Rockin’ Rollin’ Rolpa


Book Description

Joshua Alberto Hamilton was born in 1973 in Northern Michigan as an only child. Pampered from birth, he got the legacy to cut loose on many things because he was raised in a carefree childhood. He was never a humdinger of a student or a clinical scholar, but rather, a frivolous character. A novel, Rockin, Rollin Rolpa offers a comparison between American and Nepalese life from an eye of an American youth who unintentionally lands in the Himalayan country to spend three months without any preparation, knowledge and excitement, due to a twist of fate on his twenty-first birthday. The story unfolds with a blend of humor, drama, and thrill to keep readers guessing about the following situations. It shares the adventures, mishaps, and lessons learned from a young man who faces a series of interesting choices. A must read for the ones who want to experience cultural differences between two opposite poles of the earth.




RoCKIn


Book Description

The book "RoCKIn - Benchmarking Through Robot Competitions" describes the activities and achievements on the promotion of Robotics research and benchmarking in Europe through robot competitions, carried out within the framework of the RoCKIn ("Robot Competitions Kick Innovation in Cognitive Systems and Robotics") Coordination Action, a project funded by the European Commission (EC) 7th Framework Programme (FP7). RoCKIn was one of the two pioneer projects on robot competitions in Europe funded by the EC, representing the acknowledgment of robot competitions as important tools to advance research on Robotics, besides education and public awareness of Robotics. Two challenges were selected for the RoCKIn competitions due to their high relevance and impact on Europe's societal and industrial needs: domestic service robots (RoCKIn@Home) and innovative robot applications in industry (RoCKIn@Work). Along the book chapters the reader will find details on RoCKIn@Home and RoCKIn@Work, and about the activities carried out during the project lifetime, namely the developed open domain test beds for competitions targeting the two challenges and usable by researchers worldwide; the scoring and benchmarking methods to assess the performance of robot systems and subsystems; and the building up of a community of new teams. The book ends with an assessment by the project industrial partner about the impact of RoCKIn and other robot competitions on the industrial robot markets. The project work was funded by the European Commission (EC) 7th Framework Programme (FP7), under the 9th Call for projects on Information and Communication Technologies. The publishing of this book was funded by the EC FP7 Post-Grant Open Access Pilot programme.




Rock 'n Roll Santa


Book Description




A Rockin' Rollin' Man


Book Description

There have been few rock singers as beloved as the late/great Bon Scott of AC/DC. After all, it was his unmistakable vocals and street-wise/sexually-charged lyrics that were a major part of such all-time classic rock anthems as "Highway to Hell," "Sin City," "Whole Lotta Rosie," "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap," and "TNT." And it was the "Bon era" that set the stage for AC/DC to go on to become one of rock's most universally popular and enduring bands. But few rockers partied as hard as Bon-sadly resulting in his death at the age of 33, just before AC/DC scored their worldwide breakthrough, with the mega-selling 'Back in Black.' To mark 40 years since Bon's tragic passing, 'A Rockin' Rollin' Man: Bon Scott Remembered' has been assembled-comprised entirely of all-new interviews with renowned rockers, discussing what made Bon so special and unforgettable.




Rock'n'roll


Book Description




The Birth of Rock 'n' Roll


Book Description

In Memphis, Tennessee, in the 1950s, there was hard-edged blues playing on Beale Street, and hillbilly boogie on the outskirts of town. But at Sam Phillips’ Sun Records studio on Union Avenue, there was something different going on – a whole lotta shakin’, rockin’, and rollin’. This is where rock ’n’ roll was born. Sun Records: the company that launched Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, and Carl Perkins. The label that brought the world, “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On,” “Breathless,” “I Walk the Line,” “Mystery Train,” “Good Rockin’ Tonight.” The Birth of Rock ’n’ Roll: 70 Years of Sun Records is the official history of this legendary label, and looks at its story in a unique way: through the lens of 70 of its most iconic recordings. From the early days with primal blues artists like Howlin’ Wolf and B.B. King to long nights in the studio with Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis, you will see how the label was shaped and how it redefined American music. Accompanying the recordings is the label’s origin story and a look at the mission of the label today, as well as “Sun Spot” sidebars—a fascinating dive into subjects such as how the iconic logo was created, the legendary Million Dollar Quartet sessions, and how the song “Harper Valley, PTA” funded the purchase of the label. Written by two of the most acclaimed music writers of our time, Peter Guralnick and Colin Escott, and featuring hundreds of rare images from the Sun archives as well as a foreword by music legend Jerry Lee Lewis, this is a one-of-a-kind book for anyone who wants to know where it all started.




Race, Rock, and Elvis


Book Description

In Race, Rock, and Elvis, Michael T. Bertrand contends that popular music, specifically Elvis Presley's brand of rock 'n' roll, helped revise racial attitudes after World War II. Observing that youthful fans of rhythm and blues, rock 'n' roll, and other black-inspired music seemed more inclined than their segregationist elders to ignore the color line, Bertrand links popular music with a more general relaxation, led by white youths, of the historical denigration of blacks in the South. The tradition of southern racism, successfully communicated to previous generations, failed for the first time when confronted with the demand for rock 'n' roll by a new, national, commercialized youth culture. In a narrative peppered with the colorful observations of ordinary southerners, Bertrand argues that appreciating black music made possible a new recognition of blacks as fellow human beings. Bertrand documents black enthusiasm for Elvis Presley and cites the racially mixed audiences that flocked to the new music at a time when adults expected separate performances for black audiences and white. He describes the critical role of radio and recordings in blurring the color line and notes that these media made black culture available to appreciative whites on an unprecedented scale. He also shows how music was used to define and express the values of a southern working-class youth culture in transition, as young whites, many of them trying to orient themselves in an unfamiliar urban setting, embraced black music and culture as a means of identifying themselves. By adding rock 'n' roll to the mix of factors that fed into civil rights advances in the South, Race, Rock, and Elvis shows how the music,with its rituals and vehicles, symbolized the vast potential for racial accord inherent in postwar society.




