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This Boy: The Early Lives of John Lennon & Paul McCartney
by Ilene CooperAn inside look at the early lives of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, This Boy is a perfect book for any young reader embracing their inner Beatlemania.Meant for younger readers, This Boy is a gripping biography of two musical legends. Beginning with their births during World War II England and ending with their famous performance on The Ed Sullivan Show, this book is action packed from beginning to end. Whether you are a lifelong Beatles fan or new to their music, this book is an excellent source of Beatles lore that is relatively unknown. With expert research from Ilene Cooper and rarely seen photographs of the Beatles in their early days, this book will serve as not only an interesting biography of two significant historical figures, but also a fun read about rock and roll and how the lives of two people can change the world.*&“Generously illustrated with period photographs, the beautifully written result is fascinating and compulsively readable, as Cooper dramatically demonstrates that, together, [John Lennon and Paul McCartney] made magic.&”—Booklist, starred review
This Bright Future: A Memoir
by Bobby HallAn explosive memoir from Bobby Hall, the multiplatinum recording artist known as Logic and the #1 bestselling author of Supermarket. <P><P> This Bright Future is a raw and unfiltered journey into the life and mind of Bobby Hall, who emerged from the wreckage of a horrifically abusive childhood to become an era-defining artist of our tumultuous age. A self-described orphan with parents, Bobby Hall began life as Sir Robert Bryson Hall II, the only child of an alcoholic, mentally ill mother on welfare and an absent, crack-addicted father. <P><P> After enduring seventeen years of abuse and neglect, Bobby ran away from home and—with nothing more than a discarded laptop and a ninth-grade education—he found his voice in the world of hip-hop and a new home in a place he never expected: the untamed and uncharted wilderness of the social media age. In the message boards and livestreams of this brave new world, Bobby became Logic, transforming a childhood of violence, anger, and trauma into music that spread a resilient message of peace, love, and positivity. <P><P> His songs would touch the lives of millions, taking him to dizzying heights of success, where the wounds of his childhood and the perils of Internet fame would nearly be his undoing. A landmark achievement in an already remarkable career, This Bright Future looks back on Bobby’s extraordinary life with lacerating humor and fearless honesty. Heart-wrenching yet ultimately uplifting, this book completes the incredible true story and transformation of a human being who, against all odds, refused to be broken. <P><P><b>A New York Times Best Seller</b>
This Business of Artist Management: The Standard Reference to All Phases of Managing a Musician's Career from Both the Artist's and Manager's Point of View
by H. Lee Hetherington Xavier M. FrascognaThis authoritative reference on artist management in the music industry is the standard for all phases of managing a musician's career from both the artist's and manager's point of view. This substantially updated edition covers the major changes that have transformed the business world and music industry over the past six years. Particular emphasis is given to the impact of the Internet, including the MP3 controversy and its lingering ramifications, copyright licensing on the Web, navigating trade identity issues on the Net, domain names, and the high-tech fight against cyberpiracy. Included are real-world examples-as well as new interviews with top booking agents, personal managers, concert promoters, record company executives, road managers, and artists.* For aspiring and professional managers in the music/entertainment field as well as musicians, music publishers, and record company personnel* Winner of the presigious ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for excellence in music publishing* This replaces 0-8230-7705-5, which sold more than 25,000 copiesFrom the Hardcover edition.
This Business of Concert Promotion and Touring: A Practical Guide to Creating, Selling, Organizing, and Staging Concerts
by Ray D. Waddell Jake Berry Rich BarnetThe only book that looks at the business of concert promotion. Concerts are part art, part party--and a big part business. This Business of Concert Promotion and Touring is the first to focus on that all-important business aspect, from creating a show, to selling a show, to organizing the show, to staging the show. Working with venues, personnel, booking, promoting, marketing, publicity, public relations, financial management, and much more are covered in this indispensable one-volume resource. And the ideas and techniques explained here can be used for every type of concert promotion, including college shows, artist showcases, club gigs, as well as major events handled by local promoters, nationwide promoters, and worldwide promoters. Concert promoters and tour managers at every level need to know This Business of Concert Promotion and TouringFrom the Hardcover edition.
