The Rolling Stones: Kings of Rock – An Audio History
by Geoffrey Giuliano and Author’s Republic
Written and narrated by author and actor Geoffrey Giuliano, here is the ultimate Stones audio compendium for every fervent fan, pop philosopher, historian, and all inspired school and university systems. The last word on The Rolling Stones history by the Stones themselves and audiobook master Giuliano.
Written and narrated by author and actor Geoffrey Giuliano, here is the ultimate Stones audio compendium for every fervent fan, pop philosopher, historian, and all-inspired school and university systems. The last word on The Rolling Stones history by the Stones themselves and audiobook master Giuliano.
Finally! A hip, fun and culturally relevant series of music appreciation books, perfect for modern music-loving families who want to take advantage of this era of exploding musical access! Get a personal guided tour through an amazing historical back-catalog of music that was previously unavailable. We Rock!: A Fun Family Guide for Exploring Rock Music History is a guided tour through thrilling corners of the musical universe that should not be missed! This book highlights great songs in rock history, shares insights and stories on the artists, details the social and historical influences at play, and offers fun activities for families to do together. Detailed listening guides help music fans understand song structure, lyrics, and instrumentation. Related listening lists introduce readers to other exciting artists in similar genres. Set into 52 “music labs,” these stories can be explored at will by individuals and families or used as a curriculum for community groups and educators. There really are no other books out there like this—that are music appreciation books for a general audience that focus on popular music—so pick up yours today and soon have your whole family singing “We Rock”. Upcoming volumes on Blues & Jazz and DJs, Dance, and Electronica are forthcoming.
Forever and Ever, Amen: A Memoir of Music, Faith, and Braving the Storms of Life
by Randy Travis and Ken Abraham
The long-awaited, deeply personal story of one of American music’s greatest icons, a remarkable tale of the utmost heights of fame and success, the deepest lows of life’s sorrows, and a miraculous return from the brink of death—told as only Randy Travis can.
Beloved around the world, Randy Travis has sold more than 25 million albums in both country and gospel and is considered one of the finest performers of his generation, admired by superstars across the musical landscape, from Garth Brooks to Mick Jagger.
From a working-class background in North Carolina to a job as a cook and club singer in Nashville to his “overnight success” with his smash 1986 album Storms of Life–which launched the neotraditional movement in country music–Randy’s first three decades are a true rags-to-riches story.
But in 2009, this seemingly charmed life began a downward spiral. His marriage dissolved, he discovered that his finances had unraveled, and his struggles with anger led to alcohol abuse, public embarrassment, and even police arrest in 2012.
Then, just as he was putting his life back together, Randy suffered a devastating viral cardiomyopathy that led to a massive stroke which he was not expected to survive. Yet he not only survived but also learned to walk again and in 2016 accepted his induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame by singing the hymn that explains his life today: “Amazing Grace.”
Filled with never-before-told stories, Forever and Ever, Amen is a riveting tale of unfathomable success, great joy, deep pain, and redemption that can come only from above.
The First Rule of Punk is a wry and heartfelt exploration of friendship, finding your place, and learning to rock out like no one’s watching.
There are no shortcuts to surviving your first day at a new school—you can’t fix it with duct tape like you would your Chuck Taylors. On Day One, twelve-year-old Malú (María Luisa, if you want to annoy her) inadvertently upsets Posada Middle School’s queen bee, violates the school’s dress code with her punk rock look, and disappoints her college-professor mom in the process. Her dad, who now lives a thousand miles away, says things will get better as long as she remembers the first rule of punk: be yourself.
The real Malú loves rock music, skateboarding, zines, and Soyrizo (hold the cilantro, please). And when she assembles a group of like-minded misfits at school and starts a band, Malú finally begins to feel at home. She’ll do anything to preserve this, which includes standing up to an anti-punk school administration to fight for her right to express herself!
Black and white illustrations and collage art throughout make The First Rule of Punk a perfect pick for fans of books like Roller Girl and online magazines like Rookie.
POPULAR MUSIC AND EARLY-ERA ROCK AND ROLL IN THE WASHINGTON, D.C. AREA
by Mark Opsasnick
In ROCK THE POTOMAC author Mark Opsasnick provides a comprehensive history of popular music in the Washington, D.C. area from Colonial times to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, with a strong emphasis on the emergence of rock and roll and its early development in the nation’s capital. Offering a mix of cultural history, extensive night club information and detailed band and musician profiles, ROCK THE POTOMAC stands as a literary monument that will forever serve fans of Washington, D.C. area popular music.
Small Town, Big Music: The Outsized Influence of Kent, Ohio, on the History of Rock and Roll
by Jason Prufer and Joe Walsh
Relying on oral histories, hundreds of rare photographs, and original music reviews, this book explores the countercultural fringes of Kent, Ohio, over four decades. Firsthand reminiscences from musicians, promoters, friends, and fans recount arena shows featuring acts like Pink Floyd, The Clash, and Paul Simon as well as the grungy corners of town where Joe Walsh, Patrick Carney, Chrissie Hynde, and DEVO refined their crafts. From back stages, hotel rooms, and the saloons of Kent, readers will travel back in time to the great rockin’ nights hosted in this small town.
