Musicians, singers, bands and groups Books

Book SynopsisCorazón Abierto: Mexican American Voices in Texas Music provides a wide view of the myriad contributions Mexican American artists have made to music in Texas and the United States. Based on interviews with longtime stalwarts of Mexican American music - Flaco JimÉnez, Tish Hinojosa, Ernie Durawa, Rosie Flores, and others - and also conversations with newer voices like Lesly Reynaga, Marisa Rose Mejia, Josh Baca, and many more, Kathleen Hudson allows the musicians to tell their own stories in a unique and personal way. As the artists reveal in their free-ranging discussions with Hudson, their influences go far beyond traditionally Mexican genres like conjunto, norteÑo, and Tejano to extend into rock, jazz, country-western, zydeco, and many other styles.Hudson's survey also includes essays, poetry, and other creative works by Dagoberto Gilb, Sandra Cisneros, and others, but the core of the book consists of what she describes as 'a collection of voices from different locations in Texas....Some represent voices from the edge, while others give us a view from the center'. Weaving together a tapestry that combines 'family, borders, creativity, music, food, and community', the book presents an image as varied and difficult to define as the musicians themselves. By sharing the artists' accounts of their influences, their experiences, their family stories, and their musical and cultural journeys, CorazÓn Abierto reminds us that borders can be gateways, that differences enrich, rather than isolate.

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Book SynopsisMuch has happened with Delbert McClinton since the first edition of Delbert McClinton: One Of The Fortunate Few was released in 2017. That year, Rolling Stone called him 'The Godfather of Americana Music,' and in 2019, he received the Americana Music Association Lifetime Achievement Award. He received a Grammy® in 2020 for Best Traditional Blues Album. This new in paper edition includes a new foreword, two new chapters, and several updates.Trade ReviewAsserts the songwriter's centrality in forging a uniquely Texas blend of blues, country, R&B, and rock." - The Austin Chronicle"Delbert McClinton's many fans will find One of the Fortunate Few reaffirming, shedding light on a truly selfless, generous soul. Those unfamiliar with Delbert will be instantly drawn to him and will undoubtedly seek out his music and touring schedule. When you realize McClinton was playing at the birth of rock n' roll in the '50s, shared some harmonica tips with John Lennon, and has played just about every kind of American music in every conceivable venue from dives to the world's biggest stages, you can't help but admire this living legend. His story is of endurance, sacrifice, perseverance, and ultimately success in the unforgiving often cruel music business." - Elmore Magazine

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Book SynopsisBilly Joe Shaver wrote ten of the eleven songs included on Waylon Jennings's landmark album Honky Tonk Heroes and played a dominant role in the origins and development of the Outlaw Country movement of the 1970s. He has been named by Ray Wylie Hubbard, alongside Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark, as a member of the 'holy trinity' of Texas songwriters. He has exerted a Texas-sized influence on Texas music and especially Texas singer-songwriters, and is cited as a chief inspiration by at least two generations of artists. But although his influence has been profound, Shaver has the dubious honor of becoming, according to author Courtney S. Lennon, 'country music's unsung hero.'In Live Forever: The Songwriting Legacy of Billy Joe Shaver, Lennon seeks to give Shaver the recognition his prolific output deserves. She unfolds for readers the complexity and the simplicity of the artist who wrote the songs that Brian T. Atkinson, in his foreword, calls 'peaceful and pure, complex and convoluted, mad and merciful' - the musician who wrote 'You Just Can't Beat Jesus Christ' and 'That's What She Said Last Night,' 'Honky Tonk Heroes,' and 'Get Thee Behind Me Satan.' Based on in-depth interviews with Shaver and a host of notable singer-songwriters, this book reveals and celebrates the saint and the sinner, the earthy intellectual and the hard-drinking commoner, the poet and the cowboy.

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Book SynopsisAt 102 years of age, Louise Tobin is one of the last surviving musicians of the Swing Era. Born in Aubrey, Texas, in 1918, she grew up in a large family that played music together. She once said that she fell out of the cradle singing and all she ever wanted to do was to sing. And sing she did. She sang with Benny Goodman and also performed vocals for such notables as Will Bradley, Bobby Hackett, Harry James (her first husband), Johnny Mercer, Lionel Hampton, the Glenn Miller Orchestra, Peanuts Hucko (her second husband), and Fletcher Henderson.Based on extensive oral history interviews and archival research, Texas Jazz Singer recalls both the glamour and the challenges of life on the road and onstage during the golden age of swing and beyond. As it traces American music through the twentieth century, Louise Tobin's story provides insight into the challenges musicians faced to sustain their careers during the cultural revolution and ever-changing styles and tastes in music.In this absorbing biography, music historian Kevin Edward Mooney offers readers a view of a remarkable life in music, told from the vantage point of the woman who lived it. Rather than simply making Tobin an emblem for women in jazz of the big band era, Mooney concentrates instead on Tobin's life, her struggles and successes, and in doing so captures the particular sense of grace that resonates throughout each phase of Tobin's notable career.

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Book SynopsisTo wander the streets of a bankrupt, often lawless, New York City in the early 1970s wearing a T-shirt with PLEASE KILL ME written on it was an act of determined nihilism, and one often recounted in the first reports of Richard Hell filtering into the pre-punk UK. Pete Astor, an archly nihilistic teenager himself at the time, was most impressed. The fact that it emerged (after many years) that Hell himself had not worn the T-shirt but had convinced junior band member Richard Lloyd to do so, actually fitted very well with Astor’s older, wiser self looking back at Blank Generation. Richard Hell was an artist who could not only embody but also frame the punk urge; having seeded and developed the essential look and character of punk since his arrival in New York in the late 1960s, he had just what was needed to make one of the defining records of the era. This study combines objective, academic perspectives along with culturally centred subjectivities to understand the meanings and resonances of Richard Hell and the Voidoids’ Blank Generation.Trade ReviewThe 33 1/3 book series started in 2003, analyzing 'seminal' rock albums in the manner of great literature novels-but also adding the personal insights that only the true rock n' roll fan can deliver. #92 looks at Richard Hell and the Voidoids' Blank Generation (1977). On the heels of #91, on Gang of Four's Entertainment (1979) the releases really are two of a pair-the arch “art punk” statements of the '70s-though Gang of Four is more political and Richard Hell thoroughly nihilistic. The analytical approach can have its pitfalls: Astor is so intent on the importance of listening on vinyl that he traces the history of recording technology back to Edison, to make the point that the album has to be heard on that medium. But Astor brilliantly places Blank Generation in the 70's lower East Side New York art world, with all the squalor evoked by Richard Hell's songs, as well as depicting Hell as a poet with a comprehensive artistic vision. In his own way, Hell was the voice of a generation. * SLUG Magazine *Table of ContentsPreface Vision Culture Artefact Worlds Persona Texts Words Postscript

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Book SynopsisCourtney Love has never been less than notorious. Her intelligence, ambition and appetite for confrontation have made her a target in a music industry still dominated by men. As Kurt Cobain's wife she was derided as an opportunistic groupie; as his widow she is pitied, and scorned, as the madwoman in rock's attic. Yet Hole's second album, Live Through This, awoke a feminist consciousness in a generation of young listeners. Live Through This arrived in 1994, at a tumultuous point in the history of American music. Three years earlier Nirvana's Nevermind had broken open the punk underground, and the first issue of a zine called Riot Grrrl had been published. Hole were of this context and yet outside of it: too famous for the strict punk ethics of riotgrrrl, too explicitly feminist to be the world's biggest rock band. Live Through This is an album about girlhood and motherhood; desire and disgust; self-destruction and survival. There have been few rock albums before or since so intimately concerned with female experience. It is an album that changed lives – so why is Courtney Love’s achievement as a songwriter and musician still not taken seriously, two decades on?Trade ReviewWhile many may not admit to it immediately, it's probably a safe bet that your average rock fan from the ’90s keeps Hole's Live Through This in their collection. And why not? … The immensely successful 33 1/3 series from Bloomsbury examines the album track-by-track through the eyes of writer Anwen Crawford (The Monthly), giving both a historical frame of mind to the album, as well as deconstructing the themes behind seven tracks … If you haven't had a chance to experience this album, give it a listen, then give this book a read, and then give the album a second shot … it will definitely give you an appreciation for what Hole was trying to make and the impact they had on grunge. -- Gavin Sheehan * SLUG Magazine *Crawford's book in the 33 1/3 series about Hole's Live Through This is passionate, thoughtful, empathetic and well-argued, an explanation of what the album meant to smart suburban teenagers trying to figure out where they fit into the world. -- Tim Byron * The Vine *This book made me care about an artist I had long ago written off. Yes, Courtney Love has pretty much retired from making meaningful music, but for Anwen Crawford, an Australian journalist and critic, that only makes Hole’s 1994 album Live Through This all the more compelling. As she chronicles the decisions that produced the band’s grunge-era breakthrough—which was released just days after Kurt Cobain’s suicide—Crawford writes movingly about the effect these songs had on herself and on other women around the world … In that regard, the album’s anger and ferocious self-determination haven’t diminished in two decades. -- Stephen M. Deusner * Pitchfork *Table of ContentsAcknowledgements 1. Violet 2. Miss World 3. Asking for It 4. Credit in the Straight World 5. Softer, Softest 6. I Think That I Would Die 7. Rock Star Notes Bibliography

