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Blubberina (Bad News Ballet #5)
by Jahnna N. Malcolm[from the back cover] "Do they make diet Twinkies? It's time for the gang to get their toe shoes. Finally they'll be real ballerinas! But then Gwen flunks the toe shoe test--she's too heavy and out of shape to work out in the satin shoes. And if that isn't bad enough, Courtney and the Bullheads tell Gwen she's a...Blubberina. The gang is fighting mad! No one gets away with calling them names. McGee, Zan, Rocky, and Mary Bubnik are going to help Gwen lose that weight and get her toe shoes. Because those Bullheads are nothing but a bunch of Blabberinas!" There are more funny situations in store for these ballet school friends who like each other more than they like ballet. The Bookshare collection has the whole series. Check out #1 The Terrible Try outs, #2 Battle of the Bunheads, #3 Stupid Cupids, #4 Who Framed Mary Bubnik, #5 Blubberina, #6 Save D.A.D., #7 The King and Us, #8 Camp Clodhopper, #9 Boo Who?, and #10 A Dog Named Toe Shoe.
Blue: The Color of Noise
by Steve Aoki Daniel PaisnerThe music. The mix. His life."[A] passionate, introspective memoir." —Publishers Weekly"Sometimes I think my whole life can be seen through shades of blue..." —Steve AokiBlue is the remarkable story—in pictures and words—of Steve Aoki, the superstar DJ/producer who started his career as a vegan straightedge hardcore music kid hellbent on defying his millionaire father, whose unquenchable thirst to entertain—inherited from his dad, Rocky Aoki, founder of Benihana—led him to global success and two Grammy nominations. Ranked among the top ten DJs in the world today, Grammy-nominated artist, producer, label head, fashion designer, philanthropist and entrepreneur Steve Aoki is an authentic global trendsetter and tastemaker who has been instrumental in defining contemporary youth culture. Known for his outrageous stage antics (cake throwing, champagne spraying, and the ‘Aoki Jump’) and his endearing personality, Steve is also the brains behind indie record label Dim Mak, which broke acts such as The Kills, Bloc Party, and The Gossip. Dim Mak also put out the first releases by breakout EDM stars The Chainsmokers and The Bloody Beetroots, as well as the early releases for Grammy-nominated artist Iggy Azalea, in addition to EDM star Zedd and electro duo MSTRKFT. In Blue, Aoki recounts the epic highs of music festivals, clubs and pool parties around the world, as well as the lows of friendships lost to drugs and alcohol, and his relationship with his flamboyant father. Illustrated with candid photos gathered throughout his life, the book reveals how Aoki became a force of nature as an early social media adopter, helping to turn dance music into the phenomenon it is today. All this, while remaining true to his DIY punk rock principles, which value spontaneity, fun and friendship above all else—demonstrable by the countless cakes he has flung across cities worldwide.
Blue Beyond Blue: Extraordinary Tales for Ordinary Dilemmas
by Lauren SlaterOver the course of five books, psychologist Slater has taken readers through her experiences with mental illness and Prozac, her professional work with fellow sufferers, and her becoming a mother. Obviously, writing is an important aspect of her life; she now addresses her belief that writing is therapeutic and describes her use of narrative psychotherapy, a practice that allows patients to gain perspective on their problems by writing stories. Slater discovered that the best form to emulate is the fairy tale, and to demonstrate just how liberating self-generated fairy tales can be, she offers a potent set of her own tales, enchanting and disturbing stories packed with symbols and archetypal dilemmas. Here are mothers and daughters struggling with love and independence, a husband and wife in a power play, a tale about pharmaceuticals, stories about eroticism, our animal selves, mysterious ailments, and healing. Inspired and barbed, Slater's fairy tales are irresistible, great fun to read and to interpret. Donna Seaman
Blue-Collar Hollywood: Liberalism, Democracy, and Working People in American Film
by John BodnarSelected by Choice Magazine as an Outstanding Academic Title for 2003From Tom Joad to Norma Rae to Spike Lee's Mookie in Do the Right Thing, Hollywood has regularly dramatized the lives and struggles of working people in America. Ranging from idealistic to hopeless, from sympathetic to condescending, these portrayals confronted audiences with the vital economic, social, and political issues of their times while providing a diversion—sometimes entertaining, sometimes provocative—from the realities of their own lives.In Blue-Collar Hollywood, John Bodnar examines the ways in which popular American films made between the 1930s and the 1980s depicted working-class characters, comparing these cinematic representations with the aspirations of ordinary Americans and the promises made to them by the country's political elites. Based on close and imaginative viewings of dozens of films from every genre—among them Public Enemy, Black Fury, Baby Face, The Grapes of Wrath, It's a Wonderful Life, I Married a Communist, A Streetcar Named Desire, Peyton Place, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Coal Miner's Daughter, and Boyz N the Hood—this book explores such topics as the role of censorship, attitudes toward labor unions and worker militancy, racism, the place of women in the workforce and society, communism and the Hollywood blacklist, and faith in liberal democracy.Whether made during the Great Depression, World War II, the Cold War, or the Vietnam era, the majority of films about ordinary working Americans, Bodnar finds, avoided endorsing specific political programs, radical economic reform, or overtly reactionary positions. Instead, these movies were infused with the same current of liberalism and popular notion of democracy that flow through the American imagination.
