Category Archives: Books

John Lydon Book Cover

Book Review: JOHN LYDON “ANGER IS AN ENERGY: MY LIFE UNCENSORED” (P.1)

A book review by Dawoud Kringle

If ever there was a man who looked the whole world in the eye and said FUCK YOU!!!, it’s John Lydon. From the first few pages of the introduction, it was obvious that Lydon’s story, told in his own words, was going to be an intensely interesting read.

Lydon’s humble beginnings in North London (which he described as a “dustbin,” and “piss poor”) hard wired an attitude of rebellion into his psyche. He pointed out that he came from a rare point in British history where unquestioned subservience to national authority was not a given. This is not to say that the British had no civil disorder, but after WW2 much of this was swept under the carpet. People of Lydon’s intelligence, conviction, and imagination inevitably dragged this out of its hiding places.

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Andrew Schulman, author and musician

Book Review: Andrew Schulman’s “Waking the Spirit:

 …a Musician’s Journey Healing Body, Mind, and Soul”

Book Review by Dawoud Kringle

Andrew Schulman book coverMusic is the oldest, and the newest, thing in medicine. There are centuries worth of traditions from every culture humanity ever produced that explore the practical application of music as a form of medicine. From the beginning of recorded history to around the 17th century, music was an integral part of medicine. When western allopathic medicine began to reveal details of human biology, they simultaneously instituted the erroneous idea that the human body is mere biology unconnected with the mind. Humanity has yet to fully recover from this disaster. Hundreds of books are written in English about music. The rise of the practice of music therapy, or medical applications of music in the west is, however, a relatively new phenomenon.

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Book Review: John Kruth’s contribution to the world of Beatles literature

John Kruth bookAuthor: John Kruth
Title: This Bird Has Flown: The Enduring Beauty of Rubber Soul, Fifty Years On
Publisher: Backbeat Books

Book Review by Dawoud Kringle

The Beatles have earned the title of musical legend. Like them or not, there is no denying that their influence and accomplishments have been nothing less than monumental. As such, volumes have been written about them. So, if one dares assume the mantle of “Beatles Biographer”, one had better be ready to make a real contribution to an already formidable (and densely populated) lexicon.

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Book Recommendation: David Byrne speaks about and around music

41IimGsn8OL._SX258_PJlook-inside-v2,TopRight,1,0_SH20_BO1,204,203,200_Author: David Byrne
Title: How Music Works
Publisher: McSweeny’s Books
Buy:  Amazon

Recommended by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi

This is a book every musician should or must read. HOW MUSIC WORKS tells musicians what they should know about their metier. Here is a man who wants to share his knowledge and experience with us musicians. He writes very comprehensive. No doubt: he loves music and enjoys being a musician.

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Book Recommendation: “From Timbuktu to the Mississippi Delta” by Pascal Bokar Thiam, Ed.D.

From Timbuktu To The Mississippi DeltaAuthor: Pascal Bokar Thiam, Ed.D.
Title: From Timbuktu to the Mississippi Delta: How West African Standards of Aesthetics Shaped the Music of the Delta Blues (Revised First Edition)
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-63487-105-1, 154 pages
©2015

The Music is so varied that we still have no real idea what African music is.

I do know this, though: When an African touches an instrument, whether that African is an extension like Louis Armstrong or a master healer from Morocco or Mississippi, that instrument becomes an African instrument.

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