Boys Keep Swinging: A Memoir
Boys Keep Swinging: A Memoir

Author: Jake Shears

Publisher: Omnibus Press

Published: 2018-03-28

Total Pages: 324

ISBN-13: 1787590194

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From Jake Shears – world famous singer, songwriter, actor and LGBTQ+ icon – comes this wide-eyed and determined coming-of- age story; an unforgettable literary account of a man overcoming the odds and finding his true voice. Long before hitting the stage as the lead singer of the iconic glam rock band Scissor Sisters, Jake Shears was Jason Sellards, a teenage boy living a fraught life, resulting in a confusing and confining time in high school as his classmates bullied him and few teachers showed sympathy. It wasn’t until years later, while living and studying in New York City, that Jason would find his voice as an artist and, with a group of friends and musicians who were also thirsting for stardom and freedom, form the band Scissor Sisters. First performing in the smoky gay nightclubs of New York, then finding massive success in the United Kingdom, Scissor Sisters would become revered by the LGBTQ+ community, sell out venues worldwide, and win multiple accolades with hits like Take Your Mama and I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’, as well as their cult-favourite cover of Pink Floyd’s Comfortably Numb. Candid and courageous, Shears’ writing sings with the same powerful, spirited presence that he brings to his live performances. Following a misfit boy’s development into a dazzling rock star, Boys Keep Swinging is a raucously entertaining memoir that will be an inspiration to anyone with determination and a dream. ‘This is a beautiful, fascinating memoir by a beautiful guy who has lived a fascinating life – and he has the insights and receipts to prove it. Wonderful!’ - Dan Savage

Boys Keep Swinging
Boys Keep Swinging

Author: Jake Shears

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2018-02-20

Total Pages: 5

ISBN-13: 1501140140

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In this “exhilarating yet poignant account of one boy taking flight” (Shelf Awareness, starred review), one of rock music's most entrancing figures transforms the vividness of his musical world into an unforgettable literary account of overcoming the odds and finding his true voice. Long before hitting the stage as the lead singer of the iconic glam rock band Scissor Sisters, Jake Shears was Jason Sellards, a teenage boy living a fraught life, resulting in a difficult time in high school as his classmates bullied him and few teachers showed sympathy. It wasn’t until years later, while living and studying in New York City, that Jason would find his voice as an artist and, with a group of friends and musicians who were also thirsting for stardom and freedom, form the band Scissor Sisters. First performing in the smoky gay nightclubs of New York, then finding massive success in the United Kingdom, Scissor Sisters would become revered by the LGBTQ community, sell out venues worldwide, and win multiple accolades with hits like “Take Your Mama” and “I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’,” as well as their cult-favorite cover of Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb.” “Brutally honest” (Elton John), candid, and courageous, Shears’s writing sings with the same powerful, spirited presence that he brings to his live performances. Boys Keep Swinging is “a wild, sexy, emotional ride through underground New York at the millennium. From the fringes to the top, it's a tale that speaks to the outsider in all of us” (Andy Cohen).

Keep Swinging
Keep Swinging

Author: Joseph L. Bruno

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2016-11-29

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 168261302X

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The story of how the son of a coal laborer of limited means fueled his journey to becoming a successful business man and politician through self-drive and a desire for change and the betterment of his country. Joseph L. Bruno is a small town American success story. As the son of immigrants, he worked his way out of Depression-era Glens Falls, NY, served in the United States Army in Korea, and as the leader of the Senate Republicans in New York, became one of the three most powerful men in the state. During his fourteen years in the Senate, he forged coalitions, achieved compromises, and brought together feuding legislative factions for the common good. Senator Bruno represents a rare form of politician, one who knows that when the race is over, you have to shake hands with your opponent and govern, in order to provide a better quality of life for the people you represent. Within these pages you will meet household names like Rudy Giuliani, Russell Simmons, Hillary Clinton, Al D’Amato, Donald Trump and Eliot Spitzer—and see them as you never have before—in the hallways where decisions are made and in behind the scenes conversations amongst friends and opponents. In this brand new autobiography, Senator Bruno reminds us all that you never know what life has to offer next. In the face of adversity all you need to do is Keep Swinging. Features color and black and white photo insert.

