A Riff of Love

A Riff of Love
Author: Greg Jarrell
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 157
Release: 2018-10-12
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1532633262

Surprising teachers. Tragic losses. Unexpected gifts. Every neighborhood has stories, and ways of singing the stories of their place. Start digging in, and you find all sorts of music. In a neighborhood skilled in improvisation, like Enderly Park, you also discover new ways to sing those songs, and a choir of new kinfolk to sing them with. Since 2005, author and saxophonist Greg Jarrell has been learning the songs of Enderly Park, his Charlotte neighborhood. A Riff of Love explores the riffs and melodies that comprise the life of the neighborhood and of QC Family Tree, the hospitality house where he lives. Though neighbors there face significant economic and political barriers, they still thrive. Funny, heartbreaking, and challenging in equal measure, these stories and essays about life in Enderly Park will surely inspire new improvisations towards community and neighbor-love for everyone who reads them.

Lit Riffs

Lit Riffs
Author: Jonathan Lethem
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 437
Release: 2007-11-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1416586458

Following in the footsteps of the late great Lester Bangs -- the most revered and irreverent of rock 'n' roll critics -- twenty-four celebrated writers have penned stories inspired by great songs. Just as Bangs cast new light on a Rod Stewart classic with his story "Maggie May," about a wholly unexpected connection between an impressionable young man and an aging, alcoholic hooker, the diverse, electrifying stories here use songs as a springboard for a form dubbed the lit riff. Alongside Bangs's classic work, you'll find stories by J.T. LeRoy, who puts a recovering teenage drug abuser in a dentist's chair with nothing but the Foo Fighters's "Everlong" -- blaring through the P.A. -- to fight the pain; Jonathan Lethem, whose narrator looks back on his lost innocence just as an extramarital affair careens to an end -- this to the tune "Speeding Motorcycle" as recorded by Yo La Tengo; and Jennifer Belle, who envisions a prequel to Paul Simon's "Graceland" -- one that takes place at a children's birthday party replete with a real live kangaroo. With original contributions from Tom Perrotta, Nelson George, Amanda Davis, Lisa Tucker, Aimee Bender, Darin Strauss, and many more -- riffing on everyone from Tom Waits and Bruce Springsteen to the White Stripes, Cat Power, and Bob Marley -- this is both an astounding collection of short stories and an extraordinary experiment in words and music. Soundtrack available from Saturation Acres Music & Recording Co.

The Book of Love

The Book of Love
Author: Roger Rosenblatt
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 97
Release: 2015-01-20
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0062349449

The beloved New York Times bestselling author Making Toast and Kayak Morning returns with a powerful meditation on a universal subject: love. In The Book of Love, Roger Rosenblatt explores love in all its moods and variations—romantic love, courtship, battle, mystery, marriage, heartbreak, fury, confusion, melancholy, delirium, ecstasy; love of family, of friends; love of home, of country, of work, of writing, of solitude, of art; love of nature; love of life itself. Rosenblatt is on a quest to illuminate this elusive and essential emotion, to define this thing called love. Cleverly using lines from love songs to create a flowing ballad—as infectious and engaging as a jazz riff—he intersperses fictional vignettes that capture lovers in different situations, ages, and temperaments along with notes addressed to “you,” his wife of fifty years. “The story I have to tell is of you. Of others, too. Other people, other things. But mainly of you. It begins and ends with you. It always comes back to you.” Lively yet profound, poignant yet joyous, The Book of Love is a triumph of intellect and imagination: a personal discourse on love that is both novel and timeless.

Sonny Rollins

Sonny Rollins
Author: Hugh Wyatt
Publisher:
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2018-08-15
Genre: Jazz musicians
ISBN: 9780998121925

Jazz legend Sonny Rollins spent his youth hustling on the streets of his native Harlem, but over time the tenor saxophonist shifted gears and developed the reputation of being "the world's greatest living jazz musician." Did he deserve such a lofty title? This biography, entitled Sonny Rollins: Meditating on a Riff, will attempt to answer this and other questions. However, it will not be a regurgitation of previous books or articles that focus exclusively on jazz. Instead, the major focus of this book will be on Sonny's adventurous foray into spirituality and even the occult. The secretive Sonny experimented with certain esoteric forms of yoga and spirituality, such as Rosicrucianism and other otherworldly practices. His goal was not only to achieve God-realization, among other things, but to develop certain powers that would enable him to unlock the secrets of the universe. Wyatt's riveting biography offers a unique glimpse into the psyche of one of the most reclusive figures in jazz. It is is a tell-all that reveals intimate and unpublished details of his fascinating life directly from Sonny himself, as well as his family members and close friends.

