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When The Beat Was Born: Dj Kool Herc And The Creation Of Hip Hop
by Theodore Taylor Laban Carrick Hill<P>Before there was hip hop, there was DJ Kool Herc. On a hot day at the end of summer in 1973 Cindy Campbell threw a back-to-school party at a park in the South Bronx. <P>Her brother, Clive Campbell, spun the records. He had a new way of playing the music to make the breaks--the musical interludes between verses--longer for dancing. He called himself DJ Kool Herc and this is When the Beat Was Born. <P>From his childhood in Jamaica to his youth in the Bronx, Laban Carrick Hill's book tells how Kool Herc came to be a DJ, how kids in gangs stopped fighting in order to breakdance, and how the music he invented went on to define a culture and transform the world. <b><P>A John Steptoe New Talent Award Winner <P> 2017 Texas Bluebonnet Award</b>
When Bob Met Woody
by Gary Golio Marc Burckhardt"Hey hey, Woody Guthrie, I wrote you a song..." When Bob finished, Woody's face lit up like the sun. Bob Dylan is a musical icon, an American legend, and, quite simply, a poet. But before he became Bob Dylan, he was Bob Zimmerman, a kid from rural Minnesota. This lyrical and gorgeously illustrated picture book biography follows Bob as he renames himself after his favorite poet, Dylan Thomas, and leaves his mining town to pursue his love of music in New York City. There, he meets his folk music hero and future mentor, Woody Guthrie, changing his life forever.
When The Drummers Were Women: A Spiritual History Of Rhythm
by Layne RedmondFor millennia, the sacred drummers of pre-Christian Mediterranean and western Asia were women. In this inspiring book, Layne Redmond, herself a renowned drummer, tells their history. <p><p> Artistic representations reveal that female frame drummers carried the spiritual traditions of many of the earliest recorded civilizations. During those ancient times, the drummer-priestesses held the keys to experience of the divine through rhythm. They were at the center of the goddess worship of matriarchal societies until the ascendance of patriarchal cultures and the loss of drumming as a spiritual technology. With wisdom and passion, Redmond chronicles our species' deep connection to the drum, our rich heritage of inseparable spirituality and music, and the modern-day women reclaiming it. <p> This book encourages readers--both women and men--to reestablish rhythmic links with themselves, nature, and other people through the power of drumming. Redmond illustrates her message with an extensive collection of images gathered during ten years of research and travel. Woven throughout the book are strands of ancient ritual and mythology, personal stories, and scientific evidence of the benefits of drumming. It is at once a history, a memoir, and a resounding call for spiritual and social renewal.
When Giants Walked the Earth: 50 years of Led Zeppelin. The fully revised and updated biography.
by Mick WallThe final word on the world's greatest rock band, Led Zeppelin.They were 'the last great band of the sixties; the first great band of the seventies'; they rose, somewhat unpromisingly, from the ashes of the Yardbirds to become one of the biggest-selling rock bands of all time. Mick Wall, respected rock writer and former confidant of both Page and Plant, unflinchingly tells the story of the band that wrote the rulebook for on-the-road excess - and eventually paid the price for it, with disaster, drug addiction and death. WHEN GIANTS WALKED THE EARTH reveals for the first time the true extent of band leader Jimmy Page's longstanding interest in the occult, and goes behind the scenes to expose the truth behind their much-hyped yet spectacularly contrived comeback at London's O2 arena last year, and how Jimmy Page plans to bring the band back permanently - if only his former protégé, now part-time nemesis, Robert Plant will allow him to. Wall also recounts, in a series of flashbacks, the life stories of the five individuals that made the dream of Led Zeppelin into an even more incredible and hard-to-swallow reality: Page, Plant, John Paul Jones, John Bonham, and their infamous manager, Peter Grant.The culmination of several years research, this book tells the full, shocking story of Led Zeppelin from the inside, written by someone who has known Jimmy Page for over twenty years.
