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Me and My Shadows : A Family Memoir

Lorna Luft

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 68 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

The question follows Lorna Luft to this day: "What's it like to be Dorothy's daughter?" Although by appearances glamorous and truly thrilling, growing up as the daughter of Judy Garland was anything but a journey over the rainbow.

With unsparing candor, Lorna Luft offers the first-ever insider portrait of one of Hollywood's most celebrated families: a rare story of a little girl, her half-sister Liza, and her baby brother trying desperately to hang on to the mother whose life seemed destined to burn brightly but briefly. Lorna makes an extraordinary journey back into the spiral of love, addiction, pain, and loss that lurked behind a charmed facade.

Filled with behind-the-scenes dramas, hilarious untold stories, and little-known details of Garland family life, Me and My Shadows is a tribute to Lorna's victory over her own past, a story of hope, of love and its limitations, and a deeply moving testament to the healing powers of embracing one's past and charting a course of self-love and discovery.

Tropical Truth: A Story of Music and Revolution in Brazil

Caetano Veloso

List Price: $26.00 By: Knopf Amazon Marketplace: 24 new & used starting at $2.00

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Inadequately described as the John Lennon or the Bob Dylan of his country, Caetano Veloso has virtually personified Brazilian music for thirty-five years. Now, in his long-awaited memoir, he tells the heroic story of how, in the late sixties, he and a group of friends from the Northeastern state of Bahia created tropicalismo, the movement that shook Brazilian culture--and civic order--to its foundations and pushed a nation then on the margins of world politics and economics into the pop avant-garde.

Tropical Truth begins with a childhood in the Bahian hinterland, where Caetano (as Brazilians of all ages now call him) first heard not only the musical traditions of his own country and her Latin neighbors, but also the giants of postwar American song: Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Chet Baker, to name but a few. While teenagers in America would soon be enthralled by the primal (and commercial) beat of rock’n’roll, in Brazil it was bossa nova, that sublimely sophisticated music, that was to become the soundtrack of a generation. Inspired above all by bossa nova’s supreme master, João Gilberto, Caetano and his crew would set about creating a totally new sound. Tropicalismo would aim to “cannibalize” the extraordinary beauty and richness of Brazil’s musical past but at the same time to assimilate eclectically the most original elements of Anglo-American pop, an influence many rejected as yet another form of imperialism corrupting Brazil’s “authentic” character.

The birth of tropicalismo coincided with the wave of counterculture sweeping Western nations, but in Brazil that wave would hit the breakwaters of a brutal military junta. While supporting resistance to right-wing oppression (and the terrible social inequities it perpetuated) the tropicalistas nevertheless rejected the automatic connection to the Left and its unreflective nationalism, then the politics de rigueur of the artistic class. Their third way foresaw a Brazil open to free markets but likewise free in itself. It was a vision so subversive of both the political and musical status quo that before long Caetano faced imprisonment and was then forced into exile until the early seventies. But when he returned, it was in triumph: Brazil, no less than the state of her popular music, would never be the same.

Rich with the satisfactions of a novel, weaving the story of a country with that of its most idealistic generation, Tropical Truth recounts the odyssey of a brilliant constellation of artists: Caetano and his sister Maria Bethânia, the queen of Brazilian song; the black musical genius Gilberto Gil, Caetano's closest collaborator, with whom he was jailed and then banished; the great diva Gal Costa; the revolutionary filmmaker Glauber Rocha; the brothers de Campos, those luminaries of concrete poetry, who were among the tropicalistas’ learned mentors. Here is an unparalleled confluence of highbrow and pop, and with it the genesis of what has become one of the most wildly successful cultural exports ever produced by a nation other than the United States.
By turns erudite and playful, dreamlike and confessional, Tropical Truth is an utterly unexpected revelation of Brazil's most famous artist, one of the greatest popular composers of the past century.

Chasing Down the Dawn

Jewel

List Price: $24.00 By: HarperEntertainment Amazon Marketplace: 212 new & used starting at $0.01

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 38 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

An Intimate and Enchanting Mosaic 5 out of 5 stars.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful.

My best friend Jacque, used to say, "Sleep beneath the stars and you will wake with more answers than you have questions to." ~Jewel

From the first page, you enter Jewel's magical world of snow and ice in Alaska. Jewel is on a private jet, writing about her life.

