Why Mariah Carey Matters

Why Mariah Carey Matters

Author: Andrew Chan

Publisher: University of Texas Press

Published: 2023-09-12

Total Pages: 156

ISBN-13: 1477325077

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The first book to critically examine the legacy of pop superstar Mariah Carey,


Why Willie Mae Thornton Matters

Why Willie Mae Thornton Matters

Author: Lynnée Denise

Publisher: University of Texas Press

Published: 2023-09-12

Total Pages: 220

ISBN-13: 1477327959

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A queer, Black “biography in essays” about the performer who gave us “Hound Dog,” “Ball and Chain,” and other songs that changed the course of American music. Born in Alabama in 1926, raised in the church, appropriated by white performers, buried in an indigent’s grave—Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton's life events epitomize the blues—but Lynnée Denise pushes past the stereotypes to read Thornton’s life through a Black, queer, feminist lens and reveal an artist who was an innovator across her four-decade-long career. Why Willie Mae Thornton Matters “samples” elements of Thornton’s art—and, occasionally, the author’s own story—to create “a biography in essays” that explores the life of its subject as a DJ might dig through a crate of records. Denise connects Thornton’s vaudevillesque performances in Sammy Green’s Hot Harlem Revue to the vocal improvisations that made “Hound Dog” a hit for Peacock Records (and later for Elvis Presley), injecting music criticism into what’s often framed as a cautionary tale of record-industry racism. She interprets Thornton’s performing in men’s suits as both a sly, Little Richard–like queering of the Chitlin Circuit and a simple preference for pants over dresses that didn’t have a pocket for her harmonica. Most radical of all, she refers to her subject by her given name rather than "Big Mama," a nickname bestowed upon her by a white man. It's a deliberate and crucial act of reclamation, because in the name of Willie Mae Thornton is the sound of Black musical resilience.


Why Sinéad O'Connor Matters

Why Sinéad O'Connor Matters

Author: Allyson McCabe

Publisher: University of Texas Press

Published: 2024-07-16

Total Pages: 181

ISBN-13: 1477331077

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A stirring defense of Sinéad O’Connor’s music and activism, and an indictment of the culture that cancelled her. In 1990, Sinéad O’Connor’s video for “Nothing Compares 2 U” turned her into a superstar. Two years later, an appearance on Saturday Night Live turned her into a scandal. For many people—including, for years, the author—what they knew of O’Connor stopped there. Allyson McCabe believes it’s time to reassess our old judgments about Sinéad O’Connor and to expose the machinery that built her up and knocked her down. Addressing triumph and struggle, sound and story, Why Sinéad O’Connor Matters argues that its subject has been repeatedly manipulated and misunderstood by a culture that is often hostile to women who speak their minds (in O’Connor’s case, by shaving her head, championing rappers, and tearing up a picture of the pope on live television). McCabe details O’Connor’s childhood abuse, her initial success, and the backlash against her radical politics without shying away from the difficult issues her career raises. She compares O’Connor to Madonna, another superstar who challenged the Catholic Church, and Prince, who wrote her biggest hit and allegedly assaulted her. A journalist herself, McCabe exposes how the media distorts not only how we see O’Connor but how we see ourselves, and she weighs the risks of telling a story that hits close to home. In an era when popular understanding of mental health has improved and the public eagerly celebrates feminist struggles of the past, it can be easy to forget how O’Connor suffered for being herself. This is the book her admirers and defenders have been waiting for.


