Now, to celebrate a decade of delighting opera fans and foes alike, musical historian and humorist David Barber has prepared a special revised and expanded edition of his hilarious bestselling history of opera. Chapters such as Serious Buffoonery, Teutonic Tunesmiths and, of course, Italian Sausage Machines display Barber's rapier wit and knack for knowing fascinating, if sometimes useless, information about music, musicians and the offbeat world they live in. This expanded edition includes new material ranging from Strauss to ragtime, opera to the Tenor Menace. From Italian castrati to German Ring-bearers, from Handel's fights with rival sopranos to Puccini's nicotine habit, the author of Bach, Beethoven and the Boys and Tenors, Tantrums and Trills delivers a funny yet informative, irreverent yet affectionate history of serious music's most serious art form as only he can - and as only he would dare to do.

    Written by his manager Dave Lory, Jeff Buckley includes interviews with others who worked closely with him who have never spoken before. For the first time since Jeff Buckley’s untimely death on May 29, 1997, his manager Dave Lory reveals what it was like to work with one of rock’s most celebrated and influential artists. Go on the road and behind the scenes with Jeff, from the release of his debut EP Live at Sin-é to the second album Buckley never completed. Jeff Buckley includes testimony from the many people who worked closely with Jeff both on and off stage and includes never-before-shared intimate scenes that only Lory witnessed, including what went down immediately after Lory got that fateful call, “Jeff is missing.”

    Rock stars from Elvis to Bruce Springsteen have been profoundly affected by his work. This insightful book examines the power of Orbison's music--from his pioneer days to his fantastic comeback--and the events that lead to his untimely death.

    

    Cultivated by the Motown star machine, Mary Wilson, Diana Ross, and Florence Ballard popped onto the charts with hits like "Baby Love" and "Where Did Our Love Go" and made the Supremes not only a household name, but rock and roll legends. The story of their journey to fame is one that fairy tales are made of-complete with battles, tragedies, and triumphs. It's a story that only one of the founders of this talented trio is able or willing to share with the world. In Dreamgirls & Supreme Faith: My Life as a Supreme, Supremes' co-founder Mary Wilson boldly brings to life all the intimate details of the group's struggle to top the charts. This is the first book to tell the complete story of Mary's courageous life from childhood through the height of the Supremes, to the turn of the century. This beautiful paperback edition combines the best-selling Dreamgirls with the sequel, Supreme Faith: Someday We'll Be Together, for the first time in one volume. The new afterword brings Mary's intriguing story up to date with details on. . . - The tragic car accident that claimed her son's life - The death of her mother, Johnnie Mae, and her dear friend, Mary Wells - Becoming a grandmother - Making her peace with Berry Gordy and Diana Ross - Being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame The Supremes wonderful music isn't the only thing to remain in the public's mind. Diana Ross' push for dominance in the trio has become legendary. Mary Wilson speaks candidly about Ross' tactics to latch onto Berry Gordy, and force her will on the group's activities. For example, while on the early tours, Diana would threaten to call Gordy from the road if the men on the bus didn't behave to her approval. She also openly pushed for Flo's removal from the group. Wilson also openly shares her thoughts on . . .The group's never-ending b

    The commentary will contain background on the poems or more deeply delve into themes or topics discussed in the poems themselves. The spiritual seeker as well as the mature in faith will both benefit from the poems.

    Vikram Sampath, in this remarkable book, brings forth little known details of this fascinating woman who was known for her melodious voice, her multi-lingual skills, poetic sensibility, irresistible personality and her extravagant lifestyle. From her early days in Azamgarh and Banaras to the glory years in Calcutta when Gauhar ruled the world of Indian music, to her sad fall from grace and end in Mysore, the book takes the reader through the roller-coaster ride of this feisty musician. In the process, the author presents a view of the socio-historical context of Indian music and theatre during that period.

    He has sold more than 50 million albums worldwide. His music has been the soundtrack to the lives of millions of people who grew up in the '70s, '80s and '90s. This celebratory, personal volume includes hundreds of photographsmany never-before-publishedas well as a selection of memorabilia from Petty's personal archives, all of which help to illustrate the songwriter's own description of his amazing life and career. Publication of this book coincides with the theatrical release of a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers film documentary by Peter Bogdanovich and a four disc DVD/CD set. The fall of 2007 belongs to Tom Petty.