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Book SynopsisDangerous is Michael Jackson's coming of age album. Granted, that’s a bold claim to make given that many think his best work lay behind him by the time this record was made. It offers Jackson on a threshold, at long last embracing adulthood—politically questioning, sexually charged—yet unable to convince a skeptical public who had, by this time, been wholly indoctrinated by a vicious media. Even though the record sold well, few understood or were willing to accept the depth and breadth of Jackson’s vision; and then before it could be fully grasped, it was eclipsed by a shifting pop music landscape and personal scandal—the latter perhaps linked to his assertive new politics. This book tries to cut through the din of dominant narratives about Jackson, taking up the mature, nuanced artistic statement he offered on Dangerous in all its complexity. It is read here as a concept album, one that offers a compelling narrative arc of postmodern angst, love, lust, seduction, betrayal, damnation, and above all else racial politics, in ways heretofore unseen in his music. This record offered a Michael Jackson that was mystifying for a world that had accepted him as a child and as childlike and, hence, as safe; this Michael Jackson was, indeed, dangerous.Trade ReviewVirtually all of his creative moments were moments of transition, and Ms. Fast makes a strong argument that “Dangerous” was among his most disruptive. In this book, the 100th entry in Bloomsbury’s 33 1/3 series, each one devoted to a single album, Ms. Fast employs close readings of lyrics, musical production choices and video presentations to underscore little discussed aspects of Jackson’s creative output. So she breaks “Dangerous” into thematically rich sections: Jackson breaking with his old self, then switching to familiar modes to make bold political statements and then coming full circle. -- Jon Caramanica * The New York Times *Throughout this book’s 144 pages Fast certainly makes plenty of compelling arguments as to why ‘Dangerous’ represents a true coming of age album for Jackson as well as perhaps his most ambitious and experimental collection, but one that didn’t really get a chance to be appreciated or properly understood before it was eclipsed by the media circus that soon engulfed Jackson’s entire life. -- Chris Downton * Cyclic Defrost *As a musicologist, [Fast] is quite capable of writing about the complexity of Jackson's music, offering a clear insight into his process. By placing the work in a cultural context: racism, politics, gender and sexuality, she also offers the non-musician an excellent read and good critical insight. Mostly because she makes crystal clear that Jackson knew exactly what he was doing as a writer and performer, his versatile voice and body combining high and low art to convey a serious message. Fast's analysis also makes it clear that Jackson was able to ingeniously communicate his message through the compilation of the album itself. This book offers a much-needed in-depth analysis of Jackson's music and art…Highly recommended. -- Karin Merx * Cultural Studies *Susan Fast's new monograph on Michael Jackson's Dangerous album is an utterly compelling, utterly intelligent reassessment of Jackson's oft-maligned record of 1991 and a challenge to anyone who thinks that they have a grasp on Jackson's controversial art. Fast has an arsenal of literary theorists to help her support her claim (Gates, Foucault), but her writing style-like the Jackson album that is her subject-is dangerous. I can't think of a 33 1/3 book that's written with so much verve, so much life that the deployment of tough theory and philosophy is swept away in the author's passionate prose. -- Paul Gleason * Stereo Embers *Fast has provided a model for how to reach a broader audience with scholarly writing. * Journal of the Society for American Music *Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Introduction. Telling Stories About Michael Jackson Chapter One. Noise Chapter Two. Desire Chapter Three. Utopia Chapter Four. Soul Coda: Dangerous Notes

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Book SynopsisThis book marks the tenth anniversary of The Grey Album. The online release and circulation of what Danger Mouse called his ‘art project' was an unexpected watershed in the turn-of-the-century brawls over digital creative practice. The album's suppression inspired widespread digital civil disobedience and brought a series of contests and conflicts over creative autonomy in the online world to mainstream awareness. The Grey Album highlighted, by its very form, the profound changes wrought by the new technology and represented the struggle over the tectonic shifts in the production, distribution and consumption of music. But this is not why it matters. The Grey Album matters because it is more than just a clever, if legally ambiguous, amalgam. It is an important and compelling case study about the status of the album as a cultural form in an era when the album appears to be losing its coherence and power. Perhaps most importantly, The Grey Album matters because it changes how we think about the traditions of musical practice of which it is a part. Danger Mouse created a broad, inventive commentary on forms of musical creativity that have defined all kinds of music for centuries: borrowing, appropriation, homage, derivation, allusion and quotation. The struggle over this album wasn't just about who gets to use new technology and how. The battle over The Grey Album struck at the heart of the very legitimacy of a long recognised and valued form of musical expression: the interpretation of the work of one artist by another.Table of ContentsIntroduction: The Grey Album in a Post-Album World. Chapter 1: Music, Incorporated. New World, Old Industry. Selling the Album, Destroying the Single. Crowds, Clouds and Idols. Chapter 2: Danger Mouse v. Capitol, Capitol v. Music. The Aesthetic Practices of the Powerful. From Fair Use to Safe Harbors. Ownership Rights, Authorship Rights and Natural Rights to Music. Chapter 3: The Aesthetics of The Grey Album. The Aesthetic Legitimacy of The Grey Album. The Musical Traditions That Shaped The Grey Album. Musical Fidelity and Sample-Based Music. Chapter 4:The Music of The Grey Album. The Legacies of The Beatles and The Black Album. The Making of The Grey Album. The Flow of The Grey Album. Conclusion Bibliography

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Book SynopsisJuly, 1967: It seems the entire country stopped to listen to a husky voice steeped in the simmering secrets of the South tell a tragic tale of teenage suicide. So much for the Summer of Love. “Ode to Billie Joe” knocked the Beatles’ “All You Need is Love” off the top of the charts, and Bobbie Gentry became an international star. Almost 50 years later, Gentry is as enigmatic and captivating as her signature song. Of course, fans still want to know why Billie Joe McAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge. They also wonder: Why did Bobbie Gentry, who has not performed or made a public appearance since the early 1980s, leave it all behind? Through extensive interviews and unprecedented access to career memorabilia, Murtha explores the real-life mysteries ensnarled within the much-disputed origin of Ode to Billie Joe. The result is an investigative pop history that reveals, for the first time, the full breadth of Bobbie Gentry’s groundbreaking career—and just may help explain her long silence. Foreword by musician Jill Sobule.Trade ReviewTara Murtha examines that song and the rest of Bobbi Gentry’s career in Ode To Billie Joe, the latest release in the 33 1/3 series of books. It is a wonderfully compelling book and the best I’ve read in the series since "Television: Marquee Moon." Perhaps it’s her background as a reporter, but Murtha does not go down the pedantic path that many of the books in this series seem to do lately. Instead, the author presents a fascinating study of Gentry and her career-defining debut. That’s right; "Ode to Billie Joe" was her debut recording. Wow. -- Steve J * AllMusicBooks *Murtha pulls free the threads of truth from a tangled knot of personal mythology and contradictions. Her book is likely to be a hit with casual listeners and pop-culture obsessives alike. -- Katie Haegele * Utne Reader *Philadelphia journalist Tara Murtha has dug deep into the story behind Gentry’s song with the latest entry in the '33 1/3' book series devoted to various pop albums of significance… Murtha charts Gentry’s challenges as a musician who in her teens was most interested in selling her songs to other singers, not recording them herself. But once she did get into the position of recording, she was up against a male-dominated record industry that offered little validation to a young woman with her own ideas about performance and production. -- Randy Lewis * L.A. Times *While Murtha's exploration of the Gentry myth is fascinating, the writer also takes pains to ensure that the myth - as well as Gentry's sexual aura - will not eclipse her real achievement […] Murtha's gem of a book is, above all, a testament to the enduring complexity of Bobbie Gentry. -- Helen W. Mallon * Philly.com *Murtha’s book conveys a Bobbie Gentry who knew what she wanted and then went about to get it. For the past 30 years, Bobbie Gentry has wanted to be left alone. The closest Murtha gets to Gentry is when she tries on an old fur coat of hers that ended up in the closet of her step-brother in Oregon, who only met Gentry once. This isn’t nearly enough for Murtha ... Tara Murtha’s accessible and engaging book is a welcome addition to the 33 1/3 Series. I believe her Ode to Bobbie Gentry will succeed in attaining renewed attention and interest in her music. -- Aaron Goldstein * The American Spectator *In Ode To Billie Joe, a new contribution to Bloomsbury's 33 1/3 series, journalist Tara Murtha puts Gentry's feminism and efforts to control her own image at the center of the work, which re-introduces the world to Bobbie Gentry ... Today, it is unclear where she lives and remains in touch with only a few friends from her days in show business — leaving many questions unanswered. Ode To Billie Joe is a 'looking glass that cuts both ways,' Murtha writes. 'The wild commercial success of 'Ode' transformed Gentry from an unknown working musician to an international star. But it also ... ultimately served to obscure a larger, richer body of work — and caged the artist into a persona she spent the rest of her career trying to transcend.' -- Audrey White * The Quietus *Who was Billie Joe McAllister and why did he die? ... There’s another riddle to be solved: that of Gentry herself ... The American journalist Tara Murtha, in her recently published book Ode to Billie Joe (Bloomsbury), attempts to solve these mysteries. Her book, then, is a reporter’s quest that takes her across America to find people who knew Gentry and are willing to talk ... She finds plenty of them. -- Karl Whitney * Irish Times *Table of ContentsForeward, by Jill Sobule Chapter 1: Out of a Swamp Fog Chapter 2: Where is Bobbie Gentry? Chapter 3: The Bobbiebilia Chapter 4: Chickasaw County Child Chapter 5: Becoming Bobbie Gentry Chapter 6: "Produced by Kelly Gordon and Bobby Paris" Chapter 7: The Summer of "Ode to Billie Joe" Chapter 8: Capitol Pre-Orders Five Times as Many Records as Meet the Beatles Chapter 9: The Capitol Years Chapter 10: Viva Las Vegas Chapter 11: What the Song Didn't Tell You, the Movie Will Chapter 12: So I'm Packin' Up and I'm Checking Out

