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Live Fast, Die Young: Remembering the Short Life of James Dean
by John GilmoreLive Fast, Die Young: Rembering the Short Life of James Dean is a first -- revealing James Dean from the inside out by someone who knew him intimately, in more ways than one. John Gilmore hung out with Dean during the early days in New York, and again in Hollywood when Dean starred in his first movie, East of Eden. They pounded the pavements of Broadway together, raced motorcycles, had sex with the same women (and compared notes), experimented with gay sex, and tried to make love to another. "We were bad boys playing bad boys while opening up the bisexual sides of our separate personalities . . ." One sex scene between the two is played out in black leather to the music of Edith Piaf. "The sex was a game," Gilmore writes. "Jimmy was obsessed with riding the black ship to hell, and for that quick time I was on board with him." Dean found in the young Gilmore a "kind of unthreatening waste basket" into which he confided, dumping his chaotic, erotic and crazy ideas. "We enjoyed poetry and bullfighting, bongo drums, booze, and girls; knew the same crummy friends and sleepless, searching nights." Dean's insights into his brilliant Broadway success and the films that followed are revealed through Gilmore's story as are Dean's hatred of his disapproving father; his intimacy with his mother and their secret games that engendered Dean's sexual confusion in Hollywood; Dean's obsession with death; and the posthumous explosion of the legend. Through letters, diaries, tape-recorded conversations with the actor, and private remembrances by those closest to him, Gilmore constructs a never-before-seen portrait of the star.
Liz: An Intimate Biography of Elizabeth Taylor
by C. David HeymannElizabeth Taylor's own story was more dramatic than any part she ever played on the screen. C. David Heymann brings her magnificently to life in this acclaimed biography--updated with a new chapter covering her final years.She was an icon, one of the most watched, photographed, and gossiped-about personalities of our time. Child star, daughter of a controlling stage mother, Oscar-winning actress, seductress and eight-time wife, mother of four children and grandmother of ten, champion of funding for AIDS research, purveyor of perfumes and jewelry, close friend of celebrities and tycoons--Elizabeth Taylor, for almost eight decades, played most completely, beautifully, cunningly, flamboyantly, and scandalously her greatest role of all: herself.The basis of an Emmy Award-nominated miniseries, Liz portrays Taylor's life and career in fascinating, revealing detail and includes an additional new chapter, bringing her beloved fans up to date on her final years. By way of more than a thousand interviews with stars, directors, producers, designers, friends, family, business associates, and employees and through extensive research among previously disclosed court, business, medical, and studio documents, bestselling author Heymann reminds readers of her very public escapades and unveils her most private moments.Here are the highs and lows of her film career and the intimate circumstances of her marriages to Nicky Hilton, Michael Wilding, Mike Todd, Eddie Fisher, Richard Burton, Senator John Warner, and Larry Fortensky. Here, too, is the truth about Taylor's father and her friendships with leading men Montgomery Clift, James Dean, and Rock Hudson, as well as with the eccentric Malcolm Forbes and Michael Jackson. From her illnesses, injuries, weight issues, and battles against drug and alcohol, to her sexual exploits, diamond-studded adventures, and tumultuous love affairs, this is the enormously contradictory and glamorous life of Hollywood's last great star.
Local History, Transnational Memory in the Romanian Holocaust
by Valentina Glajar Jeanine TeodorescuThis book explores the memory of the Romanian Holocaust in Romanian, German, Israeli, and French cultural representations. The essays in this volume discuss first-hand testimonial accounts, letters, journals, drawings, literary texts and films by Elie Wiesel, Paul Celan, Aharon Appelfeld Norman Manea, Radu Mihaileanu, among others.
Local Radio, Going Global
by Guy StarkeyAn examination of the development of local radio broadcasting and the trend for locally-owned, locally-originated and locally-accountable commercial radio stations to fall into the hands of national and international media groups. Starkey traces the early development of local radio through to present-day digital environments.