More than just a retrospective on performances that occurred in one midwestern college town, Prufer’s book illuminates a fascinating phenomenon: both up-and-coming and major artists knew Kent was a place to play—fertile ground for creativity, spontaneity, and innovation. From the formation of Joe Walsh’s first band, The Measles, and the creation of DEVO in Kent State University’s art department to original performances of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon and serendipitous collaborations like Emmylou Harris and Good Company in the Water Street Saloon, the influence of Kent’s music scene has been powerful. Previously overshadowed by our attention to Cleveland as a true music epicenter, Prufer’s book is an excellent and corrective addition.
Extensively researched for eight years and lavishly illustrated, Small Town, Big Music is the most comprehensive telling of any of these stories in one place. Rock historians and fans alike will want to own this book.
“Writing about yourself is a funny business…But in a project like this, the writer has made one promise, to show the reader his mind. In these pages, I’ve tried to do this.” —Bruce Springsteen, from the pages of Born to Run
In 2009, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performed at the Super Bowl’s halftime show. The experience was so exhilarating that Bruce decided to write about it. That’s how this extraordinary autobiography began.
Over the past seven years, Bruce Springsteen has privately devoted himself to writing the story of his life, bringing to these pages the same honesty, humor, and originality found in his songs.
He describes growing up Catholic in Freehold, New Jersey, amid the poetry, danger, and darkness that fueled his imagination, leading up to the moment he refers to as “The Big Bang”: seeing Elvis Presley’s debut on The Ed Sullivan Show. He vividly recounts his relentless drive to become a musician, his early days as a bar band king in Asbury Park, and the rise of the E Street Band. With disarming candor, he also tells for the first time the story of the personal struggles that inspired his best work, and shows us why the song “Born to Run” reveals more than we previously realized.
Born to Run will be revelatory for anyone who has ever enjoyed Bruce Springsteen, but this book is much more than a legendary rock star’s memoir. This is a book for workers and dreamers, parents and children, lovers and loners, artists, freaks, or anyone who has ever wanted to be baptized in the holy river of rock and roll.
Rarely has a performer told his own story with such force and sweep. Like many of his songs (“Thunder Road,” “Badlands,” “Darkness on the Edge of Town,” “The River,” “Born in the U.S.A.,” “The Rising,” and “The Ghost of Tom Joad,” to name just a few), Bruce Springsteen’s autobiography is written with the lyricism of a singular songwriter and the wisdom of a man who has thought deeply about his experiences.
Keeping It Tight in the Old Dominion: A History of Virginia Rock Music
by Pete Crigler
ete Crigler has been obsessed with music from the earliest possible age; reading about it, writing about it, listening to it, almost everything except playing it. Some people would say that music is the defining everything for him but that’s what he chooses to do, so lay off! But in all honesty, it’s the heart and compassion that he shows not just for the music but the musicians who created it is where he really shows his stuff. Hearing so many stories about what these musicians have been through has been more than enough to prepare him for the next surprising story that comes around. By asking intelligent questions of the musicians and then getting intelligent responses back, he was able to mold their stories into something that has rarely been read before for a number of artists. By getting their stories out there, he has created a rock and roll book unlike any seen in quite a while.
The following is a message to the reader: Dear sir or ma’am, what you are holding in your hands is a very different book than one you’ve probably read before. The reason it’s so different is because a lot of the bands profiled inside are very obscure and their material is often out of print so if you read about a musician you thought you’d forgotten about or are interested in hearing more about, please feel free to go on Amazon or eMusic or Rhapsody and start searching around to see what you can find. Most times, I assure you will be pleasantly rewarded.
This book has been a complete labor of love for its author; starting in July of 2007 and working until October of 2009, Pete Crigler has been consistently working putting together what he hopes is the definitive tale of rock music in Virginia. The book tells the history of rock music in Virginia from the 1950s and the rockabilly of Gene Vincent to the punk energy of Cloak/Dagger and Conditions in the 21st century and everything in between. The book’s approach is done with interviews with over sixty musicians from the fifties to the current time, complete with over 80 b&w and color photos submitted by many of the same musicians. This story needs to be told because no one has ever tried anything like it before. Being so informative of music, it has been this author’s dream to tell this story because of an easy camaraderie with the musicians.
Rock n Roll History, Fun Facts and Behind the Scenes Stories About the Groups and Songs You Thought You Knew
by John Grantham
This is considered by many music industry insiders as the Bible of Rock and Pop music. It gives the stories behind the songs and groups that provided the soundtrack of our lives. It can be enjoyed as a trivia book to confirm or rebuke your knowledge of music but perhaps more importantly it provides the readers with a snap shot of the events, culture, and societies that enveloped and embraced the music.