When Giants Walked the Earth: 50 years of Led Zeppelin. The fully revised and updated biography.
by Mick WallOver ten years after WHEN GIANTS WALKED THE EARTH, Mick Wall's seminal biography of the band, comes this major and extensively researched revision, which provides an unflinching look at life inside one of the biggest-selling rock bands of all time, and presents the definitive, final word on Led Zeppelin.They were 'the last great band of the sixties; the first great band of the seventies'; they rose, somewhat unpromisingly, from the ashes of the Yardbirds to become one of the biggest-selling rock bands of all time. Mick Wall, respected rock writer and former confidant of both Page and Plant, unflinchingly tells the story of the band that wrote the rulebook for on-the-road excess - and eventually paid the price for it, with disaster, drug addiction and death. WHEN GIANTS WALKED THE EARTH reveals for the first time the true extent of band leader Jimmy Page's longstanding interest in the occult, and goes behind the scenes to expose the truth behind their much-hyped yet spectacularly contrived comeback at London's O2 arena in 2007, and how Jimmy Page plans to bring the band back permanently - if only his former protégé, now part-time nemesis, Robert Plant will allow him to. Wall also recounts, in a series of flashbacks, the life stories of the five individuals that made the dream of Led Zeppelin into an even more incredible and hard-to-swallow reality: Page, Plant, John Paul Jones, John Bonham, and their infamous manager, Peter Grant.
When Giants Walked the Earth: 50 years of Led Zeppelin. The fully revised and updated biography.
by Mick WallOver ten years after WHEN GIANTS WALKED THE EARTH, Mick Wall's seminal biography of the band, comes this major and extensively researched revision, which provides an unflinching look at life inside one of the biggest-selling rock bands of all time, and presents the definitive, final word on Led Zeppelin.They were 'the last great band of the sixties; the first great band of the seventies'; they rose, somewhat unpromisingly, from the ashes of the Yardbirds to become one of the biggest-selling rock bands of all time. Mick Wall, respected rock writer and former confidant of both Page and Plant, unflinchingly tells the story of the band that wrote the rulebook for on-the-road excess - and eventually paid the price for it, with disaster, drug addiction and death. WHEN GIANTS WALKED THE EARTH reveals for the first time the true extent of band leader Jimmy Page's longstanding interest in the occult, and goes behind the scenes to expose the truth behind their much-hyped yet spectacularly contrived comeback at London's O2 arena in 2007, and how Jimmy Page plans to bring the band back permanently - if only his former protégé, now part-time nemesis, Robert Plant will allow him to. Wall also recounts, in a series of flashbacks, the life stories of the five individuals that made the dream of Led Zeppelin into an even more incredible and hard-to-swallow reality: Page, Plant, John Paul Jones, John Bonham, and their infamous manager, Peter Grant.
When Giants Walked the Earth: A Biography of Led Zeppelin
by Mick WallThe first significant fresh reporting on the legendary band in twenty years, built on interviews with all surviving band members and revealing a never-before-seen side of the genius and debauchery that defined their heyday.Veteran rock journalist Mick Wall unflinchingly tells the story of the band that pushed the envelope on both creativity and excess, even by rock ‘n' roll standards. Led Zeppelin was the last great band of the 1960s and the first great band of the 1970s—and When Giants Walked the Earth is the full, enthralling story of Zep from the inside, written by a former confidante of both Jimmy Page and Robert Plant. Rich and revealing, it bores into not only the disaster, addiction and death that haunted the band but also into the real relationship between Page and Plant, including how it was influenced by Page's interest in the occult. Comprehensive and yet intimately detailed, When Giants Walked the Earth literally gets into the principals' heads to bring to life both an unforgettable band and an unrepeatable slice of rock history.
