A Song to Die For -- a rousing tale mixing love, music, and mystery from Spur Award–winning author Mike Blakely. It's 1975 and guitarist and singer/songwriter Creed Mason hopes to ride the new wave of Texas-style, Austin-based country music all the way back to the big time. A one-hit wonder whose Nashville career was cut short by a trip to Vietnam, Creed is desperate to get back into the business. His break arrives when a country legend, Luster Burnett, comes out of a fifteen-year retirement for one last album and tour in order to pay off a huge debt to the I.R.S. As Luster's new guitarist and band manager, Creed jumps at the chance of a lifetime. Rosa Martini, a beautiful young mob princess from Las Vegas, is found dead just outside of Austin. Texas Ranger Captain Hooley Johnson looks into the case, only to find a second young woman murdered—a friend of Rosa's. To complicate things, Rosa's adoptive brother, mob hit man Franco Martini, is spotted nosing around Austin in the wake of the murders. Soon it appears to Johnson, and to Creed, that the mob-related murders and the band are somehow connected. When the band wins an unexpected booking at the biggest casino in Vegas, Creed begins to wonder what kind of contract his band is being set up for—a major-label recording deal, or a mob hit? At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
An ironically upbeat book that asks some of today’s most inimitable musicians which song they would choose to be the last one they ever hear Variety Best Music Book of 2020 TIME Best Book of Fall 2020 Selection If you could choose the last song you’d hear before you died, what would it be and why? Your favorite song of all time? Perhaps the one you danced to at your wedding? The song from that time you got super stoned and just let the chords speak to you? It’s a hard question that Mike Ayers has thought about for years. In One Last Song, Ayers invites 30 musicians to consider what song they would each want to accompany them to those pearly white gates. Weaving together their explanations with evocative illustrations and poignant interludes—what your song to die to says about you, what songs famous people have died to, and more. The book offers insight into the minds of famous artists and provides an entry point for considering how integral music is to our own personal narratives. Artists Featured: Jim James of My Morning Jacket, André 3000, Killer Mike, Jeff Tweedy of Wilco, Phoebe Bridgers, Richard Reed Parry of Arcade Fire, Sam Beam of Iron & Wine, Colin Meloy of the Decemberists, Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips, Lauren Mayberry of CHVRCHES, A.C. Newman of The New Pornographers, Courtney Barrett, Bobb Bruno of Best Coast, Angel Olsen, Regina Spektor, Kevin Morby, Will Oldham, Julia Holter, Margo Price, Sonny Rollins, Ryley Walker, Merrill Garbus of tUnE-yArDs, Yannis Phillippakis of Foals, Bettye Lavette, M.C. Taylor of Hiss Golden Messenger, Wanda Jackson, Roseanne Cash, Lucinda Williams, and Beth Orton.
Overloaded? Overwhelmed? Overworked? You need ZIP! Today, the fastest way to get more done is to focus on tech management—not time management. Mike Song, with the help of productivity superhero “Z,” shows you that the secret is right at your fingertips. The devices and software you use every day have incredible time-saving features almost nobody knows about! Once you discover them you’ll effortlessly boost your performance and zoom to your goals like never before. ZIP! to what matters most in a single click! Print long phrases in two keystrokes! Convert an Outlook email into a LinkedIn contact in three keystrokes! And so much more! “It takes guts to teach Microsoft leaders new ways to use our own technology. This book exceeded our expectations and had us all zipping along!” —Chuck Metzger, Senior Project Manager, Microsoft “ZIP Tips make your entire organization better, smarter, and faster!” —Elaine Hetu, Director, Six Sigma Training and Career Development, McKesson “ZIP Tips help our busy salespeople soar!” —Brenda Davis, Senior Manager, Worldwide Sales Training, United Airlines
A precise yet disorienting look at the exhilaration of music, the process of memory, and the moments when the world becomes new, by the acclaimed songwriter and author of The Book of Drugs "[Mike Doughty's writing is] astonishingly vital, energized, and natural. . . . acerbic and sometimes lacerating."--RICK MOODY, author of The Long Accomplishment and The Ice Storm In this highly original gathering of autobiographical stories, the musician and writer Mike Doughty, in his inimitable voice, sends dispatches from a touring musician's peripatetic life, vividly recalling moments when profound musical experiences made him see the world anew. I Die Each Time I Hear the Sound consists of sometimes-surreal tales, drawing from conflations of memory, especially formative moments in New York City in the 1990s. It looks at how the avid nostalgia of fans is both a boon and a burden for an artist working to stay vital, and what it is to age while touring, and prolifically releasing new music. He examines the struggle to keep relationships alive while living on the road, and the strangeness of the disconnect between performer and audience. A unique narrative, unstuck in time, and an unforgettable examination of what it is to be an artist in this cultural moment, I Die Each Time I Hear the Sound is funny, vulnerable, and unsparing.