The Traveling Wilburys were formed in 1988 when five rock legends joined forces for an informal recording session inside a cluttered garage in Los Angeles. The five seasoned musicians – Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne and Roy Orbison – had gathered to write and record what was intended as a throwaway B-side track.
After Harrison submitted the completed song to his record company, he was told that it was too good to be hidden away on the flip side of a European single. Instead, he was instructed to regroup with his fellow musicians and to record an entire album of songs. But for the newly formed supergroup, there was no roadmap, no detailed plan, no record company involvement and no expectation of success.
Nicknamed the Billion Dollar Quintet, the five musical legends could all speak of their own individual achievements, their own musical triumphs, as well as their own extended periods of fan indifference. Some of the members had already establishment close knit relationships, while others barely knew each other.
This book chronicles how the Traveling Wilburys were formed, what went into the making of their two hit albums and why they never toured. The book also examines how the careers and personal lives of these five men overlapped as well as how they influenced one another. Lastly, this book looks at the group’s musical legacy.
libreka classics – These are classics of literary history, reissued and made available to a wide audience.
Immerse yourself in well-known and popular titles!
Fire up the crimpers and get backcombing! Hairspray and heartbreak abound as the painted youth of the 1980s go on the rampage in a North West London suburb. Further `Tales of a Rock Star’s Daughter’ by Nettie, eldest offspring of Cream/Blind Faith drummer Ginger Baker, follows on from her hilarious and critically acclaimed first volume. Here she negotiates eviction and poverty and goes off the rails with a new cast of maniacs. From a 1970 meeting with Jimi Hendrix, through to Live Aid, Greenham Common, a cancer op and a brief glimpse of Cream’s 2005 reunion. This is essentially a punk rock, pub-based soap-opera like no other; set against venues long-gone and values out-dated, in the smashed-up ruins of a changing world.
Mama Mia Let Me Go!: A journey through the most intriguing lyrics and stories in rock music
by Auralcrave Books
Every great rock masterpiece has a story to tell. Sometimes that story is true, confirmed, provable. Other times we talk about hypotheses, legends, speculation and rumours. Discovering the truth can be interesting, but the whole spectrum of stories surrounding the masterpieces we love includes stories that are not always 100% verifiable. This book tells those stories: a journey where what matters is what excites us.
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A panoramic experience that tells the story of Beastie Boys, a book as unique as the band itself—by band members ADROCK and Mike D, with contributions from Amy Poehler, Colson Whitehead, Spike Jonze, Wes Anderson, Luc Sante, and more.
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Rolling Stone • The Guardian • Paste
Formed as a New York City hardcore band in 1981, Beastie Boys struck an unlikely path to global hip hop superstardom. Here is their story, told for the first time in the words of the band. Adam “ADROCK” Horovitz and Michael “Mike D” Diamond offer revealing and very funny accounts of their transition from teenage punks to budding rappers; their early collaboration with Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin; the debut album that became the first hip hop record ever to hit #1, Licensed to Ill—and the album’s messy fallout as the band broke with Def Jam; their move to Los Angeles and rebirth with the genre-defying masterpiece Paul’s Boutique; their evolution as musicians and social activists over the course of the classic albums Check Your Head, Ill Communication, and Hello Nasty and the Tibetan Freedom Concert benefits conceived by the late Adam “MCA” Yauch; and more. For more than thirty years, this band has had an inescapable and indelible influence on popular culture.
With a style as distinctive and eclectic as a Beastie Boys album, Beastie Boys Book upends the typical music memoir. Alongside the band narrative you will find rare photos, original illustrations, a cookbook by chef Roy Choi, a graphic novel, a map of Beastie Boys’ New York, mixtape playlists, pieces by guest contributors, and many more surprises.
Praise for Beastie Boys Book
“A fascinating, generous book with portraits and detail that float by in bursts of color . . . As with [the band’s] records, the book’s structure is a lyrical three-man weave. . . . Diamond’s voice is lapidary, droll. Horovitz comes on like a borscht belt comedian, but beneath that he is urgent, incredulous, kind of vulnerable. . . . Friendship is the book’s subject as much as music, fame and New York.”—The New York Times Book Review
“Wild, moving . . . resembles a Beastie Boys LP in its wild variety of styles.”—Rolling Stone
“As nutty, irreverent, and fun as you think it would be.”—Vogue
“As freewheeling and funny as their albums . . . a beautifully messy (and large) talisman containing within it many of the great joys and surprises that come with listening to the Beastie Boys”—The AV Club
Take a Ride with “the Boy” Through
the Heart of the Last Great Era of Hard Rock!
Drumming phenom Bobby Rock takes you behind the scenes to the genesis of his extraordinary musical journey: from the moment he decided to become a drummer, to his fanatical practice and training regimen, to the destined path that led him from Houston to Hollywood—during the height of the 80s hair metal explosion—for a fateful audition with ex-Kiss guitarist’s, Vinnie Vincent Invasion.