Love You, Hate You: Ballet School Confidential
by Charis MarshFollow four young dancers in their first semester at the Vancouver International Ballet Academy while they work toward careers as professional ballet dancers. Kaitlyn, Taylor, Alexandra, and Julian are all students at the Vancouver International Ballet Academy where ballet and drama dominate everyone’s lives. Kaitlyn was the star at her old school, but the competition at VIBA is fierce and her reputation as a prodigy is threatened. About to turn fifteen years old, Taylor is a bit of a scatterbrain. She’s got a lot of potential, but the teachers are frustrated with her lack of confidence, and her troubles at school aren’t helping. Alexandra has done everything right, and she’s determined to become a dancer, but the teachers at VIBA seem to be against helping her. Julian, at fifteen, loves dance, so going to a professional ballet school seems fun — even if it does take over every aspect of his life. It’s only their first semester, but these four students will have to push themselves to their limits to make it through their first major performance, The Nutcracker, and continue on the path to becoming professional dancers.
Luck and Circumstance: A Coming of Age in Hollywood, New York, and Points Beyond
by Michael Lindsay-HoggFrom acclaimed director Michael Lindsay-Hogg (The Normal Heart, The Beatles' Let It Be, Brideshead Revisited, The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus, etc.), son of glamorous Warner's movie star Geraldine Fitzgerald: a magical dreamscape memoir of his boyhood, coming-of-age, and making his way in the worlds of theater, film, and television. Lindsay-Hogg's father, an English baronet from a family whose money came from the China trade, lived in Ireland and was rarely seen by his son. The author's stepfather was the scion of the Isidor Straus fortune, co-owner of R. H. Macy's; Straus went down with the Titanic, and the author's stepfather was, alas, fortune-less. The author's mother, Geraldine Fitzgerald, the redheaded Irish seductress who won instant acclaim as Bette Davis's best friend in Dark Victory and in William Wyler's Wuthering Heights, spent time with Hollywood's elite--Laurence Olivier, Charles Chaplin, and Orson Welles, with whom she worked in New York at the Mercury Theater and in other productions. Lindsay-Hogg writes of how he wented his way into this exotic, mysterious, and seductive world, encountering as a small boy the likes of Marion Davies and William Randolph Hearst, playing hide-and-seek with Olivia de Havilland, serving drinks to Humphrey Bogart, discussing life with Henry Miller. At the book's center, an offhand comment made to Lindsay-Hogg by his mother, when he was sixteen, about talk circulating (false, she claimed) that she had had a romantic relationship with Orson Welles (Fitzgerald and Welles had lived together at his home in Beverly Hills) and that Welles, rumor had it, was Michael's father ("It's not true," she said. "You know how people put two and two together and get three . . ."). That was the end of the conversation. ("It's time for bed . . . You have school in the morning . . ." she said.) For Lindsay-Hogg, it opened up a whole new realm of his life. He was forever changed by the knowing--of not knowing. Interwoven throughout his narrative is the element of questioning who his father was. Was he the patron saint of American pictures, the legendary genius of the twentieth century, Orson Welles, a consistently inconsistent person in Michael's life . . . or was he the man who considered himself Michael's real father? What did his "father" know? What did Welles know? And what did his mother know to be true (she had brought the author up to believe that she always told the truth)? And when would she tell her son what the truth was . . . As Lindsay-Hogg struggled to make sense of it all, questions of missed chances, conversations never had, questions of what is withheld and what is true took root, dogging him, shaping his life . . . questions still, that haunt and inform this moving, deft, and illuminating memoir.From the Hardcover edition.
Lust: A Dictionary for the Insatiable
by Jennifer M. WoodThe Seven Deadly Sins have sliced up the dictionary and taken what's theirs. No one vice is too greedy as each volume prides itself on having more than 500 entries. Word lovers will lust after these richly packaged volumes--and once you've collected all seven, you'll be the envy of all your friends. Lust: A Dictionary for the Insatiable Once just isn't enough. You'll want to ogle these entries multiple times, all night long. Nouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, whatever their particular pleasure--or pleasures--they'll find 'em inside.
Luther
by Neil CrossA brilliant crime novel and prequel to the acclaimed BBC series by the show's creator and sole writer Meet Detective Chief Inspector John Luther. He's a murder detective with an extraordinary case-clearance rate. He's obsessive, instinctive, and intense. Nobody who ever stood at his side has a bad word to say about him. And yet there are rumors that Luther is bad--not corrupt, not on the take, but tormented. After years of chasing the most depraved criminals in London's gritty underworld, he seethes with a hidden fury that at times he can barely control. Sometimes it sends him to the brink of madness, making him do things any other detective wouldn't and shouldn't do. Luther: The Calling, the first in a new series of novels featuring DCI John Luther, takes us into Luther's past and into his mind. It is the story of the serial killer case that tore his personal and professional relationships apart and propelled him over the precipice--beyond fury, beyond vengeance, all the way to the other side of the law. Is Luther a force for good or a man hell-bent on self-destruction? Edgar Award-winning writer Neil Cross has created one of the most compelling characters in modern crime fiction. Luther: The Calling is a compulsively readable novel by the writer hailed by The Guardian as "Britain's own Stephen King."
