The Elements of Music: Melody, Rhythm, and Harmony


Jason Martineau - 2008
    These in turn are corresponded to language as musical metaphor. This, in combination with novel graphics and symbols, carries the reader to a basic understanding of melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic principles, as well as Western musical notation. A great primer on music theory for the novice or professional, as well as an invaluable resource for composers and students, it includes the following:- A rich unfolding of metaphors and illustrations to elucidate a notoriously impenetrable and abstract subject.- The properties of the overtone series and how it influences harmonic and melodic thought.- A discussion of epigrams and dialectics exploring how meaning is carried through time.- Rhythm and meter as the marking of time and the organization of it into self-similar structures.- From the circle of fifths to intervals, triads, and later seventh chords and extensions.- How major/minor key tonality and modulation occur, and how they differ from music based upon drones or other types of scales.- How form and structure reflect the relationship of humans to time and emotional states.- A wealth of scales, rhythmic patterns, and notation references in the appendices.

Our Right to Drugs: The Case for a Free Market


Thomas Szasz - 1992
    By the end of World War I, however, the free market in drugs was but a dim memory, if that. Instead of dwelling on the familiar impracticality or unfairness of our drug laws, Szasz demonstrates the deleterious effects of prescription laws which place people under lifelong medical tutelage. The result is that most Americans today prefer a coercive and corrupt command drug economy to a free market in drugs.Throughout the book, Szasz stresses the consequences of the fateful transformation of the central aim of American drug prohibitions from protecting us from being fooled by misbranded drugs to protecting us from harming ourselves by self-medication--defined as drug abuse. And he reminds us that the choice between self-control and state coercion applies to all areas of our lives, drugs being but one of the theaters in which this perennial play may be staged. A free society, Szasz emphasizes, cannot endure if its citizens reject the values of self-discipline and personal responsibility and if the state treats adults as if they were naughty children. In a no-holds-barred examination of the implementation of the War on Drugs, Szasz shows that under the guise of protecting the vulnerable members of our society--especially children, blacks, and the sick--our government has persecuted and injured them. Leading politicians persuade parents to denounce their children, and encourage children to betray their parents and friends--behavior that subverts family loyalties and destroys basic human decency. And instead of protecting blacks and Hispanics from dangerous drugs, this holy war has allowed us to persecute them, not as racists but as therapists--working selflessly to bring about a drug-free America. Last but not least, to millions of sick Americans, the War on Drugs has meant being deprived of the medicines they want-- because the drugs are illegal, unapproved here though approved abroad, or require a prescription a physician may be afraid to provide. The bizarre upshot of our drug policy is that many Americans now believe they have a right to die, which they will do anyway, while few believe they have a right to drugs, even though that does not mean they have to take any. Often jolting, always stimulating, Our Right to Drugs is likely to have the same explosive effect on our ideas about drugs and drug laws as, more than thirty years ago, The Myth of Mental Illness had on our ideas about insanity and psychiatry.

The Void


Frank Close - 2007
    Readers will find an enlightening history of the vacuum: how the efforts to make a better vacuum led to the discovery of the electron; the understanding that the vacuum is filled with fields; the ideas of Newton, Mach, and Einstein on the nature of space and time; the mysterious aether and how Einstein did away with it; and the latest ideas that the vacuum is filled with the Higgs field. The story ranges from the absolute zero of temperature and the seething vacuum of virtual particles and anti-particles that fills space, to the extreme heat and energy of the early universe. It compares the ways that substances change from gas to liquid and solid with the way that the vacuum of our universe has changed as the temperature dropped following the Big Bang. It covers modern ideas that there may be more dimensions to the void than those that we currently are aware of and even that our universe is but one in a multiverse. The Void takes us inside a field of science that may ultimately provide answers to some of cosmology's most fundamental questions: what lies outside the universe, and, if there was once nothing, then how did the universe begin?

Showbusiness: Diary of a Rock 'n' Roll Nobody


Mark Radcliffe - 1998
    Combining his trademark humor with an acute eye for the ridiculous, Mark admits his part in bands like The Berlin Airlift, the life-changing punk revolution in Bob Sleigh and The Crestas, and even a flirtation with thirty-something pub rock. Interwoven with the musical disasters is the appealing rites-of-passage story of a middle-class grammar school boy who finally leaves Bolton for university. Splattered with memorable episodes and Viz-like characters, Showbusiness retraces the steps that should have led Mark to headlining Wembley Arena, but which took him to Radio 1 instead.

Murder on Music Row


Stuart Dill - 2011
    Meanwhile, Ripley’s label, Galaxy Records, is preparing a secret merger agreement that would create the largest record conglomerate in the world. Trouble arises when rumors spread that Ripley and Simon are withholding Ripley’s new album in hopes of renegotiating his contract.When Simon and Judd are shot on the famed Grand Ole Opry stage during the filming of Ripley’s new music video, no one is more upset than Ripley—especially as everyone assumes the shots were meant for him. While Simon’s life hangs in the balance, Judd seeks help from Megan Olsen, Simon’s right hand and Ripley’s day-to-day manager. The two set off on a high-powered chase to disclose the real motive behind the shootings and spare Ripley from a second murder attempt.Not unlike John Grisham’s legal thrillers and Michael Crichton’s science-based thrillers, Stuart Dill’s “music industry thriller” can now be added to the literary lexicon. Murder on Music Row leads readers through a maze of twists and turns that connect Nashville, New York, Los Angeles, and London in a behind-the-scenes look at an industry where there are no limits in the pursuit of money, power, and fame.

