Showing results by author "Heather Augustyn" in All Categories

When Jamaica became independent on August 6, 1962, ska music was playing in yards, dancehalls, and in recording studios as this new nation celebrated. It was a spirited music, full of promise, optimism, and energy and it was the perfect sound to showcase to the world. Now that Jamaica was independent, what better way to demonstrate the culture, beauty, and art of Jamaica than through ska, both as a music and as a dance. The Jamaican government, tourist and business industry, and newly developing music industry made it their mission to bring Jamaican music to the world, through events they ...

In a music world that was rougher than rough, where men took monikers of royalty and machismo like Duke and King and Lord; where boastful ringleaders fired guns into the air after descending a throne carried by their legions of followers, bandoliers crisscrossing their chests, ermine on their shoulders; where violent gangs stormed dances to “mash up,” breaking sound system equipment and smashing bottles of beer on brick walls, how was a little girl with a sweet song in her soul to have a chance? Some Jamaican women found a way. They endured harassment and received little or no pay to ...

Displaced from his oppressive yard, Johnny finds no work for a trombonist in the recording studios of Kingston. A life of crime as a rude boy is an easy way out, but will Johnny join his friends, or will he confront his past to realize his true potential? Set in Kingston, Jamaica, 1966, Johnny Too Bad is an historical fiction set in a record-heat summer when ska transitioned to rocksteady and politics defined the country’s identity. Go inside the musicians’ studios, the Rasta camps, the streets and the tenement yards to witness first-hand life during a time of both creation and ...

Sebastian is a young coyote with a terrible fear of chipmunks, yet he has a bold plan to save the city of Chicago from losing its most treasured possession--the U-505 Submarine! A story of courage through adventure, Chi-Town Coyote, a 30,000 word novel for readers age 8-15, reveals the inner thoughts and feelings of a country coyote as he discovers the city of Chicago. Floating on a Lake Michigan ice drift, riding public transportation, visiting the Sears Tower, chowing down on corned beef from Manny's Deli, and hiding out in the Museum of Science and Industry create unexpected challenges ...