Made for You and Me: Going West, Going Broke, Finding Home
by Caitlin ShetterlyNewlywed Caitlin Shetterly and her husband, Dan Davis, two hardworking freelancers, began their lives together in 2008 by pursuing a lifelong, shared dream of leaving Maine and going West. At first, California was the land of plenty. Quickly, though, the recession landed, and a surprise pregnancy that was also surprisingly rough made Caitlin too sick to work. By December, every job Dan had lined up had been canceled, and though he pounded the pavement, from shop to shop and from bar to bar, he could not find any work at all. By March 2009, every cent of the couple's savings had been spent.So, a year after they'd set out with big plans, Caitlin and Dan packed up again, this time with a baby on board, to make their way home to move in with Caitlin's mother. As they drove, Caitlin blogged about their situation and created audio diaries for NPR's Weekend Edition--and received an astounding response. From all across the country, listeners offered help, opening their hearts and their homes. And when the young family arrived back in rural Maine and squeezed into Caitlin's mother's small saltbox house, Caitlin learned that the bonds of family run deeper than any tug to roam, and that, with love, she and Dan could hold their dreams in sight, wherever they were. Made for You and Me captures the irrepressible spirit and quiet perseverance of one small family--and offers to share that strength with any reader willing to make the journey.lin's mother's small saltbox house, Caitlin learned that the bonds of family run deeper than any tug to roam, and that, with love, she and Dan could hold their dreams in sight, wherever they were. Made for You and Me captures the irrepressible spirit and quiet perseverance of one small family--and offers to share that strength with any reader willing to make the journey. "There's a story of this country that doesn't get told a lot. Or told well. Of what it's like to not make it. Of having to say to yourself, and to your spouse and your child 'Listen, this isn't it. We need to try something else. We need to start over...from the very beginning.' Caitlin Shetterly's Made for You and Me is that story. Resonant and richly detailed, it takes you deep into the personal heart of the beginning of the financial crisis and the recession that followed. Then, somehow, via Venice, California, backwoods Maine and 3000 miles in between brings you out the other end."--Kai Ryssdal, host of NPR's Marketplace
Mafia Movies
by Dana RengaRico 'Little Caesar' Bandello, Michael Corleone, and Tony Soprano are just some of the onscreen mafia figures that have fascinated audiences since cinema's inception. Portrayals of the Italian and Italian-American mafia, though, have differed markedly over time and across multiple cultures--from the Godfather trilogy to contemporary Italian films, and in works both by established producers like Martin Scorsese and emerging directors like Matteo Garrone.Mafia Movies encourages mafia aficionados to explore the rich variety of classics and rarities within the genre with provocative analyses of over forty films. The essays in this volume provide a comprehensive exploration of the myth of the mafia onscreen, identifying key features and connections to styles such as film noir, thrillers, and even westerns. Mafia Movies also questions whether there are uniquely American or Italian ways of depicting the mafia, exploring how filmmakers from both countries have approached the subject in divergent ways.
Making Media
by Jan Roberts-BreslinMaking Media takes the media production process and deconstructs it into its most basic components. Students will learn the basic concepts of media production: frame, sound, light, time, motion, sequencing, etc., and be able to apply them to any medium they choose. They will also become well grounded in the digital work environment and the tools required to produce media in the digital age. The companion Web site provides interactive exercises for each chapter, allowing students to explore the process of media production. The text is heavily illustrated and complete with sidebar discussions of pertinent issues.
