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Choking on Marlon Brando: A Film Critic's Memoir About Love and the Movies
By Antonia Quirke. 2007
Choking on Marlon Brando is the story of how a young female film critic's love-life is affected and nearly ruined…
by her obsession with male movie stars. As her increasingly hapless hunt for the right man unfolds and her television and newspaper career unravels, our heroine finally begins to understand that difficult truth: that life is not like the movies. Entwined within the narrative of her real-life love affairs is a kaleidoscope of digressions on great screen actors--her early obsession with Brando, her later dream-life with Gerard Depardieu, a personal ad seeking out Tom Cruise, a disastrous climactic encounter with Jeff Bridges. It's a helter-skelter ride through love and the movies which reads like a screwball comedy. But our heroine is no screwball; she seems to know everything about movies and the human heart, and painfully little about anything else. Written in a fresh and utterly engaging voice, Choking on Marlon Brando is moving and hilarious, a bittersweet and endearing story of a woman who can't draw the line between her live life and the art she loves.Moving Performances: Divas, Iconicity, and Remembering the Modern Stage
By Jeanne Scheper. 2017
Fabulous yet fierce, imperious yet impetuous, boss yet bitchy—divas are figures of paradox. Their place in culture is equally contradictory,…
as they are simultaneously venerated and marginalized, hailed as timeless but then frequently forgotten or exhumed as cult icons by future generations. Focusing on four early twentieth-century divas—Aida Overton Walker, Loïe Fuller, Libby Holman, and Josephine Baker—who were icons in their own time, Moving Performances considers what their past and current reception reveals about changing ideas of race and gender. Jeanne Scheper examines how iconicity can actually work to the diva’s detriment, reducing her to a fetish object, a grotesque, or a figure of nostalgia. Yet she also locates more productive modes of reception that reach to revive the diva’s moving performances, imbuing her with an affective afterlife. As it offers innovative theorizations of performance, reception, and affect, Moving Performances also introduces readers to four remarkable women who worked as both cultural producers and critics, deftly subverting the tropes of exoticism, orientalism, and primitivism commonly used to dismiss women of color. Rejecting iconic depictions of these divas as frozen in a past moment, Scheper vividly demonstrates how their performances continue to inspire ongoing movements.Billie Holiday: The Musician and the Myth
By John Szwed. 2015
* Kirkus Best Books of 2015 selection for Biography *Published in celebration of Holiday's centenary, the first biography to focus…
on the singer's extraordinary musical talentWhen Billie Holiday stepped into Columbia's studios in November 1933, it marked the beginning of what is arguably the most remarkable and influential career in twentieth-century popular music. Her voice weathered countless shifts in public taste, and new reincarnations of her continue to arrive, most recently in the form of singers like Amy Winehouse and Adele.Most of the writing on Holiday has focused on the tragic details of her life--her prostitution at the age of fourteen, her heroin addiction and alcoholism, her series of abusive relationships--or tried to correct the many fabrications of her autobiography. But now, Billie Holiday stays close to the music, to her performance style, and to the self she created and put into print, on record and on stage.Drawing on a vast amount of new material that has surfaced in the last decade, critically acclaimed jazz writer John Szwed considers how her life inflected her art, her influences, her uncanny voice and rhythmic genius, a number of her signature songs, and her legacy.From the Hardcover edition.Let Your Voice Be Heard: The Life and Times of Pete Seeger
By Anita Silvey. 2016
Pete Seeger, the iconic folk musician and multiple Grammy winner, discovered early in life that what he wanted to do…
was make music. His amazing career as singer, songwriter, and banjo player spanned seven decades, and included both low points (being charged with contempt of Congress) and highlights (receiving the Kennedy Center Honor from President Clinton). An activist and protester, Seeger crusaded for the rights of labor, the rights of people of color, and the First Amendment right to let his voice be heard, and launched the successful campaign to clean up the Hudson River. Archival photographs and prints, source notes, bibliography, index.This May Sound Crazy