Blue Door Venture: Blue Door 4 (Blue Door #4)
by Pamela BrownThe fourth book in the Blue Door series, which starts with The Swish of the Curtain, the classic story which inspired actors from Maggie Smith to Eileen Atkins.The seven young members of the Blue Door Theatre Company are, at long last, professional actors. And they are now proudly in charge of the first commercial theatre in their hometown of Fenchester. But the day-to-day pressures of financing the theatre and choosing box-office attractions are soon eclipsed by an event that threatens to close the theatre almost as soon as it has opened.Following the characters from the classic of children's literature The Swish of the Curtain on an adventure which takes them far from the stage of the Blue Door Theatre, Blue Door Venture is the fourth book in the Blue Door series.
The Blue Light
by Mieko OuchiLeni Riefenstahl, one hundred years old, is in the office of a young female Hollywood studio executive. Leni’s reason to be there is clear: to make one last desperate pitch to direct her first feature film in fifty years. A thought-provoking contemplation on art, politics, and the seduction of fascism, and a theatrical examination of a woman who danced one perfect dance with the devil and forever changed the way films are made.Leni Riefenstahl was one of the most remarkable and controversial women of the twentieth century. Dancer, actor, photographer, and filmmaker, Riefenstahl caught the eye of Adolf Hitler with her prodigious first film: The Blue Light. A cinematic innovator, her decision to direct Triumph of the Will, got her blacklisted as a filmmaker until her death in 2003 at 101, unrepentant and mostly forgotten.
Blue Ridge Billy
by Lois LenskiA young boy dreams of music and sunshine in the Great Smoky Mountains As far as Billy is concerned, there's no sight more beautiful than the sun setting over the Blue Ridge Mountains. When the day is done, he sneaks away from his work to watch the sun go down. If his father knew, he would call Billy lazy, but Mama would understand. She knows life in the mountains is hard and that there's no point in living if a person can't take time to appreciate what he has. Billy dreams of the day when he can pick up his fiddle and sing the folk songs of his people. Until then, he will be content with the sun. This beautifully written novel tells a story of simple fun and irresistible pleasures in 1 of the most beautiful regions in the United States.
Blue Sky Body: Thresholds for Embodied Research
by Ben SpatzBlue Sky Body: Thresholds for Embodied Research is the follow-up to Ben Spatz's 2015 book What a Body Can Do, charting a course through more than twenty years of embodied, artistic, and scholarly research. Emerging from the confluence of theory and practice, this book combines full-length critical essays with a kaleidoscopic selection of fragments from journal entries, performance texts, and other unpublished materials to offer a series of entry points organized by seven keywords: city, song, movement, theater, sex, document, politics. Brimming with thoughtful and sometimes provocative takes on embodiment, technology, decoloniality, the university, and the politics of knowledge, the work shared here models the integration of artistic and embodied research with critical thought, opening new avenues for transformative action and experimentation. Invaluable to scholars and practitioners working through and beyond performance, Blue Sky Body is both an unconventional introduction to embodied research and a methodological intervention at the edges of contemporary theory.
