Marketing Guru
and Hip Hop Mogul
Steve Stoute Releases New Book
The Tanning of America:
How Hip-Hop Created a Culture
That Rewrote the Rules
of the New Economy
8Sep2011
Advertising Executive, Artist Manager, and Marketing Guru Steve Stoute released his new book today entitled, The Tanning of America: How Hip-Hop Created a Culture That Rewrote the Rules of the New Economy! Stoute draws from his diverse background in the music industry and brand marketing to chronicle how an upstart art form – street poetry set to beats – came to define urban culture as the embodiment of cool. Stoute’s understanding of how hip-hop morphed into mainstream culture enabled him to relate to a new generation of thinking which catapulted him to the forefront of pop culture – where he remains today. (Via wikipedia)
This book is a must read! Stoute influence on the Hip Hop Industry, and on American Business is astonishing. Check it out!
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We'll say we knew author
James Cherry 'back when'
Local author James Cherry has received critical acclaim for his new book titled ÔStill a Man ... and Other StoriesÕ published by Willow Books of Aquarius Press. He will read selections and sign books at 11 a.m. Sept. 3 at the Jackson-Madison County Library in downtown Jackson. He will also be a panelist at the Southern Festival of Books in October. / Photo by JACQUE HILLMAN/The Jackson Sun
Whether he is writing about old people, young people, dinner at a kitchen table, shooting hoops, playing a chess game, or the killing of a black man in I933, Jackson author James Cherry has laid hands on his computer keyboard and prophesied.
He sees life as it is. And apparently the world agrees.
His newest book, "Still A Man and Other Stories," a collection of short stories, has been nominated for a National Book Award and for a Pulitzer by his publisher, Willow Books, an imprint of Aquarius Press.
Cherry, with an amazing modesty, said quietly, "Critically, the book has been well received."
He'll give a reading and sign books at 11 a.m. Sept. 3 at Jackson-Madison County Library in downtown Jackson. And in October, he'll be a panelist at the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, Oct. 14-16.
Cherry is also the author of "Honoring the Ancestors," a collection of poetry published by Third World Press and nominated for a 2009 NAACP Image Award. A fiction writer as well, his novel, "Shadow of Light" (London: Profile Books) was released in 2008. He's also a candidate for a master of fine arts degree from the University of Texas El Paso and working hard on his craft.
"We are so excited that we will be among the first to host James Cherry to discuss his newly released book," said Mary Sood, community relations manager for the library.
I hope the library is packed because it will be well worth your time to share in Cherry's dedication to the written word.
Now, if you're expecting namby-pamby dialogue, forget it. His words are pungent. His characters speak of prayer, joy, hope, anger, fear, love — in words that zing from the page. You'd have a hard time prying loose his characters from their dialogue, and you'll be drawn in. So be ready for what's real.
I asked him if the success he is achieving is a surprise.
"I always knew I would be a published author," he said. "I'm outlining a novel and completing a collection of poetry that I hope will be ready in 2013, if everything goes according to plan."
And he does set his goals and has a plan to achieve them.
To any aspiring writer, he said, "Persistence and dedication are probably the two most important qualities that anyone can have who is serious about writing. You have to be willing to study your craft to get better."
Cherry chose the "traditional route" to being published, he said. "The publisher is involved, and you do get some editorial feedback on how to get your book to work better. So far I've been fortunate in that publishers have been willing to take a chance."
In his writing, Cherry said the theme of loss and redemption that permeates the stories is a common thread that readers of any ethnicity or background can relate to.
"A father losing his son in a wreck, or homelessness, or incarceration," Cherry said. "The stories aren't inter-related, but they are connected."
Cherry said he hopes his writing conveys that "as humans, we're trying to navigate our way to a deeper level of understanding of where we are and where we're going."
His favorite character in "Still a Man," he said, is Luther McKinney. "He's an older gentleman, and the environment around him is changing. He has trouble with the attitudes of young people and activities in his neighborhood. He represents the strength of the community, and he's having trouble adjusting to change. Young people have a different mindset. But he's still there and trying to make a difference and raising his grandkids. That's what I mean about relating. Either we know somebody in that situation, or we know of someone — people in their golden years and raising kids."
And yes, when you read "On the Block" in his book of short stories, you'll recognize Luther McKinney.
Cherry isn't slowing down at all — yes, he enjoyed the Hollywood experience of the NAACP Image Awards — but now he's outlining his novel, working on his poems, a children's book and someday a screenplay.
I asked him to sign my book copy so I could say I knew him when. He said I was embarrassing him. But that's OK. Because the "when" is past, the present's moment just blinked and the future is wide-eyed and beckoning.
The book is available at Angie's Book Store (off Parkway at the U.S. 45 Bypass) at the Book Lady on Federal Drive, and on amazon.com.
For a complete bio visit: www.jamesecherry.com.
I'll have more to tell you about the Southern Festival of Books a little later on. Meanwhile, you can check out the details at:
e-mail: jhillman@jacksonsun.com
>via: http://www.jacksonsun.com/article/20110821/LIFESTYLE/108210306
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>via: http://www.theroot.com/buzz/new-book-chronicles-black-gay-and-lesbian-fiction
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New Publication:
The Anatomy of Blackness
The Anatomy of Blackness: Science and Slavery in an Age of Enlightenment
(The John Hopkins University Press)
This volume examines the Enlightenment-era textualization of the Black African in European thought. Andrew S. Curran rewrites the history of blackness by replicating the practices of eighteenth-century readers. Surveying French and European travelogues, natural histories, works of anatomy, pro- and anti-slavery tracts, philosophical treatises, and literary texts, Curran shows how naturalists and philosophes drew from travel literature to discuss the perceived problem of human blackness within the nascent human sciences, describes how a number of now-forgotten anatomists revolutionized the era’s understanding of black Africans, and charts the shift of the slavery debate from the moral, mercantile, and theological realms toward that of the “black body” itself. In tracing this evolution, he shows how blackness changed from a mere descriptor in earlier periods into a thing to be measured, dissected, handled, and often brutalized.
Andrew S. Curran is a professor of French at Wesleyan University and a fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine in the history of medicine. He is the author of Sublime Disorder: Physical Monstrosity in Diderot’s Universe.
>via: http://blackatlanticresource.wordpress.com/2011/08/22/new-publication-the-ana...