Lots of new stuff !!!

Lots of new and some classic titles will be finding their way to the stacks in the next few days. Here are just a few:

Compact Disks

Speak No Evil-Wayne Shorter- An all-star band including Freddie Hubbard,Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, and Elvin Jones complements Shorter on the tenor sax. ( MJ SHOR SNE S27 )
Nina At the Village Gate- Nina Simone- The incomparable Miss Simone live at one of New York's landmark Jazz venues - can it get any better? ( MJ SIMO AVG S82 )
In Your Honor - Foo Fighters - This album has been getting "great press" from rock critics as well as a mention from Jon Stewart on the Daily Show. ( MA FOOF IYH F82 )
Blame the Vain - Dwight Yoakam - Country music (except Steve Earle and a handful of others) is just "not my thing." That being said, Yoakum makes a strong case here to be included with an extremely listenable crossover album. ( MC YOAK BTV Y75 )
All or Nothing - Fat Joe - I'm not familiar with this Rap star, but this album has rocketed up the charts! ( MA FATJ AON F92 )
Chavez Ravine -Ry Cooder- and Mexican Standoff -Michelle Shocked- These albums succeed in invoking images from different times and places. Cooder captures the feeling of the largely chicano community of Los Angeles in the 50's as it was about to be displaced by the building of Dodger Stadium. He is joined on this ambitious album by David Hidalgo (Los Lobos), Flaco Jiminez, and Jacky Terrasson. Miss Shocked, opens her album with a few "border tunes" but eventually finds herself in the more familiar Texas blues milieu.
Unfortunately, these albums have to be catalogued and processed and will probably not reach the New Releases bin for a few weeks.

DVD and VHS

Coach Carter
Hostage
Seed of Chucky
Scrubs 1st season
Six Feet Under 3rd season

Audiobooks

The Italian Secretary - Caleb Carr CD
1776 - David McCullough CD
The Innocent - Harlen Coben CD
The Ice Queen - Alice Hoffman CD
The 12th Card - Jeffrey Deaver Cassette

This is by no means a complete listing. I certainly wouldn't want to deprive you of one of life's great pleasures -browsing the stacks of a library. If you have any questions or requests, direct them to Michael at the Reference Desk or e-mail me at :
LBLibrary@Yahoo.com
Please include the words "audio visual" or "Michael" in the Subject line to insure that I get it.

Prizes, prizes, prizes!!!!

Remember - There are prizes available to the first twenty library patrons that post their comments to this Blog. Its simple:

If you would like to post your ideas, thoughts, comments, and suggestions,you must fill out a Blog Registration form (you will find these in the media area and at the Reference Desk)and drop it off at the Reference Desk. After registering you will receive an e-mail invitation from "Blogger.Com" - When you accept the invitation you will be able to post by clicking on "comments" at the end of a particular posting. Have fun! Post your thoughts today and pick up your prize tomorrow!

In my last posting, I mentioned the dates of the Long Beach Jazz Festival. More information is available at the Jazz Festival website:
www.longbeachjazzfest.com
You will find a schedule of events and a listing of performers with links to more information, as well as a videoclip of a past performance. Check it out!

Thanks to my colleague, Phil Boccia, our technology librarian, we now have live links to the various sites that are referenced in this blog.

Web Counters

All that Jazz...

The JVC jazz Festival is underway in New York City with many of the top names in Jazz performing at venues throughout the city. Dave Brubeck, Don Byron, Harry Connick Jr., Branford Marsalis, Stanley Clarke and Bela Fleck are just a few of the participants. For a complete schedule of events see:
www.festivalproductions.net/05/jvcjazz/nysch1.php?view=all

Speaking of Jazz Festivals; dates have been announced for the Long Beach Public Library's Third Annual Jazz Festival. Mark Sept.8-11 on your calendars if you want to see some of the area's best Jazz and Blues performers on the library's stage. The 2005 edition will be sponsored in part by Lancers Insurance.
If you've attended any of the shows in the past two years, I'm sure you will be back for more. Audiences have been enthusiastic and knowledgeable and the performers feed off that. Last years shows were all taped and the DVD's are included in the library catalogue.

Some Jazz classics that have recently been added to our CD collection include:
Blues and the Abstract Truth - Oliver Nelson
Thelonious Alone in San Francisco - Thelonious Monk
The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery
Filles de Kilimanjero - Miles Davis

For those American Idol fans, look for a CD called Pray for the Soul of Betty - it features the prematurely booted fan favorite, Constantine Maroulis. Also expect to see recordings from winner Carrie Underwood, and runner-up, Bo Bice in the near future.

Remember to register to Blog with us - fill out the Blog Registration form and leave it at the Reference Desk. Its that simple.

