The first comprehensive history of Off-Off Broadway

From The Underground Buskingin London CHAPTER4 Busking of the Soul How many people in Japan know what “busking” means? In Britain, busking is “to earn money by singing or playing a musical instrument in public places,” and singers or players are called “buskers.” Busking has thrived in the London Underground for many years, and has become an established part of the music culture. It gives the travelling public a brief and transient moment to unwind and enjoy music; it is also a tourist attraction at the same time. However, with the modernisation of stations and the increasing number of passengers, busking caused some problems, such as noise, jeopardising passengers’ safety, disputes between buskers, etc. So in 2003 the London Underground Authority introduced a licensing system which requires that anyone wanting to be a busker must pass an audition. Luckily, I was the first Japanese to acquire an official busking licence. This book is a record of my busking between April and November 2005, but other occurrences and anecdotes that took place before those eight months are also included. I hope you will enjoy the book - just like you enjoy listening to your favourite music time and time again! The diary of laughter with the tear of Mr. Domon who was basking in the same time at London Underground as the author "James Bowen" of the books "street cat named a bob".

For more than three decades, a punk underground has repeatedly insisted that 'anyone can do it'. This underground punk movement has evolved via several micro-traditions, each offering distinct and novel presentations of what punk is, isn't, or should be. Underlying all these punk micro-traditions is a politics of empowerment that claims to be anarchistic in character, in the sense that it is contingent upon a spontaneous will to liberty (anyone can do it - in theory). How valid, though, is punk's faith in anarchistic empowerment? Exploring theories from Derrida and Marx, Anyone Can Do It: Empowerment, Tradition and the Punk Underground examines the cultural history and politics of punk. In its political resistance, punk bears an ideological relationship to the folk movement, but punk's faith in novelty and spontaneous liberty distinguish it from folk: where punk's traditions, from the 1970s onwards, have tended to search for an anarchistic 'new-sense', folk singers have more often been socialist/Marxist traditionalists, especially during the 1950s and 60s. Detailed case studies show the continuities and differences between four micro-traditions of punk: anarcho-punk, cutie/'C86', riot grrrl and math rock, thus surveying UK and US punk-related scenes of the 1980s, 1990s and beyond.

Grounded in the fields of Ethnomusicology, Anthropology, Popular Music Studies, and Japanese Studies, this book explores the underground Tokyo hardcore scene, ultimately asking what play as resistance through performance of the scene tells us about Japanese society in general. Matsue highlights the complicated positioning of young adult Japanese in contemporary Japan as they negotiate both increasing social demands and increasing problems in society at large. Further drawing on theories of play, identity building, and the construction of gender, all informed by the increasingly influential field of Performance Studies, the book offers a highly interdisciplinary look at the importance of musical scenes for expressing resistance at the turn of the 21st century. Within the underground Tokyo hardcore scene this resistance is expressed through play with individual and collective identity, in intimate and potentially illicit spaces, with an arguably challenging sound and performance style.

Veteran blackjack player and expert card counter John Bukofsky offers players a complete guide to all aspects of blackjack, including card counting at professional level. Easy-to-understand lessons outline the basics of game play and strategy and give advice on how to gain an advantage over the house. Bukofsky's step-by-step instructions and detailed illustrations also provide helpful information for novices and pros alike on betting and bankroll techniques; casino countermeasures against card counting; and camouflage techniques for counting cards.

In this zany, one-of-a-kind memoir, former executive director of the National SCRABBLE Association John D. Williams Jr. brings to life the obsessions, madness, and glory of the SCRABBLE® culture—from living-room players to world champions. Beginning his career on a lark as a freelance contributor to SCRABBLE News, John D. Williams fell down a rabbit hole inhabited by gamers, geeks, and the grammar police. For twenty-five years, as the executive director of the National SCRABBLE Association, Williams served as the official spokesperson for the game, and as the middleman between legions of fanatical word-game fans and the official brand. Now Word Nerd takes readers inside the byzantine, dog-eat-dog world of top tournament players, creating a piquant (seven-letter word, 68 points!) work that is part pop-cultural history, part anthropological study. Indeed, what Christopher Guest did for the world of dog shows in his film Best in Show, Williams does for the world of competitive word games in this funny and perfectly observed memoir. As readers will discover, Word Nerd explores anagrams, palindromes, the highest-scoring SCRABBLE plays of all time, the birth of the World SCRABBLE Championship, as well as many of the more colorful figures that inhabit this subculture. Die-hard word fans will find invaluable tips on how top players see their boards and racks to come up with the best play, how they prepare, and the psychology of tournament competition. Those uninitiated in the mysteries of SCRABBLE mania will find a delightful, madcap memoir about all the fun people have with language and how words shape our lives and culture in unexpected ways. Whether reminiscing about past national champions, detailing the controversy over efforts to purge the Official SCRABBLE Players Dictionary of all offensive words, opining on the number of vowelless words that are allowable (cmw for a Welsh deep-walled basin or nth for the ultimate degree), noting how long it takes a word to get into a dictionary, or explaining why there remain more male than female champions, Williams crafts a loving tribute to words and the games people play with them. Word Nerd will fascinate both amateurs and seasoned experts alike.