It’s a whirlwind adventure through recording sessions, video shoots, extensive tours, and the “rock star” life—all set against a chaotic (yet amusing) backdrop of debauchery, dysfunction, and humor. It’s also one of the more engaging and insightful stories you will encounter about a boy’s impossible dream roaring to life during this most beloved era of pop culture, then barreling forward three decades into the present.
Grab a seat, settle in for the ride, and rest assured…
Mixing advice tailored to rock, hardcore and metal that will help take your mixes to the next level.
by Jordan Valeriote
Finally, an easy-to-follow, no-nonsense guide for rock and metal engineers that will actually improve the sound of your heavy mixes.
Producer / Mixer Jordan Valeriote (Rise Records, Tooth & Nail, Hopeless, Universal, etc) shares the most important things you need to learn about mixing so that you can get a firm grasp on the fundamentals without ending up more confused and frustrated.
This isn’t another boring book filled with confusing audio mumbo-jumbo.
By providing the actual real-world techniques that professionals use every day, this book will give you the most effective tips for mixing heavy music that you can apply immediately to your own mixes.
“I mix fast and I try to learn fast too. This book is written in the same spirit, with hopes that it will help you take your mixes to the next level in a short amount of time.” -Jordan Valeriote
Joe Strummer and the Legend of the Clash
by Kris Needs and Joe Strummer
Joe Strummer and the Legend of The Clash provides a personal insight into the life of Joe Strummer, lead singer of pivotal punk band The Clash. Since his untimely death in 2002 Joe Strummer has been mourned as a rock’n’roll icon. The enormous sense of loss felt at his death reinforced the importance of The Clash. As time goes by the band just seem to grow in terms of influence and impact; they changed the shape of music and established a benchmark for how exciting a rock band can be. In Joe Strummer and the Legend of The Clash, author and journalist Kris Needs tells the story of The Clash with a special focus on Joe Strummer – his life history, his personal passions and his politics. Kris Needs combines his own anecdotes and press reports, plus exclusive interviews with Joe’s closest friends, who include Mick Jones, his songwriting partner in The Clash and Don Letts the punk filmmaker, to breathe life into the legend that was Joe Strummer and The Clash. As a young journalist on tour with all of punk’s biggest names, Kris forged life-long friendships with all the scene’s key figures, while witnessing their unbelievable exploits first-hand.
One of the first journalists to see The Clash live, Kris championed the band from the start, becoming close friends with Joe Strummer and the rest of the group, accompanying them on many major tours, and being present at pivotal moments in their career. Weaving in his own material from the era, with a wealth of biographical detail, Needs illuminates Joe’s story with accounts of life-changing gigs, on-the-road antics and the recording sessions that produced classic music. Needs looks at Joe’s motivations and passions, by drawing on his own experiences with him throughout their friendship, providing an insight into the beliefs and ideals that resonate in The Clash’s music. Joe Strummer and the Legend of The Clash conveys the white-hot excitement of their gigs and the intense emotions their music caused, while providing an account of the life and times of Joe Strummer, a true punk pioneer.
A fake marriage. A forbidden passion. A love of a lifetime.
From rock star to pretend husband, his life is a mess. But he isn’t ready to give up on the woman he loves. Whoever said nice guys finish last, never met Beck Kramer.
When Beck Kramer’s band, Razor’s Edge, broke up, his brief rush of fame and fortune left a bad taste in his mouth. Five years later, he’s left the music behind and found success working for his family’s construction business.
Life is good. Until he meets the woman who makes him take and second look, and a third—beautiful and fiercely independent Sawyer Hale.
Sawyer moved to Eatonville to get away from her past. The last time she fell in love, her heart ended up as roadkill. She’s happy without a man. Then, Beck walked into her life. Sexy, sweet, and too tempting for her own good, he turned her stable world upside down.
They said “I do” on a drunken whim; a marriage of convenience. Now, Beck needs to decide if their wedding was a huge mistake or the best decision he ever made.
When does a marriage of convenience cross the line and become inconvenient?
When you break rule number one.
Don’t fall in love with your wife.
Almost Blue is a standalone novel. Grab your copy now.
Rock & Roll Forever is a spinoff of the Hart of Rock & Roll series
Rock & Roll Forever
Almost Paradise (Available Now)
Almost Blue
Almost Everything (Coming in 2019)
Almost Home (Coming in 2019)
Almost Like Being in Love (Coming in 2019)
Hart of Rock & Roll (All Books Available Now)
Flowers on the Wall
Flowers and Cages
Flowers are Red
Flowers for Zoe
Flowers in Winter
For the first time, rock music icon Gregg Allman, one of the founding members of The Allman Brothers Band, tells the full story of his life and career in My Cross to Bear. No subject is taboo, as one of the true giants of rock ’n’ roll opens up about his Georgia youth, his long struggle with substance abuse, his string of bad marriages (including his brief union with superstar Cher), the tragic death of brother Duane Allman, and life on the road in one of rock’s most legendary bands.