This Business of Global Music Marketing: Global Strategies for Maximizing Your Music's Popularity and Profits
by Tad LathropThink BIG--capture the global music market.Worldwide tours, internet downloads, international album distribution-the global market for music is expanding with lightning speed, and that means big opportunities for everyone in the music business. The main obstacle? Lack of knowledge. The world market is packed with opportunity, but it's also full of cultural, regulatory, administrative, legal, political, and logistical pitfalls. This Business ofTM Global Music Marketing offers a map of the world, with full information on how to break into the global market, how to distribute records abroad, how to find an audience, how to package records to appeal to local markets, how to establish partnerships with foreign businesses, how to deal with different rules of trade, and much more. A companion volume to author Tad Lathrop's top-selling This Business ofTM Music Marketing and Promotion, This Business ofTM Global Music Marketing offers everyone in the music business a chance to go global.
This Business of Music: The Definitive Guide to the Music Industry
by M. William Krasilovsky Sidney Shemel John M. Gross Jonathan FeinsteinThe bible of the music industry! Now in its tenth edition, This Business of Music has been revised and completely updated to reflect the latest changes in the ever-evolving music business. Every chapter has been revised. An entirely new chapter has been added, asking and answering the question "Are there borders in cyberspace?" The answer is yes, and the book clearly and concisely explains what they are and how to maintain them. Commentary on recent legislation, a reader-friendly summary of the laws on copyright duration, and much more insightful analysis--plus fully updated lists of music organizations and important websites--make This Business of Music indispensable for musicians, agents, managers, marketers, music publishers and groups, colleges and universities, and everyone who wants to make music and make money.
This Day in Rap and Hip-Hop History
by Chuck DForeword by Shepard Fairey.As featured in Best stocking-filler books of 2017 - The GuardianIf you want to understand our culture. To learn knowledge itself. Truth about the art form of poetry in motion. The struggle of our community through rhyme and rhythm. This is the book that inspired me long before I found my place in hip-hop. The power of self-expression. Unapologetically. Taught by the teacher himself. Chuck D!!!Kendrick LamarThis book is required reading for those who claim to know hip-hop, love hip-hop, and want their information from a true Master and General of the hip-hop culture...Public Enemy #1, Chuck D!Ice-TChuck D wasn't put here to play any games. He created the greatest hip-hop album in my opinion to date, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. But the very first minute he sonically appeared to us, I knew rap was changed forever. Power, awareness, strength, and militancy is his stance in a world obsessed with punishing poor people. I knew he would righteously and boldly die so that a little young boy he didn't even know from Queensbridge could live. He attacked wickedness head-on being the rappin' rhino terror that he is. He represented for all of us putting his life on the line and making the right music fighting for hip hop, the youth, truth, and justice. Chuck D made the lane for people like me to walk.NasReading this book is like reliving my life all over again. Chuck D is Dope!!!LL Cool JIn the more than 40 years since the days of DJ Kool Herc and "Rapper's Delight," hip-hop and rap have become a billion-pound worldwide cultural phenomenon that reaches well beyond music, into fashion, movies, art and politics. Yet there is no definitive history of the genre - until now.This massive compendium details the most iconic moments and influential songs in the genre's recorded history, from Kurtis Blow's "Christmas Rappin'" to The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill to Kendrick Lamar's verse on "Control." Also included are key events in hip-hop history, from Grandmaster Flash's first scratch through to Tupac's holographicappearance at Coachella.Throughout the book, Chuck offers an insider's perspective on the chart toppers, artists and key moments. Illustrating the pages are more than 150 portraits from mADurgency, an artist collective specialising in art and design for the hip-hop community.
