As the CCJ transitions to a
model better geared to leverage social networks, we are
moving away from our past use of email notification
services. If you would like to be added to our internal
email distribution, please send your request to
Rick@RARWRITER.com.
You can also follow us on
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features and news articles.
ABOUT RAR: For those of
you new to this site, "RAR" is Rick Alan Rice, the publisher
of the RARWRITER Publishing Group websites.
Use this link to visit the
RAR music page, which features original music
compositions and other.
ATWOOD - "A Toiler's Weird Odyssey of Deliverance"-AVAILABLE
NOW FOR KINDLE (INCLUDING KINDLE COMPUTER APPS) FROM
AMAZON.COM.Use
this link.
CCJ Publisher Rick Alan Rice dissects
the building of America in a trilogy of novels
collectively called ATWOOD. Book One explores
the development of the American West through the
lens of public policy, land planning, municipal
development, and governance as it played out in one
of the new counties of Kansas in the latter half of
the 19th Century. The novel focuses on the religious
and cultural traditions that imbued the American
Midwest with a special character that continues to
have a profound effect on American politics to this
day. Book One creates an understanding about
America's cultural foundations that is further
explored in books two and three that further trace
the historical-cultural-spiritual development of one
isolated county on the Great Plains that stands as
an icon in the development of a certain brand of
American character. That's the serious stuff viewed
from high altitude. The story itself gets down and
dirty with the supernatural, which inATWOOD
- A Toiler's Weird Odyssey of Deliverance is the
outfall of misfires in human interactions, from the
monumental to the sublime.The
book features the epic poem"The
Toiler"as
well as artwork by New Mexico artist Richard
Padilla.
Elmore Leonard
Meets Larry McMurtry
Western Crime
Novel
I am offering another
novel through Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing service.
Cooksin is the story of a criminal syndicate that sets its
sights on a ranching/farming community in Weld County, Colorado,
1950. The perpetrators of the criminal enterprise steal farm
equipment, slaughter cattle, and rob the personal property of
individuals whose assets have been inventoried in advance and
distributed through a vast system of illegal commerce.
It is a ripping good yarn, filled
with suspense and intrigue. This was designed intentionally to
pay homage to the type of creative works being produced in 1950,
when the story is set. Richard Padilla
has done his usually brilliant work in capturing the look and feel of
a certain type of crime fiction being produced in that era. The
whole thing has the feel of those black & white films you see on
Turner Movie Classics, and the writing will remind you a little
of Elmore Leonard, whose earliest works were westerns.
Use this link.
EXPLORE THE KINDLE
BOOK LIBRARY
If you have not explored the books
available from Amazon.com's Kindle Publishing
division you would do yourself a favor to do so. You
will find classic literature there, as well as tons
of privately published books of every kind. A lot of
it is awful, like a lot of traditionally published
books are awful, but some are truly classics. You
can get the entire collection of Shakespeare's works
for two bucks.
Amazon is the largest,
but far from the only digital publisher. You can
find similar treasure troves at
NOOK
Press(the
Barnes & Noble site),Lulu,
and others.
ARTIST NEWS
Documentary: Capital Radio 604
Musical Defense Against Apartheid
WDIA in Memphis is typically cited as the first
radio station in the United States to target its playlist to the
"African American" market, though in 1949, when a young B.B. King got an
on-air talent job there, it was likely not referenced that way. There
was a time when music, via the radio, pushed societal change in the way
that GitHub pushes code and technological change today. It is hard to
imagine, in our present-day age of media fracture, but there was once a
time when a pirate radio voice could move mountains and make history. It
happened with WDIA, and on another cultural front it happened across
America through XERF-AM, which was broadcast from Ciudad Acuña in Mexico
in covered the entire United States. It introduced most of America to
Wolfman Jack, and in many ways created a Rock'n Roll radio culture that
shaped subsequent generations of people around the world. Radio was once
something really special.
Such is the story of Capital Radio 604, a pirate
radio station in South Africa that has become the subject of a
documentary looking for development and distribution help. Check out the
trailer below, which does an excellent job of setting up the story.
Until 1991, South Africa was a country in which majority Black
populations were restricted to autonomously ruled ghetto regions that
kept them apart from one another, and out of the daily lives of the
ruling White population. Then an enterprising group of rebels, with the
help of the U.K.'s Capital Radio network, and charity sponsor Richard
Attenborough CBE, used Apartheid's own restrictions against it,
mounting a powerful radio transmitter on land the government couldn't
touch. They played the music the government had banned: The Police, Dire
Straits, and other stuff that was mainstream fare in most of the world
but outlaw thought in South Africa. And they broadcast the political
truth of South Africa to the world via short wave radio transmissions.
Capital Radio 604 worked, and it is inspiring to
watch this trailer and learn of their story. - RAR
The CCJ at RARWRITER provides a steady stream of news
feeds from a variety of sources. Use this link to visit the
Music News page.
SEARCH CCJ CONTENT
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archives? Type the item you wish to find in the custom search
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Rob Beck, a writer for
Beginner Guitar HQ, put together this insightful guide on
selecting a digital piano or keyboard.
Use this
link or click on the photo above to go to
How to Choose a Digital Piano
– 10 Factors to Consider According to Science