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Counting Down the Rolling Stones: Discover Their 100 Finest Songs with American Songwriter’s Jim Beviglia
Scranton, PA – For more than 50 years, the world has embraced the music and lyrics of The Rolling Stones. Their rock-n-roll masterpieces continue to be a staple of classic rock radio. Fans around the world have rocked-out with them in concert, while many of their albums rank among the very best of the genre. And their wild onstage and offstage antics are an integral part of rock and roll lore. Now, to the delight of their fans, rock writer Jim Beviglia dares to rank the band’s best songs in his new release Counting Down The Rolling Stones: Their 100 Finest Songs.
Beviglia’s Counting Down series highlights The Rolling Stones music library with the intelligence of a critic, yet the writing reveals the passion of a fan. He carefully and insightfully lays out why each song is ranked where it is, even introducing fans to songs they may not have heard before. Will every fan agree with Beviglia’s ranking? With “Honky Tonk Woman” ranked at number 46, it’s not likely – so bring on the watercooler talk. Regardless, Beviglia’s historical, behind-the-scenes account of the group tells a fascinating story of one of the most beloved bands of all time.
“Counting Down The Rolling Stones is the perfect playlist builder,” says Beviglia. “My hope is that diehard fans of The Rolling Stones learn something new about the band and enjoy fresh insight on the songs, newcomers to their music will have an excellent guide to their finest work, and all are inspired to spend an afternoon enjoying some rock-n-roll.”
Jim Beviglia is a feature writer for American Songwriter magazine, reviewing new albums and looking back at classic songwriters and songs for both the print and online editions. This is his third book in the Counting Down series. He is the author of Counting Down Bob Dylan: His 100 Finest Songs (Scarecrow Press, 2013) and Counting Down Bruce Springsteen: His 100 Finest Songs (Rowman & Littlefield, 2014).
For more information, visit Beviglia’s blog at www.Countdownkid.wordpress.com.
Book #3 of the Counting Down Series Counting Down The Rolling Stones: Their 100 Finest Songs By Jim Beviglia Rowman & Littlefield Publishers ISBN-10: 1442254467 ISBN-13: 978-1442254466 Available at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Rowman.com, and all major online outlets.
Houston, TX – The power of music is legendary. Not too long ago, one musician decided to ask the question – and then set out to find the answer by traveling the globe: can music help bridge gaps between people? The answer proved a resounding “yes,” and for proof author Osseily Hanna offers his fascinating book, Music and Coexistence: A Journey across the World in Search of Musicians Making a Difference (Rowman & Littlefield Publishing).
What at first seemed a simple question soon proved not so simple. “Musicians from across the world helped me get closer to answering this question,” says Osseily Hanna, the author. “I wanted to find musicians who break boundaries and traditional modes of thinking to create a ray of hope.”
He found them building bridges through music in a world where animosities are all too visible. “On everyone’s mind presently are conflicts in Syria, Iraq, and between Russia and Ukraine, but we know these will keep shifting. This past summer it was Gaza; before then it was Darfur. What I’m tapping is something bigger, looking at the ways music breaks down the walls nations and sometimes even communities work so hard to erect.”
Music and Coexistence explores the courageous work of musicians who compose and perform with their ostensible enemies or in extraordinary social situations. Hanna documents the political and economic constraints faced by musicians, from the wall that encloses a refugee camp in Jerusalem, to the tensions among KFOR and Carabinieri peacekeepers who keep Serbs and Kosovar Albanians apart, to the cultural and linguistic suppression that afflicts minority communities in Turkey.
Hanna talks to the individuals and groups at the forefront of the effort to bridge ethnic, cultural, and religious divisions. Featuring musicians from thirteen different countries and territories across five continents, Hanna’s story includes a remarkable cadre of performers. These include the musicians who comprise Heartbeat, a group of Israeli and Palestinian youth, who compose, record, and perform music together; the Albino musicians of Tanzania, who regularly combat persecution by local shamans; the multiracial and thriving samba musicians in Sao Paolo, and a former child soldier from Cambodia who seeks to revive traditional music following the genocide in the 1970s.
With photos taken by the author during his travels, this work is a remarkable intersection of world music and peace studies. It will open the eyes and the hearts of every musician and music lover who recognizes music as a universal language. The companion film was recently screened at the Amnesty International Film Festival in Vancouver.
Osseily Hanna was born in London, where he began violin lessons at the age of eight and played with the North London Symphony Orchestra in 2005. He gave up a successful career in global financial markets in 2011 to develop Music and Coexistence as a film and book project. Fluent in English and Spanish, he has also studied Arabic, French, Italian, and Turkish.
For more information, please visit: www.musicandcoexistence.com
Music and Coexistence: A Journey across the World in Search of Musicians Making a Difference Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Available December 16, 2014, online from Barnes & Noble and Amazon and other fine booksellers 978-1-4422-3753-7 (Hardback) $40.00 978-1-4422-3754-4 (eBook) $39.99
