"Although it will be of primary interest to those who are engaged in composition themselves, [this] book is also recommended for readers who may wish to gain further insight into just what makes jazz composition so different from traditional approaches."—Malcolm Bessom, The Music Magazine
Aimed at those who have some knowledge of music but not formal training in composition, this concise introduction to composing starts right in with a brief composition exercise, then proceeds step by step through a series of increasingly complex and challenging problems, gradually expanding the student's musical grammar. "This is a wonderful book for anyone who is developing improvising skills or who would like a fun way to explore music."--Jim Stockford, Co-Evolution Quarterly
A tale of the unmaking of the first American movie filmed in Vietnam in 1957, the scandalous and disasterous undertaking is finally exposed. Surviving cast and crew members explain a contorted drama behind the scenes as Audie Murphy goes to Vietnam, foreshadowing the war-to-come. It depicts Hollywood at its worst! Author Biography: A veteran of the Vietnam War, Dr. William Russo served with the U.S.Army and later worked as a free-lance writer for Hollywood tabloids. He has published articles on film in Big Reel and Movie Collector's World, as well as for the Audie Murphy Research Foundation. An excerpt of this book appeared in the winter issue for the AMRF in 1998. He earned a doctorate from the University of Massachusetts. Nowadays, Russo is a professor at Curry College near Boston, Massachusetts. He teaches film studies and non-fiction writing. His previous books include Mal Tempo: the Curse of 2000 Years, Junior Bad Guys: Movie Delinquents of the 1950s, The Dumb-Founded Nation: America's Language Policy from 1790 to 1990, and Another Sunny Day. a tale about the Lincoln Assassination conspiracy.
A paranormal history of Titanic lore on Mill Circle from a Winchendon Springs resident Two victims of Titanic were born and lived in Winchendon Springs, and their spirits may still remain there. From Dr. William Russo comes a series of supernatural incidents, all true, of living in a haunted house. Long-time professor at Curry College, Dr. Russo now offers classes on Titanic lore and history at Keene State College in New Hampshire and lectures in the area on the topic. He lives on the property once owned by Richard White and his family.
Now you can follow the entire season, month by month, through humorous essays, written as events unfolded, which reveal the root causes as the 2011 Red Sox folded.The 2011 season for the Boston Red Sox began with great optimism, peaked with confidence, and collapsed with a great thud.The Red Sox pieces could never be put together again once Theo Epstein's Humpty Dumpty team fell off its perch. These essays about the hullabaloo over the eggshell catastrophe serve as a whimsical autopsy.William Russo traces the team from its spring training, through the rough start, to midseason recovery, to the inevitable final game loss, hanging by the thinnest thread, only to lose and to watch Tampa Bay come back from a 7 run deficit to win their game.This book does NOT discuss games to analyze the Sox, but looks at the stars to determine the truth. Red Sox stars did not shine in 2011, with one or two exceptions.Collecting his essays from MTR Media and Bleacher Report websites, Russo humorously follows the chronology of the decline and fall as it happens off the field.Starting with optimistic spring training where some thought the team would end up with 100 victories, each month of the season is concurrent to the events. Each of the major and minor events of the season is delineated with surgical wit, from visits in Anaheim with Tom Brady to the glorious success of Jacoby Ellsbury, and the vainglorious collapse in September.Yet, the seeds of destruction were there, and this author-cum-coroner saw them unfolding.The events are presented with the humor that draws between baseball and classic literature. Tales of the season may live as part of the folklore of Sox stories for generations to come. Long time professor of sports literature and writing at a college outside Boston, Dr. William Russo provides readers over 100 anecdotal essays, month-by-month, tongue-in-cheek, and with bilious humor. If you enjoyed Russo's scathing humor in his works like Sex, Drugs, Sports and Whimsy, volume 1 and 2 as well as Rajon Rondo Superstar, you will enjoy reading and re-reading his take on tales, like Norse sagas, that become instant additions to the pantheon of Red Sox legends.This coroner's report is filled with bloody cynicism, brain-dead corpses, and the always-entertaining Red Sox players finding out that being a zombie isn't any fun.