When Giants Walked the Earth 10th Anniversary Edition: A Biography of Led Zeppelin
by Mick WallA revised edition of the classic Led Zeppelin biography, featuring rich and substantial new materialRock writer Mick Wall draws on insider access, as former confidante to both Plant and Page, to craft the definitive biography of the world's most legendary rock band—Led Zeppelin. In When Giants Walked the Earth, Wall audaciously tells the story of the band known not just as one of the biggest-selling bands of all-time, but also as the one that set the mark for on-the-road excess. Detailed and revealing, When Giants Walked the Earth bores into not only the disaster, addiction and death that haunted the band but also into the real relationship between Page and Plant, including how it was influenced by Page's interest in the occult. Comprehensive and yet intimately detailed, WhenGiants Walked the Earth literally gets into the principals' heads to bring to life both an unforgettable band and an unrepeatable slice of rock history. This edition includes approximately 35,000 words of new material about the band and the last decade, featuring fresh interviews and newly unearthed content.
When I Get Older: The Story behind "Wavin' Flag"
by K'NAAN Sol Sol&“Wavin&’Flag&” has become an international anthem. Its powerful words of hope have crossed generations and borders, and have made K&’NAAN an international star.In his first book for children, When I Get Older, Somali-Canadian poet, rapper, singer, and songwriter K&’NAAN tells his own story. Born in Somalia, he grew up in Mogadishu. His grandfather was a renowned poet who passed on his love of words to his grandson. When the Somali Civil War began in 1991, K&’NAAN was just thirteen. His mother made the difficult decision to move her family so that they could grow up in safety. First in New York and then in Toronto, K&’NAAN faced many challenges.Like so many other immigrants, he had to make a place for himself in a world of alien customs, clothes, and language. His road was a hard one: he lost many friends to violence. But K&’NAAN&’s love of music, and his enormous talent, became a way for him to connect with his past, with his classmates, and eventually, to millions of people around the world. Not only does K&’NAAN tell a story that will inspire and encourage young readers, but he provides a brief history of the Somalian conflict. The lyrics of &“Wavin&’ Flag&” are also included.Born Keinan Abdi Warsame, K&’NAAN first came to prominence when he performed a spoken word piece before the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in 1999. A member of the audience, the singer Youssou N&’Dour, was so impressed that he asked K&’NAAN to take part in an album and to tour with him.Since then, K&’NAAN has performed in more than 86 countries and has received many honors, including three Juno Awards and the BBC Radio 3 Award for World Music. During the Vancouver Olympics, he worked with other Canadian musicians and artists under the name Young Artists for Haiti to produce a charity version of &“Wavin&’ Flag.&” The song was adapted again to become the FIFA World Cup theme song. There are now twenty-two versions of the song, which hit #1 in nineteen countries.
When I Grow Up: Taylor Swift (Scholastic Reader, Level 3)
by Lexi RyalsGet to know the real Taylor Swift in this easy reader biography and discover how she made her dream of becoming a star come true!Taylor Swift is one of today's biggest music superstars with millions of fans around the world. But before she was famous, Taylor was just a young girl who loved to sing and dreamed of sharing her music with others. Learn how she made it all the way to the top in this exciting level 3 biography!
When I Hear Spirituals
by Cheryl Willis HudsonYour spirit will soar! A girl connects with heritage, history, and a higher power through the lyrics of twelve beloved spirituals and four seminal events in African American history. A beautiful keepsake to be shared by multiple generations.When I hear spirituals Sometimes A big, full feelingGrows in my chest . . . Her heart pounds, she gets a lump in her throat, and tears flow down her cheeks. She wants to clap her hands and stomp her feet. There is healing, tenderness, strength, pride, and above all, hope.The author of the classic picture book Bright Eyes, Brown Skin, Cheryl Willis Hudson, has woven together lyrics of twelve timeless, Black spirituals with a moving exploration of how music holds memories, emotions, and empowerment.Songs include &“Go down, Moses,&” &“Nobody Knows the Troubles I See,&” &“Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child,&” &“Rock-a-My Soul,&” &“Get on Board, Little Children,&” and more. Evocative illustrations by award-winning artist London Ladd depict important people and places in Black history and culture: Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King, Jr., the Great Migration, and the Enslaved People&’s Uprising of 1811. Journey through Black history and music in this layered picture book.A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
When I Left Home: My Story
by David Ritz Buddy GuyAccording to Eric Clapton, John Mayer, and the late Stevie Ray Vaughn, Buddy Guy is the greatest blues guitarist of all time. An enormous influence on these musicians as well as Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, and Jeff Beck, he is the living embodiment of Chicago blues. Guy’s epic story stands at the absolute nexus of modern blues. He came to Chicago from rural Louisiana in the fifties#151;the very moment when urban blues were electrifying our culture. He was a regular session player at Chess Records. Willie Dixon was his mentor. He was a sideman in the bands of Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf. He and Junior Wells formed a band of their own. In the sixties, he became a recording star in his own right. When I Left Home tells Guy’s picaresque story in his own unique voice, that of a storyteller who remembers everything, including blues masters in their prime and the exploding, evolving culture of music that happened all around him.
