Liner Notes On Parents, Children, Exes, Excess, Decay & A Few More Of My Favourite Things


Book Description

‘Liner Notes is, unsurprisingly, as good as its author’s songs, with moments of sharp humor alternating with real-life pain, and vivid reflections on love, death, and the whole damn thing. Loudon Wainwright is a true original: not like anyone else, just as he set out to be.’ Salman Rushdie In the late 1960s, Loudon Wainwright III established himself as a loner, deliberately standing outside the conventional. He recorded his first album in 1969, full of raw, angry poetry, but it was the 1972 novelty song ‘Dead Skunk’ that brought him popular recognition. Wainwright’s songs are as hilarious as they can be painful. In Liner Notes, he details the family history and fractured relationships that have informed him: the alcoholism, infidelities and competitiveness; the successes, joys and love. Wainwright writes poignantly about being a son, a parent, a brother and a grandfather while re-printing selections from his father’s columns and meditating upon family, inspiration and art. As plain-speaking on the page as in his songs, Wainwright lays everything bare in this heartfelt memoir of music and family. His lyrics adorn and inform the text, amplifying his prose and connecting his songs to the life he led. ‘He is unafraid and clear-eyed about the events of his life – and utterly engaging.’ Rosanne Cash ’Fans of the self-lacerating, painfully funny Wainwright III will find the memoir they want here’ Kirkus Reviews




Stories I Might Regret Telling You


Book Description

A singer-songwriter's heartfelt memoir about growing up in a bohemian musical family and her experiences with love, loss, motherhood, divorce, the music industry, and more. Born into music royalty, the daughter of folk legends Kate McGarrigle and Loudon Wainwright III and sister to the highly-acclaimed and genre-defying singer Rufus Wainwright, Martha grew up in a world filled with such incomparable folk legends as Leonard Cohen; Suzy Roche, Anna McGarrigle, Richard and Linda Thompson, Pete Townsend, Donald Fagan and Emmylou Harris. It was within this loud, boisterous, carny, musical milieu that Martha came of age, struggling to find her voice until she exploded on the scene with her 2005 debut critically acclaimed album, Martha Wainwright, containing the blistering hit, "Bloody Mother F*cking Asshole," which the Sunday Times called one of the best songs of that year. Her successful debut album and the ones that followed such as Come Home to Mama, I Know You're Married but I've Got Feelings Too, and Goodnight City came to define Martha's searing songwriting style and established her as a powerful voice to be reckoned with. In Martha's memoir, Stories I Might Regret Telling You, Martha digs into the deep recesses of herself with the same emotional honesty that has come to define her music. She describes her tumultuous public-facing journey from awkward, earnest, and ultimately rebellious daughter, through her intense competition and ultimate alliance with her brother, Rufus, to the indescribable loss of their mother, Kate, and then, finally, discovering her voice as an artist. With candor and grace, Martha writes of becoming a mother herself and making peace with her past struggles with Kate and her former self, finally understanding and facing the challenge of being a female artist and a mother. Ultimately, Stories I Might Regret Telling You will offer readers a thoughtful and deeply personal look into the extraordinary life of one of the most talented singer-songwriters in music today.




There Will Be Rainbows


Book Description

"Rufus Wainwright is the greatest songwriter on the planet" - Elton John Rufus Wainwright's work mixes innovation and tradition like no other contemporary pop performer. His private life, which, by choice or otherwise, he has lived in public, is equally incredible -- and in its own, sometimes peculiar, often exaggerated way, has encompassed all three of the cliched tenets of the popular artist (sex, drugs and rock n roll). In seeking to explain how the artist works and where his place lies in a great tradition, Kirk Lake enters into the diverse worlds of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, opera, gay liberation, Canadian folk, neo-Conservatism, drug addiction and Hollywood musicals. He follows Wainwright's journey (from Van Dyke Parks, to rehab, to Carnegie Hall), and talks to those who have orbited close to Wainwright. Rufus Wainwright: A Biography is an intelligent, critical piece of music writing that befits the integrity and complexity of the artist's work while fully embracing the self-deprecating humour and flamboyance that embodies Rufus Wainwright, the person.




There Will Be Rainbows


Book Description

The first biography of legendary singer/songwriter/composer Rufus Wainwright, There Will Be Rainbows reveals the integrity and complexity of Wainwright’s work while fully embracing the self-deprecating humor, wild flamboyance, and fascinating contradictions that embody Rufus Wainwright, the man. There Will Be Rainbows tells Wainwright unforgettable true story—a classic tale of sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll, with many an unexpected Wainwright-esque twist.




Mountain City Girls


Book Description

A definitive family memoir from world well-known singers Anna and Jane McGarrigle.




Here I Am


Book Description

Born into a real-estate dynasty, Brandt Wainwright chose football over the family business, and now he's a Super Bowl MVP. That streak of good fortune runs out the day Brandt crashes his SUV into a tree. During the long recuperation, the fun-loving quarterback becomes cranky and sullen—until private nurse Ciara Dennison shows up for duty. Ciara has zero interest in sports, or in tall, blond jocks with overblown egos. She's dated a man in the public eye before, and she's not repeating that mistake. Somehow Brandt keeps breaking down all her defenses, seeing through her facade to the sexy free spirit underneath. But once his recovery is complete, will he return to the celebrity life he knew—or choose the woman who can fulfill his dreams?




Memoirs of a Fellwanderer


Book Description

A delightful and at times revealing memoir details Wainwright's childhood in Blackburn, how he rose from being an office boy in the Borough Treasurer's office in Blackburn to Borough Treasurer itself in Kendal, the fascinating story behind the Pictorial Guides, and his support for animal welfare. The book is illustrated with family photographs as well as his photographs of Lakeland and Scotland, and a selection of his drawings.




The Lost Boy


Book Description

In 1993 8-year-old Clinton Liebelt went missing from a roadhouse between Darwin and Alice Springs - one of the most desolate places in the world. Australian journalist Robert Wainwright's uplifting and triumphant tribute tells the story of how one child's disappearance united an entire community and the wider Northern Territory of Australia.




Home Bird


Book Description

Home bird: A person who likes to stay at home.For Laura Wainwright that home is Martha's Vineyard. Her essays celebrate the simple but profound pleasures that can be found by listening carefully to the voices of the natural world and the rhythms of each season. Walk with her to find lady's slippers or painted turtles in springtime. Join her in the barn across the road on a cold afternoon. Follow her as she cuts watercress, gathers scallops, casts for striped bass — and then prepares some of her favorite recipes.With nuanced observations of everyday details, Wain- wright shows how connecting to the complexity and beauty of the natural world can ground us and help us uncover deeper meaning in our lives.— Includes Eight Recipes —




Poofin


Book Description

Poofin, a small white fluffy cloud is sent to Earth just before Christmas to learn why clouds are important to people.