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New York City has always been a mecca in the history of jazz, and in many ways the city’s jazz scene is more important now than ever before. Blowin’ the Blues Away examines how jazz has thrived in New York following its popular resurgence in the 1980s. Using interviews, in-person observation, and analysis of live and recorded events, ethnomusicologist Travis A. Jackson explores both the ways in which various participants in the New York City jazz scene interpret and evaluate performance, and the criteria on which those interpretations and evaluations are based. Through the notes and words of its most accomplished performers and most ardent fans, jazz appears not simply as a musical style, but as a cultural form intimately influenced by and influential upon American concepts of race, place, and spirituality.

Unusual recovery from postpartum depression.

This book of essays and critiques originally written for various Blues magazines is a vibrant anthology that reflects a lifelong passion for the anger, despair, and humor that only the blues provides. The book features speculative pieces on the beginning of the blues and how it came to be recorded.

Philadelphia was essentially the birthplace of boxing in America, the city where matches first took shape in the back of bars. Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight champ, fought more times in Philly than any other city besides his hometown; Sugar Ray Robinson, perhaps the best boxer ever, fought under his first promotional contract in Philadelphia, appearing there twenty times; and Joe Louis, one of the greatest heavyweights of all time, was trained by a Philadelphia fighter. In Boxing in Philadelphia,Gabe Oppenheim examines the rise and fall of boxing in Philadelphia, and how it often mirrored the city’s own narrative arc. Originating from the tales told to Oppenheim by a retired Philadelphia trainer, this history of boxing is drawn from personal interviews with current and former fighters and managers, from attending the fights in local arenas, and from watching the boxers train in their gyms. In this book, Oppenheim opens a window into the lives of such fighters as Jimmy Young, Meldrick “The Kid” Taylor, Teon Kennedy, and Mike Jones, telling with remarkable detail their struggles, triumphs, and defeats. Throughout, Oppenheim weaves together cultural history, urban studies, and biographical sketches of past boxers to create this comprehensive account of Philadelphia and its fighters. Featuring an array of photographs and exclusive interviews, this book captures the unique history of Philadelphia boxing. It will interest boxing fans, those who enjoy sports and cultural histories, and of course, native Philadelphians who want to discover more about their city and their fighters.

Adventure writer Antonio Graceffo began his eight month long odyssey by living with forest monks, studying kick boxing in Thailand's last Muay Thai Temple. He rode his bicycle to Burma, walked to the top of Chiang Mai's tallest peak, and was the first to attempt to trace the Doi Saket River to its source. A departure from his standard, self-serving brand of humorous, if narcissistic and somewhat offensive, adventure writing, he spent time with the Akha Hill Tribe and documented the plight of a marginalized people. From a canoe trip down the Maekok river, to accompanying tribal people on a hunting trip with cross bows and muzzleloaders, the book is funny, informative, and meaningful.

This stunning book charts the rich history of the blues, through the dazzling array of posters, album covers, and advertisements that have shaped its identity over the past hundred years. The blues have been one of the most ubiquitous but diverse elements of American popular music at large, and the visual art associated with this unique sound has been just as varied and dynamic. There is no better guide to this fascinating graphical world than Bill Dahl—a longtime music journalist and historian who has written liner notes for countless reissues of classic blues, soul, R&B, and rock albums. With his deep knowledge and incisive commentary—complementing more than three hundred and fifty lavishly reproduced images—the history of the blues comes musically and visually to life. What will astonish readers who thumb through these pages is the amazing range of ways that the blues have been represented—whether via album covers, posters, flyers, 78 rpm labels, advertising, or other promotional materials. We see the blues as it was first visually captured in the highly colorful sheet music covers of the early twentieth century. We see striking and hard-to-find label designs from labels big (Columbia) and small (Rhumboogie). We see William Alexander’s humorous artwork on postwar Miltone Records; the cherished ephemera of concert and movie posters; and Chess Records’ iconic early albums designed by Don Bronstein, which would set a new standard for modern album cover design. What these images collectively portray is the evolution of a distinctively American art form. And they do so in the richest way imaginable. The result is a sumptuous book, a visual treasury as alive in spirit as the music it so vibrantly captures.

After attending a concert with his grandmother, Frankie finds his guitar, determined to learn to fingerpick and, with the help of a homeless man, begins to play the blues.

Shaun MacGregor is a complex man who struggles with alcoholism and relationships with women. He becomes involved in a battle for the control of Earth. Groomed by his mentor, John Running Bull, Shaun assists the alien Arcturians in saving humanity from the evil Annunaki. With his psychic abilities, Shaun mediates the transformation of evil humans controlled by the Annunaki, changing monsters into harmless clones by presenting them to the Arcturians for adjustments to their souls. Shaun’s stepfather, Mike “Mad Dog” MacGregor, who appears as a human, is the supreme leader of the Annunaki. A retired Air Force colonial, Mad Dog plots to wipe out humanity, so that his people may colonize Earth. The colonel has long viewed Shaun as his nemesis because Shaun is a Nephilim--half human and half Arcturian. He soon threatens Shaun’s existence. With the help of John Running Bull and the ex-Annunaki cyborg Bart, Shaun, and his new love interest Vicki kayak sixty miles to the point deep in the Red River Gorge area in Eastern Kentucky where they are extracted to safety. Along the way down the river, the group experiences many dangers, including learning of the Annunaki’s plan to wipe out humanity by transforming the Earth’s atmosphere so that it is unable to support human life by replacing oxygen with methane gas and carbon dioxide, perfect for the Annunaki. Human activities such as hydraulic fracturing and fossil fuel consumption have long been wrecking the Earth, but the process is taking too long. Nubira, home planet of the Annunaki, is rapidly being destroyed as their sun turns into a supernova. In addition to speeding up the destruction of the planet, Mad Dog MacGregor urges his cohorts to release a virus via their Annunaki Manchurian candidate in Wuhan, China, thus expediting the complete demise of the human species. Extraction is complete when Shaun and Vicki escape by jumping off Seventy Six Falls near Lake Cumberland in Kentucky. There the pair are forced into a wormhole that deposits them into the decade of the 1950s. Such time travel is the Arcturians’ version of a cosmic witness protection plan. When Shaun and Vicki arrive in the 50s, their identities are altered, but not their souls. Shaun becomes a famous writer and uses his influence for good. Finally, Shaun makes it back to the year 2020, and is faced with horrors that threaten his sanity, and threatens his ability to protect humanity from the evils of the Annunaki. Will Shaun survive long enough to save the planet, or will he become just another instrument in the Annunaki conquest of earth.