ReadOasis Step 4 (Part 1) On June 2, 2010, President Barack Obama stood on a small stage in the White House. In the audience sat a mix of elite leaders and famous musicians. The President was about to give America’s highest award for popular music to Paul McCartney of the... Read more
The Motown Sound (Step 3)
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ReadOasis Step 3 The Motown Museum (Wikipedia) Soul music combines rhythm and blues and gospel. Like the blues, soul arose out of the black experience in America, and soul musicians took these styles out of the black church and into the world and the streets. They confidently and proudly... Read more
Winter Time By Robert Louis Stevenson ReadOasis Step 5 Berit Watki Winter in Merstham (Creative Commons) Late lies the wintry sun a-bed, A frosty, fiery sleepy-head; Blinks but an hour or two; and then, A blood-red orange, sets again. Before the stars have left the skies, At morning in... Read more
By Robert Louis Stevenson ReadOasis Step 3 Photo by NASA The lights from the parlour and kitchen shone out Through the blinds and the windows and bars; And high overhead and all moving about, There were thousands of millions of stars. There ne’er were such thousands of leaves... Read more
ReadOasis Step 2 (Part 1) El Expolio by El Greco El Greco wanted to be a great artist. (His name means “the Greek.”) Like many Greek artists of his time, El Greco moved to Venice, Italy. Venice was alive with cultural change, achievement, and art during a period of... Read more
ReadOasis Step 1 Little Willie was born into hard times. On October 29, 1929, the American economy went bad. It was called Black Tuesday. Many people lost all their money. By Willie’s day of birth in 1933, around 25% of Americans had lost their jobs. People were hopeless, poor,... Read more
ReadOasis Step 2 Mr. Jones stood in front of his English class. The students looked sleepy and bored, so Mr. Jones decided to open with an interesting story. He told the students a famous joke, and here is what happened… The Joke. Two older couples ate dinner together. After... Read more
In 1907, Rudyard Kipling received the Nobel Prize for Literature. He was the first English-language writer to receive the prize. Kipling was a innovator in the art of short stories. His children’s books, like Jungle Book, are classics of children's literature. Kipling also wrote poetry. One of his famous poems... Read more
Knocking on Heaven’s Door
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ReadOasis Step 2 He came out of nowhere. In 1961, he just appeared in New York City, wanting to do music. And in one short year, he held a record contract in his hand. By the middle of the 1960s, he had reached the top of the pop music... Read more
ReadOasis Step 2 An old man was fishing alone in a small boat. He was off the coast of Cuba near the town of Cabanas. He hooked a marlin, a great fish with a long, sharp spear for a nose. The powerful fish pulled the small boat out to... Read more
ReadOasis Step 4 The Spanish painter Picasso demonstrated remarkable artistic aptitude at a very young age. According to his mother, his first words were "piz, piz." "Piz" is short for "lápiz," which means "pencil" in Spanish. Picasso's father was an art professor who raised his son in a world... Read more
ReadOasis Step 3 Photo by Korea.net (Creative Commons) It was the first stadium concert ever. When the Beatles made their entrance, the crowd exploded with noise. Smiling and laughing, the band ran to the stage in the middle of a baseball diamond. The crowd of 56,000 screamed, yelled, and... Read more
ReadOasis Step 3 (Part 1) I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. Charles Dickens (1786-1851) Most people know Charles Dickens for his famous ghost story: A Christmas Carol. But many people don’t realize that Dickens was the most notable English author of the... Read more
ReadOasis Step 3 (Part 1) It's early in the morning. A funny looking man is getting ready for work. He casually looks up at the clock on the wall. Then his eyes pop wide open. He's running late! In a rush, he hurries to the kitchen. He opens the... Read more
Paul Desmond and Take Five
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ReadOasis Step 3 By Maria Sonora “I would also like to thank my father, who discouraged me from playing the violin.” These are the words of Paul Desmond. He is one of the most popular musicians to come out of the West Coast cool jazz scene. Surely, he liked... Read more
Fred Astaire, Dancer Extraordinaire
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ReadOasis Step 3 "Some people seem to think that good dancers are born, but all the good dancers I have known are taught or trained." -- Fred Astaire It was a dark time. In 1929, the American economy crashed. Many people lost all their money. Almost half the banks... Read more
Drifting Cowboy: Hank Williams (Step 3)
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By Maria Sonora ReadOasis Step 3 (Part 1) By MGM Records via Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain) Hank would never make it to his destination. There were too many problems. It was icy cold outside. Covered with a blanket, he sat in the back seat of his light blue Cadillac.... Read more
By Robert Louis Stevenson ReadOasis Step 3 Creative Commons Photo by blykst I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me, And what can be the use of him is more than I can see. He is very, very like me from the heels up to... Read more
Sex, Drugs, Death, and Rock and Roll
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ReadOasis Step 2 Wikipedia lists over 100 famous musicians who have died drug related deaths. Maybe fame and fortune forced them to excess. Perhaps the music industry sold them a senseless and crazy image. "Be like me! I'm rich, reckless, and pleasure-seeking. And now I will crash my Ferrari... Read more
Music and Mindfulness – with Christopher Hardy
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ReadOasis Step 2 Christopher took his seat in the middle of the concert hall. A flow of people filled the room. The lights went dark, and all the talking heads turned silent. In the quiet and dark, electricity filled the air as people waited for the music. And when... Read more