By Abigail Breslin. 2015
Academy Award-nominated actress and musician Abigail Breslin is your best friend in her publishing debut, a collection of hilarious and…
heartfelt nonfiction essays on the subjects nearest and dearest to our hearts: love, loss, and Tumblr.Growing up in film and the online era, Abigail knows better than anyone--it's rough out there in love-land. And this generation is ill-prepared to handle it gracefully. Let's be honest: if Cinderella had been on Twitter, she'd have ended up a crazy old cat lady like the rest of us. #realtalkSo when your "boyfriend" is liking different eligible young things' selfies, what's a modern ingénue to do? Put down the iPhone, step away from the hair dye, and ~chill~. Abbie is here with cautionary tales and solid advice on being a classy-ass lady in the digital age.Because, girls, we're more than what meets the newsfeed. And this may sound crazy...But we've got this.Plus, this book is gorgeous inside and out. With a beautiful cover and heavily designed interior, this collection will be the crowning jewel on any teen's nightstand.The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop
By Dan Charnas. 2010
The Big Payback takes us from the first $15 made by a "rapping DJ" in 1970s New York to the…
recent multi-million-dollar sales of the Phat Farm and Roc-a-Wear clothing companies in 2004 and 2007. On this four-decade-long journey from the studios where the first rap records were made to the boardrooms where the big deals were inked, The Big Payback tallies the list of who lost and who won. Read the secret histories of the early long-shot successes of Sugar Hill Records and Grandmaster Flash, Run DMC's crossover breakthrough on MTV, the marketing of gangsta rap, and the rise of artist/ entrepreneurs like Jay-Z and Sean "Diddy" Combs. 300 industry veterans-well-known giants like Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons, the founders of Def Jam, and key insiders like Gerald Levin, the embattled former Time Warner chief-gave their stories to renowned hip-hop journalist Dan Charnas, who provides a compelling, never-before seen, myth-debunking view into the victories, defeats, corporate clashes, and street battles along the 40-year road to hip-hop's dominance. Watch a Video .Viviendo
By Adamari Lopez. 2012
"Antes de recibir mi diagnóstico, andaba por la vida sin propósito, sin una razón de ser. Lo que me ha…
tocado vivir me hacía falta, necesitaba vivirlo. Tenía que pasar por esas experiencias dolorosas para poder ser la mujer que soy hoy día, una versión mejorada de mí misma. ” Adamari López, la actriz reconocida internacionalmente, lo tenía todo una familia querida, un novio perfecto y un papel protagónico en una telenovela exitosa en México cuando dos palabras le alteraron la vida para siempre: tienes cáncer. De pronto, en solo unos pocos meses, el mundo tal qual lo conocía se le derrumbó y toda su vida dio un vuelco súbito. En Viviendo, la normalmente privada López revela los triunfos y tormentos de su vida, compartiendo anécdotas de su niñez y su familia, mientras describe su camino por el cáncer de seno; la repentina enfermedad de su madre; su casamiento, uno de los días más felices de su vida; y luego lo que ella considera ser el golpe más duro de todos: el final de su matrimonio. Sin embargo, a través de todo, su fortaleza y su fe no se apagaron, y su espíritu amoroso y positivo, junto con su eterna sonrisa, la ayudaron a descubrir un nuevo y gratificante comienzo en el amor y en su vida. .Part Swan, Part Goose: An Uncommon Memoir of Womanhood, Work, and Family
By Joni Rodgers, Swoosie Kurtz. 2014
In a wise, warmhearted memoir that celebrates her extraordinary life and stellar career, Swoosie Kurtz welcomes readers into her world,…