When in Rome: The charming new rom-com from the author of the TikTok sensation, THE CHEAT SHEET!
by Sarah AdamsA burned-out pop star stranded in small-town Kentucky can't help falling for her unlikely knight in shining armour - the notoriously grumpy owner of the local pie shop - in this charming slice of romance from the author of the TikTok sensation The Cheat Sheet.'This modern take on the Hepburn classic Roman Holiday is a quick, fun, slow-burn rom-com' ABBY JIMENEZ'Sarah Adams has written the Kentucky-set homage to Roman Holiday I never knew I needed. Full of cozy small-town vibes, a pie-baking hero (swoon!), and a slow-burn romance that will keep you flipping the pages, When in Rome is a charming and comforting escape' KERRY WINFREY'My Audrey Hepburn loving heart is so happy! When in Rome is a delectable romance, sweet and satisfying as a slice of warm apple pie' CHLOE LIESE 'Sarah Adams' books are woven with pure sunshine and rainbows . . . It's everything you could want in a small-town romance, along with a heaping dollop of her signature wit and sparkling charm' AMY LEA'You can always count on a Sarah Adams rom-com to be equal parts funny, sweet, and swoony' SOPHIE SULLIVAN.......................................Rome is where the heart is.Amelia Rose is burned-out from years of maintaining her public image as pop princess Rae Rose. Inspired by her favourite Audrey Hepburn film, Roman Holiday, she drives off in the middle of the night for a break in Rome . . . Rome, Kentucky, that is. Running the pie shop his grandmother left him, Noah Walker is busy enough as it is. But after finding Amelia on his front lawn in her broken-down car, he decides to let her stay in his guest room - on a very temporary basis, of course. As the two of them grow closer, Noah starts to see a new side to Amelia - kind-hearted and goofy, yet lonely from years in the public eye. Amelia may have to go back to her other life someday, but for now she's perfectly happy falling in love with the cozy small town she's found herself in . . . and her grumpy tour guide isn't half-bad either.........................................Discover The Cheat Sheet - the heartwarming friends-to-lovers romance that became a sensation on TikTok!'I just adored this story . . . I'm ready to eat up anything that Sarah Adams writes' 'A perfect mix of hilarious banter, comical situations, and sweet romance' 'This romance is brilliant! It is fast paced, laugh out loud and so cute!''A feel-good rom-com with everything you want in a romance!'
When in Rome: The charming new rom-com from the author of the TikTok sensation, THE CHEAT SHEET!
