Only Big Show Coming is an amended and greatly enlarged version of articles published in Bandwagon: The Journal of the Circus Historical Society between 1982 and 1999. Volume I covers the routes, reviews and incidents surrounding circus and wild west performances in Kansas between 1853 and 1878, and provides an intriguing view of life in the Victorian west.
The commercial explosion of ragtime in the early twentieth century created previously unimagined opportunities for black performers. However, every prospect was mitigated by systemic racism. The biggest hits of the ragtime era weren't Scott Joplin's stately piano rags. “Coon songs,” with their ugly name, defined ragtime for the masses, and played a transitional role in the commercial ascendancy of blues and jazz. In Ragged but Right, Lynn Abbott and Doug Seroff investigate black musical comedy productions, sideshow bands, and itinerant tented minstrel shows. Ragtime history is crowned by the “big shows,” the stunning musical comedy successes of Williams and Walker, Bob Cole, and Ernest Hogan. Under the big tent of Tolliver's Smart Set, Ma Rainey, Clara Smith, and others were converted from “coon shouters” to “blues singers.” Throughout the ragtime era and into the era of blues and jazz, circuses and Wild West shows exploited the popular demand for black music and culture, yet segregated and subordinated black performers to the sideshow tent. Not to be confused with their nineteenth-century white predecessors, black, tented minstrel shows such as the Rabbit's Foot and Silas Green from New Orleans provided blues and jazz-heavy vernacular entertainment that black southern audiences identified with and took pride in.
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.
An invaluable resource for any wrestling fan of the era. The fifth in the series from www.historyofwrestling.info. This is the complete guide to every WWF VHS release from October 1999 to May 2002, with full reviews of every tape, alternative wrestler bios, exclusive artwork by Bob Dahlstrom, awards, match ratings, and much, much more. Read about the failed WCW invasion angle, the return of Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall and many others, relive some of the greatest matches of any era, cringe at some of the worst, enjoy the rise of Triple H to genuine main event player, witness the Rock take off as an icon on a whole new level. Plus Tough Enough, who ran over Steve Austin, TLC matches, Diva tapes and much, much more! By far the biggest book the team have ever don, e featuring more in depth analysis and comment than ever before.