There’s No Bones in Ice Cream, by Sylvain, is the inside story of glam heroes the New York Dolls – outrageous, defiant, sleaze kings, transgender posers, drug casualties and victims, not just of their own excess but of an unsympathetic music industry that simply didn’t know how to process them.
Sylvain, one of only two surviving members of the original New York Dolls, offers a fly-on-the-wall, sincere and often hilarious account of the rise and fall of the Dolls, the group that flew so close to the sun that they exploded in a fireball that lit the touch paper under punk rock.
Though their brief, sensation-filled yet doomed career produced just two albums, the Dolls exerted an influence on rock that changed it forever. A cross between the Rolling Stones and the Sex Pistols, the Dolls became the link in the chain between them, offering a crash course in mischief, cross-dressing and anarchy, but like unheralded prophets of Biblical times they were cast aside until the world finally caught up.
“Other people turned the New York Dolls into legends. We just went along for the ride.”
Pete the Cat: Rocking in My School Shoes
by Eric Litwin and James Dean
Time to head back to school with this bestselling groovy Pete the Cat book!
Pete the Cat is rocking in his school shoes. Pete discovers the library, the lunch room, the playground, and lots of other cool places at school. And no matter where he goes, Pete never stops moving and grooving and singing his song…because it’s all good.
The fun never stops—download the free groovin’ song.
Tales of a Rock Star’s Daughter are the sharp , funny recollections of Nettie Baker, eldest daughter of Ginger Baker, legendary ‘wild man’ and drummer with the Graham Bond Organisation, Cream, Blind Faith and Airforce.
From poverty to riches and back, featuring a colourful cast of characters known and unknown. Famous faces of the music world and aristocracy are scattered throughout the text alongside those from the ‘normal-land’ that Nettie found herself half in and half out of and set in the vanished world of 60’s/70’s/80’s UK pop culture.
1965: The Most Revolutionary Year in Music
by Andrew Grant Jackson
A lively chronicle of the year that shaped popular music forever!
Fifty years ago, friendly rivalry between musicians turned 1965 into the year rock evolved into the premier art form of its time and accelerated the drive for personal freedom throughout the Western world.
The Beatles made their first artistic statement with Rubber Soul. Bob Dylan released “Like a Rolling Stone, arguably the greatest song of all time, and went electric at the Newport Folk Festival. The Rolling Stones’s “Satisfaction” catapulted the band to world-wide success. New genres such as funk, psychedelia, folk rock, proto-punk, and baroque pop were born. Soul music became a prime force of desegregation as Motown crossed over from the R&B charts to the top of the Billboard Hot 100. Country music reached new heights with Nashville and the Bakersfield sound. Musicians raced to innovate sonically and lyrically against the backdrop of seismic cultural shifts wrought by the Civil Rights Movement, Vietnam, psychedelics, the Pill, long hair for men, and designer Mary Quant’s introduction of the miniskirt.
In 1965, Andrew Grant Jackson combines fascinating and often surprising personal stories with a panoramic historical narrative.
Rock and roll sprang from a combination of African-American genres, Western swing, and country music that exploded in post World War II America. Jim O’Connor explains what constitutes rock music, follows its history and sub-genres through famous musicians and groups, and shows how rock became so much more than just a style of music influencing fashion, language, and lifestyle.
This entry in the New York Times best-selling series contains eighty illustrations and sixteen pages of black and white photographs.
Is It Still Good to Ya?: Fifty Years of Rock Criticism, 1967-2017
by Robert Christgau
Is It Still Good to Ya? sums up the career of longtime Village Voice stalwart Robert Christgau, who for half a century has been America’s most widely respected rock critic, honoring a music he argues is only more enduring because it’s sometimes simple or silly. While compiling historical overviews going back to Dionysus and the gramophone along with artist analyses that range from Louis Armstrong to M.I.A., this definitive collection also explores pop’s African roots, response to 9/11, and evolution from the teen music of the ’50s to an art form compelled to confront mortality as its heroes pass on. A final section combines searching obituaries of David Bowie, Prince, and Leonard Cohen with awed farewells to Bob Marley and Ornette Coleman.
In his first and only official autobiography, music icon Elton John reveals the truth about his extraordinary life, from his rollercoaster lifestyle as shown in the film Rocketman, to becoming a living legend.
Christened Reginald Dwight, he was a shy boy with Buddy Holly glasses who grew up in the London suburb of Pinner and dreamed of becoming a pop star. By the age of twenty-three he was performing his first gig in America, facing an astonished audience in his bright yellow dungarees, a star-spangled T-shirt, and boots with wings. Elton John had arrived and the music world would never be the same again.
His life has been full of drama, from the early rejection of his work with song-writing partner Bernie Taupin to spinning out of control as a chart-topping superstar; from half-heartedly trying to drown himself in his LA swimming pool to disco-dancing with Princess Diana and Queen Elizabeth; from friendships with John Lennon, Freddie Mercury, and George Michael to setting up his AIDS Foundation to conquering Broadway with Aida, The Lion King, and Billy Elliot the Musical. All the while Elton was hiding a drug addiction that would grip him for over a decade.
