Showing results by publisher "Blackstone Audio, Inc." in Arts & Entertainment

Blackstone Audio is proud to present the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s production of Measure for Measure, Shakespeare’s compelling tragicomedy that explores restraint—and lack thereof. The duke’s authoritarian deputy, Angelo, is hell-bent on stamping out moral decay. He reactivates outdated draconian laws and aims his arrogant crosshairs at a young man whose fiancée is pregnant, sentencing him to death. Angelo is sternly incorruptible—until he meets Isabela....

Eric Klinenberg's Fighting for Air takes us into the world of preprogrammed radio shows, empty television news stations, and copycat newspapers to show how corporate ownership and control of local media has remade American political and cultural life. Klinenberg argues that the demise of truly local media stems from the federal government's malign neglect.

Join us in this exclusive audio program for candid conversations with luminaries in the food world. Kitchen Round Table brings you inside the homes and hearts of Lidia Bastianich, Madhur Jaffrey, Judith Jones, Betty Fussell, and Deb Perelman. We hear about their earliest food memories and how each slowly made their way into the kitchen and ultimately inspired generation upon generation of home cooks. We'll learn how complicated recipes are translated for those of us who don't dice and julienne in our sleep, but we'll also hear about memorable gourmet feats and culinary fireworks, and unforgettable meals.

The fascinating life of storyteller and humorist Mark Twain is revealed in this one-man performance based on Twain's writings. The early years of Samuel Clemens, the Mississippi River experiences, and his move to the silver mining area of Nevada are portrayed by exuberant actor McAvoy Layne; some of the most famous tales, from "The Blue Jay Yarn" to "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" are woven into the history of this most colorful author.

In the raucous, bloody, red-light district of Storyville, New Orleans, in 1907, where 2,000 scarlet women ply their trade, where cocaine and opium are sold over the counter, and where rye whiskey flows like an amber river, there's a killer loose. Someone is murdering Storyville prostitutes and marking each killing with a black rose.

When Tim Lefens walked into the Matheny School in New Jersey to show slides of his paintings, his one-hour visit became a life-changing experience. The students he met had severe physical challenges: only one of them could talk, none could walk, and all lacked the use of their hands.

Created exclusively with and for teen musicians, this hands-on, step-by-step program uses insight, enthusiasm, and humor to teach teens how to brainstorm ideas, craft effective lyrics, and put those lyrics to music. An award-winning and Billboard-charting songwriter and teacher, Alex Forbes has taught dozens of teens via her Manhattan workshops and coaching sessions how to turn their thoughts and feelings into incisive, evocative songs.

When El Matador opened in 1958, Bennett Cerf called it "the most attractive room in America". Part saloon, part salon, Barnaby Conrad's nightclub was nestled in the heart of San Francisco's cabaret and nightlife district. On any given night, one might find Noel Coward, Marilyn Monroe, Truman Capote, Frank Sinatra, Ava Gardner, or Tyrone Power in the club or might hear Duke Ellington, Art Tatum, Eva Gabor, George Shearing, or André Previn take over the piano.

In this series of essays, Roger Kimball, managing editor of the New Criterion and an art critic for the London Spectator, examines the current art scene with a scathing intelligence and a crystalline eloquence of writing style. Particularly amusing are his dissections of art-show catalogspeak.

The national debate over popular music's effect on character is both furious and confused. Conservatives complain primarily about lyrics, appealing to public decency and safety. Liberals, swift to the defense of any self-expression, simultaneously celebrate rock's liberating ethos and deny its cultural influence.

Top drum workshop teacher Chris Puleston invites listeners to participate in their own home drum workshops. This audiobook program, with music by Chris Puleston, incorporates easy exercises and techniques for both beginners and more advanced students.

When you are passionately, purely in love, nothing else matters - not even life itself. Shakespeare’s consummate tragedy of young lovers swept into a catastrophic vortex of misunderstandings, secrets, and fate is set in 1840s Alta California, a vibrant and conflicted time in our history. Romeo and Juliet, the son and daughter of two landed families locked in an old feud, are irresistibly drawn to each other. Defying the hatred and distrust surrounding them, they dare to believe they can - and must - be together.

In Reason in Art, Santayana explores the social and psychological origins of art. He examines its moral and ideal functions, its lapses into tastelessness, and the distinctive character of music, speech, poetry, and prose. The Spanish-born philosopher sees art as part of the broader human context, concluding that art prepares “the world to receive the soul and the soul to master the world.”

Jazz 101 is a fascinating entry into the world of jazz, for the beginner, novice, or jazz enthusiast. Szwed takes listeners on a tour of the varied and nonlinear history of jazz, exploring how it developed from an ethnic music to become America's most popular music and then part of the avant-garde in less than 50 years.