This Is a Call: The Life and Times of Dave Grohl
by Paul BranniganThe first biography of Dave Grohl, drummer for the legendary band Nirvana and singer/songwriter for the Foo Fighters
This Is All a Dream We Dreamed: An Oral History of the Grateful Dead
by Blair Jackson David GansIn This Is All a Dream We Dreamed, two of the most well-respected chroniclers of the Dead, Blair Jackson and David Gans, reveal the band’s story through the words of its members, their creative collaborators and peers, and a number of diverse fans, stitching together a multitude of voices into a seamless oral tapestry. Capturing the ebullient spirit at the group’s core, Jackson and Gans weave together a musical saga that examines the music and subculture that developed into its own economy, touching fans from all walks of life, from penniless hippies to celebrities, and at least one U.S. vice president. This definitive book traces the Dead’s evolution from its humble beginnings as a folk/bluegrass band playing small venues in Palo Alto to the feral psychedelic warriors and stadium-filling Americana jam band that blazed all the way through to the 90s. Along the way, we hear from many who were touched by the Dead—from David Crosby and Miles Davis, to Ken Kesey, Carolyn “Mountain Girl” Garcia, and a host of Merry Pranksters, to legendary concert promoter Bill Graham, and others. Throughout their journey the Dead broke (and sometimes rewrote) just about every rule of the music business, defying conventional wisdom and charting their own often unusual course, in the process creating a business model unlike any seen before. Musically, too, they were pioneers, fusing inspired ideas and techniques with intuition and fearlessness to craft an utterly unique and instantly recognizable sound. Their music centered on collective improvisation, spiritual and social democracy, trust, generosity, and fun. They believed that you can make something real, spontaneous, and compelling happen with other musicians if you trust and encourage each other, and jam as if your life depended on it. And when it worked, there was nothing else like it.Whether you’re part of the new generation of Deadheads who are just discovering their music or a devoted fan who has traded Dead tapes for decades, you will want to listen in on the irresistible conversations and anecdotes shared in these pages. You’ll hear stories you haven’t heard before, possibly from voices that may be unfamiliar to you, and the tales that unfold will shed a whole new light on a long and inspiring musical odyssey.
This Is Christmas, Song by Song: The Stories Behind 100 Holiday Hits
by Annie ZaleskiCelebrate the merriest season of the year with award-winning author and music journalist Annie Zaleski's collection of the 100 most popular and beloved holiday songs of all time. 'Tis the season! Break out the eggnog, hang the mistletoe, blast those Christmas songs, and settle down in your favorite armchair with this beautifully illustrated volume exploring well-known and lesser-known behind-the-scenes stories of the 100 most cherished holiday songs of all time and their everlasting impact. From artists such as Bing Crosby and Ella Fitzgerald all the way up to Mariah Carey and Ariana Grande, this all-encompassing collection of holiday favorites (called one of "the 25 best Christmas books of all time" by Book Riot) is sure to warm your heart during the merriest season of the year. What song was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the best-selling single of all time? Which popular Christmas tune was reportedly written to commemorate Thanksgiving? What holiday song led to a special meet-and-greet between the song's 10-year-old singer and a 700-pound hippopotamus? Spanning musical genres and decades of classics and modern hits, some of the featured songs include: &“White Christmas&” by Bing Crosby "All I Want for Christmas Is You" by Mariah Carey "Deck the Halls" by Mannheim Steamroller &“Christmas Tree Farm&” by Taylor Swift &“Christmas Time (Is Here Again)" by The Beatles &“Feliz Navidad&” by José Feliciano "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" by Gene Autry "You Make It Feel Like Christmas" by Gwen Stefani &“Santa Baby&” by Eartha Kitt &“Rockin&’ around the Christmas Tree&” by Brenda Lee &“Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays&” by NSYNC &“Run Rudolph Run&” by Chuck Berry And many more! Including full-color illustrations throughout, this gorgeously packaged compendium is the perfect gift for you and your loved ones to experience the holiday magic year after year.
This Is Gonna Hurt: Music, Photography and Life Through the Distorted Lens of Nikki Sixx
by Nikki SixxThis Is Gonna Hurt is music, photography, and life through the distorted lens of Nikki Sixx, bassist for heavy metal rock band Mötley Crüe’s and the New York Times bestselling author of The Heroin Diaries. A combination of powerful prose and dramatic photographs, This Is Gonna Hurt is an arresting, deeply personal look through the eyes of a real rock star at a stark, post-addiction world.This Is Gonna Hurt chronicles Sixx's experiences—from his early years filled with toxic waste, to his success with Motley Crue, to his near death from an OD and his eventual rebirth through music, photography, and love. Love story, social commentary, family memoir, This Is Gonna Hurt offers the compelling insights of an artist and a man struggling to survive, connect, and find a happy ending—a search that fuels Sixx's being.