How to succeed in a world immersed in technology. Is technology getting the best of you? Do you need to organize your digital office and boost virtual meeting skills to succeed at work? Meet Claire, a frazzled HR exec so overwhelmed by technology that she feels like a hamster on a wheel. What’s worse, the CEO has asked her to help the rest of the organization improve their digital skills. Yikes! Just in time, Claire meets a coach with a simple system – called TQ – for boosting tech proficiency. He also shares incredible Office 365, Google, and smartphone tips that help everyone get more done. Claire gets immediate results and helps her organization get back on track. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Mike Song is an award‐winning tech blogger and bestselling author of the Hamster Revolution book series. He is one of the best virtual presenters in the world. Mike has helped millions via dynamic interviews with CNN, NPR, and FOX while providing TQ training to over 20% of the Global 1000. Find Mike at www.getcontrol.net email him at info@getcontrol.net
Are meetings taking over your life? You’re not alone. Meet Iris, a sales director so overwhelmed by meetings that she feels like a hamster on a wheel—in fact, she’s turned into one. Just in time, she meets a coach—a leading meeting efficiency expert—with a simple system that helps her regain her sanity and humanity. The coach’s secret is a laser-like focus on the five biggest meeting pain points: 1. Meeting overload: Professionals waste twenty-four days a year in useless meetings. 2. Missing success ingredients: ninety percent of all professionals attend meetings that lack a clearly stated objective and agenda. 3. Virtual-meeting chaos: Disinterested participants + endless technical glitches huge amounts of wasted time. 4. Agenda adrift: Goals are missed when meetings veer off course. 5. Action distraction: Incomplete action items result in delayed projects and missed deadlines. The coach demonstrates that these five challenges are damaging Iris’s career and costing the world over a trillion dollars each year. He provides practical new solutions that rapidly transform Iris from victim to victor. These solutions are tailored to the technology-driven world in which Iris lives—she discovers how to use e-calendars, PDAs, and virtual meetings to make her life easier, not more complicated. She applies the solutions, gets immediate results, and reclaims her life. The Hamster Revolution for Meetings focuses on a small number of high-impact best practices that really work. Included is a landmark case study that shows how 3,000 Capital One associates reclaimed ten days per year while improving meeting effectiveness by over 35 percent.
Music, Lyrics, and Life is the songwriting class you always wish you'd taken, taught by the professor you always wish you'd had. It's a deep dive into the heart of questions asked by songwriters of all levels, from how to begin journaling to when you know that a song is finished. With humor and empathy, acclaimed singer-songwriter Mike Errico unravels both the mystery of songwriting and the logistics of life as a songwriter. For years, this set of tools, prompts, and ideas has inspired students on campuses including Yale, Wesleyan, Berklee, Oberlin, and NYU's Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music. Alongside his own lessons, Errico interviews the writers, producers, and A&R executives behind today's biggest hits and investigates the larger questions of creativity through lively conversations with a wide range of innovative thinkers: astrophysicist Janna Levin explains the importance of repetition, both in choruses and in the exploration of the universe; renowned painter John Currin praises the constraints of form, whether it's within a right-angled canvas or a three-minute pop song; bestselling author George Saunders unpacks the hidden benefit of writing, and revising, authentically; and much more. The result is that Music, Lyrics, and Life ends up revealing as much about the art of songwriting as it does about who we are, and where we may be going. This is a book for songwriters, future content creators, music lovers, and anyone who wants to understand how popular art forms are able to touch us so deeply. Mike Errico has honed these lessons over years of writing, performing, teaching, and mentoring, and no matter where you are on your songwriting journey, Music, Lyrics, and Life will help you build a creative world that's both intrinsic to who you are, and undeniable to whoever is listening.
Offers an easy-to-implement solution to a problem--e-mail and information overload--that plagues millions of people • Draws on the authors' extensive experience working with major corporate clients • Includes a real-world case study of how the principles in the book were implemented at Capital One Do you spend so much time dealing with e-mails--reading them, writing them, responding to them, responding to responses--that you feel like you're just going round and round and getting nowhere? Meet Harold, an HR director so overwhelmed by email he feels like a hamster on a wheel. Just in time, Harold meets a coach--a leading expert on email efficiency and etiquette with a simple system that helps Harold eliminate needless emails, write better messages, and file and find information in a flash. He gets immediate results--and reclaims his life. This delightful and much-needed fable is based on the authors' extensive experience helping employees at companies like Clear Channel, Procter and Gamble, and Pfizer manage e-mail more efficiently. The book includes a remarkable case study of the authors' work with Capital One, where employees estimated they saved thirteen days a year by applying Hamster Revolution techniques. This book is perfect for time-starved professionals eager to restore balance and order to their busy lives.
