A charismatic, funny, articulate, and formidably intelligent man, Cassady was also a compulsive womanizer who lived life on the edge. His naturalistic, conversational writing style inspired Kerouac, who lifted a number of passages verbatim and uncredited from Cassady’s letters for significant episodes in On the Road. Drawing on a wealth of new research and with full cooperation from central figures in his life—including Carolyn Cassady and Ken Kesey—this account captures Cassady’s unique blend of inspired lunacy and deep spirituality.

    Yet few have addressed his contribution in the darkest hour of the civil rights movement. Telling the untold story of his historic Boston Garden concert of 1968, The Hardest Working Man also captures the magnificent achievements that made Brown a revolutionary icon of American popular culture. Acclaimed journalist James Sullivan begins his stirring account by depicting the racially charged climate of Boston in the hours after Martin Luther King, Jr.’s death. Brown’s concert was slated for cancellation as police geared up for mass retaliation. After Brown butted heads with the mayor, the show was allowed to go on—and his emotional, electric performance was broadcast live on local television. Though rioting erupted in more than a hundred U.S. cities that night, Boston remained quiet. Not only bringing to life that transforming show, James Sullivan also charts Brown’s incredible rise from poverty to self-made millionaire and the pivotal voice behind the signature anthem “Say It Loud—I’m Black and I’m Proud,” making The Hardest Working Man a tribute to an unforgettable concert and a rousing biography of a revolutionary musician.

    He was twelve years old and he had a guitar. He would go around telling everybody that he was going to be a rock-and-roll star. I was eleven and I believed him.”SO BEGINS THIS HONEST, FUNNY, AND DEEPLY AFFECTIONATE MEMOIR OF A FRIENDSHIP THAT HAS SPANNED FIVE DECADES OF WILD ADVENTURES, SOUL SEARCHING CONVERSATION, MUSICAL MILESTONES, AND ENDURING COMRADERY.Louie and Bob after the Rolling Thunder Night of the Hurricane Benefit Concert at Madison Square Garden, December 8th, 1975.Louie and Bob after the Rolling Thunder Night of the Hurricane Benefit Concert at Madison Square Garden, December 8th, 1975.As Bobby Zimmerman became Bob Dylan and Louie Kemp built a successful international business, their lives diverged but their friendship held fast. No matter how much time passed between one adventure and the next, the two “boys from the North Country” picked up where they left off and shared experiences that will surprise and delight Dylan fans and anybody who loves a rollicking-good rock-and-roll memoir. From little Bobby’s very first public appearance (on a roof at Herzl Camp) through his formative years in Minnesota and New York and his rise to global superstardom, Louie Kemp was by his side—a trusted ally and confidant as Bob figured out how to share his gifts without compromising who he was. Louie produced Bob’s groundbreaking Rolling Thunder Revue—described in riveting detail here—and traveled with him in the rarefied world of the rock star, but he also shared quiet moments and intimate experiences. When Louie got married, Bob was his best man; when Bob questioned his Jewish faith, Louie brought him back to the fold. And that is just a small sample of the never-before-told, up-close-and-personal stories in this eye-opening book. Ever wonder what it might be like to attend a Passover Seder with Bob Dylan and Marlon Brando? Or go on a Mexican vacation with Bob Dylan, Dennis Hopper, and Harry Dean Stanton? Or get into a public food fight with Joan Baez? Read on.Louie’s own words best describe the relationship at the heart of Dylan & Me: “We have always had open minds, taken risks, helped the underdog. We have laughed at the same jokes and confided our deepest thoughts and fears. We have never needed anything from each other but have always been there for each other.” What better definition of friendship could anybody want?

    Suspended for a few seconds, they float in their own space and time with their own hidden prospects. For want of a better term, we call these moments “magical” and when we remember them they are cloaked in a halo of special meaning.’For 14-year-old Johnny Clegg, hearing Zulu street music as plucked on the strings of a guitar by Charlie Mzila one evening outside a corner café in Bellevue, Johannesburg, was one such ‘magical’ moment. The success story of Juluka and later Savuka, and the cross-cultural celebration of music, language, story, dance and song that stirred the hearts of millions across the world, is well documented. Their music was the soundtrack to many South Africans’ lives during the turbulent 70s and 80s as the country moved from legislated oppression to democratic freedom. It crossed borders, boundaries and generations, resonating around the world and back again. Less known is the story of how it all began and developed. Scatterling of Africa is that origin story, as Johnny Clegg wrote it and wanted it told. It is the story of how the son of an unconventional mother, grandson of Jewish immigrants, came to realise that identity can be a choice, and home is a place you leave and return to as surely as the seasons change.

