King Rocker


Book Description

Told as a series of snapshots and dramatic images, King Rocker chronicles the lives of a group of young men in a rock n' roll band. Love, loneliness, friendship, and small town America are all explored in this stark and original work of fiction.




Original Rockers


Book Description

Richard King's account of the several years he spent working in a Bristol independent record shop in the early 90s is destined to become a classic of music writing. We live in an age when the most beautiful of recording formats, vinyl, is back in vogue and thriving. In the early 90s, with the march of the cd and record company disinterest oin the format, vinyl was looking like an anachronism. And with its demise came the gradual erosion of a once beautiful and unique landscape known as the independent record shop. Richard King, author of How Soon is Now, blends memoir and elegiac music writing on the likes of Captain Beefheart, CAN and Julian Cope, to create a book that recalls the debauched glory days of the independent record shop. Chaotic, amateurish and extravagantly dysfunctional, this is a book full of rare personalities and rum stories. It is a book about landscape, place and the personal; the first piece of writing to treat the environment of the record shop as a natural resource with its own peculiar rhythms and anecdotal histories.




Music Films


Book Description

In Music Films, Neil Fox considers a broad range of music documentaries, delving into their cinematic style, political undertones, racial dynamics, and gender representations, in order to assess their role in the cultivation of myth. Combining historical and critical analyses, and drawing on film and music criticism, Fox examines renowned music films such as A Hard Day's Night (1964), Dig! (2004), and Amazing Grace (2006), critically lauded works like Milford Graves Full Mantis (2018) and Mistaken for Strangers (2013), and lesser-studied films including Jazz on a Summer's Day (1959) and Ornette: Made in America (1985). In doing so, he offers a comprehensive overview of the genre, situating these films within their wider cultural contexts and highlighting their formal and thematic innovations. Discussions in the book span topics from concert filmmaking to music production, the music industry, touring, and filmic representations of authenticity and truth. Overall, Music Films traces the evolution of the genre, highlighting its cultural significance and connection to broader societal phenomena.





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Jubilee


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Billboard


Book Description

In its 114th year, Billboard remains the world's premier weekly music publication and a diverse digital, events, brand, content and data licensing platform. Billboard publishes the most trusted charts and offers unrivaled reporting about the latest music, video, gaming, media, digital and mobile entertainment issues and trends.




Fast Guy Slows Down


Book Description

Superman was first published in 1938, so how come he still looks to be about 25 years old in the stories set in 2022? Ditto for all the other superheroes from The Golden Age Of Comics still being published today. Why isn't Captain America collecting Social Security? Why isn't The Flash using a walker to get around? Why isn't The Human Torch complaining about his hip replacement? Why isn't Wonder Woman deciding what Medicare plan she wants? Why isn't Batman retired? Why isn't Plastic Man stretching his dollars to afford his nursing home bills? Why isn't The Green Lantern The Green Flashlight by now? Er, never mind about that last question. But the answer to the other ones is money. As long as the corporate comics companies can milk money out of them, these characters will be kept forever young, aside from the occasional "imaginary story" or whatnot. But in stunting their growth, only half the story gets told. What does happen when a superhero ages with the times and eventually becomes elderly? What's so super about getting old? Well, it probably beats being dead. Just ask Bucky. Er, never mind. Anyway, leave it to one of America's worstselling authors who hasn't given up yet to venture in and tell the rest of the superhero story. In the case of Harry Fox, the superhero known as Fast Guy, he finds he can't outrace time or death. His worst foe though is an existential crisis brought on by saving the world numerous times only to have it result in a shallow, selfish place populated mainly by morons and jerks, and sometimes even moronic jerks and jerky morons. Living alone in his old ranch house in a town filled with new McMansions, he is wondering what to do with himself and worrying about what will happen to the world when he is gone. And the reader is left wondering if Harry is really a superhero. Although he claims he's saved the world more times than he can remember from nuclear annihilation, he delights in pooping on world leaders, which sounds more like a supervillain, or, at the very least, a person with issues than it does a superhero. Or maybe he's just a lonely old man with a very active imagination. In a world less than super, can a senior citizen still be a hero? Find out in Fast Guy Slows Down!




Dancing with Myself


Book Description

A candid memoir by the multiplatinum recording artist chronicles his life from his childhood in England and rise to fame at the height of the punk-pop revolution to his popular hits and his collaborations with fellow artists.




King Dork


Book Description

As John Green, New York Times bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars said, “King Dork will rock your world.” The cult favorite from Frank Portman, aka Dr. Frank of the Mr. T. Experience, is a book like nothing ever done before--King Dork literally has something for everyone: At least a half-dozen mysteries, love, mistaken identity, girls, monks, books, blood, bubblegum, and rock and roll. This book is based on music--a passion most kids have--and it has original (hilarious) songs and song lyrics throughout. When Tom Henderson finds his deceased father’s copy of J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, his world is turned upside down. Suddenly high school gets more complicated: Tom (aka King Dork) is in the middle of at least half a dozen mysteries involving dead people, naked people, fake people, a secret code, girls, and rock and roll. As he goes through sophomore year, he finds clues that may very well solve the puzzle of his father’s death and—oddly—reveal the secret to attracting semi-hot girls (the secret might be being in a band, if he can find a drummer who can count to four. A brilliant story told in first person, King Dork includes a glossary and a bandography, which readers will find helpful and hilarious. Praise for King Dork: “Basically, if you are a human being with even a vague grasp of the English language, King Dork, will rock your world.”—John Green, author of The Fault in Our Stars “[No account of high school] has made me laugh more than King Dork. . . . Grade A.”—Entertainment Weekly “Impossibly brilliant.”—Time “Provides a window into what it would be like if Holden Caulfield read The Catcher in the Rye.”—New York Post [STAR] “Original, heartfelt, and sparkling with wit and intelligence. This novel will linger long in readers’ memories.”—School Library Journal, Starred [STAR] “A biting and witty high-school satire.”—Kirkus Reviews, Starred [STAR] “Tom’s narration is piercingly satirical and acidly witty.”—The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, Starred “Loaded with sharp and offbeat humor.”—USA Today “King Dork is smart, funny, occasionally raunchy and refreshingly clear about what it’s like to be in high school.”—San Francisco Chronicle “King Dork: Best Punk Rock Book Ever.”—The Village Voice “I love this book as much as I hated high school, and that’s some of the highest praise I can possibly give.”—Bookslut.com