There is a disconnect between the life of Jesus and the way most churches actually work. The pursuit of bigger buildings and stadium-quality worship bear little resemblance to Jesus' life of compassion. Church as a political force or an inward-facing club both conflict with Jesus' love for the outsider. People are finding church an unsafe place to wrestle with their very real questions. Many are abandoning the institution altogether.
Singer-Songwriters and Musical Open Mics is an ethnographic exploration of New York City’s live music events where musicians signup and perform short sets. This sociological study dispels the common assumption that open mics are culturally monolithic and reserved for novice musicians. Open mics allow musicians at different locations within their musical development and career to interactively perform, practice, and network with other musicians. Important themes in the book include: the tension between self and society in the creative process, issues of creative authenticity and authorship, and on-going cultural changes central to the Do-It-Yourself cultural zeitgeist of the early 21st century. The open mic’s cultural antecedents include a radio format, folk hootenannies, and the jazz jam session. Drawing from multiple qualitative methods, Aldredge describes how open mics have etched a vital organizational place in the western and urban musical landscape. Open mics represent a creative place where the boundaries of practicing and performing seemingly blur. This allows for a range of social settings from more competitive, stratified, and homogenous music scenes to culturally diverse weekly events often stretching late into the night.
In its 114th year, Billboard remains the world's premier weekly music publication and a diverse digital, events, brand, content and data licensing platform. Billboard publishes the most trusted charts and offers unrivaled reporting about the latest music, video, gaming, media, digital and mobile entertainment issues and trends.
The papers in this volume are divided into two sections. Part 1 Quantitative Linguistics contains contributions by Marie Těšitelová; M. Ludvíková; H. Confortiová; Ludmila Uhlířová; I. Nebeská; Jan Králík; J. Krámský; J. Sabol; J. Štěpán. Part 2 Algebraic Linguistics contains contributions by M. Novotný; Pavel Materna; Eva Hajičová, Petr Sgall & Petr Piťha; Jarmila Panevová & Petr Sgall.
Traditional shops are facing challenging and unprecedented times. Future-Ready Retail explains how changing consumer needs, the impact of digital and the issues around health, wellness and distancing have transformed retail and provides compelling solutions to help reimagine the high street and out-of-town malls. Conventional high streets, shopping arcades and retail malls throughout the world no longer attract the crowds needed to sustain them as successful commercial spaces. Suffering from the effects of online shopping, changing consumer attitudes and expectations, and the legacy impact of social distancing, there's a sense of urgency and the need to address the decline in physical retail. Future-Ready Retail provides in-depth analysis of how consumers, health, data and new technologies will continue irreversibly to shake up physical shops and permanently shape the future of traditional retail. Arguing that to be future-ready, retail needs to be driven by people and places, not solely real estate, the book explains how brands can develop strategies to create shops whose main purpose is to recruit, retain and delight customers. Featuring case studies from successful global brand, retail futurist and designer Ibrahim Ibrahim identifies key retail-cultural trends, shows why it's important to make retail space physically smarter and how to use touch points such as social, website and apps alongside the physical space, to achieve a seamless, enjoyable and profitable retail experience.