Brian Eno's Another Green World
Brian Eno's Another Green World

Author: Geeta Dayal

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2009-11-01

Total Pages: 135

ISBN-13: 1441112731

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The serene, delicate songs on Another Green World sound practically meditative, but the album itself was an experiment fueled by adrenaline, panic, and pure faith. It was the first Brian Eno album to be composed almost completely in the confines of a recording studio, over a scant few months in the summer of 1975. The album was a proof of concept for Eno's budding ideas of "the studio as musical instrument," and a signpost for a bold new way of thinking about music. In this book, Geeta Dayal unravels Another Green World's abundant mysteries, venturing into its dense thickets of sound. How was an album this cohesive and refined formed in such a seemingly ad hoc way? How were electronics and layers of synthetic treatments used to create an album so redolent of the natural world? How did a deck of cards figure into all of this? Here, through interviews and archival research, she unearths the strange story of how Another Green World formed the link to Eno's future -- foreshadowing his metamorphosis from unlikely glam rocker to sonic painter and producer.

Popular Music Autobiography
Popular Music Autobiography

Author: Oliver Lovesey

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2021-12-02

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13: 1501355856

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The 1960s saw the nexus of the revolution in popular music by a post-war generation amid demographic upheavals and seismic shifts in technology. Over the past two decades, musicians associated with this period have produced a large amount of important autobiographical writing. This book situates these works -- in the forms of formal autobiographies and memoirs, auto-fiction, songs, and self-fashioned museum exhibitions -- within the context of the recent expansion of interest in autobiography, disability, and celebrity studies. It argues that these writings express anxiety over musical originality and authenticity, and seeks to dispel their writers' celebrity status and particularly the association with a lack of seriousness. These works often constitute a meditation on the nature of postmodern fame within a celebrity-obsessed culture, and paradoxically they aim to regain the private self in a public forum.

Ashes to Ashes
Ashes to Ashes

Author: Chris O'Leary

Publisher: Watkins Media Limited

Published: 2019-02-12

Total Pages: 597

ISBN-13: 1912248360

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A comprehensive exploration of the final four decades of David Bowie’s musical career—covering every song he wrote, performed, or produced In Ashes to Ashes, the ultimate David Bowie expert offers a song-by-song retrospective of the legendary pop star's musical career from 1976 to 2016. Starting with Low, the first of Bowie's Berlin albums, and finishing with Blackstar—his final masterpiece released just days before his death in 2016—each song is annotated in depth and explored in essays that touch upon the song's creation, production, influences and impact.

David Bowie and Transmedia Stardom
David Bowie and Transmedia Stardom

Author: Ana Cristina Mendes

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-05-21

Total Pages: 198

ISBN-13: 1000682412

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Addressing the interart, intertextual, and intermedial dimensions of David Bowie’s sonic and visual legacy, this book considers more than five decades of a career invested with a star’s luminosity that shines well beyond the remit of pop music. The book approaches the idea of the star David Bowie as a medium in transit, undergoing constant movement and change. Within the context of celebrity studies, the concept of stardom provides an appropriate frame for an examination of Bowie’s transmedial activity, especially given his ongoing iconic signification within the celestial realm. While Bowie has traversed many mediums, he has also been described as a medium, which is consistent with the way he has described himself. With contributions from a wide range of disciplinary areas and countries, each chapter brings a fresh perspective on the concept of stardom and the conceptual significance of the terms ‘mediation’ and ‘navigation’ as they relate to Bowie and his career. Containing a multitude of different approaches to the stardom and mediation of David Bowie, this book will be of interest to those studying celebrity, audio and visual legacy, and the relationships between different forms of media. It was originally published as a special issue of Celebrity Studies.

