Performing Arts

Every guitarist can now enhance their knowledge of theory with this easy-to-use, workbook-format book. Note and rhythm reading, scales, chords and progressions are just some of the topics covered. Use this book alone or with any method.

As a young man from Meridian, Mississippi, Steve Forbert managed to carve out a niche in New York City's vibrant club scene, playing now-iconic venues like Gerde's Folk City and CBGB's during a time when rootsy rock was fading out and the Ramones, Talking Heads, and other New Wave and punk acts were moving in. That heady period was captured on his first album, Alive on Arrival.

"Now or then," writes Rolling Stone contributing editor David Wild, "you would be hard-pressed to find a debut effort that was simultaneously as fresh and accomplished as Alive on Arrival . . . it was like a great first novel by a young author who somehow managed to split the difference between Mark Twain and J.D. Salinger."

Forbert's next LP, Jackrabbit Slim, introduced the hit song "Romeo's Tune" to the world. Since then he's produced studio albums (19 and counting) full of perceptive, critically acclaimed songs in his eclectic pop-rock-folk Americana style. Keith Urban, Rosanne Cash, and Marty Stuart, among others, have recorded his songs. Forbert's 2003 tribute to Jimmie Rodgers, Any Old Time, was nominated for a Grammy and he even made a cameo appearance in Cyndi Lauper's music video for "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun."

Big City Cat: My Life in Folk-Rock focuses on Forbert's early NYC days but also covers his career up to the present day. Interspersed with his narrative are interviews with notables such as Danny Fields, Garry Tallent, and John Simon. This insightful and humorous memoir is not simply the tale of a talented survivor, but also a glimpse into a musician's life and the challenges faced--as well as the lessons learned--in a changing industry during the last forty years.

The long-awaited, all-access biography of a music legend
In "Billy Joel, "acclaimed music journalist Fred Schruers draws upon more than one hundred hours of exclusive interviews with Joel to present an unprecedented look at the life, career, and legacy of the pint-sized kid from Long Island who became a rock icon.
Exhibiting unparalleled intimate knowledge, Schruers chronicles Joel s rise to the top of the charts, from his working-class origins in Levittown and early days spent in boxing rings and sweaty clubs to his monumental success in the seventies and eighties. He also explores Joel s creative transformation in the nineties, his dream performance with Paul McCartney at Shea Stadium in 2008, and beyond.
Along the way, Schruers reveals the stories behind all the key events and relationships including Joel s high-profile marriages and legal battles that defined his path to stardom and inspired his signature songs, such as Piano Man, Scenes from an Italian Restaurant, New York State of Mind, and She s Always a Woman. Throughout, he captures the spirit of a restless artist determined to break through by sharing, in his deeply personal lyrics, the dreams and heartbreaks of suburban American life.
Comprehensive, vibrantly written, and filled with Joel s memories and reflections as well as those of the family, friends, and band members who have formed his inner circle, including Christie Brinkley, Alexa Ray Joel, Jon Small, and Steve Cohen this is the definitive account of a beloved rock star s epic American journey."

In Bootleg: The Secret History of the Other Recording Industry, Clinton Heylin examines the entire modern history of this underground culture: from what defines a bootleg and its complex and protean legal status, to a full history of bootlegs' production and distribution, to what's contained on some of the most notorious bootlegs and how to find them. Along with many illustrations of the creative packages, this is the whole story of the $250 million industry that sustains itself on the great figures of rock music and their biggest admirers.

A TV series companion, the complete official episode guide to Buffy series 3 and 4. This volume picks up where the original Watcher's Guide left off, complete with behind-the-scenes secrets and interviews with writers, crew and actors.