The Greatest Showman: Music from the Motion Picture Soundtrack


Benj Pasek - 2018
    A musical drama biopic chronicling P.T. Barnum (played by Hugh Jackman) and his founding of the Barnum & Bailey Circus, this December 2017 film features a stunning soundtrack by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul of La La Land and Dear Evan Hansen fame. Our songbook features piano/vocal/guitar arrangements of 9 songs including the Golden Globe-winning "This Is Me" and: Come Alive * From Now On * The Greatest Show * A Million Dreams * Never Enough * The Other Side * Rewrite the Stars * Tightrope. Also includes full-color scenes from the movie.

12 Angry Men (1957 Film)


Frederic P. Miller - 2010
    Directed by Sidney Lumet, the film tells the story of a jury made up of 12 men as they deliberate the guilt or innocence of a defendant on the basis of reasonable doubt. The film is notable for its almost exclusive use of one set: with the exception of two short scenes at the beginning and the end of the film set on the steps of the court building and two short scenes in an adjoining washroom, the entire movie takes place in the jury room. The total time spent outside of the jury room is eight minutes out of the full 96 minutes of the movie.

How Shostakovich Changed My Mind


Stephen Johnson - 2018
    Johnson writes of the healing effect of music on sufferers of mental illness and tells of how Shostakovich's music lent him unexpected strength in his struggle with bipolar disorder.

King Ink II


Nick Cave - 1997
    In addition to all Cave's lyrics recorded with The Bad Seeds during this time, King Ink II includes several lyrics as yet unrecorded, as well as a number written for other artists and for the Wim Wenders films Faraway, So Close! and Until the End of the World. A short film treatment and a substantial essay on the subject of language and the Bible, "The Flesh Made Word, " are among further material which is not available elsewhere.

Amsterdam Cops: Collected Stories


Janwillem van de Wetering - 1999
    These lively stories span two decades and a great deal of ups and downs in the lives of Grijpstra and de Gier.

Information Doesn't Want to Be Free: Laws for the Internet Age


Cory Doctorow - 2014
    Can small artists still thrive in the Internet era? Can giant record labels avoid alienating their audiences? This is a book about the pitfalls and the opportunities that creative industries (and individuals) are confronting today — about how the old models have failed or found new footing, and about what might soon replace them. An essential read for anyone with a stake in the future of the arts, Information Doesn’t Want to Be Free offers a vivid guide to the ways creativity and the Internet interact today, and to what might be coming next.

Rick Stein's Mediterranean Escapes


Rick Stein - 2007
    Rick Stein's culinary odyssey takes in both the islands and coast of this remarkable region.Travelling often by public ferry boat, and encountering extraodinary people along the way, Rick has sought out the very best of the region's food. This is a land where culinary trends are looked down upon. What matters is how good the lemons are this year and who is pressing the best olive oil. Rick's pick of more than 100 recipes includes Catalan Grilled Stuffed Mussels, Feta and Mint Pastries, Puglian Fava Bean Puree, Corsican Oysters with a Pernod and Tarragon Dressing, Moroccan Chicken with Preserved Lemon and Olives, Sicilian Orange Cake and Corfiot Rice Pudding.Fully illustrated with beautiful food photography by Earl Carter and landscape photography by Craig Easton, Rick Stein's Mediterranean is a fascinating journey into a rich and varied culinary heritage.

Hawks on Hawks


Joseph McBride - 1982
    The distinguished director, Howard Hawks, discusses his techniques of filmmaking, analyzes the artistry of his movies, and portrays his experiences working in Hollywood.

Altman on Altman


Robert Altman - 2006
    Cited as an influence by such envelope-pushing directors as Spike Jonze and P. T. Anderson, Altman has created a genre all his own, notable for its improvised, overlapping dialogue and creative cinematography. One of the key moviemakers of the 1970s--commonly considered the heyday of American film--Altman's irrepressible combination of unorthodox vision and style is most clearly evidenced in the fourteen movies he released across that decade. By fine-tuning his talent in a diverse array of genres, including westerns, thrillers, and loopy, absurdist comedies--all subtly altered to fit his signature métier--he cemented his place as one of our most esteemed directors.In these conversations with David Thompson, Altman reflects on his start in industrial filmmaking, as well as his tenure in television directing Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Bonanza, and his big break in feature films as the director of the enormously popular M*A*S*H, a project for which he was the last possible resort behind fourteen other directors. The resulting portrait reveals a quixotic man whose films continue to delight and challenge audiences, both in the United States and beyond.

England (Lonely Planet Guide)


David Else - 1997
    Includes a new itineraries chapter for easy planning and "weekends to remember" suggestions throughout. of color photos. 128 maps.