sharing personal misadventures and showbiz lore and candidly reflecting on the intimate journey of caring for an aging parent. Told with intelligence and Swoosie's hallmark comedic timing, Part Swan, Part Goose makes a powerful statement about womanhood, work and family.Swoosie's is the kind of memoir that doesn't come without a fascinating back story: Enter the parents, Frank and Margo Kurtz. Frank, an Olympic diving medalist, later became one of the most decorated aviators in American history. He flew a record number of missions in a cobbled-together B-17D Flying Fortress called "The Swoose," now housed at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. Margo chronicled their early years together in her memoir, My Rival, the Sky, published by Putnam in 1945. The book ends with the young couple happily anticipating the birth of a baby to be named after the indomitable Swoose.Today, Margo, who is approaching her hundredth birthday, lives with Swoosie. As Margo's reality drifts freely between her morning coffee and a 1943 war bond tour, Swoosie struggles to stay ahead of her mother's increasing needs while navigating the pitfalls and pratfalls of the entertainment industry. This precarious moment in time is bittersweet and occasionally overwhelming, but every day is oxygenated with laughter and love. The careful weaving of Swoosie's story with passages from My Rival, the Sky creates a vivid portrait of the invincible mother-daughter bond between the two women.Part Swan, Part Goose is that rare Hollywood memoir that takes us behind the curtain but doesn't live there; its heart is solidly at home. It doesn't pretend to tell all, but what it does tell is deeply resonant for millions caring for aging parents, timely and topical for book clubs and entertaining as hell for readers in general.Randy Bachman's Vinyl Tap Stories
By Randy Bachman. 2011
Randy Bachman has been rolling out chart-topping songs his whole life-"You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet," "These Eyes," "American Woman," "Taking…
Care of Business"-and, since 2005, treating fans to a lifetime of stories on his hit CBC Radio show Randy's Vinyl Tap. His approach is always fresh-even the most hardcore music fans will be surprised by what they can learn from Randy. Writing music and lyrics, performing live and recording #1 songs, producing new music, organizing reunion tours-Randy has done it all. Music is his life, and his anecdotes put you at the centre of it all. These are his best stories. Even with all his success Randy is "still that kid from Winnipeg," and his enthusiasm for great music is as strong as ever. Hear how after years of dreaming Randy finally got to see his musical heroes, The Shadows, play live, and then got to record a Shadows tribute song with longtime friend Neil Young. Encounters with celebrities and rock legends abound, but it is the music that is the driving force behind his extraordinary career, and what brings us back for more stories from Randy's Vinyl Tap.Randy Bachman's Vinyl Tap Stories
By Randy Bachman. 2011
Randy Bachman has been rolling out chart-topping songs his whole life--"You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet," "These Eyes," "American Woman," "Taking…
Care of Business"--and, since 2005, treating fans to a lifetime of stories on his hit CBC Radio show Randy's Vinyl Tap. His approach is always fresh--even the most hardcore music fans will be surprised by what they can learn from Randy. Writing music and lyrics, performing live and recording #1 songs, producing new music, organizing reunion tours--Randy has done it all. Music is his life, and his anecdotes put you at the centre of it all. These are his best stories. Even with all his success Randy is "still that kid from Winnipeg," and his enthusiasm for great music is as strong as ever. Hear how after years of dreaming Randy finally got to see his musical heroes, The Shadows, play live, and then got to record a Shadows tribute song with longtime friend Neil Young. Encounters with celebrities and rock legends abound, but it is the music that is the driving force behind his extraordinary career, and what brings us back for more stories from Randy's Vinyl Tap.Austin Mahone: Just How It Happened
By Austin Mahone. 2014
The official Austin Mahone book! See how Austin went from being a kid from a small town in Texas singing…
and having fun on YouTube with his friends to headlining his own shows around the world. Complete with exclusive photos and stories from his childhood as well as lots of behind-the-scenes fun, Austin's first official book will give you the glimpse into his life you can't get by following him on Twitter. Mahomies, this book is for you!Arts of Japan
By Hugo Munsterberg. 1957
Arts of Japan was originally published by Tuttle Publishing in print form in 1957. This book," in the words of…