In Me, Elton also writes powerfully about getting clean and changing his life, about finding love with David Furnish and becoming a father. In a voice that is warm, humble, and open, this is Elton on his music and his relationships, his passions and his mistakes. This is a story that will stay with you by a living legend.
Hottest man in rock today, that’s what the press calls me. And I’ve always been one to believe my own publicity. So, when my bandmate makes a bet that he can find a woman who’ll refuse me, I laugh.
The laugh’s on me when a weird chick with a baseball bat breaks up our party.
Yep, she’s the one. The one I have to seduce.
But, as I get to know Sophie, she does something to me. She’s got a stubborn mouth and an appetite for tacos that leaves me for dead — and, under that tough exterior, she’s got a heart of gold.
I can’t just seduce her and walk away. I’ll break her heart and ruin her reputation. But what’s the alternative? Guys like me don’t fall in love.
The jaw-dropping tale of a Baker, a rock star, a broken penis and several conspiracy theories.
by Stuart Caldwell
1996: decades after the reported death of aviatrix Amelia Earhart, the truth of her disappearance continues to fuel conspiracy theories. Will a humble baker from Stratford-upon-Avon unwittingly help expose the truth?
Cheery Bob Spratt collects belly-button fluff, puts on shows at a local care home and is the loyal but long-suffering husband of the OCD-denying Muriel. When he agrees to become a doppelganger for a depressed rock legend who’s broken his penis, Bob changes the course of his life and triggers a series of events that could one day send shockwaves across the world.
His only problem is, someone wants him dead …
This humorous, slightly surreal, warm-hearted, vaguely romantic, faintly satirical, quirky adult fiction mystery twists and turns like a demented snake.
A Backstage Tour of What the Music Industry Can Teach Us about Economics and Life
by Alan B. Krueger
Alan Krueger, a former chairman of the president’s Council of Economic Advisers, uses the music industry, from superstar artists to music executives, from managers to promoters, as a way in to explain key principles of economics, and the forces shaping our economic lives.
The music industry is a leading indicator of today’s economy; it is among the first to be disrupted by the latest wave of technology, and examining the ins and outs of how musicians create and sell new songs and plan concert tours offers valuable lessons for what is in store for businesses and employees in other industries that are struggling to adapt.
Drawing on interviews with leading band members, music executives, managers, promoters, and using the latest data on revenues, royalties, streaming tour dates, and merchandise sales, Rockonomics takes readers backstage to show how the music industry really works–who makes money and how much, and how the economics of the music industry has undergone a radical transformation during recent decades.
Before digitalization and the ability to stream music over the Internet, rock stars made much of their income from record sales. Today, income from selling songs has plummeted, even for superstars like James Taylor and Taylor Swift. The real money nowadays is derived from concert sales. In 2017, for example, Billy Joel earned $27.4 million from his live performances, and less than $2 million from record sales and streaming. Even Paul McCartney, who has written and recorded more number one songs than anyone in music history, today, earns 80 percent of his income from live concerts. Krueger tackles commonly asked questions: How does a song become popular? And how does a new artist break out in today’s winner-take-all economy? How can musicians and everyday workers earn a living in the digital economy?
How the King Reinvented the Las Vegas Show
by Richard Zoglin
The story of how Las Vegas saved Elvis and Elvis saved Las Vegas in the greatest musical comeback of all time.
The conventional wisdom is that Las Vegas is what destroyed Elvis Presley, launching him on a downward spiral of drugs, boredom, erratic stage behavior, and eventually his fatal overdose. But in Elvis in Vegas, Richard Zoglin takes an alternate view, arguing that Vegas is where the King of Rock and Roll resurrected his career, reinvented himself as a performer, and created the most exciting show in Vegas history.
Elvis’s 1969 opening night in Vegas was his first time back on a live stage in more than eight years. His career had gone sour—bad movies, and mediocre pop songs that no longer made the charts. He’d been dismissed by most critics as over the hill. But in Vegas he played the biggest showroom in the biggest hotel in the city, drawing more people for his four-week engagement than any other show in Vegas history. His performance got rave reviews, “Suspicious Minds” gave him his first number-one hit in seven years, and Elvis became Vegas’s biggest star. Over the next seven years, he performed more than 600 shows there, and sold out every one.
Las Vegas was changed too. The intimate night-club-style shows of the Rat Pack, who made Vegas the nation’s premier live-entertainment center in the 1950s and ‘60s, catered largely to well-heeled older gamblers. Elvis brought a new kind of experience: an over-the-top, rock-concert-like extravaganza. He set a new bar for Vegas performers, with the biggest salary, the biggest musical production, and the biggest promotion campaign the city had ever seen. In doing so, he opened the door to a new generation of pop/rock performers, and brought a new audience to Vegas—a mass audience from Middle America that Vegas depends on for its success to this day.
