Well Done Bing

What kind of person loses sight in one eye and then through dedicated practice and honed skills becomes one of the top 50 NBA players of all time? What kind of person, with limited business experience, builds a start-up company into a thriving corporation and is recognized as one of the world’s most successful black executives? What kind of person, while running a $350 million business, takes the time to reach out to black youths lacking father figures and provides counsel and support? And what kind of person, instead of enjoying a well-deserved luxurious retirement, chooses to become mayor of a large city that many long ago had written off as dead? Dave Bing, that’s who. In Dave Bing, Detroit Free Press sports columnist Drew Sharp chronicles the compelling story of a figure whose sheer will to succeed, refusal to make excuses for setbacks, and efforts to contribute to society set him apart as an anomaly—a man of virtues so rarely found in recent history. His path from Washington D.C. to Syracuse to Detroit is sometimes tumultuous, blazed by hard work, perseverance, and savvy. Much more than the stereotypical tale of celebrity ex-jock who does good, this is a story about a black male who, even as a youngster, determined to conquer whatever challenges came his way. And now, as mayor of Detroit, Bing encounters perhaps his greatest test of all. Faced with entrenched and power-hungry political foes, a series of failed and corrupt predecessors, a work force ill prepared for today’s job market, a staggering city debt, and recent health problems, Bing would appear to have little chance of surviving his office. Both the naysayers and optimists would do well to read the book.

I have completed this manuscript Just Remember This, or as American Pop Singers 1900-1950+, about music before the 1950s in America. It perhaps offers knowledge and insights not previously found in other musical reference books. I have moreover been working on this book very meticulously over the past twelve-plus years. It started as a bit of fun and gradually became serious as I began to listen along with the vocalists of popular music, of the era before 1950, essentially just before the dawn of rock and roll. If you can call it that! Indeed genre and labeling of American music started here, and then from everywhere. While the old adage of always starting from somewhere could be noted in every century, the 1900s had produced the technology. Understanding the necessity, more so, finds a curiosity on the part of a general public hungry for entertainment, despite 6 day work weeks, World War I, the Great Depression, and World War II.

The Metropolitan has stood among the grandest of opera companies since its birth in 1883. Tracing the offstage/onstage workings of this famed New York institution, Charles Affron and Mirella Jona Affron tell how the Met became and remains a powerful actor on the global cultural scene. In this first new history of the company in thirty years, each of the chronologically sequenced chapters surveys a composer or a slice of the repertoire and brings to life dominant personalities and memorable performances of the time. From the opening night Faust to the recent controversial production of Wagner’s "Ring," Grand Opera is a remarkable account of management and audience response to the push and pull of tradition and reinvention. Spanning the decades between the Gilded Age and the age of new media, this story of the Met concludes by tipping its hat to the hugely successful "Live in HD" simulcasts and other twenty-first-century innovations. Grand Opera’s appeal extends far beyond the large circle of opera enthusiasts. Drawing on unpublished documents from the Metropolitan Opera Archives, reviews, recordings, and much more, this richly detailed book looks at the Met in the broad context of national and international issues and events.

Modern talented female students accidentally transmigrated and became the cowardly and useless direct descendant of the general's house. On top of that, there was a fierce and tyrannical concubine who could cover the sky with one hand, and a beautiful little sister who could look like a blooming flower with a heart like a scorpion. Fortunately, she had been reborn, and she was no longer the weak girl who had been bullied. His mother tried to scheme, bit back, and his sister framed him, sending him flying! And there was also that trashy Emperor who had nothing to do all day long to find trouble with. His grandaunt's fists were not for naught. If he provoked her, that would be too hasty. Huff!

The protagonist, Zhang Jia Yang, was a jobless diaosi. He was kissed by a beauty by chance, got special abilities, and went to school to be a security guard. However, he found his life as a security guard interesting. While he was being looked down upon, he had relied on his superpower to succeed step by step. Beautiful women, money and power had all swarmed into him ... In the end, everyone found out that he was a real dragon.

In this humorous, illustrated chapter-book diary, you’ll find out that life is not always a blast—even if you’re an exploding Minecraft creeper! Minecraft creeper Mervyn Miles has just one goal: to win the annual Creeper Combustion and Confusion Competition so his father will finally be proud of him. But, between family and school pressures and bullying by arch-rival Wesley, things turn out to be more difficult than Mervyn could have ever imagined. Read all about this little green monster’s quest to become the biggest exploder in the entire Overworld in this humorous, unofficial Minecraft chapter-book diary with black-and-white illustrations.

A breathtaking story of bravery, friendship and fighting for what you believe in, Umbrella Mouse to the Rescue is the eagerly anticipated sequel to Anna Fargher's bestselling and award-winning The Umbrella Mouse, based on the true stories of the heroic animals caught in the conflict of WWII. Young mouse Pip Hanway is in France as she continues fighting for the French Resistance group Noah's Ark: a secret gang of animals operating beneath the feet of human soldiers, whose aim is to liberate France and secure the victory of the Allies. Determined to reach her ancestral home of the Umbrella Museum in Italy, Pip hopes she can find long-lost family and a home. But as Pip makes the perilous journey through occupied territory, she soon realizes that danger comes from all sides and that the enemy is all around, and she does everything she can to fight for her friends. Beautifully illustrated by Sam Usher, Pip will take you on an incredible journey through a war that reaches even the smallest of creatures.