by Sarah AdamsA burned-out pop star stranded in small-town Kentucky can't help falling for her unlikely knight in shining armour - the notoriously grumpy owner of the local pie shop - in this charming slice of romance from the author of the TikTok sensation The Cheat Sheet........................................Rome is where the heart is.Amelia Rose is burned-out from years of maintaining her public image as pop princess Rae Rose. Inspired by her favourite Audrey Hepburn film, Roman Holiday, she drives off in the middle of the night for a break in Rome . . . Rome, Kentucky, that is. Running the pie shop his grandmother left him, Noah Walker is busy enough as it is. But after finding Amelia on his front lawn in her broken-down car, he decides to let her stay in his guest room - on a very temporary basis, of course. As the two of them grow closer, Noah starts to see a new side to Amelia - kind-hearted and goofy, yet lonely from years in the public eye. Amelia may have to go back to her other life someday, but for now she's perfectly happy falling in love with the cozy small town she's found herself in . . . and her grumpy tour guide isn't half-bad either.........................................'This modern take on the Hepburn classic Roman Holiday is a quick, fun, slow-burn rom-com' ABBY JIMENEZ'My Audrey Hepburn loving heart is so happy! When in Rome is a delectable romance, sweet and satisfying as a slice of warm apple pie' CHLOE LIESE'Sarah Adams' books are woven with pure sunshine and rainbows . . . It's everything you could want in a small-town romance, along with a heaping dollop of her signature wit and sparkling charm' AMY LEA'You can always count on a Sarah Adams rom-com to be equal parts funny, sweet, and swoony' SOPHIE SULLIVANDiscover The Cheat Sheet - the heartwarming friends-to-lovers romance that became a sensation on TikTok!'I just adored this story . . . I'm ready to eat up anything that Sarah Adams writes' 'A perfect mix of hilarious banter, comical situations, and sweet romance' 'This romance is brilliant! It is fast paced, laugh out loud and so cute!''A feel-good rom-com with everything you want in a romance!'(P) 2022 Penguin Audio
When Marian Sang: The True Recital of Marian Anderson, The Voice of a Century
by Pam Muñoz RyanAn introduction to the life of Marian Anderson, extraordinary singer and the first African American to perform with the Metropolitan Opera, whose life and career encouraged social change.<P><P> Winner of the Sibert Honor
When Music Mattered: American Music in the Sixties
by James WierzbickiThis book examines the American Sixties, and how that period’s socio-political essence was reflected and refracted in certain forms of the period’s music. Its five main chapters bear the names of familiar musical categories: ’Folk,’ ‘Rock,’ ‘Jazz,’ ‘Avant-Garde,’ ‘Classical.’ But the book’s real subject matter—treated at length in the Prologue and the Epilogue but spread throughout all that comes between—is the Sixties’ tangled mess of hopes and frustrations, of hungers as much for self-identity as for self-indulgence, of crises of conscience that bothered Americans of almost all ages and regardless of political persuasion.
When Music Migrates: Crossing British and European Racial Faultlines, 1945–2010 (Ashgate Popular and Folk Music Series)
by Jon StrattonWhen Music Migrates uses rich material to examine the ways that music has crossed racial faultlines that have developed in the post-Second World War era as a consequence of the movement of previously colonized peoples to the countries that colonized them. This development, which can be thought of in terms of diaspora, can also be thought of as postmodern in that it reverses the modern flow which took colonizers, and sometimes settlers, from European countries to other places in the world. Stratton explores the concept of ’song careers’, referring to how a song is picked up and then transformed by being revisioned by different artists and in different cultural contexts. The idea of the song career extends the descriptive term ’cover’ in order to examine the transformations a song undergoes from artist to artist and cultural context to cultural context. Stratton focuses on the British faultline between the post-war African-Caribbean settlers and the white Britons. Central to the book is the question of identity. For example, how African-Caribbean people have constructed their identity in Britain can be considered through an examination of when ’Police on My Back’ was written and how it has been revisioned by Lethal Bizzle in its most recent iteration. At the same time, this song, written by the Guyanese migrant Eddy Grant for his mixed-race group The Equals, crossed the racial faultline when it was picked up by the punk-rock group, The Clash. Conversely, ’Johnny Reggae’, originally a pop-ska track written about a skinhead by Jonathan King and performed by a group of studio artists whom King named The Piglets, was revisioned by a Jamaican studio group called The Roosevelt Singers. After this, the character of Johnny Reggae takes on a life of his own and appears in tracks by Jamaican toasters as a Rastafarian. Johnny’s identity is, then, totally transformed. It is this migration of music that will appeal not only to those studying popular music, but
When Music Takes Over in Film (Palgrave Studies in Audio-Visual Culture)
by Anna K. Windisch Claus Tieber Phil PowrieThis open access collection deals with musical moments in film as one of the most pivotal and compelling issues of current film music research. Musical moments as defined by Amy Herzog occur when a musical number inverts the normal relationship between the image track and the soundtrack in a film in such a way that what we see is determined by what we hear. As one potential approach, this definition provokes a variety of perspectives to investigate the disruptive potential of these moments and numbers as a creative device in the production of audiovisual narratives. In this sense, the book responds to a need for an anthology that introduces students as well as scholars of cinema, musicology, media studies and cultural studies more broadly, to recent discourses in film music scholarship. The volume includes contributions by early career researchers as well as by established experts in the fields of musicology, film studies, media studies, and cultural studies, promoting cross-disciplinary collaboration in film music research.