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Book SynopsisBob Dylan is an iconic American artist, whose music and performances have long reflected different musical genres and time periods. His songs tell tales of the Civil War, harken back to 1930s labor struggles, and address racial violence at the height of the civil rights movement, helping listeners to think about history, and history making, in new ways. While Dylan was warned by his early mentor, Dave Van Ronk, that, "You're just going to be a history book writer if you do those things. An anachronism," the musician has continued to traffic in history and engage with a range of source material—ancient and modern—over the course of his career.In this beautifully crafted book, Freddy Cristóbal Domínguez makes a provocative case for Dylan as a historian, offering a deep consideration of the musician's historical influences and practices. Drawing on interviews, speeches, and the close analysis of lyrics and live performances, Bob Dylan in the Attic is the first book to consider Dylan's work from the point of view of historiography.Table of Contents Preface Acknowledgments INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1 What Do You Mean You Can’t Repeat the Past?: Dylan’s Historical Universe CHAPTER 2“ Conjuring Up All These Long Dead Souls”: How Dylan “Does” History CHAPTER 3 “Sing in Me, Oh Muses”: Dylan as Mythmaker CHAPTER 4 “There’s Something Happening Here . . . Mr. Jones”: Interpreting Dylan Historically CHAPTER 5 “The Blood of the Land in My Voice”: Dylan’s Authorial Persona CONCLUSION Notes Index

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Book SynopsisBob Dylan is an iconic American artist, whose music and performances have long reflected different musical genres and time periods. His songs tell tales of the Civil War, harken back to 1930s labor struggles, and address racial violence at the height of the civil rights movement, helping listeners to think about history, and history making, in new ways. While Dylan was warned by his early mentor, Dave Van Ronk, that, "You're just going to be a history book writer if you do those things. An anachronism," the musician has continued to traffic in history and engage with a range of source material—ancient and modern—over the course of his career.In this beautifully crafted book, Freddy Cristóbal Domínguez makes a provocative case for Dylan as a historian, offering a deep consideration of the musician's historical influences and practices. Drawing on interviews, speeches, and the close analysis of lyrics and live performances, Bob Dylan in the Attic is the first book to consider Dylan's work from the point of view of historiography.

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Book SynopsisShortlisted for the Penderyn Music Book Prize 2017. In this first installment of acclaimed music writer David Toop’s interdisciplinary and sweeping overview of free improvisation, Into the Maelstrom: Music, Improvisation and the Dream of Freedom: Before 1970 introduces the philosophy and practice of improvisation (both musical and otherwise) within the historical context of the post-World War II era. Neither strictly chronological, or exclusively a history, Into the Maelstrom investigates a wide range of improvisational tendencies: from surrealist automatism to stream-of-consciousness in literature and vocalization; from the free music of Percy Grainger to the free improvising groups emerging out of the early 1960s (Group Ongaku, Nuova Consonanza, MEV, AMM, the Spontaneous Music Ensemble); and from free jazz to the strands of free improvisation that sought to distance itself from jazz. In exploring the diverse ways in which spontaneity became a core value in the early twentieth century as well as free improvisation’s connection to both 1960s rock (The Beatles, Cream, Pink Floyd) and the era of post-Cagean indeterminacy in composition, Toop provides a definitive and all-encompassing exploration of free improvisation up to 1970, ending with the late 1960s international developments of free music from Roscoe Mitchell in Chicago, Peter Brötzmann in Berlin and Han Bennink and Misha Mengelberg in Amsterdam.Trade Review[A] discursive and consistently stimulating account. * The Guardian *Maelstrom indeed ... [This] is an encyclopedic vortex of musicology, memoir and speculative extemporisation on the nature of improvisation and freedom in music ... crammed with detail and fascinating observations ... A captivating reading experience that perfectly embodies its subject in form. * The Wire *David [Toop] has browsed through history and offers readers an extremely rich overview of myriad germs of improvisation popping up all over the world, in so many musics, in fine arts and theater, in politics and philosophy, in social activism, and in small musical events. ... [T]his panoramic book is an absolute must-read for everyone interested in (the archeology of) free improvisation, actually for anyone interested in music in general. I am already looking forward to the second volume. * Journal of Sonic Studies *A typically multi-faceted and prismatic look at improvisation, written from the perspective of a practitioner. Turns out exploring free improvisation in music is really about exploring life. * Pitchfork *This is a long overdue book, and there is no-one else who could have written it. It is an astonishing achievement, and a highly readable and enjoyable one too. * International Times *Toop spends much of his latest effort exploring the philosophical and artistic movements from which pre-1970 performers drew inspiration ... In this, [Into the Maelstrom] provides a fascinating view of 20th century underground movements well beyond that of music alone. * Pop Matters *There is a wide range of substantive material here for both scholars and fans of the music ... If one accomplishment of the work must be singled out, it is that it assumes no foreknowledge of improvised music, and yet it would enrich the understanding of anyone who considers themselves an expert on the subject. * Popular Music *Any discussion of free improvisation, as an essential (anti?)-discipline of creative music, is an amusing balance between considering an unruly child and a sacred cow. History has come into a wild favor towards a genre that perpetually defies definition and prediction. David Toop, with a critical facility informed by over forty years of activity on and off the bandstand, sets his ruminations in the service of the music. Essaying on free improvisation in the mode of composition can result in didactic chin scratch. Thankfully Toop engages the readers interest with a sentient breath of prose charged by academic insight where poetic space becomes the page. It's only the beginning. * Thurston Moore *Toop's latest opus explores in depth the various traces of improvisation in music and elsewhere ... It is a broad panorama of portraits, reflections, anecdotes, evocations, miscellaneous quotations, interview extracts and questions on the nature and the development of the concepts of spontaneity and free expression throughout the twentieth century. * Revue & Corrigée (Bloomsbury translation) *The range of artists that are written about in this book is absolutely amazing. The beautiful thing is Toop was also in the height of the scene during the 1960s - so his views are both personal as well as a history of music being made and recorded throughout the 20th century. ... Toop has an encyclopedic knowledge of literature and music. What makes him a great writer is that he is able to use those tools to tell a remarkable narrative ... Perfect book. * TamTam Books blog *Describing the world as increasingly policed and regulated, Toop argues that people have come to devalue the role of improvisation in human behavior. Although the focus of Into the Maelstrom is music, Toop also examines theater, film, and the visual arts along with sociologists such as W. E. B. Du Bois. He explores a wide variety of musical styles and practitioners, including jazz musicians Sidney Bechet, Ornette Coleman, and the AACM; composers such as Luciano Berio, John Cage, Edgard Varèse, and Percy Grainger; and the rock band Pink Floyd. Toop also acknowledges the role of technology in music and improvisation—as exemplified by, for example, composer/performing artist Pauline Oliveros. The interesting discography will be a useful resource. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals. * CHOICE *David Toop has dived into the Maelstrom that is the genesis of improvised music and come up with a string of pearls. There is so much here that will be new to even those of us who thought we knew the subject. A remarkable piece of real scholarship that relies on painstaking research with a refreshing absence of jargon. * Evan Parker *Into the Maelstrom gives an astonishing, vivid history of improvised music across the 20th century­­ before 1970, tracing its transnational criss-crossings, trans-arts contagions, the folds between Cream and AMM, ‘musicking’ and John Stevens' Spontaneous Music Ensemble, Nuova Consonanza and For a Few Dollars More. David Toop’s panoramic account makes obvious how urgently we have needed this alternative history, attuned to musical sounds as they resonate with artistic, cultural and political currents. A landmark book, Into the Maelstrom re-centres those vast and auspicious margins deserted by previous music histories. * Georgina Born, Professor of Music and Anthropology, University of Oxford, UK *Table of Contents1: (only begin) A DESCENT 2: FREE BODIES 3: collective subjectivities 1 4: OVERTURE TO DAWN 5: collective subjectivities 2 6: INTO THE HOT 7: solitary subjectivities 8: TROUBLED SEA OF NOISES AND HOARSE DISPUTES 9: collective objectivities 10: IMAGINARY BIRDS SAID TO LIVE IN PARADISE 11: postscript: the ballad of john and yoko 12: RAIN FALLING DOWN ON OLD GODS Index

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Book SynopsisReleased in 1970, Workingman’s Dead was the breakthrough album for the Grateful Dead, a cold-water-shock departure from the Acid Test madness of the late ‘60s. It was the band’s most commercially and critically successful release to date. More importantly, these songs established the blueprint for how the Dead would maintain and build upon a community held together by the core motivation of rejecting the status quo – the “straight life” – in order to live and work on their own terms. As a unified whole, the album’s eight songs serve as points of entry into a fully-rendered portrait of the Grateful Dead within the context of late twentieth-century American history. These songs speak to the attendant cultural and political anxieties that resulted from the idealism of the ‘60s giving way to the uncomfortable realities of the ‘70s, and the band’s evolving perspective on these changes. Based on research, interviews, and personal experience, this book probes the paradox at the heart of the band’s appeal: the Grateful Dead were about much more than music, though they were really just about the music.Trade ReviewIn 1969 the Grateful Dead executed an extraordinary pivot. While playing brilliant, deeply improvisational psychedelic music, they simultaneously began to create a series of traditionally-styled new American folk songs that would be collected in Workingman’s Dead. It is perhaps the key moment in their storied history, and Buzz Poole explores this evolution with insight and a profound understanding of how these songs fit into American cultural history. * Dennis McNally, author of A Long Strange Trip (2003) and On Highway 61 (2014) *Buzz Poole nails his take on Workingman's Dead, with the song-by-song conceit proving surprisingly agile for the Dead. Poole unpacks and links the mythos attached to the album's eight songs and their histories in the Dead's songbook. Like the Dead, Poole sweeps through the American territories, from the American folklore of 'Casey Jones' to the Manson murders. Good stuff, fun read. * Jesse Jarnow, author of Heads: A Biography of Psychedelic America (2016) *Poole provides a thoughtful, detailed, and passionate look at this seminal album that frames its achievement and demonstrates why it still rewards close listening. It's great to see the Dead represented in this series! -- Nicholas Meriwether, Grateful Dead ArchivistBuzz Poole brings us back to the time before capitalism consumed the counterculture; the musical and cultural moment when the Grateful Dead reluctantly accepted the mantle as the horse pulling the wagon full of hippies, freaks, outlaws and others through the darkness of the world of power, war, and greed…Poole does an excellent job in pulling together the diverse and multiple musical, folk and literary influences apparent in the songs on Workingman’s Dead (and most other Dead albums, too.) * Counterpunch *[A] little beauty ... [and] the only Dead book I know of devoted to a single album ... No matter how extensive your Dead library, you should make room for this wee addition. * Shindig! *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction Chapter 1: Background, Historical and Personal Chapter 2: “Uncle John’s Band” Chapter 3: “High Time” Chapter 4: “Dire Wolf” Chapter 5: “New Speedway Boogie” Chapter 6: “Cumberland Blues” Chapter 7: “Black Peter” Chapter 8: “Easy Wind” Chapter 9: “Casey Jones” Notes

