Hi everyone, here are our suggested daily recommended titles in print or media and digital formats.
Our digital suggestion for today is the e-book:
The Mist-Torn Witches by Barb Hendee:
National bestselling author Barb Hendee presents a dark, fascinating new world and the story of two sisters who will discover they have far more power than they ever envisioned….
In a small village in the nation of Droevinka, orphaned sisters Céline and Amelie Fawe scrape out a living selling herbal medicines in their apothecary shop. Céline earns additional money by posing as a seer and pretending to read people’s futures.
But they exist in a land of great noble houses, all vying for power, and when the sisters refuse the orders of a warlord prince, they must flee and are forced to depend on the warlord prince’s brother, Anton, for a temporary haven.
A series of bizarre deaths of pretty young girls is plaguing the village surrounding Prince Anton’s castle. He offers Céline and Amelie permanent protection if they can use their “skills” to find the killer.
With little choice, the sisters enter a world unknown to them—of fine gowns and banquets and advances from powerful men. Their survival depends on catching a murderer who appears to walk through walls and vanish without a trace—and the danger grows with each passing night.
This is book one in the Mist-Torn Witches series.
Here’s a link to the checkout page in the Digital Catalog:
Garden of Lamentations: A Novel by Deborah Crombie:
Scotland Yard detectives Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James are drawn into separate investigations that hold disturbing—and deadly—complications for their own lives in this powerful mystery in the bestselling series.
On a beautiful morning in mid-May, the body of a young woman is found in one of Notting Hill’s private gardens. To passersby, the pretty girl in the white dress looks as if she’s sleeping. But Reagan Keating has been murdered, and the lead detective, DI Kerry Boatman, turns to Gemma James for help. She and Gemma worked together on a previous investigation, and Gemma has a personal connection to the case: Reagan was the nanny of a child who attends the same dance studio as Toby, Gemma and Kincaid’s son.
Gemma soon discovers that Reagan’s death is the second tragedy in this exclusive London park; a few months before, a young boy died in a tragic accident. But when still another of the garden residents meets a violent end, it becomes clear that there are more sinister forces at play. Boatman and Gemma must stop the killer before another innocent life is taken.
While his wife is consumed with her new case, Kincaid finds himself plagued by disturbing questions about several previous—and seemingly unrelated—cases involving members of the force. If his suspicions are correct and the crimes are linked, are his family and friends in mortal danger as well? Kincaid’s hunch turns to certainty when a Metropolitan Police officer close to him is brutally attacked. There’s a traitor in the ranks, and now Kincaid wonders if he can trust anyone.
As Gemma begins to see a solution to her case, she realizes she holds a child’s fate in her hands. Can she do the right thing? And can Kincaid rely on his friends, both inside and outside the Scotland Yard force, to stand beside him as he faces the deadliest challenge of his career?
StarCat: The catalog of physical materials, i.e. print books, DVDs, audiobooks on CD etc. http://starcat.stls.org/
The Digital Catalog: The catalog of e-books, downloadable audiobooks and a handful of streaming videos: https://stls.overdrive.com/
Freegal Music Service: This music service is free to library card holders and offers the option to download, and keep, three free songs per week and to stream three hours of commercial free music each day: http://stlsny.freegalmusic.com/
Zinio: Digital magazines on demand and for free! Back issues are available and you can even choose to be notified by email when the new issue of your favorite magazine is available: https://www.rbdigital.com/stlschemungcony
About Library Mobile Apps:
You can access digital library content on PCs, Macs and mobile devices. For mobile devices simply download the OverDrive, Freegal or Zinio app from your app store to get started. If you have questions call the library at: 607-936-3713 and one of our Digital Literacy Specialists will be happy to assist you.
Hi everyone, here are our suggested daily recommended titles in print or media and digital formats.
Our digital suggestion for today is the e-book:
The Battle of Hackham Heath by John A. Flanagan:
John Flanagan, author of the bestselling Ranger’s Apprentice fantasy adventure epic, delivers a second prequel to Ruins of Gorlan, the novel that started it all, with Halt and Crowley preparing for war against a near-unstoppable enemy
When the former Baron Morgarath escaped to avoid punishment for treason, an uneasy peace fell on Araluen. But Morgarath, now in hiding, is already planning his next move, recruiting an army of savage, overpowering beasts known as Wargals. Newly crowned King Duncan knows he must assemble his troops for battle.
To find out the full extent of Morgarath’s plan of attack, Halt prepares for a seemingly impossible task–climbing the deadly cliffs of the Mountains of Rain and Night and venturing deep into enemy territory to spy. After all, the winner of this war could be determined by one wrong move.
At the Battle of Hackham Heath, the fate of a Kingdom will be decided. This origin story of how Halt came to be Araluen’s most famous Ranger – and how war will decide the future of the next generation – will thrill Ranger’s Apprentice fans and new readers alike.
Here’s a link to the checkout page in the Digital Catalog:
“Oates’ American saga captivates because it exists within an actual drama playing out across the country…Martyrs is a graceful and excruciating story of two families who do not live very far apart, but exist in different realities. ” –USA Today, 4-star review
“Successful because [Oates] refuses to satirize or dehumanize anyone, even murderous foes of abortion…With its wrath and violence, A Book of American Martyrs offers this teaspoon of warmth in these troubled times: that it is possible to be wrong without surrendering your humanity.” –Los Angeles Times
“The most relevant book of Oates’s half-century-long career, a powerful reminder that fiction can be as timely as this morning’s tweets but infinitely more illuminating.” –Washington Post
A powerfully resonant and provocative novel from American master and New York Times bestselling author Joyce Carol Oates
In this striking, enormously affecting novel, Joyce Carol Oates tells the story of two very different and yet intimately linked American families. Luther Dunphy is an ardent Evangelical who envisions himself as acting out God’s will when he assassinates an abortion provider in his small Ohio town while Augustus Voorhees, the idealistic but self-regarding doctor who is killed, leaves behind a wife and children scarred and embittered by grief.
