Familyhood


Paul Reiser - 2011
    Furthermore, we were convinced that every other set of parents we knew was perfect. They were more thorough in going over their kids' homework, they set better boundaries than we do, didn't let their kids watch as many hours of TV as we do, raised kids who are unfailingly polite in public and have a far greater sense of community and public service than our underachieving offspring over there on the couch watching SpongeBob. We were certain everybody else's kids willingly and joyfully eat nothing but healthy foods, shunning all candy and candy-based products, they all sensibly and automatically put on weather-appropriate clothing, and voluntarily call their grandparents with clockwork regularity, giving fully detailed accounts of their numerous accomplishments, ending with testimonials to their wonderful and perfect parents.Turns out: not so much. At all.In the number one New York Times bestseller Couplehood, Paul Reiser wrote about the highs and lows of falling in love and getting married-and the heartbreak and hilarity that comes with it. In Babyhood, he turned his sharply observant eye to the experiences of having a brand-new family. And now in Familyhood, Reiser shares his observations on parenting, marriage, and mid-life with the wit, warmth, and humor that he's so well-known for.From the first experience of sending his two boys off to summer camp-the early feelings of gleeful freedom in an empty house, to realizing how empty the house actually was-to maneuvering the minefield of bad words learned at school, this hilarious new book captures the spirit of familyhood, the logical next frontier for Reiser's trademark perspective on the universal truths of life, love, and relationships.

Art of Modern Rock: The Poster Explosion


Paul Grushkin - 2004
    An art form that has grown hand-in-hand with the independent music scene, heralding small and large gigs alike, the posters have emerged from visually creative street-level notices to prized collectibles rendered in a variety of styles and media. Today's poster artists combine the expressive freedom pioneered in the poster revolution of the 1960s with the attitude and the do-it-yourself approach of the punk scene, creating an unprecedented surge of innovative poster production on an international scale. Featuring over 1,600 exemplary rock posters and flyers from over 200 international studios and artists, Art of Modern Rock is the long-anticipated sequel to coauthor Paul Grushkin's The Art of Rock. Profiles and quotes from the pioneers in the field and their emerging heirs share nearly 500 gloriously packed pages of poster after mind-blowing poster. As brash and colorful as the burgeoning scene it documents, Art of Modern Rock is the must-have book for music and poster fans and collectors.

Harry Styles Annual 2013


Posy Edwards - 2012
    With this photo-packed annual, Harry's adoring fans can now spend a year with him, finding out how he feels about his superstar lifestyle, what he thinks of his bandmates, what the group has planned for the future, and much more. Filled with the latest gossip, insider facts, Harry quizzes, and even a free calendar poster, this is a must-have for anyone who loves Harry Styles!

Brother Ray: Ray Charles' Own Story


Ray Charles - 1978
    In Brother Ray, he tells his story in an inimitable and unsparing voice, from the chronicle of his musical development to his heroin addiction to his tangled romantic life. Overcoming poverty, blindness, the loss of his parents, and the pervasive racism of the era, Ray Charles was acclaimed worldwide as a genius by the age of thirty-two. By combining the influences of gospel, jazz, blues, and country music, he invented, almost single-handedly, what became known as soul. And throughout a career spanning more than a half century, Ray Charles remained in complete control of his life and his music, allowing nobody to tell him what he could and couldn't do.As the Chicago Sun-Times put it, Brother Ray is "candid, explicit, sometimes embarrassing, often hilarious, always warm, touching and deeply human-just like his music."

Everything: A Book About Manic Street Preachers


Simon Price - 1999
    Beginning with their childhoods in South Wales, Simon Price traces the lives of the band through their early days, the mysterious disappearance of their songwriter, Richey Edwards, and concluding with the release of their multi-platinum album "This is My Truth Tell Me Yours." Classic photos, unseen rarities -- including exclusive pictures from the band's official photographer -- and the most comprehensive "Manic Street Preachers" discography ever published, make this book unmissable. Has sold over 20,000 copies since its original publication in 1999 Written with the full co-operation of the band, their families, their friends and colleagues in the music industry.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer


Robert Lewis May - 1939
    May, a copywriter working at Chicago's Montgomery Ward & Co., wrote a holiday story at the request of his employer. Almost two and a half million copies of the little tale about a reindeer with a shiny red nose were given away to all the children who visited Montgomery Ward stores that year. The rest is history. Over seventy years later, the beloved classic is once again available in a hardcover faithful facsimile of the 1939 Rudolph, with original text and original Denver Gillen illustrations.

Jeff Lynne: Electric Light Orchestra - Before and After


John Van der Kiste - 2015
    From there he joined the ever-popular Move, then helped form the groundbreaking Electric Light Orchestra. After co-founder Roy Wood left in 1972, Lynne turned what had been a struggling rock and classical fusion into one of Britain s most consistently successful and popular acts. Following a run of hit singles, albums, and sell-out concerts throughout the world, he laid the group to rest in 1986 and combined a solo career as an artist and producer with membership of the ultimate supergroup, the Traveling Wilburys. His production credits include Roy Orbison, Tom Petty, Del Shannon, George Harrison, and even the Beatles on their two final singles in the mid- 90s. Jeff Lynne: The Electric Light Orchestra, Before and After is the first-ever biography of one of the most prolific and highly regarded performers of the last fifty years. Rich in backstage anecdotes of overheated orchestras, frontmen rivalries, tour mishaps, cross-group partnerships, unlikely collaborations, and self-imposed exile from the stage in the quest for inspiration, this book will leave fans and general readers delighted and inspired by a career at the epicentre of twentieth-century rock. ** This electronic edition contains 35 photographs **