This new edition covers all the spectacular technical advances in filmmaking of the past ten years, particularly those involving special effects and the electronic revolution. Many of the new and revised entries on such topics as computer animation, virtual reality, Industrial Light and Magic, nonlinear editing, and HDTV are based on the author's on-site inspections of the latest technological tools of the trade and questioning of experts in the field. Another recent development in film is, as Konigsberg remarks, "how much the world of business and the marketplace influence virtually everything in the industry." With style, facts, and figures, he has added up-to-date information on all the corporate players of the movie world and produced small essays on such key concepts as distribution, exhibition, home video, cable television, test booking, and box office. Specific films are cited to illustrate points made throughout the text. This is a dictionary for film students, film buffs, and anyone in the industry, particularly those who actually make the movies. The entries on the practical aspects of filmmaking (camera angles, lighting, film stock, sound, etc.) are myriad - the most plentiful in the book - and presented in clear, highly readable prose. Entries on the art of film as well as the profiles of American and European studios are mini-essays on the history of moviemaking. No other dictionary of film is as inclusive and comprehensive as this. Its encyclopedic scope and down-to-earth accuracy mark it as a true classic.

Country music is a slick business, and Nashville is a place where the egos are as big as the hairstyles. But whether it's the glamorous generation of Shania, Trisha, and Wynonna, or the old-guard twangers Dolly, Johnny, Willie, and Loretta, many of these stars have truly lived their songs. What makes country music great are the stories of lying and cheating, fighting and feuding, and getting hitched and breaking up. Country Confidential serves up all the cry-in-your-beer tales, from humble beginnings to legendary cheating hearts to quotes from the most megalomaniacal celebrities.

A unique collection of more than 100 never-before-seen letters, notes, and jottings both by and to the Doctor--correspondence by turns entertaining and inspiring, funny and flippant, brilliant and incredible drawn from all fifty-two years of the show.

No one could travel through history--past present and future--as much as the Doctor does without leaving an impression. Much of what we know about this mysterious figure comes from what he does-- the planets he saves and the monsters he defeats. But until now we've had little knowledge of his writings.

These rich and diverse documents paint an extraordinarily detailed picture of the Doctor and include his plea to the Time Lords to help end the War Games, an extract from the written defense he submitted at his subsequent trial, his application for the post of Caretaker at Coal Hill School, his apology to the Queen for missing dinner, even telepathic messages to the High Council on Gallifrey and his famous letter to Santa Claus. Like the Doctor himself, the mood can change in an instant.

The Time Lord Letters captures the best and most dramatic moments of an impossible life. You'll never see the Doctor in quite the same way again.

A major new biography of Duke Ellington from the acclaimed author of Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was the greatest jazz composer of the twentieth century--and an impenetrably enigmatic personality whom no one, not even his closest friends, claimed to understand. The grandson of a slave, he dropped out of high school to become one of the world's most famous musicians, a showman of incomparable suavity who was as comfortable in Carnegie Hall as in the nightclubs where he honed his style. He wrote some fifteen hundred compositions, many of which, like "Mood Indigo" and "Sophisticated Lady," remain beloved standards, and he sought inspiration in an endless string of transient lovers, concealing his inner self behind a smiling mask of flowery language and ironic charm.

As the biographer of Louis Armstrong, Terry Teachout is uniquely qualified to tell the story of the public and private lives of Duke Ellington. Duke peels away countless layers of Ellington's evasion and public deception to tell the unvarnished truth about the creative genius who inspired Miles Davis to say, "All the musicians should get together one certain day and get down on their knees and thank Duke."

A remarkable number of Wisconsin towns and cities were home to an opera house in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Some were freestanding structures built by local benefactors, industrialists, and capitalists. Others were located within a city hall building and financed by local tax dollars with the support of government officials who believed in the value of the arts for their community

In "Encore! The Renaissance of Wisconsin Opera Houses," Brian Leahy Doyle chronicles the histories of ten Wisconsin opera houses and theaters, from their construction to their heydays as live performance spaces and through the periods when many of these stages went dark. But what makes these stories so compelling is that all but one of the featured theaters has been restored to its original splendor. Just as the beginnings of these theaters were often the result of the efforts of local citizens, Doyle discovers that their restoration is due to the commitment of dedicated and passionate people. More than one of these revived theaters has spurred the revitalization of its surrounding downtown business district as well.

