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21 Nights

Prince

21 Nights Prince Amazon Price: $31.50
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

21 Nights--a first book by Prince and celebrated photographer Randee St. Nicholas is a stunning multimedia volume offering a rare glimpse into the life, lyrics and mystique of one of the most notable and prolific musicians of our time. This beautifully designed photographic essay flows from Prince's sensational, unprecedented, record-breaking, sold-out 21 concerts in 21 Nights at London's 02 Arena in 2007. Giving insight into his dueling worlds of performance and solitude, 21 Nights incorporates Prince's evocative poetry and lyrics to new songs and other selections, and 124 full-color, sumptuous never-before-published images by Randee St. Nicholas. As part of the multi-dimensional experience, it will also include "Indigo Night," a CD--available only with the book--capturing Prince's after-hours, live after-show sessions--rare and profound moments of musical genius.

21 Nights takes the reader from the passenger seat of a limousine zipping through the streets of London to his sleeping quarters in a luxury hotel. In between we see him and his phenomenal band of musicians, singers and dancers backstage in the make up room to onstage, bathed in purple lights and a fog of gray smoke. Like a movie-in-a-book, readers are taken on his journey from London to Prague, in a style that takes glam rock to a new level.

Then there is poetry and lyrics that reveal the heart and soul of Prince--in addition to his incomparable talent. Going beyond the catchy hook, he expresses himself on everything from the destructive forces of war, greed and superficiality the life giving energy of love, beauty, and--of course--music.

The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star

Nikki Sixx

The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star Nikki Sixx Amazon Price: $13.60
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 263 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

In one of the most unique memoirs of addiction ever published, Mötley Crüe's Nikki Sixx shares mesmerizing diary entries from the year he spiraled out of control in a haze of heroin and cocaine, presented alongside riveting commentary from people who were there at the time, and from Nikki himself.

When Mötley Crüe was at the height of its fame, there wasn't any drug Nikki Sixx wouldn't do. He spent days -- sometimes alone, sometimes with other addicts, friends, and lovers -- in a coke and heroin-fueled daze. The highs were high, and Nikki's journal entries reveal some euphoria and joy. But the lows were lower, often ending with Nikki in his closet, surrounded by drug paraphernalia and wrapped in paranoid delusions.

Here, Nikki shares those diary entries -- some poetic, some scatterbrained, some bizarre -- and reflects on that time. Joining him are Tommy Lee, Vince Neil, Mick Mars, Slash, Rick Nielsen, Bob Rock, and a host of ex-managers, ex-lovers, and more.

Brutally honest, utterly riveting, and shockingly moving, The Heroin Diaries follows Nikki during the year he plunged to rock bottom -- and his courageous decision to pick himself up and start living again.

Heaven and Hell: My Life in the Eagles (1974-2001)

Don Felder

Heaven and Hell: My Life in the Eagles (1974-2001) Don Felder Amazon Price: $15.10
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 77 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Very revealing read, and very fair 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Don Felder's story is revealing yet fair. One can detect joy, sadness, chagrin in his look back at his life with the Eagles, but almost no animosity at all. It is an effort in a meditative manner, telling things the way he saw it, with no attempt at excuses - even for his own mistakes.

Being a non-confrontative and meek person, you can easily say that it was his own fault for allowing the abuse by the Gods (*snigger*, sorry; can never refer to that silly title without sniggering). Yet, isn't that a common trait in a lot of people? But he woke up after being unfairly fired. Timothy Schmit's last remarks to Felder, that some contract made in the 70s was history, aren't entirely correct. That contract was not voided before they embark on the new regulation of profit division among the band members. It was only ignored and THAT is why the hostility against Felder mounted. He was pointing out to a fact that still stands and this grated, but for Felder's lack of courage to be more direct.

