Book picks similar to
Perfect Lives: An Opera by Robert Ashley
poetry
music
retro-video-and-old-computers
somewhere-out-there
Hostage
Charles Bukowski - 1985
This program of Bukowski's raucous poetry, recorded live in 1980, takes as its theme the poet's intimate relationship with the urban underbelly.
In the Court of King Crimson
Sid Smith - 2002
chart hit. The band followed it with 40 further albums of consistently challenging, distinctive and innovative music. Drawing on hours of new interviews, and encouraged by Crimson supremo Robert Fripp, the author traces the band’s turbulent history year by year, track by track.
A Brief History of New Music
Hans Ulrich Obrist - 2012
It brings together leading avant-garde composers of the early postwar period such as Elliot Carter, Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen; pioneers of electroacoustic music such as Francois Bayle, Pauline Oliveros, Iannis Xenakis and Peter Zinovieff; minimalist and Fluxus-inspired artist-musicians such as Tony Conrad, Henry Flynt, Phil Niblock, Yoko Ono, Steve Reich and Terry Riley; and figures that have moved between classical/experimental realms and more pop terrain, such as Brian Eno, Kraftwerk, Howie B., Arto Lindsay and Caetano Veloso. Obrist's interviews map the evolution of the new music in Europe and America across all of its genres, from musique concrete to the recent hybridizations between pop and avant-garde, as techniques from both realms cross-pollinate. A Brief History of New Music is an ideal introduction to the experimental and new classical music of the past half-century.
Bass Reeves Lawman
Fred Staff - 2013
Reeves truly was the most unusual US Marshal to ever serve this country. His accomplishments earned him the title of the most feared lawman in the wild and untamed Indian Territory. The reader will follow his never ending contacts with murders, robbers, horse thieves and whiskey runners. His remarkable life should be an inspiration for any reader. They will be impressed, and astonished by his fearlessness, dedication to honor, commitment to the law and his impact on history. Bass Reeves Lawman is the second of a trilogy based on the true life of Bass Reeves, the first Black US Marshal west of the Mississippi. You will follow him from as he meets famous people of the time. Pistol Pete, Belle Starr, Judge Isaac Parker, Heck Thomas and Sam Sixkiller were just some of the famous and infamous who crossed paths with this amazing man. Bass Reeves was born a slave, escaped captivity during the Civil War. His years of service, as a US Marshal, to the lawless Indian Territory helped write the history of Oklahoma. His honor, accomplishments and courage makes him eligible to be called the greatest lawman of his time. Bass Reeves’ story will make any lover of the old west wonder why he is not more famous. The history of the Old West is filled with stories of heroes and villains, and those stories have been a source of fascination for generations. The fact that the stories of these unique and colorful characters continue to intrigue people is a true testament to the grit and determination it actually took to tame a wild and unpredictable country. Among those stories, readers will seldom find a character that overcame more challenges and had more determination than Bass Reeves. As a slave, Reeves served a man who ultimately became the Speaker of the House of Texas. He was a participant in the Civil War and escaped to the lawless Indian Territory that is now Oklahoma. His life with the Indians, gave him the skills to make him a great tracker and hunter of outlaws. He learned five languages and gained respect of the Indians of the Territory, which made him one of the few who could gain information and accomplish the task of hunting down the lawless. Bass Reeves faced challenges in his new homeland that would have destroyed a lesser man, but his natural gifts of determination and intelligence helped mold the man into one of the most feared and respected lawmen in history. The story of Bass Reeves was illuminated in his day by only a flicker of candlelight, because he was black. If he had been a white man, the entire world would have known of his great exploits, and his name would have been mentioned with the likes of Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson and Bill Hickok. If the real truth had been known, the name of Bass Reeves would have been a beacon of historical light, shining brighter than any of his contemporaries. The truth is, many of those more famous lawmen also reveled in some of the less honorable sides of life, like gambling, prostitution, profiteering, murder and vengeance. To the contrary, research into the life of Bass Reeves has shown that he strictly obeyed the laws of the land and strove to treat the men he hunted with even more respect than was customary for that time in history. Amazingly, Reeves stuck to these high standards in a wild territory that was often filled with greater danger than any of his contemporaries could have even imagined. Bass Reeves brought law to a territory of outlaws that spread out over seventy thousand square miles. He arrested more than three thousand offenders and delivered them to face judgment before Judge Parker, in Fort Smith, Arkansas.
