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Canadian Performing Arts Bundle: Emma Albani / John Grierson / Mary Pickford
By Gary Evans, Peggy Dymond Leavey, Michelle Labr che-Larouche. 2013
Presenting three titles in the Quest Biography series that profiles prominent figures in Canada’s history. In these books we explore…
the lives of some Canadian pioneers in the world of performing arts. Profiled are: Mary Pickford, the silent screen star of the 1920s; Emma Albani, a classical singer who reached the heights of fame in Europe; and John Grierson, a filmmaker responsible for setting up the National Film Board of Canada. Includes: Emma Albani John Grierson Mary PickfordThere is none that stands for more notable success in his chosen line none that recalls more memories of wholesome…
entertainment none that is more invested with the fragrance of kindliness and true humanity.The Life and Times of Mickey Rooney
By William Birnes, Richard Lertzman. 2015
A definitive biography of the iconic actor and Hollywood legend Mickey Rooney (1920-2014) and his extravagant, sometimes tawdry life, drawing…
on exclusive interviews, and with those who knew him best, including his heretofore unknown mistress of sixty years."I lived like a rock star," said Mickey Rooney. "I had all I ever wanted, from Lana Turner and Joan Crawford to every starlet in Hollywood, and then some. They were mine to have. Ava [Gardner] was the best. I screwed up my life. I pissed away millions. I was #1, the biggest star in the world." Mickey Rooney began his career almost a century ago as a one-year-old performer in burlesque and stamped his mark in vaudeville, silent films, talking films, Broadway, and television. He acted in his final motion picture just weeks before he died at age ninety-three. He was an iconic presence in movies, the poster boy for American youth in the idyllic small-town 1930s. Yet, by World War II, Mickey Rooney had become frozen in time. A perpetual teenager in an aging body, he was an anachronism by the time he hit his forties. His child-star status haunted him as the gilded safety net of Hollywood fell away, and he was forced to find support anywhere he could, including affairs with beautiful women, multiple marriages, alcohol, and drugs. In The Life and Times of Mickey Rooney, authors Richard A. Lertzman and William J. Birnes present Mickey's nearly century-long career within the context of America's changing entertainment and social landscape. They chronicle his life story using little-known interviews with the star himself, his children, his former coauthor Roger Kahn, collaborator Arthur Marx, and costar Margaret O'Brien. This Old Hollywood biography presents Mickey Rooney from every angle, revealing the man Laurence Olivier once dubbed "the best there has ever been."All Shook Up: The Life and Death of Elvis Presley
By Barry Denenberg. 2001
I Slept with Joey Ramone
By Mickey Leigh, Legs Mcneil. 2009
When the Ramones recorded their debut album in 1976, it heralded the true birth of punk rock. Unforgettable front man…
Joey Ramone gave voice to the disaffected youth of the seventies and eighties, and the band influenced the counterculture for decades to come. With honesty, humor, and grace, Joey's brother, Mickey Leigh, shares a fascinating, intimate look at the turbulent life of one of America's greatest--and unlikeliest--music icons. While the music lives on for new generations to discover, I Slept with Joey Ramone is the enduring portrait of a man who struggled to find his voice and of the brother who loved him.Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone?