Global Popular Music

Global Popular Music

Author: Clarence Bernard Henry

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2024-11-19

Total Pages: 985

ISBN-13: 1040151922

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Global Popular Music: A Research and Information Guide offers an essential annotated bibliography of scholarship on popular music around the world in a two-volume set. Featuring a broad range of subjects, people, cultures, and geographic areas, and spanning musical genres such as traditional, folk, jazz, rock, reggae, samba, rai, punk, hip-hop, and many more, this guide highlights different approaches and discussions within global popular music research. This research guide is comprehensive in scope, providing a vital resource for scholars and students approaching the vast amount of publications on popular music studies and popular music traditions around the world. Thorough cross-referencing and robust indexes of genres, places, names, and subjects make the guide easy to use. Volume 2, Transnational Discourses of Global Popular Music Studies, covers the geographical areas of North America: United States and Canada; Central America, Caribbean, and South America/Latin America; Europe; Africa and Middle East; Asia; and areas of Oceania: Aotearoa/New Zealand, Australia, and Pacific Islands. It provides over twenty-four hundred annotated bibliographic entries covering discourses of extensive research that extend beyond the borders of the United States and includes annotated entries to books, book series, book chapters, edited volumes, special documentaries and programming, scholarly journal essays, and other resources that focus on the creative and artistic flows of global popular music.


Reverse Shot

Reverse Shot

Author: Michael Koresky

Publisher: Jabberwocky Literary Agency, Inc.

Published: 2024-06-18

Total Pages: 501

ISBN-13: 1625677081

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For twenty years, Reverse Shot, a journal for film criticism and the house publication of New York’s Museum of the Moving Image, has been a home for movie lovers to find incisive, intelligent writings from a diverse group of the best critics working today. To celebrate the publication's run, MoMI has published this special anniversary anthology, which collects central pieces from the journal’s beginnings up through the latest releases. Broken into four chronological movements, this volume captures not only the films and filmmakers that Reverse Shot’s writers have championed and wrestled over but also tells a story of cinema’s progress and change over the first two decades of the 21st century. More than just for the many longtime readers of Reverse Shot, this collection is an essential reference for the past, present, and future of the moving image and a gift for anyone who cares about films and serious writings about them. “This New York-based publication has remained not only a beacon for quality film writing but also, in so many cases, the domain for the internet’s best piece on a given film. ... Digging into the earliest writings here affirms a site quickly setting an Olympian standard for online movie analysis, pole-vaulting even over many esteemed print publications with less space to play with on the page ... Any one essay gives you a taste of the levels of insight routinely put to bear by its shifting stable of contributors, including Nick Pinkerton, Genevieve Yue, Eric Hynes and Devika Girish.” —Sight & Sound magazine, March 2024


Corpses, Fools and Monsters

Corpses, Fools and Monsters

Author: Willow Maclay

Publisher: Watkins Media Limited

Published: 2024-07-09

Total Pages: 291

ISBN-13: 1914420594

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A radical history of transness in cinema, and an exploration of the political possibilities of its future. In the history of cinema, trans people are usually murdered, made into a joke, or viewed as threats to the normal order — relegated to a lost highway of corpses, fools, and monsters. In this book, trans film critics Caden Mark Gardner and Willow Catelyn Maclay take the reader on a drive down this lost highway, exploring the way that trans people and transness have evolved on-screen. Starting from the very earliest representations of transness in silent film, through to the multiplex-conquering Matrix franchise and on to the emergence of a true trans-authored cinema, Corpses, Fools and Monsters spans everything from musicals to body horror to avant garde experimental film to tell the story of the trans film image. In doing so, the authors investigate the wider history of trans representation — an exhilarating journey of compromise, recuperation, and potential liberation that they argue is only just the beginning.


Love Matters More

Love Matters More

Author: Jared Byas

Publisher: Zondervan

Published: 2020-09-08

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13: 0310358620

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For years, Christians have argued, debated, and fought one another while "speaking the truth in love," yet we are no closer to the grace-filled life Jesus modeled. Biblical scholar and popular podcast host of The Bible for Normal People, Jared Byas casts a new vision for the Christian life that's built not on certainty, but on the risk of love. A biblically-based Christian life is not grounded in having all the answers but in a living relationship. This ultimately shifts our focus from collecting the "right" answers to loving others deeply and authentically. With stories and insights drawn from his years as a pastor, professor, and podcast host, Jared Byas calls us back to the heart of the Bible: that truth is only true when it's lived out in love. In a refreshing voice that's both witty and profoundly revelatory, Jared unpacks the concept of truth, its meaning, and why we so often fight over it. He makes a compelling case for how what we believe is less important than how we believe it and that, more than anything else, telling the truth in love is about following Jesus. For anyone who has ever felt forced to choose between truth and love, acceptance and rightness, this book offers a path forward beyond truth wars and legalistic religion to a love that matters more.