The Making of the West End Stage: Marriage, Management and the Mapping of Gender in London, 1830-1870
by Jacky BrattonAll roads lead to London - and to the West End theatre. This book presents a new history of the beginnings of the modern world of London entertainment. Putting female-centred, gender-challenging managements and styles at the centre, it redraws the map of performance history in the Victorian capital of the world. Bratton argues for the importance in Victorian culture of venues like the little Strand Theatre and the Gallery of Illustration in Regent Street in the experience of mid-century London, and of plays drawn from the work of Charles Dickens as well as burlesques by the early writers of Punch. Discovering a much more dynamic and often woman-led entertainment industry at the heart of the British Empire, this book seeks a new understanding of the work of women including Eliza Vestris, Mary Ann Keeley and Marie Wilton in creating the template for a magical new theatre of music, feeling and spectacle.
Making Radio: A practical guide to working in radio in the digital age
by Steve Ahern'The distilled wisdom and passion of top practitioners makes this an invaluable guide to making radio in Australia.' - Siobhan McHugh, award-winning radio feature producer and lecturer, University of Wollongong'a very useful hands-on guide to radio production in Australia' - Gail Phillips, Associate Professor of Journalism, Murdoch University'Making Radio has been a core text for all our radio courses since it was written. It covers everything form the basics you need to know when you begin your radio career, to high level skills required for career advancement.' - Kim Becherand, AFTRS Radio DivisionMaking radio programs gets into your blood: it's one of the most stimulating jobs in the world, in a fast-moving industry, at the cutting edge of digital technology.Making Radio is a practical guide for anyone who wants to learn how to make good radio in the era of Radio 2.0. It examines the key roles in radio: announcing, presenting, research, copywriting, producing, marketing and promotions. It also outlines what is involved in creating different types of radio programs: news and current affairs, music, talkback, comedy and WC features, as well as legal and regulatory constraints.With contributions from industry experts, the third edition reflects the impact of digital radio, including multi-platform delivery, listener databases, social media and online marketing. It also examines how radio stations have reinvented their business models to accommodate the rapid changes in communications and listener expectations.
Many Lives
by Stephanie BeachamStephanie Beacham is one of the leading actors of her generation. In the course of a career which spans over 40 years, the RADA trained actress has treaded the boards of some of the most prestigious theatres in the world from the National Theatre to Broadway, made countless appearances on television in much loved series such as Tenko, Connie, Bad Girls and Coronation Street and starred in feature films alongside some of the greatest actors of their time such as Marlon Brando and Ava Gardner. But it was in her incarnation as the smouldering super-bitch Sable Colby in the long-running blockbuster soap of eighties Dynasty that Stephanie will perhaps be best remembered. It was a role that would bring the celebrated beauty both worldwide fame and awards and would earn her a fortune. But Stephanie’s life has not always been glamour and glitz – for all the highs, she has had her low moments too as she reveals in this extraordinarily candid but heart-warming memoir. Born with just 40% hearing the young Stephanie would have to overcome her deafness to face the world and make it in a profession where hearing meant everything. She would struggle as a young actress, would go through the pain and the heartache of a divorce, raise her children as a single-parent, as well as overcoming a health scare which nearly killed her in her mid-thirties. And it would be this near death experience that would send Stephanie on what she describes as a ‘spiritual adventure’ to arm her with both the tools and knowledge she believes she needed to propel her through the rest of her life.
Marlene: Marlene Dietrich, a Personal Biography
by Charlotte ChandlerIn Marlene, the legendary Hollywood icon is vividly brought to life, based on a series of conversations with the star herself and with others who knew her well. In the mid-1970s Charlotte Chandler spoke with Marlene Dietrich in Dietrich's Paris apartment. The star's career was all but over, but she agreed to meet because Chandler hadn't known Dietrich earlier, "when I was young and very beautiful." Dietrich may have been retired, but her appearance and her celebrity--her famous mystique--were as important to her as ever. Marlene Dietrich's life is one of the most fabulous in Hollywood history. She began her career in her native Berlin as a model, then a stage and screen actress during the silent era, becoming a star with the international success The Blue Angel. Then, under the watchful eye of the director of that film, her mentor Josef von Sternberg, she came to America and became one of the brightest stars in Hollywood. She made a series of acclaimed pictures--Morocco, Shanghai Express, Blonde Venus, Destry Rides Again, among many others--that propelled her to international stardom. With the outbreak of World War II, the fiercely anti-Nazi Dietrich became an American citizen and entertained Allied troops on the front lines. After the war she embarked on a new career as a stage performer, and with her young music director, the gifted Burt Bacharach--whom Chandler interviewed for the book--Dietrich had an outstanding second career. Dietrich spoke candidly with Chandler about her unconventional private life: although she never divorced her husband, Rudi Sieber, she had numerous well-publicized affairs with his knowledge (and he had a longtime mistress with her approval). By the late 1970s, plagued by accidents, Dietrich had become a virtual recluse in her Paris apartment, communicating with the outside world almost entirely by telephone Marlene Dietrich lived an extraordinary life, and Marlene relies extensively on the star's own words to reveal how intriguing and fascinating that life really was.