In her moving, insightful portrait, Joyce Carol Oates fully inhabits the perspectives of two interwoven families whose destinies are defined by their warring convictions and squarely-but with great empathy-confronts an intractable, abiding rift in American society.
A Book of American Martyrs is a stunning, timely depiction of an issue hotly debated on a national stage but which makes itself felt most lastingly in communities torn apart by violence and hatred.
StarCat: The catalog of physical materials, i.e. print books, DVDs, audiobooks on CD etc. http://starcat.stls.org/
The Digital Catalog: The catalog of e-books, downloadable audiobooks and a handful of streaming videos: https://stls.overdrive.com/
Freegal Music Service: This music service is free to library card holders and offers the option to download, and keep, three free songs per week and to stream three hours of commercial free music each day: http://stlsny.freegalmusic.com/
Zinio: Digital magazines on demand and for free! Back issues are available and you can even choose to be notified by email when the new issue of your favorite magazine is available: https://www.rbdigital.com/stlschemungcony
About Library Mobile Apps:
You can access digital library content on PCs, Macs and mobile devices. For mobile devices simply download the OverDrive, Freegal or Zinio app from your app store to get started. If you have questions call the library at: 607-936-3713 and one of our Digital Literacy Specialists will be happy to assist you.
Hi everyone, here’s our recommended Sixties Rock: Twangy Guitar posting for the third week of February.
As you’ll recall, each week we’ll be offering suggestions of music you can listen to both through the library’s digital Freegal Music Service* and via the library’s compact disc collection.
This weeks’ posting has six sections:
I. Brief Artist Bios
II. Freegal Music Recommendations Of The Week
III. CD Music Recommendations Of The Week
IV. Videos Of This Weeks’ Artists/Groups
V. Wild Card Print Book Recommendation Of The Week (a print book that focuses on a musician, band, songwriter or musical genre, styles etc. from any musical era)
VI. References (for those who’d like to know a bit more about the artists of the week).
And this week our recommended trios of twangy guitar players, and their bands, are: Sandy Nelson, The Mar-Keys and Booker T. And The MGs!
I. Brief Artist Bios:
Sandy Nelson (12-1-1938): Sandy Nelson was born in Santa Monica, California. Nelson began playing drums professionally in Los Angeles in the mid-1950s. He remains one the few drummer front men of the rock era and made his mark during the instrumental craze of the early sixties. He had several hit singles from 1959 to 1962 including the songs Teen Beat, Drums Are My Beat and Let There Be Drums. Nelson is best known, among non-drummers, for both the song and album with the same name – Let There Me Drums; and his music is frequently classified as Surf Music – but really it is just great music! Nelson continues to perform to this day.
If you like the sound of classic rock drumming Sandy Nelson’s music is for you!
The Mar-Keys: The Mar-Keys were a swinging instrumental group formed in Memphis in the early sixties and, were the original house band for the great record label Stax. The group including some great guitar playing and a swinging horn section! The players in the band included Charles Axton and Don Nix on saxophones, Wayne Jackson trumpet, Jerry Lee Smith on piano, Terry Johnson on drums, Donald “Duck” Dunn on bass and guitarists Steve Cropper and Charlie Freeman. Dunn and Cropper went on to co-found the even more popular instrumental group Booker T. & The MG’s. During the sixties, and a few subsequent reunions, the Mar-Keys released several fun, swinging albums including: The Last Night!, Do The Pop-Eye and The Great Memphis Sound.
And although they only had one hit during their original tenure together, the 1961 top five smash Last Night, they are notable because they played behind many of the great Stax artists of the early sixties and remain a great example of the 1960’s Memphis Sound. Dunn and Cropper are, of course, much better known as members of Booker T. & The MGs.
Booker T. & The MGs: Booker T. & The MG’s formed in Memphis in the early 1960s and succeeded The Mar-Keys as the main house band for Stax records. The band can be heard on many recordings made by quintessential R&B artists including Carla Thomas, Albert King, Otis Redding and Sam & Dave. Additionally, they released a number of popular albums and singles on their own including: Green Onions, Hang ‘Em High, Soul-Limbo, Groovin, Hip Hug-Her, Mrs. Robinson and Time Is Tight.
And as a final note, music made by Sandy Nelson, The Mar-Keys and Booker T. & The MGs is great for parties!
II. Freegal Music Recommendations Of The Week:
1. Sandy Nelson – The Collection 1959 -1962:
This collection includes more than 80 songs including: Let There Be Drums, Teen Beat, Drums Are My Beat,Let The Four Winds Blow and The Battle of New Orleans.
This album features a number of great songs by this classic Memphis group including: Last Night, Pop-Eye Stroll, Wimp Burger, Sailor Man Waltz and About Noon.
3. Booker T & The MGs – That’S The Way It Should Be
(and yes, the S is supposed to be big!):
In looking up the availability of Booker T. & The MG’s music you can stream from Freegal, I came across the newest Bruce Springsteen album – Chapter And Verse.
The Springsteen album has nothing to do with the subject of the week! Bruce’s guitar playing isn’t the least bit twangy nor did he release an album in the sixties, however, if you’d like to stream the Springsteen album here is the link:
And the only Booker T. & The MGs album I found in the Freegal Music catalog is the second to the last album they recorded in 1994! It is titled That’S The Way It Should Be. And even thought it was recorded well after the sixties it is well worth a listen – the album includes the songs: Slip Slidin‘, That’s the Way It Should Be, Just My Imagination, I Can’t Stand The Rain, their version of the U2’s now classic song I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For and more.
The Freegal Music Catalog homepage will display — it looks like this:
The Freegal Music app can be found in your app store and it looks like this:
Freegal Wild Card Pick Of The Week:
The Live Adventures Of Mike Bloomfield And Al Kooper by Bloomfield and Kooper:
This album was released in 1969, was recorded live and features Mike Bloomfield on guitar and Al Kooper on keyboards. Mike Bloomfield is best known as an original guitarist for The Butterfield Blues Band and Al Kooper is best known as a founding member of both The Blues Project and Blood Sweat And Tears. This is a great classic rock album and follows another great album the duo did a year previously with Steven Stills of Crosby, Stills and Nash titled Super Session – that album too is available to stream through the Freegal Music Catalog.