Why Solange Matters

Why Solange Matters

Author: Stephanie Phillips

Publisher: University of Texas Press

Published: 2021-04-20

Total Pages: 245

ISBN-13: 1477320083

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Growing up in the shadow of her superstar sister, Solange Knowles became a pivotal musician in her own right. Defying an industry that attempted to bend her to its rigid image of a Black woman, Solange continually experimented with her sound and embarked on a metamorphosis in her art that continues to this day. In Why Solange Matters, Stephanie Phillips chronicles the creative journey of an artist who became a beloved voice for the Black Lives Matter generation. A Black feminist punk musician herself, Phillips addresses not only the unpredictable trajectory of Solange Knowles's career but also how she and other Black women see themselves through the musician's repertoire. First, she traces Solange’s progress through an inflexible industry, charting the artist’s development up to 2016, when the release of her third album, A Seat at the Table, redefined her career. Then, with A Seat at the Table and 2019’s When I Get Home, Phillips describes how Solange embraced activism, anger, Black womanhood, and intergenerational trauma to inform her remarkable art. Why Solange Matters not only cements the place of its subject in the pantheon of world-changing twenty-first century musicians, it introduces its writer as an important new voice.


Mariah Carey: Diva of the Decades

Mariah Carey: Diva of the Decades

Author: ChatStick Team

Publisher: ChatStick Team

Published: 2024-08-05

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13:

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🌟 Step into the spotlight with Mariah Carey in "Mariah Carey: Diva of the Decades: The Life, Art, and Influence of a Musical Icon." Discover the compelling story of one of music's most enduring figures, renowned for her five-octave vocal range and her groundbreaking use of the whistle register. This detailed biography charts Mariah's ascent from a young talent with big dreams to a global superstar whose music has shaped an era. 🎤 📘 What You'll Discover: Vocal Mastery: Dive into the techniques that made Mariah a vocal legend. Iconic Career Milestones: From chart-topping hits to dramatic comebacks, explore the pivotal moments that define her career. Cultural Impact: Examine how Mariah’s influence transcends music, shaping fashion, film, and celebrity culture. 🎵 Whether you're a die-hard fan or exploring her music for the first time, this biography offers a detailed and engaging portrait of Mariah Carey's extraordinary life and career. Filled with inspiring stories and insightful analysis, this book is a testament to her talent and legacy. 🌈 📖 Add "Mariah Carey: Diva of the Decades" to your collection and experience the magic of Mariah's music and story like never before!


Special Topics in Being a Human

Special Topics in Being a Human

Author: S. Bear Bergman

Publisher: arsenal pulp press

Published: 2021-10-12

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 155152855X

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As an author, educator, and public speaker, S. Bear Bergman has documented his experience as, among other things, a trans parent, with wit and aplomb. He also writes the advice column “Ask Bear,” in which he answers crucial questions about how best to make our collective way through the world. Featuring disarming illustrations by Saul Freedman-Lawson, Special Topics in Being a Human elaborates on “Ask Bear”’s premise: a gentle, witty, and insightful book of practical advice for the modern age. It offers Dad advice and Jewish bubbe wisdom, all filtered through a queer lens, to help you navigate some of the complexities of life—from how to make big decisions or make a good apology, to how to get someone’s new name and pronouns right as quickly as possible, to how to gracefully navigate a breakup. With warmth and candor, Special Topics in Being a Human calls out social inequities and injustices in traditional advice-giving, validates your feelings, asks a lot of questions, and tries to help you be your best possible self with kindness, compassion, and humor. This publication meets the EPUB Accessibility requirements and it also meets the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG-AA). It is screen-reader friendly and is accessible to persons with disabilities. A book with many images, which is defined with accessible structural markup. This book contains various accessibility features such as alternative text for images, table of contents, page-list, landmark, reading order and semantic structure.