The very fact that Henley and Frey (The Gods...? *cringe*) eventually settled this out of court is very telling! Wake up, those who berate Felder for telling this story! They settled because they would never win! And they didn't want more than what is already evident to see further light! DUH!! The stories in this book have been watered down even, in order to save these lousy dogs some face! What a pity such massively talented individuals are also very destructive in their nature. It is sad that his old friends, Timothy Schmit and especially, Joe Walsh, chose to save their own hides from the wrath of The Gods (there, said it again). But I can see their fears and understand why they cease contact with Felder. They have that same trait of non-confrontative way! But they were never promised an equal share, and signed contracts that are already clear on their own positions: an Eagle, but not really a member. Hired musicians with a fancy tag.

All in all, a very fair point of view from Don Felder. No finger-pointing and maintains his respect for these guys, no matter what had happened between them. The irony being that Henley's and Frey's greed in hoping to swallow Felder's share ended up in them paying back his overdues and more, now that Felder is also entitle to future profits. Talk about coming full circle........

Editorial Review:

The Eagles are the bestselling, and arguably the tightest-lipped, American group ever. Now band member and guitarist Don Felder finally breaks the Eagles’ years of public silence to take fans behind the scenes. He shares every part of the band’s wild ride, from the pressure-packed recording studios and trashed hotel rooms to the tension-filled courtrooms, and from the joy of writing powerful new songs to the magic of performing in huge arenas packed with roaring fans.

Clapton: The Autobiography

Eric Clapton

Clapton: The Autobiography Eric Clapton Amazon Price: $10.85
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 313 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

“I found a pattern in my behavior that had been repeating itself for years, decades even. Bad choices were my specialty, and if something honest and decent came along, I would shun it or run the other way.”

With striking intimacy and candor, Eric Clapton tells the story of his eventful and inspiring life in this poignant and honest autobiography. More than a rock star, he is an icon, a living embodiment of the history of rock music. Well known for his reserve in a profession marked by self-promotion, flamboyance, and spin, he now chronicles, for the first time, his remarkable personal and professional journeys.

Born illegitimate in 1945 and raised by his grandparents, Eric never knew his father and, until the age of nine, believed his actual mother to be his sister. In his early teens his solace was the guitar, and his incredible talent would make him a cult hero in the clubs of Britain and inspire devoted fans to scrawl “Clapton is God” on the walls of London’s Underground. With the formation of Cream, the world's first supergroup, he became a worldwide superstar, but conflicting personalities tore the band apart within two years. His stints in Blind Faith, in Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, and in Derek and the Dominos were also short-lived but yielded some of the most enduring songs in history, including the classic “Layla.”

During the late sixties he played as a guest with Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan, as well as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and longtime friend George Harrison. It was while working with the latter that he fell for George’s wife, Pattie Boyd, a seemingly unrequited love that led him to the depths of despair, self-imposed seclusion, and drug addiction. By the early seventies he had overcome his addiction and released the bestselling album 461 Ocean Boulevard, with its massive hit “I Shot the Sheriff.” He followed that with the platinum album Slowhand, which included “Wonderful Tonight,” the touching love song to Pattie, whom he finally married at the end of 1979. A short time later, however, Eric had replaced heroin with alcohol as his preferred vice, following a pattern of behavior that not only was detrimental to his music but contributed to the eventual breakup of his marriage.
In the eighties he would battle and begin his recovery from alcoholism and become a father. But just as his life was coming together, he was struck by a terrible blow: His beloved four-year-old son, Conor, died in a freak accident. At an earlier time Eric might have coped with this tragedy by fleeing into a world of addiction. But now a much stronger man, he took refuge in music, responding with the achingly beautiful “Tears in Heaven.”

Clapton is the powerfully written story of a survivor, a man who has achieved the pinnacle of success despite extraordinary demons. It is one of the most compelling memoirs of our time.

Life with My Sister Madonna

Christopher Ciccone, Wendy Leigh

Life with My Sister Madonna Christopher Ciccone, Wendy Leigh Amazon Price: $17.16
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 187 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Madonna up close, by the brother who knows her better than anyone.

Christopher Ciccone's extraordinary memoir is based on his forty-seven years of growing up with, working with, and understanding the most famous woman of our time, who has intrigued, scandalized, and entertained millions for half a century.

