Book picks similar to
BLACKOUT: My 40 Years in the Music Business by Paul Porter
music
education
music-biz
non-fiction-general
The Infinite Variety of Music
Leonard Bernstein - 1966
He begins with an "imaginary conversation" with George Washington entitled "The Muzak Muse," in which he argues the values of actively listening to music by learning how to read notes, as opposed to simply hearing music in a concert hall. The book also features the reproduction of five television scripts from Bernstein on the influence of jazz, the timeless appeal of Mozart, musical romanticism, and the complexities of rhythmic innovation. Also included are Bernstein's analyses of symphonies by Dvorak, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, and Brahms, a rare reproduction of a 1957 lecture on the nature of composing, and a report on the musical scene written for New York Times after his sabbatical leave from directorship of the New York Philharmonic during the 1964-65 season.
Art’s Principles: 50 years of hard-learned lessons in building a world-class professional services firm
Arthur Gensler - 2015
The book covers the essentials of leadership, talent acquisition and operations, while outlining the creative strategies that propelled a small business into one of the largest and most admired in its industry. This guidebook is full of well-tested ideas that are applicable to someone running a small, medium or large a professional firm—or running any project where people, profit and customers matter.
Death of a Schoolgirl
Joanna Campbell Slan - 2012
Picking up where Brontë left off, the year is now 1851, and Jane’s life has finally settled into a comfortable pattern. She and her beloved Edward Rochester have married, and have an infant son. But Jane soon finds herself in the midst of new challenges and threats to those she loves… Jane can’t help but fret when a letter arrives from Adèle Varens—Rochester’s ward and Jane’s former pupil, currently at boarding school—warning that the girl’s life is in jeopardy. Although it means leaving her young son and invalid husband, and despite never having been to a city of any size, Jane feels strongly compelled to go to London to ensure Adèle’s safety. But almost from the beginning, her travels don’t go as planned—she is knocked about and robbed, and no one believes that the plain, unassuming Jane could indeed be the wife of a gentleman. Even when she arrives at the school, the headmistress takes her for an errant new teacher, and berates her for her late arrival. Most shocking to Jane is the discovery that Adèle’s roommate has recently passed away under very suspicious circumstances, yet no one at the school seems concerned. Taking advantage of the misunderstanding, she decides to pose as the missing instructor—and soon uncovers several unsavory secrets, which may very well make her the killer’s next target…
Sly Moves: My Proven Program to Lose Weight, Build Strength, Gain Will Power, and Live your Dream
Sylvester Stallone - 2005
It's a provocative and candid inside look at the trials and triumphs of one of Hollywood's most famous stars. Throughout his career, Sly has always been body conscious, and as he experimented with intense training methods for various films, he has learned – often the hard way – what works and what definitely doesn't. His goal here is to help readers change harmful fitness habits, learn to counter reckless eating, and appreciate who they are even when they don't feel much like action heroes.Part 1 is a history of Sylvester Stallone's physique, as the Rocky star shares stories about his being bullied as a child, finding comfort and strength at the gym, and then later, the wild ride of fad diets, crash–training regimens and workout disasters that fringed on obsession.Part 2, The Sly Moves workout, outlines four exercise programs: classic, advanced, women's and hardcore. The workouts only require a commitment of about three hours a week (exactly the same amount of time Sly works out).The Sly Moves eating plan (Part 3) is Sly's nutrition guide, highlighted by a unique meal plan for a lifetime of good eating.Part 4 gives Sly an opportunity to inspire and encourage readers to make Sly Moves part of a long–term picture of health, fitness and wellbeing, with tips on everything from keeping goals and relaxation techniques to lessons learned from The Contender.
Northern Sky
Mark Radcliffe - 2005
His dream is to play with them again, but the club's new owner has ambitions plans that may not involve Ed, and his ex may be less than willing to take him back. This is a funny and touching novel, written with real Northern soul by one of the country's most popular and knowledgeable commentators on music.
Some People Are Crazy: The John Martyn Story
John Neil Munro - 2007
Despite long-term addiction to alcohol and drugs, which contributed to his death in January 2009, he produced a string of matchless albums. Loved by fans and critics, loathed by ex-managers, he survived the music business he despised for forty years. With contributions by Martyn, many of his lovers and over twenty musicians who knew him well, this book documents his upbringing in Glasgow and rise through the Scottish and London folk scene of the 1960s, his many highs and lows, and his friendships with the great lost souls of British rock music—Nick Drake and Paul Kossoff.