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Book SynopsisThis is the album that sent a shockwave of empowerment through the nation’s cultural underground. In 1985, Olympia, Washington band Beat Happening released their eponymous debut of lo-fi pop songs on K Records and challenged every conception held about music. At the center of the group was the enigmatic Calvin Johnson and his revolutionary vision of artistic creation. His foresight and industriousness allowed him to recruit to the K Records roster other free-spirited artists like Beck, Modest Mouse, and Built to Spill long before they gained widespread acclaim. This book, structured in abecedarian fashion, breaks down the fundamental components that defined Beat Happening’s self-titled album. With a foreword by Phil Elverum, it's organized in a light-hearted yet incisive format, each of the book’s chapters details a particular facet of the record—band members, historic shows, recording sessions, songs, and ideologies—parts reflecting the album as a whole. These alphabetic ingredients constitute a recipe book for feeding your creative spirit. Here is the story of a band that popularized do-it-yourself projects and home recording with four-track tape machines decades before the digital revolution would extend an open hand to garage bands everywhere. This is the story of musical pioneers. This is Beat Happening.Trade ReviewI actually saw their first performance. It was in somebody’s kitchen, and Calvin jumped up and started performing on somebody’s kitchen top. I thought from the first moment I heard their stuff that he had a very unique take on punk ... It was really quirky and really affected, but they were the ultimate DIY band. They had two instruments, which they borrowed – they didn’t even own the instruments – and they never rehearsed ... So here’s this band who don’t own instruments, don’t rehearse, they didn’t even pay for their own records, and yet their first album is being honoured in the book series 33 1/3. You’ve got the Ramones, Michael Jackson, the Beatles … oh, and Beat Happening ... I think that Beat Happening got the respect they deserved ... It was them going: 'We are punk. This is who we are. We’re not going to conform or change what we do based on peer pressure.' -- Gwilym Mumford * The Guardian *’A’ is for action, ‘B’ is for Bret, ‘C’ is for Calvin…and so on … Parker does admirable work here in describing the origins of the band’s sensibilities (improvisational theater and early exposure to feminism are both key), and how those sensibilities put them at odds with punk as the scene was getting more violent and exclusionary. As with all volumes of the 33 1/3 series, I’ll judge Parker’s work on how much it enhanced my understanding of the album and whether or not that enhanced perspective made me want to revisit it with fresh ears. He’s successful on both fronts. * Midnight to Six *Table of ContentsForeword by Phil Elverum Deconstructing a Cupcake A is for Action B is for Bret C is for Calvin D is for DIY E is for Evergreen F is for Firehouse G is for Girl City H is for Heather I is for International J is for Japan K is for KAOS L is for Love Rock M is for Martin Apartments N is for Negative Space O is for Olympia P is for Punk Q is for Question R is for Regionalism S is for Subterranean Pop T is for Tropicana U is for Unfinished V is for Vinyl W is for Washington X is for X-Rated Y is for Yoyo Studio Z is for Zooming Rocketship Bibiography Index

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Book SynopsisHangin’ Tough, the second album by the New Kids on the Block, has sold more than seventeen million copies worldwide since it was released in 1988. But the album and the band have also been dismissed, derided and deemed uncool by the music establishment. Almost thirty years later, the New Kids still perform the songs from Hangin’ Tough.Hundreds of thousands of grown women still flock to their concerts to hear—and go bat-shit crazy for—the songs they first heard when they were teenagers. Is this mere nostalgia or can the science of music help explain the enduring success of Hangin’ Tough? What is it about this album that made it so special? Is the music any good or are there other factors at play too? Journalist and New Kids fan Rebecca Wallwork sets out to analyze the quality of Hangin’ Tough with the help of music cognition experts, critics, producers and music industry pros. This is not a story about crazy fans, boy bands and truckloads of cheesy merchandise; it is an exploration of a watershed album and moment in pop culture history. It is a glimpse into the brain of not just New Kids fans, but into the minds and hearts of anyone who loves music.Trade ReviewMaking the case for the slick-sounding album’s place in music history seems a considerable undertaking. Yet author Wallwork presents more than enough plausible evidence about the band’s place in pop culture through research and interviews with those who worked with the boys during its heyday. She aims to explain why this album still resonates with her and the band’s mostly female audience (now in their 40s), and she tackles her subject on multiple fronts: the science, particularly the psychology, of why music from people’s teen years sticks with them well into adulthood; the genius of the band’s creator, Maurice Starr, who was also responsible for its music; and the personalities, talents, and musical influences of the five band members. In some ways, this book is not so much a band biography or album history as it is a story about fandom. Even elitist rock fans who don’t remember the New Kids fondly will find that Wallwork’s work may crack their hard, cynical shells. * Kirkus Reviews *What makes Wallwork’s book so great is that you can use it to understand how YOU fell in love with ‘that band’ from your teenaged years, and why you can’t let them go, no matter how you think your tastes have changed. Wallwork refused to apologize for her fandom, and instead invited you along to understand why you feel the way you do about your version of New Kids on the Block. * Bearded Gentleman Music *With this book, Wallwork isn't trying to convince readers to like New Kids on the Block. Rather she just wants to understand her own fandom. She wants to make sure she's not looking at it through the lens of nostalgia, something everyone has questioned at least once with something they remember fondly. Hangin' Tough will remind fans why they love NKOTB and will make others think differently about the group. * Examiner *Table of ContentsIntroduction Chapter 1: Do You Remember? Chapter 2: It Starts With a Whisper Chapter 3: Rise N’ Grind Chapter 4: Listen Up, Everybody Chapter 5: Space Cowboy Chapter 6: Click, Click, Click Chapter 7: Let’s Get This Chapter 8: Put You in a Trance Chapter 9: BH Love Eternal Pose For Me (photos)

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Book SynopsisSleater-Kinney’s 1997 album Dig Me Out is built on Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein’s competing guitars, Janet Weiss’s muscular rhythms, and layered vocals that teeter between an urgent, banshee-like vibrato and a lower accompaniment. Dig Me Out was the band’s third studio album, but the first one written and recoded with Weiss. It inaugurated Sleater-Kinney into a lineup that would span its two-decade career. This 33 1/3 follows the narrative of Dig Me Out from its inception in Olympia to its recording in Seattle and its reception across the United States. It’s anchored in a short period of time – roughly from mid-1996 to mid-1998 – but it encompasses a series of battles over meaning that continued to preoccupy Sleater-Kinney in the coming decades. The band wrestled with the media about how they would be presented to the public, it contended with technicians about how their sound would be heard in clubs, and they struggled with pervasive social hierarchies about how their work would be understood in popular culture. The only instance where the band didn't have to put up much of a fight was when it came to their fans. The acclaim Sleater-Kinney received from their listeners in the late 1990s, and continue to receive today, speaks to a need for icons who challenged normative notions of culture and gender. This story of Dig Me Out chronicles how Sleater-Kinney won the fight to define themselves on their own terms – as women and as musicians – and, in the process, how they redefined the parameters of rock.Trade ReviewSleater-Kinney’s Dig Me Out by Jovana Babovic not only dives into the album, but it also dives into the culture surrounding women in music. While the book takes you through the album, it focuses on what it meant for the individual band members, the tour surrounding the release, and how the band was treated on the road. Babovic displays the toughness and the DIY attitude of Sleater-Kinney perfectly through her writing… I can’t recommend this book enough. * HiFi Noise *[In this volume] Babovic makes the case that S-K are that alternative; a band that should be held in as high esteem as Bowie, The Beatles and the rest of rock’s predominantly male superstars ... Though it’s strongly grounded with analytic arguments and sociological theories, it’s also hugely passionate; written with a similar excitement and frustration as the record itself. * Record Collector *I loved Dig Me Out. It's about feminism and gender as much as it is about the three musicians and this one particular album. For SK fans, it's a must, but I also recommend it highly to people interested in media and sexism. * Lower East Side Librarian *Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Introduction – Sleater-Kinney’s Dig Me Out in the Cultural Moment of the late 1990s Chapter I – Olympia Calling: The Making and Breaking Out of Spaces Chapter II – Eight Days in Seattle: The Struggle to Record Dig Me Out Chapter III – Strange Words: Writing about Gender, Punk, and Sleater-Kinney Chapter IV – Hey Soundguy: The Dig Me Out Tour Chapter V – Words & Guitars: Celebrity, Fandom, and the Cult of Sleater-Kinney Notes

