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Click on the links to read any of these books online. If you wish to contribute and help keep this site going, click this button and PayPal this email: nevadamusic.com@me.com
Read Free Online:
HAPPY JOHN AND THE DEFENSE OF FROLIC
RENO’S JAZZ HYSTERIA and CLICK HERE for some audio files for this book.
PROFIT PLOTS AND LYNCHING and its shorter summary, DREAMING UP NEVADA TERRITORY
FLYING WITHOUT INSTRUCTION–an online book about AW BAYER and invention of the attack helicopter
CW’s SHORT OVERVIEW OF AMERICAN GOLD RUSH SONGS, with audio
HAPPY JOHN AND THE DEFENSE OF FROLIC
This book looks at the life and times of 19th and early 20th century Tennessee banjo player, “Happy John” Woods and at the ongoing national conflict surrounding “frolic.” Both in its discussion of the five-string banjo and in its broader discussion of society, economics and culture, this story addresses “American” music’s reality and mythology. The discussion of “frolic” includes information on the invention of “jazz”. You can read this book online for free by CLICKING HERE. Also, that page contains information on obtaining a downloadable pdf that you can print or a hard copy if desired. Feel free to donate.
RHYMES FROM THE SILVER STATE–historical lyrics.
D Street
The defining collection of traditional, historical Nevada rhyme–songs and poems reflecting both the mining era, c.1854 to c.1905, and the sagebrush-and-pine or “desert rat” era of Nevada lyric, c. 1905 to c.1932. These songs and poems reflect a working class and middle class world where common doggerel reveals life as many actually lived it and/or dreamt about it. Much of Nevada’s former cultural reality has been lost today. Each rhyme comes with a short essay of explanation and context. About 87 pages. For hard copies, see at right or go to the MERCANTILE LINK.
THE STRYCHNINE BANJO–Jake Wallace, Charley Rhoades and “The Days of ’49.”
The book tells the long-lost story of the most important mining song written in the far West during the 19th century–“The Days of ’49′”. Composed as a parody for a minstrel-show burlesque in Virginia City, Nevada, during 1868 by professional banjoist Charley Rhoades, “The Days of ’49” became the anthem of the “pioneers”–the 49ers as they aged through the remainder of the 19th century. Full of colorful quotes, this book provides a fascinating glimpse into four wild years of minstrel show-business on the Comstock at the height of the early minstrel-banjo era. About 180 pages. You can read this book online for free by CLICKING HERE. And that page contains information on purchasing a downloadable pdf that you can print.
A video about THE STRYCHNINE BANJO:
RENO’S JAZZ HYSTERIA-the last fling of western honky tonk.
This book looks at the role of jazz as Reno, Nevada, created and hosted its “sin industry.” Reno decided to take a course opposite to that embraced by respectable people in the rest of the nation–embracing gambling, booze, girls and jazz music. When prohibition ended, Reno became the focus for the nation’s sin-city worries. Learn about the rise of “Go Western”–the acceptable marketing of the low-vibe during the 1930s. The story concludes with a look at the honky tonk revival in Virginia City c.1948 to the late 1980s. Read online, above, or order a 6copy–MERCANTILE LINK.
Click for audio of Ragtime Bob Darch’s composition THE OPERA HOUSE RAG, published in 1960, recorded in 1962.
Below is CW’s slide and music presentation “Virginia City, music on C St. August of 1965.” This summarizes research in “Reno’s Jazz Hysteria” and talks about the influence by Virginia City on San Francisco’s psychedelic music scene. If you wish, use the buttons to expand it to full screen.
DREAMING UP NEVADA TERRITORY–the story of William Ormsby.
An excerpt of material from a much larger book: Profit, Plots And Lynching. The founding story of Nevada Territory and of Carson City, its capital. Find out why William Ormsby should never have a statue and why the statue of Kit Carson is so questionable. Here is the story of western Utah Territory (later, northern Nevada) during the 1850s Mormon Station, John Reese, William Ormsby, vigilantes, Paiute and Washoe. If you enjoy western history full of drama, violence, intrigue and free-booting, this book is for you. About 39 pages. Read online, above, or order a copy– MERCANTILE LINK .
TRUCK TRAIN THROUGH THE SAND–the transcontinental convoy of 1919 as it came through Carson City
The story of the 1919 Transcontinental Motor Convoy on the road through Carson City.” The events, romance, steel and politics of the Lincoln Highway around the 1919 6motor convoy as it encountered its most difficult stretch as Reno and Carson argued over who would enjoy the ultimate transcontinental route. 1919 represents a fundamental turning point in the West, as it did in the nation as a whole. Lots of great photos. Read online or download a pdf here: MERCANTILE LINK.
THE CELTIC HARP AT STONEHENGE–the structure of ancient British and Celtic thought
Containing references and quotations from a wide range of ancient writing, this book discusses the fundamental organizational principles in ancient thinking and then outlines their survival in what we now call “Celtic” culture. This book looks are the planets, the scale, the harp, ritual and the shift to what, today, is often called patriarchal religion. Read online, above, or order a copy–MERCANTILE LINK.
Online book: FLYING WITHOUT INSTRUCTION–A.W. Bayer, the salesman of tactical air mobility and the cool helicopter
The story of AW Bayer. Test pilot. Salesman. Crooner. Bon vivant. An amazing story of pioneering aviation. Here is the controversial man at the center of initial efforts to create the light, attack helicopter. Bayer worked with engineers and the progressives in Army Aviation to create the craft that came to define tactical air mobility during the Vietnam War. He paid a price for his passion. While others have speculated, here is the story. Click here to read “FLYING WITHOUT INSTRUCTION at flyingwithoutinstruction.com
A video about FLYING WITHOUT INSTRUCTION: