The Practice of Popular Music is a music theory and musicianship textbook devoted to explaining the organization of contemporary popular music styles such as pop, rock, R&B, rap, and country. Rooted in recent research showing that the structure of popular music differs from classical music in important ways, this textbook offers an approach to teaching music theory that is fully oriented around popular and commercial genres. Beginning with fundamentals and requiring no previous training in music theory or notation, this book eventually guides the reader through a range of advanced topics, including chromatic mixture, secondary chord function, complex time signatures, and phrase organization. Each chapter develops concepts in tandem with aural comprehension, and the included exercises balance written tasks with listening activities. A companion website provides links to playlists of the music discussed in the book. With an innovative approach designed to broaden the reach of music theory coursework to a wide range of students, including non-majors and those in modern music degree programs such as audio engineering, songwriting, and music business, this textbook enables readers to gain a deep understanding of music theory in the context of popular music.

In the movie Don Juan DeMarco, Johnny Depp's character is in a psychiatric hospital receiving treatment because he believes he is Don Juan, a.k.a. "The Greatest Lover the World has Ever Known." In one of the scenes Don Juan says to his Doctor, "There are only Four Questions of Value in Life: What is sacred? Of what is the Spirit made? What is worth living for? And what is worth dying for? The answer to each is the same: Only Love." Since September 11, 2001 many of us have been searching for the ultimate meaning of our lives, where three additional questions have been consuming our thoughts: Where did I come from? Why am I here? And what will become of me when this life is over? The answer to each is the same: Only Love. This book is a love story in a very non-traditional sense. It's a love story to remind us who we are, and what our minds are capable of when we remove our egos and fill the void with thoughts of kindness and love. It's love story to get us thinking about you, and me, and the Eternity we will spend together as One. Even though there are many questions to consider as we embark upon this journey together as One, the answer to each is the same: Only Love.

Listen to Punk Rock! Exploring a Musical Genre discusses the evolution of punk from its inception in 1975 to the present, delving into the lasting impact of the genre throughout society today. Listen to Punk Rock! provides readers with a fuller picture of punk rock as an inclusive genre with continuing relevance. Organized in a roughly chronological manner, it starts with an introduction that explains the musical and cultural forces that shaped the punk genre. Next, 50 entries cover important punk bands and subgenres, noting female punk bands as well as bands of color. The final part of the book discusses how punk has influenced other musical genres and popular culture. The book will give those new to the genre an overview of important bands and products related to the movement in music, including publications, fashion, and films about punk rock. Notably, it pays special attention to diversity within the genre, discussing bands often overlooked or mentioned only in passing in most histories of the movement, which focus mainly on The Sex Pistols, The Clash, and The Ramones as the pioneers of punk.

Every year 5% of all breast cancer diagnosis occur in women under the age of forty. They do not have the time to be sick, stop their lives or even take the time to care for themselves. This book is for them-the women outside the common statistics, like me. Someone who has been rocked by a scary diagnosis but continues to rock-on. Someone who needs to laugh in the face of fear. It is scary-but hey, if I can get through it, anyone can. The one thing I know for sure, laughter heals. I realized long ago, before cancer, that if I didnt laugh, Id cry. I choose to laugh. I hope you do too.

Douglas Little explores the stormy American relationship with the Middle East from World War II through the war in Iraq, focusing particularly on the complex and often inconsistent attitudes and interests that helped put the United States on a collision course with radical Islam early in the new millennium. After documenting the persistence of "orientalist" stereotypes in American popular culture, Little examines oil, Israel, and other aspects of U.S. policy. He concludes that a peculiar blend of arrogance and ignorance has led American officials to overestimate their ability to shape events in the Middle East from 1945 through the present day, and that it has been a driving force behind the Iraq war. For this updated third edition, Little covers events through 2007, including a new chapter on the Bush Doctrine, demonstrating that in many important ways, George W. Bush's Middle Eastern policies mark a sharp break with the past.