This Is Music: Drums
by Rekha S. RajanMake music with this hands-on introduction to the four instrument families: drums, horns, strings, and voice in this new board book series by a world-renown music educator.What do a set of bongos, a tambourine, and a cooking pot have in common? They are all drums! This first introduction to instruments in the drum family begins with a simple explanation of what defines a drum. Young readers are then invited on a global exploration of a variety of percussive instruments and are encouraged to find drums of their own in the world around them. Each title in the THIS IS MUSIC series features an interactive novelty musical element that invites the reader to "play" the book!
This Is Music: Horns
by Rekha S. RajanMake music with this hands-on introduction to the four instrument families: drums, horns, strings, and voice in this new board book series by a world-renown music educator.What do a trumpet, a tuba, and a conch shell have in common? They are all horns! This first introduction to instruments in the horn family begins with a simple explanation of what defines a horn. Young readers are then invited on a global exploration of a variety of brass and wind instruments and are encouraged to find horns of their own in the world around them. Each title in the THIS IS MUSIC series features an interactive novelty musical element that invites the reader to "play" the book!
This Is Our Music
by Iain AndersonThis Is Our Music, declared saxophonist Ornette Coleman's 1960 album title. But whose music was it? At various times during the 1950s and 1960s, musicians, critics, fans, politicians, and entrepreneurs claimed jazz as a national art form, an Afrocentric race music, an extension of modernist innovation in other genres, a music of mass consciousness, and the preserve of a cultural elite. This original and provocative book explores who makes decisions about the value of a cultural form and on what basis, taking as its example the impact of 1960s free improvisation on the changing status of jazz. By examining the production, presentation, and reception of experimental music by Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, John Coltrane, and others, Iain Anderson traces the strange, unexpected, and at times deeply ironic intersections between free jazz, avant-garde artistic movements, Sixties politics, and patronage networks. Anderson emphasizes free improvisation's enormous impact on jazz music's institutional standing, despite ongoing resistance from some of its biggest beneficiaries. He concludes that attempts by African American artists and intellectuals to define a place for themselves in American life, structural changes in the music industry, and the rise of nonprofit sponsorship portended a significant transformation of established cultural standards. At the same time, free improvisation's growing prestige depended in part upon traditional highbrow criteria: increasingly esoteric styles, changing venues and audience behavior, European sanction, withdrawal from the marketplace, and the professionalization of criticism. Thus jazz music's performers and supporters--and potentially those in other arts--have both challenged and accommodated themselves to an ongoing process of cultural stratification.
This is the Sound of Irony: Music, Politics And Popular Culture (Ashgate Popular and Folk Music Series)
by Katherine L. TurnerThe use of irony in music is just beginning to be defined and critiqued, although it has been used, implied and decried by composers, performers, listeners and critics for centuries. Irony in popular music is especially worthy of study because it is pervasive, even fundamental to the music, the business of making music and the politics of messaging. Contributors to this collection address a variety of musical ironies found in the ’notes themselves,’ in the text or subtext, and through performance, reception and criticism. The chapters explore the linkages between irony and the comic, the tragic, the remembered, the forgotten, the co-opted, and the resistant. From the nineteenth to twenty-first centuries, through America, Europe and Asia, this provocative range of ironies course through issues of race, religion, class, the political left and right, country, punk, hip hop, folk, rock, easy listening, opera and the technologies that make possible our pop music experience. This interdisciplinary volume creates new methodologies and applies existing theories of irony to musical works that have made a cultural or political impact through the use of this most multifaceted of devices.