Before Elvis


Book Description

An essential work for rock fans and scholars, Before Elvis: The Prehistory of Rock 'n' Roll surveys the origins of rock 'n' roll from the minstrel era to the emergence of Bill Haley and Elvis Presley. Unlike other histories of rock, Before Elvis offers a far broader and deeper analysis of the influences on rock music. Dispelling common misconceptions, it examines rock's origins in hokum songs and big-band boogies as well as Delta blues, detailing the embrace by white artists of African-American styles long before rock 'n' roll appeared. This unique study ranges far and wide, highlighting not only the contributions of obscure but key precursors like Hardrock Gunter and Sam Theard but also the influence of celebrity performers like Gene Autry and Ella Fitzgerald. Too often, rock historians treat the genesis of rock 'n' roll as a bolt from the blue, an overnight revolution provoked by the bland pop music that immediately preceded it and created through the white appropriation of music till then played only by and for black audiences. In Before Elvis, Birnbaum daringly argues a more complicated history of rock's evolution from a heady mix of ragtime, boogie-woogie, swing, country music, mainstream pop, and rhythm-and-blues--a melange that influenced one another along the way, from the absorption of blues and boogies into jazz and pop to the integration of country and Caribbean music into rhythm-and-blues. Written in an easy style, Before Elvis presents a bold argument about rock's origins and required reading for fans and scholars of rock 'n' roll history.




Country


Book Description

Celebrating the dark origins of our most American music, Country reveals a wild shadowland of history that encompasses blackface minstrels and yodeling cowboys; honky-tonk hell and rockabilly heaven; medieval myth and musical miscegenation; sex, drugs, murder; and rays of fierce illumination on Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, and others, famous and forgotten, whose demonology is America's own. Profusely and superbly illustrated, Country stands as one of the most brilliant explorations of American musical culture ever written.




The Decade That Rocked


Book Description

“I have read pretty much every rock 'n' roll biography there is worth reading, and you never know what to expect when you pick up a new book. Well, let me tell you Mark Weiss has raised the bar for rock 'n' roll books with The Decade That Rocked. Mark has always been at the top of his field, and the level of detail and quality put into this book is the ultimate testament to his rock n' roll photographic legacy.” – Sebastian Bach “Mark is the real deal. He may not play the guitar, but that camera is his guitar. He’s a rockstar.” – Gene Simmons "Mark’s energy, his creativity, his drive, his positive attitude and his enthusiasm that make him one of the legends of rock photography. It’s why his work—both old and new—is still so in demand today. Mark Weiss inspires greatness in all he turns his camera lens on. But don’t take my word for it. Just look at the pictures in this book." – Dee Snider “His pictures say as much as the music” – Rob Halford “He was one of the guys. He wasn’t one of the 18 photographers you’d work with that day.” – Alice Cooper “He had that instinct, to recognize our energy and use his technical talent to capture it.” – Joe Perry “The Decade That Rocked breaches a level of intimacy that so many music photographers are lacking today. Each and every photo exemplifies the trust and the synergy between photographer and subject. You can feel the essence of the music in the live shots, just as vibrantly as you can feel the spirit and the essence of the musicians behind the scenes.” – Screamer Magazine Mark “Weissguy” Weiss set an unmatched standard for rock photography. Starting out as a teenager by sneaking into concerts with a neighbor’s 35mm camera, he embarked on a legendary career that took him around the globe and onto some of the most memorable album and magazine covers in rock history– featuring the likes of Van Halen, Ozzy Osbourne, Aerosmith, and Mötley Crüe to Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Bon Jovi, and KISS, and so many more. With 700+ photos, brand new interviews, and stories from Mark himself, Decade that Rocked is a monument to the photography, friendships, and legacy of an artist that helped define one of rock’s most iconic eras. This career-spanning collection features: A unique lens on the golden age of rock: Never-before or rarely seen photos of legends like Van Halen, Ozzy Osbourne, Aerosmith, and Mötley Crüe to Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Bon Jovi, and KISS, as well as countless others whose sound and image defined the era. Exclusive interviews: Ozzy Osbourne, Dee Snider, Nikki Sixx, Joe Perry, Rob Halford, and many more recall their memories of this era-defining decade. Untold Stories: Relive Mark’s unbelievable journey through rock history, from getting arrested for selling photos outside of Kiss concert to touring with legends like Van Halen, to photographing Bon Jovi’s infamous “Slippery When Wet” shoot, shooting backstage at Live Aid with Black Sabbath, and so many more. Definitive Lens: Creem magazine readers ranked Mark Weiss as rock’s top photographer of the 80s. His work has appeared on some of the most iconic album and magazine covers of all time. Captured from the unique vantage point of a photographer who lived and breathed the ’80s in all its grit and glory, The Decade That Rocked brings to life the no-holds-barred sounds and sights that changed the world of hard rock and metal forever.