Written by Jon Williams
Televised music awards shows usually focus more on
performances than they do on the awards. At this year’s Academy of Country
Music Awards, however, a performance by two legendary artists has been put
together to celebrate one of the night’s biggest honourees.
In 2009, George
Strait was named ACM’s Artist of the Decade for the 2000s; Garth
Brooks was given the same title for the 1990s. These two country music
icons will perform together for the first time ever at this year’s ACM Awards
ceremony in memory of the late Dick Clark, the late music mogul who passed away
in 2012. The Artist of the Decade Award will be renamed in Clark’s honour. Clark
had produced the show since 1979.
The Artist of the Decade Award has been awarded since the
1960s. In addition to Strait and Brooks, the title has gone to the band Alabama
(1980s), Loretta
Lynn (1970s), and Marty
Robbins (1960s).
While Strait and Brooks may be the most anticipated
performers of the night, they certainly aren’t the only ones. Other superstars
appearing at the ceremony include Blake
Shelton and Luke
Bryan (who will host the show), Miranda
Lambert, Hunter
Hayes, Eric
Church, Lady
Antebellum, the
Band Perry, Taylor
Swift, Jason
Aldean, Kenny
Chesney, Tim
McGraw, Carrie
Underwood, and Kelly
Clarkson. Many of these artists were also nominated for awards; for a
complete list of nominees, SmartBrowse ‘2013 ACM Award Nominees’ on our
website.
The ceremony will take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena
in Las Vegas on Sunday, April 7. It will air live on CBS at 8:00 p.m. Eastern
Time.
Written by Kyle Slagley
One week ago today, the Edmonton Public Library in Alberta
celebrated their 100 th anniversary. According to their website, EPL
has gone from a single location above a meat shop in 1913 to a 17-branch system
with over 300 employees.
EPL has been the first library in Canada to take quite a few
milestone steps. EPL was the first to use a computer-based circulation system,
the first to offer patrons online access to their catalogue, and the first to
operate out of a streetcar – the predecessor to the bookmobile.
Edmonton has scheduled events all throughout 2013 to
celebrate their centennial. There are photo displays on the history of the EPL
system, outdoor festivals with live music, games, and activities, barbeques
later this summer, and comedian Rick Mercer will perform free for all EPL
cardholders in June.
Stop by their website www.epl.ca/100
to get more information on the events they have planned and get some ideas for
your library’s next big celebration!
Congratulations to the staff of Edmonton Public Library and
to the Edmonton, AB community on 100 years!
Written by Jon Williams
The weather is slowly getting warmer and the days are
growing longer. We’re just a few days away from the official start of
spring…and already more than a month into Major League Baseball’s spring
training. The World Baseball Classic, the sport’s answer to the Olympics, is in
full swing; unfortunately, the Canadian team went down in the first round. The
regular season begins on March 31 with a game between the Texas Rangers and the
Houston Astros, with other teams starting on April 1 or 2.The Blue Jays open at home on April 2, hosting the Cleveland Indians.
Everything about baseball captivates our creative
imagination: the pace of the game, the larger-than life characters that play
it, the hot, hazy days and long, sultry nights in which it’s played, the smell
of grass and leather…I could go on. So it’s no surprise that it has inspired some of the finest storytelling. It’s a game that
translates naturally to audiobook, with the narrator’s voice reminiscent of a
broadcaster relating the action of the game over the airwaves.
Here are a few baseball-related audiobooks to whet your
patrons’ appetites for Opening Day:
Selected
Shorts – Baseball: A fine place to start, this collection features eleven
pieces of short fiction about baseball from notable authors and fans of the
game.
Moneyball
by Michael Lewis and The
Extra 2% by Jonah Keri: The Yankees became known as the “evil empire”
by being able to outspend other clubs for the services of the best available
players. Teams without New York’s revenue are forced to look at other means to
build their teams. Here are looks at two such teams—the Oakland Athletics ( Moneyball) and the Tampa Bay Rays ( The Extra 2%)—who found success despite
having payrolls a fraction the size of their competitors.
Ball
Four by Jim Bouton: Bouton, a pitcher with the Seattle Pilots and
Houston Astros at the time, kept a diary throughout the 1969 season. Ball Four is the result, a book that
shined the light for the first time on what life was really like as a Major
League Baseball player. Controversial at the time, earning the ire of Bouton’s
peers, the book was named one of Time
Magazine’s 100 Greatest Non-Fiction books in 2011.
Cardboard
Gods by Josh Wilker: Talk to any baseball fan of a certain age—I’m one
of them—and you’ll hear memories of a youth filled with collecting baseball
cards and trading with their friends. In Cardboard
Gods, Josh Wilker entwines memoir with baseball history, explored through a
handful of cards from his formative years.
The
Great American Novel by Philip Roth: In 1943, the Port Ruppert Mundys
were the worst team in the Patriot League. What, you’ve never heard of the
Patriot League? That’s because, as a Communist organization, it has been
eradicated from the history books. That’s the premise of this hilarious novel
from Philip Roth, the recently retired author of other great American novels
like Goodbye, Columbus and American Pastoral.
