advice to peers. Finally, we predict and find that staff auditors tend to follow peer advice when it confirms their initial stance, and that an expectation of high (versus low) quality supervisor feedback increases their willingness to speak up. Most importantly, we find that contradictory peer advice only influences staff auditors’ willingness to speak up when leadership feedback is not expected to be of high quality. Together these results indicate that staff auditors seek out and follow voice advice from their peers, but appropriate leadership feedback practices can mitigate the negative impact of peer advice on upward communication.

Friends in Low Places: Status, Structure and Venture Capital Syndicate Performance

This study explores the short- and long-term performance implications of different configurations of status composition (high, low) and internal structure (lead, non-lead roles) in syndicated ventu...

Friends in Low Places: How Peer Advice and Expected Leadership Feedback Affect Staff Auditors’ Willingness to Speak Up

Junior auditors collect the bulk of audit evidence, yet they do not always speak up to communicate potentially important audit issues. Such inappropriate “voice” decisions can endanger audit quality. We examine whether and how staff auditors influence each other in making voice decisions. First, a survey provides descriptive evidence that staff auditors consult their peers for advice on whether to speak up. Next, two experiments provide evidence that voice advice among peers at the staff level can be problematic. We find that staff auditors consistently underestimate the importance of raising issues compared to their supervisors, and they rely on social cues that are not diagnostic of issue importance in giving voice advice to peers. Finally, we predict and find that staff auditors tend to follow peer advice when it confirms their initial stance, and that an expectation of high (versus low) quality supervisor feedback increases their willingness to speak up. Most importantly, we find that contradictory peer advice only influences staff auditors’ willingness to speak up when leadership feedback is not expected to be of high quality. Together these results indicate that staff auditors seek out and follow voice advice from their peers, but appropriate leadership feedback practices can mitigate the negative impact of peer advice on upward communication.

Friends in Low Places: Intestinal Commensals Limit Colitis through Molecular Mimicry

Inflammatory bowel disease is thought to arise from inappropriate inflammation to gut bacteria, yet mechanisms preventing these responses remain elusive. In this issue of Cell, Nanjundappa etal. report that Bacteroides share an epitope with a pancreas-specific peptide that induces protective CD8+ Tcells, identifying molecular mimicry as a mechanism to enforce tolerance in the gut.

Friends in Low Places: Responses of a Benthic Stream Fish to Intra‐Prey‐Guild Alarm Cues

AbstractMany aquatic species produce chemical alarm cues that serve as a warning to nearby conspecifics. In mixed‐species aggregations, individuals may also benefit by ‘eavesdropping’ on the chemical alarm cues of other species that are in the same prey guild. Rainbow Darters (Etheostoma caeruleum) are benthic fish that co‐occur with native Ozark Minnows (Notropis nubilus), recently introduced Western Mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis), and native Oklahoma Salamanders (Eurycea tyrnerensis), all of whom are vulnerable to the same predators. We tested the responses of darters to the damage‐released alarm cues of conspecifics (positive control), minnows, and mosquitofish; alarm cues from Bumblebee Gobies (Brachygobius doriae) served as a negative (allopatric) control. We also tested the response of sympatric and allopatric darters to the damage‐released alarm cues of Oklahoma Salamander. Darters exhibited a fright response to conspecific and minnow alarm cues, but not to cues from mosquitofish or gobies. Lack of response to mosquitofish cues could be because they are introduced or because they typically occur higher in the water column than darters. Darters that were sympatric with the salamander exhibited a fright response to the alarm cues of the salamander, while allopatric darters did not. Rainbow Darters can develop responses to the alarm cues of syntopic species (minnows and Oklahoma Salamander) within their prey guild.

Friends in Low Places: Examining Board Interlock Formation after Financial Restatements

Management research has examined how potentially stigmatizing events may impact firms’ reputations, undermine the careers of their directors and executives, and force them to pursue actions to rega...