By Mark Zwonitzer, Charles Hirshberg. 2002
Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone? is the first major biography of the Carter Family, the musical pioneers who…
almost single-handedly established the sounds and traditions that grew into modern folk, country, and bluegrass music -- a style celebrated in O Brother, Where Art Thou?A.P. Carter was a restless man, seemingly in a constant state of motion. On one of his travels across the sparsely settled mountains and valleys that surrounded his home in southern Virginia, he met and married a young girl named Sara Dougherty. Orphaned as a child, Sara was remote by nature but seemed to find release in singing the typically melancholy ballads that were a part of her home tradition.For fun, A.P., Sara, and her cousin Maybelle (who married A.P.'s brother "Eck" Carter) would play and sing the hymns and ballads known in their Poor Valley community, occasionally adding songs A.P. had collected during his travels. Then, in 1927, they traveled to Bristol, Tennessee, to audition for a New York record executive who was hunting "hillbilly" talent and offering an amazing fifty dollars per song for any he recorded. These Bristol recording sessions would become generally accepted as the "Big Bang" of country music, producing two of its first stars: Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family.By the early 1930s, the Carter Family was the most bankable country music group in America, with total sales of more than a million records. By the late '30s, they were appearing regularly on high-power radio station XERA, which broadcast from coast to coast. A whole generation of country people could gather around the radio and hear the sound of music that came straight from their world. Johnny Cash in Arkansas, Waylon Jennings in Texas, Chet Atkins in Georgia, and Tom T. Hall in Kentucky all listened to the Carter Family. It was their formal schooling, Country Music 101.Inside the Carter Family, however, things were hardly perfect. Though nobody outside the family knew it, Sara had left her difficult and quixotic husband in 1933. In 1936 she won a divorce. Even throughout the long and painful breakup, the Carters kept performing together, singing an ever-widening range of new songs they wrote or old songs they remade: songs of love, of betrayal, and of the death of fondest hopes. And they kept at it even after Sara married A.P.'s cousin Coy Bays in 1939. After fulfilling a final radio contract in 1943, Sara and Coy moved to California to settle near his family. The original Carter Family never performed or recorded together again.With Sara gone, A.P. retreated home, opened a general store, and lived out the next two decades in obscurity, the odd man out in a new and reconfigured Carter musical clan. Meanwhile, Maybelle and her daughters (Helen, June, and Anita) went out and got themselves new radio contracts, working in Richmond, Virginia; Knoxville, Tennessee; and Springfield, Missouri, before ascending to country music's ultimate stage, Nashville's Grand Ole Opry. Nearly fifty years in the business won Maybelle the title "Mother of Country Music" and the adoration of generations of guitar players and just plain listeners.The story of the Carter Family is a bittersweet saga of love and fulfillment, sadness and loss. Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone? is more than just a biography of a family; it is also a journey into another time, almost another world. But their story resonates today and lives on in the timeless music they created.This Might Get a Little Heavy: A Memoir
By Ralphie May, Nils Parker. 2017
There was a time when Ralphie May was one of the biggest standup comedians in the country, both by ticket…
sales and by tonnage. While some things changed—Ralphie lost half his body weight—others did not: he will be remembered as one of the most successful comics of his time. Completed just months before his untimely passing, in This Might Get a Little Heavy, Ralphie takes readers on a behind-the-scenes tour of his life and career, one that winds across the country, over obstacles, beyond heartbreak, and through the golden age of stand-up.Raised in poor, rural, Arkansas by a single mom who struggled to make ends meet, Ralphie’s early years were the perfect breeding ground for the kind of pain and stress and adversity that only comedy can cure. Bitten by the comedy bug at a Methodist sleep-away camp when he was 12 years old, Ralphie seized a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity six years later at an open-mic in a pizza parlor. Mentored and inspired by legendary comedian Sam Kinison to move to Houston, where he got his start, Ralphie packed his bags and never looked back. A major headliner for over twenty-five years, in This Might Get A Little Heavy, Ralphie finally tells the world how a chubby poor kid from Clarksville went from Arkansas to Houston to Hollywood and beyond. Full of never before told stories from Ralphie’s life, This Might Get A Little Heavy will bust your gut, pull at your heart strings, and touch your soul.Kelly Reichardt
By Nicole Seymour, Katherine Fusco. 2017
Kelly Reichardt's 1994 debut River of Grass established her gift for a slow-paced realism that emphasizes the ongoing, everyday nature…