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Book SynopsisIn January of 1979, the great soul artist Donny Hathaway fell fifteen stories from a window of Manhattan’s Essex House Hotel in an alleged suicide. He was 33 years old and everyone he worked with called him a genius. Best known for “A Song for You,” “This Christmas,” and classic duets with Roberta Flack, Hathaway was a composer, pianist, and singer committed to exploring “music in its totality.” His velvet melisma and vibrant sincerity set him apart from other soul men of his era while influencing generations of singers and fans whose love affair with him continues to this day. The first nonfiction book about Hathaway, Donny Hathaway Live uses original interviews, archival material, musical analysis, cultural history, and poetry to tell the story of Hathaway’s life, from his beginnings as a gospel wonder child to his final years. But its focus is the brutally honest, daringly gorgeous music he created as he raced the clock of mental illness—especially in the performances captured on his 1972 album Donny Hathaway Live. That album testifies to Hathaway’s uncanny ability to amplify the power and beauty of his songs in the moment of live performance. By exploring that album, we see how he generated a spiritual experience for those present at his shows, and for those with the privilege to listen in now.Trade ReviewA more than welcome addition to the Hathaway legend. * Echoes Magazine *A brilliant and revealing new book on one of my faves of all time: the inimitable Donny Hathaway. -- Michael Eric Dyson, academic, author, and radio hostTable of ContentsTrack Listing Acknowledgments II. Overture: Endings III. Prelude: “A Song for You” IV. First Movement: Beginnings V. Second Movement: Donny Hathaway Live VI. Third Movement: More Live VII. Last Movement: Afterlives Notes

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Book SynopsisThe son of a sheet-metal worker who led a big band on weekends, Lou Gramm rose from humble, working-class roots in Rochester, New York, to become one of rock ’n’ roll’s most distinctive and popular voices. With the aid of best-selling author Scott Pitoniak, Gramm poignantly recounts how he realized his dream as the lead singer and co-songwriter of the iconic band Foreigner as well as his own band and overcame a drug and alcohol addiction—along with a life-threatening brain tumor—on his path to the Songwriters Hall of Fame.Trade Review"Lou Gramm is one of the great vocalists of our time." -- Nils Lofgren, lead guitarist for Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band

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Book SynopsisFrom his early Liverpool days, through the historic decade of The Beatles, to Wings and his long solo career, The Lyrics pairs the definitive texts of 154 songs by Paul McCartney with first-person commentaries on his life and music. Spanning two alphabetically arranged volumes, these commentaries reveal how the songs came to be and the people who inspired them: his devoted parents, Mary and Jim; his songwriting partner, John Lennon; his “Golden Earth Girl”, Linda Eastman; his wife, Nancy McCartney; and even Queen Elizabeth II, amongst many others. Here are the origins of “Let It Be”, “Lovely Rita”, “Yesterday”, and “Mull of Kintyre”, as well as McCartney’s literary influences, including Shakespeare, Lewis Carroll and Alan Durband, his secondary school English teacher. With images from McCartney’s personal archives—handwritten texts, paintings and photographs, hundreds previously unseen—The Lyrics, spanning sixty-four years, is the definitive literary and visual record of one of the greatest songwriters of all time.

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Book SynopsisAfter he died in the back seat of a Cadillac at the age of twenty-nine, Hank Williams—a frail, flawed man who had become country music’s first real star–instantly morphed into its first tragic martyr. Having hit the heights with simple songs of despair, depression and tainted love, he would become in death a template for the rock generation to follow. Mark Ribowsky weaves together the first fully realised biography of Williams in a generation. Examining his music while re-creating days and nights choked in booze and desperation, he traces the rise of this legend—from the dirt roads of Alabama to the immortal stage of the Grand Ole Opry and to a lonely end on New Year’s Day, 1953. This original work uncovers the real Hank beneath the myths that have long enshrouded his legacy.Trade Review"... Mark Ribowsky... has done a commendably thorough job." -- The Times"...Hank is a timely biography…" -- The New York Times Book Review"Many biographies have been written about him but none gives such detail of his drinking, sexual abandon and many misadventures as this." -- The Irish Times

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Book SynopsisArturo Toscanini (1867–1957) was famed for his dedication, photographic memory, explosive temper and impassioned performances. At times he dominated La Scala, the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Philharmonic, and the Bayreuth, Salzburg and Lucerne festivals. His reforms influenced generations of musicians, and his opposition to Nazism and Fascism made him a model for artists of conscience. With unprecedented access to the conductor’s archives, Harvey Sachs has written a new biography positioning Toscanini’s musical career and sometimes scandalous life against the currents of history. Set in Italy, across Europe, the Americas and in Palestine, with portraits of Verdi, Puccini, Caruso, Mussolini and others, Toscanini soars in its exploration of genius, music and moral courage.Trade Review"'Monumental’ is surely the mot juste to describe the book’s length... but equally the combination of thoroughness, clarity, psychological perspicacity and deep human feeling which distinguishes every page... for all its massiveness the book proves unputdownable." -- BBC Music Magazine"Harvey Sachs has written the definitive biography of this great, and colourful, character... [His] writing style is precise, fluent and gripping... As a study of the life and times of one of the greatest conductors of all time, this book will not soon be bettered." -- The Economist"It is without doubt the most engaging, the best-written and certainly the most comprehensive Toscanini biography yet to be published..." -- Gramophone"... magnificent biography... To read about him [Toscanini] at this length—and there will surely be no need for another biography—is to be simultaneously inspired and bewildered." -- The Spectator"This book of more than 900 pages, full of personal recollections and testimony... is vastly comprehensive, balanced and indispensable... Sachs’ own dedication to this force of nature has been fulfilled in a book which ranks among the best of 2017." -- Classical Music"Drawing on a wide range of new evidence, including unknown letters and the archives of many of the opera houses that Arturo Toscanini worked with, including La Scala, Harvey Sachs has written a weighty and highly enjoyable account of one of the greatest conductors, a man still renowned for his pursuit of perfection." -- Books of the Year 2017 - The Economist"Harvey Sachs has provided a compendious chronicle of Toscanini's astonishing achievement across almost a century, and it makes for compelling reading." -- Times Literary Supplement"I am currently reading two excellent books: the new Harvey Sachs biography of one of the finest conductors of all time – Arturo Toscanini..." -- Something for the Weekend - Finghin Collins' Cultural Picks - RTÉ"Extraordinary... Indeed, I cannot think of another biography of a classical musician to which it can be compared: in its breadth, scope, and encyclopedic command of factual detail it reminds me of nothing so much as Robert A. Caro’s The Power Broker... Never before has [this] history been told so well." -- Tim Page - The New York Review of Books"A very engaging and at times gripping chronicle of music and society, all of it devoted to the unending drive and conscientiousness that made Toscanini’s performances so riveting—and, to some, so repellent... What comes through in Sachs’s long chronicle is the extent of Toscanini’s role, witting and unwitting, in transforming the way that classical music was produced and consumed in the twentieth century." -- David Denby - The New Yorker"Sachs’s account is persuasive and compelling in the important ways... Today, Toscanini is receding from our consciousness, notwithstanding his many records... Creative geniuses can survive for centuries, even millenniums; interpreters inevitably go over the cultural cliff. But that doesn’t detract from the crucial—the central—role Toscanini played in our musical culture for well over 60 years. Nor from the almost universal regard he was held in as a man." -- Robert Gottlieb - The New York Times Book Review"...marvellously researched and continually fascinating...[a] superb book... " -- Stephen Walsh - The Oldie

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Book SynopsisIn his time, the Austrian American composer Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951) was an international icon. His twelve-tone system was considered the future of music itself. Today, however, leading orchestras rarely play his works, and his name is met with apathy, if not antipathy. With this interpretative account, the acclaimed biographer of Toscanini finally restores Schoenberg to his rightful place in the canon, revealing him as one of the twentieth century’s most influential composers and teachers. Sachs shows how Schoenberg, a thorny character who composed thorny works, raged against the “Procrustean bed” of tradition. Defying his critics—among them the Nazis, who described his music as “degenerate”—he constantly battled the anti-Semitism that eventually precipitated his flight from Europe to Los Angeles. Yet Schoenberg, synthesising Wagnerian excess with Brahmsian restraint, created a shock wave that never quite subsided and, as Sachs powerfully argues, his compositions must be confronted by anyone interested in the past, present or future of Western music.Trade Review"Lucid... Sachs's book is a succinct guide to Schoenberg's life and work, one designed in part to make the composer's music accessible to a wider audience. Much of the book's appeal lies in that implicit promise to help find the beauty hidden in what can seem, to the uninitiated, a writhing mass of noise. Sachs is neither a hater nor a glassy-eyed enthusiast... [he] is, as he puts it, 'a writer and music historian who is Schoenberg-curious.'... This is not to say that he doesn't admire the music—he does. And there's real pleasure to be found in the way Sachs writes about it. He clearly describes, for instance, the genius of the way in which Schoenberg composes the voice of God in his opera Moses und Aron, which Sachs calls a nearly ideal vehicle for twelve-toned music... The effect is perfectly eerie." -- Christopher Carroll - Harper's"[A] concentrated meditation . . . It may be recommended for anybody with an interest in the work of the Viennese-American composer Arnold Schoenberg—and perhaps especially to those who have never quite been able to “crack” his music . . . Despite his postwar decades in California, Schoenberg—with his rattles and shimmers, his craggy melodies and pervasive angst—never quite escaped the nightmares of what was then a crabbed and bloody Old World . . . Mr. Sachs’s fine study should inspire a fresh understanding of his life and work." -- Tim Page - Wall Street Journal"[A]n immensely valuable source for anyone desiring an accessible overview of this endlessly controversial and chronically misunderstood giant of 20th-century music... Sachs can be refreshingly candid, sharing his feelings at times as if he were whispering confidentially in your ear during a concert intermission... his genuine enthusiasm for those pieces that do stir him is enough to draw the reader in, and in so doing has done a great service to the cause. " -- John Adams - The New York Times Book Review"In this study of Arnold Schoenberg, the Austrian-born composer who immigrated to the U.S. in 1933, Sachs blends fleet-footed biography with an accessible analysis of Schoenberg's works. " -- The New Yorker"[An] elegant and judicious book" -- Rupert Christiansen - Literary Review

