Download or read book Hard Time Blues written by Sasha Abramsky and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2011-04-01 with total page 393 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In September 1996, fifty-three year old heroin addict Billy Ochoa was sentenced to 326 years in prison. His crime: committing $2100 worth of welfare fraud. Ochoa was sent to New Folsom supermax prison, joining thousands of other men who will spend the rest of their lives in California's teeming correctional facilities as a result of that state's tough Three Strikes law. His incarceration will cost over $20,000 a year until he dies. Hard Time Blues weaves together the story of the growth of the American prison system over the past quarter century primarily through the story of Ochoa, a career criminal who grew up in the barrios of post-World War II L.A. Ochoa, who had a long history of non-violent crimes committed to fund his drug habit, who cycled in and out of prison since the late 1960's, is a perfect example of how perennial misfits, rather than blood-soaked violent criminals, make up the majority of America's prisoners. This is also the story of the burgeoning careers of politicians such as former California Governor Pete Wilson, who rose to power on the "crime issue." Wilson, whose grandfather was a cop murdered by drug-runners in early twentieth century Chicago, scored a stunning come-from-behind re-election victory in 1994. In so doing, he came to epitomize the 1990s tough-on-crime politician. Award-winning journalist Sasha Abramsky uses immersion reportage to bring alive the political forces that have led America's prison and jail population to increase more than four fold in the past twenty years. Through the stories of Ochoa, Wilson, and others, he explores in devastating detail how the public has been manipulated into supporting mass incarceration during a period when crime rates have been steadily falling. Hard Time Blues deftly explores the War on Drugs, the Rockefeller Laws, the growth of the SuperMax Prisons, the climate of fear that led to laws such as Truth-in-Sentencing, and how the stunning repercussions of imprisoning two million citizens affect all of America. In the tradition of J. Anthony Lukas's Common Ground and Melissa Fay Greene's The Temple Bombing, Abramsky explores this new and dangerous fault-line in American society in a dramatic and compelling manner. From the opening courtroom scene through the final images behind the electrified fences of the nation's toughest, meanest prisons, Abramsky paints a grimly intimate portrait of the players and personalities behind this societal earthquake. Hard Time Blues combines a sense of history with a powerful narrative, to tell a story about issues and people that leads us to understand how The Land of the Free has become the world's largest prison nation.
Download or read book Ain t Just Blues It s Showtime written by Talon Gustafson and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2010-11-30 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An offbeat, strangely compelling on-the-road journal by blues singer, Carl Gustafson, who says he doesn't like music, in fact, he prefers silence. (Calling to mind keyboard immortal and eccentric Glenn Gould who he said he didn't like piano music.) Who is Carl Gustafson, you may ask? An iconoclast, a rebel, a provocateur. A flag bearer for human dignity? An Indiana Jones style adventurer, seeker of truth, justice and a better American Way? Yes, yes, certainly. An outsider artist, a Henry Darger working in obscurity on his grand vision for his oversize fabric of life, and wishing to share it? Oh, yes. And mix this in, too: one part Edward Abbey for his meticulous power of observation ("I wish that mankind, rich or poor, could at least plant a single flower or sign their signature upon their life in some distinct way. If they do, I will observe it."), one part Thoreau logging nature notes, one part Kerouac on the road, one part Dylan Thomas raging into the good night, and finally 19th century French composer Hector Berlioz writing his humorous and insightful Evenings in the Orchestra - only this time the orchestra is a blues band. Another part anthropologist Margaret Mead living among the natives, another part Zen Master with his Buddhist acceptance, reluctant or otherwise, of all things around him on any given day, he carefully observes and notates all the minutia around him on any given day, all the while keeping up a conversation with himself, sometimes bemused, sometimes angry, sometimes transcendent. The writing here is paradoxical, maddening, frustrating by turns....and then all at once riveting. You'll see yourself in these pages - that's the riveting - and then, I think you might just see the prospect of your better self, too. That's the magical. (Sample chapters, blurbs, table of contents, more at http: //sarkett.com/showtime.)
Download or read book Hard Luck Blues written by Rich Remsberg and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Showcasing American music and music making during the Great Depression, Hard Luck Blues presents more than two hundred photographs created by the New Deal's Farm Security Administration photography program. With an appreciation for the amateur and the local, FSA photographers depicted a range of musicians sharing the regular music of everyday life, from informal songs in migrant work camps, farmers' homes, barn dances, and on street corners to organized performances at church revivals, dance halls, and community festivals. Captured across the nation from the northeast to the southwest, the images document the last generation of musicians who learned to play without the influence of recorded sound, as well as some of the pioneers of Chicago's R & B scene and the first years of amplified instruments. The best visual representation of American roots music performance during the Depression era, Hard Luck Blues features photographs by Jack Delano, Dorothea Lange, Russell Lee, Arthur Rothstein, Ben Shahn, Marion Post Wolcott, and others. Photographer and image researcher Rich Remsberg breathes life into the images by providing contextual details about the persons and events captured, in some cases drawing on interviews with the photographers' subjects. Also included are a foreword by author Nicholas Dawidoff and an afterword by music historian Henry Sapoznik. Published in association with the Library of Congress.
