Dianne Reeves is a gracefully mature singer, with beauty of sound, intelligence, pride, range, and taste. The song selection on her recording Beautiful Life is good and its production quality pristine. It is a very pleasing collection. Dianne Reeves brings depth, individuality, and warmth to everything she sings. “Dreams” and “Waiting in Vain” are two unique, late twentieth-century popular music standards, the first rock (Stevie Nicks) and the second reggae (Bob Marley), and here presented as jazz ballads with elegance and sensitivity.
An interview with Steven Manchester
The author of Pressed Pennies talks about his new book, how he came to be a writer, what motivated him to write Pressed Pennies, his title, his next book, and lots more.
A review of Split by Cathy Linh Che
Split by Cathy Linh Che is an honest piece of literature. There is no need for Che to prove her talent as a poet. The poems in Split do this and more. Che uses the pen as a mirror. What she sees—including significant events that impact her personal and familial life—she puts on paper in ways that approach mastery of the art of poetry.
An interview with Stephanie Crosby
The author of The Last Virgin Alive talks about herself, her new novel, how she started writing, her inspiration, her newest work, and more.
Geography of Mind: Dawn Upshaw and Maria Schneider’s Winter Morning Walks
A quiet, tender description of nature, of quiet growth, is found in “Perfectly, Still This Solstice Morning,” one of the poems by Ted Kooser that has been set to music by Maria Schneider and sung by Dawn Upshaw on Winter Morning Walks: the collection of songs is the kind of music that can easily become a part of one’s life, for both its sound and its thoughts, as it captures existence, movement in nature and world, illness, and recovery.
A review of The End of the World by Maria Takolander
As the title implies, Maria Takolander’s The End of the World makes no pretence at sweetness or ease. While there is certainly a tenderness in the poems of childbirth and domesticity that open the collection, but despite the maternal softness that draws the reader in from the start of many of these poems, the collection has an underlying ferocity which takes the reader below the superficial, into the heart of meaning as revealed by the intensity of each moment it encounters.
A review of Mosaic of Disarray by Nick de Grunwald
Nick de Grunwald, the British television producer and driving force behind Mosaic of Disarray, deserves to be a big name in music. The thirteen songs are a well-balanced mix of darkness, poignancy, cheerfulness and folksiness. The songs range from the funky bleakness of “Channel D” through ballads and rock songs to the nightmarish unearthliness of “The Other”.
A review of In the Chameleon’s Shadow by Mark Hummel
Conversations are convincing, dialogue is used to enhance and move the narrative forward. Characters are well fleshed. Settings are authentic. The reader is drawn into the narrative slowly at first, but completely, and is held fast in the grip right to the last paragraph. The tale is well plotted, the ending is not predictable or formulaic, but is satisfying as well as a bit bittersweet.
The Happiest Fellow of All: Pharrell Williams and his album Girl, featuring duets with Justin Timberlake and Alicia Keys
The Virginia-born music and style icon Pharrell Williams, once a partner with his childhood friend Chad Hugo in the producing team The Neptunes, made the solo album In My Mind (2006) and now Girl: Girl has a light, contemporary dance sound. Its attitude is open, flirtatious, and confident. The singer-songwriter’s persona is that of a smart urbanite.
Dogs & Devotion by The Monks of New Skete
Some of the beliefs held by the community are shared in this small work with the readings provided in the form of meditations the Monks hope will lead the reader to a more abundant life.