the author, "represents an attempt to fill a long-felt need for an account of the history of Japanese art which would deal with the crafts as well as with the so-called fine arts and carry the story of Japanese art up to the present day instead of ending with the death of Hiroshige." The reader will quickly perceive how well this aim has been achieved. Here, in a stimulating and informative text and 121 well-selected plates -12 in full colour-is a dynamic treatment of the various influences that have shaped the course of Japanese art history in the fields of painting, sculpture, architecture, and handicrafts. Discussed with challenging insight are the impact of the various Indian and Chinese schools, the pervasive influenceof Zen philosophy, and the many other artistic developments, giving the reader awell-rounded picture of the great significance and contribution of Japanese art. Special features of the book are sections on handicrafts and a chapter on prehistoric art. The book comes at a time when there is an awakened interest in Oriental art throughout the world. At the same time new methods of art research have been so expanded and refined that many interpretations of earlier writers have been made obsolete. Because of linguistic barriers, political upheavals, and the limited number of specialists, misconceptions have been especially numerous in the field of Oriental art. THE ARTS OF JAPAN admirably corrects these misinterpretations, consolidates the results of the most recent scholarship, and in one compact volume presents an up-to-date, authoritative survey of Japanese an throughout its long history and in all its colorful diversity.Jammin' with the Jonas Brothers
By Lexi Ryals. 2008
These brothers are already a tween sensation!Girls cant get enough of these adorable boys who have recorded two successful albums,…
guest starred on Disneys Hannah Montana, are special guests on Miley Cyruss Best of Both Worlds Tour, and have just filmed a pilot for a Disney Channel series. Weve got the inside scoop on these crooning cuties from their younger years to their current star statuscomplete with four pages of color photos!Sing It!: A Biography of Pete Seeger
By Meryl Danziger. 2016
A tall, skinny man in blue jeans stands on a stage, one hand on his banjo, the other raised to…
the crowd of 15,000 people who have come to celebrate his ninetieth birthday. "Sing it!" he shouts, and everyone sings. How did a humble, banjo-playing Harvard University dropout become one of the most influential figures of the twentieth century? This is the story of Pete Seeger--singer, songwriter, social activist, environmentalist--who filled his toolbox with songs and set out to repair whatever in the world was broken. His story intertwines with a century of American history, and readers will be surprised to discover how many familiar songs, people, and projects somehow connect back to this one individual. What was it like for a city boy like Pete to hope freight trains with Woody Guthrie, the free-spirited composter of "This Land Is Your Land"? "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," a song beloved by people all over the world, might have been lost to history had it not been for Pete Seeger. The Hudson River is cleaner than it used to be; what did Pete do to help that happen? Through learning of his life of activism, readers will become links in the chain, inspired to reflect on their own power to make change.From the Hardcover edition.Who Was Alfred Hitchcock? (Who was?)
By Meg Belviso, Nancy Harrison, Pamela D. Pollack, Jonathan Moore. 2014
Known as one of the most influential filmmakers of all time, Alfred Hitchcock's unique vision in movies like Psycho and…
The Birds sent shivers down our spines and shockwaves through the film industry. His innovative camera techniques have been studied for decades and his gift for storytelling cemented his place in history. Many directors make great movies, but the genius of Hitchcock helped make movies great. Learn how a chubby boy from London became the "Master of Suspense."LIFE Hidden Hollywood: Rare Images of a Golden Age
By The Editors of LIFE. 2016
Revisit an era when intimacy between celebrities and journalists was revealing and genuine. In this all-new special edition from LIFE,…
Hidden Hollywood: Rare Images of a Golden Age, you will gain access to the world of classic Hollywood luminaries in various settings including "Before They Were Famous," "Behind the Scenes," "At Home Alone" and more.Gain access to the world of classic Hollywood luminaries including Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Sophia Loren, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Jack Nicholson and so many more when they were on set, in their homes, amidst their love affairs and with their families and friends. With essays that enhance the stunning photography to lend them both a sense of time and place and anecdotes revealing little-known facts about some of the most enduring stars of our time, Hidden Hollywood makes for compulsive reading and viewing of an age where reality TV did not exist.Let Fury Have the Hour: Joe Strummer, Punk, and the Movement that Shook the World