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Book SynopsisThe ultimate front-row seat to the rise, fall, and rebirth of a band that was—for a time—the biggest in the world, Hootie & the Blowish, and Jim Sonefeld’s shattering and redeeming spiritual path from addiction to recovery and a more fruitful life For a time, there was no bigger band in the world than Hootie & the Blowfish—rock & roll’s unexpected foil to the grunge music that dominated the early ’90s airwaves. In Swimming with the Blowfish, Jim Sonefeld, drummer and one of the band’s principal songwriters, reveals the inside story of the band’s humble beginnings, meteoric rise, sudden fall, and ultimate rebirth—and in the telling he opens his heart to readers about addiction, recovery, and faith. Hootie became ubiquitous in the ’90s—their debut album Cracked Rear View was one of the best-selling in the history of rock music; they won two Grammy Awards; their live performances were played alongside the Dave Matthews Band, R.E.M., and even Willie Nelson and Neil Young; and they appeared at the biggest venues in the world. Though Jim enjoyed the perks that came with fame—the parties, the relationships, the money, the drugs and alcohol—eventually it all became a camouflage that hid a deeper spiritual malady. As his life was careening toward disaster, he reached out his hands to seek relief in twelve-step recovery, eventually settling into a loving, but by no means uncomplicated, homelife.  A book that encapsulates a band still beloved by legions of fans, Swimming with the Blowfish is much more—an unpretentious, emotional story of one man’s spiritual path to a more fruitful life. Jim’s journey is shattering, redeeming, and ultimately as comforting as your favorite flannel shirt.Trade Review"We loved, fought, cried, laughed a lot, and did whatever it took to play the music that we knew was very distinctly ours. . .Jim Soni Sonefeld has lived a life that is rife with fun and pain, light and darkness, but always with an amazing amount of love. The way he sees the world is one of a kind and his story is one for the ages.—from the Foreword by Darius Rucker“I’ve truly relished hanging out with the fun-loving, mischievous Soni through the years, but this book exposes a more deeply-rooted, impassioned side he didn’t always show. He captures the spirit of the surreal and sometimes unsettling life behind the scenes of one of my favorite bands, sincerely revealing that he is as fragile as the rest of us. It’s an eloquent yet humbling example of a lesson we can all learn from—that no degree of fame or fortune leaves us immune to experiencing pain, powerlessness, and regret.”—Dan Patrick,broadcaster and host of The Dan Patrick Show Sonefeld details his rollercoaster ride through rock and roll, addiction and sobriety with searing honesty and grace.—Radney Foster,singer-songwriter of Foster & Lloyd and author of For You To See The Stars From the moment we crossed paths it was clear to me that Jim is more than the drums, more than the band, and more than the music. Highs and lows, good and bad, pretty and ugly . . . he’s gone through it all. This is a great peek into an amazing trip through a rock ‘n’ roll life—and beyond. Like a good snare drum, it’s crisp, memorable, and it packs a punch."—Alexi Lalas, journalist, retired professional soccer player, singer/songwriter "It's easy to forget how many lives one person can live. I've known Soni for close to thirty years and it's a great gift to have this window into the details and inner world of his unique journey."—Glen Phillips,lead singer of Toad the Wet Sprocket

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Book SynopsisAn alphabetical history of rock ’n’ roll’s most iconic band…the Grateful Dead.Featuring playful rhymes and glorious illustrations, The ABCs of the Grateful Dead celebrates the band’s rich and dynamic history. Each letter of the alphabet highlights a significant moment, cultural contribution, or innovation along the band’s journey, from their groundbreaking release of American Beauty to their pioneering Wall of Sound, from the beloved dancing bears to their singular community of tape traders. This delightfully kaleidoscopic look back on the Grateful Dead will entertain first-time readers as well as diehard fans of all ages. The Grateful Dead is a social and musical phenomenon that grew into a genuine American treasure. In 1965, an entire generation was linked together by common ideals, gathering by the hundreds and thousands. This movement created a seamless connection between the band and its fans. As the band toured, Dead Heads would follow. Not because it was a part of popular culture, but because it is a true counterculture that exists to this very day-one that earnestly believes in the value of its beliefs. By 1995, the Grateful Dead had attracted the most concert goers in the history of the music business, and today remain one of the all-time leaders in concert ticket sales. Eventually, the caravan evolved into a community with various artists, craftsmen and entrepreneurs supplying a growing demand for merchandise that connected them to the music. Today, the connection is as strong as ever. The band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 1994 and received a Grammy® Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007. Their final tally of 2,318 total concerts remains a world record. The Grateful Dead recently celebrated their 53rd top 40 album on the Billboard chart, a feat no other group has achieved.Trade Review"Unique, original, fun, The ABCs of the Grateful Dead offers a fascinating and entertainingly kaleidoscopic look back on the Grateful Dead that will have a very special appeal to young first-time readers—as well as diehard fans of all ages! The ABCs of the Grateful Dead is especially recommended for family, elementary school, and community library ABC collections in general, and dedicated Grateful Dead fans of any age in particular." -- Midwest Book Review

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Book SynopsisAngie McCartney was part of the inner circle of Fab Fourdom in Liverpool in the '60s, and as the step-mother to Sir Paul she has had many interactions with rockstars and royalty, pop stars and presidents, and they all have one thing in common... they're Beatle fans. Now that Beatle Tourism is a burgeoning industry, Angie's travel-size book takes you down memory lane to Penny Lane and 85+ other points of interest on the long and winding road. You'll be directed to spots in the Mop Top maps of Liverpool, London, Hamburg, New York and Los Angeles, you'll discover nuggets and stories to satisfy the day tripper in you! The book also features SmartBook® technology from McCartney Multimedia, and by scanning the QR codes with your smart-phone, you'll be transported to a destination of fascination online, with links to tours, maps, trivia, videos, much more information than we can fit in a postcard sized book, and a deeper dive into these tourist locations and their magical history. We hope you travel safely and create memories for a lifetime as in these legendary locations, a splendid time is guaranteed for all.

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Book SynopsisQueen and Philosophy: Guaranteed to Blow Your Mind is a collection of cutting-edge philosophical essays on the rock group Queen, founded in 1970 and originally featuring lead vocalist Freddie Mercury. Queen’s reputation and fan following continue to grow in the twenty-first century. These insightful and provocative chapters include:● uncover the origins of Queen’s unique style in prog rock, vulgarity, and lower versus higher Romanticism● examine Queen’s view of love and friendship● draw upon three timeless Queen songs, “We Will Rock You,” “We Are the Champions,” and “Don’t Stop Me Now” and Socrates’s behavior in the Apology, to understand the “rocking” nature of philosophy● identify the connections between ancient matriarchal religion and Queen’s love for strong female imagery● explore how Brian May’s astrophysics brings to bear the issues of absolute versus relative spacetime and how the philosophies of Newton, Mach, and Einstein contribute to Queen’s creative output● analyze the structure of Queen’s sound to answer the inevitable question, How can four people make all that music?● expose what Queen’s songs tell us about the contemporary theory of mental illness and therapy● scrutinize Roger Taylor’s stark impressions of ordinary life and death, and their alignment to the cynical musings of Diogenes of Sinope and Seneca’s blunt observations on the shortness of life● look at the movie Highlander through the music of Queen and reveal how both song and cinema convey the philosophy of bushido, the soul of the samuraiTable of ContentsIntroductionPart I: My Fairy Kings1. Side White: Worshiping the White Queen (As it Began)Jared Kemling 2. Side Black: Master Stroke of a Fairy FellerJared Kemling 3. Queen, Prog, and Vulgar RomanticismJan Olof Bengtsson Part II: A Night at the Concert4. Be Free with Your Tempo: Freedom, Individuality, and Nonconformity in InnuendoDouglas Rasmussen 5. Let Me Entertain You: Performance as a Tour de Force (Of Course)Julie Kuhlken 6. Freddie’s Left Hand: Queen and the Order of MusicRandall E. Auxier Part III: The Show Must Go On7. Is Adam Lambert a Killer of Queen, or Somebody to Love?Megan Volpert 8. Instrumental Instrumentalism: Is Red Special a Member of Queen?Steven Gimbel Part IV: Made in the Heavens9. Hot SpacetimeKristina Šekrst 10. Tie the Cosmos Down: Brian May’s Astrophysics and MusicRandall E. Auxier Part V: I’m Going Slightly Mad11. Stone Cold Crazy: Queen, Mental Disorder, and SufferingSnita Ahir-Knight 12. Hitting Rock BottomRobert S. Vuckovich Part VI: Sheer Head Attack13. Hammer to Fall in the Shadow of DeathRobert DeVall 14. Don’t Lose Your Head: The Interconnectedness of Queen and HighlanderKevin Taylor 15. We Want to Love Forever, Forever is Ours TodayJohn Shook Part VII: Some Body to Love16. Freddie and Mary: A Single Soul Dwelling in Two BodiesAndrew Kaplan 17. Good Old-Fashioned Lover BoyDarci Doll Part VIII: Supersonic Men18. Queen and My Uncle’s Delicacy of Taste and PassionChristopher M. Innes 19. He Will Rock You: Socrates was the Most Rock and Roll of MenMichael F. Patton References (I Want it All) Bohemian Biographies Index (Now I’m Here)

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Book SynopsisIn the nineties, Ryan Dusick and his friends Adam Levine and Jesse Carmichael dreamed about making it big . . . and against all odds, they did. This inside story recounts Maroon 5’s founding and their road to becoming Grammy-winning megastars, told through the eyes of former drummer Ryan Dusick. He takes readers behind the scenes of the band’s meteoric rise to success - and the grueling demands that came with it - as well as his personal struggles with anxiety and addiction after his departure from the band. For Maroon 5, fame came with a platinum debut record, jam sessions with Prince in his own living room, and encounters with celebrities such as Jessica Simpson, Justin Timberlake, John Mayer, and Bono. For Dusick, stardom came to an abrupt halt with the devastating loss of his ability to play drums due to chronic nerve damage. Alongside Maroon 5’s story of camaraderie and pressure, Dusick interweaves his own narrative: a decade lost to liquor and antianxiety medication, his ferocious commitment to recovery, and his current perspective as a professional counselor. With a candor that will speak to anyone who has struggled with mental health, Harder to Breathe moves beyond celebrity to examine the nature of human heartbreak and resilience, and to buoy anyone currently facing similar challenges. Ultimately, Harder to Breathe is a roller-coaster memoir about how making it to the top sent Dusick to the bottom - and how he let go of the past and embraced a new future, one breath at a time.