This CD set 88 songs originally issued on the following eight Sandy Nelson albums: Drummin’ Up A Storm, Drums Are My Beat, Golden Hits, He’s A Drummer Boy, Compelling Country, Country Style, Let There Be Drums and Sandy Nelson Plays Teen Beat. Song’s include: Early In the Morning, Kansas City, What’d I Say, Drummin’ Up A Storm, Wolverton Mountain Splish Splash, Let There Be Drums and more.
Here’s the link to the request page for the CD: https://goo.gl/ARbDXd
2. The Great Memphis Sound by The Mar-Keys:
This CD is considered a classic! It includes the following songs: Honey Pot, Plantation Inn, I’ve Been Loving You Too Long, Cleo’s Back, Willie Woods, Grab This Thing, Philly Dog, Walking with the Duke, The Girl from Ipanema and In the Mood, Dear James Medley: I’ll Go Crazy/Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag/I Got You.
This CD should be available for checkout soon! I’ll update this posting when it is – our processers just need a little more time to get it ready to circulate.
3. Green Onions by Booker T. & The MGs: Green Onions is the first album by Booker T. & The MGs and was first released in 1962. The album contains 35 minutes of great instrumental R&B rock! Songs include: Green Onions, Rinky-Dink, I Got a Woman, Mo’ Onions, Twist and Shout, Behave Yourself, Stranger on the Shore, Lonely Avenue, Doc Pomus, One Who Really Loves You, Can’t Sit Down, A Woman, A Lover, A Friend, Comin’ Home Baby, Green Onions & Can’t Sit Down.
This CD too will be available for checkout soon! I’ll update this posting when it is – we just need a little more time to get it ready to circulate.
Wild Card CD Pick Of The Week:
Heart Food by Judee Sill:
Heart Food is the second album by the very creative singer-songwriter Judee Sill. She had a great clear voice and her style can be classified as folk-pop, although I hate to classify music – great music is just great music! Judee isn’t well remembered today because she only recorded two albums during her short career and died at the very young age of 35. However, if you like folk music and haven’t heard this album I recommend you check it out. The songs on the LP include: There’s a Rugged Road, The Kiss, The Pearl, Down Where the Valley’s Are Low, The Vigilante, Soldier of the Heart, The Phoenix, When the Bridegroom Comes and The Donor.
And if you want to stream her music, there is a nice live collection in the Freegal Music catalog titled Live In London – The BBC Recordings 1972 – 1973 – here’s a link to it: https://goo.gl/o6QWuP
IV: Videos Of This Weeks’ Artists/Groups:
Booker T & The MG’s: Green Onions
Sandy Nelson: Let There Be Drums
The Mar-Keys –Last Night (live)
V. Wild Card Print Book Recommendation Of The Week:
Pretty Good for a Girl: Women in Bluegrass (Music in American Life)
by Murphy Hicks Henry:
If you want to know more about the great female musicians who have and do play Bluegrass music then this book is for you!
Here’s a summary provided by the publisher: The first book devoted entirely to women in bluegrass, Pretty Good for a Girl documents the lives of more than seventy women whose vibrant contributions to the development of bluegrass have been, for the most part, overlooked. Accessibly written and organized by decade, the book begins with Sally Ann Forrester, who played accordion and sang with Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys from 1943 to 1946, and continues into the present with artists such as Alison Krauss, Rhonda Vincent, and the Dixie Chicks. Drawing from extensive interviews, well-known banjoist Murphy Hicks Henry gives voice to women performers and innovators throughout bluegrass’s history, including such pioneers as Bessie Lee Mauldin, Wilma Lee Cooper, and Roni and Donna Stoneman; family bands including the Lewises, Whites, and McLains; and later pathbreaking performers such as the Buffalo Gals and other all-girl bands, Laurie Lewis, Lynn Morris, Missy Raines, and many others.
VI. General References & Artist Specific References:
P.S. If you have any questions about how to download or stream free music through the Freegal Music service to a desktop or laptop computer or how to download and use the Freegal Music app let us know! Drop by the library or give us a call at: 607-936-3713
*You must have a library card at a Southern Tier Library System member library to enjoy the Freegal Music Service. Your card can be from any library in the system, and the system includes all public libraries in Steuben, Chemung, Yates, Schuyler and Allegheny Counties and including our own Southeast Steuben Count Library in Corning, New York. Library cards are free and at our library you can obtain one by visiting the Circulation Desk and presenting staff with a form of ID that features both your name and your current address.
Hi everyone, here are our suggested daily recommended titles in print or media and digital formats.
Our digital suggestion for today is the Great Courses downloadable audiobook:
The Great Debate: Advocates and Opponents of the American Constitution
by Thomas Pangle:
Recent years have seen an explosion of interest in and interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. Its authority and stature are routinely invoked by voices from every point on the political spectrum, with frequent references to the Founding Fathers and their true “intent.” What really was their true intent? As these 12 surprising lectures show, many of those Founding Fathers – including Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry – were highly critical of the new Constitution and staunchly opposed it when it was first put forth for ratification by the states as a replacement for the Articles of Confederation. The debate over the Constitution raged for the better part of two years, and beneath its rhetorical flourishes lay not only the longest and most profound civic argument in our nation’s history, but also a civics lesson that deserves to endure for all time. It was an argument that would result not only in the ratification of the Constitution, but also in what that Constitution would become. Professor Pangle takes you into this debate. You’ll see which Founders opposed the new Constitution, which Founders led the battle for it, and how both sides helped define the result. In an era when contemporary arguments on the national stage so often mirror the same conflicts debated by the Founders, our own reenactment of that original debate can enrich our ability to be active and participating citizens.