Whether sports shall turn out to be heroic in our lives, or whether that station will be held by any other endeavor, these pages must show. To begin our sports fanaticism with the beginning of 2012, we record that we can hardly wait for the fetid events of 2011 to fade away.At twelve o'clock on January 1st, we may remark that a new clock will start on the Sports Circus Maximus.In consideration of the near pleasantries we have catalogued in this volume, we may cry over spilled milk, or we could notice the smell coming from the fireplace indicates a rally squirrel fell down the chimney after Santa Claus departed. None of these is as pungent as the aroma that remains from the ending of 2011.A few unlucky fans in Boston sports still smell the stench of fried chicken and spilled beer. Sports fans are generally destined to be unlucky in life. One's favorite team rarely wins the championship. And second, we have been privileged and cursed to see the hobgoblins and ghosts attached to the venal and vain athletes in all sports. Our sports fanaticism is instructive at worst. We are taught by drop-outs of high culture.This year provided more rot and garbage than usual, ranging from lockouts in two major sports, sex abuse scandals at two major universities, and endless examples of venal sin from major athletes, including an NFL player doubling as a drug kingpin in Chicago, and the Antichrist seemed to be everywhere on the playing field.We have been reduced to the pathetic cry of, "Wait till next year "No one could have predicted how eventful the year has been. Our values may have been verified by the result, but our sports heroes have been falsified by history.We have been exposed to exposing athletes, more than can be found after an oil spill or last call at the saloon. Monta Ellis, Michael Vick, and Shaun White have taken 'l' out with their pubic hairs.As we wait for the New Year and the clock to strike twelve, providing us with new hope, we may also wonder if a Houston Asteroid could be in our American League future.
This year's reviews present an exciting batch of movies. We have included again this season many streaming TV series that caught our fancy, and a choice number of special TV movies or documentaries.The original goal of this movie review series was to enumerate the movies (shorts, series, specials) that came across Roku, Instant Amazon Video, or Netflix.Sometimes one new movie led us to reconsider an old one, and those lost gems continue to pepper the lists. It's nice to see something missed in the past. Sometimes updated viewing leads to deeper regret and a keener reassessment.
Are you always bothered by the "Based on a True Story" on the screen when you watch a movie? This book looks at both fictionalized and nonfictionalized films to see whether one is better than the other, and whether documentaries are actually based on the truth.Collected from a year of observation, the author has singled out a number of documentaries and docudramas viewed through streaming download, on cable, and through popular movie rental companies. The author intends to review only movies worth recommending and does not mean to tell you what to watch.
Mill Circle has been a favorite haunt for 200 years for residents and visitors. A lost poem written in 1861 sparked research that uncovered tales of a mineral spring, an alleged murder, ghosts, a legendary haunted house, malicious destruction of cultural heritage, and even the Titanic disaster, all centering on one neighborhood's social history. Two victims of the infamous maritime disaster were born in Winchendon Springs.Dr. William Russo puts together this collection of history and images, based on his unique view to the historic Mill Circle neighborhood. A biography of Mill Circle emerges from these pages. Included is a summary of the history of the Virtuous Spring that was the center of Mill Circle in Winchendon, Massachusetts. Part ghost story and part murder tale, with a rediscovered 19th century poem at its core, HAUNTING AT VIRTUOUS SPRING looks at an atypical neighborhood from its colonial days to the present time. Wealthy and poor, healthy and sick, all came together on this street for over two and a half centuries.Includes nearly 100 photographs, dozens in color-and many rare pictures, with some never seen by the public.We gratefully acknowledge the Winchendon Historical Society for all its help.
Boston's best and worst moments in sports from 2014 are not spared from the mighty pen.Rondo, Gronk, TB12, Big Papi, and Bill Belichick, among others, suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous humor in this non-stop train wreck of blogs.
Covering most of seven seasons, we have gathered the best of our pieces from RAJON RONDO: SUPERSTAR, RONDO & THE GREEN NEBULA, and RONDO IN THE STAR CHAMBER.This may be the most definitive and controversial look at Rondo's tenure with the Boston Celtics. The seasons were tumultuous and not without weirdness. In our comedic insights, we chronicle every twist and turn from winning a banner with the Big Three to the injury-prone rebuilding and his feuds with players and press.Rondo may be gone, but he will never be forgotten. And, now you can always recapture his amazing moments with the Celtics by reading these time capsules, written as they happened, collected annually, and presented with cockeyed optimism every month of Rondo's time in Boston.
TALES OF A TITANIC FAMILY RMS Titanic changed everyone it touched, including the White family of Winchendon, Massachusetts. What happened to Percival and Edith, sons Percy, Jr. and Richard, merely a footnote in hundreds of other books, can now be fully revealed.From misidentified photographs taken aboard Titanic to an auspicious family history of wealth and privilege, the Whites will surprise you.Pictures from the White family archives and unpublished oral histories reveal this American family's trauma wrought by Titanic.Contains dozens of photographs, many never previously published.
