JAM: “Funding Artists Musical Dreams"

"JAM" with us in the Koret Auditiorum this Saturday, February 26th, at a musical showcase hosted by Tia Donyale. As leader of the fledgling JAM organization, Donyale is partnering with local businesses and non-profit foundations to nurture and promote new artists, between the ages of 18-24. JAM’s goals are to provide musicians with performance venues, networking opportunities, and support in the form of musical training, instruments and gift certificates.

This event will feature special performances by modern dancers, acoustic guitarists, conscious lyricists, and stunning guest vocalists. Other highlights will include an open-mic forum, a networking opportunity for ambitious young artists and the presentation of support awards to five pre-selected artists.

For more information about the event or to join us on stage, please contact Tia Donyale at: (415) 505-9679, or e-mail: KayasArtGallery@yahoo.com


For related library materials, please see:

Teens' Musical Theatre Anthology: Female Edition, edited & compiled by Lisa DeSpain (Alfred Pub. Co., 2009).

The Teen's Musical Theatre Collection: Young Men's Edition compiled by Louise Lerch (Hal Leonard, 2001).

Contemporary Cabaret: 31 Songs in Today's Repertoire Sung by Major Artists (Hal Leonard, 1998).

Girls' Guide to Rocking: How to Start a Band, Book Gigs, and Get Rolling to Rock Stardom by Jessica Hopper (Workman Pub., 2009).

Rock Star 101: A Rock Star's Guide to Survival and Success In the Music Business by Marc Ferrari (Allworth Press, 2002).

Tips For Singers: Performing, Auditioning, and Rehearsing by Carolyn Wilkins (Berklee Press, 2008).

The Billboard Guide to Writing and Producing Songs That Sell: How to Create Hits in Today's Music Industry by Eric Beall (Billboard Books, 2009).

Protocol: A Guide to the Collegiate Audition Process: For Flute, compiled and edited by Larry Clark and Daniel Schmidt ; foreword by Diana Boyd Schultz (C. Fischer, 2007).

The Musician's Way: A Guide to Practice, Performance, and Wellness by Gerald Klickstein (Oxford University Press, 2009).

Making Music in Looking Glass Land: A Guide to Survival and Business Skills for the Classical Musician by Ellen Highstein (Concert Artists Guild, 2003).

Becoming an Orchestral Musician: A Guide for Aspiring Professionals by Richard Davis (Dlm, 2004).

Making a Musical Life by Tom Heimberg (String Letter Pub., 2007).

How to Grow as a Musician: What All Musicians Must Know to Succeed by Sheila E. Anderson (Allworth Press, 2005).

How to Make It in Musicals: The Insider's Guide to a Career as a Singer-Dancer by Michael Allen (Back Stage Books, 1999).

The Golden Age of Soul 1960-1973

As part of our Black History Month programming the Library is pleased to present rock music historian Richie Unterberger who will present The Golden Age of Soul 1960-1973, a selection of rare soul music film clips from the 1960s and early 1970s.

Included will be footage of soul greats such as Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, the Supremes, Otis Redding, Booker T. & the MG's, Nina Simone, Dionne Warwick, Ike & Tina Turner, Sam & Dave, Marvin Gaye, Isaac Hayes, Curtis Mayfield, Sly & the Family Stone, and others.

The Golden Age of Soul begins at 2:00 PM on Sunday, February 20, 2011 in the Koret Auditorium on the Lower Level of the Main Library.

This program is support by the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library. All programs at the Library are free.

A reading list of recent titles on soul musicians:


Ain't Too Proud to Beg: The Troubled Lives and Enduring Soul of the Temptations by Mark Ribowsky (John Wiley's Sons, 2010).

Michael Jackson: Before He Was King, photographs by Todd Gray (Chronicle Books, 2009).

Princess Noire: The Tumultuous Reign of Nina Simone by Nadine Cohodas (Pantheon Books, 2010).

Say It Loud!: My Memories of James Brown, Soul Brother No. 1 by Don Rhodes (Lyons Press, 2009).

Signed, Sealed, and Delivered: The Soulful Journey of Stevie Wonder by Mark Ribowsky (John Wiley's Sons, 2010).

The Supremes: A Saga of Motown Dreams, Success, and Betrayal by Mark Ribowsky (Da Capo Press, 2009).

You Don't Know Me: Reflections of My Father, Ray Charles by Ray Charles Robinson Jr. with Mary Jane Ross (Harmony Books, 2010).

A.L.A. Portrait Index

The A.L.A. Portrait Index is one of the more venerable tools used by the reference librarian. Published 105 years ago, this volume has not been superseded by any other source.

This project, first proposed at an 1888 meeting of the American Library Association, brought together files from the Index Society of Great Britain, Harpers Magazine, the Philadelphia Library Company and the Boston Athenaeum. These compilers assembled over 115,000 index cards that were assembled into this 1,600 page volume.

The editors and compilers indexed 1,181 titles consisting of a total of 6,216 volumes. The aim of the editors was “to include such material as will make it useful both in small libraries and in large libraries, and in publishing houses and newspaper offices as well.” It may probably fail the small library of today because many of the resources cited may be too old and obscure.

Nevertheless, a search for a portrait of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet (the pioneering educator of the deaf), for instance, gives, includes a citation for The History of American Sculpture, by Lorado Taft (Macmillan, 1903), page 313. This page shows a photograph of the Daniel Chester French’s sculpture of Gallaudet with Alice Cogswell. However, even without access to this book itself, one can often locate such public domain titles available as a free scan in at Archive.org and at Google Books.

This index is probably of greater value to the historian than to the artist or art scholar. It includes citations for portraits of people of renown from antiquity to the dawn of the 20th century. Kings, presidents, nobility and statesmen are well-represented, but there are also entries for scientists, authors, social activists, musicians, actors and actresses. The age of the original published images guarantees that they are no longer held under copyright.

Archive.org has also made the A.L.A. Portrait Index available as an Ebook.


A.L.A. Portrait Index; Index to Portraits Contained in Printed Books and Periodicals, compiled with the cooperation of many librarians and others for the Publishing Board of the American Library Association, edited by William Coolidge Lane and Nina E. Browne (Government Printing Office, 1906).