Here’s a link to the checkout page in the Digital Catalog:
And our physical format suggestion for today is the print book:
Taste of Persia: A Cook’s Travels Through Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, and Kurdistan by Naomi Duguid:
Named a Best Cookbook of the Year by The Boston Globe, Food & Wine, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The New York Times Book Review, The San Francisco Chronicle, USA Today, and The Wall Street Journal
“A reason to celebrate . . . a fascinating culinary excursion.” —The New York Times
Though the countries in the Persian culinary region are home to diverse religions, cultures, languages, and politics, they are linked by beguiling food traditions and a love for the fresh and the tart. Color and spark come from ripe red pomegranates, golden saffron threads, and the fresh herbs served at every meal. Grilled kebabs, barbari breads, pilafs, and brightly colored condiments are everyday fare, as are rich soup-stews called ash and alluring sweets like rose water pudding and date-nut halvah.
Our ambassador to this tasty world is the incomparable Naomi Duguid, who for more than 20 years has been bringing us exceptional recipes and mesmerizing tales from regions seemingly beyond our reach. More than 125 recipes, framed with stories and photographs of people and places, introduce us to a culinary paradise where ancient legends and ruins rub shoulders with new beginnings—where a wealth of history and culinary traditions makes it a compelling place to read about for cooks and travelers and for anyone hankering to experience the food of a wider world.
You can request the title by clicking on the following link to StarCat:
StarCat: The catalog of physical materials, i.e. print books, DVDs, audiobooks on CD etc. http://starcat.stls.org/
The Digital Catalog: The catalog of e-books, downloadable audiobooks and a handful of streaming videos: https://stls.overdrive.com/
Freegal Music Service: This music service is free to library card holders and offers the option to download, and keep, three free songs per week and to stream three hours of commercial free music each day: http://stlsny.freegalmusic.com/
Zinio: Digital magazines on demand and for free! Back issues are available and you can even choose to be notified by email when the new issue of your favorite magazine is available: https://www.rbdigital.com/stlschemungcony
About Library Mobile Apps:
You can access digital library content on PCs, Macs and mobile devices. For mobile devices simply download the OverDrive, Freegal or Zinio app from your app store to get started. If you have questions call the library at: 607-936-3713 and one of our Digital Literacy Specialists will be happy to assist you.
This has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with technology…
However, I think it is super cool and wanted to share this information!
The Southeast Steuben County Library and the League of Women Voters of Steuben County are co-sponsoring a monthly issues forum to spotlight issues that might not otherwise come to the attention local citizens.
The series is titled Finding Voice and the goal is to offer people a way to have a say in a safe and courteous environment.
Each Finding Voice program includes a feature presentation and an open mic session. During the open mic session attendees are encouraged to speak up and say what is on their minds about any issue.
Each program will be held in the Community Room at the Southeast Steuben County Library.
The photos seen below feature sides A and B of the current Finding Voice programs brochure:
(Click on the photos for a larger view!)
And here is a link to a PDF version of that same brochure should you wish to print it off or share it!
If you have any questions about any of the programs in the series you can call the contact listed for each individual program or contact me at the library by email or phone.
Hi everyone, here are our suggested daily recommended titles in print or media and digital formats.
Our digital suggestion for today is the e-book:
A Dog’s Purpose: A Novel for Humans by W. Bruce Cameron:
A Dog’s Purpose—the #1 New York Times bestseller—is heading to the big screen! Based on the beloved bestselling novel by W. Bruce Cameron, A Dog’s Purpose, from director Lasse Hallström (The Cider House Rules, Dear John, The 100-Foot Journey), shares the soulful and surprising story of one devoted dog (voiced by Josh Gad) who finds the meaning of his own existence through the lives of the humans he teaches to laugh and love. The family film told from the dog’s perspective also stars Britt Robertson, KJ Apa, John Ortiz, Peggy Lipton, Juliet Rylance, Luke Kirby, Pooch Hall and Dennis Quaid. A Dog’s Purpose is produced by Gavin Polone (Zombieland, TV’s Gilmore Girls). The film from Amblin Entertainment and Walden Media will be distributed by Universal Pictures. Screenplay by W. Bruce Cameron & Cathryn Michon and Audrey Wells and Maya Forbes & Wally Wolodarsky.
Heartwarming, insightful, and often laugh-out-loud funny, A Dog’s Purpose is not only the emotional and hilarious story of a dog’s many lives, but also a dog’s-eye commentary on human relationships and the unbreakable bonds between man and man’s best friend. This moving and beautifully crafted story teaches us that love never dies, that our true friends are always with us, and that every creature on earth is born with a purpose.
Bailey’s story continues in A Dog’s Journey, the charming New York Times and USA Today bestselling direct sequel to A Dog’s Purpose.
Here’s a link to the checkout page in the Digital Catalog:
And our physical format suggestion for today is the print book:
Transit: A Novel by Rachel Cusk:
The stunning second novel of a trilogy that began with Outline, one of The New York Times Book Review’s ten best books of 2015
In the wake of her family’s collapse, a writer and her two young sons move to London. The process of this upheaval is the catalyst for a number of transitions―personal, moral, artistic, and practical―as she endeavors to construct a new reality for herself and her children. In the city, she is made to confront aspects of living that she has, until now, avoided, and to consider questions of vulnerability and power, death and renewal, in what becomes her struggle to reattach herself to, and believe in, life.
Filtered through the impersonal gaze of its keenly intelligent protagonist, Transit sees Rachel Cusk delve deeper into the themes first raised in her critically acclaimed novel Outline and offers up a penetrating and moving reflection on childhood and fate, the value of suffering, the moral problems of personal responsibility, and the mystery of change.
In this second book of a precise, short, yet epic cycle, Cusk describes the most elemental experiences, the liminal qualities of life. She captures with unsettling restraint and honesty the longing to both inhabit and flee one’s life, and the wrenching ambivalence animating our desire to feel real.