Shortgrass Song is the saga of young Caleb Holcomb as he makes his way through life in an epic as big as Texas itself. Caleb's adventures take him through Civil War battles, buffalo hunts, Indian wars and barroom shoot-outs. On his way he meets: Snake Woman--the Comanche slave woman who kidnaps him as a child in an attempt to regain her rightful place in the tribe. Kicking Dog--the renegade Arapaho who rampages through the West scalping victims from Texas to Montana. Marisol--the Mexican beauty who bears Caleb's children and wins his love. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Is email taking over your life? Meet Harold, an HR director so overwhelmed by email he feels like a hamster on a wheel. Just in time, Harold meets a coach who shifts his focus from time management to a simple yet surprising new way to manage email. The coach helps Harold conquer email overload, write incredibly effective messages, and get organized forever. Suddenly, Harold can find every file in a flash! Harold saves 15 days a year, reclaims his life, and propels his career to new heights. The Hamster Revolution is packed with surprising strategies and powerful tech tips. It includes a landmark case study that shows how 2,000 Capital One associates each saved over two weeks a year. Now in its tenth printing, this best-seller is a must read for every busy professional.
Reason Why I Sing is a cautionary tale of Mike Spears’s experiences as an artist for a major recording label and his journey through the dark side of the music industry. Names, companies, and other details have been changed in the story to protect the privacy of those involved, but the stories documented are all based on real-life events. Mike details his humble beginnings in small-town Illinois and his journey to Atlanta, a major music city that has produced some of the biggest stars of R&B and other genres. During his time as a signed artist, Mike recalls dealing with sexual manipulation, betrayal, and loss. He writes about losing himself and his values on the way to stardom, as well as his path back to being true to himself and his art. “I am exposing a lot about myself. I become completely naked and allow my flaws to show in this story. I’ve lived a life where I have pretended to be more than I was, till one day I was sick of myself. I had grown annoyed with who I was because it was fake and lacking substance,” says Spears of those days. "I'm the type that if a book doesn't get me interested within the first two pages, I'm done... The story, writing and heart of Mike Spears didn't let this rare reader put it down.The cold honesty made every one of my emotions run high throughout the book with a mix of heartache, loss and warmth. A definite read and a true story that everyone should read as it would make the world a better place and expose the ugly side of the entertainment industry" -Dane Butch/Entertainment Director, ECP
Mike Blakely again takes us on the trail with cowboy musician Caleb Holcomb. Caleb now becomes embroiled in Wyoming's Johnson County War, the Arapaho uprisings, the West's bloody cattle wars, the great cattle drives, and the wild, lawless land rushes that settled the Indian Territory. Through it all Caleb finds music, friends, and wonderful women. But will he ever settle down with Amelia Holcomb, his brother's widow, the only woman he's ever loved? Or will he stay too long at the dance? At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Poetic Song Verse: Blues-Based Popular Music and Poetry invokes and critiques the relationship between blues-based popular music and poetry in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The volume is anchored in music from the 1960s, when a concentration of artists transformed modes of popular music from entertainment to art-that-entertains. Musician Mike Mattison and literary historian Ernest Suarez synthesize a wide range of writing about blues and rock—biographies, histories, articles in popular magazines, personal reminiscences, and a selective smattering of academic studies—to examine the development of a relatively new literary genre dubbed by the authors as “poetic song verse.” They argue that poetic song verse was nurtured in the fifties and early sixties by the blues and in Beat coffee houses, and matured in the mid-to-late sixties in the art of Bob Dylan, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Gil Scott-Heron, Van Morrison, and others who used voice, instrumentation, arrangement, and production to foreground semantically textured, often allusive, and evocative lyrics that resembled and engaged poetry. Among the questions asked in Poetic Song Verse are: What, exactly, is this new genre? What were its origins? And how has it developed? How do we study and assess it? To answer these questions, Mattison and Suarez engage in an extended discussion of the roots of the relationship between blues-based music and poetry and address how it developed into a distinct literary genre. Unlocking the combination of richly textured lyrics wedded to recorded music reveals a dynamism at the core of poetic song verse that can often go unrealized in what often has been considered merely popular entertainment. This volume balances historical details and analysis of particular songs with accessibility to create a lively, intelligent, and cohesive narrative that provides scholars, teachers, students, music influencers, and devoted fans with an overarching perspective on the poetic power and blues roots of this new literary genre.