Big Nate: From the Top


Lincoln Peirce - 2010
    This spunky 11-year-old holds the school record in detentions, but that doesn't stop him from dreaming big!Big Nate is taking it from the top; the top of the troublemaker's list!Nate Wright is eleven years old, four-and-a-half feet tall, and the all-time record holder for school detentions in school history. He's a self-described genius and sixth-grade Renaissance man. Middle school kids everywhere can relate to Big Nate's daily battle against overzealous teachers, undercooked cafeteria food, and all-around conventionality. This collection features cartoonist Lincoln Peirce's daily and Sunday strips.Now in full-color with poster!

Blizzard!: The Storm That Changed America


Jim Murphy - 2000
    Newbery Honor Book author Jim Murphy orchestrates with fact, science, technology, and sociology the testimony of survivors and victims to tell the harrowing story of the phenomenal blizzard that crippled New York City in March, 1888.

The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars: Heroin, Handguns, and Ham Sandwiches


Jeremy Simmonds - 2008
    Jeremy Simmonds here draws on a lifetime’s obsession to match the industry’s biggest departed stars--Buddy, Jeff, Sid, Jimi, Biggie, Janis, Elvis, Marc, Tupac--with more than a few lesser-known tales of rock tragedy. He also includes a smorgasbord of lighter-hearted sidebars, including strange facts, lucky escapes, and top-ten death discs. An indispensable reference full of useful and useless information, with hundreds of photos of the good, the bad, and the silly, The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars is guaranteed to rock the world of trivia buffs and diehards alike.

The Carter Family: Don't Forget This Song


Frank M. Young - 2012
    Many of their hit songs, such as “Wildwood Flower” and “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” have influenced countless musicians and remain timeless country standards.The Carter Family: Don’t Forget This Song is not only a unique illustrated biography, but a moving account that reveals the family’s rise to success, their struggles along the way, and their impact on contemporary music. Illustrated with exacting detail and written in the Southern dialect of the time, its dynamic narrative is pure Americana. It is also a story of success and failure, of poverty and wealth, of racism and tolerance, of creativity and business, and of the power of music and love. Includes bonus CD with original Carter Family music. Praise for The Carter Family: "What a fine marriage of form and content! Humble and moving—straightforward with occasional breathtaking bravura passages—this book echoes the Carter Family's rough-hewn sounds. It tells of the lives, sorrows, and values of a lost America in short episodes like a giant stack of old 78s. Using the vocabulary of comic strips like Little Orphan Annie and Gasoline Alley, it's as obsessive in its dedication to vernacular craft and hard work as A.P. Carter himself. Frank Young and David Lasky have spun a work of visual music that will replay in your head and heart well after you've finished reading it."—Art Spiegelman, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer/artist of Maus “Charming, faithful, and resonant . . . will charm the pants off you.” —The Comics Journal “Lasky’s gorgeous artwork animates the story and evokes a mood that mirrors the era and the music.” —NPR.org “Pure pleasure for anyone interested in music history.” —The Seattle Times “Cracking open The Carter Family feels like putting on a vintage 78: moody hearty Americana emanates hauntingly. Enlivening this graphic biography of the legendary country music family are both Frank M. Young’s dialogue, which replicates the vernacular to a T but oh so naturally, and David Lasky’s understated and elegant illustrations which resonate like the music they depict.” —HeebMagazine.com

Dylan: Visions, Portraits, and Back Pages


Mark Blake - 2005
    Author Biography: Mark Blake is a veteran journalist who has written for many international music magazines.

The Beatles and Me On Tour


Ivor Davis - 2014
    In this first-ever chronicling of that revolutionary tour from the inside, author Ivor Davis serves up the stories behind the stories as only an insider can.In the rowdy and riotous recollections of THE BEATLES AND ME ON TOUR, Ivor Davis, then a reporter for the London Daily Express, shares his unrestricted access to the Liverpool lads as a member of the Beatles entourage. From inside the band’s hotel suites to the concert arenas to the private jets, the madness and magic plays out through Davis’ personal accounts of hanging with the Beatles for thirty-four jam-packed days.Go behind the scenes for all-night Monopoly games with John Lennon, witness the Beatles’ legendary living-room jam with Elvis, and be there the night Bob Dylan introduces the band to pot. Roll up for this definitive account of the legendary band at a critical moment in the history of rock ’n’ roll.

The Other Hollywood: The Uncensored Oral History of the Porn Film Industry


Legs McNeil - 2005
    And what a story it is: Through hundreds of original interviews, contemporary newspaper accounts, police reports, court testimony, and more, Legs McNeil and coauthors Jennifer Osborne and Peter Pavia trace today's billion-dollar industry from its makeshift, mob-connected origins to the Internet age. Along the way we encounter porn stars such as Linda Lovelace, John Holmes, Traci Lords, and Savannah -- along with countless mainstream stars, politicians, FBI agents, and more.Epic, hilarious, and moving, The Other Hollywood contributes to the porn industry the one thing missing in all previous accounts: a vivid, tragicomic, irresistible humanity.

Morrissey: The Albums


Johnny Rogan - 2007
    Features a song-by-song analysis, a song index for easy reference, and details of compilations and live albums.