"Encore!" is the second book in the Places along the Way series. Richly illustrated with historic and contemporary photos, the Places along the Way series links Wisconsin's past with its present, exploring the state's history through its architecture.
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Chuck Boyd's love affair with photography began when his mother gave him a camera as a gift when he was thirteen years old. He quickly found his artistic voice, and at the age of sixteen, he went to work for Los Angeles radio station KRLA, covering special artist promotional functions. Shortly after beginning his work at the station, Boyd began working for Tiger Beat, shooting rock-and-roll acts for the influential teen culture and music magazine.

In 1967, Buck Munger, an independent record producer and the national promotion director for Sunn Amplifiers, hired Boyd as Sunn's official photographer. While working with Munger, Boyd had the opportunity to photograph Cream, Elton John, Led Zeppelin, KISS, and dozens of other artists throughout the 1960s and '70s. Since he was often shooting photos for Sunn, Boyd always had unlimited stage access. His photographs represent both his talent and his incredible access to rock-and-roll stars both on and off the stage.

Boyd took his camera everywhere and recorded everything, but he never broke a confidence; he turned down a lot of money over the years to protect the people he considered his friends.

Forever Young stands as a legacy to Boyd's incredible rock-and-roll photography. From stage shots to candid portraits, Boyd saw and documented the lives of a host of legendary musicians, including the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, the Who, the Doors, Janis Joplin, the Mamas and the Papas, Tom Petty, the Grateful Dead, Simon and Garfunkel, and the Beach Boys. A portfolio filled with intimate images of rock stars in their youth and in the prime of their careers, these photos, which were only recently discovered, have been lovingly restored and are now being made available to the public for the first time. Capturing the zeitgeist that permeated rock through the 1960s and '70s, these images are a testament to Boyd's status as one of the most trusted and respected photographers in rock-and-roll history.

The Harry Potter Books Were Just The Beginning of the Story...

During the brief span of just one decade, hundreds of millions of perfectly ordinary people made history: they became the only ones who would remember what it was like when the Harry Potter saga was still unfinished. What it was like to seek out friends, families, online forums, fan fiction, and podcasts to get a fix between novels. When the potential death of a character was a hotter bet than the World Series. When the unfolding story of a boy wizard changed the way books are read for all time.

And as webmistress of the Leaky Cauldron, one of the most popular Harry Potter sites on the Internet, Melissa Anelli had a front row seat to it all. Whether it was helping Scholastic stop leaks and track down counterfeiters, hosting live PotterCasts at bookstores across the country, touring with the wizard rock band Harry and the Potters, or traveling to Edinburgh to interview J. K. Rowling personally, Melissa was at the center of the Harry Potter tornado, and nothing about her life would ever be the same.

The Harry Potter books are a triumph of the imagination that did far more than break sales records for all time. They restored the world's sense of wonder and took on a magical life of their own. Now the series has ended, but the story is not over. With remembrances from J. K. Rowling's editors, agents, publicists, fans, and Rowling herself, Melissa Anelli takes us on a personal journey through every aspect of the Harry Potter phenomenon -- from his very first spell to his lasting impact on the way we live and dream.

With four pages of reusable stickers, full-color photos, and activities such as a maze to the Championship Belt and a design-your-own tattoo page, this sticker activity book is perfect for young fans who want to relive the action that goes down in the ring. Fans will love the pages filled with the most popular superstars of SmackDown, including Undertaker, Rey Mysterio, Kane, and more!

Kieve, the magic consultant on the Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Askaban movie, takes would-be wizards through a parade of the world's top magicians--including Harry Houdini and the Great Lafayette--and unveils their most spellbinding magic tricks.

