- Table View
- List View
Wicked: The Grimmerie
by David CoteSo much happened before Dorothy dropped in. Two girls quite accidentally crossed paths: one, pretty and popular; the other smart and ... green. The story of how these two unlikely friends became Glinda the Good and the Wicked Witch of the West has made for the most spellbinding new musical in years: Wicked.
Wicked and Weird
by Rich TerfryStar CBC-radio host Rich Terfry presents the true story of his alter ego, musician Buck 65, in this rollicking and wonderfully written memoir of growing up poor, talented, baseball-obsessed, music-mad and girl-smitten on the East Coast. With wit, style and a born writer's knack for telling detail, Rich Terfry gives us the story of his unusual life through the eyes of his shy but brilliant and preternaturally observant alter ego, Buck. Born in a small town to a mother who begins yelling at him the moment he is born and a father who disappears into drink, Buck imbibes fear and insecurity like other kids guzzle milk. Hobbled by his fears and demons, Buck almost disappears into the "evil in the woods" that lurks just beyond the town's border . . . until he is saved by three gifts: baseball, romantic love and music. His journey out of his dark hometown and into the wide world begins with a killer pitching arm (Buck almost makes it to the pros) and continues with his transformation into hip-hop artist Buck 65. Along the way, we watch as Buck develops into a hopeless romantic and an obsessively creative, shape-shifting man who both fears life and dives into it with abandon. Nothing is small in Wicked and Weird--a lively, entertaining, often shocking portrait of a life lived on the edge, by turns devastating and brilliantly funny.From the Hardcover edition.
The Wicked Wit of Queen Elizabeth II
by Karen DolbyA charming collection of quotes and anecdotes celebrating the incomparable Queen of EnglandWhen we think of the queen, we probably picture a serious, dignified personage complete with majestic hat and matching handbag. But The Wicked Wit of Queen Elizabeth II reveals a side of the monarch the public rarely sees, her healthy sense of humor: sometimes silly, sometimes sarcastic—and occasionally unintentional (to guitar legend Eric Clapton: “Have you been playing long?”)!This is a delightful celebration of the queen’s humor revealed through her own words on topics from family and travel to pets and hobbies, as well as stories from the royal household of Britain’s longest-serving monarch. In addition to the queen, other royals get in their two cents, including the famously filterless Prince Philip and the acerbic Princess Margaret, as well as Prince Charles and Princess Anne.
Wiggle
by Doreen CroninDo you wake up with a wiggle? Do you wiggle out of bed? For energetic toddlers (are there any who aren't?), here's a book that invites them to wiggle along with the story. Told in rollicky, wiggly rhyme that begs to be read again and again, Doreen Cronin's latest romp will have toddlers wiggling, giggling, and then (hopefully) falling into bed, blissfully exhausted!
Wigs and Make-up for Theatre, TV and Film
by Patricia BakerThis book teaches the basic skills of theatrical and media make-up and wigmaking. It is ideal for students aiming at a career in the world of entertainment - whether it be theatre, television or film - or those hoping to become make-up artists within these fields.
Wilco: Learning How to Die
by Greg KotThe intimate story of one of the great American bands of our time, creators of the controversial masterpiece Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. When alt-country heroes-turned-rock-iconoclasts Wilco handed in their fourth album, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, to the band's label, Reprise, a division of Warner Brothers, fans looked forward to the release of another challenging, genre-bending departure from their previous work. The band aimed to build on previous sales and critical acclaim with its boldest and most ambitious album yet, but was instead urged by skittish Reprise execs to make the record more "radio friendly." When Wilco wouldn't give, they found themselves without a label. Instead, they used the Internet to introduce the album to their fans, and eventually sold the record to Nonesuch, another division of Warner. Wilco was vindicated when the album debuted at No. 13 on the Billboard charts and posted the band's strongest sales to date. Wilco: Learning How to Die traces the band's story to its deepest origins in Southern Illinois, where Jeff Tweedy began growing into one of the best songwriters of his generation. As we witness how his music grew from its punk and alt-country origins, some of the key issues and questions in our culture are addressed: How is music of substance created while the gulf between art and commerce widens in the corporate consolidation era? How does the music industry make or break a hit? How do working musicians reconcile the rewards of artistic risk with the toll it exacts on their personal life? This book was written with the cooperation of Wilco band members past and present. It is also fully up to date, covering the latest changes in personnel and the imminent release of the band's fifth album, A Ghost Is Born, sure to be one of the most talked-about albums of 2004.