Blue Tights
by Rita Williams-GarciaGrowing up in a city neighborhood, fifteen-year-old Joyce, unsure of herself and not quite comfortable with her maturing body, tries to find a place to belong and a way to express herself through dance.
The Blue Touch Paper: A Memoir
by David Hare"Frank, moving, and beguiling, The Blue Touch Paper is the fascinating story of becoming a writer in the 1960s and 70s when Britain was changing even faster than the author."--Joan Didion David Hare has long been one of Britain's best-known screenwriters and dramatists. He's the author of more than thirty acclaimed plays that have appeared on Broadway, in the West End, and at the National Theatre. He wrote the screenplays for the hugely successful films The Hours, Plenty, and The Reader. Most recently, his play Skylight won the 2015 Tony Award for Best Revival on Broadway. Now, in his debut work of autobiography, "Britain's leading contemporary playwright" (Sunday Times) offers a vibrant and affecting account of becoming a writer amid the enormous flux of postwar England. In his customarily dazzling prose and with great warmth and humor, he takes us from his university days at Cambridge to the swinging 1960s, when he cofounded the influential Portable Theatre in London and took a memorable road trip across America, to his breakthrough successes as a playwright amid the political ferment of the '70s and the moment when Margaret Thatcher came to power at the end of the decade. Through it all, Hare sets the progress of his own life against the dramatic changes in postwar England, in which faith in hierarchy, religion, empire, and the public good all withered away. Filled with indelible glimpses of such figures as Alfred Hitchcock, Laurence Olivier, Tennessee Williams, Helen Mirren, and Joseph Papp, The Blue Touch Paper is a powerful evocation of a society in transition and a writer in the making.
Blue Water Bluegrass: The Ferryboat Muscians
by Al LevyThis is a story of a magical time and place that was very real. Magic is the power to transform. See for yourself how a couple of young men transformed an ordinary ferry ride into Ferryboat Music. Their music touched and changed the lives of thousands who saw them every weekend on the sparkling waters of Puget Sound. This is a story of transforming fear into love, mundane into miraculous, and isolation into connection. Feel the heart and the humor in every story in these pages.
Bluegrass: An Informal Guide
by Richard D. SmithCreated by legendary Bill Monroe of Kentucky and made famous by his Blue Grass Boys, bluegrass has been sweeping musicians and audiences off their feet since 1939. This lively and authoritative guide covers: all the important sounds from traditional Monroe-style bluegrass, jazz-flavoured northern 'newgrass', and Nashville-influenced country grass to the distinctive sounds of Japanese and European bands; famous groups, instrumentalists, and vocalists; women blue grassers; with insider anecdotes, resource listings, the lowdown on bluegrass festivals, and more than 500 recommendations for listening.
The Bluegrass Guitar Style of Charles Sawtelle
by Daniel MillerBook description from the Flatpicking Guitar magazine website (where I bought it!) Charles Sawtelle is one of the most innovative guitar players in bluegrass history. His bluesy syncopated solos with the popular bluegrass band Hot Rize proved true the famous saying 'less is more.' Charles is a true master of tone, timing, and taste in bluegrass guitar playing and his exciting and innovative solos have thrilled bluegrass fans around the world. This comprehensive book provides you with a Sawtelle biography, an extensive interview with Charles, a section on Charles' rhythm style, 27 transcriptions of Sawtelle solos in both standard notation and tablature, with notes accompanying each solo transcription and dozens of photographs of Charles and Hot Rize. All fans of Hot Rize will love this book. Level: Intermediate, Advanced. Even though the musical notation and tablature could not be reproduced in this version, there is much text which helps to reveal the nature of Sawtelle's guitar playing. Also, many of the big names in today's bluegrass tell why they think he was one of the best. (Sawtelle passed away in 1999.)