Marty Feldman: The Biography of a Comedy Legend
by Robert RossMike Myers thinks he was "a genius", while John Cleese regards him as "a true cultural icon". He was an architect of British comedy, paving the way for Monty Python, and then became a major Hollywood star, forever remembered as Igor in Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein. A writer, director, performer and true pioneer of his art, he died aged only 48.His name was Marty Feldman, and here, at last, is the first ever biography. Acclaimed author Robert Ross has interviewed Marty's friends and family, including his sister Pamela, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Michael Palin and Terry Jones, and also draws from extensive, previously unpublished and often hilarious interviews with Marty himself, taped in preparation for the autobiography he never wrote. No one before or since has had a career quite like Marty's. Beginning in the dying days of variety theatre, he went from the behind the scenes scriptwriting triumphs of Round the Horne andThe Frost Report to onscreen stardom in At Last the 1948 Show and his own hit series Marty. That led to transatlantic success, his work with Mel Brooks, and a five-picture deal to write and direct his own movies.From his youth as a tramp on the streets of London, to the height of his fame in America - where he encountered everyone from Orson Welles to Kermit the Frog, before his Hollywood dream became a nightmare - this is the fascinating story of a key figure in the history of comedy, told in full for the first time.
Marty McGuire (Marty Mcguire Ser. #1)
by Kate Messner Brian FlocaIn this fun & accessible chapter book, an irrepressible, third-grade tomboy is cast in the class play and brings her own chaotic spin to the show.Marty McGuire would rather spend recess catching frogs in the pond than playing dress-up with the other girls in third grade. So when her teacher casts Marty as the princess in the class play, Marty’s absolutely, positively sure that there’s been a huge mistake. But after a special lesson in the art of improvisation, Marty comes up with her OWN plan to IMPROVE the play: Why use stuffed-animal frog onstage when a live one would be so much better? In the end, Marty’s one-of-a-kind performance makes for an unforgettable show. Maybe Marty CAN live happily ever after, after all!
Mary Pickford: Canada’s Silent Siren, America’s Sweetheart
by Peggy Dymond LeaveyMary Pickford’s ambition, passion, innate talent, and savvy business acumen sent her career into the stratosphere and set the blueprint for the modern movie star. Born Gladys Louise Smith in 1892, Pickford was raised in a house on University Avenue in Toronto and began her acting career on the stage. However, her determination led her to the new world of motion pictures, where she not only revolutionized acting method but negotiated her own terms for the highest salary for any actress and complete creative control over her films – unheard of behaviour for a woman of that period. Pickford co-founded United Artists in 1919 with Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin, which turned the existing studio system on its head. The actress’s subsequent marriage to Fairbanks incited a fan frenzy comparable to today’s obsession with couples like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Although Pickford’s star faded with the advent of talking pictures, she was the catalyst for the culture of Hollywood celebrity that enthralls us today.
Mastering Monologues and Acting Sides: How to Audition Successfully for Both Traditional and New Media
by Janet WilcoxMastering Monologues and Acting Sides: How to Audition Successfully for Both Traditional and New Media is everything an actor needs to be ready for that perfect part, from webisodes to Shakespeare. Scripts, acting technique tips, and exercises keep a performer toned and ready, while industry experts give advice on how to audition professionally. Invaluable Internet listings keep you on top of changing trends, as well. Casting directors, agents, managers, and actors share insights on proper protocol for different performance settings, and practice is made simple with script excerpts and exercises to keep skills sharp for last minute auditions. Includes instructional CD.
