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In his 1960s-1970s heyday, Rod McKuen was a phenomenally popular singer-songwriter as well as the bestselling poet in publishing history. To his legions of fans around the world, he was a voice of compassion and healing, as much a prophet as an author/entertainer. McKuen songs like “If You Go Away” and “Jean” earned him massive hits, while books like Listen to the Warm sold millions of copies. McKuen's huge sales and devoted following didn't stop the critics from calling his work sentimental kitsch cranked out for the money. Who was this enigmatic artist who aroused so much love and hatred? A Voice of the Warm: The Life of Rod McKuen is the first-ever biography of one of the 20th cen...
The stories contained in this book are some of Tony’s favorites which he has written down through the years. Heavy in metaphor and abstraction, they are designed to make one dwell on the values of commitment and responsibility. Although the lead story is about a flock of migrating mallards, it will quickly become obvious that the story is really about our life and how to deal with disaster or tragedy. The other stories are equally thought provoking, but also designed to entertain and inspire.
The communicative process allows, sometimes forces, one to make connections about the self and simultaneously how the self relates to the other and the world. The bonus of communicating is that one makes connections with other individuals. Not only are social connections made, but political, business, spiritual, esoteric, and functional connections as well. Each connection holds the possibility of teaching the person more about the self and the world. This book helps individuals understand the dynamics of change particularly by focusing on enthymematic communication that can be used to effect change. It demonstrates the simultaneous potential of communication to both constrain and free the individual. The first part of the book establishes the theoretical ground by identifying the definitional issues, defining communication, and relating content and style to the sense-making function of interaction. The second part examines the primary consequences of interaction in both self and relational identity. Communication creates self-identification as well as relational identity, both of which provide a means of stabilizing the self and simultaneously allowing for change.
Spaghetti Westerns--mostly produced in Italy or by Italians but made throughout Europe--were bleaker, rougher, grittier imitations of Hollywood Westerns, focusing on heroes only slightly less evil than the villains. After a main filmography covering 558 Spaghetti Westerns, another section provides filmographies of personnel--actors and actresses, directors, musical composers, scriptwriters, cinematographers. Appendices provide lists of the popular Django films and the Sartana films, a listing of U.S.-made Spaghetti Western lookalikes, top ten and twenty lists and a list of the genre's worst.
Jim Blanchard's work from 1982–2002 intersected with punk rock, grunge, psychedelia, alternative comics, “zine” culture, portraiture, and “girlie” art. The book gathers Blanchard’s art into a cohesive whole; one section assembles the best of Blanchard’s LP covers, posters and flyers from the hardcore punk era through grunge, including iconic Black Flag, Nirvana, and Soundgarden posters. Augmenting the posters are exclusive photographs from the shows, including shots by famed photographer Charles Peterson (Touch Me, I'm Sick).
Louisville native John Jacob Niles (1892--1980) is considered to be one of our nation's most influential musicians. As a composer and balladeer, Niles drew inspiration from the deep well of traditional Appalachian and African American folk songs. At the age of sixteen Niles wrote one of his most enduring tunes, "Go 'Way from My Window," basing it on a song fragment from a black farm worker. This iconic song has been performed by folk artists ever since and may even have inspired the opening line of Bob Dylan's "It Ain't Me Babe." In I Wonder as I Wander: The Life of John Jacob Niles, the first full-length biography of Niles, Ron Pen offers a rich portrait of the musician's character and care...
The writer Ray Bradbury, science fiction expert Forry Ackerman, and special effects genius Ray Harryhausen are world-famous for their careers involving tales of the imagination. Before anyone had heard of them, they were friends as teens and college-aged boys enjoying all that 1930s L.A. had to offer: getting celebrity autographs, watching blockbuster movies, and haunting dozens of bookstores. As members of the Los Angeles chapter of the Science Fiction League, the three belonged to a tight-knit group that was involved in the earliest science fiction conventions and the birth of cosplay. This book follows the lives and careers of these three literary and film legends and tracks the origins of science fiction fandom. Each chapter builds a chronology of how their paths intertwined, and ultimately connected to, the beginnings of renowned fan conventions like Comic-Con. Devoted science fiction fans and new readers alike will learn how a young friendship launched three illustrious careers and changed the face of science fiction forever.
An entertaining history of the soundtrack of American evangelical Christianity Few things frightened conservative white Protestant parents of the 1950s and the 1960s more than thought of their children falling prey to the "menace to Christendom" known as rock and roll. The raucous sounds of Elvis Presley and Little Richard seemed tailor-made to destroy the faith of their young and, in the process, undermine the moral foundations of the United States. Parents and pastors launched a crusade against rock music, but they were fighting an uphill battle. Salvation came in a most unlikely form. Well, maybe not that unlikely--the long hair, the beards, the sandals--but still a far cry from the butto...
Only at Comic-Con examines the relationship between exclusivity and the proliferation of media industry promotion at the San Diego Comic-Con, from the convention's founding in 1970 to its current status as a destination for hundreds of thousands of pop culture fans and a hub of Hollywood hype and buzz.
In this first ever full-length biography of Harry Nilsson, author Alyn Shipton traces the musician's life from his Brooklyn childhood to his Los Angeles adolescence, and charts his gradual move into the spotlight as a talented songwriter.