Love and Shame and Love

Love and Shame and Love
Author: Peter Orner
Publisher: Little, Brown
Total Pages: 361
Release: 2011-11-07
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 031619154X

Alexander Popper can't stop remembering. Four years old when his father tossed him into Lake Michigan, he was told, Sink or swim, kid. In his mind, he's still bobbing in that frigid water. The rest of this novel's vivid cast of characters also struggle to remain afloat: Popper's mother, stymied by an unhappy marriage, seeks solace in the relentless energy of Chicago; his brother, Leo, shadow boss of the family, retreats into books; paternal grandparents, Seymour and Bernice, once high fliers, now mourn for long lost days; his father, a lawyer and would-be politician obsessed with his own success, fails to see that the family is falling apart; and his college girlfriend, the fiercely independent Kat, wrestles with impossible choices. Covering four generations of the Popper family, Peter Orner illuminates the countless ways that love both makes us whole and completely unravels us. A comic and sorrowful tapestry of memory of connection and disconnection, Love and Shame and Love explores the universals with stunning originality and wisdom.

Thriving on a Riff

Thriving on a Riff
Author: William G. Carter
Publisher: Augsburg Fortress Publishers
Total Pages: 235
Release: 2024
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1506497608

Presbyterian minister and jazz pianist Bill Carter traces the meaning and spirituality of jazz, weaving together stories from the history of American music with his own experiences and those of generations of jazz musicians. As we encounter the transcendence of jazz, we meet a God who not only embraces syncopation but blesses the swing.

Listen to This If You Love Great Music

Listen to This If You Love Great Music
Author: Robin Murray
Publisher: Ivy Press
Total Pages: 226
Release: 2021-06-01
Genre: Music
ISBN: 071125608X

Listen To This If You Love Great Music is a must read for anyone with even a passing interest in music. Featuring 100 of the best albums from the last four decades, clashmusic.com​ editor Robin Murray shares his passion for exceptional music and offers insightful takes on what elevates these records above the competition. Robin steers clear of the usual classics – The Beatles and The Clash, for example – and instead goes deep into his record collection to pull out the albums he considers the greatest ever. For each, a solid case is made for why it represents a watershed moment in music history, outlining the story behind the record and critiquing what constitutes a classic. Uniquely curated to offer a fresh perspective on the last 40-plus years of music, find politically charged rock brushing shoulders with dub-infused electronica, progressive pop and dreamy shoegaze shaken awake by ear-drum rattling grime and house music. Whether it’s bass-heavy hip-hop from Nas that inspired a thousand MCs to pick up a mic or experimental indie dance from LCD Soundsystem that blurred genres and tempted musicians to trade in their guitars for synthesizers, this is an essential rundown of the albums that really matter. You need to play them loud.

The Love Letters of Abelard and Lily

The Love Letters of Abelard and Lily
Author: Laura Creedle
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Total Pages: 355
Release: 2017
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0544932056

Lily, who has attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and Abelard, who has Asperger's, meet in detention and discover a mutual affinity for love letters--and, despite their differences, each other.

Access All Areas

Access All Areas
Author: Scott Ian
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Total Pages: 232
Release: 2017-12-12
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0306825244

Entertaining, crazy, and hilarious stories from Scott Ian of Anthrax Scott Ian, famous for cofounding legendary thrash metal band Anthrax and only slightly less so for his iconic beard, has done and seen a lot in his decades of touring. Those of you who have read Scott's memoir I'm the Man may know the history of the band, but Access All Areas divulges all the zany, bizarre, funny, and captivating tales of what went on when the band wasn't busy crafting chart-topping albums. In his more than thirty years immersed in the hard rock scene, Scott has witnessed haunting acts of depravity backstage, punched a legendary musician, been a bouncer at an exclusive night club, guest-starred with Anthrax on Married with Children, invaded a fellow rock star's home, played poker professionally, gone on a non-date with a certain material girl, appeared on The Walking Dead, and much more. Access All Areas allows its readers to do just that. With humor, candor, hindsight, and writing chops that would make Stephen King jealous (nope, not even on Bizarro world), Scott Ian takes his fans along for the ride at all the parties, hot spots, and behind-the-scenes shenanigans they will never hear about from anyone else. And none of it would have happened without a bit of divine inspiration from KISS. (No, seriously. Read chapter two.) Best of all, Scott seemingly lacks the ability to be embarrassed, making Access All Areas howlingly funny, self-deprecating, and every bit as brash and brazen as one would expect from one of the original architects of speed metal.

Love the One You're With

Love the One You're With
Author: Emily Giffin
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 376
Release: 2009-04-21
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9780312348663

From the blockbuster bestselling author of "Something Borrowed, Something Blue" and "Baby Proof" comes an emotionally charged work about a chance encounter that forces one woman to question her decisions, her marriage, and herself.