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Book Synopsis“Nobody knows Dolly like Dolly,” declares Dolly Parton. Dolly’s is a rags-to-riches tale like no other. A dirt-poor Smoky Mountain childhood paved the way for the buxom blonde butterfly’s metamorphosis from singer-songwriter to international music superstar. The undisputed “Queen of Country Music,” Dolly has sold more than 100 million records worldwide and has conquered just about every facet of the entertainment industry: music, film, television, publishing, theatre, and even theme parks. It’s been more than 50 years since Dolly Parton arrived in Nashville with just her guitar and a dream. Her story has been told many times and in many ways, but never like this. Dolly on Dolly is a collection of interviews spanning five decades of her career and featuring material gathered from celebrated publications including Rolling Stone, Cosmopolitan, Playboy, and Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine. Also included are interviews which have not been previously available in print. Dolly’s feisty and irresistible brand of humor, combined with her playful, pull-up-a-chair-and-stay-awhile delivery, makes for a fascinating and inviting experience in downhome philosophy and storytelling. Much like her patchwork “Coat of Many Colors,” this book harkens back to the legendary entertainer’s roots and traces her evolution, stitching it all together one piece at a time.Trade Review" Dolly on Dolly magnificently encapsulates Dolly Parton's career through her own words. It's a must read for fans of all ages." Gary and Larry Lane, actors and filmmakers ( Hollywood to Dollywood )

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Book SynopsisJoni Mitchell was a solidly middle-class bohemian; an anti-feminist who loved men but scorned free love; a female warrior taking on the male music establishment. She was both the party girl with torn stockings and the sensitive soul. Her earthy, poetic lyrics and the unusual melodic intervals traced by that lissome voice earned her the status of a pop legend. Joni on Joni is a chronologically arranged anthology of Mitchell’s most illuminating interviews, spanning the years 1966 to 2014. Included are revealing pieces from her early years in Canada and Detroit, along with influential articles such as Cameron Crowe’s Rolling Stone piece. Interspersed throughout are key quotes from dozens of additional Q&As. Together, this material paints a revealing picture of the artist—bragging and scornful, philosophical and deep, but also a beguiling flirt.

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Book SynopsisGeorge Harrison on George Harrison is an authoritative, chronologically arranged anthology of Harrison’s most revealing and illuminating interviews, personal correspondence, and writings, spanning the years 1962 to 2001. Though known as the “Quiet Beatle,” Harrison was arguably the most thoughtful and certainly the most outspoken of the famous four. This compendium of his words and ideas proves that point repeatedly, revealing his passion for music, his focus on spirituality, and his responsibility as a celebrity, as well as a sense of deep commitment and humor.Trade Review"Through the centuries, the word elegy has been applied to many genres, including public proclamations of grief, stately English poems, and writings about pain and loss. Let's add to this list Ashley Kahn's George Harrison on George Harrison. " -- Sibbie O'Sullivan, Washington Post"Nuggets and tidbits are manna to hardcore Beatles fans, and each interview is buoyed by not only editor Ashley Kahn's astute intros, but sometimes reflections by the interviewers themselves." -- Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press"The wealth of material in George Harrison on George Harrison makes it possible to track the life and career of this worthy subject, making the text a valuable addition to rock history." -- Jeff Fleischer, The Foreword

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Book SynopsisFrom the depths of the seventies rock 'n' roll excesses through unimaginable personal losses to an inspiring late-life transformation, Cidny Bullens’s story is an utterly compelling journey about living and singing with your authentic voice. An androgynous gender-bending musician from the get-go, Bullens toured extensively with Sir Elton John and performed with Bob Dylan, undergoing a complete immersion in the drug-fueled excesses of 1970s rock 'n' roll. Despite getting sober, climbing the charts with the Grammy-nominated Survivor, as well as a Grammy nomination for his lead vocals in the soundtrack for the movie Grease, Bullens was unable to break out as a solo star in a world that allowed its artists to cross the gender line, but had much more narrow expectations about how women could behave and perform. Retreating into the conventional lifestyle of a suburban mom, Bullens felt like she was living in an alternate universe. Then whatever world she had was shattered by the tragic death of her younger daughter from cancer. Out of the ashes of despair, Bullens brought forth an award-winning album, Somewhere Between Heaven and Earth, that relaunched the musician’s career. Finally, nine years ago, Cidny claimed his own healing and transitioned from female to male—finding unexpected love, becoming a new step-father, and a grandfather.What he found, too, was his true voice and true power as a performer. Table of ContentsForeword by Sir Elton John Prologue Part I 1. Walkin’ Through This World 2. Hollywood Hot 3. Finally Rockin’ 4. Powerless 5. Survivor 6. Mockingbird Hill 7. Rock ’n’ Roll Girl Part II 8. Send Me an Angel 9. Boxing with God 10. Somewhere Between Heaven and Earth 11. I Gotta Believe in Something Part III 12. Unbound 13. The Gender Line 14. Little Pieces 15. Purgatory Road 16. Call Me by My Name Epilogue: Lucky for Me (In Spite of Myself)

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Book SynopsisGrowing up around music, young George was inspired to piece together a makeshift drum set and teach himself to play as he practiced in the dark, dank basement of his rundown New Jersey townhouse. He soon joined forces with his friends to form a group called the Jazziacs which then evolved into Kool & The Gang, a band that began playing clubs and charting hits while its members were still teenagers. By evolving their sound as musical tastes changed, the band was able to stay on the charts for decades, scoring 12 Top 10 hits in Funk, R&B, Pop, and Rock, and selling over seventy million albums while navigating the highs and lows of their career. In Too Hot, drummer, keyboardist, and primary songwriter George Brown describes life in and out of the band including a raucous life on the road as the band’s popularity grew. He weathered the ups and downs of his musical career and navigated many challenges including prescription drug addiction, depression, and health issues. George shares how his recent cancer scare, and subsequent treatment, compelled him to share his story, warts and all, to give readers a glimpse into a band whose reputation was considered relatively tame, but in reality, it was exactly the opposite.George hopes to help others realize their own professional and personal dreams—life is a symphony, and we must all be our own conductor. Table of Contents1 Intro 2 Verse 3 Pre-Chorus 4 Chorus 5 Bridge 6 Outro Epilogue Discography

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Book SynopsisCrosby, Holiday, Sinatra, Fitzgerald, Garland, and Streisand were the major interpreters of the American songbook, and this is the interlocking story of their lives and careers.Here is the epic tale of how these artists dominated American popular music over a fifty-year period, colourfully described like a roller coaster ride that gains momentum through the 1930s and ’40s, reaches a crest of magical creativity in the 1950s and early 1960s, and then crashes down by the early 1970s, a half century when the great American songbook dominated the airwaves and the fight for racial equality came to the forefront.Frank is still the king of the songbook, but Bing’s legacy is just as vital once you start listening to his unprecedented 1930s output. The legend of Billie grows by the year, and the basis of this should be appreciation and wonder for her own great artistry in the 1930s. Barbra is a living legend and still a commercial force to be reckoned with, the last exemplar of the songbook and its glories. All six of these singers reach out to us and show us new ways of expression and new ways to dream. Their song is largely ended but the melody lingers on.Table of ContentsIntroduction: The Democracy of American Music Bing: Out of Nowhere Bing: Just One More Chance Billie’s Blues Frank in Hoboken Ella: You’re Going to Hear From Me Baby Gumm Diana’s Dream Bing at the Top Billie and Ella The Hoboken Four Judy Swings Sweet Leilani and Mexicali Rose Billie Swings Her Way and Ella Finds a Hit Band Canary Frank Judy and Mickey and the Rainbow Bing: Minstrelsy and Father O’Malley Billie and Ella Travel Light Frank: The Voice Judy: The Girl Next Door Barbara and the Mirror Bing: Homecoming and Feet of Clay Billie: Lover Man Ella Bebop Judy and Frank at MGM Bing and Dixie Billie’s Clef Blues Frank’s Fall and Rise Judy on the Comeback Trail Frank and Ella Make Album History Lady in Satin and Billie at the Met Judy and Barbra Ella and Frank Judy: After You’ve Gone Barbra at the Top Frank and Ella at the Crossroads Bing in Winter Movie Star Barbra and Frank and Ella on the Road Coda: Barbra in the 21st Century Index

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Book SynopsisThe real Prince in the words of those who knew him best—from award-winning author Touré.“...one of the rare oral histories I’d recommend as an introduction to its subject. The author’s interview skills and his trusted status in the Prince orbit mean that his book—based on decades of interviews—is full of revealing insights into Prince’s life and work.”—Jay Gabler, The Current Nothing Compares 2 U is an oral history built from years of interviews with dozens of people who were in Prince’s inner circle—from childhood friends to band members to girlfriends to managers to engineers to photographers, and more—all providing unique insights into the man and the musician. This revelatory book is a deeply personal and candid discussion of who Prince really was emotionally, professionally, and romantically. It tackles subjects never-before-discussed, including Prince’s multiple personalities, his romantic relationships, his traumatic childhood and how it propelled him into his music career, and how he found the inspiration for some of his most important songs, including “Purple Rain,” “Starfish and Coffee,” and the unheard “Wally.” Nothing Compares 2 U paints the most complete picture yet written of the most important and most mysterious artist of his time.

