Contact High: A Visual History of Hip-Hop


Vikki Tobak - 2018
     Featuring rare outtakes from over 100 photoshoots alongside interviews and essays from industry legends, Contact High: A Visual History of Hip-Hop takes readers on a chronological journey from old-school to alternative hip-hop and from analog to digital photography. The ultimate companion for music and photography enthusiasts, Contact High is the definitive history of hip-hop's early days, celebrating the artists that shaped the iconic album covers, t-shirts and posters beloved by hip-hop fans today. With essays from BILL ADLER, RHEA L. COMBS, FAB 5 FREDDY, MICHAEL GONZALES, YOUNG GURU, DJ PREMIER, and RZA

My Autobiography


Charlie Chaplin - 1964
    In this, one of the very first celebrity memoirs, Chaplin displays all the charms, peculiarities and deeply-held beliefs that made him such an endearing and lasting character.Re-issued as part of Melville House’s Neversink Library, My Autobiography offers dedicated Chaplin fans and casual admirers alike an astonishing glimpse into the the heart and the mind of Hollywood’s original genius maverick.Take this unforgettable journey with the man George Bernard Shaw called “the only genius to come out of the movie industry” as he moves from his impoverished South London childhood to the heights of Hollywood wealth and fame; from the McCarthy-era investigations to his founding of United Artists to his “reverse migration” back to Europe, My Autobiography is a reading experience not to be missed.

Bun B's Rapper Coloring and Activity Book


Shea Serrano - 2013
    Described by the Washington Post as “what every hip-hop head wishes they had as a child,” this imaginative work started as a series of printable rap-related coloring and activity images. The 48-page, fully interactive book of coloring pages, unbelievably clever activities, and smart plays on rap culture brings these stars and their music right into your living room.<!--?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /-->Featured rappers include: Bun B Queen Latifah Drake Talib Kweli Ice-T Common Wiz Khalifa Ludacris LL COOL J Big Boi Childish Gambino Questlove B.o.B Mac Miller And many, many more! Praise for Bun B's Rap Coloring and Activity Book: “A star-studded cast of some of the biggest names in rap, all in one book.”  —Fast Company’s Co.Create blog “It’s 48 pages long, and that’s the exact same number of pages the Bible has, and that’s not an accident. That’s a little thing called God’s will.” —Vice.com “The book is funny, smart, and as kid-tested, mother-approved as some of these guys get.” —Vulture.com “Hilarious…razor sharp.” —XXL “If you've spent any kind of time on the Internet, chances are something Shea Serrano has written, drawn, or created has made you smile . . . The book’s a load of fun, and is sure to please rap nerds and crayon-wielding tykes alike.” —Village Voice   “There’s art, humor and education, fun for young and old.” —Paste magazine   “This is one of the few Tumblr-to-book projects that doesn’t make me want to punch my computer in disgust. If the phrase ‘see if you can build a Budden’ doesn’t make you chuckle, then you should stay away from hip-hop or jokes.” —Christopher R. Weingarten, SPIN   “Bun B’s Rap Coloring and Activity Book is gangsta!” —Mass Appeal.com   "48 pages of MC worship mixed with a generous measure of the kind of casual dissing of its star players that hip-hop excels at.” —Esquire   “When I’m listening to Drake, I sometimes feel blue. Now, thanks to Bun B’s Rap Coloring and Activity Book, I can make Drake blue, too. And for that, I am eternally grateful.” —Ryan Dombal, Pitchfork.com   “The hip-hop coloring book is the single most important thing to happen to color since Cam’s pink Range Rover. Everyone should want a Serrano in their baño.” —Nate Erickson, GQ   “Like the old saying goes, the crayon is mightier than the sword. Bun B and Shea have assembled a perfect collection of today’s brightest hip hop stars for fans of all ages to create, color and remix. The Rap Coloring and Activity Book is like your own personal mixtape that you can hang on your fridge and impress everyone with.” —Mike Ayers, Rolling Stone “Fans can now color inside the lines of hip-hop greats.” —LA Times’ Jacket Copy blog “It’s gotta be a first—for rap and for coloring.” —Houston Chronicle   “For rap aficionados young and old.” —GQ.com “You may want to buy two copies—one to color, and one to keep fresh and new.” —Buzzfeed “The perfect coloring book for any hip-hop nerd.” —Complex magazine “If you have not already purchased a copy, put down this magazine immediately and go buy Bun B’s Rap Coloring and Activity Book.” —Kindling Quarterly “A playful celebration of rap