Song Maps: A New System to Write Your Best Lyrics
Simon Hawkins - 2016
Does any of the following sound familiar? - You worry that the lyrics you write just don't deliver their full potential but can't figure out why, even though technically they tick all the right boxes. - You have great ideas but your finished lyrics somehow fall short of the emotional impact you wanted and, as a result, your songs get passed over. - You have a busy schedule with limited time to write and have wasted too many hours chasing un-writable lyric ideas. - You wonder how some professional songwriters always seem to get a particular dynamic in their lyrics, consistently writing songs better than 90% of what you hear on the radio. - You are perhaps nervous about going into a pro co-writing session because you fear your ideas aren't worth bringing into the writing room. - You know you have so many great titles waiting to be written but haven't found a way of systematically developing them into well-crafted lyrics. - After writing an amazing hooky Chorus and a great supporting first Verse, you hit the dreaded wall that is “second verse curse”. In Song Maps – A New System to Write Your Best Lyrics, I deliver simple, logical, well-defined solutions to these issues and more: I give you seven well-developed professional templates for you to bring your lyrics to life. I also provide you with a tried and tested process for writing lyrics using Song Maps. And I'll reveal the songwriter’s secret weapon. Much of this book contains new material. This is because, while I enjoyed building a firm foundation of knowledge about the craft from the songwriting programs at Berklee Music School and other sources, I discovered Song Maps afterwards, from my experience as a professional songwriter, writing either on my own or in the writing rooms of Nashville. Having been signed as a staff songwriter at Universal Music Publishing in Nashville, being nominated and winning awards for my songs including Grammys, Doves and hymn-writing awards, and after spending many years studying thousands of techniques and developing them in my own songwriting and in the writing room, I've had the privilege of teaching the material in this book to hundreds of songwriters and seeing a step change in their writing. I have been blessed to watch them find their authentic voice in writing ideas to their full potential, helping them achieve their dream to move from writing flat 2D lyrics to fabulous High Definition full-color 3D lyrics. As you assimilate Song Maps into your writing workflow, your songwriting will shift away from tentative, self-conscious, inhibited writing to strong, bold, intentional and vulnerable writing that does full justice to your original ideas, ultimately allowing you to make the impact you deserve as a songwriter. If you implement the simple, easy-to-understand concepts in this book, I promise you your songs will be better crafted than 90% of the songs you hear on the radio. It will also transform your effectiveness as a co-writer. Importantly, no matter where your songs end up, you will be confident you have written a brilliant lyric and you have served your co-writers well. Let this book help you transform your lyric writing by using Song Maps in your songwriting workflow and take your song ideas to their ultimate potential by writing your best, truly golden, spectacular songs.
Small Victories: The True Story of Faith No More
Adrian Harte - 2018
But I have to give credit where it is due, it’s a quality piece. The man has done his research and it shows. It provided me with more than a few revelations … and I’m in the band.’ — Bill Gould, Faith No MoreSmall Victories: The True Story of Faith No More is the definitive biography of one of the most intriguing bands of the late twentieth century. Written with the participation of the group’s key members, it tells how such a heterogeneous group formed, flourished, and fractured, and how Faith No More helped redefine rock, metal and alternative music. The book chronicles the creative and personal tensions that defined and fueled the band, forensically examines the band’s beginnings in San Francisco’s post-punk wasteland, and charts the factors behind the group’s ascent to MTV-era stardom.Small Victories strips away the mythology and misinformation behind their misanthropic masterpiece Angel Dust, explores the rationale behind the frequent hiring and firing of band members, and traces the unraveling of the band in the mid-1990s. It also examines the band’s breakup and hiatus, explores their unwelcome legacy as nu-metal godfathers, and gives a behind-the-scenes view of their rebirth. Based on meticulous research and hundreds of interviews with current and former band members and other key figures, Small Victories combines a fan’s passion with a reporter’s perspicacity.
Simply Thrilled: The Preposterous Story of Postcard Records
Simon Goddard - 2014
But when Alan Horne and Edwyn Collins decided to start their own label from a shabby Glasgow flat in 1979, nobody was going to stand in their way.Postcard Records was the mad, makeshift and quite preposterous result. Launching the careers of Orange Juice, Aztec Camera and cult heroes Josef K, the self-styled 'Sound of Young Scotland' stuck it to the London music biz and, quite by accident, kickstarted the 1980s indie music revolution.Simon Goddard has interviewed everyone involved in the making of the Postcard legend to tell this thrilling rock'n'roll story of punk audacity, knickerbocker glories, broken windscreens, raccoon-fur hats, comedy, violence and creating something beautiful from nothing, against all the odds.