Summer of Deliverance
Summer of Deliverance

Author: Christopher Dickey

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2010-10-12

Total Pages: 302

ISBN-13: 1439129592

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Summer of Deliverance is a powerful and moving memoir of anger, love, and reconciliation between a son and his father. Hailed as a literary genius of his generation, James Dickey created his art and lived his life with a ferocious passion. He was a heavy drinker, a destructive husband and father, a poet of grace and sensitivity, and, after the publication and subsequent film of his novel, Deliverance, a wildly popular literary star. Drawing on letters, notebooks, diaries, and his explicit conversations with his father, Christopher Dickey has crafted a superb memoir of the corrosive effects of fame, a moving remembrance of a crisis that united a family, and an inspiring celebration of love between father and son.

The Flitting: A Memoir of Fathers, Sons, and Butterflies
The Flitting: A Memoir of Fathers, Sons, and Butterflies

Author: Ben Masters

Publisher: Tin House Books

Published: 2024-10-01

Total Pages: 197

ISBN-13: 1959030892

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"A book with wings."—Ali Smith A deeply felt and moving memoir about how butterflies become a vital connection between a son and his dying father. The Flitting: A Memoir of Fathers, Sons, and Butterflies is a masterful and touching memoir blending natural history, pop culture, and literary biography—delivering a richly layered and nuanced portrait of a son’s attempt, after years of stubborn resistance, to take on his dying father’s love of the natural world. With his father unable to leave the house and follow the butterfly cycle for the first time since he was a child, Masters endeavors to become his connection to the outdoors and his treasured butterflies, reporting back with stories of beloved species—Purple Emperors, Lulworth Skippers, Wood Whites and Silver-studded Blues—and with stories of the woods and meadows that are their habitats and once were his. Structured around a series of exchanges and remembrances, butterflies become a way of talking about masculinity, memory, generational differences, and ultimately loss and continuation. Masters takes readers on an unlikely journey where Luther Vandross and The Sopranos rub shoulders with the likes of Angela Carter and Virginia Woolf on butterflies and gender; the metamorphoses of Prince; Zadie Smith on Joni Mitchell and how sensibilities evolve; and the lives and works of Vladimir Nabokov and other literary lepidopterists. In this beautiful debut memoir, Ben Masters offers an intensely authentic, unforgettable portrait of a father and son sharing passions, lessons, and regrets before they run out of time.

Kylie Song by Song
Kylie Song by Song

Author: Marc Andrews

Publisher: Fonthill Media

Published: 2022-07-02

Total Pages: 233

ISBN-13:

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• The first book to offer a complete summary of Kylie Minogue’s 35-year recording history across five decades (1987-2022) • Examines every song in the Kylie back catalogue with over 300 individual entries • Chronicles Kylie’s classic hits, album tracks and B-sides, plus music video and remix information and insights • Details Kylie’s essential demos, rarities, live tracks and additional recordings, plus a lavish 16-page colour section of her iconic album covers • Part of the exciting and expanding Song by Song series From Neighbours TV teen queen to Stock Aitken Waterman’s megastar, the rise of Kylie Minogue to the top of the charts is one of the biggest smash hit success stories in pop music. Across fifteen studio albums, her transition from ‘SexKylie’ (with help from Michael Hutchence) to ‘IndieKylie’ (thanks to Nick Cave and Manic Street Preachers), then to undisputed ‘Princess of Pop’ (courtesy of the irresistible ‘Can’t Get You Out of My Head’) proved she was not just an actress, singer and a remarkable live performer (including Glastonbury Goddess), but a true global superstar. After successfully beating cancer, Kylie returned to the top with several big-selling albums, including the critically lauded The Abbey Road Sessions, festive fave Kylie Christmas and 2020’s history making Disco. This book is an exhaustive ‘step back in time’ through her complete catalogue across five poptastic decades. Every released track and collaboration from her 300-plus song catalogue – many self-penned or co-written – over thirty-five years is examined in detail with new insights, revelations and vital video/remix information. Kylie: Song by Song celebrates this unique artist’s truly remarkable and unparalleled career and is a must-have for every dedicated fan of the lucky, lucky, lucky Australian pop princess.