Easy Street

Laughter at My Window

This is a collection of Blake Parkers songs. Blake was a spoken word artist, performance poet, writer, lecturer, graphic designer, multi media artist and collaborator, known for his improvisation and evocative voice. As a teenager in the 50s, Blake was strongly influenced by the Beat poets who came before him. His lively, experimental spoken word projects reflect a mature yet quirky genre that is one of the predecessors of todays rap and hip hop. As part of the populist spoken word movement, his work aspires to an integration of high art & low entertainment. Blake worked with many musicians using his words and voice as instrument. At home, Blake played guitar, mostly the blues, constantly making up songs which were rarely part of his performance poetry. There were many variations and improvisations, the music was fluid and only some had more fixed ideas with chords. During the last years with a terminal diagnosis, Blake started to collate the songs, in hopes that other musicians and singers would keep them in the world. Blake Parkers blues, country and gospel songs are a mixture of profound, inspiring, and humorous lyrics ready to be put to music and sung. Check his website www.blakeparker.ca

Old-Time Music and Dance

In the summer of 1972, a group of young people in Bloomington, Indiana, began a weekly gathering with the purpose of reviving traditional American old-time music and dance. In time, the group became a kind of accidental utopia, a community bound by celebration and deliberately void of structure and authority. In this joyful and engaging book, John Bealle tells the lively history of the Bloomington Old-Time Music and Dance Group -- how it was formed, how it evolved its unique culture, and how it grew to shape and influence new waves of traditional music and dance. Broader questions about the folk revival movement, social resistance, counter culture, authenticity, and identity intersect this delightful history. More than a story about the people who forged the group or an extraordinary convergence of talent and creativity, Old-Time Music and Dance follows the threads of American folk culture and the social experience generated by this living tradition of music and dance.

Decisions and Orders of the National Labor Relations Board