By Antonino D'Ambrosio. 2012
Joe Strummer's untimely death at the age of fifty in December 2002 took from us one of the truly unique…
voices of modern music. The quintessential Rude Boy, punker, rebel musician, artist and activist, Strummer wrote some of the most important and influential music of the last century including "Guns of Brixton," "The Washington Bullets," "Spanish Bombs," "White Man in Hammersmith Palace," "London's Burning," "Lost in the Supermarket," and "Garageland. " Effectively melding raw creativity with radical politics, Strummer transformed punk rock from its early associations with reactionary, right wing and nihilistic politics into a social movement. From Rock Against Racism to the Anti-Nazi League Festival to supporting the H-Block protests, Strummer and The Clash led the charge for human rights. Let Fury Have the Hour collects articles, interviews, essays and reviews that chronicle Strummer's life both as a musician and a political activist. Included in this collection are essays and interviews by Antonino D'Ambrosio, alongside contributions from Peter Silverton, Barry Miles, Anya Philips, Sylvia Simmons, Vic Garbarini, Caroline Coons, Todd Martens, Joel Schalit and others. This book also includes original lyrics, photography, art, posters, and flyers, and offers the first serious examination of the life of this extraordinary man.The Many Faces of Josephine Baker: Dancer, Singer, Activist, Spy
By Peggy Caravantes. 2015
A complete biographical look at the complex life of a world-famous entertainer With determination and audacity, Josephine Baker turned her…
comic and musical abilities into becoming a worldwide icon of the Jazz Age. The Many Faces of Josephine Baker: Dancer, Singer, Activist, Spy provides the first in-depth portrait of this remarkable woman for young adults. Author Peggy Caravantes follows Baker's life from her childhood in the depths of poverty to her comedic rise in vaudeville and fame in Europe. This lively biography covers her outspoken participation in the U.S. Civil Rights Movement, espionage work for the French Resistance during World War II, and adoption of 12 children--her "rainbow tribe." Also included are informative sidebars on relevant topics such as the 1917 East St. Louis riot, Pullman railway porters, the Charleston, and more. The lush photographs, appendix updating readers on the lives of the rainbow tribe, source notes, and bibliography make this is a must-have resource for any student, Baker fan, or history buff.Music: A Book of Quotations (Dover Thrift Editions: Speeches/quotations Ser.)
By Herb Galewitz. 2001
More than 400 memorable quotes are arranged alphabetically by author, from Fred Allen ("When Jack Benny plays the violin, it…
sounds as if the strings are still back in the cat.") to Friedrich Nietzsche ("Is Wagner a human being at all? Is he not rather a disease?"), many more.Nobody Likes You: Inside the Turbulent Life, Times, and Music of Green Day
By Marc Spitz. 2006
The full story of the rise and spectacular comeback of the band hailed as the saviors of punk rock and…
the next U2It's hard to believe that in early 2004 Green Day was considered over--the band was still together, but they were dismissed as a strictly 90s phenomenon, incapable of re-creating the success of their groundbreaking album Dookie. Then American Idiot debuted at #1 on the Billboard charts, stayed on the charts for nearly 18 months, and went on to sell more than four million records and to win Record of the Year (for "Boulevard of Broken Dreams") at this year's Grammy's.Combining unique access to Green Day with a seasoned journalist's nose for a great story, Marc Spitz gives the complete account of the band, from their earliest days to their most recent explosion of popularity and critical acclaim. Foremost, Nobody Likes You is a story of friendship and the transporting power of playing very loud music. It is the story of how high school dropout Billie Joe Armstrong came to write song lyrics that inflamed the political conscience of fans in a way that two Yale graduates couldn't. Green Day's story--from rise, to fall, to rise again--has never before been fully told.