A classic comeback tale set against the backdrop of Las Vegas’s golden age, Richard Zoglin’s Elvis in Vegas is a feel-good story for the ages.
Since the 1970s, The Real Book has been the most popular book for gigging jazz musicians. Hal Leonard is proud to publish completely legal and legitimate editions of the original volumes as well as exciting new volumes to carry on the tradition to new generations of players in all styles of music! All the Real Books feature hundreds of time-tested songs in accurate arrangements in the famous easy-to-read, hand-written notation. This collection presents 200 classics from all genres of rock ‘n’ roll in the world-famous Real Book format: Against the Wind * Ain’t No Sunshine * All Shook Up * American Woman * Another One Bites the Dust * Bad Case of Loving You * Bad Moon Rising * Band on the Run * Beast of Burden * Born to Be Wild * California Dreamin’ * Centerfold * Cocaine * Dancing in the Street * Don’t Do Me like That * Don’t Stand So Close to Me * Free Bird * Give Me One Reason * Got to Get You into My Life * Hang on Sloopy * Hard Habit to Break * Hey Jude * Highway to Hell * The House of the Rising Sun * I Love Rock ‘N Roll * I Will Survive * Imagine * La Bamba * Layla * Livin’ on a Prayer * The Logical Song * Maggie May * Minute by Minute * Money for Nothing * Mustang Sally * My Sharona * One Headlight * Oye Como Va * Pride and Joy * Rhiannon * Rikki Don’t Lose That Number * Roxanne * September * Sir Duke * (Sittin’ On) the Dock of the Bay * Slow Ride * Smoke on the Water * Sunshine of Your Love * Takin’ It to the Streets * Tears in Heaven * Tempted * Under the Boardwalk * Walk Don’t Run * We Are the Champions * What I like About You * With or Without You * Yesterday * Young Americans * and more.
Love in New Zealand Beaches Series (Book 1)
by Eliza Northcote
Jon is a gorgeous jaded rock star, tall and slim with vivid green eyes and dark long hair trying to strike out in a new direction musically. He has been obsessed with a blond, curvy girl that he saw at his gig years ago and he has been searching for her ever since – his ‘Ghost Girl’. He finances the family trust which is constructing a high-class retirement village in the Bay of Plenty and they’re bringing in only the best contractors to work on the project. That includes the landscaped pristine gardens…
Jen’s heart literally iced over when her husband and children were killed in a car crash into an icy,
swollen river. Tucked away in the English countryside as a renowned rose specialist she’s managing to hide from her past and NZ roots until she is lured back to the land of stunning beaches to establish a heritage rose garden for the Trust’s property. The only thing is, there’s this Rock Star of one of her favourite bands who acts as a Trustee who just won’t leave her alone and she doesn’t understand why.
Join Jon as he tries to melt Jen’s iced over heart and bring his beloved ‘Ghost Girl’ back to live through his music and laughter!
Ellen Willis on Rock Music
by Ellen Willis , Willis Aronowitz, Nona
In 1968, the New Yorker hired Ellen Willis as its first popular music critic. Out of the Vinyl Deeps collects for the first time Willis’s Rock, Etc. columns and other writings, reasserting her rightful place in rock music criticism. More than simply setting the record straight, this book reintroduces Willis’s singular approach and style to a new generation of readers.
Having been a songwriter most of my life, condensing my ideas and emotions into short rhyming couplets and setting them to music, I had never really considered writing a book. But upon arriving at the reflective age of fifty, I found myself drawn, for the first time, to write long passages that were as stimulating and intriguing to me as any songwriting I had ever done.
And so Broken Music began to take shape. It is a book about the early part of my life, from childhood through adolescence, right up to the eve of my success with the Police. It is a story very few people know.
I had no interest in writing a traditional autobiographical recitation of everything that’s ever happened to me. Instead I found myself drawn to exploring specific moments, certain people and relationships, and particular events which still resonate powerfully for me as I try to understand the child I was, and the man I became.
Ten Year Anniversary Edition: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star
by Nikki Sixx
In honor of the ten-year anniversary of The Heroin Diaries, Nikki Sixx’s definitive and bestselling memoir on drug addiction is reissued with exclusive new content. This shocking, gripping, and at times darkly hilarious memoir explores Nikki’s yearlong war with a vicious heroin addiction. Now more than ever, with opioid addiction ravaging our country and rising by twenty percent in the past year alone, Nikki’s story of both his descent into drug-addled decay and subsequent recovery and transition into a rehabilitation advocate are now more relevant than ever.
When Mötley Crüe was at the height of its fame, there wasn’t any drug Nikki Sixx wouldn’t do. He spent days—sometimes alone, sometimes with other addicts, friends, and lovers—in a coke- and heroin-fueled daze.
The highs were high, and Nikki’s journal entries reveal some euphoria and joy. But the lows were lower, often ending with Nikki in his closet, surrounded by drug paraphernalia and wrapped in paranoid delusions.
