soundtrack CD

Katie Basden To Perform Songs From “The Mahogany Door” During Dream Factory Family Fun Day

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June 6, 2011 (Graham, NC) – Katie Basden, a 19-year-old singer/songwriter from Durham, NC, and a new name in country music, will perform for the first annual

Singer/songwriter Katie Basden

Dream Factory Family Fun Day in Graham, NC, on June 11, from noon to 1:20 p.m. at 104 East Elm Street behind the Colonial Hardware Store. On her song list are two songs from the new soundtrack CD for “The Mahogany Door.”

J. Mark Boliek, author of “The Mahogany Door,” a fantasy-adventure book for young readers, will be on hand to sell autographed copies of the book and to donate the proceeds to the Dream Factory of Central Carolina.

The Dream Factory is a national non-profit organization founded in 1980 that serves critically and chronically ill children ages three to 18 by granting “dreams” for them. The local chapters are run entirely by volunteers.

Basden will perform “Rear View Mirror,” a song she wrote that she allowed Boliek to use on his book’s soundtrack CD. She plays acoustic guitar and provides the vocals on the CD track.

She will also perform “Goodbyes,” a song written by Mark Boliek with Mary Alice Bell specifically for the soundtrack.

“With her charisma and big voice, Katie is a terrific young talent with a bright future ahead of her,” said Boliek, who also co-owns Split Rail Multimedia LLC in Durham with his wife, Jill. Split Rail Multimedia produced “The Mahogany Door” CD.

The Dream Factory Fun Day will go on until 4 p.m. and include three bands, inflatables for kids, a fire truck, and an information booth offering the latest efforts of the Dream Factory as well as volunteer opportunities. For more information visit www.dreamfactoryinccnc.org.

To hear Katie Basden’s performances on “The Mahogany Door” soundtrack CD, go to www.jmarkboliek.com/the-music. She also maintains an active Facebook page.
About Katie Basden:

Katie Basden grew up in Durham, NC and attends Belmont University in Nashville, TN. As a singer/songwriter, she was inspired by country music from a young age. The daughter of singer Anne Basden, Katie honed her talents during years of singing in her church and in school. She hopes to leave her mark on country music much like her favorite singer/songwriters Miranda Lambert, Alison Krauss, and Victoria Banks. Katie can be found on Facebook and YouTube.
About The Mahogany Door:

Published by Split Rail Books in Durham, NC, The Mahogany Door is a new fantasy-adventure book for young readers written by J. Mark Boliek as the first book in The Bruinduer Narrative trilogy. An all-original-music soundtrack CD by the same title accompanies the book when it is ordered through the author’s website www.jmarkboliek.com/cart. Songs from the CD can be downloaded at most online sources for music including iTunes, Amazon MP3, Napster, and from the Facebook source WaTunes. For more information visit www.jmarkboliek.com.

“The Mahogany Door” Soundtrack CD Now Available For Downloading

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Eight songs of various musical styles reflect themes from the new book.

June 1, 2011 (Durham, NC) — The original music soundtrack that accompanies “The Mahogany

"The Mahogany Door" original music soundtrack CD

Door,” a new fantasy-adventure book for young readers by J. Mark Boliek, is now available for downloading from iTunes, Napster, Amazon MP3, and a host of other online music sources.

“The Mahogany Door,” book one of The Bruinduer Narrative trilogy, is the story of three friends, separated by tragedy, who must come together again to journey back through the great Mahogany Door into the fantasy world of Bruinduer to correct a destiny they left unfulfilled years before.

Themes in the book are reflected in the eight-song CD, which range in style from rock and R&B, to country and one full orchestral arrangement. The titles are: “All Alone,” “Rear View Mirror,” “In the Afternoon,” “The Devil Can’t Help You Here,” “Here is My Anger, Here is My Pride,” “Kingsfold on Bruinduer,” “Goodbyes,” and “Five Years Ago”.

A musician as well as a writer, Boliek conceived of the CD soundtrack as a way to capture the moods and themes of the book in songs. He wrote or co-wrote all but two of the songs. Katie Basden, a new name in country music, wrote “Rear View Mirror” and has allowed him to use it on the CD.

“I was also happy that Katie agreed to sing the vocals for ‘Goodbyes,’” Boliek added.

Benjamin Young, Scott Jackson and Keith Wood, of the band Made By Saturdays, wrote “Five Years Ago.”

The process of creating the soundtrack was particularly special to Boliek because of the “closeness of friends and family” that it took to create the CD, he said. To honor that process, he is including the CD free of charge with signed copies of “The Mahogany Door” when orders are made through his website’s “Shop” at www.jmarkboliek.com/cart.

“It’s a pretty cool thing to put something together that you never thought you could, and it actually sounds pretty good,” he said with a smile.

He’s also been pleased with the reception the songs have received from young readers when he’s played them at school fairs and other events.

“At one event, a group of 12-year-old girls jumped up cheering after ‘In the Afternoon’,” he said. “I wasn’t expecting that!”

Boliek also includes the soundtrack in an enhanced eBook version of “The Mahogany Door” that is supported in applications for iPad, iPhone, and Kindle for iPad that will be available through Apple’s iBook store and Amazon soon.

All of the songs except “Five Years Ago” were mixed and produced by Triangle area veteran music engineer John Plymale (Squirrel Nut Zippers, Meat Puppets) of Overdub Lane Studios in Durham, NC.