Through most of the iconic star's kaleidoscopic career, Christopher played an important role in her life: as her backup dancer, her personal assistant, her dresser, her decorator, her art director, her tour director.

If you think you know everything there is to know about Madonna, you are wrong. Only Christopher can tell the full scale, riveting untold story behind Madonna's carefully constructed mythology, and the real woman behind the glittering façade.

From their shared Michigan childhood, which Madonna transcended, then whisked Christopher to Manhattan with her in the early eighties, where he slepton her roach-infested floor and danced with her in clubs all over town -- Christopher was with her every step of the way, experiencing her first hand in all her incarnations. The spoiled daddy's girl, the punk drummer, the raunchy Boy Toy, Material Girl, Mrs. Sean Penn, Warren Beatty's glamorous Hollywood paramour, loving mother, Mrs. Guy Ritchie, English grande dame -- Christopher witnessed and understood all of them, as his own life was inexorably entwined with that of his chameleon sister.

He tangled with a cast of characters from artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, to Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Moss, Demi Moore, and, of course, Guy Ritchie, whose advent in Madonna's life splintered the loving relationship Christopher once had with her.

The mirror image of his legendary sister, with his acid Ciccone tongue, Christopher pulls no punches as he tells his astonishing story.

Life with My Sister Madonna is the juicy, can't-put-it-down story you've always wanted to hear, as told by Madonna's younger brother.

The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band

Tommy Lee, Vince Neil, Mick Mars, Nikki Sixx, Neil Strauss

The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band Tommy Lee, Vince Neil, Mick Mars, Nikki Sixx, Neil Strauss Amazon Price: $10.85
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 369 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

The most influential, enduring, and iconic metal band of the 1980's reveals everything a tell-all of epic proportions.

This unbelievable autobiography explores the rebellious lives of four of the most influential icons in American rock history.

Motley Crue was the voice of a barely pubescent Generation X, the anointed high priests of backward-masking pentagram rock, pioneers of Hollywood glam, and the creators of MTV's first "power ballad." Their sex lives claimed celebrities from Heather Locklear to Pamela Anderson to Donna D'Errico. Their scuffles involved everyone from Axl Rose to 2LiveCrew. Their hobbies have included collecting automatic weapons, cultivating long arrest records, pushing the envelope of conceivable drug abuse, and dreaming up backstage antics that would make Ozzy Osbourne blanch with modesty.

Provocatively written and brilliantly designed, this book includes over 100 photos, many never before published, for the most exciting and insightful look ever into the Crue.

Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon--And the Journey of a Generation

Sheila Weller

Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon--And the Journey of a Generation Sheila Weller Amazon Price: $18.45
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 108 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

A groundbreaking and irresistible biography of three of America's most important musical artists -- Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon -- charts their lives as women at a magical moment in time.

Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon remain among the most enduring and important women in popular music. Each woman is distinct. Carole King is the product of outer-borough, middle-class New York City; Joni Mitchell is a granddaughter of Canadian farmers; and Carly Simon is a child of the Manhattan intellectual upper crust. They collectively represent, in their lives and their songs, a great swath of American girls who came of age in the late 1960s. Their stories trace the arc of the now mythic sixties generation -- female version -- but in a bracingly specific and deeply recalled way, far from cliché. The history of the women of that generation has never been written -- until now, through their resonant lives and emblematic songs.

Filled with the voices of many dozens of these women's intimates, who are speaking in these pages for the first time, this alternating biography reads like a novel -- except it's all true, and the heroines are famous and beloved. Sheila Weller captures the character of each woman and gives a balanced portrayal enriched by a wealth of new information.

Girls Like Us is an epic treatment of midcentury women who dared to break tradition and become what none had been before them -- confessors in song, rock superstars, and adventurers of heart and soul.

The Soloist (Movie Tie-In): A Lost Dream, an Unlikely Friendship, and the Redemptive Power of Music

Steve Lopez

The Soloist (Movie Tie-In): A Lost Dream, an Unlikely Friendship, and the Redemptive Power of Music Steve Lopez Amazon Price: $10.20
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 32 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

May work for a Newspaper human interest piece... 3 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Not so much in book form -- On second thought, I take that back, I think it could be a very compelling story, that's undoubtedly why they're making a movie out of it, right? -- BUT, personally I didn't find Mr. Lopez to be a very compelling writer.