This Is What It Sounds Like: What the Music You Love Says About You
by Susan Rogers Ogi OgasNamed one of the Most Anticipated Books of 2022 by Boston Globe and Literary Hub A legendary record producer–turned–brain scientist explains why you fall in love with music. This Is What It Sounds Like is a journey into the science and soul of music that reveals the secrets of why your favorite songs move you. But it’s also a story of a musical trailblazer who began as a humble audio tech in Los Angeles, rose to become Prince’s chief engineer for Purple Rain, and then created other No. 1 hits ,including Barenaked Ladies' "One Week," as one of the most successful female record producers of all time. Now an award-winning professor of cognitive neuroscience, Susan Rogers leads readers to musical self-awareness. She explains that we each possess a unique “listener profile” based on our brain’s natural response to seven key dimensions of any song. Are you someone who prefers lyrics or melody? Do you like music “above the neck” (intellectually stimulating), or “below the neck” (instinctual and rhythmic)? Whether your taste is esoteric or mainstream, Rogers guides readers to recognize their musical personality, and offers language to describe one's own unique taste. Like most of us, Rogers is not a musician, but she shows that all of us can be musical—simply by being an active, passionate listener. While exploring the science of music and the brain, Rogers also takes us behind the scenes of record-making, using her insider’s ear to illuminate the music of Prince, Frank Sinatra, Kanye West, Lana Del Rey, and many others. She shares records that changed her life, contrasts them with those that appeal to her coauthor and students, and encourages you to think about the records that define your own identity. Told in a lively and inclusive style, This Is What It Sounds Like will refresh your playlists, deepen your connection to your favorite artists, and change the way you listen to music.
This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession
by Daniel J. LevitinWhat can music teach us about the brain? What can the brain teach us about music? And what can both teach us about ourselves? In this groundbreaking union of art and science, rocker-turned-neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitin (The World in Six Songs and The Organized Mind) explores the connection between music - its performance, its composition, how we listen to it, why we enjoy it - and the human brain. Drawing on the latest research and on musical examples ranging from Mozart to Duke Ellington to Van Halen, Levitin reveals:How composers produce some of the most pleasurable effects of listening to music by exploiting the way our brains make sense of the worldWhy we are so emotionally attached to the music we listened to as teenagers, whether it was Fleetwood Mac, U2, or Dr. DreThat practice, rather than talent, is the driving force behind musical expertiseHow those insidious little jingles (called earworms) get stuck in our headTaking on prominent thinkers who argue that music is nothing more than an evolutionary accident, Levitin poses that music is fundamental to our species, perhaps even more so than language. A Los Angeles Times Book Award finalist, This Is Your Brain on Music will attract readers of Oliver Sacks and David Byrne, as it is an unprecedented, eye-opening investigation into an obsession at the heart of human nature.
This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession
by Daniel J. LevitinWhether you load your iPod with Bach or Bono, music has a significant role in your life - even if you never realized it. Why does music evoke such powerful moods? The answers are at last becoming clear, thanks to revolutionary neuroscience and the emerging field of evolutionary psychology. Both a cutting-edge study and a tribute to the beauty of music itself, This Is Your Brain on Music unravels a host of mysteries that affect everything from pop culture to our understanding of human nature, including: Are our musical preferences shaped in utero? Is there a cutoff point for acquiring new tastes in music? What do PET scans and MRIs reveal about the brain's response to music? Is musical pleasure different from other kinds of pleasure? This Is Your Brain on Music explores cultures in which singing is considered an essential human function, patients who have a rare disorder that prevents them from making sense of music, and scientists studying why two people may not have the same definition of pitch. At every turn, this provocative work unlocks deep secrets about how nature and nurture forge a uniquely human obsession.