When Opera Meets Film
by Marcia J. CitronOpera can reveal something fundamental about a film, and film can do the same for an opera, argues Marcia J. Citron. Structured by the categories of Style, Subjectivity, and Desire, this volume advances our understanding of the aesthetics of the opera/film encounter. Case studies of a diverse array of important repertoire including mainstream film, opera-film, and postmodernist pastiche are presented. Citron uses Werner Wolf's theory of intermediality to probe the roles of opera and film when they combine. The book also refines and expands film-music functions, and details the impact of an opera's musical style on the meaning of a film. Drawing on cinematic traditions of Hollywood, France, and Britain, the study explores Coppola's Godfather trilogy, Jewison's Moonstruck, Nichols's Closer, Chabrol's La C_r_monie, Schlesinger's Sunday, Bloody Sunday, Boyd's Aria, and Ponnelle's opera-films.
When Sunday Comes: Gospel Music in the Soul and Hip-Hop Eras (Music in American Life #517)
by Claudrena N. HaroldGospel music evolved in often surprising directions during the post-Civil Rights era. Claudrena N. Harold's in-depth look at late-century gospel focuses on musicians like Yolanda Adams, Andraé Crouch, the Clark Sisters, Al Green, Take 6, and the Winans, and on the network of black record shops, churches, and businesses that nurtured the music. Harold details the creative shifts, sonic innovations, theological tensions, and political assertions that transformed the music, and revisits the debates within the community over groundbreaking recordings and gospel's incorporation of rhythm and blues, funk, hip-hop, and other popular forms. At the same time, she details how sociopolitical and cultural developments like the Black Power Movement and the emergence of the Christian Right shaped both the art and attitudes of African American performers. Weaving insightful analysis into a collective biography of gospel icons, When Sunday Comes explores the music's essential place as an outlet for African Americans to express their spiritual and cultural selves.
When That Rough God Goes Riding: Listening to Van Morrison
by Greil Marcus"Van Morrison," says Greil Marcus, "remains a singer who can be compared to no other in the history of modern popular music. " When Astral Weeks was released in 1968, it was largely ignored.<P><P> When it was rereleased as a live album in 2009 it reached the top of the Billboard charts, a first for any Van Morrison recording. The wild swings in the music, mirroring the swings in Morrison's success and in people's appreciation (or lack of it) of his music, make Van Morrison one of the most perplexing and mysterious figures in popular modern music, and a perfect subject for the wise and insightful scrutiny of Greil Marcus, one of America's most dedicated cultural critics. This book is Marcus's quest to understand Van Morrison's particular genius through the extraordinary and unclassifiable moments in his long career, beginning in 1965 and continuing in full force to this day. In these dislocations Marcus finds the singer on his own artistic quest precisely to reach some extreme musical threshold, the moments that are not enclosed by the will or the intention of the performer but which somehow emerge at the limits of the musician and his song.