    Lumped into the burgeoning alt-country movement, the band soon landed a major label deal and recorded an instant classic: Strangers Almanac. That's when tour manager Thomas O'Keefe met the young musician.For the next three years, Thomas was at Ryan's side: on the tour bus, in the hotels, backstage at the venues. Whiskeytown built a reputation for being, as the Detroit Free Press put it, "half band, half soap opera," and Thomas discovered that young Ryan was equal parts songwriting prodigy and drunken buffoon. Ninety percent of the time, Thomas could talk Ryan into doing the right thing. Five percent of the time, he could cover up whatever idiotic thing Ryan had done. But the final five percent? Whiskeytown was screwed.Twenty-plus years later, accounts of Ryan's legendary antics are still passed around in music circles. But only three people on the planet witnessed every Whiskeytown show from the release of Strangers Almanac to the band's eventual breakup: Ryan, fiddle player Caitlin Cary, and Thomas O'Keefe.

    Without radio play and virtually unnoticed by the press, the Dead forged a vast underground following whose loyalty survives to the present day. National Book Critics Circle Award-winning author Carol Brightman returns to the band's roots—to Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters, the acid tests and the heady days of Haight-Ashbury, the free concerts in Golden Gate Park and the formative shows of New York's Fillmore East—to uncover the secrets of the band's longevity. Drawing on exclusive interviews With band members, staff and crew, Deadheads, other musicians, journalists—and her own experience as a '60s activist—Brightman shows us how, amid the turbulent Free Speech Movement and antiwar rallies, the Grateful Dead's abandonment to music, drugs, and dance offered the faithful a shelter in the storm. Her riveting, in-depth portrait of Jerry Garcia, the "nonleader leader" who held to a vision of the Grateful Dead's destiny even as he recoiled from the juggernaut it became, shows us how it was that a Dead concert become something halfway between a revival meeting and a family reunion. An absorbing and exhilarating exploration, Sweet Chaos offers, at last, a complete understanding of the Dead phenomenon and its place in American culture.

    There was no need to be nervous—Cloud Nine would be considered his greatest achievement since the seminal, All Things Must Pass.In George Harrison: Reconsidered, the process of getting to that pressing is presented—as well as remembrance of those things past.Timothy White honed his journalistic skills the old-fashioned way, working first as a copyboy for the Associated Press, then moving on to cover sports and entertainment. White was managing editor, then senior editor, of the music magazine Crawdaddy. He joined Rolling Stone as an associate editor, and rose through the ranks to become senior editor. In the last eleven years of his life, he served as editor-in-chief of Billboard. A prolific, award-winning writer, Timothy White interviewed hundreds of musicians, and became known as a champion of unknown artists.

    

    Born Country is a great read!”—Dick Clark, former host of American Bandstand Born Country is an inspiring memoir of faith, family, and living the American dream from the lead singer/songwriter of Alabama, the biggest country music group of all time. A multiple Grammy, People’s Choice, and Country Music Association Award-winning superstar, Randy Owen tells about growing up poor in rural Alabama, the son of devout Christian sharecroppers, his rise to the top of the charts, his personal trials and the destructive temptations he avoided through his love and unassailable faith in God. Written with Allen Rucker, Randy Owen’s Born Country is both a fascinating look inside the Alabama phenomenon and a moving portrait of an extraordinary life enriched by traditional Christian values

    About a guy and his punk band. Who start out shitty, but persevere, and eventually become pretty popular. If I mentioned that Ben Foster is better known as Ben Weasel from Screeching Weasel, you'll get a much more nuanced idea about what this book is about, and certainly, what this novel MIGHT be based upon. Regardless, it's a great, rollicking read. Whether or not it's entirely true, or entirely false, anyone with any knowledge of 90s punk in America will recognise large chunks of this. And anyone with any interest in, appreciation of, or experience of being in a band, breaking up with a girl, or punk rock, will thoroughly enjoy. It's that good. Though why he had to kill off his guitarist and best friend at the end I'll leave to his shrink to fathom...