This Is Your Song Too: Phish and Contemporary Jewish Identity (Dimyonot)
by Oren Kroll-Zeldin and Ariella Werden-GreenfieldPhish has a diehard fan base and a dedicated community of enthusiasts—called Phishheads—who follow the band around the country, some fans attending every show. What may be surprising is that a significant percentage of Phishheads are Jewish.Two members of the band—bassist Mike Gordon and drummer Jonathan Fishman—were raised in Jewish households, and Phish has been known to play Hebrew songs in concert. At live shows, many attendees, some wearing T-shirts emblazoned with “Phish” written in Hebrew letters, express feeling something special—even distinctly Jewish—during their performances. As this book shows, Phish is one avenue through which many Jews find cultural and spiritual fulfillment outside the confines of traditional and institutional Jewish life. In effect, Phish fandom and the live Phish experience act as a microcosm through which we see American Jewish religious and cultural life manifest in unique and unexpected spaces.Featuring an interview with Mike Gordon and a collection of fascinating photographs, This Is Your Song Too is an in-depth look at Jewishness in the Phish universe that also provides a deeper understanding of how spirituality, ritual, and identity function in the world of rock and roll.In addition to the editors, the contributors include Evan S. Benn, Dean Budnick, Jacob A. Cohen, Benjamin David, Jessy Dressin, Josh Fleet, Mike Greenhaus, Joshua S. Ladon, Noah Munro Lehrman, Caroline Rothstein, and Isaac Kandall Slone.
This Isn't Happening: Radiohead's "Kid A" and the Beginning of the 21st Century
by Steven HydenTHE MAKING AND MEANING OF RADIOHEAD'S GROUNDBREAKING, CONTROVERSIAL, EPOCHDEFINING ALBUM, KID A. In 1999, as the end of an old century loomed, five musicians entered a recording studio in Paris without a deadline. Their band was widely recognized as the best and most forward-thinking in rock, a rarefied status granting them the time, money, and space to make a masterpiece. But Radiohead didn't want to make another rock record. Instead, they set out to create the future. For more than a year, they battled writer's block, intra-band disagreements, and crippling self-doubt. In the end, however, they produced an album that was not only a complete departure from their prior guitar-based rock sound, it was the sound of a new era-and it embodied widespread changes catalyzed by emerging technologies just beginning to take hold of the culture. What they created was Kid A. Upon its release in 2000, Radiohead's fourth album divided critics. Some called it an instant classic; others, such as the UK music magazine Melody Maker, deemed it "tubby, ostentatious, self-congratulatory... whiny old rubbish." But two decades later, Kid A sounds like nothing less than an overture for the chaos and confusion of the twenty-first century. Acclaimed rock critic Steven Hyden digs deep into the songs, history, legacy, and mystique of Kid A, outlining the album's pervasive influence and impact on culture in time for its twentieth anniversary in 2020. Deploying a mix of criticism, journalism, and personal memoir, Hyden skillfully revisits this enigmatic, alluring LP and investigates the many ways in which Kid A shaped and foreshadowed our world.
This Jazz Man
by Karen EhrhardtIn this toe-tapping jazz tribute, the traditional "This Old Man" gets a swinging makeover, and some of the era's best musicians take center stage. The tuneful text and vibrant illustrations bop, slide, and shimmy across the page as Satchmo plays one, Bojangles plays two . . . right on down the line to Charles Mingus, who plays nine, plucking strings that sound "divine. " Easy on the ear and the eye, this playful introduction to nine jazz giants will teach children to count--and will give them every reason to get up and dance! Includes a brief biography of each musician.