Jewel's "Chasing Down the Dawn" is an intimate, timeless and enchanting mosaic. Jewel creates a world where the main elements of life and the magical experiences are woven into her daily existence. Her experiences are processed through her self-analysis and then woven into words.

While not organized in a chronological order, memories dance playfully with stark reality, unique vignettes give insight into the inexorable connection between Jewel's music and the way she views life. She becomes the guitar, her music is her gift, she is grounded in purpose, yet living in the stars with dreams she eventually manifests into reality.

The story of her life is temporarily tragic and eternally beautiful. We read about the tragic loss of her mother as a child (the divorce), how she struggled to live in a world of men (no privacy), her childhood in Alaska and the sharp contrast between frontier life and traveling on a private jet. It is as if Jewel has lived two lives, one in the distant past and one in the dreamy future. Her vivid recollections are especially beautiful to read and there is a sacred side to her writing. She is not just experiencing her dream, she is creating each moment through conscious decisions.

Jewel is a multitalented artist. She excels as a musician, poet and skilled writer and then her artistic nature also comes out in her photography. I loved the three pictures of the grain barn with the horse and rider shadows. She also shows us her honest comedic side in stories of how she "borrowed" a few items from a friend. She then concludes that stealing was a "manifestation of my lack of faith in myself."

Chasing Down the Dawn gives insight into Jewel's songs and what inspired her to write "Who Will Save Your Soul?" Her songs then reveal their history in her childhood memories, ideas about love, love of horses and nature, memories of people she has loved and lost and her world travels and life experience. Throughout this book Jewel and her father are on a journey to accept each other as souls and when her father sings her a sweet sixteen lullaby the circle is complete.

To me, Jewel is a magical angelic singer who was sent to our earth to remind us of the magnificent creations we are, to remind us to love and to contemplate our deeper existence. The existence of our souls, how we can change the world for the better through our lives and how we can survive this earthly and temporary solitude within a physical body subject to emotional pain and ethical conflicts.

Reading Jewel's short stories, vivid recollections and songs make the world seem a little less lonely. Her writing draws us into her magical world of experience and leaves us wanting to read more.

If you love Jewel's poetic writing style, then I think you will love her poems.

~The Rebecca Review
Listening to Pieces of You and Spirit

Editorial Review:

Already a legendary performer in the music industry, Jewel has been writing poetry, short stories and prose since she was young, Now, in Chasing Down the Dawn, she takes her fans on a singular and very personal odyssey through her world. Readers will be enthralled by Jewel's journal entries, poetic essays, and stories as she explores beliefs, thoughts, ideas, and important turning points in her life. Illustrated throughout with candid never-before-seen photos of Jewel and her own photojournalism and drawings, this is an inspiring book and keepsake for all ages. Chosen the 1999 "Woman of the Year" by Glamour, the award-winning poet and songwriter also starred in her first movie RIDE WITH THE DEVIL, directed by Ang Lee (THE ICE STORM) in September 1999. In her short career, she has sold more than 17 million albums worldwide.

Soul Picnic: The Music and Passion of Laura Nyro

Michele Kort

List Price: $25.95 By: Thomas Dunne Books Amazon Marketplace: 21 new & used starting at $1.05

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 26 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Soul Picnic: The Music and Passion of Laura Nyro is a biography of the pioneering singer-songwriter whose recordings and high-drama performances were both beloved and inspiring in the 1960s and '70s. With her groundbreaking honest and passionate lyrics, her unusual and innovative rhythms and melody, Nyro's influence is still felt by singers and songwriters today.

Beginning with her childhood and teen years in the Bronx, and ending with her untimely death from ovarian cancer in 1997, Soul Picnic details how Nyro was "discovered" as a prodigious eighteen-year-old songwriter, had her songs covered with great success by other singers (most famously, the Fifth Dimension, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Three Dog Night, and Barbra Streisand), and created her own remarkable albums, such as Eli and the Thirteen Confession and New York Tendaberry. It also tells how a young David Geffen, as her agent and then manager, helped boost her career, but how she ultimately rejected both Geffen and the glare of stardom for a quieter rural life. Nyro was a very private person, and Michele Kort has uncovered aspects of her life offstage never previously revealed, including a romance with famed rock musician Jackson Browne and the love affair that led to the birth of her son, Gil. It also fleshes out her long, loving relationship with painter Maria Desiderio.