When the Drumming Stops
by Steven WishniaBass player and rapidly aging punk rocker Underend Vicodini is an unlikely hero. He loves New York City like nobody's business but does it still love him despite his lack of affluence and influence? His former band, The Gutter Astronomers, was riding high in the 1980s, releasing albums and touring across the country playing to packed nightclubs filled with eager fans, but the Great Recession finds the band members middle-aged and struggling not to drown in the seas of gentrification and disillusion. When lead singer Mickey gets an offer to reunite the band, he jumps at it. But can the old bandmates overcome their acrimonious break up? Can they get back into it without shredding their lives? Can Underend Vicodini find inner peace and, more importantly, a reasonably priced apartment below 14th Street or in Brooklyn? Steven Wishnia is a New York-based musician and journalist. Born on the Lower East Side, he grew up in Brooklyn, New England, Edinburgh, and Long Island. He has played in numerous bands, including the False Prophets, an eclectic punk group that recorded two albums released by Alternative Tentacles. After the False Prophets broke up in 1987, he earned an MA at New York University's School of Journalism, writing for failing newspapers before working for many years as news editor at High Times. Recipient of two New York City Independent Press Association awards, he currently works as a freelance writer and editor, most often for AlterNet.org and Junior Scholastic, and often performs musically with artist Mac McGill.
When the Uncertainty Principle Goes to 11: Or How to Explain Quantum Physics with Heavy Metal
by Philip MoriartyThere are deep and fascinating links between heavy metal and quantum physics. No, really! While teaching at the University of Nottingham, physicist Philip Moriarty noticed something odd, a surprising number of his students were heavily into metal music. Colleagues, too: a Venn diagram of physicists and metal fans would show a shocking amount of overlap. What's more, it turns out that heavy metal music is uniquely well-suited to explaining quantum principles. In When the Uncertainty Principle Goes to Eleven, Moriarty explains the mysteries of the universe's inner workings via drum beats and feedback: You'll discover how the Heisenberg uncertainty principle comes into play with every chugging guitar riff, what wave interference has to do with Iron Maiden, and why metalheads in mosh pits behave just like molecules in a gas. If you're a metal fan trying to grasp the complexities of quantum physics, a quantum physicist baffled by heavy metal, or just someone who'd like to know how the fundamental science underpinning our world connects to rock music, this book will take you, in the words of Pantera, to "A New Level." For those who think quantum physics is too mind-bendingly complex to grasp, or too focused on the invisibly small to be relevant to our full-sized lives, this funny, fascinating book will show you that physics is all around us . . . and it rocks.
When the World Stopped to Listen: Van Cliburn's Cold War Triumph, and Its Aftermath
by Stuart IsacoffFrom the acclaimed author of A Natural History of the Piano, the captivating story of the 1958 international piano competition in Moscow, where, at the height of Cold War tensions, an American musician showed the potential of art to change the world. April of 1958--the Iron Curtain was at its heaviest, and the outcome of the Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition seemed preordained. Nonetheless, as star musicians from across the globe descended on Moscow, an unlikely favorite emerged: Van Cliburn, a polite, lanky Texan whose passionate virtuosity captured the Russian spirit. This is the story of what unfolded that spring--for Cliburn and the other competitors, jurors, party officials, and citizens of the world who were touched by the outcome. It is a behind-the-scenes look at one of the most remarkable events in musical history, filled with political intrigue and personal struggle as artists strove for self-expression and governments jockeyed for prestige. And, at the core of it all: the value of artistic achievement, the supremacy of the heart, and the transcendent freedom that can be found, through music, even in the darkest moments of human history.
When They Were Boys: The True Story of the Beatles' Rise to the Top
by Larry KaneThis is the story of the Beatles’ harrowing rise to fame: focusing on that seven-year stretch from the time the boys met as teenagers to early 1964, when the Fab Four made their momentous first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. From the boys’ humble beginnings in Liverpool, to the cellars of Hamburg, When They Were Boys includes stories never before told, including the heartbreaks and the lucky breaks. Included are an eyewitness account of that first meeting between Lennon and McCartney, the inside story of how Ringo replaced Pete Best, an exploration of the brilliant but troubled soul of manager Brian Epstein, and the real scoop on their disastrous first visit to Germany and the death of Stu Sutcliffe. With an eye for life in Liverpool during the 50’s and 60’s and over 65 eyewitness accounts from those closest to the Beatles, Larry Kane brings to life the evolution of the group that changed music forever.