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.

    In Slap Shot Original, Dave Hanson gives readers not only a behind the scenes look at what life was like on the set during the filming of the classic movie, but also treats them to stories from the actors and players themselves.

    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."

    The unauthorized behind-the-scenes story of the making and marketing of one of rock's original supergroups, viewed from the perspective of an executive from Kiss's business management team.

    Drawing on new documentary information, the author recreates the often grueling conditions of an early rock and roll tour, and provides new facts about "the day the music died." With 50 photos.

     Endorsed by Chess.com. What chess experts are saying about Chess 101: "The moment I opened Chess 101, I knew Dave had accomplished something great: a truly simple guide to learning and enjoying the game. Many attempt this feat, but few beginner chess manuals really succeed in keeping things simple while highlighting the best parts of the game of chess!" DANIEL RENSCH International Master and Vice-President of Chess.com and ChessKid.com . . . . . . . . . . "Whether you want to know anything from setting up the board and moving the pieces, to the rules and etiquette of the game, to competing in your first tournament, you'll find it all and much more in Chess 101. Dave has given us a delightful introduction to the royal game. Enjoy and learn!" BRUCE PANDOLFINI Chess author and teacher who was portrayed by Ben Kingsley in the film Searching for Bobby Fischer . . . . . . . . . . "Chess 101 stands alone among chess books for beginners because of its clarity and organization. In Chess 101, Dave Schloss moves seamlessly from the board setup and piece description, to the moves and relative values of the pieces, to chess notation, and then on to elements of chess strategy. This work fills a void as the beginner's book of choice, for chess students grade four or older, through adult, who want authoritative information. The reader will also learn all about how to get started in chess tournaments and how to get more involved in the fascinating game of chess." MICHAEL ROHDE Grandmaster and former U.S. High School Champion, U.S. Junior Champion and U.S. Open Champion . . . . . . . . . . "It doesn't seem possible with all of the chess books available today, that a small brief beginner's guide could fill any unmet need, yet this little book is worth a beginner's attention - whether adult or child - either on one's own or in a beginner's class." GEORGIA CHESS MAGAZINE

    Randall Riese has exhaustively covered every aspect of her life--from her rise to stardom and her stunning career on Broadway and in film, to her relationship with her mother and with her son, her political involvement, and her numerous lovers. Includes 16 pages of fabulous photographs.

    Traces the evolution of the Dave Matthews Band, and describes their experiences on the road.

    If you have already been out in the big world and you enjoy the considerate observations that often come from travel, this book is for you. If you just can't get away, but hearing about someone else's adventures can take you there, this book is for you." -Lindsay LaShell2 years on the road. 1 backpack. 15 countries. Banned from one. Stories about Nepal, Colombia, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, Australia, Kenya, Qatar, UAE, Panama and more. This book is about the days, people, stories, ethics and philosophy that bridged the trip. What is modern travel? Why are you not on the road?

    The Drive-By Truckers, as they named themselves, grew into one of the best and most consequential rock bands of the twenty-first century, a great live act whose songs deliver the truth and nuance rarely bestowed on Southerners, so often reduced to stereotypes.Where the Devil Don’t Stay tells the band’s unlikely story not chronologically but geographically. Seeing the Truckers’ albums as roadmaps through a landscape that is half-real, half-imagined, their fellow Southerner Stephen Deusner travels to the places the band’s members have lived in and written about. Tracking the band from Muscle Shoals, Alabama, to Richmond, Virginia, to the author’s hometown in McNairy County, Tennessee, Deusner explores the Truckers’ complex relationship to the South and the issues of class, race, history, and religion that run through their music. Drawing on new interviews with past and present band members, including Jason Isbell, Where the Devil Don’t Stay is more than the story of a great American band; it’s a reflection on the power of music and how it can frame and shape a larger culture.

    As he learned valuable lessons in self-sufficiency, taking responsibility, and how to avoid (for the most part but not always) getting punched in the face by irate hippies, Larry also found his place and made his home in the far-flung, disjointed and eccentric community he encountered in the anarchic realm that begins where Highway 101’s tattered tarmac dissolves into the dust of Spy Rock Road.

    This title focuses on Beyoncé.

    Lennon's final pivotal year would climax in several moments of creative triumph as he rediscovered his artistic self in dramatic fashion. With the bravura release of the Double Fantasy album with wife Yoko Ono, he was poised and ready for an even brighter future only to be wrenched from the world by an assassin's bullets. John Lennon, 1980 isn't about how the gifted songwriter died; but rather, about how he lived.

    

    Celebrating the year in music writing by gathering a rich array of essays, missives, and musings on every style of music from rock to hip-hop to R&B to jazz to pop to blues, it is essential reading for anyone who loves great music and accomplished writing. Scribes of every imaginable sort—novelists, poets, journalists, musicians— are gathered to create a multi-voiced snapshot of the year in music writing that, like the music it illuminates, is every bit as thrilling as it is riveting.