Friends in low places: The impact of locations and companions on 21st birthday drinking

The present research examined how various locations and companions were associated with hazardous drinking during 21st birthday celebrations. The sample included 912 college students (57% female) who completed an online survey to examine 21st birthday drinking. Locations included bars, friends' houses, restaurants, outdoor barbecues, homes, parents' homes, and Fraternity/Sorority houses. Companions included friends, family members, casual acquaintances, roommates, significant others, Fraternity/Sorority members, and none (alone). Participants consumed an average of 7.6 drinks and reached an average eBAC of .15 during their 21st birthday celebrations. Locations accounted for 20%/18% of the variance in number of drinks and eBAC, respectively, whereas companions accounted for 23%/20% of the variance. Drinking with romantic partners was associated with less drinking, whereas drinking with Fraternity/Sorority members was associated with more drinking. Stepwise regressions combining locations and companions suggested that, overall, celebrating in a bar setting and with Fraternity and Sorority members were the strongest variables associated with drinking. With the exception of a bar setting, companions were the most important contextual factors associated with 21st birthday drinking.

Friends in Low Places? The Conditional Influence of Trade on the Status of Women

Scholars of international relations have actively debated the consequences of globalization. Among this literature is the growing attention to the status of women. While scholars have largely treated globalization as either improving or degrading women’s rights, we point to a conditional relationship. In contrast to assuming that the influence of globalization is invariably “good” or “bad,” we suggest that the character of the norms that will be diffused and adopted is dependent on the domestic norms of those a state is “globalized with.” We offer two expectations. First, states that tend to trade more with democracies should see a domestic improvement in the status of women. Second, we expect women’s status to improve when states trade more heavily with other states with high levels of women’s rights. An analysis of 184 countries from 1981 to 2008 provides strong support for the theory. Total trade flows and trade dependence only have negative associations with women’s status when conducted disproportionately with states that are autocratic or have low levels of women’s status.

Friends in Low Places? The Conditional Influence of Trade on the Status of Women

Scholars of international relations have actively debated the consequences of globalization. Among this literature is growing attention to the status of women. While scholars have largely treated globalization as either simply improving or degrading women’s rights, we point to a conditional relationship. We argue that international trade can act as a vessel for the spread of international norms. In contrast to assuming that norms are non-varying, we suggest that the character of the norms that will be diffused and adopted are dependent on the domestic norms of those a state is “globalized with.” We offer two expectations. First, states that tend to trade more with democracies should see a domestic improvement in the status of women. Second, we expect women’s status to improve when states trade more frequently with those that have high levels on specific indicators of women’s status. An analysis of 153 countries from 1981 to 2006 provides strong support for the theory. As a general rule we find that higher levels of trade are negatively associated with women’s status, though trade actually exerts a positive influence when the majority is conducted with states that respect women’s rights or when a preponderance of trade is conducted with democracies.

Friends in Low Places

Friends in Low Places

Les amis « du bas de l’échelle » : Les théâtres amateurs russes et leurs sponsors, 1970‑1983

Cet article étudie les relations des théâtres amateurs novateurs dans les villes de la République russe avec les sponsors locaux dans les clubs, les départements culturels et au Komsomol. Les organisations au niveau du rajon, de la ville ou de l’oblast´ jouissaient d’une grande liberté en matière culturelle et recouraient aux services des amateurs pour atteindre les objectifs annuels. Le théâtre amateur a constitué une importante composante des activités culturelles là où il n’y avait pas ou peu de théâtres professionnels. C’est dans ce climat que les amateurs populaires ont forgé des relations symbiotiques avec ces amis « du bas de l’échelle ». Leur soutien mutuel a engendré des productions novatrices qui ont renforcé la vie culturelle locale et parfois même défié les priorités centrales. La pièce d’Aleksandr Volodin, Dve strely, produite au Maneken de Čeljabinsk et celle d’Evgenij Švarc, Drakon, à Moscou et à Leningrad constituent quelques exemples spécifiques de ces productions.