Afton Fraser, a classic film aficionado, is constantly asked for her suggestions on which movies to see, which inspired her to create this lively guide. HOLLYWOOD PICKS THE CLASSICS focuses on the movies of the Golden Age - 1930 to 1960 - breaks down the movies into categories such as Film Noir and Romance, and gives the must-sees in each category. Also included is a 'yearbook' of the stars and directors from the movies described, and their top movies. More than just the traditional video guide, what makes it truly unique is the inclusion of dozens of 'top ten favourite' lists from Hollywood stars, directors, and writers - it's like having Michael Caine standing with you in the rental store telling you what you should see. An introduction by screen legend Esther Williams tells what it means to have worked in Hollywood during that time.

A riotous, rambling and incomplete history of classical music, complete with leg measurementsHello, I'm Stephen Fry. Now time for the first outing of a brand, spanking new feature here on The Incomplete and Utter History of Classical Music . . . putting some unsuspecting figure in music under the spotlight.'

Stephen Fry presents a brilliantly rambling 700-year history of classical music and the world as we know it. Along this musical journey he casually throws in references to pretty much whatever takes his fancy, from the Mongol invasion of Russia and Mr. Khan (Genghis to his friends), the founding of the MCC, the Black Death (which once again became the new black in England), to the heady revolutionary atmosphere of Mozart's Don Giovanni and the deep doo-doo that Louis XVI got into (or "du-du" as the French would say). It's all here--Ambrose and early English plainsong, Bach, Mozart (beloved of mobile phones everywhere), Beethoven, Debussy, Wagner (the old romantic), right up to the present day. Entertaining and brilliantly written, this is a pretty reckless romp of a history through classical music and much much more.

Return to the wizarding world and discover how director David Yates and producer David Heyman brought J.K. Rowling's all new adventure, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them to the big screen.

Inside the Magic: The Making of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them introduces filmmaking fans to Newt Scamander, Magizoologist, and the principal characters, locations, artifacts and beasts that he encounters in 1920s New York. Explore the filmmaking magic behind MACUSA, the secretive American counterpart of the Ministry of Magic; and the magical secrets of Newt's case.

Each section contains profiles of the key characters, with revealing insights from Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Alison Sudol, Dan Fogler, Colin Farrell, and many others, together with sections on set design, costumes, make-up, special effects, art department & props (especially wands!), which are illuminated by interviews with David Heyman, David Yates, Stuart Craig, Colleen Atwood and a magical army of other crew. Packed with exciting photos that reveal the filmmaking process in discerning detail, and officially licensed by Warner Bros. Consumer Products, this is the definitive adult companion book to the film, and perfect introduction to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

A true original, Gaga found fame the hard way, playing the grimy bars and burlesque shows of New York City, before finally relocating to Los Angeles to begin work on what would become her debut album The Fame. Constantly en vogue and always in the public eye, this is the biography of the rise of Gaga, from her early life as a teenage protege, to her life as one of the most respected musicians and most recognized entertainers on the planet. This book lifts the lid on Lady Gaga. Find out all you ever wanted to know about the eccentric star.

What better way to recognize and honor America's funniest moments and greatest laugh artists than an insightful, anecdote-laden multimedia presentation that allows readers and viewers to fully experience the sharpest comedians throughout broadcast and film history. That's exactly what Made You Laugh! offers, as author Joe Garner applies his magic touch to one of America's most treasured forms of entertainment.Joe's insightful text, original videotaped interviews, and choicest clips from radio, comedy variety shows, sitcoms, stand-up routines, and classic films instantly remind readers of some of the most fun-filled times of their lives. It shows why they love to laugh-and why a great joke is a thing of lasting beauty, at least until the next side-splitter comes along. The book is divided into three main sections: The Funniest Moments from Radio and Television, The Funniest Stand-up Moments, and The Funniest Movie Moments. Chapters throughout give readers a hearty chuckle while providing rare behind-the-scenes glimpses into favorite entertainers and their work, complete with firsthand memories from the comedians, writers, and producers who were there. The accompanying DVD, hosted by a major comedy talent, includes the actual audio/film clips of the particular memorable moment along with original videotaped and archival interviews. It all adds up to one seriously successful look at the world of laughs!