The Bluegrass Reader
by Thomas GoldsmithLike rock 'n' roll, bluegrass exploded out of a post-World War II atmosphere in which more Americans opened their ears to more different kinds of music than ever before. All around the country musicians were searching for new sounds and approaches: country blues went fully electric in Chicago, bebop boiled over as jazz hit the hippest notes yet, and country music followed Hank Williams into new, sexier, harder-hitting territory. The developments in bluegrass proved every bit as galvanic. In The Bluegrass Reader, Thomas Goldsmith joins his insights as a journalist with a lifetime of experience in bluegrass to capture the full story of this dynamic and beloved music. Inspired by the question, what articles about bluegrass would you want to have with you on a desert island? he has assembled a captivating, fun-to-read collection that brings together a wide range of the very best in bluegrass writing.
Blueprint for a Battlestar: Serious Scientific Explanations Behind Sci-Fi's Greatest Inventions
by Rod Pyle“An enjoyable source of information on a wide variety of real or imagined technological marvels of the space age.” —National Space SocietyThis beautifully illustrated pop science book answers the enduring questions raised by science fiction, such as: Do hoverboards really exist, how can you bring a dinosaur back to life and can we really travel in time and space.Packed with stunning images, including seventy-five illustrations created exclusively for this book, Blueprint for a Battlestar takes twenty-five remarkable and memorable technologies from the world of sci-fi, from Star Wars and The Matrix to Ironman and The Terminator. Each concept will be explained and dissected to reveal the real science behind it. Some are boldly obvious—such as the Death Star and exoskeletons—and some less so (think bio-ports or cloaking devices). All are fascinating and will make wonderful explorations into the science of the future as we understand it today.“This is dream fuel for aspiring STEM students of all sorts. Blueprint for a Battlestar is a gateway drug for brainstorming that could change the world.” —Seattle Book Review“Will take readers on a fact-finding mission where the science is explained and the fiction just may become reality. Can it really work? For the sake of all those young engineers out there dreaming of a future filled with massive battlestars stretching far across the galaxy, we can only hope.” —Amazing Stories Magazine“A fun book that offers serious exploration of some of the technology that could be common place in the not too distant future.” —The Review Graveyard
Blueprint for Screenwriting: A Complete Writer's Guide to Story Structure and Character Development
by Rachel BallonBlueprint for Screenwriting demystifies the writing process by developing a "blueprint" for writers to follow for each new screenplay--from original concept to completed script. Author and international script consultant Dr. Rachel Ballon explores the writing craft and emphasizes creativity in the writing process. She blends her expertise in script analysis and writing coaching with her personal experience as a screenwriter to help writers construct their stories and characters.Starting with the story's framework, Dr. Ballon helps readers to understand the key "building blocks" of story structure and character development, including characters' emotional and psychological states, story conflicts, and scene and act structure. She also covers the essential components in the script writing process, such as outlines, script treatments, synopses, and formats. Dr. Ballon devotes a chapter to overcoming writer's block--the writer's greatest obstacle--and offers guidance for taking the next steps once a script is completed.A practical tool for any writer, this distinctive resource:*offers a blueprint for writers to follow, breaking the writing process down into specific, easy-to-follow steps;*stresses the psychology of the characters as well as that of the writer; and*offers first-hand knowledge of the screenwriting process and gives practical advice for completing and marketing scripts.With its unique and insightful approach to the writing process, this book will be indispensable for scriptwriters, fiction writers, and professional writers, and it will serve as a useful text in screenwriting courses.
Blues Before Sunrise: The Radio Interviews
by Jim O'Neal Steve CushingThis collection assembles the best interviews from Steve Cushing's long-running radio program Blues Before Sunrise, the nationally syndicated, award-winning program focusing on vintage blues and R&B. As both an observer and performer, Cushing has been involved with the blues scene in Chicago for decades. His candid, colorful interviews with prominent blues players, producers, and deejays reveal the behind-the-scenes world of the formative years of recorded blues. Many of these oral histories detail the careers of lesser-known but greatly influential blues performers and promoters. The book focuses in particular on pre-World War II blues singers, performers active in 1950s Chicago, and nonperformers who contributed to the early blues world. Interviewees include Alberta Hunter, one of the earliest African American singers to transition from Chicago's Bronzeville nightlife to the international spotlight, and Ralph Bass, one of the greatest R&B producers of his era. Blues expert, writer, record producer, and cofounder of Living Blues Magazine Jim O'Neal provides the book's foreword.