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Book SynopsisIn 1985, Mark Bryan heard Darius Rucker singing in a dorm shower at the University of South Carolina and asked him to form a band. For the next eight years, Hootie & the Blowfish—completed by bassist Dean Feldman and drummer Soni Sonefeld—played every frat house, roadhouse, and rock club in the mid-Atlantic and Southeast, becoming one of the biggest independent acts in the region.In Only Wanna Be with You, Tim Sommer, the ultimate insider who signed the band to Atlantic Records in 1993, pulls back the curtain on the band's indie days; the chart-topping success of their major-label debut, cracked rear view; the year of Hootie (1995); the lean years; Darius Rucker's history-making rise in country music; and one of the most remarkable comeback stories of the century. Featuring new and extensive interviews with the band members, some of the band's most famous fans, and stories from the recording studio, tour bus, and golf course, this book is essential reading for Hootie lovers and music buffs.

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Book SynopsisThe true story of beloved Cambodian singer Ros Serey Sothea, whose “Golden Voice” helped define Cambodia’s Golden Age of music until her mysterious disappearance in the killing fields of Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge. Developed in partnership with Sothea’s family.There is a saying in Cambodia: Music is the soul of a nation. Perhaps no one embodied that spirit more than Ros Serey Sothea, a young woman who would forever change the landscape of Cambodian music as the Queen with the Golden Voice. From a humble rice farmer to nationally recognized singer, Sothea’s success captured the hearts of the Khmer people. Throughout her career, she recorded over 500 songs, her signature angelic voice soaring over genres from traditional ballads to psychedelic rock and beyond. As the Cambodian civil war raged, Sothea's singing career continued to flourish, even when she served in the army as one of the country's first female paratroopers. After years of bloody conflict, the communist Khmer Rouge seized control, murdering artists and destroying their music, bringing Cambodia's golden age into a dark era of silence. Sothea’s fate is unknown. Ros Serey Sothea's golden voice lives on in the popular music of Cambodia to this very day. Gone but not forgotten, her legacy continues to inspire. The Golden Voice tells the story of Sothea’s life, developed alongside the surviving family who knew her, and accompanied by an interactive soundtrack.Trade Review“A delicate balance between biography, storytelling, and history to immerse the reader...Comics about the history of Cambodia and its people are having a bit of a moment, and this is a beautiful addition readers won’t want to miss.” -- Booklist Starred Review"A very beautiful graphic novel that deserves to see the light of day. Such a poignant life story." -- Tian Veasna, author of the Eisner Award-nominated Year of the Rabbit"Ros’ brilliant but short life makes for an excellent avenue to explore this tumultuous period of Cambodian history and demonstrates the ways that music can capture the spirit of a people—even after the musician is gone." -- Kirkus Review"This is such a beautiful and powerful book about one of my idols. The drawings and the included soundtrack makes the story so real and emotional. Everyone should know the amazing life and golden voice of Ros Serey Sothea." -- Chhom Nimol, Lead singer of Cambodian rock band Dengue Fever“The Golden Voice will tug at your heartstrings if you dare to listen to Ros Serey Sothea’s storytelling through her most beautiful and memorable classic songs along with other Cambodian legendary rock luminaries whose songs have been masterfully selected for the wonderful novel.” -- Chanrithy Him, international speaker and author of the internationally acclaimed, award-winning memoir When Broken Glass Floats: Growing Up Under the Khmer Rouge

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Book Synopsis“I’m the Mae West of 1968.”Mercy Fontenot was a Zelig who grew up in the San Francisco Haight Ashbury scene, where she crossed paths with Charles Manson, went to the first Acid Test, and was friends with Jimi Hendrix (she was later in his movie Rainbow Bridge). She predicted the Altamont disaster when reading the Rolling Stones’ tarot cards at a party and left San Francisco for the climes of Los Angeles in 1967 when the Haight ‘lost its magic.’Miss Mercy’s work in the GTOs, the Frank Zappa-produced all-female band, launched her into the pages of Rolling Stone in 1969. Her adventures saw her jumping out of a cake at Alice Cooper’s first record release party, while high on PCP, and had her travel to Memphis where she met Al Green and got a job working for the Bar-Kays. Along the way, she married and then divorced Shuggie Otis, before transitioning to punk rock and working with the Rockats and Gears. This is her story as she lived and saw it.Written just prior to her death in 2020, Permanent Damage shows us the world of the 1960s and 1970s music scene through Mercy's eyes, as well as the fallout of that era—experiencing homelessness before sobering up and putting her life back together. Miss Mercy’s journey is a can’t miss for anyone who was there and can’t remember, or just wishes they’d been there.Trade Review“There were definitely better known personalities than Mercy Fontenot in her time, but she was no less of a thrilling iconoclast for it. Long before unorthodox women like Cosey Fanni Tutti or Courtney Love there was Mercy Fontenot. Her relatively unknown story, told here in her own words, is chock-full of delightful pop culture references and peppered with cameos from some of music’s most beloved stars, but the story that sticks with you long after the telling is done is that of Mercy herself. Rock ‘n’ roll rebel until the end. What a gal.”—Shirley Manson, Garbage“Miss Mercy was dripping in sarcasm. She was a very funny and lovely lady. She may have been the voice of reason for the GTOs...but I doubt it.”—Alice Cooper"Miss Mercy spun herself through the most magical days of the ‘60s and into the arms of punk. She was a that one-of-a-kind character none of us will ever forget."—Exene Cervenka, X“I am thrilled to know this book is finally out there and we can know firsthand what it was like to live in Miss Mercy’s towering platform shoes. I love rock ‘n’ roll, and Lyndsey Parker has the most encyclopedic knowledge of all music; I can't think of a better person to bring Mercy’s story to life.”—Margaret Cho“It was an honor to cross paths with Mercy and to be in the final part of her fascinating story.”—Yoshiki, X Japan“Miss Mercy was a one-off iconoclast, style- and taste-wise. She looked, lived, and loved uniquely and was a trailblazer for women in rock ‘n’ roll.”—Siobhan Fahey, Bananarama and Shakespears Sister“Mercy was one of the most inspirational and magical people I ever got the chance to meet and work with. She had endless stories to tell and the coolest style, like a badass Gypsy pirate witch. She embodied that old spirit of Hollywood that we never get to see anymore. Mercy was and will always be a legend.”—Arrow de Wilde, Starcrawler“Lyndsey and Mercy had many things in common, the most important of which was commitment. Both committed to the music and the musicians that made it. Mercy had secrets and stories and reveals them here to someone who understands. An imperative read for anyone with a rock ‘n’ roll soul.”—Michael Des Barres"Miss Mercy was the real thing, all about the music. She was there at the beginning and knew everyone. Believe whatever she says, and immerse yourself in the world of Sunset Boulevard, Frank Zappa, the GTO's, and the ‘60s style.”—Ronee Blakley“Mercy wore unusual and stunning makeup. She set a trend. She was a very individualistic, charismatic woman. The GTOs made the party swing and were an integral part of rock ‘n’ roll culture at the time.”—Dave Davies, the Kinks"Mercy led a fascinating life. As a founding member of the GTOs, along with her relationship with Arthur Lee, she was at the epicenter of the Hollywood music scene."—Johnny Echols, Love"Mercy was absolutely the real deal, for real.”—Blackbyrd McKnight“Lower Los Feliz is filled with trendy lumberjack and low fashion model wannabes, and out of nowhere there was Miss Mercy telling her stories about being in attendance at Jimi Hendrix and his Rainbow Bridge, watching Arthur Lee and Love in concert, a few Chambers Brothers performances and how she was the Gears’ hairdresser. Mercy was the ray of sunlight cutting through gray skies and a fire opal in an ocean of gravel and rocks.”—Keith Morris, Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Off!"Mercy was my counterculture cover girl. She represented the movement of women finally staking their territory in the world of individuality, free of society’s demands to conform.”—Baron Wolman, Rolling Stone photographer“Even though I met Mercy near the end of her life, I’d seen her around at different rock events over the years, always thinking, ‘Who is this bold-ass woman?!’ I later learned that we came from Northern California and had traveled our own musical paths, both crash-landing on the Sunset Strip in the ‘60s in our teens. I’m looking forward to everyone else hearing Mercy's stories and learning about her journey through her own words.”—Brie Darling, Fanny, Boxing Gandhis“Back in late ’78, I met Miss Mercy. To say she made me realize there was a lot more to life is an understatement. Before I knew it, I had bleached-blond hair, a large pompadour, and skateboarding was never to be the same again. She was, and always has been, important beyond most people’s comprehension. Her knowledge was unmatched to most. I thank you and love you, Mercy. It’s time for you to be acknowledged for the queen that you are.”—Steve Olson, pro skateboarder“The women of Laurel Canyon and beyond wrote their own rules and changed them when they chose. Mercy was one of them. Her group was appropriately named because they decided they were going to be ‘outrageous.’ Mercy simply would not have it any other way.”—Elliott Mintz, celebrity publicist

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