Wild and Crazy Guys: How the Comedy Mavericks of the '80s Changed Hollywood Forever
by Nick de SemlyenThe behind-the-scenes story of the iconic funnymen who ruled '80s Hollywood—Bill Murray, Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, and Eddie Murphy—and the beloved films that made them stars, including Animal House, Caddyshack, and Ghostbusters“An enjoyable romp that vividly captures the manic ups and downs of the remarkable group of funny folk who gave us a golden age of small and big screen comedy, from SNL to Groundhog Day.”—Peter Biskind, author of Easy Riders, Raging BullsWild and Crazy Guys opens in 1978 with Chevy Chase and Bill Murray taking bad-tempered swings at each other backstage at Saturday Night Live, and closes 21 years later with the two doing a skit in the same venue, poking fun at each other, their illustrious careers, triumphs and prat falls. In between, Nick de Semlyen takes us on a trip through the tumultuous '80s, delving behind the scenes of movies such as National Lampoon's Vacation, Beverly Hills Cop, The Blues Brothers, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and dozens more. Chronicling the off-screen, larger-than-life antics of Bill Murray, Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, Dan Aykroyd, Eddie Murphy, John Belushi, John Candy, and Rick Moranis, it's got drugs, sex, punch-ups, webbed toes, and Bill Murray being pushed into a swimming pool by Hunter S. Thompson while tied to a lawn chair. What's not to like?Based on candid interviews from many of the stars themselves, as well as those in their immediate orbit, including directors John Landis, Carl Reiner, and Amy Heckerling, Wild and Crazy Guys is a fantastic insider account of the friendships, feuds, triumphs, and disasters experienced by these beloved comedians. Hilarious and revealing, it is both a hidden history of the most fertile period ever for screen comedy and a celebration of some of the most popular films of all time.Advance praise for Wild and Crazy Guys“Eminently readable . . . Children of the 1980s, take note: this is a fond, engrossing look back at the making of movies that became cultural touchstones.”—Booklist (starred review) “The irresistible Wild and Crazy Guys charts the roller-coaster ride of the groundbreaking comedy stars of the ’70s and ’80s, giving a fascinating look at the helium highs and crushing lows surrounding some of your favorite funny films. I couldn’t put it down. Although that may have been the glue.”—Edgar Wright, director of Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and Baby Driver “There is no shortage of excellent critical writing about the US comedy scene in the 80s, and Nick de Semlyen’s Wild and Crazy Guys is a terrific contribution to the genre.”—The Guardian
Wild and Dangerous Performances
by Peta TaitElephants, lions, tigers and leopards evoked fascination and awe, fear and excitement in the twentieth-century circus. Wild and Dangerous Performances: Animals, Emotions, Circus explores what happened when big cats roared on cue and elephants danced together. Acts in live circus and cinema reveal how humans anthropomorphize animals with their emotions. Trained animals became caught up in scientific precepts from Darwin on emotions and in opposition to animal performance. This history considers acts by Carl Hagenbeck, Frank Bostock, Alfred Court, Clyde Beatty, Mabel Stark, Patricia Bourne, Damoo Dhotre, Gunther Gebel-Williams and others in leading international circuses. Their acts featured: Nero, the horse riding lion, Rajah, the wrestling tiger, Sonia, the waltzing leopard, and Champion, lying like a fur collar across the trainer's shoulders. Descriptions of animal performers were vivid and moving, but completely contradictory. Animals embody a phenomenology of transacted emotions and feelings in culture, recently exemplified by Christian, the lion. Contributing to the growing scholarship in animal studies, this fascinating study has much to offer to anyone interested in circus animal performance, performance history, animal emotions and animal rights and ethics. "