Blues Before Sunrise 2: Interviews from the Chicago Scene (Music in American Life)
by Steve CushingIn this new collection of interviews, Steve Cushing once again invites readers into the vaults of Blues Before Sunrise, his acclaimed nationally syndicated public radio show. Icons from Memphis Minnie to the Gay Sisters stand alongside figures like schoolteacher Flossie Franklin, who helped Leroy Carr pen some of his most famous tunes; saxman Abb Locke and his buddy Two-Gun Pete, a Chicago cop notorious for killing people in the line of duty; and Scotty "The Dancing Tailor" Piper, a font of knowledge on the black entertainment scene of his day. Cushing also devotes a section to religious artists, including the world-famous choir Wings Over Jordan and their travails touring and performing in the era of segregation. Another section focuses on the jazz-influenced Bronzeville scene that gave rise to Marl Young, Andrew Tibbs, and many others while a handful of Cushing's early brushes with the likes of Little Brother Montgomery, Sippi Wallace, and Blind John Davis round out the volume.Diverse and entertaining, Blues Before Sunrise 2 adds a chorus of new voices to the fascinating history of Chicago blues.
The Blues Brothers: An Epic Friendship, the Rise of Improv, and the Making of an American Film Classic
by Daniel de ViséThe Blues Brothers hit theatres on June 20, 1980. Their scripted mission was to save a local Chicago orphanage; but Aykroyd, who conceived and wrote much of the film, had a greater mission: to honour the then-seemingly forgotten tradition of rhythm and blues, some of whose greatest artists - Aretha Franklin, James Brown, John Lee Hooker, Cab Calloway, Ray Charles - made the film as unforgettable as its wild car chases. Much delayed and vastly over budget, beset by mercurial and oft drugged-out stars, The Blues Brothers opened to outraged reviews. However, in the 44 years since it has been acknowledged a classic: inducted into the National Film Registry for its cultural significance, even declared a 'Catholic classic' by the Church itself, and re-aired thousands of times on television to huge worldwide audiences. It is, undeniably, one of the most significant films of the 20th century.The saga behind The Blues Brothers, as Daniel de Visé reveals, is epic, encompassing the colourful childhoods of Belushi and Aykroyd; the comedic revolution sparked by Harvard's Lampoon and Chicago's Second City; the birth and anecdote-rich, drug-filled early years of Saturday Night Live, where the Blues Brothers were born as an act amidst turmoil and rivalry; and, of course, the indelible behind-the-scenes narrative of how the film was made, scene by memorable scene. Based on original research and dozens of interviews probing the memories of principals from director John Landis and producer Bob Weiss to Aykroyd himself, The Blues Brothers illuminates an American masterpiece while vividly portraying the creative geniuses behind modern comedy.
The Blues Brothers: An Epic Friendship, the Rise of Improv, and the Making of an American Film Classic
by Daniel de ViséThe Blues Brothers hit theatres on June 20, 1980. Their scripted mission was to save a local Chicago orphanage; but Aykroyd, who conceived and wrote much of the film, had a greater mission: to honour the then-seemingly forgotten tradition of rhythm and blues, some of whose greatest artists - Aretha Franklin, James Brown, John Lee Hooker, Cab Calloway, Ray Charles - made the film as unforgettable as its wild car chases. Much delayed and vastly over budget, beset by mercurial and oft drugged-out stars, The Blues Brothers opened to outraged reviews. However, in the 44 years since it has been acknowledged a classic: inducted into the National Film Registry for its cultural significance, even declared a 'Catholic classic' by the Church itself, and re-aired thousands of times on television to huge worldwide audiences. It is, undeniably, one of the most significant films of the 20th century.The saga behind The Blues Brothers, as Daniel de Visé reveals, is epic, encompassing the colourful childhoods of Belushi and Aykroyd; the comedic revolution sparked by Harvard's Lampoon and Chicago's Second City; the birth and anecdote-rich, drug-filled early years of Saturday Night Live, where the Blues Brothers were born as an act amidst turmoil and rivalry; and, of course, the indelible behind-the-scenes narrative of how the film was made, scene by memorable scene. Based on original research and dozens of interviews probing the memories of principals from director John Landis and producer Bob Weiss to Aykroyd himself, The Blues Brothers illuminates an American masterpiece while vividly portraying the creative geniuses behind modern comedy.