Good Friends in Low Places? The British Secret Intelligence Service and the Jewish Agency 1939–45

This article explores intelligence collaboration between British Intelligence and the Jewish Agency during the Second World War. Most accounts of this period highlight the functional nature of this collaboration, accounts that inevitably have come to be viewed through the prism of the Holocaust, and with it the prevailing sense that Britain offered ‘too little too late to help’ in using its clandestine assets to help rescue the remnants of European Jewry. By focusing however on collaboration primarily between the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) and the Jewish Agency, this article argues that intelligence liaison and collaboration at an operational level was closer and less conditioned by adherence to stated British government policy than hitherto suggested

Country Music Stars

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Tradition runs deep in country music. One of the hallmarks of the genre is that new generations of singers pay tribute to their predecessors by building on their legacies and adhering to the strongest claims of lineage. Stars cover the songs of their own heroes, borrow and build on their styles, and openly educate their fans about the musical traditions to which they lay claim. As a result, the careers and influences of the greats within country music are hopelessly entangled. Any Top Ten list is most easily characterized by the names omitted. After all, why is Eddy Arnold not on this list, given that be placed almost 150 hits on the country charts in a career that spanned decades? absence of Johnny Cash, George Strait, and Merle Haggard, three more luminaries whose music has inspired generations, is equally conspicuous and sure to incite comment. of country music--Sara, Maybelle, and A. P. Carter--surely deserve honoring, even more so since their legacy has been carried on through a musically rich family tree and has been revived in the past decade by a retrospective trend in country music. And perhaps no two band leaders were more influential in shaping the course of country music over the span of nearly a century than Bob Wills and Bill Monroe, two exceptionally talented and strong-willed men whose musical innovations are immeasurable. Such a litany could go on and on. In order to meet the pragmatic task at hand, namely to compile a Top Ten list of country stars (not a Top Fifty, or Top Two Hundred), I gave myself two challenges: first, include at least one star active in every decade since the 1920s, and second, feature five men and five women. Some of these artists wrote their own songs; some did not. Some were part of the mainstream; others worked outside that tradition but influenced it nonetheless. Finally, each of them has found commercial success in the country genre, a characteristic that has led some fans to challenge their twang-centered country authenticity at times. Just who qualifies as a real country singer in the first place remains a major debate within the genre, and this list unapologetically includes several artists whose country credentials have come under attack at various points in history. But if nothing else, perhaps the list will spark conversations about all the greats who don't appear, and through that dialogue, we can all visit and re-visit some of the most moving, memorable music ever recorded. 10. Dixie Chicks Founded in 1989 as an all-female bluegrass quartet, the Dixie Chicks balanced savvy management of their band with virtuosic playing. They hired a new lead singer, Nashville came calling, and at a time when pop-crossover country saturated the airwaves, the Chicks brought acoustic instruments, shuffle rhythms, and feisty, beer-drenched feminist twang back to the top of the charts, and looked good doing it. first years of the new century were indelibly marked by their unique sound. Even after political controversy damaged their airplay on format radio, the Chicks proved true to their musicianship and personal integrity, and recently brought home a pile of Grammy awards for their outspoken country music. 9. Garth Brooks Garth Brooks never apologized for having listened as a kid to as much Journey, Bruce Springsteen, and Dan Fogelberg as George Jones and George Strait. When his career took off in i989, he married a deep respect for country tradition with a savvy incorporation of stadium rock's entertainment ideals. Anthems such as Friends in Low Places and The Dance established him as the voice of a new generation of country music, a new incarnation of the genre that represented a New South unfettered by its hayseed hillbilly past. His meteoric rise to fame, combined with new 1990s Soundscan technology, led him to be recognized as one of the top-selling artists of all time (in any genre), and his flashy stadium concerts turned him into a hero for millions of country fans. …