You can request the title by clicking on the following link to StarCat:
StarCat: The catalog of physical materials, i.e. print books, DVDs, audiobooks on CD etc. http://starcat.stls.org/
The Digital Catalog: The catalog of e-books, downloadable audiobooks and a handful of streaming videos: https://stls.overdrive.com/
Freegal Music Service: This music service is free to library card holders and offers the option to download, and keep, three free songs per week and to stream three hours of commercial free music each day: http://stlsny.freegalmusic.com/
Zinio: Digital magazines on demand and for free! Back issues are available and you can even choose to be notified by email when the new issue of your favorite magazine is available: https://www.rbdigital.com/stlschemungcony
About Library Mobile Apps:
You can access digital library content on PCs, Macs and mobile devices. For mobile devices simply download the OverDrive, Freegal or Zinio app from your app store to get started. If you have questions call the library at: 607-936-3713 and one of our Digital Literacy Specialists will be happy to assist you.
Here’s our delayed weekly recommended music posting for the week of February 13, 2017.
As you may know, STLS has been upgrading equipment over the last week and StarCat has been up and down – but this morning it is up for good so here are the music recommendations for last week and the recommendations for this week will be up by Saturday.
In succeeding weeks my plan is to have the Weekly Suggested Listening Recommendations posted on Thursdays — and I’ll start doing that next week – starting Thursday, March 2.
These weekly postings will offering suggestions of music you can listen to both through the library’s digital Freegal Music Service* and via the library’s compact disc collection. Our music theme for this year is Sixties Rock and our monthly theme Twangy Guitars. This weeks’ posting has five sections:
I. Freegal Music Recommendations Of The Week
II. CD Music Recommendations Of The Week
III. Videos
IV. Wild Card Print Book Recommendation: This recommendation will be a print book that focuses on a musician, musicians, songwriters or other musical genres, styles etc. from any musical era.
V. References & Brief Artist Bios (for those who’d like to know a bit more about the artists of the week).
This week our recommended trios of twangy guitar players, and their bands, are:
Johnny & The Hurricanes, The Shadows & The Ventures!
I. Freegal Music Recommendations Of The Week:
1. Johnny & The Hurricanes: Greatest Hits by Johnny and the Hurricanes:
This collection features the hits and more! J&TH best known songs are here including – Red River Rock, Beatnik Fly and Reveille Rock as are a number of other fun, bouncy favorites.
2. The Shadows – Various Artists Collection Guitar Greats:
There is a complete album by The Shadows found in the Freegal Music Catalog; that album is titled The Albums and EP’s Collection 1961-1962 (https://goo.gl/OyqLGw); however, since the album covers a super short period of time and doesn’t feature their best known hits I’m going to recommend you stream a different album and then if you really love the sound of The Shadows you can go back and stream the Albums and EP’s Collection LP!
The album I’m recommending is a various artists collection titled Guitar Greats and it features music by many popular instrumentalists of the early sixties including Santo & Johnny (Sleep Walk), The Champs (Tequila), Bill Justis (Raunchy), Bo Diddley, Les Paul, Dick Dale, The Scotty Moore Trio and many more! And the album features three of The Shadows best -known hits: Apache, Kon-Tiki and Wonderful Land.
3. The Ventures – No Trespassing – The First Four Albums:
The Ventures are, undoubtedly, the best known instrumental rock group of the sixties. And this collection includes the first four Ventures albums: Walk Don’t Run, The Ventures, Another Smash! and The Colorful Ventures. Included in this collection are some of the ventures most popular songs including: Perfidia, Ram Bunk Shush, Walk Don’t Run, Raunchy, Rawhide and more!
And a neat item of note as described by the publishers “Also included on this superb set is a rare July 1961 radio interview with Ventures main men Bob Bogle and Don Wilson.”
The Freegal Music Catalog homepage will display — it looks like this:
The Freegal Music app can be found in your app store and it looks like this:
Freegal Wild Card Pick Of The Week:
The Wild Card Pick Of The Week may feature a recommended musician, band, composer or musical style of any time in the history of recorded music and is not tied to our yearly theme – thus the title “Wild Card Freegal Pick Of The Week.”
So without further ado here’s the Wild Card Freegal Music Pick for this week:
Traditional Music from Cape Breton Island by various artists:
This various artists collection includes music by Natalie MacMaster! Corning Civic Music fans may recall that Natalie MacMaster, and her husband Donnell Leahy, kicked off the 2016-2017 Civic Music concert series. I was fortunate enough to attend their September 24, 2016 concert and boy, can they both play the fiddle! Natalie MacMaster plays on two songs on this compilation: The Bonnie Lass of Headlake & Irish Lasses. Other artists featured in this collection include: Jerry Holland, John Morris Rankin, Brenda Stubbert, Howie MacDonald, Dougie MacDonald and more. If you like traditional fiddle music – you’ll like this album!
About Requesting CDs This Week: Due to the upgrade of catalog equipment, not all of our recently added items, books, DVDs, CDs etc., are currently listed in StarCat even though they are available on our shelves – this includes three of our four CD recommendations the CDs by Johnny & The Hurricanes, The Ventures and our Wild Card CD pick of the week — Charley Pride’s four album collection Charley Pride – Country Charley Pride/The Country Way/Pride Of Country Music/Make Mine Country; those three CDs are available on our shelves so you can pick them up today. And of course, you can always call us and ask us to place requests for items and/or pull available items from our shelves and leave them at the Circulation Desk so you can pick them up later.
The library’s phone number is: 607-936-3713 and entering extension 501 will get you a live person to assist you!
And now, on to the recommended CDs!
II. Compact Discs Recommendations:
1. Johnny & The Hurricanes:
The Very Best Of Johnny & The Hurricanes
by Johnny & The Hurricanes:
This CD set contains 50 of the bands original recordings on two CDs. The hits are all here as are a solid number of other fun rocking tunes including: Red River Rock, Crossfire, Joy Ride, Milk Shake, Corn Bread, The Kid, Beatnik Fly, Traffic Jam and more!
2. The Shadows: Two Classic Albums Plus by The Shadows:
This set includes the classic Shadows albums The Shadows and Out of The Shadows as well as their classic era singles and EPs. The set includes over 100 hundred great classic instrumental songs! The songs include: Guitar Tango, FBI, Kon Tiki, Wonderful Land, Bongo Blues, Shadoogie, That’s My Desire and more!
3. The Ventures – No Trespassing – The First Four Albums:
The Ventures are, undoubtedly, the best known instrumental rock group of the sixties. And if you’ve read this entire posting to this point – then this will sound familiar!