Download or read book The Blues written by Chris Thomas King and published by Chicago Review Press. This book was released on 2021-06-08 with total page 581 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A fresh new perspective that will be a true revolution to readers and will open new lines of discussion on . . . the importance of the city of New Orleans for generations to come." —Dr. Michael White, jazz clarinetist, composer, and Keller Endowed Chair at Xavier University of LA An untold authentic counter-narrative blues history and the first written by an African American blues artist All prior histories on the blues have alleged it originated on plantations in the Mississippi Delta. Not true, says author Chris Thomas King. In The Blues, King present facts to disprove such myths. This book is the first to argue the blues began as a cosmopolitan art form, not a rural one. As early as 1900, the sound of the blues was ubiquitous in New Orleans. The Mississippi Delta, meanwhile, was an unpopulated sportsman's paradise—the frontier was still in the process of being cleared and drained for cultivation.? Expecting these findings to be controversial in some circles, King has buttressed his conclusions with primary sources and years of extensive research, including a sojourn to West Africa and interviews with surviving folklorists and blues researchers from the 1960s folk-rediscovery epoch.? New Orleans, King states, was the only place in the Deep South where the sacred and profane could party together without fear of persecution, creating the blues.
Download or read book Storefront Church written by William Waring Cuney and published by . This book was released on 1973 with total page 34 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Last Day Blues written by Julie Danneberg and published by Charlesbridge Publishing. This book was released on 2006 with total page 35 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the last week of school, the students in Mrs. Hartwell's class try to come up with the perfect present for their teacher.
Download or read book Encyclopedia of the Blues written by Edward M. Komara and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 1274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This comprehensive two-volume set brings together all aspects of the blues from performers and musical styles to record labels and cultural issues, including regional evolution and history. Organized in an accessible A-to-Z format, the Encyclopedia of the Blues is an essential reference resource for information on this unique American music genre. For a full list of entries, contributors, and more, visit the Encyclopedia of the Blues website.
Download or read book Josh White written by Elijah Wald and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First Published in 2002. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Download or read book Catalog of Copyright Entries written by Library of Congress. Copyright Office and published by . This book was released on 1977 with total page 1256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Crossing Traditions written by Babacar M'Baye and published by Scarecrow Press. This book was released on 2013-07-29 with total page 207 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Crossing Traditions: American Popular Music in Local and Global Contexts, a wide range of scholarly contributions on the local and global significance of American popular music examines the connections between selected American blues, rock and roll, and hip-hop music and their equivalents from Senegal, Nigeria, England, India, and Mexico. Contributors show how American popular music promotes local and global awareness of such key issues as economic inequality and social marginalization while inspiring cross-cultural and interethnic influences among regional and transnational communities. Specifically, Crossing Traditions highlights the impact of American popular music on the spread of sounds, rhythms, styles, and ideas about freedom, justice, love, and sexuality among local and global communities, all of which share the same desires, hopes, and concerns despite geographic differences. Contributors look at the local contexts of Chicago blues, early rock and roll, white Christian rap, and Frank Zappa alongside the global influence of Mahalia Jackson on Senegalese blues, the transatlantic character of the British Invasion’s relationship to African American rock, and the impact of Latin house music, global hip-hop, and Bhangra in cross-cultural settings. Essays also draw on a broad range of disciplines in their analyses: American studies, popular culture studies, transnational studies, history, musicology, ethnic studies, literature and media studies, and critical theory. Crossing Traditions will appeal to a wide range of readers, including college and university professors, undergraduate and graduate students, and music scholars in general.
Download or read book The Green Book Vol 1 written by Raymond McNeil and published by Dorrance Publishing. This book was released on 2024-01-15 with total page 698 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: About the Book THE GREEN BOOK, VOL. 1: The Intertwined Musical and Historical Journey by People of Color in America provides a comprehensive exploration of the music that occurred alongside some of American history’s biggest events. This impressive and extensive guide spans from 1380 until 1959. This book's purpose is to share, illuminate, and stick to the positive achievements of the people who’ve helped to spread the message of music. That will include all the musicians, singers, and lyricists who helped the fans to appreciate the various styles of music that we have today. About the Author Raymond was a native of New York City and a product of schools in Brooklyn. He worked in all three levels of government. He has spent the past fifty five years gathering and exploring America’s musical journey. His primary motivation for writing this book was to seek out and amass a stream of verifiable truths. He is a fan of most styles of music, though he does struggle to find a love for hard rock and bluegrass at times. McNeil’s ultimate goal is to share his love of music and history and the ways in which they intertwine together throughout the years.