of emergency. Her work since then has communed with--yet remained apart from--postwar European realisms, the American avant-garde, independent film, and the emerging slow cinema movement. Katherine Fusco and Nicole Seymour read such Reichardt films as Wendy and Lucy and Night Moves to consider the root that emergency shares with emergence --the slowly unfolding or the barely perceptible. They see Reichardt as a filmmaker preoccupied with how environmental and economic crises affect those living on society's fringes. Her spare plots and slow editing reveal an artist who recognizes that disasters are gradual, with effects experienced through duration rather than sudden shock. Insightful and boldly argued, Kelly Reichardt is a long overdue portrait of a filmmaker who sees emergency not as a break from the everyday, but as a version of it.Theatres of San Francisco
By Jack Tillmany. 2005
You read the sad stories in the papers: another ornate, 1920s, single-screen theatre closes, to be demolished and replaced by…
a strip mall. That's progress, and in this 20-screen multiplex world, it's happening more and more. Only a handful of the 100 or so neighborhood theatres that once graced these streets are left in San Francisco, but they live on in the photographs featured in this book. The heyday of such venues as the Clay, Noe, Metro, New Mission, Alexandria, Coronet, Fox, Uptown, Coliseum, Surf, El Rey, and Royal was a time when San Franciscans thronged to the movies and vaudeville shows, dressed to the hilt, to see and be seen in majestic art deco palaces. Unfortunately, this era has passed into history despite the dedicated efforts of many neighborhood preservation groups.Magic City: Trials of a Native Son
By Peter Bailey, Trick Daddy. 2010
"A thug is someone who stands on his own. He lives by the decisions he makes and accepts the consequences.…
A thug is comfortable in his own skin. I wear mine like a glove." Trick Daddy was born a thug--just a stone's throw from downtown Miami, yet a world away from its dazzling beauty and sparkling wealth. Where grinding poverty, deadly crime, and devastating racial tension taught kids to live by the 'hood rules. Remarkably, Trick came from nothing and made it big just when his chances had run out. Magic City is the extraordinary tale of a boy whose father was a pimp, who learned to hustle to survive, and whose only role model was his brother, the drug dealer he watched plying his trade on the block. It's the untold truth behind the cult movie Scarface, of the drug money that transformed the city into a shining mecca for the rich and famous while turf wars between smalltime pushers claimed countless lives. It's also the incredible story of how that potent mixture of extremes--the electric pulse and glittering abundance of South Beach and the crime, corruption, and despair in its shadows--gave rise to the most dominant sound in hip-hop today. Magic City is an ode to Miami, a riveting tale of a paradise lost and a native son determined to infuse it with new life.Cuban Women and Salsa
By Delia Poey. 2014
Salsa is both an American and transnational phenomenon, however women in salsa have been neglected. To explore how female singers…
negotiate issues of gender, race, and nation through their performances, Poey engages with the ways they problematize the idea of the nation and facilitate their musical performances' movement across multiple borders.A Ship without a Sail: The Life of Lorenz Hart
By Gary Marmorstein. 2012
An unforgettable portrait of an exuberant yet troubled artist who so enriched the American songbook "Blue Moon, " "Where or…
When, " "The Lady Is a Tramp," "My Funny Valentine," "Isn't It Romantic?," "My Romance," "There's a Small Hotel," "Falling in Love with Love," "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered"--lyricist Lorenz Hart, together with composer Richard Rodgers, wrote some of the most memorable songs ever created. More than half a century after their collaboration ended, Rodgers & Hart songs are indispensable to the repertoire of nightclub singers everywhere. A Ship Without a Sail is the story of the complicated man who was Lorenz Hart. His lyrics spin with brilliance and sophistication, yet at their core is an unmistakable wistfulness. The sweetness of "My Romance" and "Isn't It Romantic?" is unsurpassed in American song, but Hart's lyrics could also be cynical, funny, ironic. He brought a unique wit and elegance to popular music. Larry Hart and Richard Rodgers wrote approximately thirty Broadway musicals and dozens of songs for Hollywood films. At least four of their musicals--On Your Toes, Babes in Arms, The Boys from Syracuse, and Pal Joey-- have become classics. But despite their prodigious collaboration, Rodgers and Hart were an odd couple. Rodgers was precise, punctual, heterosexual, handsome, and eager to be accepted by Society. Hart was barely five feet tall, alcoholic, homosexual, and more comfortable in a bar or restaurant than anywhere else. Terrified of solitude, he invariably threw the party and picked up the check. His lyrics are all the more remarkable considering that he never sustained a romantic relationship, living his entire life with his mother, who died only months before he died at age forty-eight. Gary Marmorstein's revelatory biography includes many of the lyrics that define Hart's legacy--those clever, touching stanzas that still move us or make us laugh.Fool’s Return
By Lynda Chervil. 2013
Every journey begins with one small step--and for venture capitalist Gabrielle, the journey begins when she sets foot in Castine,…
