Having barely survived a haunting in her own house, 30-something journalist Quinn Matthews has vowed never to get involved with the supernatural again. But her experiences awakened new psychic sensitivities that she can’t turn off. When she attends a performance by the rock group Mad Love, she witnesses a supposed accident that claims the life of a cameraman—except Quinn saw a shadowy figure commit the “crime.” The band’s lead singer, Alan Bardot, asks Quinn to use her gifts to discover who has been trying to sabotage the band since its last tour. Soon, she finds herself entangled in the secrets, grudges and jealousies surrounding Mad Love. Are they really under a curse, as threatening messages have claimed? If someone is using occult means to get revenge, can Quinn find out who, why and how before she ends up a target herself? And finally, can her shaky relationship with her reporter boyfriend survive her spending so much time with a sexy rock star?
“When Ben got out of the hospital he said, ‘When I fall down and can’t pick myself up we’ll know it’s over. Until then, we rock!’” – Jeff Carlisi Benjamin Orr was the co-founder, co-lead singer, and bassist for the platinum-selling rock band The Cars. Often considered the band’s heartthrob, Orr possessed an incredible voice, diverse musical talent, and rare stage presence, all balanced by an enigmatic personality and a relentless determination to reach rock stardom. Selling over 30 million albums worldwide with fifteen Billboard Top 40 hits, The Cars certainly achieved success. Within a decade of the debut album, though, Orr found himself adrift and without a band. Veteran music journalist Joe Milliken draws together interviews with over 120 family members, friends, bandmates, and music associates from Orr's life, as well as many unpublished and never-before-seen photos from private collections, to reveal an intimate portrait of one of classic rock’s greatest talents. From Orr’s first performances as a house-band musician for the TV show UpBeat through his creation of The Cars with Ric Ocasek to Orr’s eventual rebirth with the supergroup Big People, this definitive account of Orr’s life is a rollercoaster ride that sheds new light on the history of The Cars. Orr is no longer able to rock with The Cars, but the music he made with them continues to attract new generations of fans. Coinciding with the band’s 2018 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, thisfirst-everbiography of Benjamin Orr immortalizes his legacy as a deeply kind-hearted and exceptionally talented musician who would stop at nothing to live his rock and roll dream.
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER More than ONE MILLION copies sold A TODAY Show Read with Jenna Book Club Pick A New York Times Notable Book, and Chosen by Oprah Daily, Time, NPR, The Washington Post, Bill Gates and Barack Obama as a Best Book of the Year “Wise and wildly entertaining . . . permeated with light, wit, youth.” —The New York Times Book Review “A classic that we will read for years to come.” —Jenna Bush Hager, Read with Jenna book club “Fantastic. Set in 1954, Towles uses the story of two brothers to show that our personal journeys are never as linear or predictable as we might hope.” —Bill Gates “A real joyride . . . elegantly constructed and compulsively readable.” —NPR The bestselling author of A Gentleman in Moscow and Rules of Civility and master of absorbing, sophisticated fiction returns with a stylish and propulsive novel set in 1950s America In June, 1954, eighteen-year-old Emmett Watson is driven home to Nebraska by the warden of the juvenile work farm where he has just served fifteen months for involuntary manslaughter. His mother long gone, his father recently deceased, and the family farm foreclosed upon by the bank, Emmett's intention is to pick up his eight-year-old brother, Billy, and head to California where they can start their lives anew. But when the warden drives away, Emmett discovers that two friends from the work farm have hidden themselves in the trunk of the warden's car. Together, they have hatched an altogether different plan for Emmett's future, one that will take them all on a fateful journey in the opposite direction—to the City of New York. Spanning just ten days and told from multiple points of view, Towles's third novel will satisfy fans of his multi-layered literary styling while providing them an array of new and richly imagined settings, characters, and themes. “Once again, I was wowed by Towles’s writing—especially because The Lincoln Highway is so different from A Gentleman in Moscow in terms of setting, plot, and themes. Towles is not a one-trick pony. Like all the best storytellers, he has range. He takes inspiration from famous hero’s journeys, including The Iliad, The Odyssey, Hamlet, Huckleberry Finn, and Of Mice and Men. He seems to be saying that our personal journeys are never as linear or predictable as an interstate highway. But, he suggests, when something (or someone) tries to steer us off course, it is possible to take the wheel.” – Bill Gates
A funny, colorful, fascinating tour through the work and life of one of today’s most influential graphic designers. Esquire. Ford Motors. Burton Snowboards. The Obama Administration. While all of these brands are vastly different, they share at least one thing in common: a teeny little bit of Aaron James Draplin. Draplin is one of the new school of influential graphic designers who combine the power of design, social media, entrepreneurship, and DIY aesthetic to create a successful business and way of life. Pretty Much Everything is a mid-career survey of work, case studies, inspiration, road stories, lists, maps, how-tos, and advice. It includes examples of his work—posters, record covers, logos—and presents the process behind his design with projects like Field Notes and the “Things We Love” State Posters. Draplin also offers valuable advice and hilarious commentary that illustrates how much more goes into design than just what appears on the page. With Draplin’s humor and pointed observations on the contemporary design scene, Pretty Much Everything is the complete package.