Piece by Piece


Tori Amos - 2005
    . . I was born a feminist. And then at age five, when my strict Christian grandmother punished me, I realized, I’m not penetrating here. I’m just pissing people off. So I had to find another way to penetrate. I had to redefine what that word means. That word now is really about an opening, an entering into a separate space. And after the first phase of my life, I realized that it was okay to enter that space without having to be invaded . . . I like the idea of just being able to be inside. Not using penetration as a violent word. The idea of being able to find keys . . . music, using keys to get into a space that we couldn’t before . . .Now, backstage at an undisclosed arena where the sweat of athletes is still perfuming my makeshift dressing room, my many conversations with Ann Powers have begun . . . “You come from the journalist side. I come from the artist side. It can become offensive. I’m sure from your side as well as from mine.” “Well, it’s true everyone expects us to be enemies. And in some ways we are. My job is interpretation. Yours is art, which often benefits from mystery . . .”"Ann and I decided to strip our roles back to basics. We are both women born feminists in the 1960s. We are both married. We are both mothers. We are both in the music industry. Traditionally we are enemies. But for this project to be effective, I had to allow Ann to expose Tori Amos. And Tori Amos’s inner circle. And me.” –from the IntroductionAn intimate, eye-opening look inside the life of one of the most unique and adored performers of contemporary rock musicFrom her critically acclaimed 1992 debut, Little Earthquakes, to the recent hit, Scarlet’s Walk, Tori Amos has been a formidable force in contemporary music, with one of the most dedicated fan bases in the industry. In Tori Amos: Piece by Piece, the singer herself takes readers beyond the mere facts, explaining the specifics of her creative process—how her songs go from ideas and melodies to recordings and passionately performed concert pieces. Written with acclaimed music journalist Ann Powers, Tori Amos: Piece by Piece is a firsthand account of the most intricate and intimate details of Amos’s life as both a private individual and a very public performing musician. In passionate and informative prose, Amos explains how her songs come to her and how she records and then performs them for audiences everywhere, all the while connecting with listeners across the world and maintaining her own family life (which includes raising a young daughter). But it is also much more, a verbal collage made by two strong female voices—and the voices of those closest to Amos—that calls upon genealogy, myth, and folklore to express Amos’s unique and fascinating personal history. In short, we see the pieces that make up, as Amos herself puts it, “the woman we call Tori.”With photos taken especially for this book by the photographer Loren Haynes, Tori Amos: Piece by Piece is a rare treat for both Tori listeners and newcomers alike, a look into the heart and mind of an extraordinary musician.

John Lennon in My Life


Shotton - 1983
    Shotton's unique vantage as an insider and friend makes his account a must-read for Beatles fans everywhere. Photos.

Old in Art School: A Memoir of Starting Over


Nell Irvin Painter - 2018
    Nell Irvin Painter's journey is filled with surprises, even as she brings to bear the incisiveness of her insights from two careers, which combine in new ways even as they take very different approaches—one searching for facts and cohesion, the other seeking the opposite. She travels from her beloved Newark to the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design; finds meaning in the artists she loves, such as Alice Neel, Faith Ringgold, or Maira Kalman, even as she comes to understand how they are undervalued; and struggles with the ever-changing balance between the pursuit of art and the inevitable, sometimes painful demands of a life fully lived.

Symbolist Art


Edward Lucie-Smith - 1972
    Important Symbolist painters were at work in places as remote from one another as Munch in Oslo, Klimt in Vienna, and the young Picasso in Barcelona. It is through Symbolism, too, that the relationship between the English painting of the later nineteenth century and what was taking place in Europe can be explained. Edward Lucie-Smith's important study throws light upon the origins of Modernism, and upon the development of painting and sculpture in the final years of the century. 185 illus., 24 in color. Bibliography and index.

The Curse of Lono


Hunter S. Thompson - 1983
    Originally published in 1983, Curse features all of the zany, hallucinogenic wordplay and feral artwork for which the Hunter S. Thompson/Ralph Steadman duo became known and loved. This curious book, considered an oddity among Hunter's oeuvre, was long out of print, prompting collectors to search high and low for an original copy. TASCHEN's signed, limited edition sold out before the book even hit the stores, but this unlimited version, in a different, smaller format, makes The Curse of Lono accessible to everyone.

24-Hour Party People


Tony Wilson - 2002
    The company owns nothing. All our bands have the freedom to f**k off''Written in blood, The Factory non-contract set out the manifesto for one of the most influential and progressive record labels of our time...Manchester, 1976: Anthony Wilson, Granada TV presenter, is at an early Sex Pistols gig. Inspired by this pivotal moment in music history, he and his friends set up Factory Records. They go on to conquer the world with Joy Division (who become New Order) then again with the Happy Mondays.Riding high on their success and just about keeping the business afloat, the Factory directors decide to give something back to their city, to open a club - The Hacienda. Packed on opening night but losing money hand over fist for the first five years, The Hacienda and the Happy Mondays take their unique brand of hedonism to breaking point.From the dawn of punk to the death of acid house, Anthony Wilson was at the centre of it all. Love him or hate him, you can't possibly ignore him.