Wild Bill Wellman
by William WellmanThe extraordinary life--the first--of the legendary, undercelebrated Hollywood director known in his day as "Wild Bill" (and he was!) Wellman, whose eighty-two movies (six of them uncredited), many of them iconic; many of them sharp, cold, brutal; others poetic, moving; all of them a lesson in close-up art, ranged from adventure and gangster pictures to comedies, aviation, romances, westerns, and searing social dramas. Among his iconic pictures: the pioneering World War I epic Wings (winner of the first Academy Award for best picture), Public Enemy (the toughest gangster picture of them all), Nothing Sacred, the original A Star Is Born, Beggars of Life, The Call of the Wild, The Ox-Bow Incident, Battleground, The High and the Mighty... David O. Selznick called him "one of the motion pictures' greatest craftsmen." Robert Redford described him as "feisty, independent, self-taught, and self-made. He stood his ground and fought his battles for artistic integrity, never wavering, always clear in his film sense." Wellman directed Hollywood's biggest stars for three decades, including Clark Gable, Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, John Wayne, Lauren Bacall, and Clint Eastwood. It was said he directed "like a general trying to break out of a beachhead." He made pictures with such noted producers as Darryl F. Zanuck, Nunnally Johnson, Jesse Lasky, and David O. Selznick. Here is a revealing, boisterous portrait of the handsome, tough-talking, hard-drinking, uncompromising maverick (he called himself a "crazy bastard")--juvenile delinquent; professional ice-hockey player as a kid; World War I flying ace at twenty-one in the Lafayette Flying Corps (the Lafayette Escadrille), crashing more than six planes ("We only had four instruments, none of which worked. And no parachutes . . . Greatest goddamn acrobatics you ever saw in your life")--whose own life story was more adventurous and more unpredictable than anything in the movies. Wellman was a wing-walking stunt pilot in barnstorming air shows, recipient of the Croix de Guerre with two Gold Palm Leaves and five United States citations; a bad actor but good studio messenger at Goldwyn Pictures who worked his way up from assistant cutter; married to five women, among them Marjorie Crawford, aviatrix and polo player; silent picture star Helene Chadwick; and Dorothy Coonan, Busby Berkeley dancer, actress, and mother of his seven children. Irene Mayer Selznick, daughter of Louis B. Mayer, called Wellman "a terror, a shoot-up-the-town fellow, trying to be a great big masculine I-don't-know-what. David had a real weakness for him. I didn't share it." Yet she believed enough in Wellman's vision and cowritten script about Hollywood to persuade her husband to produce A Star Is Born, which Wellman directed. After he took over directing Tarzan Escapes at MGM, Wellman went to Louis B. Mayer and asked to make another Tarzan picture on his own. "What are you talking about? It's beneath your dignity," said Mayer. "To hell with that," said Wellman, "I haven't got any dignity." Now William Wellman, Jr., drawing on his father's unpublished letters, diaries, and unfinished memoir, gives us the first full portrait of the man--boy, flyer, husband, father, director, artist. Here is a portrait of a profoundly American spirit and visionary, a man's man who was able to put into cinematic storytelling the most subtle and fulsome of feeling, a man feared, respected, and loved.From the Hardcover edition.
