In the early 1960s, pianist Horace Tapscott gave up a successful career in Lionel Hampton’s band and returned to his home in Los Angeles to found the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, a community arts group that focused on providing community-oriented jazz and jazz training. Over the course of almost forty years, the Arkestra, together with the related Union of God’s Musicians and Artists Ascension collective, was at the forefront of the vital community-based arts movement in Black Los Angeles. Some three hundred artists—musicians, vocalists, poets, playwrights, painters, sculptors, and graphic artists—passed through these organizations, many ultimately remaining within the community and others moving on to achieve international fame. In The Dark Tree, Steven L. Isoardi draws on one hundred in-depth interviews with the Arkestra’s participants to tell the history of the important and largely overlooked community arts movement of Black Los Angeles. This revised and updated edition brings the story of the Arkestra up to date, as its ethos and aesthetic remain vital forces in jazz and popular music to this day.

In accordance with prophecy, Avalon's existence is threatened in the year that stars stop shining and at the time when both the dark child and Merlin's heir are to be revealed.

In a wood in a small town, there exists an unusual tree. Its trunk is black and its leaves are gold on one side and silver on the other. The animals all gather around it during the night. For some reason, perhaps because of the tree itself, the inhabitants of the town are unable to fight fires. The tree has been there longer than anyone can remember. One day, someone braves up enough to touch it. The universe will never be the same.Sometime in the 3000's a young girl discovers that she is a lost princess from the planet Saturn after her school burns down. Several teens are taken from Earth and begin the journey home to help their parents win a war. Along the way they bicker, uncover secrets, and try to regain lost memories. The series details their various adventures fighting old enemies, dealing with love and lives past, and watching the walls between alternate universes crumble as they try to find a home. Will their world ever make sense? Find out in this fantastic and cuil journey.

Laney and her friends have found the first Myrical. But there are four more hidden somewhere and if they fall into the Shadow Faerie's hands, his power will strengthen and the faerie world will fall under his dark reign. But Laney has problems of her own. Her magic never seems to work properly and her dad doesn't want her to get involved with the tribes at all. The second in this enchanting and mysterious faerie adventure series from Paula Harrison. Also in the series: Red Moon Rising Pale Peak Burning

The six champions of the Light join forces at last to fight the Dark in this fifth and final installment of Susan Cooper’s epic and award-winning The Dark Is Rising sequence, now with a brand-new look! The last great battle between the Light and the Dark has arrived, engulfing Will Stanton; his ageless master, Merriman; the three heroic Drew children; and Bran, the Welsh boy whose destiny is tied to the Light. On a quest through time and space that touches the most ancient myths of the islands of Britain, the six heroes fight fear and death in the darkly brooding mountains of Wales. And in the haunting Lost Land, Will and Bran find dream and nightmare, but also achieve the final talisman against the Dark: the crystal sword. In the dreadful last moment when the Dark rises, all the servants of the Light join to combine the powers of the sword and the six ancient signs. But even with the Signs on their side, can Light prevail?

"Isoardi has done a wonderful job collecting oral histories and integrating them into an engaging, sophisticated, and highly readable book. He provides great insight into the artistic goals, political aspirations, internal conflicts, and social terrain that shaped the experiences of the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra. He shows us quite clearly that jazz musicians continued to work within and gain sustenance from working class black communities long after the moment when some observers deemed the music irrelevant to them."—Eric Porter, author of What Is This Thing Called Jazz? "In these pages, Horace Tapscott says to the audience, 'This is one more you wrote through us.' And this is what Steve Isoardi has done here: given voice to the nearly lost history of a revolutionary community movement through its key players. Epic in scope, dazzling in detail and sensual as any Coltrane solo, this rare book—informative, intimate, lyrical, scholarly, nuanced, and essential—reads like no history book you've read before."—Chris Abani, author of GraceLand and Becoming Abigail "The Dark Tree is just wonderful. One cannot understand the history of black arts on the West Coast without a thorough assessment of this movement; Isoardi knows this history so well, and tells a much bigger story. The book does a fantastic job of capturing the nitty gritty nature of the music scene, and of resurrecting local figures in the Arkestra who have never gotten any press for their astounding musicianship. This is a remarkable book."—Robin Kelley, author of Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination "This is a revelatory document, virtuosically combining scholarship and oral history to connect the dots of African American music on the west coast. Far more than a mere historical 'overdub' of an underdocumented scene, this book disrupts the mythic notions of jazz history, showing instead how music and community unfold as one. Both a celebratory and a cautionary tale, it also delivers some of the most frank and eye-opening musicians' accounts since Arthur Taylor's Notes and Tones."—Vijay Iyer, musician/composer, New York City

A charming, funny, and heartwarming kids Halloween picture book that will help to start a new seasonal tradition. Perfect for kids 3-5 or any young child in your life that wants to celebrate the spookiest season of the year. Everyone knows most young saplings dream of becoming Christmas trees. But one grumpy, old tree who doesn't like lights, decorations, or people is determined to be different. Get ready to meet the Halloween Tree! The Halloween Tree is not your average holiday book and is sure to warm the hearts of kids and adults-alike as a gnarly tree finds his place in the world. This festive tale will have all youngsters shouting "Trick or tree!" with glee and decorating their own Halloween trees by the final page. The perfect Halloween gift for babies and kids alike!