Indian Art (Phaidon Art and Ideas)


Vidya Dehejia - 1997
    Considering Indian art within a chronological framework, Vidya Dehejia analyses the great cities of the Indus civilization, the serene Buddha image, the intriguing art of cave sites, the sophisticated temple-building traditions, the luxurious art of the Mughal court, the palaces and pavilions of Rajasthan, the churches of Portuguese Goa, the various forms of art in the British Raj and the issues related to taking Indian art into the twenty-first century.

Everybody Poops 410 Pounds a Year: An Illustrated Bathroom Companion for Grown-Ups


Deuce Flanagan - 2010
    . . when you were little, you learned that everyone poops. But did you ever discover how much? Well, sit down on that cold porcelain throne and get ready to laugh your butt off at the most amazing, hilarious, need-to-go facts on the one thing everyone does--but nobody talks about. Filled to the rim with piles of fascinating dirty fun, this illustrated kids' book for grown-ups answers all the questions you never thought to ask: •How do astronauts poop in space? •Where does poop go after you flush? •Why can I see the corn but not the chicken? •Can I light my poop on fire? •Who invented the first flushing toilet? •What's the poop on Michael Jackson, Elvis and John Wayne?

And in the End: The Last Days of The Beatles


Ken McNab - 2019
    Ken McNab's And in the End: The Last Days of The Beatles is an in-depth look at the Fab Four's acrimonious final year...

Tape Delay


Charles Neal - 1987
    A virtual Who's Who of people who've done the most in the eighties to drag music out of commercial confinement."--NMEContributors: Marc Almond, Dave Ball, Cabaret Voltaire, Nick Cave, Chris & Cosey, Coil, Einsturzende Neubauten, The Fall, Diamanda Galas, Genesis P-Orridge, Michael Gira, The Hafler Trio, Matt Johnson (The The), Laibach, Lydia Lunch, New Order, Psychic TV, Boyd Rice, Henry Rollins, Clint Ruin, Silverstar Amoeba, Mark E. Smith (The Fall), Sonic Youth, Stevo, Mark Stewart, Swans, Test Dept, David Tibet (Current 93), Touch.

Northern Light: The Enduring Mystery of Tom Thomson and the Woman Who Loved Him


Roy MacGregor - 2010
    Now, MacGregor breaks new ground, re-examining the mysteries of Thomson's life, loves and violent death in the definitive non-fiction account. Why does a man who died almost a century ago and painted relatively little still have such a grip on our imagination?The eccentric spinster Winnie Trainor was a fixture of Roy MacGregor's childhood in Huntsville, Ontario. She was considered too odd to be a truly romantic figure in the eyes of the town, but the locals knew that Canada's most famous painter had once been in love with her, and that she had never gotten over his untimely death. She kept some paintings he gave her in a six-quart basket she'd leave with the neighbours on her rare trips out of town, and in the summers she'd make the trip from her family cottage, where Thomson used to stay, on foot to the graveyard up the hill, where fans of the artist occasionally left bouquets. There she would clear away the flowers. After all, as far as anyone knew, he wasn't there: she had arranged at his family's request for him to be exhumed and moved to a cemetery near Owen Sound.As Roy MacGregor's richly detailed Northern Light reveals, not much is as it seems when it comes to Tom Thomson, the most iconic of Canadian painters. Philandering deadbeat or visionary artist and gentleman, victim of accidental drowning or deliberate murder, the man's myth has grown to obscure the real view — and the answers to the mysteries are finally revealed in these pages.

Anger is an Energy: My Life Uncensored


John Lydon - 2014
    As Johnny Rotten, he was the lead singer of the Sex Pistols - the world's most notorious band, who shot to fame in the mid-1970s with singles such as 'Anarchy in the UK' and 'God Save the Queen'. So revolutionary was his influence, he was even discussed in the Houses of Parliament, under the Traitors and Treasons Act, which still carries the death penalty. Via his music and invective he spearheaded a generation of young people across the world who were clamouring for change - and found it in the style and attitude of this most unlikely figurehead.With his next band, Public Image Ltd (PiL) Lydon expressed an equally urgent impulse in his make-up - the constant need to reinvent himself, to keep moving. From their beginnings in 1978 he set the groundbreaking template for a band that continues to challenge and thrive in the 2010s. He also found time for making innovative new dance records with the likes of Afrika Baambaata and Leftfield. Following the release of a solo record in 1997, John took a sabbatical from his music career into other media, most memorably his own Rotten TV show for VH1 and as the most outrageous contestant ever on I'm a Celebrity…. Get Me Out of Here! He then fronted the Megabugs series and one-off nature documentaries and even turned his hand to a series of much loved TV advertisements for Country Life butter.Lydon has remained a compelling and dynamic figure - both as a musician, and, thanks to his outspoken, controversial, yet always heartfelt and honest statements, as a cultural commentator.The book a fresh and mature look back on a life full of incident from his beginnings as a sickly child of immigrant Irish parents who grew up in post-war London, to his present status as a vibrant, alternative national hero.