And if think you’ve read it before – you have!
This is the exact same album I recommend you stream from the Freegal Music Catalog – this is simply the CD version instead!
As a reminder the collection includes the first four Ventures albums: Walk Don’t Run, The Ventures, Another which collectively contain more than 50 songs.
Wild Card CD Pick Of The Week:
Charley Pride – Country Charley Pride/The Country Way/Pride Of Country Music/Make Mine Country by Charley Pride
Our Wild Card CD Pick Of The Week is a four album CD set by the great country artists Charley Pride. The set, which includes four of Pride’s first five albums.
Charley Pride, began his recording career in the 1960s. Pride, who is black, broke the stereotypical mold by singing and recording country music. During his recording career he’s earned 36 number one country songs, 4 platinum and 30 gold albums! If you’re unfamiliar with his music he has an easy going voice and style which is somehow reassuring to listen to no matter what subject his is singing about. The songs in this collection include his first hit The Snake Crawls At Night, Yonder Comes A Sucker, The Last Thing On My Mind, Spell Of The Freight Train, Just Between You & Me and many more!
III. Videos:
Johnny & The Hurricanes:
Red River Rock live version recorded in 1981.
(A slightly fuzzy video – but you can see the actual band playing)
Red Rover Rock (original version) – the sounds is good for this video but you don’t get to see the band playing, instead you’re treated to 2 minutes of looking at a vintage photo of the group gathered around their touring van.
The Shadows:
Here’s a cool video of the Shadows playing their biggest hit – Apache.
The Ventures:
Introduced by Dick Clark here’s a link to a clip of the Ventures playing their biggest hit Walk—Don’t Run:
V. Wild Card Print Book Recommendation:
The Rolling Stones by Reuel Golden:
This is a great 522 page book, published by Taschen (they’re known for their photos) that features top notch photos of the Rolling Stones over the years. This book is what we use to call a “coffee table book” because of its size and the beautiful photos it contains. The book is about the size of three large pizza boxes and is a bit weighty so you’ll get a mini work out when you pick it up. Check it out!
Here’s the publisher description of the book:
“We were lucky enough to work with some of the greatest photographers in the world who captured many magical moments of our career. This volume brings together some incredible pictures spanning the past fifty years.” Mick Jagger
“This book isn’t just rock ‘n’ roll, it’s a roller coaster through fifty years of memory lane! “Keith Richards Ladies and gentlemen…The Rolling Stones!
The definitive, authorized illustrated history of the world’s greatest rock ‘n’ roll band
The kind of fame and success The Rolling Stones have achieved in their 50-years and counting career is without parallel; their most famous riffs and catchiest lyrics are indelibly engraved in our collective memory. With their bluesy rock ‘n’ roll and mesmerizing off and onstage presence, the Stones redefined the music of the 1960s and 1970s and paved the way for rock as we know it today. They also set the standard for how a rock band should look and behave. Produced in close collaboration with the band, this book charts the Stones’ remarkable history and outrageously cool lifestyle in over 500 pages of photographs and illustrations, many previously unseen, and gathered from archives all over the world. Unprecedented access to the Rolling Stones’ own archives in New York and London adds an equally extraordinary, more private side to their story. For Mick, Keith, Charlie and Ronnie this is their official photographic record.
Features:
Over 500 pages of incredible images from some of the world’s greatest photographers, including David Bailey, Peter Beard, Cecil Beaton, Anton Corbijn, Annie Leibovitz, Gered Mankowitz, Helmut Newton, Bent Rej, and Norman Parkinson
V. Brief Artists Bios, General References & Artist Specific References:
Brief Artists Bios:
Johnny & The Hurricanes:
Johnny & The Hurricanes formed in Toledo, Ohio in 1958. And they can be thought of as a roll over band in the sense that they were popular in the late 1950s and the early 1960s. The classic line up of the band included Paul Tesluk on organ, Dave Yorko on guitar, Lionel “Butch” Mattice on bass, Tony Kaye on drums and saxophonist and band leader Johnny Paris on saxophone. The group differed from The Ventures and The Shadows, who were guitar-centric, in prominently featuring the saxophone and organ playing of, respectively, Paris and Tesluk. Their most popular songs include: Crossfire, Reveille Rock, Beatnik Fly and their biggest hit Red River Rock. The group was exceptionally popular in Europe and when they played the Cavern Club in Hamburg, Germany in the early 60’s their opening act was a then little known band called The Beatles! Paris continued to tour with various versions of the band until he died in 2006.
The Shadows:
The Shadows: The Shadows formed in Hertfordshire, U.K. in the late 1950s. Their classic line up consisted of guitarists Hank B. Marvin & Bruce Welsh, drummer Jet Harris and drummer Tony Meehan.
The Shadows were Britain’s answer to the Ventures and the first British rock group to hold sway over the British charts – they were the most popular British rock group in the pre-Beatles era. The Shadows were originally named The Drifters and first stepped into the international lime light as British pop star as singer Cliff Richard’s back-up band. They changed their name to The Shadows in the early 1960s when the great American R&B group The Drifters emerged. Some of the Shadows most prominent songs include: Apache, F.B.I. Guitar Tanto, Don’t Make My Baby Blue & Kon-Tiki
The Shadow never had a hit in America; however, Shadows lead guitarist Hank Marvin cast a strong influence on succeeding generations of British guitarists and became the U. K.’s first guitar super star so he really does rate mention right up there the other great American instrumental guitarists of the early Sixites era: Steve Cropper (Booker T. & The MG’s), Duane Eddy, Link Wray and Nokie Edwards (The Ventures).
The Ventures:
The Ventures were formed in Tacoma, Washington in 1959 and originally consisted of Bob Bugle on bass, Don Wilson on rhythm guitar, Nokie Edwards on lead guitar and Howie Johnson on drums. The classic line up of this guitar centered band included the previously mentioned Bugle, Wilson, Edwards and Mel Taylor on drums.