    Vale: Four leading figures in social movements discuss the state of Western culture and what led to its demise, with firsthand accounts of their own experiences, including subjects that concern every creative artist and thinker: The Internet and social change; why every one must paint( ); mind control, marketing, branding and consumerism; corporate chain stores and the problem of Amazon; punk rock history; the rise of Do-It-Yourself (D-I-Y) culture production; fame and its downside; sex and relationships.

    A musical drama biopic chronicling P.T. Barnum (played by Hugh Jackman) and his founding of the Barnum & Bailey Circus, this December 2017 film features a stunning soundtrack by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul of La La Land and Dear Evan Hansen fame. Our songbook features piano/vocal/guitar arrangements of 9 songs including the Golden Globe-winning "This Is Me" and: Come Alive * From Now On * The Greatest Show * A Million Dreams * Never Enough * The Other Side * Rewrite the Stars * Tightrope. Also includes full-color scenes from the movie.

    Complete with activities, quizzes, and pull-out posters, this is the must-have book for all One Direction fans!

    Waking up the neighbors and setting the U.S. music scene on fire in the 1970s and through the '80s, The Ramones' story is tragic and raw, sentiments that could also describe the band's songwriter, bass player, and unsung genius, Dee Dee. A wild ride into the heart and soul of New York City, Poisoned Heart is Vera Ramones King's last testament to her former husband, who shocked the world when he died in 2002 of a drug overdose despite having been clean for years. Dee Dee defined the punk-rock lifestyle. He was a rash, often violent, heroin addict, and no one better understood his twisted mentality, or insanity, than faithful wife Vera. But Vera, herself a less destructive Nancy to Dee Dee's Sid, also came to know the Dee Dee that music fans worldwide held near and dear: a generous, loving man who had a soft-spot for bums, who grew up in the tough streets of Queens, who never stopped working, writing, and performing, who often treated his wife like a Punk Rock Princess, and whose greatest joy was the look on his fans' faces as he played them a song. For true fans of The Ramones, those who remember the 1970s as a time of music innovation and inspired creativity, groupies, wannabes, and true music-lovers everywhere, Poisoned Heart is destined to become a literary--and rock--classic.

    First US publication for the Scottish Spence.Neil McGraw is a lad in Glasgow, an only child, the son of a dour undertaker permanently embittered by his wife's death during childbirth. Whenever the boy misbehaves, he's locked in the basement among the coffins, so it's not surprising he asks every body: What happens when you die? Against his will, he finds himself learning the trade. This is less gloomy than it sounds. The story moves at a good clip as the resilient Neil experiments with drinking and dating.The crisis comes when his dad finds him and his girl making out in a coffin. Soon, it's Neil's turn to lock his old man, dead drunk, into the basement, before hightailing it to the London of the Swinging '60s. A friendly queer, Abe Morris, offers him a crash pad, no strings attached, where Neil finds drugs, straight sex, and Zen. The party ends when Abe, stoned, is killed in traffic and Spence abandons conventional narrative to send Neil hopscotching around the world before depositing him, 15 years later, beside the funeral pyres of the Ganges. Here, he gets very sick but is rescued by a vision in a sari: Lila, a Londoner, back home for her father's funeral. The two fall in love and marry, lickety-split, before Neil is summoned back to Glasgow. His father has died, leaving him the business, which Neil gives a hippie twist, producing brightly painted coffins in unusual shapes, with Lila a business partner.The mood is light and buoyant, but novelistic concerns (what makes Lila tick? why do the couple decide not to have kids?) are shelved in favor of a scrapbook of original last rites, seasoned with Eastern mysticism. There's an appealing freshness to Spence's writing; too bad he gives up on credible plotting and characterization.

    In keeping with the popular level of this theater, Schikaneder himself supplied Mozart with the libretto about the rescue of a good fairy's daughter from a wicked magician by a hero armed with a magic flute. After a good deal of the music was written, the composer and librettist — both Freemasons — grafted Masonic ideals onto the plot, transforming a simple fairy tale into a moralistic allegory and a Singspiel into one of the world's greatest operas.This handsome, moderately priced volume, reprinted directly form an authoritative edition, will enable musicians, music students, and opera lovers to gain a fuller appreciation of Mozart's mastery of operatic language, orchestral color, and dramatic expression. A helpful feature of this edition is the inclusion of all spoken dialog, usually abbreviated in other editions.