Matt Monro: The Singer's Singer
by Michele MonroA singer once said "His pitch was right on the nose: his word enunciation letter perfect: his understanding of a song thorough. He will be missed very much, not only by myself, but by his fans all over the world." The singer was the legendary Frank Sinatra, the man he spoke about: Matt Monro. <P> Matt Monro: The Singer's Singer, is the highly-anticipated story of one of Britain's most iconic singers, tracing Matt Monro's life from his poverty stricken upbringing in post-war Britain to his day job as London bus driver to the steady rise to fame that saw the singer battling the highs and lows of the entertainment industry to become one of Britain's best-loved entertainers. This is the man behind the image, the man who rubbed shoulders with some of the most famous names in the business, who recorded the very first James Bond theme song (From Russia with Love) and the international hits Softly as I Leave You, Born Free, Walk Away and Portrait of My Love. <P> In an intimate portrait written by the singer's daughter, Michele Monro, and drawing on more than two hundred interviews from the most important characters in Matt's life, The Singer's Singer exposes the man behind the voice, telling the story of how Terry Parson overcame poverty, prejudice and alcoholism to arrive at the very heart of the post-war British entertainment industry as the unforgettable Matt Monro. <P> Including never-before-seen photography, exclusive correspondence between Matt and some of the biggest names in the music business and a rich array of personal anecdotes, this is the first comprehensive look at the life of the man his peers dubbed 'the Singer's Singer', the irreplaceable Matt Monro.
Matthew Meets the Man
by Travis NicholsMatthew Swanbeck has a classic problem. Back in seventh grade, his dad talked him into playing the trumpet instead of the drums. Now he's a lowly brass player in the school marching band. Until one day he has an epiphany: He can start his own band, play in all the cool rock venues, even go on tour . . . if only he can scrape together the cash to buy a drum set. But how will he ever get the money together when The Man thwarts him at every turn, taking taxes out of his paycheck, forcing him to mow the lawn for a measly $10 a week, and creating all of those rules that get in the way of dreams? It's one teen against the system in this light-hearted look at the challenges and rewards of chasing your dreams.
Max Factor: The Man Who Changed the Faces of the World
by Fred E. BastenNice women never wore makeup. Even the word was taboo in polite society--until Max Factor entered the scene. Born in Poland in 1877, Factor worked as a beautician for the Russian royal family, the Romanovs. In 1904, he fled to America, where he opened a cosmetics store in Los Angeles. Creating makeup originally for silent films, then the talkies, and, ultimately, color motion pictures, Factor designed looks for Katharine Hepburn, Rita Hayworth, Bette Davis, and countless other beauties of the day. Soon women everywhere wanted to look like their favorite glamorous stars, and Factor was there to help, bringing his innovative cosmetics to the general public. He revolutionized the world of beauty by producing many firsts: false eyelashes, lip gloss, foundation, eye shadow, the eyebrow pencil, concealer, wand-applicator mascara, and water-resistant makeup. A true innovator, he also introduced the concept of color harmony and the celebrity-endorsed cosmetics advertising that forms the glamorous backbone of the modern industry. Max Factor was the father of modern makeup. This is his extraordinary story.
May I Have Your Attention Please?
by James CordenTHE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTOBIOGRAPHYSo... the story of my life. I've often thought about this moment, about what it would be like to write my memoirs. I always thought it would make me feel important. It doesn't. If anything it makes me feel a little strange.The truth is, I should never have been this famous guy. I wasn't the cool, clever, good-looking boy at school. But I always dreamt of it, hoped for it, longed for it: throughout school when I was disruptive, in my teens when I tried to form my own boy band and through hundreds of auditions for parts which were met with constant rejection. Until finally I co-wrote Gavin and Stacey. And my whole life changed...This is that story. The story of how I found myself here, talking to you.
Me, the Mob, and the Music: One Helluva Ride with Tommy James & The Shondells
by Tommy James Martin FitzpatrickThe sensational ’60s music memoir—part rock & roll fairytale, part mob epic—that “reads like a music-industry version of Goodfellas” (The Denver Post).Tommy James was the 60’s pop icon behind timeless hits like “Hanky Panky,” “Mony Mony,” “I Think We’re Alone Now,” “Crimson and Clover,” and more. These songs helped define the era, and they have been covered by artists ranging from Billy Idol to Tiffany to R.E.M. But just as compelling as the music itself is the life Tommy James lived while making it.In Me, the Mob, and the Music, James reveals his complex and sometimes terrifying relationship with Roulette Records and Morris Levy, the legendary Godfather of the music business. It is a fascinating portrait of this swaggering era of rock ‘n’ roll, when concerts were wild and the hits kept coming—while, just backstage, payola schemes and mafioso tactics were the norm.