Wild Boy: My Life with Duran Duran
by Andy TaylorThe first member of Duran Duran to write his memoirs tells the full story of the excesses, glamour and excitement they lived through in the 1980s.When 19-year-old Andy Taylor returned from his band's tour of military bases in Germany and saw an advert in Melody Maker in April 1980 asking for a 'live wire guitarist' to audition in Birmingham, he saw his chance. Even he could not have predicted what happened next. The group, Duran Duran, released their first single, 'Planet Earth', ten months later and soon became the biggest band since the Beatles. Emerging in the post-punk era, Duran headed the New Romantic movement and with their stunning videos and style consciousness, they set the trend for the consumerist 1980s. Popular with everyone from rockers to Princess Diana, they had a string of massive worldwide hits such as 'Rio', 'The Reflex' and 'A View to a Kill'. They won Grammys and an Ivor Novello award among many other things.By Live Aid, in 1985, they were at their very pinnacle of success - and then the band began to fall apart. At the centre of it all, giving the group its musical pulse, was lead guitarist Andy Taylor. In this revealing and raw memoir, Taylor recalls the highs and lows of an unbelievable period where the squeaky clean facade hid the truth of wild partying as five young men took just about every opportunity that was offered to them.Andy Taylor's story is of an era when MTV was new, the media allowed superstars to get away with lots and rock stars knew how to party like there was no tomorrow. Wild Boy is a book that millions of fans of Duran Duran around the world will want to read to know the full story of what really happened.
Wild Card
by Susan AmarillasActive in Hollywood from the 1920s through the 1940s, Dudley Murphy was one of the industry's first independent filmmakers. In this biography, independent scholar Delson pays particular attention to Murphy's visually oriented and musically inspired cinematic style, which was looser and more evocative than that of more mainstream directors. The volume is illustrated with b&w movie stills and photographs from the Murphy family collection. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc. , Portland, OR (booknews. com)
A Wild Life: My Adventures Around the World Filming Wildlife
by Martin Hughes-GamesThe frozen wastes of the Southern Ocean; the tropical rainforests of South America, the scorching grasslands of Africa, the dizzy heights of the snow-capped peaks of the Himalayas: Martin Hughes-Games has been to every continent on earth filming natural history programmes. A Wild Life is Martin's personal account of his astonishing adventures around the world, both as a presenter for the BBC and a producer of nature documentaries. We all know Martin as a member of Springwatch and Autumnwatch team, but before his presenting days he spent many years behind the camera producing up-close-and-personal wildlife documentaries on location often in perilous conditions. During a career spanning more than three decades, he has captured the extraordinary life and diversity of the animal kingdom on film - from bloodthirsty bats and man-eating tigers, to huge elephant seals and tiny but ever so painful centipedes.Warmly told with humour and an inimitable style, and packed with insightful facts from the natural world - how fast is the fastest creature on earth, the peregrine falcon? How high can a bird, the bar headed goose on migration, really fly? - A Wild Life has to be one of the natural history books of the year.
The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill: A Love Story ... with Wings
by Mark BittnerTrue story of the flock of wild parrots who live in San Francisco's Telegraph Hill, and the man who became a local expert on them. When Judith Irving made a documentary about Mark and the parrots, his life took a surprising turn.
Wild Rover No More
by L. A. MeyerJacky Faber is framed as passing confidential U.S. information to the British. Forced to flee Boston, she goes undercover as a governess for a prominent Puritan family. When outed by a nosy postmaster, she deserts the respectability of her position, dons a leotard and slippers, and poses as a Russian tightrope walker in a traveling circus. But the law soon catches up with her, and prospects do not look good. Through her many adventures, Jacky has always found the ingenuity to escape dire situations, but this time it looks like Puss in Boots has run out of lives . . . and her happily-ever-after will be cut short at the foot of the gallows.