How to post to this blog

Welcome to the folks that have recently registered to participate in this blog. For those of you that haven't - here's how to do it:

If you would like to post your ideas, thoughts, comments, and suggestions,you must fill out a Blog Registration form (you will find these in the media area and at the Reference Desk)and drop it off at the Reference Desk. After registering you will receive an e-mail invitation from "Blogger.Com" - When you accept the invitation you will be able to post by clicking on "comments" at the end of a particular posting. Have fun!

Live Music

In a previous post, I talked about getting out to see and hear live music performed. One of the major venues for live performance in our area,during summer months, is the Tommy Hilfiger Theater at Jones Beach. There is nothing like a summer night of great music with a cool breeze off Zack's Bay to keep you comfortable. If you are like me, you look forward all winter to the announcement of the Jones Beach schedule. Well, its out and I am so disappointed. This years lineup is like a time-travel into the past. Judas Priest, James Taylor, Donna Summer, Journey, Meatloaf, and it goes on and on. I was excited to learn that Trey Anastasio (formerly of Phish) and Ben Harper were performing along with some promising, but little known jam bands. Alas, this show has been scratched, leaving us with Earth, Wind and Fire and Duran Duran. I'm sure that these "oldtimers" can still put on a pretty good show and I suspect that many of the shows will be sold out. However, we are not getting to see the up and coming, hot new acts. Wouldn't it have been great to see someone like the White Stripes at our favorite venue?

For a complete schedule of Jones Beach shows,
www.tommyhilfigerjonesbeach.com/schedule.html

Fortunately, Jones Beach is not the only show in town! The New York Times Long Island Section, on June 5, 2005, listed a schedule of outdoor entertainment throughout Nassau and Suffolk. A copy of this is available at our Reference Desk.
Long Beach's own Concert by the Sea series is a very popular place to be on a summer evening. A schedule of these events is also available at the reference desk or on the City of Long Beach web site www.longbeachny.org - click on summer information.

The Huntington Arts Council sponsors a wonderful series of free concerts at Heckscher Park. This years lineup includes such well known acts as Phoebe Snow, Arturo Sandoval, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, and Long Beach's own Steve Adelson. For more information see:
www.huntingtonarts.org www.huntingtonarts.org

...a little of this...

I had the good fortune to be able to see "Spamelot" on Broadway this weekend. It was a hoot from the opening announcement to turn off cell phones to the final curtain. Being a Monty Python fan, I wasn't expecting highbrow theatre, and I certainly didn't get it. What I did get was more than 2 hours of pure, unadulterated silliness, great music, dancing, and costumes, and, of course coconut shells. Tim Curry was in great voice as King Arthur and was supported by David Hyde Pierce (Frazier)and Hank Azaria (The Simpsons). The female lead took the day off - probably to save herself for her performance at the Tony Awards that evening. I will be sure to order this soundtrack when it is released. Look for it in the next few weeks.

Speaking of live performances, our very own reference and language librarian, Eileen Pollis, will be performing "Music for the Soul and Heart IV" in the library auditorium on Saturday, June 18, at 2 pm. Eileen is a veteran of the library's stage and has a large fan base that never fails to fill the room. So get there early to insure a seat. The Divine Ms.P will be covering a wide range of the musical spectrum from Opera to Broadway. She will be accompanied by Charles Levi on piano and will be joined for part of the program by her sister, Patricia Ponte.
If you can't be there in person, videotapes of some previous concerts are part of the library collection (VR 782.3 Mus).

Watching and listening to live music is a real treat - on the Broadway stage, the local library auditorium, or at your favorite "watering hole." The interaction between audience and performer is something that can rarely be captured fully on a recording. It is important to support your local artists. They feed on your approval.
So whether its a local band covering Dave Mathews Band tunes at a bar "down west," or a lyric soprano librarian singing from Kiss Me Kate, get out there and let them know how much you appreciate their efforts.

My inexperience is showing!!!

As I said in my first post - blogging is new to me - so I was bound to mess up. I actually posted earlier today and it appears as a response (comment) to my last post. This was not what I intended. True, I am the only person talking here; but I'm not desperate enough to answer myself (yet). I'm not sure that I can remove the comment so I'll repeat it here and learn from this experience. Here goes.

Hi, I hope you all had a great weekend. Besides the good weather and the innaugural barbecue, the highlight of my weekend was getting to see "Mad Hot Ballroom." If you haven't heard about this wonderful documentary, I'm sure you will! It is about a special program designed to teach ballroom dancing to elementary school students in the New York City School System. The teaching scenes are priceless. The competition is exhilirating. The connection between the subjects and the viewer is magical.

Documentary filmmaking, thanks to Morgon Spurlock ("Supersize Me") and Roger Moore ("Fahrenheit 9/11"), has been extremely popular of late, and "Mad Hot Ballroom" is certain to keep this trend going. The DVD release date has not been announced yet, but I will be sure to order this as soon as I can. Don't wait - this one is worth the price of admission.

Remember to sign up and start posting.