The Big Book of Blues Guitar: The History, The Greats-And How To Play
The Big Book of Blues Guitar is intended for anyone who loves the blues and the guitar and is enthralled with the amazing marriage of instrument and music. It is a simple and yet complete guide for any guitarists who want to feel the magic of playing the blues under their own fingers,
whether you're an aspiring beginner or have a few years behind you of happy strumming,
plucking and picking.
The book's lessons will take you from whatever level you're at now to that magical place where
your playing will make the blues come alive. The information and easy-to-follow charts are
presented by a guitar teacher and writer with decades of experience, in a straight-forward,
simple format that requires no prior musical training.
And if any help is needed getting to, and staying at, the right point of inspiration, author Andrew Leo Lovato ties it all together by combining his dynamic teaching with the fascinating history of the guitar, of the blues, and of the legendary musicians who've given us this great and beloved
sound.
If you've ever wanted to play the blues and didn't know where to start, let this book give you a road map to what it takes to make the blues a part of your life.
Elvis Romero and Fiesta de Santa Fe: Featuring Zozobra's Great Escape
For three centuries, the Fiesta de Santa Fe has commemorated historical events including the Spanish reconquest of New Mexico by Don Diego de Vargas in 1692 and the confraternity of the Rosary named in honor of La Conquistadora. Over the generations the oldest community celebration in the country has evolved to include elaborate parades and processions, including the royal court of DeVargas and La Reina, and memorably, the burning in effigy of Zozobra, or Old Man Gloom, drawing locals and visitors each autumn.
Accompanied by rare historical photographs, this book illuminates what is special about Santa Fe’s yearly celebration in a fiesta memoir and novella centered around Zozobra by Santa Fe native and cultural observer Andrew Leo Lovato. “Children are the heart of Fiesta,” writes Lovato. And so enters Lovato’s altar ego, a fictional character named Elvis Romero, who with his cousin Pepa, engage in a scheme to rescue Zozobra from his inevitable demise. In a Huck Finn tale for all ages, Lovato captures the essence of Fiesta de Santa Fe as only a child can experience it. It is a heartwarming tale that will make readers cheer for Elvis—and Zozobra!
Santa Fe Hispanic Culture: Preserving Identity in a Tourist Town
As Santa Fe has become more and more of a tourist town, its Hispanic citizens have increasingly struggled to define and preserve their own cultural identity. This book is one of the few efforts by a native Hispanic resident to examine the city's traditions and cultures. Andrew Leo Lovato's focus is to understand how outside influences have affected Hispanic cultural identity and how this identity is being altered and maintained. Lovato also analyzes the development of homegrown Hispanic cultural identity in Santa Fe. Looking at the impact of tourism, he asks questions that resonate in any city relying on tourism for its livelihood: When a culture is defined, interpreted, or co-modified by outsiders, are natives of that culture influenced by the outsiders' interpretation? Do outsiders' definitions become part of their self-identity? Lovato begins by reviewing Santa Fe's history, from the Anasazi to the present-day tourist boom. In attempting to define the city's cultural identity, he includes excerpts from interviews with some of New Mexico's intelligentsia. Other interviews help examine the Santa Fe Fiesta and the city's identity as an art market. The concluding chapter, which considers tourism's general impact, features discussions of authenticity, the impact of tourism on native cultures, the relationship of tourism to development, and the political dimension of tourism.
". . . thoughtful study."--Reference & Research Book News
"Santa Fe Hispanic Culture should easily win the City Different's chamber of commerce endorsement."--La Herencia del Norte
"Readers with an interest in Santa Fe's past and present will likely find Lovato's study a thought-provoking and sobering counterpoint to the city's tourist mystique."--SMRC Revista
"This is a book all Westerners should read and consider, since the cultural identity of Santa Fe is a part of Western history that we cannot afford to lose."--Roundup Magazine
"With its use of academic research, interviews and Lovato's own analysis of the situation Santa Fe Hispanic Culture offers a good intoduction to the subject and will be especially valuable to newcomers who want some insight into what makes Sants Fe tick."--Albuquerque Journal, NM