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Author Matthew Ball mixing music fun with life learning lessons!
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Boogie-woogie pianist Matthew Ball has played at jazz festivals, performed at symphonies across the country and can bring energy to an entire room of elementary students. The rising star has also self-published two children's books.
It was only a matter of time before the two interests merged.
The former attorney now travels to elementary schools throughout Metro Detroit to discuss his books and to play boogie-woogie piano tunes for classrooms — as he did on a visit to Webb Elementary School in Ferndale.
"It's been a journey," said Ball, who left his law career to pursue his love for music.
The 39-year-old Clawson man didn't set out to be a boogie-woogie pianist and said he never expected it. He also didn't set out to write books.
Inspiration strikesBall double-majored in history and music at Oakland University in Rochester. He then earned his law degree at the University of Detroit Mercy Law School and began practicing law shortly after passing the bar examination.
Though he was earning a steady income, Ball said being a lawyer didn't make him happy.
"I was just miserable," he said. "Working 9 to 5 in an office … it just felt depressing."
Inspiration struck in an unlikely form at the 2001 Motor City Blues & Boogie-Woogie Festival.
"It was just fun; it was the kind of (music) that made the audience tap its toe and bob its head," he said. "I just knew that, through that music, I could carve out the kind of lifestyle that I couldn't with just the classical tradition."
Learning the craftBall tracked down boogie-woogie music artist Bob Seeley, a "living link to the blues pioneers," and started going to the Detroit restaurant where the septuagenarian played. Seeley wouldn't teach him at first, but, after a year, Ball's diligence paid off. Seeley agreed to train him.
Ball said it took him about two years to get the fundamentals down, during which time he did contract work as a law clerk and taught piano lessons. He began writing his own music, and in 2005, he reached a milestone when he headlined at the Arches Piano Stage in Cincinnati.
Ball has more recently turned his attention to inspiring children to "follow their dreams," just as he did.
"I've always written therapeutically," Ball said. "You have to stay fresh with your ideas. I was thinking, how can I turn it into something?"
The answer turned out to be The Worm and the Caterpillar and Minnie and Melvira, two rhyming children's books he and his wife, Lisa, have self-published. Melvira addresses the issue of teasing, while Caterpillar shows that you can be whatever you want to be if you believe in yourself and have the will to work for it, Ball said.
Sharing the giftThe Balls have recently started doing presentations at local elementary schools.
"We read the books to the kids, discuss the moral of the story, and then we share a little bit of music with them," Ball said. "And what an audience to play for!
"Because boogie-woogie is a fun music, and kids are so uninhibited, they're not self-conscious at all," he said. "If they feel the music, they just get into it with the clapping and the stomping."
"It was amazing. He's wonderful!" said Renee Rathsburg, special education teacher and school assembly coordinator at Webb Elementary.
"What we liked about it most was the message to follow your dream," Rathsburg said. "He decided he wasn't happy in what he was doing, then went back to his first love. It's good for kids to know it's OK to change your mind."
When Ball plays the piano the school presentations, Lisa joins in on the snare drum, and the children play hand percussion instruments.
"Both his music and writing style reveals an old soul," Lisa Ball said of her husband. "His music entertains the heart, bringing smiles to all who listen. His writing shows someone with a deep, compassionate understanding of life, extending a guided voice to learn life lessons from."
Rathsburg agrees. "My accolades to Matthew in everything he does," she said. "He's a very talented up-and-coming entrepreneur and a very nice inspiration to the kids."
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Minnie and Melvira making headlines!!
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October 04, 2009
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Minnie and Melvira
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PRESS RELEASE:
September 28, 2009
“Dropped after 22 years of service, GM auto-worker reinvents himself through illustrating children’s books.”
Larry Ball has turned the proverbial lemons into lemonade! A lifetime Detroit area resident and employee of the car companies, his twenty 22 year service to General Motors ended as abruptly as thousands of others did in Michigan when economic times for the big three tanked. Despite his experience and work record, at nearly 60 years old and a heart patient, Ball found himself unemployable.
Enter William Joseph K Publications, a small indie press begun in 2007 by Larry’s son Matthew and his wife Lisa Ball, who quickly solicited Dad to become an illustrator of their next children’s book called “Minnie & Melvira.”
Dusting off an old talent for drawing forestalled years ago by the responsibility first of serving during the Vietnam War era and second of a growing family that numbered a wife, three sons, and a mother-in-law, Larry set about the task of bringing to life the message and vision of Minnie & Melvira.
Now published and available on both Amazon.com and Barnes
& Noble, Minnie & Melvira is a hit! Larry has become a published
illustrator and has found a new career path, with an intent to release another book next year called “Fred D. Fly,” a comic children’s story he created as a bedtime tale for his own children 30 years ago.
Lisa Ball
Editor in Chief
William Joseph K Publications
REVIEW COPY:
Available upon request
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The Worm and The Caterpillar
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PRESS RELEASE:
June 7, 2009
“The Worm & The Caterpillar gives timeless affirmation in the power of belief through characters of Disney-like charm!”
The Worm and The Caterpillar is a children’s story drawing a comparison between the worm and the caterpillar who both begin life as crawling forms, but in the end wind up very different. This children's book depicts the timeless affirmation that the power of belief coupled with the will to try is an immeasurable force making any conversion possible.
As a teacher, turned attorney, turned jazz musician, author Matthew Ball shares a playfully rhymed tale of hope and transformation with the help of brother Joshua Ball’s cartoon-ish and wonderfully charming characters.
CONTACT:
Lisa Ball
Editor in Chief
William Joseph K Publications
REVIEW COPY:
Available upon request
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Booze House
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PRESS RELEASE:
August 07th 2009
“Author Maria Mendoza’s ‘Booze House’ is a candid take the wind out of you ride!”
Raised in a home of instability, addiction, and violence, Booze House is the story of a young girl fighting to navigate a path to normalcy amidst the turmoil of a family held hostage to alcoholism, betrayal, autism, and pain.
With fast paced description and cavalier grace author and Michigan resident Maria Mendoza brings a riveting anecdotal style to an emotional canyon of traumatic experiences.
“Excellent and Edgy!” Barnes and Noble consumer review
WE’D LIKE TO BE IN YOUR STORE NEXT! – contact us to get copies for your shelves or perhaps to schedule a reading event . . . THANK YOU!
Available on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com
CONTACT:
Lisa Ball
Editor in Chief
William Joseph K Publications
REVIEW COPY:
Available upon request
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Episodes of the Norm
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For Immediate Release
Sept. 2008
Contact: Lisa Ball
“Episodes of the Norm brings an assorted delight of storytelling from new and veteran authors near and a far”
Episodes of the Norm is a colorful collective of donated short stories on life, essays on the “F” word (and no, not that one), poems on love and loss, political slams, and rants on others, from new and veteran authors across the states. These authors banded their works together to support the Autism Society of America in their ongoing efforts to educate and find solutions for persons affected by the Autism disorder. Fifty percent of all proceeds of sales will be donated to the cause.
Episodes of the Norm is an anthology edited by Lisa Ball, published through
William Joseph K Publications. Mrs. Ball is also the founder, chief, and owner of this small press publication located in the metro Detroit area. Other works published, The Art of Boogie Woogie and Blues Prelude by author and pianist Matthew Ball aka ‘The Boogie Woogie Kid’. Future publications from author Maria Mendoza on her long awaited novella Booze House.
Review copies sent on request
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Copyright William JK Pub 2009
