Happy Birthday Elvis

ELVIS!

 

 

 

Biography

Elvis Aaron Presley was born to Vernon and Gladys Presley in a two-room house in Tupelo, Mississippi, on January 8, 1935. His twin brother, Jessie Garon, was stillborn, leaving Elvis to grow up as an only child. He and his parents moved to Memphis, Tennessee, in 1948, and Elvis graduated from Humes High School there in 1953.

Elvis’ musical influences were the pop and country music of the time, the gospel music he heard in church and at the all-night gospel sings he frequently attended, and the black R&B he absorbed on historic Beale Street as a Memphis teenager.

In 1954, Elvis began his singing career with the legendary Sun Records label in Memphis. In late 1955, his recording contract was sold to RCA Victor. By 1956, he was an international sensation. With a sound and style that uniquely combined his diverse musical influences and blurred and challenged the social and racial barriers of the time, he ushered in a whole new era of American music and popular culture...

http://www.elvis.com/about-the-king/biography_.aspx

The Red Piano

Kirkus Reviews finds ‘The Red Piano’ beautiful

A nice, positive, preview of The Red Piano from U.S. review source Kirkus Reviews:

It’s 1975 in Communist China.  For five years, a young girl has endured manual labor, filth and hunger in exile at a re-education camp.

But tonight she will engage, once again, in an illicit act, the playing of the piano.  In a place where musicians are criminals, she risks it all and is caught.

The piano is smashed.  Her sentence is lengthened – yet the music lives on.  Based on international concert pianist Zhu Xiao-Mei’s life, Leblancs' story gives insight into the Cultural Revolution and its impact. The text may be heavy-handed at times, but the story is ripe for discussion, with themes of self-expression and freedom, the affirmation of the individual through art and music as a form of resistance.  Dazzling collage, pencil and paint illustrations from Barroux create a beautiful chiaroscuro of tension and release.  Well-controlled expressive marks portray the young musician’s isolation.  The limited palette of black, white and red-the latter of which is used to create a sense of intensity-is evocative of Communist China propaganda. A worthy and beautiful tale for historical and cultural studies.  Picture book for ages 6 & up will apparently be available January 2011.

http://wilkinsfarago.wordpress.com/2010/11/10/kirkus-reviews-finds-the-red-piano-beautiful/