Blockade
Billy by Stephen King: When the New Jersey Titans lose both of their
catchers, they call up Billy Blakely to fill in. It turns out Billy is a
phenomenal player who quickly captures the adulation of the fans…but Billy may
not be who he seems to be. It’s a baseball yarn with a twist that only Stephen
King could provide. King also has another novella tangentially related to
baseball, A
Face in the Crowd, written in collaboration with Stewart O’Nan.
Shoeless
Joe by W.P. Kinsella: Baseball fans know the classic baseball movie Field
of Dreams. This is the novel the movie was based on, in which an Iowa
farmer, inspired by a disembodied voice, plows under his cornfield to build a
baseball diamond for the ghost of Shoeless Joe Jackson and a few other notables
from the past.
What baseball tales are your favourites? Are there any that
are particularly popular with your patrons?
Written by Kyle Slagley
I remember watching a TV special with magician David
Copperfield when I was a kid. I watched the basic illusions with interest: I
watched him make an army tank disappear and I watched him fly through hoops,
proving there were no wires. The trick that really got me was the one that
involved me. He and James Earl Jones asked people to go up to the TV and then
correctly predicted the outcome of this trick.
Of course, I realize now that the trick is just simple math,
but for a young kid enthralled by one of the numerous TV specials by the Master
of Illusion, it was pretty awesome. Polished theatre magic like that of
Copperfield has faded in recent years, replaced instead by people like David
Blaine who specialize in endurance feats, or Criss Angel of the rough and
gritty street magician variety.
Fortunately, for those who prefer the glitzy, sequined,
spray-tanned variety of magic, The
Incredible Burt Wonderstone opens in theatres this week. Burt Wonderstone
(played by Steve Carell) and his partner Anton Marvelton (Steve Buscemi) are a fading
magician duo in Vegas who must repair their dying act and friendship to keep
from being unseated by rising star Steve Gray (Jim Carrey).
Burt Wonderstone
joins a line of magician films that dates all the way back to the 1950s. In
1953, Tony Curtis and then-wife Janet Leigh starred as Harry and Bess in the
classic biopic Houdini. The film follows Harry’s career from circus
performer all the way to his death of a ruptured appendix in 1926. With an 83%
approval rating from Rotten Tomatoes, this film has aged rather well.
Next up is one of the few films that truly give Hugh Jackman
the credit he deserves. Released in 2006, The Prestige chronicles a
professional battle between rival magicians Robert Angier (Jackman) and Alfred
Borden (Christian Bale). The cast also includes Michael Caine, Scarlett
Johansson, and even David Bowie as Nikola Tesla. It’s a love story, a mystery,
a war, and scientific discovery all in one. In a word: fantastic.
Also a very well done magician drama, The Illusionist stars Edward Norton
as the renowned performer Eisenheim. Eisenheim packs theatres across Vienna
with his feats that blur the boundary between the tangible and the
supernatural. Eventually Eisenheim’s own skill and love for a highborn woman
lead him to undermine the royal house in Vienna.
Although it’s not necessarily a movie about magicians, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
follows the immortal Dr. Parnassus and his traveling show, showing participants
an imaginary world controlled by Parnassus’s mind. This film got a lot of
attention when it first came out because of Heath Ledger’s accidental death
halfway through filming, but the film itself is definitely noteworthy on its
own for its captivating visuals and quality acting.
Finally, for those who like their magic quick-witted with a
dash of humour: The Great Buck Howard. Buck (John
Malkovich) is a famous mentalist who seems to have unknowingly lost his
pizzazz. Malkovich’s biting comedy, paired with Emily Blunt’s lovable charm as
his publicist, makes this a film you’ll be able to go back to time and time
again.
Written by Kyle Slagley
In a small town in Pennsylvania, nestled in the hills, is a
cave, and in this cave are vaults. Vaults owned by some of the biggest
organizations and companies in Western society. The security is extremely
tight, the technology in this cave amazing, and the sheer size wondrous. One of
these vaults contains the original filmstrip for one of the most beloved movies
of all time—a movie about a young girl and her dog, from Kansas, who go on an
extraordinary adventure.
By now you of course realize that I’m referring to The Wizard of Oz, which is big news
these days thanks to the prequel Oz: The
Great and Powerful, starring James Franco, which opens in theatres today.
The Wizard of Oz
holds great memories for generations of people, but there are a few things most
people do not know about this particular treasure. By the time Judy Garland
graced the silver screen as Dorothy in 1939, there had been three film
adaptations produced already as well as a stage musical written by the author
Frank Baum himself.
Of course the ’39 film with Garland is the one we all
remember and has been named the most-watched film of all time by the Library of
Congress. Although MGM has ceased distribution of the film to any and all
sellers for the time being, there are a few titles we have that might help
supplement your Oz display.
The Wonderful Wizard
of Oz (audiobook) – the classic by L. Frank Baum is now in the public
domain, so there are a plethora of versions from which to choose. I read this
book probably half a dozen times when I was a kid and the first time I was
surprised at the differences between the book and the film. Audiobook versions
to choose from include: Dreamscape,
Tantor,
BBC
Radio, Blackstone,
Naxos,
Random
House, and Yo
Yo Libros.