Here, Nikki shares the diary entries—some poetic, some scatterbrained, some bizarre—of those dark times. Joining him are Tommy Lee, Vince Neil, Mick Mars, Slash, Rick Nielsen, Bob Rock, and a host of ex-managers, ex-lovers, and more.
Brutally honest, utterly riveting, and surprisingly moving, The Heroin Diaries follows Nikki during the year he plunged to rock bottom—and his courageous decision to pick himself up and start living again.
More Than Music: A Rock Star Romance (Chasing The Dream Book 1)
by Elizabeth Briggs
A sexy standalone romantic comedy from a New York Times bestselling author!
Everyone knows geek girls like me don’t get to be rock stars. But when tattooed singer Jared Cross invites me to join his band on a reality TV show competition, how can I refuse?
There’s just one rule: don’t sleep with anyone in the band.
Not a problem. Really.
Until I discover there’s more to Jared than his flirty smile, sinful voice, and bad boy reputation. Until one forbidden kiss changes everything.
I thought I could resist him. I was wrong. Now our secret romance might tear our band apart and cost us the win.
Is following my dream worth losing my heart?
*Recommended for readers 17+ due to mature content.
The Oral History of Seattle Rock Music
by Greg Prato
Weaving together the definitive story of the Seattle music scene through a series of interviews with the people who were there, this book contains more than 130 interviews, along with essential background information. Digging deeper than other accounts, this history begins in the early 1960s, tracing the chain of events that spawned some of the greatest rock acts of all time in the 1990s, including Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Alice in Chains, and Soundgarden. First-ever interviews include Eddie Vedder’s take on Pearl Jam’s history, a discussion among the members of Alice in Chains, and Layne Staley’s mother’s comments on her son’s drug addiction and death. There is also plenty of information on less well-known aspects of the grunge scene, including the Riot Grrrl movement and the oft-overlooked but highly influential Seattle bands such as Mother Love Bone/Andy Wood, the Melvins, Screaming Trees, and Mudhoney. The end result is a comprehensive guide that includes a wealth of previously untold stories and offers a fresh and immediate approach to music history.
The Story Of Rock and Soul Music: Album Reviews and Lists
by Scott Floman
Music critic Scott Floman reviews his extensive record collection, and tells the story of rock and soul music in the process. Whether you want to read all about the classic bands and solo artists or discover unjustly neglected albums, this book offers something for everyone. It was written to appeal to the supremely knowledgeable music fan who can never get enough information, as well as to the novice who is eager to explore but doesn’t quite know where to begin. In addition to containing many detailed album reviews, this book’s various lists will also appeal to the dedicated list maker in all of us. It also includes the author’s own Rock and Soul Hall Of Fame which is sure to be a conversation starter!
Revised and expanded Fourth Edition published in February 2019.
First comes love, second comes scandal, third comes a secret which could end it all…
The scandal with Kate and Jiwon has left Onyx in such a precarious position that Korean fans are picketing the dorms. While Atlantis is backing the group, it’s not without new conditions: a second photographer who doesn’t know about Kate’s dating secret, and a manager who doesn’t approve.
Hiding their relationship from the world seems like the easiest thing to Onyx, but with the world tour continuing, and even more attention on them then before, they’ve got their work cut out.
If that wasn’t enough, Kate’s got six sets of parents-in-law to meet. And not all of them are as accepting of the relationship as their sons are.
For now, at least, Kate, Youngbin, Xiao, Jiwon, JongB, MinMin and CX have each other. Except one of them is hiding one last secret.
The kind of secret which could finally undo all their hard work and destroy everyone’s dreams…
The kind of secret that is life-changing…
The kind of secret that will make or break the relationship…
ONYX: Unity is the final book in a Why Choose fast-burn romance and ends in a HFN. This book contains strong language, sexual situations, some MFM, and one member who likes to watch… If none of that is your thing, you should probably spare yourself and not read this.
Join Onyx on their “Our Truth” World Tour now!
Although the Onyx series is part of the Atlantis Universe, the series has been written in a way that you do not have to have read any of the other series to enjoy this one!
The Music, Politics and People that Shaped Our Culture
by Jann S. Wenner
For the past fifty years, Rolling Stone has been a leading voice in journalism, cultural criticism, and—above all—music. This landmark book documents the magazine’s rise to prominence as the voice of rock and roll and a leading showcase for era-defining photography. From the 1960s to the present day, the book offers a decade-by-decade exploration of American music and history. Interviews with rock legends—Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, Kurt Cobain, Bruce Springsteen, and more—appear alongside iconic photographs by Baron Wolman, Annie Leibovitz, Mark Seliger, and other leading image-makers. With feature articles, excerpts, and exposés by such quintessential writers as Hunter S. Thompson, Matt Taibbi, and David Harris, this book is an irresistible and essential keepsake of the magazine that has defined American music for generations of readers.