Maine. Initially drawn to the scenic locale to prospect for breakthrough battery technology, she soon discovers that there's more to her trip than she bargained for and that her business in Castine is but one stop on the greater journey she is meant to take. From unexpected encounters with an eccentric fortune-teller and an enigmatic man to business sabotage attempts and haunting dreams, Gabrielle's trip is wrought with complications, and she must overcome numerous obstacles in the course of her business as well as in her personal endeavors. But the greatest challenge Gabrielle faces is leaving the town. Something in Castine is keeping her there, and it won't let her leave until she's learned what the universe wants her to learn. Fool's Return is an entirely captivating and thought-provoking story about self-discovery, confronting challenges, and understanding one's place in the world. It delves into esoteric topics such as tarot, past life regression, and vivid dreams and broaches controversial issues surrounding the ongoing battle between those in support of sustainable living and those dedicated to maintaining the status quo.But Enough About Me
By Jon Winokur, Burt Reynolds. 2015
Scandalous, sentimental, frank, and sincere--the ultimate inside account of a television and film icon.Burt Reynolds has been a Hollywood leading…
man for six decades, known for his legendary performances, sex-symbol status, and storied Hollywood romances. In his long career of stardom, during which he was number one at the box office for five years in a row, Reynolds has seen it all. But Enough About Me will tell his story through the people he's encountered on his amazing journey. In his words, he plans to "call out the assholes," try to make amends for "being the asshole myself on too many occasions," and pay homage to the many heroes he has come to love and respect.Beginning with Reynolds's adolescence as a notable football player and the devastating car accident that ended his sports career, But Enough About Me takes readers from the Broadway stages where Reynolds got his start to his subsequent rise to fame. From Oscar nominations, to the spread inCosmopolitan magazine that remains a notorious pop-cultural touchstone to this day, to the financial decisions that took him from rich to poor and back again, Reynolds shares the wisdom that has come from his many highs and lows. He is also ready, now more than ever, to dish. Reynolds famously romanced Dinah Shore, Sally Field, and Loni Anderson, to name only the top few; batted eyes at Bette Davis, Greta Garbo, Goldie Hawn, Farrah Fawcett, Marilyn Monroe, Candice Bergen, and so many more; went a few rounds (or more) with the likes of Donald Trump and Helen Gurley Brown; and rubbed elbows with Jon Voight, Clark Gable, Clint Eastwood, Frank Sinatra, Orson Welles, Mel Brooks, Woody Allen, and Johnny Carson, among many others. Through it all, Reynolds reflects on his personal pitfalls and recoveries and refocuses his attention on his legacy as a father and an acting teacher, leaving readers with a classic from one of Hollywood's most enduring and treasured stars.From the Hardcover edition.Neve Campbell: An Unauthorized Biography
By Elina Furman. 1999
Neve Campbell has overcome many obstacles to become one of the most powerful young players in Hollywood. Campbell's poignant story…
will give readers an inside look at her transformation from a complete unknown in small-town Canada to a major motion-picture star.This is the first book on the dynamic star of Party of Five, the Scream trilogy, The Craft, , 54, andWild Things. It provides insights into Neve's family life, her formative years in Canada, her nervous collapse at fourteen, her breakup with husband Jeffrey Colt, and her many amorous adventures with some of Hollywood's hottest leading men. Plus, readers will learn previously undisclosed details about the making of Scream, Scream 2, and Scream 3, and what really goes on behind the scenes of Party of Five.The Guy on the Left
By James Duthie. 2015
If you're a sports fan, you know James Duthie. The biggest games, the biggest trades, the juiciest rumours--chances are Duthie…
is the guy you tuned in to hear talk about them. There are other experts and insiders, stats guys and analysts, but no one else who can talk about sports with the humour, the knowledge, and the charisma Duthie brings to every event he covers. He also makes the best spoof videos. The Guy on the Left tells the story of Duthie's career in broadcasting, from a nerdy appearance on a game show to chatting with Tiger Woods in the men's room at The Masters. It's a behind-the-scenes look at celebrated moments like Sidney Crosby's famous game-winning goal at the Vancouver Olympics, but also less celebrated insights, like the disclosure that sports broadcasters often aren't wearing pants on air. There are stories about goofing around with NHL superstars like Roberto Luongo and Anze Kopitar. There are also stories about wandering into the wrong house after walking his dog and surprising his neighbour in her underwear. His stories can also be serious. Tragedy strikes more than once in the sports world. Most notably, he had to go to air on the evening of September 11, 2001. His reflections on the way sport is part of all of our lives, from the athletes and sports figures on the planes to the kids who lost coaches and parents, are a powerful reminder of both the importance of sport and how lucky we all are to be part of it. Funny, thoughtful, self-deprecating, and wry, The Guy on the Left is everything fans love about James Duthie.Mega Weird