The Ventures are quite probably the best known instrumental rock group of all time and continue to play concerts to this day. Some of their most well-known hits include: Walk—Don’t Run, Ram-Bunk-Shush and Perfida.
Also notable is the fact that the Ventures jumped on the LP bandwagon by putting out long-playing records with themes. For example, one of their albums is titled The Colorful Ventures which features songs with colors in their title; another is titled The Ventures Perform the Great TV Themes. Ironically, one of their most popular albums, The Ventures Play Telstar & The Lonely Bull, departed from that format and featured a number of well-known songs that have nothing to do with each other, from a thematic standpoint, including: Green Onions, Red River Rock, Percolator, Last Night, Let There Be Drums, Tequila, Apache and of course — Telstar.
General References:
Santelli, Robert. Sixties Rock: A Listener’s Guide. Contemporary Books. Chicago. 1985.
That is it for our music recommendations for the week of February 13 – the newest recommended Sixties listening suggestions will be posted by Saturday.
Have a great day!
Linda, SSCL
P.S. If you have any questions about how to download or stream free music through the Freegal Music service to a desktop or laptop computer or how to download and use the Freegal Music app let us know! Drop by the library or give us a call at: 607-936-3713
*You must have a library card at a Southern Tier Library System member library to enjoy the Freegal Music Service. Your card can be from any library in the system, and the system includes all public libraries in Steuben, Chemung, Yates, Schuyler and Allegheny Counties and including our own Southeast Steuben Count Library in Corning, New York. Library cards are free and at our library you can obtain one by visiting the Circulation Desk and presenting staff with a form of ID that features both your name and your current address.
Hi everyone, here are our suggested daily recommended titles in print or media and digital formats.
Our digital suggestion for today is the e-book:
How Propaganda Works by Jason Stanley:
Our democracy today is fraught with political campaigns, lobbyists, liberal media, and Fox News commentators, all using language to influence the way we think and reason about public issues. Even so, many of us believe that propaganda and manipulation aren’t problems for us—not in the way they were for the totalitarian societies of the mid-twentieth century. In How Propaganda Works, Jason Stanley demonstrates that more attention needs to be paid. He examines how propaganda operates subtly, how it undermines democracy—particularly the ideals of democratic deliberation and equality—and how it has damaged democracies of the past.
Focusing on the shortcomings of liberal democratic states, Stanley provides a historically grounded introduction to democratic political theory as a window into the misuse of democratic vocabulary for propaganda’s selfish purposes. He lays out historical examples, such as the restructuring of the US public school system at the turn of the twentieth century, to explore how the language of democracy is sometimes used to mask an undemocratic reality. Drawing from a range of sources, including feminist theory, critical race theory, epistemology, formal semantics, educational theory, and social and cognitive psychology, he explains how the manipulative and hypocritical declaration of flawed beliefs and ideologies arises from and perpetuates inequalities in society, such as the racial injustices that commonly occur in the United States.
How Propaganda Works shows that an understanding of propaganda and its mechanisms is essential for the preservation and protection of liberal democracies everywhere.
And here’s a link to the checkout page in the Digital Catalog:
And the physical item for today is the print book:
The River at Night by Erica Ferencik:
An Oprah.com Page-Turning Novels Pick
A 2017 Indie Next Pick
A Bustle Most Anticipated Thriller Novel of 2017
An Entertainment Weekly “Must List” Pick
A high-stakes drama set against the harsh beauty of the Maine wilderness, charting the journey of four friends as they fight to survive the aftermath of a white water rafting accident, The River at Night is a nonstop and unforgettable thriller by a stunning new voice in fiction.
Winifred Allen needs a vacation.
Stifled by a soul-crushing job, devastated by the death of her beloved brother, and lonely after the end of a fifteen-year marriage, Wini is feeling vulnerable. So when her three best friends insist on a high-octane getaway for their annual girls’ trip, she signs on, despite her misgivings.
What starts out as an invigorating hiking and rafting excursion in the remote Allagash Wilderness soon becomes an all-too-real nightmare: A freak accident leaves the women stranded, separating them from their raft and everything they need to survive. When night descends, a fire on the mountainside lures them to a ramshackle camp that appears to be their lifeline. But as Wini and her friends grasp the true intent of their supposed saviors, long buried secrets emerge and lifelong allegiances are put to the test. To survive, Wini must reach beyond the world she knows to harness an inner strength she never knew she possessed.
With intimately observed characters, visceral prose, and pacing as ruthless as the river itself, The River at Night is a dark exploration of creatures—both friend and foe—that you won’t soon forget.
Here’s a link to the StarCat request page for the book:
StarCat: The catalog of physical materials, i.e. print books, DVDs, audiobooks on CD etc. http://starcat.stls.org/
The Digital Catalog: The catalog of e-books, downloadable audiobooks and a handful of streaming videos: https://stls.overdrive.com/
Freegal Music Service: This music service is free to library card holders and offers the option to download, and keep, three free songs per week and to stream three hours of commercial free music each day: http://stlsny.freegalmusic.com/
Zinio: Digital magazines on demand and for free! Back issues are available and you can even choose to be notified by email when the new issue of your favorite magazine is available: https://www.rbdigital.com/stlschemungcony
About Library Mobile Apps:
You can access digital library content on PCs, Macs and mobile devices. For mobile devices simply download the OverDrive, Freegal or Zinio app from your app store to get started. If you have questions call the library at: 607-936-3713 and one of our Digital Literacy Specialists will be happy to assist you.
Hi everyone, here are our suggested daily recommended titles in print or media and digital formats.
Our digital suggestion for today is the e-book:
The Birth of Venus: A Novel by Sarah Dunant:
This new deluxe eBook edition features more than eighty additional pages of exclusive, author-approved annotations throughout the text, which contain new illustrations and photographs, to enrich your reading experience. You can access the eBook annotations with a simple click or tap on your eReader via the convenient links. Access them as you read the novel or as supplemental material after finishing the entire story. There is also Random House Reader’s Circle bonus content, which is sure to inspire discussion at book clubs everywhere.