Download or read book Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings written by Steve Sullivan and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2017-05-17 with total page 830 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Volumes 3 and 4 of the The Encyclopedia of More Great Popular Song Recordings provides the stories behind approximately 1,700 more of the greatest song recordings in the history of the music industry, from 1890 to today. In this masterful survey, all genres of popular music are covered, from pop, rock, soul, and country to jazz, blues, classic vocals, hip-hop, folk, gospel, and ethnic/world music. Collectors will find detailed discographical data—recording dates, record numbers, Billboard chart data, and personnel—while music lovers will appreciate the detailed commentaries and deep research on the songs, their recording, and the artists. Readers who revel in pop cultural history will savor each chapter as it plunges deeply into key events—in music, society, and the world—from each era of the past 125 years. Following in the wake of the first two volumes of his original Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings, this follow-up work covers not only more beloved classic performances in pop music history, but many lesser -known but exceptional recordings that—in the modern digital world of “long tail” listening, re-mastered recordings, and “lost but found” possibilities—Sullivan mines from modern recording history. The Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings, Volumes 3 and 4 lets the readers discover, and, through their playlist services, from such as iTunes toand Spotify, build a truly deepcomprehensive catalog of classic performances that deserve to be a part of every passionate music lover’s life. Sullivan organizes songs in chronological order, starting in 1890 and continuing all the way throughto the present to include modern gems from June 2016. In each chapter, Sullivanhe immerses readers, era by era, in the popular music recordings of the time, noting key events that occurred at the time to painting a comprehensive picture in music history of each periodfor each song. Moreover, Sullivan includes for context bulleted lists noting key events that occurred during the song’s recording
Download or read book Encyclopedia of African American History 1896 to the Present O T written by Paul Finkelman and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 2637 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Alphabetically-arranged entries from O to T that explores significant events, major persons, organizations, and political and social movements in African-American history from 1896 to the twenty-first-century.
Download or read book Negro Folk Music U S A written by Harold Courlander and published by Courier Dover Publications. This book was released on 2019-09-18 with total page 339 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This thorough, well-researched exploration of the origins and development of a rich and varied African American musical tradition features authentic versions of over 40 folk songs. These include such time-honored selections as "Wake Up Jonah," "Rock Chariot," "Wonder Where Is My Brother Gone," "Traveling Shoes," "It's Getting Late in the Evening," "Dark Was the Night," "I'm Crossing Jordan River," "Russia, Let That Moon Alone," "Long John," "Rosie," "Motherless Children," three versions of "John Henry," and many others. One of the first and best surveys in its field, Negro Folk Music, U.S.A. has long been admired for its perceptive history and analysis of the origins and musical qualities of typical forms, ranging from simple cries and calls to anthems and spirituals, ballads, and the blues. Traditional dances and musical instruments are examined as well. The author — a well-known novelist, folklorist, journalist, and specialist in African and African American cultures — offers a discerning study of the influence of this genre on popular music, with particular focus on how jazz developed out of folk traditions.
Download or read book Bessie Smith Songbook written by Bessie Smith and published by Hal Leonard Corporation. This book was released on 1994 with total page 156 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A definitive collection of songs sung by Bessie Smith, 'The Empress of the Blues.' A tribute to the woman who shaped the blues tradition for subsequent blues, jazz and even rock artists to this day.
Download or read book Trouble No More written by Mark Westmoreland and published by Down & Out Books. This book was released on 2021-10-11 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Turn on any classic rock station, and you’ll hear Southern Rock tunes that will make you stomp your foot and sing along to. The hard-rocking pioneers of the genre left behind a legacy of hard living that endures today. The stories in Trouble No More celebrate those pioneers. Find ramblers, gamblers, swindlers, and double-dealers within these pages, all striving to survive more than the Southern humidity. The authors bring the rough living of the Southern Rock genre to the page, and communicate the ache of the blues. There are twenty-two stories of heartbreak, murder, robbery, and barnyard brawls. Edited by Mark Westmoreland with stories by Bill Baber, C.W. Blackwell, Jerry Bloomfield, S.A. Cosby, Nikki Dolson, Michel Lee Garrett, James D.F. Hannah, Curtis Ippolito, Jessica Laine, Brodie Lowe, Bobby Mathews, Brian Panowich, Rob Pierce, Joey R. Poole, Raquel V. Reyes, Michael Farris Smith, J.B. Stevens, Chris Swann, Art Taylor, N.B. Turner and Joseph S. Walker.
Download or read book American Culture in the 1920s written by Susan Currell and published by Edinburgh University Press. This book was released on 2009-03-21 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Introduces the major cultural and intellectual trends of the decade by introducing and assessing the development of the primary cultural forms: namely, Fiction, Poetry and Drama, Music and Performance, Film and Radio, and Visual Art and Design. A fifth chapter focuses on the unprecedented rise in the 1920s of Leisure and Consumption.