Superclass: The Global Power Elite and the World They Are Making
David Rothkopf - 2008
They number six thousand on a planet of six billion. They run our governments, our largest corporations, the powerhouses of international finance, the media, world religions, and, from the shadows, the world's most dangerous criminal and terrorist organizations. They are the global superclass, and they are shaping the history of our time. Today's superclass has achieved unprecedented levels of wealth and power. They have globalized more rapidly than any other group. But do they have more in common with one another than with their own countrymen, as nationalist critics have argued? They control globalization more than anyone else. But has their influence fed the growing economic and social inequity that divides the world? What happens behind closeddoor meetings in Davos or aboard corporate jets at 41,000 feet? Conspiracy or collaboration? Deal-making or idle self-indulgence? What does the rise of Asia and Latin America mean for the conventional wisdom that shapes our destinies? Who sets the rules for a group that operates beyond national laws? Drawn from scores of exclusive interviews and extensive original reporting, Superclass answers all of these questions and more. It draws back the curtain on a privileged society that most of us know little about, even though it profoundly affects our everyday lives. It is the first in-depth examination of the connections between the global communities of leaders who are at the helm of every major enterprise on the planet and control its greatest wealth. And it is an unprecedented examination of the trends within the superclass, which are likely to alter our politics, our institutions, and the shape of the worldin which we live.
Westlife: Our Story
Westlife - 2008
The book will chronicle the band’s story from the grass-roots of Sligo, Ireland to multi-platinum records, celebrity collaborations and chart achievements. But bubbling under this public face is a private and unseen story never before recorded, crammed with candid personal revelations, including of course the departure of Brian McFadden.Westlife have been a staple part of British entertainment for years, yet the public has no idea of the astounding life they have led – and still live – behind the headlines and soundbites. Here, for the first time, Westlife will take us into their confidence and reveal their lives and amazing ten year journey as the UK’s biggest pop band as never before.
KISS: The Early Years
Gene Simmons - 2002
Almost 30 years and 80 million records later, they still have an intense following and an enduring place in rock and roll history.Now, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley have written the band's first official book for the trade, giving fans an unprecedented insider's look at their lives -- onstage and off. Longtime band photographer Waring Abbott reveals an amazingly intimate array of photos, while Gene and Paul provide a running commentary on what the band was thinking and doing throughout this wild time. KISS fans have never had such an up-close and personal look at their favorite band, and all rock-and-roll fans will be thrilled to see such an exciting band and pivotal time in rock history captured in such a visually stunning way.
The Writer's Toolbox: Creative Games and Exercises for Inspiring the 'Write' Side of Your Brain (Writing Prompts, Writer Gifts, Writing Kit Gifts)
Jamie Cat Callan - 2007
Sixty exercise sticks: First Sentences, Non Sequiturs, and Last Straws will get stories off the ground, 60 cards fuel creative descriptions and four spinner palettes will ignite unexpected plot twists. For any aspiring writer, this kit is the perfect first step on the path to literary greatness!Inspires writers with creative prompts and samplesGets writers in the right headspace to let creativity flowFeatures 60 writing exercises and other creative gamesMake those days and nights of struggling to create writing ideas go away without having to bury yourself in more books with Writer's Toolbox, which makes for the perfect gift for writers.
Joe Louis: Hard Times Man
Randy W. Roberts - 2010
He got more column inches of newspaper coverage in the 1930s than FDR did. His racially and politically charged defeat of Max Schmeling in 1938 made Louis a national hero. But as important as his record is what he meant to African-Americans: at a time when the boxing ring was the only venue where black and white could meet on equal terms, Louis embodied all their hopes for dignity and equality.Through meticulous research and first-hand interviews, acclaimed historian and biographer Randy Roberts presents Louis, and his impact on sport and country, in a way never before accomplished. Roberts reveals an athlete who carefully managed his public image, and whose relationships with both the black and white communities—including his relationships with mobsters—were far more complex than the simplistic accounts of heroism and victimization that have dominated previous biographies.Richly researched and utterly captivating, this extraordinary biography presents the full range of Joe Louis’s power in and out of the boxing ring.
Command and Control
David Bruns - 2022
But shortly after an Iranian vessel delivers a surprise attack to a U.S. Navy Warship in the Arabian Gulf, a series of seemingly unrelated attacks crop up around the globe.The U.S. military is rapidly being drawn into full-fledged shooting wars on multiple fronts. Now Riley must sift through the layers of deception in time to discover who - or what - is behind these events...before the clock reaches zero hour.*
'COMMAND AND CONTROL'
is the explosive first book in a brand-new series cowritten by former submarine officer David Bruns and former retired naval intelligence officer J.R. Olson. Dive into this nail-biting techno-thriller today, and brace yourself for an electrifying dose of military action, political intrigue, twist-filled espionage.©2021 David Bruns, J.R. Olson (P)2021 Severn River Publishing