A glimpse into the fateful, beautiful seeds that came to sprout around the Mountain House upon my arrival in Santa Barbara & the wild branches that spread out to Burning Man, Cuba & beyond...
The Sunset Strip, circa 1967. What was happening then is now absolutely clear. Rock 'n' roll and the kids who lived it were coming of age - right there on The Strip. And, as if to define the era, a few independent minds in the music industry posted giant, temporary monuments that said it all. Billboards. Bigger than life. Hand-painted homages to rock. In Rock 'n' Roll Billboards of the Sunset Strip, Robert Landau showcases these signs of the time, a time when rock was the most important music ever recorded, when youth, politics, and art merged to turn counterculture into mainstream culture.
Women write about their experiences of loving music that doesn’t love them back – a feminist 'guilty pleasures'.e - a kind of feminist guilty pleasures. In the majority of mainstream writing and discussions on music, women appear purely in relation to men as muses, groupies or fangirls, with our own experiences, ideas and arguments dismissed or ignored. But this hasn’t stopped generations of women from loving, being moved by and critically appreciating music, even – and sometimes especially – when we feel we shouldn’t. Under My Thumb: Songs that Hate Women and the Women Who Love Them is a study of misogyny in music through the eyes of women. It brings together stories from journalists, critics, musicians and fans about artists or songs we love (or used to love) despite their questionable or troubling gender politics, and looks at how these issues interact with race, class and sexuality. As much celebration as critique, this collection explores the joys, tensions, contradictions and complexities of women loving music – however that music may feel about them. Featuring: murder ballads, country, metal, hip hop, emo, indie, Phil Spector, David Bowie, Guns N’ Roses, 2Pac, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, AC/DC, Elvis Costello, Jarvis Cocker, Kanye West, Swans, Eminem, Jay-Z, Taylor Swift, Combichrist and many more.
Births, deaths and marriages, No1 singles, drug busts and arrests, famous gigs and awards... all these and much more appear in this fascinating 50 year almanac.Using a page for every day of the calendar year, the author records a variety of rock and pop events that took place on a given day of the month across the years.This Day in Music is fully illustrated with hundreds of pictures, cuttings and album covers, making this the must-have book for any pop music fan.
Steven Hyden explores nineteen music rivalries and what they say about life in this "highly entertaining" book (Rolling Stone) perfect for every passionate music fan. Beatles vs. Stones. Biggie vs. Tupac. Kanye vs. Taylor. Who do you choose? And what does that say about you? Actually -- what do these endlessly argued-about pop music rivalries say about us? Music opinions bring out passionate debate in people, and Steven Hyden knows that firsthand. Each chapter in Your Favorite Band Is Killing Me focuses on a pop music rivalry, from the classic to the very recent, and draws connections to the larger forces surrounding the pairing. Through Hendrix vs. Clapton, Hyden explores burning out and fading away, while his take on Miley vs. Sinead gives readers a glimpse into the perennial battle between old and young. Funny and accessible, Hyden's writing combines cultural criticism, personal anecdotes, and music history -- and just may prompt you to give your least favorite band another chance.
