Take a handful of students, their favourite songs and some crazy ideas, what do you get? Mixed stories of humour, love, the bizarre and the twisted. All named after popular hit singles by acts from all walks of life. Just like us. Songs like Crazy Frog in da House, Vogue, If I Were a Boy and The Theme From Shaft, are all given a new lease of life within these pages.

How to Get a Break as a Writer deals with an area of writing for a living that remains virtually untouched by most other titles. This is a book about getting breaks, making your own luck and getting hopeful writers to the stage of being taken seriously. It is not a book that tells you how to write your novel, but instead focusses on the range of paid writing opportunities that exist for budding writers. Honest, insightful and challenging, How To Get a Break as a Writer tells it like it is, pulls no punches and delivers a series of chapters setting out the problems faced by aspiring writers. Packed with examples of success and failure, How to Get a Break as a Writer could be your ticket to a new dimension in your writing life.

As enigmatic and contradictory as far West Texas has always been, it is nevertheless surprising to learn that in 1925 its desert germinated a slender but vibrant shoot of the Harlem Renaissance. Isolated on the U.S.-Mexico border, far from any metropolitan African-American community or literary influences, Bernice Love Wiggins, a perceptive young poet, self-published her first, apparently only, book of poetry. One of only a handful of black writers in Texas in the 1920s and 1930s, Wiggins was contemporary with Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, and Zora Neale Hurston and was among the first female African-American poets published in the United States. Just as the Harlem movement focused on experiences of black Americans who sought relief from racism and endeavored to build communities, Tuneful Tales gives voice to the many-sided black experience in remote El Paso. Whatever Wiggins may have known of her contemporaries more than half a continent away or of the movement itself may never be clear. Disappointingly, after her move to California in the early 1930s, the trail grows cold. Yet the composed young woman who gazes so wisely, if dreamily, from her high school photographs evoked her personae so compellingly in both timbre and substance that great folklorist and critic J. Mason Brewer proclaimed her the female Paul Laurence Dunbar. Ethiopia Speaks Lynched! Somewhere in the South, the "Land of the Free," To a very strong branch of a dogwood tree. Lynched! One of my sons, -- When the flag was in danger they answered the call I gave them black sons, ah! yes, gave them all When you came to me. And Now Goodnight I have told you tuneful tales, Gathered from the hills and vales, Wheresoever mine own people chanced to dwell. If the tales have brought you mirth, Brought more laughter to the earth, It is well. Maceo Dailey is the director of the African American Studies Program of the University of Texas El Paso and a governor's appointee to the Texas Council For The Humanities and Juneteenth Commission.

Embark on a Melodic Odyssey: The Pathway to Masterful Song Composition At the core of every beat pulsing through the speakers and every tune humming in our heads lies the intricate art of songwriting--a journey where sound meets soul, melodies mingle with emotions, and chords capture stories. Harmonic Horizons is not simply a book; it's a compass pointing towards the untapped musical landscapes within you. Start with the seed of an idea; let it grow and flourish as you delve into the Essence of Songwriting. Understand the delicate balance between the craft and the artistry that forms the blueprint of unforgettable songs. As you turn each page, you are guided to harness your musical imagination, turning whispers of creativity into roars of symphonic triumph. The journey continues with the essential Building Blocks of Melody. Structure the skeleton of your tune into a framework of awe, guiding you to compose melodies that resonate and endure. The exploration pushes further into the enigmatic world of Harmony and Chord Progressions, where the hands of harmony paint the canvas of your listeners' souls. The quest for the perfect tune is rhythm's dance, and Rhythm and Groove are the steps to mastering this dance. Understand the backbone that propels your song into the hearts and onto the feet of your audience. Then, venture into the soul of your song with Lyricism and Storytelling; where each word, each verse, becomes a confidant to the tales you yearn to tell. Delve into the array of Song Structures and Forms, discovering the architecture behind the music. From the bones to the skin, your song will take shape. Yet, instruments and arrangement--the colours of your sonic palette--are all covered within the pages, equipping you to orchestrate a masterpiece. From conception to the final note, Harmonic Horizons is a beacon for navigating the odyssey of song composition. It accompanies you as you overcome common obstacles, fine-tune your workflow, and delve into the sanctum of collaboration and co-writing. Embark on this voyage of discovery; let each chord you strike be an echo of your innermost stories and dreams. Harmonic Horizons awaits to be the mentor for your muse, the guardian of your musical voyage, transforming the echo into a symphony.

Two novellas by S. Y. Abramovitsh open this collection of the best short works by three influential nineteenth-century Jewish authors. Abra- movitsh’s alter ego—Mendele the Book Peddler—introduces himself and narrates both The Little Man and Fishke the Lame. His cast of characters includes Isaac Abraham as tailor’s apprentice, choirboy, and corrupt businessman; Mendele’s friend Wine ’n’ Candles Alter; and Fishke, who travels through the Ukraine with a caravan of beggars. Sholem Aleichem’s lively stories reintroduce us to Tevye, the gregarious dairyman, as he describes the pleasures of raising his independent-minded daughters. These are followed by short monologues in which Aleichem gives voice to unforgettable characters from Eastern Europe to the Lower East Side. Finally, I. L. Peretz’s neo-hasidic tales draw on hasidic traditions in the service of modern literature. These stories provide an unsentimental look back at Jewish life in Eastern Europe. Although nostalgia occasionally colors their prose, the writers were social critics who understood the shortcomings of shtetl life. For the general reader, these translations breathe new life into the extraordinary worlds of Yiddish literature. The introduction, glossary, and biographical essays contemporaneous to each author put those worlds into context, making the book indispensable to students and scholars of Yiddish culture.

The #1 New York Times Bestseller * Named one of Variety's Best Music Books of 2021 * Included in Audible's Best of The Year list * A Business Insider Best Memoirs of 2021 * One of NME's Best Music Books of 2021 So, I've written a book. Having entertained the idea for years, and even offered a few questionable opportunities ("It's a piece of cake! Just do 4 hours of interviews, find someone else to write it, put your face on the cover, and voila!") I have decided to write these stories just as I have always done, in my own hand. The joy that I have felt from chronicling these tales is not unlike listening back to a song that I've recorded and can't wait to share with the world, or reading a primitive journal entry from a stained notebook, or even hearing my voice bounce between the Kiss posters on my wall as a child. This certainly doesn't mean that I'm quitting my day job, but it does give me a place to shed a little light on what it's like to be a kid from Springfield, Virginia, walking through life while living out the crazy dreams I had as young musician. From hitting the road with Scream at 18 years old, to my time in Nirvana and the Foo Fighters, jamming with Iggy Pop or playing at the Academy Awards or dancing with AC/DC and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, drumming for Tom Petty or meeting Sir Paul McCartney at Royal Albert Hall, bedtime stories with Joan Jett or a chance meeting with Little Richard, to flying halfway around the world for one epic night with my daughters…the list goes on. I look forward to focusing the lens through which I see these memories a little sharper for you with much excitement.