Entertainment Memoir

Suddenly the music is not notes or a tune, but what those seven people are exactly: the music is an aural holograph of the Grateful Dead. All their fibers, nuances, histories, desires, beings are clear. Jerry and his questing, Phil the loyal comrade, Tom drifting beside them both on a cloud, Pig staying stubbornly down to earth; Mickey working out furious complexities trying to understand how Bill is so simple, and Bob succumbing inevitably to Jerry and Phil and joining them.

Part memoir, part oral history, Poets and Dreamers: My Life in Americana Music traces Tamara Saviano’s remarkable journey through the rise of the Americana music genre. Spanning more than three decades, Saviano unfolds the story of Americana—country music’s bohemian cousin—from her unique perspectives as a journalist, historian, Grammy-winning music producer, filmmaker, and artist emissary.

Formed in Hermosa Beach, California, in 1978, for eight brutal years Black Flag made and played brilliant, ugly, no-holds-barred music on a self-appointed touring circuit of America’s clubs, squats, and community halls. They fought with everybody: the police, the record industry, and even their own fans. They toured overseas on pennies a day and did it in beat-up trucks and vans. Spray Paint the Walls tells Black Flag’s story from the inside, drawing on exclusive interviews with the group’s members, their contemporaries, and the bands they inspired.

In the 1980s, Jill Dodd determines that her ticket out of an abusive home is to make it as a top model in Paris. Armed with only her desire for freedom and independence, she embarks on an epic journey that takes her to uncharted territory - the Parisian fashion industry, with all its beautiful glamour and its ugly underbelly of sex, drugs, and excess.

Eddie Mannix and Howard Strickling are virtually unknown outside of Hollywood and little-remembered even there, but as General Manager and Head of Publicity for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, they lorded over all the stars in Hollywood’s golden age from the 1920s through the 1940s—including legends like Garbo, Dietrich, Gable and Garland. When MGM stars found themselves in trouble, it was Eddie and Howard who took care of them—solved their problems, hid their crimes, and kept their secrets. They were “the Fixers.”

"...in the tradition of the best jazz autobiographies...a fascinating travelogue through the jazz world, filled with vivid images of Gene Krupa, Stan Kenton, Roy Eldridge and Billie Holiday.... Her prose is as hip as her music." (The New York Times Book Review)

While documenting his own personal identity struggles with gender and self-identity, British K-Pop singer Oli London explores the root cause of the issue of trans ideology and gender identity, tackling the pressures of social media, the education system, media, and other factors that are pushing a growing number of young people into transitioning. He takes a close look at real world examples and examines laws, research, and data to help lift the lid on the multibillion-dollar gender affirming care industry.

William Henry "Chick" Webb (1905-39) was one of the first virtuoso drummers in jazz and an innovative bandleader dubbed the "Savoy King," who reigned at Harlem's world-famous Savoy Ballroom. Along with the likes of Duke Ellington, Fletcher Henderson, and Cab Calloway, Webb helped create the popular dance and music culture, known as Swing, that swept the United States during and after the Great Depression and left an indelible impact on American culture.

Mit 69 Jahren war Ozzy Osbourne auf einer triumphalen Abschiedstournee, spielte vor ausverkauften Stadien und erhielt begeisterte Kritiken auf der ganzen Welt. Dann das Desaster. Innerhalb weniger Wochen musste er nach einem Krankenhausaufenthalt wegen einer Fingerinfektion seine Tournee – und sein gesamtes öffentliches Leben – aufgeben, da er vom Hals abwärts fast vollständig gelähmt war.

This is the first serious biography of a man widely considered one of Texas’ - and America’s - greatest songwriters. Like Jimmie Rodgers, Woody Guthrie, Robert Johnson, and Hank Williams, Townes Van Zandt was the embodiment of that mythic American figure, the troubled troubadour.

Julie, 28, Chicago. All Eddie had were her photos—her green eyes and her wayward posture. Who made the first move doesn’t matter—or does it? Off jump, he could tell she was bad news and a great catch. But how to bring it to the real world? That’s what a whirlwind vacation in St. Barth’s is for. Follow along as one man tries to turn his supreme confidence and complete vulnerability into three little words.