Kort features Laura Nyro's music, the making of each of her albums, the musical influences that informed her work, and the important legacy she has left behind. She interviewed nearly all of the producers and arrangers Nyro worked with, and many of the musicians who played on her albums. The book also includes a discography of both Nyro's recordings and many covers of her songs by well-known artists.

With passion and style, acclaimed journalist Michele Kort has seamlessly joined thorough research with oral history in this beautifully rendered biography of an important, often-overlooked music icon.

Tina Turner: Break Every Rule

Mark Bego

Amazon Price: $14.00 List Price: $17.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Taylor Trade Publishing Amazon Marketplace: 14 new & used starting at $0.95

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

NOT "SIMPLY THE BEST" 2 out of 5 stars.
9 of 10 people found this review helpful.

As a huge Tina fan, I became very excited when I heard about this book. Unfortunately, this book didn't live up to my expectations.

I think the main flaw lies with the author's research. It doesn't appear as if he interviewed Tina or anyone connected with her. If he had, it might have made a world of difference. The book seems to be a compilation gleaned from every other Tina bio that has been written. There is very little info that hasn't been printed before. Even worse, there are numerous incorrect facts. Most of which could have been fixed had the author done better research.

Case in point: the author states that after leaving Ike and starting her solo career, Tina never again performed the songs A FOOL IN LOVE and ITS GONNA WORK OUT FINE until they had to be re-recorded for her 1993 film biography. Not true. In a commercially-released concert home video from the late 70s, Tina indeed performs both of those songs, along with I'VE BEEN LOVING YOU TOO LONG (another song that the author claims Tina dropped after leaving Ike.)

For those who have not read any other bios on Tina, this is a good introduction and a quick read. But those who have closely followed Tina's life and career will be hard pressed to find anything new here.

Editorial Review:

This revealing, detailed biography not only gives the full story of Turner's dazzling professional career, but also thoroughly explores her turbulent personal battles and ultimate discovery of inner peace through Buddhism. From her modest beginnings as a backup singer for Ike and their debut single A Fool in Love to her successful 1980s comeback and the conferring of her rock goddess status during the last decade of the twentieth century, Tina Turner is the authoritative portrait of the flamboyant superstar with unmistakable voice.

Frank Sinatra: An American Legend

Nancy Sinatra

List Price: $45.00 By: Stoddart Amazon Marketplace: 89 new & used starting at $0.81

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Everything you want to know about Frank is in this Book 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

I had to get this book after seeing how low the price came down.The original price was 40 dollars. Nancy Sinatra's book on her Father has everything in here.I couldn't believe Frank weighted 13and a half pounds when he was born on December 12,1915.The Doctor ripped and scarred his ear,check,and neck,plus puncturing his eardrum.Frank wasn't breathing,so his grandmother Rose held the baby under cold running water until he gasped his first breath and cried.This book is like a Diary.It goes from year to year,sometimes month to month.All of Franks movies,records,concerts,TV shows,songs,and the name of the songwriters are in here,plus hundreds of pictures,starting with Frank's baby photo, ending with a touching family photo taken in 1996.There's a wonderfull picture of Marilyn Monroe taken with Dean Martin sitting ringside at the Sands..All of the stars are in here,and family pictures we've never seen before.If you are a Frank Sinatra fan,you have to get this Book.Its huge,and the pictures are fantastic.

Editorial Review:

Featuring a complementary compact disc recording of music and reminiscences and four hundred color and black-and-white photographs, a detailed look at the singer's life by his daughter promises many new revelations. 150,000 first printing. $200,000 ad/promo.

The First Time

Jeff Coplon, Cher

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 45 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

She's a singer, comedian, Academy Award-winning actress, and one of America's most popular and enduring stars. She's "a funny, gutsy woman" who is "genuine" and "down to earth" (The New York Times). She is Cher.

As part of the singing duo "Sonny and Cher," she was noted for her offbeat beauty.