Incredibly Strange Music, Volume II
V. Vale - 1994
French of Family Affair) "singing" songs by Bob Dylan, and tons more
Jiya Jale: The Stories of Songs
गुलज़ार - 2018
He remains as popular today, and as sensitive a chronicler of our emotions, as he was half a century ago. And throughout, his work has been gloriously distinctive—especially for the unforgettable images and the intimacy he brings to his songs.In this book of conversations with the acclaimed author and documentary filmmaker Nasreen Munni Kabir, Gulzar speaks about the making of his most enduring songs—from ‘Mora gora ang lai le’ (Bandini; 1963) and ‘Dil dhoondta hai’ (Mausam; 1975) to ‘Jiya jale’ (Dil Se; 1998) and ‘Dil toh bachcha hai ji’ (Ishqiya; 2010). He also discusses the songs of other greats, like Shailendra and Sahir Ludhianvi; his favourite music directors, like SD and RD Burman, Hemant Kumar and AR Rahman; and several playback singers, among them, Lata Mangeshkar, Mohammed Rafi, Asha Bhosle, Vani Jairam, Jagjit Singh and Bhupinder Singh.Full of insight, anecdote and analysis—and containing over 40 songs, in roman script and English translation—this book is a treasure for students and lovers of Hindi cinema, music and poetry.
Blues & Chaos: The Music Writing of Robert Palmer
Robert Palmer - 2009
He was an authority on rock & roll, blues, jazz, punk, avant-garde, and world music -- often discovering new artists and trends years (even decades) before they hit the mainstream. Now, noted music writer Anthony DeCurtis has compiled the best pieces from Palmer's oeuvre and presents them here, in one compelling volume.A member of the elite group of the defining rock critics who emerged in the 1960s and 1970s, Palmer possessed a vision so complete that, as DeCurtis writes, "it's almost as if, if you read Bob, you didn't need to read anyone else." Blues & Chaos features some of his most memorable pieces, including gripping stories about John Lennon, Led Zeppelin, Moroccan trance music, Miles Davis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Philip Glass, and Muddy Waters.Wonderfully entertaining, infused with passion, and deeply inspiring, Blues & Chaos is a must for music fans everywhere.Flirtations with chaos / by Anthony DeCurtis --The big picture : "The opinions expressed are dangerously subjective." --The blues : "A post-Heisenberg-uncertainty-principle mojo hand" --Jazz : "A kinetic kaleidoscope" --The originators : "Where the hell did this man come from?" --Soul and R&B : "It had to come from somewhere, and the church is where it all came from" --Classic rock : "Musically, we weren't afraid to go in any direction whatsoever" --John Lennon and Yoko Ono : "Now the music's coming through me again" --Punk rock and beyond : "Fear and nothing" --World music : "The world is changing and so is our music" --Morocco : "We fell through each other, weightless, into the sky" --On the edge : "Listen, as if a new world had suddenly opened up" --Sonic guitar maelstrom : "All hail the overdriven amp."
IF U DONT LOVE THE MOON YOUR AN ASS HOLE
Steve Roggenbuck - 2013
Poems and selfies by Steve Roggenbuck
Rat Scabies and the Holy Grail: Can a Punk Rock Legend Find What Monty Python Couldn't?