Shares the author's story of her choice to put her family before her singing career to encourage readers to follow their faith and connect with their inner voice to create a meaningful life.
Cult poet and musician Mike Doughty makes his print debut with Slanky, a black-comic stroll through the demimonde of pop culture and modern urban life. Doughty's poems are at once absurdest and matter-of-fact; the images he conjures are thrown into high relief through cutting wordplay. In a series of prose poems about showbiz, he re imagines Cookie Monster as a burned-out suicide, and cheesy talk-show host Joe Franklin as a cross-dressing witness to the apocalypse. And in "For Charlotte, Unlisted" he wrenchingly tracks the elusive memory of a faded romance.
Everyone who listens to music hears a song on the radio or on a CD that they can relate to. Sometimes they relate so much, they sometimes wonder if that artist wrote the song about them. But Thatas Another Song is about a young man by the name of Rob Baymont. He just recently went through a bad breakup with someone whom he had been seeing for about six years, he loses his job, and because of that almost loses his home. He meets a gentleman at a local pub for drinks and to discuss a possible job, and as he is traveling home on a dark county road he sees a car parked in the parking lot of an old abandoned church. He hears a woman screaming in agony and fright and rushes into the church to find out whatas going on, but heas too late. The woman is dragged off and possibly abducted. Rob calls the police and files a report. One morning the detective Rob spoke with asks Rob to meet him at the church to canvass the area. Will they find clues as to who the woman was or who took her? What happened to the woman? The only way to find out is to read the novel. During Robas adventure, he meets a woman and falls head over heels for her when he thought he could never love again. This novel is a dramatic, suspenseful romance story. Thereas something here for everyone.
Mike Love and Brian Wilson's world-famous song, gloriously illustrated by Paul Hoppe, will bring smiles to the faces of children and parents alike. I'm pickin' up good vibrations She's giving me the excitations (oom bop bop) I'm pickin' up good vibrations (good vibrations, oom bop bop) She's giving me the excitations (excitations, oom bop bop) Good Vibrations is a lively picture book based on Mike Love and Brian Wilson's number one hit about absorbing positive energy from the people around them. Often praised as one of the most important compositions in rock, the Beach Boys' original version of this song was their third number one Billboard hit. With lyrics by Brian Wilson and Mike Love, and illustrations by Paul Hoppe, this picture book follows a girl and her dog as they make their way down to the beach, sharing good vibrations all along the way. Parents and children alike can share and enjoy one of rock's greatest hits through the colorful pages of Good Vibrations. Released in 1966, this is one of the defining and iconic songs of the era The recording involved the then-revolutionary process of tape-splicing, cutting up and editing pieces of the master tape together The musicians used in the recording of the song included members of the Wrecking Crew, the legendary set of Los Angeles session studio players Beach Boys publicist Derek Taylor described the song as a "pocket symphony" (Derek was the former press officer for the Beatles and the Beach Boys, and worked with the Byrds and the Mamas & the Papas, among others) The unusual sound featured in the song's chorus was produced by an electrotheremin The song was a transatlantic number one, reaching the top spot in both the USA and the UK The song was the last US number one the Beach Boys achieved in the 1960s Inducted into both the Grammy and Rock & Roll Halls of Fame Rolling Stone ranked the song at number six on its 2010 list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All-Time In 2001, the RIAA and the National Endowment for the Arts published their Songs of the Century list, with "Good Vibrations" at number 24 The song is part of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's permanent exhibition,500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll
When Muhammad Ali died, many mourned the life of the greatest sportsman the world had ever seen. In Redemption Song, Mike Marqusee argues that Ali was not just a boxer but a remarkable political figure in a decade of tumultuous change. Playful, popular, always confrontational, Ali refashioned the role of a political activist and was central, alongside figures such as Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, to the black liberation and the anti-war movements. Marqusee shows that sport and politics were always intertwined, and this is the reason why Ali remained an international beacon of hope, long after he had left the ring.