Alessandra Cecchi is not quite fifteen when her father, a prosperous cloth merchant, brings a young painter back from northern Europe to decorate the chapel walls in the family’s Florence palazzo. A child of the Renaissance with a precocious mind and a talent for drawing, Alessandra is intoxicated by the artist’s abilities.
But Alessandra’s parents have made plans for their daughter, and she is soon married off to a wealthy, much older man. Meanwhile, the reign of the Medicis, with their love of luxury, learning, and dazzling art, is being threatened by the hellfire preaching and increasing brutality of the fundamentalist monk Savonarola and his reactionary followers. As the city shudders with violence and change, Alessandra must find her own way–and finally explore the passions she’s kept so long at bay.
Here’s a link to the checkout page in the Digital Catalog:
Identity Unknown: Rediscovering Seven American Women Artists
by Donna Seaman:
An award-winning writer rescues seven first-rate twentieth-century women artists from oblivion–their lives fascinating, their artwork a revelation.
Who hasn’t wondered where-aside from Georgia O’Keeffe and Frida Kahlo-all the women artists are? In many art books, they’ve been marginalized with cold efficiency, summarily dismissed in the captions of group photographs with the phrase “identity unknown” while each male is named.
Donna Seaman brings to dazzling life seven of these forgotten artists, among the best of their day: Gertrude Abercrombie, with her dark, surreal paintings and friendships with Dizzy Gillespie and Sonny Rollins; Bay Area self-portraitist Joan Brown; Ree Morton, with her witty, oddly beautiful constructions; Loïs Mailou Jones of the Harlem Renaissance; Lenore Tawney, who combined weaving and sculpture when art and craft were considered mutually exclusive; Christina Ramberg, whose unsettling works drew on pop culture and advertising; and Louise Nevelson, an art-world superstar in her heyday but omitted from recent surveys of her era.
These women fought to be treated the same as male artists, to be judged by their work, not their gender or appearance. In brilliant, compassionate prose, Seaman reveals what drove them, how they worked, and how they were perceived by others in a world where women were subjects-not makers-of art. Featuring stunning examples of the artists’ work, Identity Unknown speaks to all women about their neglected place in history and the challenges they face to be taken as seriously as men no matter what their chosen field-and to all men interested in women’s lives.
StarCat: The catalog of physical materials, i.e. print books, DVDs, audiobooks on CD etc. http://starcat.stls.org/
The Digital Catalog: The catalog of e-books, downloadable audiobooks and a handful of streaming videos: https://stls.overdrive.com/
Freegal Music Service: This music service is free to library card holders and offers the option to download, and keep, three free songs per week and to stream three hours of commercial free music each day: http://stlsny.freegalmusic.com/
Zinio: Digital magazines on demand and for free! Back issues are available and you can even choose to be notified by email when the new issue of your favorite magazine is available: https://www.rbdigital.com/stlschemungcony
About Library Mobile Apps:
You can access digital library content on PCs, Macs and mobile devices. For mobile devices simply download the OverDrive, Freegal or Zinio app from your app store to get started. If you have questions call the library at: 607-936-3713 and one of our Digital Literacy Specialists will be happy to assist you.
Hi everyone, here is the belated suggested read posting for Monday, February 20, 2017.
Our digital suggestion for today is the e-book:
Midnight Without a Moon
by Linda Williams Jackson:
It’s Mississippi in the summer of 1955, and Rose Lee Carter can’t wait to move north. But for now, she’s living with her sharecropper grandparents on a white man’s cotton plantation.
Then, one town over, an African American boy, Emmett Till, is killed for allegedly whistling at a white woman. When Till’s murderers are unjustly acquitted, Rose realizes that the South needs a change . . . and that she should be part of the movement.
Linda Jackson’s moving debut seamlessly blends a fictional portrait of an African American family and factual events from a famous trial that provoked change in race relations in the United States.
The notorious Opium-Eater returns in the sensational climax to David Morrell’s acclaimed Victorian mystery trilogy.
1855. The railway has irrevocably altered English society, effectively changing geography and fueling the industrial revolution by shortening distances between cities: a whole day’s journey can now be covered in a matter of hours. People marvel at their new freedom.
But train travel brings new dangers as well, with England’s first death by train recorded on the very first day of railway operations in 1830. Twenty-five years later, England’s first train murder occurs, paralyzing London with the unthinkable when a gentleman is stabbed to death in a safely locked first-class passenger compartment.
In the next compartment, the brilliant opium-eater Thomas De Quincey and his quick-witted daughter, Emily, discover the homicide in a most gruesome manner. Key witnesses and also resourceful sleuths, they join forces with their allies in Scotland Yard, Detective Ryan and his partner-in-training, Becker, to pursue the killer back into the fogbound streets of London, where other baffling murders occur. Ultimately, De Quincey must confront two ruthless adversaries: this terrifying enemy, and his own opium addiction which endangers his life and his tormented soul.
Ruler of the Night is a riveting blend of fact and fiction which, like master storyteller David Morrell’s previous De Quincey novels, “evokes Victorian London with such finesse that you’ll hear the hooves clattering on cobblestones, the racket of dustmen, and the shrill calls of vendors” (Entertainment Weekly).
StarCat: The catalog of physical materials, i.e. print books, DVDs, audiobooks on CD etc. http://starcat.stls.org/
The Digital Catalog: The catalog of e-books, downloadable audiobooks and a handful of streaming videos: https://stls.overdrive.com/
Freegal Music Service: This music service is free to library card holders and offers the option to download, and keep, three free songs per week and to stream three hours of commercial free music each day: http://stlsny.freegalmusic.com/
Zinio: Digital magazines on demand and for free! Back issues are available and you can even choose to be notified by email when the new issue of your favorite magazine is available: https://www.rbdigital.com/stlschemungcony
About Library Mobile Apps:
You can access digital library content on PCs, Macs and mobile devices. For mobile devices simply download the OverDrive, Freegal or Zinio app from your app store to get started. If you have questions call the library at: 607-936-3713 and one of our Digital Literacy Specialists will be happy to assist you.
Tech & Book Talk at SSCL 