The Blues Brothers: An Epic Friendship, the Rise of Improv, and the Making of an American Film Classic
by Daniel de ViséThe Blues Brothers hit theatres on June 20, 1980. Their scripted mission was to save a local Chicago orphanage; but Aykroyd, who conceived and wrote much of the film, had a greater mission: to honour the then-seemingly forgotten tradition of rhythm and blues, some of whose greatest artists - Aretha Franklin, James Brown, John Lee Hooker, Cab Calloway, Ray Charles - made the film as unforgettable as its wild car chases. Much delayed and vastly over budget, beset by mercurial and oft drugged-out stars, The Blues Brothers opened to outraged reviews. However, in the 44 years since it has been acknowledged a classic: inducted into the National Film Registry for its cultural significance, even declared a 'Catholic classic' by the Church itself, and re-aired thousands of times on television to huge worldwide audiences. It is, undeniably, one of the most significant films of the 20th century.The saga behind The Blues Brothers, as Daniel de Visé reveals, is epic, encompassing the colourful childhoods of Belushi and Aykroyd; the comedic revolution sparked by Harvard's Lampoon and Chicago's Second City; the birth and anecdote-rich, drug-filled early years of Saturday Night Live, where the Blues Brothers were born as an act amidst turmoil and rivalry; and, of course, the indelible behind-the-scenes narrative of how the film was made, scene by memorable scene. Based on original research and dozens of interviews probing the memories of principals from director John Landis and producer Bob Weiss to Aykroyd himself, The Blues Brothers illuminates an American masterpiece while vividly portraying the creative geniuses behind modern comedy.
Blues Journey
by Walter Dean MyersThe African experience in America is celebrated with a soulful, affecting blues poem that details the long journey from the Middle Passage to life today.
Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday
by Angela Y. DavisThe author of "Women, Race and Class" suggests that "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday represent a black working-class, feminist ideology and historical consciousness. Davis' illuminating analysis of the songs performed by these artists provides readers with a compelling and transformative understanding of their musical and social contributions and of their relation to both the African-American community and American culture.
Blues Legacy: Tradition and Innovation in Chicago (Music in American Life #489)
by David WhiteisChicago blues musicians parlayed a genius for innovation and emotional honesty into a music revered around the world. As the blues evolves, it continues to provide a soundtrack to, and a dynamic commentary on, the African American experience: the legacy of slavery; historic promises and betrayals; opportunity and disenfranchisement; the ongoing struggle for freedom. Through it all, the blues remains steeped in survivorship and triumph, a music that dares to stare down life in all its injustice and iniquity and still laugh--and dance--in its face. David Whiteis delves into how the current and upcoming Chicago blues generations carry on this legacy. Drawing on in-person interviews, Whiteis places the artists within the ongoing social and cultural reality their work reflects and helps create. Beginning with James Cotton, Eddie Shaw, and other bequeathers, he moves through an all-star council of elders like Otis Rush and Buddy Guy and on to inheritors and today's heirs apparent like Ronnie Baker Brooks, Shemekia Copeland, and Nellie "Tiger" Travis. Insightful and wide-ranging, Blues Legacy reveals a constantly adapting art form that, whatever the challenges, maintains its links to a rich musical past.
Blues Musicians of the Mississippi Delta
by Steven ManheimThe Mississippi Delta blues run as deep and mysterious as the beautiful land from where the music originates. Blues legends B.B. King, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Howlin' Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson, and countless other greats came from this region. The Delta blues, born as work songs in Mississippi cotton fields, was played on city street corners and in rural juke joints. With the Great Migration of African Americans in the first half of the 20th century, the Delta blues also made its way from Mississippi to Chicago. The sound of the blues would become the blueprint for the birth of rock and roll in Memphis in the 1950s. The era of the great Delta blues musicians is over, but their legacy remains an important chapter in American music. This book contains images of these important performers and the rich Delta landscapes that influenced their music.