Christopher Dawes - 2005
His neighbor is Rat Scabies, former drummer with the Damned, best noted for setting his drums on fire while still playing them at a live concert. Life with Rat as a neighbor isn't run-of-the-mill, but things turn even stranger when Rat announces that he (and Christopher) are going on a search for the Holy Grail. The saga begins in Rennes-le-Chateau in France, where in 1891 a local priest discovered a treasure whose mystery remains unsolved. Once Christopher and Rat have written a list of things to do ("Buy metal detectors!"), they need only unravel a tale involving the Cathars, the Knights Templar, the Man in the Iron Mask, and Louis XIV—and along the way, visit Paris, Rome, Glastonbury, and Tintagel—and perhaps join the Masons (Rat thinks they know something). The legend of the Holy Grail is far from unknown, but this is the first time the quest has been given the punk rock treatment. Rat Scabies and the Holy Grail is a psychedelic, Pythonesque road trip, a testimony to the sometimes odd nature of friendship, and a rich historical yarn.
John Prine Beyond Words
John Prine - 2017
In this book, John Prine curates a selection of his best loved songs. Included are lyrics, guitar chords, commentary from John and over 100 photographs - may never before published - from his personal collection. John Prine has written songs that have become central to the American musical heritage. This former Maywood, Illinois mailman came to prominence with his debut record, 'John Prine' in 1971, which includes classics like, "Angel from Montgomery," "Sam Stone," "Paradise," and "Hello in There." His lyrics speak to the everyday experience of ordinary people, with a simple honesty and an extraordinary ability to connect with the heart.
Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings: A Casebook
Joanne M. Braxton - 1998
This exciting new series assembles key documents and criticism concerning these works that have so recently become central components of the American literature curriculum. Each casebook will reprint documents relating to the work's historical context and reception, present the best in critical essays, and when possible, feature an interview of the author. The series will provide, for the first time, an accessible forum in which readers can come to a fuller understanding of these contemporary masterpieces and the unique aspects of American ethnic, racial, or cultural experience that they so ably portray.Perhaps more than any other single text, Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings helped to establish the mainstream status of the renaissance in black women's writing. This casebook presents a variety of critical approaches to this classic autobiography, along with an exclusive interview with Angelou conducted specially for this volume and a unique drawing of her childhood surroundings in Stamps, Arkansas, drawn by Angelou herself.
Jack Slater: Orphan Train to Cattle Baron
Johnny Gunn - 2017
He was saved by the Children’s Aid Society that placed orphaned children with families on the frontier. These families welcomed the children and most found loving homes. Some grew up to become industrial, political, or community leaders. Slater did not find a loving home. Instead, he found himself at Pete Jablonski’s farm in Fargo, Dakota Territory where abuse was a daily dose of reality. When outlaws rob a local mine payroll and kill four men in the process, Slater makes a mortal enemy of the Elko County Sheriff that takes Slater's life is an unexpected direction.
Lovely, Raspberry: Poems
Aaron Belz - 2010
A former resident of St. Louis, where he founded the Observable Poetry reading series, he now lives in Hillsborough, North Carolina.
100 Essential Modern Poems
Joseph Parisi - 2005
Selected and introduced by Joseph Parisi, former longtime editor of Poetry magazine, this brilliant collection brings together the greatest poems by all the classic authors, along with the choicest works by today's most accomplished artists in America and abroad. From W. H. Auden and T. S. Eliot to John Ashbery and A. R. Ammons; Elizabeth Bishop and Marianne Moore to Sylvia Plath and Mary Oliver; Robert Frost and W. B. Yeats to Allen Ginsberg and Thom Gunn, this comprehensive anthology features the poems that have best expressed the spirit of our times and helped create modern culture. In addition to such ground-breaking works as "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" and "Howl," Mr. Parisi has included the incisive social satire and whimsical wordplay of such wits as Dorothy Parker, Ogden Nash, and Frank O'Hara. Among contemporary poets in the book are Seamus Heaney, Jane Kenyon, Rita Dove, Sharon Olds, Paul Muldoon, Adrienne Rich, and the redoubtable Billy Collins, all of whom have already achieved wide popular acclaim for poems that speak compellingly about modern life and the perennial concerns of the human heart. Mr. Parisi provides a general introduction to the book and introduces each poem with a brief biographical and critical note. For anyone who wishes to discover or to re-experience the most important and vital poems of our time, 100 Essential Modern Poems is, quite simply, indispensable.