“Five Years Ago” was mixed and produced by up and coming engineer, Paul Leavitt (All Time Low, Dangerous Summer, Circa Survive) of Valencia Studios in Baltimore, MD.

All songs were mastered by Brent Lambert at The Kitchen in Carrboro, NC.

The entire soundtrack can be heard on the website at www.jmarkboliek.com/the-music. For a complete list of where the songs can be downloaded, visit Boliek’s blog at www.jmarkboliek.com/blog.

For more information on “The Mahogany Door,” the 353-page soft cover fantasy-adventure book for young readers recently released by Split Rail Books of Durham, NC, visit. www.jmarkboliek.com and the author’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/JMarkBoliek.

About J. Mark Boliek:

J. Mark Boliek, the author of “The Mahogany Door” and the entire Bruinduer Narrative series, grew up in Eden and Durham, North Carolina. An avid writer and athlete, he received a football scholarship after high school but chose to join the Navy instead. He graduated from Concord University in Athens, WV, in 1997 and lived in Wilmington, NC, for a while, where he began to develop The Bruinduer Narrative, a fantasy-adventure series for young readers, as well as the soundtrack CD that accompanies “The Mahogany Door.” Mark and his wife Jill now live in Durham, NC, where they own and operate Split Rail Books and Split Rail Multimedia LLC. For more information on the author and “The Mahogany Door,” visit www.jmarkboliek.com and his Facebook page at www.facebook.com/jmarkboliek.

The Mahogany Door: A New Fantasy-Adventure Book for Young Readers

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Split Rail Books releases the first book in The Bruinduer Narrative Trilogy

May 23, 2011 (Durham, NC) — After the last Harry Potter film is released this summer, what will young fans of fantasy-adventure fiction have to look forward to? Split Rail Books in Durham, NC, suggests its new title, “The Mahogany Door,” the first novel in a new fiction-fantasy-adventure series written by J. Mark Boliek of Durham especially for young readers.

And it comes with an original-music soundtrack CD.

“The Mahogany Door,” book one of Boliek’s The Bruinduer Narrative series, is told by an unnamed grandfather who captivates a group of children with his fascinating story, first out on a beach then huddled around the fireplace of a beautiful mansion by the shore as a fierce thunderstorm rages outside.

The story centers around three friends, separated years ago by a traumatic event, who are compelled to reunite so that they may once again pass through “The Mahogany Door” and into the fantasy Vryheids world of Bruinduer. They must fulfill a destiny they left undone nine years before to keep Bruinduer from collapsing. One of the friends lost his parents and his memory in a horrible accident and has no idea what to expect. One knows too well and has tried to forget. The third friend’s insistence that they must return to Bruinduer is mysterious and suspicious.

Cover and interior illustrations by Lauren Gallegos

The friends’ journey back to the world behind “The Mahogany Door” leads to the book’s “teaching moments,” which resonate with the author’s own life – about things in life not always being what they seem, about the value of friendship and the importance of completing tasks, and about the secret to tapping into the power of a their only  “guide” along the journey, a monstrous being they call “Billy.” And the end is designed to leave young readers anxious for book two.

Author J. Mark Boliek is a former football player and military man, a computer programmer and musician, and the son veteran broadcast journalist Dave Boliek of WTVD-TV. He began working on The Bruinduer Narrative nine years ago. His initial 157-page draft turned into three distinct stories in which the first tale, “The Mahogany Door,” evolved into a 353-page children’s fantasy novel. He is currently working on the other two books in what he expects to be a trilogy.

“The Mahogany Door” features cover art an interior illustrations by California artist Lauren Gallegos. It is published in paperback with a typeface and size optimized for

The soundtrack CD accompanies the book.

young readers ages 10 and up. The songs on the accompanying CD, written primarily by the author, reflect certain themes in the book, from “All Alone” to “Here Is My Pride, Here Is My Anger.”

For more information about “The Mahogany Door” by J. Mark Boliek, published by Split Rail Books, go to www.jmarkboliek.com. Each track from the accompanying CD can be heard at www.jmarkboliek.com/the-music) and the book with CD can be ordered directly at www.jmarkboliek.com/cart.

Facts about The Mahogany Door:

Author: J. Mark Boliek.  Publisher: Split Rail Books.  Publication Date: May 2011.  Genres: Fantasy-Fiction, Adventure-Fiction.  Illustrator: Lauren Gallegos.  Age Group: 10 and up.  ISBN: 978-0-9832900-0-1.  Paperback: 353pp.  Retail Price: $24.95.  Currently available:  www.jmarkboliek.com.

About J. Mark Boliek:

J. Mark Boliek, the author of “The Mahogany Door” and the entire Bruinduer Narrative series, grew up in Eden and Durham, North Carolina. An avid writer and athlete, he received a football scholarship after high school but chose to join the Navy instead. He graduated from Concord University in Athens, WV, in 1997 and lived in Wilmington, NC, for a while, where he began to develop The Bruinduer Narrative, a fantasy-adventure series for young readers, as well as the soundtrack CD that accompanies “The Mahogany Door.” Mark and his wife Jill now live in Durham, NC, where they own and operate Split Rail Books and Split Rail Multimedia LLC. For more information on the author and “The Mahogany Door,” visit www.jmarkbolief.com and his Facebook page.