This Land that I Love: Irving Berlin, Woody Guthrie, and the Story of Two American Anthems
by John ShawFebruary, 1940: After a decade of worldwide depression, World War II had begun in Europe and Asia. With Germany on the march, and Japan at war with China, the global crisis was in a crescendo. AmericaOCOs top songwriter, Irving Berlin, had captured the nationOCOs mood a little more than a year before with his patriotic hymn, ?God Bless America. OCO Woody Guthrie was having none of it. Near-starving and penniless, he was traveling from Texas to New York to make a new start. As he eked his way across the country by bus and by thumb, he couldnOCOt avoid BerlinOCOs song. Some people say that it was when he was freezing by the side of the road in a Pennsylvania snowstorm that he conceived of a rebuttal. It would encompass the dark realities of the Dust Bowl and Great Depression, and it would begin with the lines: ?This land is your land, this land is my land?. OCO In "This Land That I Love," John Shaw writes the dual biography of these beloved American songs. Examining the lives of their authors, he finds that Guthrie and Berlin had more in common than either could have guessed. Though GuthrieOCOs image was defined by train-hopping, Irving Berlin had also risen from homelessness, having worked his way up from the streets of New York. At the same time, "This Land That I Love" sheds new light on our patriotic musical heritage, from ?Yankee DoodleOCO and ?The Star-Spangled BannerOCO to Martin Luther KingOCOs recitation from ?My Country OCOTis of TheeOCO on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in August 1963. Delving into the deeper history of war songs, minstrelsy, ragtime, country music, folk music, and African American spirituals, Shaw unearths a rich vein of half-forgotten musical traditions. With the aid of archival research, he uncovers new details about the songs, including a never-before-printed verse for ?This Land Is Your Land. OCO The result is a fascinating narrative that refracts and re-envisions AmericaOCOs tumultuous history through the prism of two unforgettable anthems. "
This Land Was Made for You and Me: The Life and Songs of Woody Guthrie
by Elizabeth Partridge<P>Before Springsteen and before Dylan, there was Woody Guthrie. With "This Machine Kills Fascists" scrawled across his guitar in big black letters, Woody Guthrie brilliantly captured in song the experience of twentieth-century America. Whether he sang about union organizers, migrant workers, or war, Woody took his inspiration from the plights of the people around him as well as from his own tragic childhood. <P>From the late 1920s to the 1950s, Guthrie wrote the words to more than three thousand songs--including "This Land is Your Land," a song many call America's unofficial national anthem. With a remarkable ability to turn any experience into a song almost instantaneously, Woody Guthrie spoke out for people of all colors and races, setting an example for generations of musicians to come. <P>But Woody didn't have the chance to find everything he was looking for. He was ravaged by Huntington's disease, just like his mother, and died in a mental institution at the age of fifty-five. <P>[This text is listed as an example that meets Common Core Standards in English language arts in grades 6-8 at http://www.corestandards.org.]
This Life I Live: One Man's Extraordinary, Ordinary Life and the Woman Who Changed It Forever
by Rory Feek**NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER**Her story. His story. The love story of Joey and Rory.By inviting so many into the final months of Joey&’s life as she battled cancer, Joey and Rory Feek captured hearts around the world with how they handled the diagnosis; the inspiring, simple way they chose to live; and how they loved each other every step of the way. But there is far more to the story.&“My life is very ordinary,&” says Rory. &“On the surface, it is not very special. If you looked at it, day to day, it wouldn&’t seem like much. But when you look at it in a bigger context—as part of a larger story—you start to see the magic that is on the pages of the book that is my life. And the more you look, the more you see. Or, at least, I do.&”In this vulnerable book, he takes us for the first time into his own challenging life story and what it was like growing up in rural America with little money and even less family stability.This is the story of a man searching for meaning and security in a world that offered neither. And it&’s the story of a man who finally gives it all to a power higher than himself and soon meets a young woman who will change his heart forever.In This Life I Live, Rory Feek helps us not only to connect more fully to his and Joey&’s story but also to our own journeys. He shows what can happen when we are fully open in life&’s key moments, whether when meeting our life companion or tackling an unexpected tragedy. He also gives never-before-revealed details on their life together and what he calls &“the long goodbye,&” the blessing of being able to know that life is going to end and taking advantage of it. Rory shows how we are all actually there already and how we can learn to live that way every day.A gifted man from nowhere and everywhere in search of something to believe in. A young woman from the Midwest with an angelic voice and deep roots that just needed a place to be planted. This is their story. Two hearts that found each other and touched millions of other hearts along the way.
This Lullaby
by Sarah DessenA New York Times bestseller She's got it all figured out. Or does she? When it comes to relationships, Remy's got a whole set of rules. Never get too serious. Never let him break your heart. And never, ever date a musician. But then Remy meets Dexter, and the rules don't seem to apply anymore. Could it be that she's starting to understand what all those love songs are about? "Remy and Dexter jump off the pages into the hearts of readers, who will wish for a romance like this of their own." --Booklist Also by Sarah Dessen:Along for the RideDreamlandJust ListenKeeping the MoonLock and KeyThe Moon and MoreSomeone Like YouThat SummerThe Truth About ForeverWhat Happened to Goodbye