Pictures in place: the figured landscapes of rock-art

1. Pictures in place: approaches to the figured landscapes of rock-art Christopher Chippindale and George Nash Part I. Principles of Landscape and Rock-Art in Practice: 2. Worlds within stone: the inner and outer rock-art landscapes of northern Australia and southern Africa Paul S. C. Tacon and Sven Ouzman 3. Rock-art, landscape, sacred places: attitudes in contemporary archaeological theory Daniel Arsenault 4. Locational analysis in rock-art studies William D. Hyder 5. From millimetre up to kilometre: a framework of space and of scale for reporting and studying rock-art in its landscape Christopher Chippindale 6. The canvas as the art: landscape-analysis of the rock-art panel James D. Keyser and George Poetschat 7. The landscape setting of rock-painting sites in the Brandberg (Namibia): infrastructure, Gestaltung, use and meaning Tilman Lenssen-Erz Part II. Informed Methods: Opportunities and Applications: 8. Rock-art and the experienced landscape: the emergence of late-Holocene symbolism in north-east Australia Bruno David 9. Linkage between rock-art and landscape in Aboriginal Australia Josephine Flood 10. Places of power: the placement of Dinwoody petroglyphs across the Wyoming landscape Lawrence Loendorf 11. Friends in low places: rock-art and landscape on the Modoc Plateau David S. Whitley, Johannes H. N. Loubser and Don Hann 12. Dangerous ground: a critique of landscape in rock-art studies Benjamin W. Smith and Geoffrey Blundell Part III. Formal Methods: Opportunities and Applications: 13. Landscapes in rock-art: rock-carving and ritual in the old European North Knut Helskog 14. From natural settings to spiritual places in the Algonkian sacred landscape: an archaeological, ethnohistorical, and ethnographic analysis of Canadian Shield rock-art sites Daniel Arsenault 15. The topographic engravings of Alpine rock-art: fields, settlements and agricultural landscapes Andrea Arc... Part IV. Pictures of Pictures: 16. Walking through landscape: a photographic essay of the Campo Lameiro Valley, Galicia, north-western Spain George Nash, Lindsey Nash and Christopher Chippindale.

Book of the Month: Friends in Low Places

Book of the Month: Friends in Low Places

Friends in Low Places: Gender, Unemployment and Sociability

The recent debates about the underclass and social exclusion have focused attention on the social networks of the unemployed. However the research in this area has largely failed to take on board the gender dimension of sociability. Using survey data this paper compares the patterns of sociability of unemployed men and women. It is argued that women's more home-centred social activity and their stronger neighbourhood and kinship links means that their social networks are less vulnerable to unemployment than men's. It is found that women's previous pattern of labour market participation is critical in building up a social network which is resistant to unemployment. However a social network that is external to the labour market may also have some negative implications. An absence of friends in employment could lead to a detachment from the world of work. The networks of unemployed men and women are found to feature a much higher than normal concentration of unemployed members and are deficient in employment contacts. Contrary to underclass predictions this does not lead to a reduction in employment commitment but it does have repercussions for the availability of support and access to job information.

My Friends in Low Places: Building Identity for Place and Community

Urban sholarship linking geography, planning, and design has usually identified characteristics of specific places. In addition, urban analysis has attempted to link concepts of political ‘agency’, institutional arrangements, and notions of community to the economic and political history of places. In recent years, scholars in the humanities have been carefully examining the philosophical and political underpinnings of concepts of ‘the subject’, self, and agency. I contend that if geography is to have a place in the analysis of identity, political agency, and political action, the places to look are not necessarily at the pinnacle of theoretical, architectural, or political sophistication or at places with the highest demographic or economic magnitudes. Important places to look are ‘low places’. In this paper I propose six places to look for identity and political action that are normally overlooked, ignored, or excluded from serious consideration for revealing urban issues and potential change.