    The Rough Guide to the Beatles covers every aspect of the Fab Four, delving deep into the Beatles music, lyrics, movies and the Beatles solo careers. Features include: The Story: from Liverpool clubs to Beatlemania. The Music: incisive reviews of every Beatles and solo album and new Beatle Music from George Martin's son Giles. The Canon: the inside track on the 50 greatest songs. On Screen: the movies, the promos and the TV appearances and new coverage of the upcoming Rock Band-style video game of Beatle music.The Fifth Beatle: George Martin, Yoko Ono, Magic Alex and other contenders as well as the resignation and death of Neil Aspinall. Beatleology: the best books, the weirdest covers, the most obsessive websites, the obscurest trivia. This updated edition includes new material on Cirque Du Soleil 's acclaimed Love Show - the only officially endorsed Beatles theatrical presentation, Paul McCartney's albums Memory Almost Full, Ecce Cor Meum and Electric Arguments and the media circus surrounding the McCartney/ Mills divorce. All you need is this!

    Marcus Gray furnishes thumbnail sketches of each member, as well as chapters on the band's recording history, politics, album packaging, and regional accent. The author is also fearless enough to venture into the black hole of Michael Stipe's lyrics. He doesn't, to be sure, make sense of Stipe's associative rambles, and the singer himself lets Gray off the hook by confessing that "three-quarters of my lyrics probably come from overheard conversations. I steal a lot, basically. Someone will say something really interesting, and I'll write it down." Okay. But we'd still like to know what a moral kiosk is.

    Here was a group that looked as though it came not only from another era, but from another planet - a band in which art, fashion and music would combine to create, in Bryan Ferry's words, 'above all, a state of mind'. Written with the assistance, for the first time, of all those involved, including Bryan Ferry, Brian Eno, Andy Mackay, and Phil Manzanera, Re-make/Re-model tells how Pop Art, the 1960s underground, and Swinging London were transformed into a unique sound and look - theatrical, arch, literate. clever, sexy, thrilling. In the tradition of Jean Stein and George Plimpton's Edie, Re-make/Re-model is the story of extraordinary individuals and exceptional creativity - and nothing less than the history of an era in music and pop culture.""Exquisitely written...as much a work of art as its subject." - The Observer"Innovative and intelligent." - Publishers Weekly"Michael Bracewell is the most adroitly gifted writer of his generation." - Morrissey

    Here, for the first time, is his remarkable story.A far-from-strapping lad from Tasmania, Dave proved everybody wrong by passing the gruelling selection course to join the SAS. Unsatisfied by the Regiment, he left to take up the cause of the oppressed Karen people of Burma, becoming a seasoned jungle-fighter in the process.On his return to Australia, Dave became every government’s nightmare: a highly skilled special-forces soldier on a crime spree. On a mission to raise funds for the Karen, he kidnapped people from their homes, robbed movie theatres and plotted some of the most audacious crimes ever conceived in Australia. At the height of his infamy every police officer in the country was on the lookout for him, while the tabloid press fuelled the public’s fear of a trained killer gone crazy.Dave was blown-up, shot at, starved, bashed, interrogated, tortured and locked in solitary confinement, but nothing diminished his wild streak. While serving his jail sentence, he had time to reflect. In Shadow Warrior, he tells his story with unflinching honesty and larrikin wit.

    Lloyd recounts the founding of Television, the band's rise alongside other bands and personalities in the 1970’s New York Music scene, and the legend-making of the unparalleled music venue CBGB. As the rock ‘n’ roll tales unfold, he accompanies them with insights into his approach to music and the electric guitar.Lloyd’s mid-career vignettes detail his solo years, including the backstory of critically praised records such as Alchemy and Field of Fire, his drug addiction and recovery, his 90s-era work, and touring adventures with artists such as Matthew Sweet, John Doe, and Robert Quine. Throughout the book is an undercurrent—Lloyd’s continually evolving spiritual-philosophical approach to life, emerging from the conscious digestion of the highs and the lows—both ends of the same stick.In Everything is Combustible, Richard Lloyd relates his life, both inner and outer, in the narrative style, digging beneath the events and revealing their meanings.Considered a foundational band of alternative rock, Television’s debut record, Marquee Moon, is widely viewed by critics and musicians as one of the greatest albums ever recorded. As one half of Television’s unique guitar sound, and a legendary solo artist in his own right, Richard Lloyd’s music has influenced a range of bands and artists from U2, Johnny Marr and Joy Division to R.E.M., Sonic Youth, Wilco and John Frusciante.