As a star of television's The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour, she blossomed into one of America's most glamorous women. She went on to prove herself as an actress while maintaining her singing career and raising two children. Now, in the book The First Time, Cher allows readers a view of some hilarious, tragic, and shocking moments as she recalls:

• First memories of her mother
• First bra
• First kiss
• First bad boy (Gregg Allman)
• First time she learned her daughter was gay
• First eulogy (for Sonny)

Told in Cher's inimitable way, with dozens of photographs, most from her own albums, The First Time is a frank, funny, surprising, outrageous, sometimes sad, and always boldly honest depiction of a woman as irrespressible as she is impossible to resist.

Celine Dion: My Story, My Dream

Celine Dion

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 39 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Loved her story, her writings, her experience & perspective! 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I am ofcourse in love with Celine Dion, so I was a bit biased at first. Reading this book took me through her life from the very start, and through her stardom. Her love with Rene Angelil, her feelings for this man 26 years her senior, her view of the world, of popularity, of discipline most of all, and of her working hard and intense attitude, I fell in love with her all over again. I can't recommend the book enough, but then again, you have to love Celine the way I do to appreciate her book as much!! :)

Editorial Review:

The talented and beautiful woman who has moved us with her singing now moves us with her words.

Celine Dion -- My Story, My Dream is an unforgettable true story of courage, perseverance, dedication, and devotion -- told with the wide-eyed honesty of someone who has basked in the glowing adoration of millions of fans but has never lost touch with her working-class roots. Here is a book for anyone who has ever wondered about the real person behind the magnificent voice. Touching and funny, fascinating and uplifting, it is an exquisitely detailed portrait of a remarkable woman who has never backed away from any challenge...even the most daunting challenges of the heart.

Elvis: What Happened?

Steve Dunleavy

List Price: $4.99 By: Ballantine Books Amazon Marketplace: 12 new & used starting at $16.91

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Total reviews: 26 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Sonny West: Elvis' ONLY true friend 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This book is a must read and I only wish Elvis would have listened to Sonny's advice. I met Mr. West during Elvis Week this year and he is a classy gentleman. He was sweet, humble and he still loves Elvis. The Bible says in John 15:13, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." Sonny West was one of the only real, true friends Elvis EVER had.

Editorial Review:

A devoted son. A generous friend. A model Army recruit. A gifted entertainer. A beloved hero to millions. This is the Elvis Presly the world knew -- and cherished.
Brooding. Violent. Obsessed with death. Strung out. Sexually driven. This is the other side of Elvis -- according to the three men who lived with him through it all -- a man who:
* Chamed a beautiful young fan into joining him on a drug binge for two that nearly killed her
* Took a group of friends on a 3 A.M. visit to a mortuary to look at corpses and talk about embalming
* Hurled a pool cue at a party guest who interrupts his game, injuring her breast
* Talked with his bodyguard about a "hit" on the man he felt stole his wife
Steve Dunleavy has woven together the experiences of three Presley bodyguards who were there partying with him, womanizing with him, worrying with him -- tasting the pleasure and the pains of life with the most fabulous star in showbiz history!

Madonna: A Biography (Greenwood Biographies)

Mary Cross

Amazon Price: $28.00 List Price: $35.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Greenwood Press Amazon Marketplace: 27 new & used starting at $24.65

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

As the Material Girl, Eva Peron in Evita, and most recently, queen of the disco floor, Madonna's transformations and assumed identities keep her fans wanting more. She has inspired university professors and cultural critics to enshrine her as a postmodern icon. Known for her persona as much as for her music, Madonna has stirred controversy through her use of religious and sexual depictions in her songs, music videos, concerts, and in one notorious publication. This biography traces Madonna's ambitious journey from a Midwest upbringing as part of a large family to achieving fame on a global scale. It also brings readers up to date on her latest incarnation as a wife and mother, living on a country estate in England. Students researching cultural studies topics will accurate information on the musician's life and body of work, as well as critical commentary on her impact and lasting significance as one of the most influential female entertainers of our time. She has been the subject of countless magazines and newspaper stories around the world, whether for her sold-out concerts or as an advocate for Kabbalah, the spiritual movement rooted in Jewish mysticism. This book shares her story and provides a way to consider the influence Madonna has had through her ever-evolving career in shaping our popular culture. A timeline of significant events and a bibliography of print and electronic sources for additional research round out this volume.