Problem: Mellencamp is of German ancestry. He was born with spina bifida, for which he had corrective surgery as an infant. Mellencamp formed his first band, Crepe Soul, at the age of 14 and later played in the local bands Trash, Snakepit Banana Barn and the Mason Brothers. When Mellencamp was 18, he eloped with his pregnant girlfriend Priscilla Esterline.

Country music star Keith Urban has consistently cited Mellencamp's influence on his music. It originated when Mellencamp's Lonesome Jubilee tour went to Australia in 1988; Urban was in attendance at one of the concerts and described the experience as an "epiphany."  "'I Need A Lover' and 'Hurts So Good' were massive hits in Australia", Urban told the Vancouver Sun in 2016. "I played so many of those songs in my cover bands. But for me, The Lonesome Jubilee was the defining record and tour. I've since gotten to know John a little bit and it was one of the greatest opportunities I've ever had to meet a hero and tell him about a concert you went to when you were a nobody and how much of an effect that concert had on me.  "I just remember that moment: Here's that full-on rock section, with Kenny Aronoff on drums and Larry Crane a rock guitarist with swagger. But there was also Lisa Germano on fiddle, they had an accordion player, there was an acoustic guitarist. I was hit by lightning by that concert. I said to John, 'I didn't walk away thinking: I want to do that. I walked away feeling: I get it -- just put all the things you love into what you do.' It was singularly the most important concert I've ever been to in my life because it showed me the way."  Urban went into more detail on the impact Mellencamp's Lonesome Jubilee Tour concert had on him when CMT asked him about the concert that most influenced him: "The most impactful one for me was probably John Mellencamp in '88 or '89 on the Lonesome Jubilee Tour. It was singularly the most epiphany experience I'd ever had at a concert. Prior to that, from the age of 6 or 7, I was somewhere in between Top 40, country and, 'Who the hell am I and what do I do?' But The Lonesome Jubilee came out. I loved 'Paper in Fire' and 'Check It Out' because it was such a melting pot of things. But when I went to see him live, his band was so phenomenally good. Great, great band. And I remember watching the concert - and the light went off. There's a rock rhythm section, but there's acoustic guitar, electric guitar. This fiddle, this accordion. He's singing these rural lyrics, but he's got swagger and attitude for days. It was like everything came together. I got to talk to John years later, and I said to him how much that concert changed my life. I didn't leave that concert thinking 'I want to be Mellencamp.' I went away going, 'Take all of your influences and make your own thing.' It was such a liberating experience for me."  Urban has covered numerous Mellencamp songs in his concerts over the years, including "Hurts So Good", "Jack and Diane", "Authority Song", and "Rumbleseat". In 2015, Urban and Mellencamp performed "Pink Houses" together twice during nationally televised events. Urban's 2015 hit single "John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16" further illustrated Mellencamp's influence on his music.

Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?

Answer with quotes: I said to John, 'I didn't walk away thinking: I want to do that. I walked away feeling: I get it


Problem: James Stanley Brakhage ( BRAK-@j; January 14, 1933 - March 9, 2003), better known as Stan Brakhage, was an American non-narrative filmmaker. He is considered to be one of the most important figures in 20th-century experimental film. Over the course of five decades, Brakhage created a large and diverse body of work, exploring a variety of formats, approaches and techniques that included handheld camerawork, painting directly onto celluloid, fast cutting, in-camera editing, scratching on film, collage film and the use of multiple exposures. Interested in mythology and inspired by music, poetry, and visual phenomena, Brakhage sought to reveal the universal in the particular, exploring themes of birth, mortality, sexuality, and innocence.

When Brakhage's early films had been exhibited in the 1950s, they had often been met with derision, but in the early 1960s Brakhage began to receive recognition in exhibitions and film publications, including Film Culture, which gave awards to several of his films, including The Dead, in 1962. The award statement, written by Jonas Mekas, a critic who would later become an influential experimental filmmaker in his own right, cited Brakhage for bringing to cinema "an intelligence and subtlety that is usually the province of the older arts." Writer/critic Guy Davenport, an ardent admirer of Brakhage, invited him to the University of Kentucky in March 1964 and tried to get him a residency there.  From 1961 to 1964, Brakhage worked on a series of 5 films known as the Dog Star Man cycle. The Brakhages moved to Lump Gulch, Colorado in 1964, though Brakhage continued to make regular visits to New York. During one of those visits, the 16mm film equipment he had been using was stolen. Brakhage couldn't afford to replace it, instead opting to buy cheaper 8mm film equipment. He soon began working in the format, producing a 30-part cycle of 8mm films known as the Songs from 1964 to 1969. The Songs include one of Brakhage's most acclaimed films, 23rd Psalm Branch, a response to the Vietnam War and its presentation in the mass media.  Brakhage began teaching film history and aesthetics at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1969, commuting from his home in Colorado.

What else did he receive attention for n the early 60s?

Answer with quotes:
From 1961 to 1964, Brakhage worked on a series of 5 films known as the Dog Star Man cycle.