The Wizard of Oz
in music – As I mentioned before, Dorothy and Toto first appeared in front of
large audiences as a stage musical in 1902. Fortunately, the music
of the original musical has been preserved and was nominated for a 2004
Grammy for Best Historical Album. In 2011, Sir
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s New Wizard of Oz came out in London’s West End and
ran for just over a year. For the younger kids, A
Tribute to The Wizard of Oz is a collection of kids’ songs from and
inspired by the movie and book.
And finally, submitted for your approval is a collection of
animated adaptations, the first of which is The
Muppets’ Wizard of Oz. Who doesn’t love the Muppets?! Best of all, Ashanti
and Queen Latifah star as Dorothy and Auntie Em, with Jeffrey Tambor as the
wizard. Next in line is Tom
and Jerry & The Wizard of Oz, and finally an animated
version from Lightyear Entertainment.
Written by Jon Williams
Last week
Kyle wrote about junk food and eating choices and told you about some related
titles your patrons might find interesting or helpful. With obesity rates at an
all-time high, there’s no doubt that health is in the public consciousness like
never before. However, diet is only one part of that equation; the other is
exercise.
NBC has
turned exercise for weight loss into a form of entertainment with its hit reality
series The
Biggest Loser. Currently in its fourteenth season, this competition
features contestants spending several weeks exercising and undergoing a series
of physical challenges as they vie for the $250,000 cash prize. They have the
opportunity to work out and learn about healthy living under the watchful eyes
of celebrity trainers like Bob
Harper and Jillian
Michaels. My wife is a fitness professional, so this is appointment TV for
us each week. If you’ve never seen it, it’s a compelling show; the contestants
must deal not only with the physical struggles of losing weight and getting in
shape, but also the emotional obstacles that led them to becoming overweight in
the first place. With the season finale on March 18, the five remaining
competitors have already undergone incredible transformations. Who will take
home the prize?
Each trainer
on The Biggest Loser brings a
distinct approach and personality to the competition, and sometimes it takes a
while before one of them (or a combination) can figure out exactly how to get
through to someone. Sometimes they can’t get through at all, and those are
usually the contestants that go home early. Likewise, not all trainers, and
thus all fitness videos, are right for all viewers. Here are some options your
patrons may be interested in checking out.
Dancing
with the Stars: Another reality series has spawned a series of fitness
DVDs. Dance is a popular fitness option because it allows the participant to
have fun and forget that they’re exercising. Zumba
is another dance fitness craze, similar to belly dance, that is hot right now,
as are ballet
workouts.
10-Minute
Solution: For patrons who are pressed for time—and who isn’t these
days?—these videos are a great option. Each DVD contains a selection of
complete workouts that can be done in just ten minutes, or combined on days
that allow a little extra time.
Sit
and Be Fit: For senior citizens and others with physical limitations,
finding an exercise routine can be extremely difficult. Here is the answer.
With these DVDs, viewers can learn how to exercise even while seated, limiting
impact and pressure on joints.
Yoga
is another popular fitness routine that can be gentle, with many options for
modifications as participants become more advanced. Well-known fitness expert Denise
Austin offers one
well-rounded program suitable for beginners, while celebrity yogi Mandy
Ingber encourages viewers to advance in their practice.
It’s never
too early to get started with healthy habits, and with that in mind, there are
even workout videos designed for children. Denise Austin offers a
yoga video designed with kids in mind, and the Kideosyncrasy
series combines music and movement to teach kids that exercise can be fun.
These are
just a few of the fitness options CVS Midwest Tape has available for you and your
patrons; there are literally thousands more. SmartBrowse ‘fitness’ on our
website for a complete list of what we have to offer.
Written by Kyle Slagley
At CVS Midwest Tape we pride ourselves on being able to get you
the titles your patrons want before you even have the chance to tell us you
want them, while still giving you the flexibility and control over the
purchases you need. The Customised Standing Order program is no exception to
this philosophy; indeed, it may be the epitome.
Not only do we offer the most comprehensive selection of
Standing Order plans in the industry, they come to you risk-free and you are never
under any obligation to purchase titles. Unlike competitors, when you receive a
Standing Order cart from CVS Midwest Tape, you can choose to order all, some, or
none of the titles – the choice is entirely yours.
Now, with the addition of over 20 new Standing Order plans,
you can save even more time when you let CVS Midwest Tape do the hard part for you!
These new plans include Parents’ Choice DVDs, Animal Planet DVDs, Rap/Hip-Hop
CDs, Religion & Spirituality Audiobooks, and many more. Let us save you
time by choosing the best titles so you can get back to doing what you wanted
to do when you became a librarian in the first place – help your patrons!
With 150 Standing Order plans, we’re here to help you make
the best selections possible and get your patrons the titles they want. For a
complete list of our available Customised Standing Order Plans, click here. Call us
today at 866-698-2231 to speak with one of our selectors and let us design a
Standing Order plan that’s customized just for you.
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