By Nicholas Megalis, Tom Megalis. 2015
A collection of hilarious short stories from twenty-five year old Internet sensation Nicholas Megalis on his distinctively weird life and…
childhood, fully illustrated by Tom Megalis, his celebrated artist and animator dad.From Internet sensation Nicholas Megalis, comes Mega Weird, a collection of hilarious short stories on life as an anxiety-fueled artist, musician, and proudly weird dude.Raised in a ridiculous family of artists, Greek immigrants, and all-around weirdos, Megalis has had a strange and beautiful ride (and has consumed an ungodly amount of spanakopita). Mega Weird is an illustrated journal of Megalis's twenty-five years on this planet--borderline fireworks pyromania, chain-smoking at age seven, psychotic magic trick obsessions, the perils of being a thirteen-year-old boy, a month-long band tour fueled by Taco Bell, caffeine, and guitars--each story accompanied by original art from his celebrated artist and animator dad, Tom Megalis.Mega Weird is an assurance that it's okay to be different. In fact, it's essential. Megalis wasn't good at sports and could barely tie his shoes until he was twenty, but that's fine. Who cares? He's proud to be weird. And you should be too. Life is insane, life is great. Thank God for rock and roll.Naked Truth: Strip Clubs, Democracy, and a Christian Right
By Judith Lynne Hanna. 2012
Across America, strip clubs have come under attack by a politically aggressive segment of the Christian Right. Using plausible-sounding but…
factually untrue arguments about the harmful effects of strip clubs on their communities, the Christian Right has stoked public outrage and incited local and state governments to impose onerous restrictions on the clubs with the intent of dismantling the exotic dance industry. But an even larger agenda is at work, according to Judith Lynne Hanna. In Naked Truth, she builds a convincing case that the attack on exotic dance is part of the activist Christian Right’s “grand design” to supplant constitutional democracy in America with a Bible-based theocracy. Hanna takes readers onstage, backstage, and into the community and courts to reveal the conflicts, charges, and realities that are playing out at the intersection of erotic fantasy, religion, politics, and law. She explains why exotic dance is a legitimate form of artistic communication and debunks the many myths and untruths that the Christian Right uses to fight strip clubs. Hanna also demonstrates that while the fight happens at the local level, it is part of a national campaign to regulate sexuality and punish those who do not adhere to Scripture-based moral values. Ultimately, she argues, the naked truth is that the separation of church and state is under siege and our civil liberties—free speech, women’s rights, and free enterprise—are at stake.Through the Eye of the Tiger
By Jim Peterik, Lisa Torem, Kevin Cronin. 2014
As the founding member of Survivor and co-writer of one of the most inspirational songs in rock history, Jim Peterik…
easily fits into the category of "rock star." But a closer look at Peterik's life and career reveal that he is anything but your typical rock star. Forgoing a life of meaningless sex and drugs, Peterik married his high school sweetheart and focused on the music, becoming one of the most prolific songwriters of his generation.Here, for the first time, Peterik shares the stories behind his iconic songs-from touring with Led Zeppelin and Janis Joplin on the heels of the Ides of March number one classic "Vehicle" to his Grammy-winning, triple platinum "Eye of the Tiger" with Survivor and beyond. He explores the often torturous power struggles within the band contrasted by the giddy highs that accompany a trail of worldwide hits. Peterik has also co-written songs with some of the most famous bands and artists in rock-and-roll, including 38 Special (Rockin' Into the Night, Caught Up In You, Hold On Loosely), Sammy Hagar (Heavy Metal), Brian Wilson, The Doobie Brothers, REO Speedwagon, Cheap Trick, the platinum comeback of The Beach Boys (That's Why God Made the Radio), and many more.Through the Eye of the Tiger is more than just a memoir of a songwriting legend; it's a classic rock-and-roll story, told through the eyes of someone who has lived through it all- and through the Eye Of The Tiger.Thomas Betterton
By David Roberts. 2010
Restoration London's leading actor and theater manager Thomas Betterton has not been the subject of a biography since 1891. He…
worked with all the best-known playwrights of his age and with the first generation of English actresses; he was intimately involved in the theater's responses to politics, and became a friend of leading literary men such as Pope and Steele. His innovations in scenery and company management, and his association with the dramatic inheritance of Shakespeare, helped to change the culture of English theater. David Roberts's entertaining study unearths new documents and draws fresh conclusions about this major but shadowy figure. It contextualizes key performances and examines Betterton's relationship to patrons, colleagues and family, as well as to significant historical moments and artifacts. The most substantial study available of any seventeenth-century actor, Thomas Betterton gives one of England's greatest performing artists his due on the tercentenary of his death.