I'm sure plenty other people have gone over all the odds and ends of the book, and I'm sure it's safe to say they did it better than I could do -- but the fact of the matter is(at least in my case), here is this very weighty subject matter and the writing feels as empty as a drum, Mr Lopez simply got lucky and stumbled upon a story that even if you are a second rate writer, you would most likely have success--seems it deserves better -- three stars, ah well...

Editorial Review:

Now a major motion picture—“An intimate portrait of mental illness, of atrocious social neglect, and the struggle to resurrect a fallen prodigy.” (Mark Bowden, author of Black Hawk Down)

This is the true story of journalist Steve Lopez’s discovery of Nathaniel Ayers, a former classical bass student at Julliard, playing his heart out on a two-string violin on Los Angeles’ Skid Row. Deeply affected by the beauty of Ayers’s music, Lopez took it upon himself to change the prodigy’s life—only to find that their relationship has had a profound change on his own life.

Keep the Faith: A Memoir

Faith Evans

Keep the Faith: A Memoir Faith Evans Amazon Price: $16.49
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 43 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

It's been over ten years since Big was killed. I grieved for him for a very long time. And then, as time passed, the icy wall of grief surrounding my heart began to thaw and I began to heal. I remarried, had more children, and continued to record and release more music. I continued to live my life. And while I can never discount the time I spent with Big, I've never felt the need to live in the past.


But sometimes, I still find myself thinking about Big being rushed the hospital, and I break down in tears.


It's not just because we hung up on each other during what would be our last telephone conversation. And it's not because I am raising our son, a young man who has never known his father.


It's partly all of those things. But mainly it's because he wasn't ready to go. His debut album was called Ready to Die. But in the end, he wasn't. Big never got a chance to tell his story. It's been left to others to tell it for him. In making the decision to tell my own story, it means that I've become one of those who can give insight to who Big really was. But I can only speak on what he meant to me.


Yet I also want people to understand that although he was a large part of my life, my story doesn't actually begin or end with Big's death. My journey has been complicated on many levels. And since I am always linked to Big, there are a lot of misconceptions about who I really am.


I hope that in reading my words, there is inspiration to be found. Perhaps you can duplicate my success or achieve where I have failed. Maybe you can skip over the mistakes I've made. Use my life as an example-of what to do and in some cases, what not to do.


It's not easy putting your life out there for the masses. But I've decided I'll tell my own story. For Big. For my children. And for myself.

Wild Boy: My Life in Duran Duran

Andy Taylor

Wild Boy: My Life in Duran Duran Andy Taylor Amazon Price: $17.81
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 20 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Wild Boy is the explosive first inside account of the rise and fall of Duran Duran. The band rose to conquer the globe with a string of unforgettable hits such as "Rio,""Hungry Like the Wolf," and "The Reflex." With Simon Le Bon as their frontman, they were the defining pop act of the 1980s, but Andy Taylor, the enigmatic lead guitarist, is widely acknowledged to have been their musical driving force.

Then, at the very height of their achievement in 1985, Duran Duran imploded. Now Andy shares the story of what went wrong. With searing honesty, he charts every moment of Duran Duran's roller-coaster rise from their early days as club musicians through to international superstardom. He captures the glamour and excitement of the band's epic video shoots and the opulence of their world tours.

He reveals the truth about the allegations of drug abuse and wild hedonism that dogged Duran Duran. Packed with more than twenty-five years worth of rock 'n' roll anecdotes, Andy tells of his time in the band The Power Station, and explains why Duran Duran reformed with its original line-up in 2003.

But Wild Boy is also a moving story on a human level, as Andy describes how the pressures of fame took a terrible personal toll on him and his family. Moving from hilarious to harrowing at the turn of a page, WILD BOY is a must-read for anyone who lived through the 1980s, or who cares about music.


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