Will we ever get tired of watching Cher navigate Beverly Hills High School and discover true love in the movie Clueless? As if! Written by Amy Heckerling and starring Alicia Silverstone, Clueless is an enduring comedy classic that remains one of the most streamed movies on Netflix, Amazon, and iTunes even 20 years after its release. In the first book of its kind, Jen Chaney has compiled an oral history of the making of this iconic film using recollections and insights collected from key cast and crew members.

Rita pode ter tido de tudo, menos uma “vidinha besta”. E os últimos anos foram, sim, desafiadores. Ao mesmo tempo que o mundo passava por uma pandemia, ela foi diagnosticada com câncer no pulmão. Em um texto franco, ora cru e chocante, ora cheio de ironias, ora sutil e amoroso, Rita Lee não poupa detalhes de seu tratamento. Fala também da rotina, dos avisos do Universo, de seres de luz e dos caminhos que a vida tomou.

Gary Barlow is one of the most successful British musicians and songwriters of all time, but 15 years ago, as he himself admits, he hit rock bottom - he was out of shape, out of work, depressed. Food for him had become an addiction, a means not only of comfort but almost of self-medication as he grappled with the cruel twists of fate of musical stardom. In 2003, as he struggled with the disappointment of an underperforming solo career alongside the tireless media taunts; Gary turned to food.

Roy Orbison emerged as an artist alongside his Sun Records contemporaries in the early days of rock 'n' roll. He did not possess the good looks of Elvis Presley or the everyman toughness of Johnny Cash. But he did possess a magnetic mystique that would captivate fans around the world and inspire countless musicians. John Kruth tells the story of Roy Orbison in prose as musical as the artist's melodies and does not shy away from or trivialize the personal pain, alienation, and tragic events that shaped Orbison's singular personality and music.

Kansas City Lightning: The Rise and Times of Charlie Parker is the first installment in the long-awaited portrait of one of the most talented and influential musicians of the twentieth century, from Stanley Crouch, one of the foremost authorities on jazz and culture in America. Throughout his life, Charlie Parker personified the tortured American artist: A revolutionary performer who used his alto saxophone to create a new music known as bebop even as he wrestled with a drug addiction that would lead to his death at the age of thirty-four.

In this unique combination of African American music and cultural history, we come to know one of the greatest stars the world has ever seen - Eartha Kitt - as revealed by the person who knew her best, her daughter. Eartha, who was a mix of Black, Cherokee, and White, identified as Black, but Kitt, her biological daughter by a White man, is blonde and pale. This is the story of a little White girl raised by her natural mother, who was the biggest Black celebrity in the world. For three decades before Kitt married, they traveled the world together, mother and daughter.

Raised Eyebrows is the bittersweet story of the last years in the life of Groucho Marx, told by a young Marx Brothers fan who was fortunate enough to work for Groucho as his personal secretary and archivist, right inside Marx's Beverly Hills home. In addition to getting to know his hero, the author was able to spend quality time with Zeppo, Gummo, Mae West, George Burns, Bob Hope, Jack Lemmon, SJ Perelman, Steve Allen, and scores of other luminaries of stage, screen, TV, and literature.

How can so many people pledge allegiance to punk, something with no fixed identity? Depending on who and where you are, punk can be an outlet, excuse, lifestyle, escapism, conversation, community, ideology, sales category, social movement, punishable offense, badge of authenticity, reason to drink beer forever, or an aesthetic of belligerent incompetence. Sam McPheeters championed many different versions. Over the course of two decades, he fronted Born Against, released dozens of records and fanzines, and toured 17 times across the northern hemisphere.

Music Professor Lily Hirsch dives deeper into the world of the iconic man who has made a career out of making us laugh. Hirsch weaves together her interviews with the prince of parody himself and reveals the deeper meaning of Yankovic’s jests, addressing such topics as bullying, celebrity, and racial and gender stereotypes.