Mike Weaver, lead singer of Big Daddy Weave, shares from personal experience how when all we can see is our struggles and failures, God reminds us of who we are. . . . His children. Loved. Set free. Redeemed. I Am Redeemed is an open book of Mike Weaver's life, bringing into the light everything from his battle with self-hatred to the near death of his brother and bandmate, who ultimately had both feet amputated to save his life. Mike shares the lessons learned in the loss of his father and dealing with the spirit of suicide within his band, Big Daddy Weave. At the lowest of lows, with Mike feeling rejected and alone, God broke through to speak truth and life into him. Thankful for God's plan and timing and methods, he is especially grateful for the new identity Jesus had paid for on the cross. In spite of his faults and failures, Mike learned that only God can take the stuff you hate about yourself and use it to reach people. Through the million-selling song "Redeemed" and now the powerful story behind it, as well as inspiration from Scripture, you will be encouraged to embrace God's redeeming grace so you, too, have the opportunity to be beautiful offerings to the Lord.
Jared, moving slowly, touched the liquid, a mouth formed What is wrong, Great king? Jared explained his wound, I think there may be something wrong still, my friend. I need your special skill to investigate, Jared said. You honour me greatly, My King. Please dip your finger into the cup and leave it there. I will explain to your Healer as I work. Jared did so. Now, as part of me travels to the site of the wound through his blood system, I will try to explain. What you see in the goblet is not liquid, though it appears to be. It is millions upon millions of extremely small units.
Song of Solomon like you never imagined ... A prophetic mystery revealed The Prophecy of Solomon examines the Song of Solomon as prophetic look into the Church Age, revealing both the individual and corporate Bride's journey of discovery, first of the King, Jesus, and then herself as the Bride and "Church" becoming, one made ready for her King. In this hidden treasure written thousands of years before the events took place, discover how The Lord both concealed and revealed in the Song of Solomon such things as: The first and second coming of Jesus, the crucifixion, the arrival of the Holy Spirit, and the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. See how the Holy Spirit inspired Solomon to portray the Shulamite bride's journey of transformation through salvation, sanctification, growth, awakening, and healing that enabled her to become a glorious and evangelistic reflection of her Bridegroom King, Jesus.
Customized songwriter, Mike McCracken has been writing songs most his life. He even wrote songs on the radio for 4 years. Some of these songs are included in this book. Some of his songs are considered heart wrenching and made the people he wrote for even cry even on the radio. Jesus went around healing people and never asked for anything in return to show God's Love. As a Christian songwriter, Mike believes that he is like Jesus healing and has never asking for anything in return. He writes songs for free. His songs really work. The songs have saved marriages, helped with family and brought lovers back together when all seemed hopeless. One man told Mike that there is too much water under the bridge. They will never get back together. He died in her arms. They got back together. "Need a song written for your Love and Tears? I am a Customized Songwriter, I am like a Psychologist. People tell me their story and instead of giving advice I write their song and their song is the cure." Warning: This book will affect your emotions. It is full of real true life Love and Tears. About the Author: Mike has traveled the world writing songs and teaching while entertaining and singing his songs. He considers the world his stage and his classroom. Being overly creative Mike thinks very different than the world. He travels a different path. He considers himself to be the only normal one. He claims to see things and know things which helps him write his songs because it gives him great understanding. Maybe, that is why his songs work. They truly are a gift from God especially to the people he writes for because you can feel the emotions. God has given him a life of travel and adventure never staying in the same place more than three years. His songs show his life experiences and others very well. His sister said that Mike lives like he's retired. He lives like a rich man on a poor man's salary. Someone once told him that he cannot travel the world without money. He did it at least
Scott Ezell s book-length poem Petroglyph Americana was published by Empty Bowl Press in 2010. Yusef Komunyakaa won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1994 for Neon Vernacular. Thomas Merton wrote more than seventy books on spirituality, social justice, and pacifism. He was a Trappist monk, and pioneered dialogue with prominent Asian spiritual figures, including the Dalai Lama, D.T. Suzuki, and Thich Nhat Hanh. Mike O'Connor is a poet, writer, and translator of Chinese. He has published eight books, most recently Immortality and Unnecessary Talking: The Montesano Stories (both from Pleasure Boat Studio). He has received an NEA Literature Fellowship and an Artist Trust Fellowship.
There is a wide variation in the opinion and practice of Bible-believing churches regarding music. Unfortunately, music is to often a source of contention. Becuase of the wide variance in opinion, I hesitate to present my views. They will seem strangely reactionary to some and too flexible to others...Mike D. Zachary
Jareds Song S- sometimes I dream special dreams. Alisha nodded her hand on her daughters shoulder. I dreamed that he was a snake in his wagon at night, and he was talking to rats riding wolves. I- I was frightened. Jared frowned, rubbing his chin. Druna peeked up at him, I dreamed of you too, just before I found you. You were a big lion with gold on your head.
Thank you for visiting our website. Would you like to provide feedback on how we could improve your experience?
This site does not use any third party cookies with one exception — it uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and to analyze traffic.Learn More.