Wild Tales
by Graham NashThis ebook includes 4 videos, 34 audio clips, and 11 additional photos from Graham Nash's personal collection. Audio and video content does not play on all reading devices. Check your user manual for details.From Graham Nash--the legendary musician and founding member of the iconic bands Crosby, Stills & Nash and The Hollies--comes a candid and riveting autobiography that belongs on the reading list of every classic rock fan. Graham Nash's songs defined a generation and helped shape the history of rock and roll--he's written over 200 songs, including such classic hits as "Carrie Anne," "On A Carousel," "Simple Man," "Our House," "Marrakesh Express," and "Teach Your Children." From the opening salvos of the British Rock Revolution to the last shudders of Woodstock, he has rocked and rolled wherever music mattered. Now Graham is ready to tell his story: his lower-class childhood in post-war England, his early days in the British Invasion group The Hollies; becoming the lover and muse of Joni Mitchell during the halcyon years, when both produced their most introspective and important work; meeting Stephen Stills and David Crosby and reaching superstardom with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; and his enduring career as a solo musician and political activist. Nash has valuable insights into a world and time many think they know from the outside but few have experienced at its epicenter, and equally wonderful anecdotes about the people around him: the Beatles, the Stones, Hendrix, Cass Elliot, Dylan, and other rock luminaries. From London to Laurel Canyon and beyond, Wild Tales is a revealing look back at an extraordinary life--with all the highs and the lows; the love, the sex, and the jealousy; the politics; the drugs; the insanity--and the sanity--of a magical era of music.
Wild Tales
by Graham NashThis ebook includes 4 videos, 34 audio clips, and 11 additional photos from Graham Nash's personal collection. Audio and video content does not play on all reading devices. Check your user manual for details.From Graham Nash--the legendary musician and founding member of the iconic bands Crosby, Stills & Nash and The Hollies--comes a candid and riveting autobiography that belongs on the reading list of every classic rock fan. Graham Nash's songs defined a generation and helped shape the history of rock and roll--he's written over 200 songs, including such classic hits as "Carrie Anne," "On A Carousel," "Simple Man," "Our House," "Marrakesh Express," and "Teach Your Children." From the opening salvos of the British Rock Revolution to the last shudders of Woodstock, he has rocked and rolled wherever music mattered. Now Graham is ready to tell his story: his lower-class childhood in post-war England, his early days in the British Invasion group The Hollies; becoming the lover and muse of Joni Mitchell during the halcyon years, when both produced their most introspective and important work; meeting Stephen Stills and David Crosby and reaching superstardom with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; and his enduring career as a solo musician and political activist. Nash has valuable insights into a world and time many think they know from the outside but few have experienced at its epicenter, and equally wonderful anecdotes about the people around him: the Beatles, the Stones, Hendrix, Cass Elliot, Dylan, and other rock luminaries. From London to Laurel Canyon and beyond, Wild Tales is a revealing look back at an extraordinary life--with all the highs and the lows; the love, the sex, and the jealousy; the politics; the drugs; the insanity--and the sanity--of a magical era of music.
Wild Tales: A Rock & Roll Life
by Graham NashThis ebook includes 4 videos, 34 audio clips, and 11 additional photos from Graham Nash's personal collection. Audio and video content does not play on all reading devices. Check your user manual for details.From Graham Nash--the legendary musician and founding member of the iconic bands Crosby, Stills & Nash and The Hollies--comes a candid and riveting autobiography that belongs on the reading list of every classic rock fan. Graham Nash's songs defined a generation and helped shape the history of rock and roll--he's written over 200 songs, including such classic hits as "Carrie Anne," "On A Carousel," "Simple Man," "Our House," "Marrakesh Express," and "Teach Your Children." From the opening salvos of the British Rock Revolution to the last shudders of Woodstock, he has rocked and rolled wherever music mattered. Now Graham is ready to tell his story: his lower-class childhood in post-war England, his early days in the British Invasion group The Hollies; becoming the lover and muse of Joni Mitchell during the halcyon years, when both produced their most introspective and important work; meeting Stephen Stills and David Crosby and reaching superstardom with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; and his enduring career as a solo musician and political activist. Nash has valuable insights into a world and time many think they know from the outside but few have experienced at its epicenter, and equally wonderful anecdotes about the people around him: the Beatles, the Stones, Hendrix, Cass Elliot, Dylan, and other rock luminaries. From London to Laurel Canyon and beyond, Wild Tales is a revealing look back at an extraordinary life--with all the highs and the lows; the love, the sex, and the jealousy; the politics; the drugs; the insanity--and the sanity--of a magical era of music.
Wild Thing: The Short, Spellbinding Life Of Jimi Hendrix
by Philip NormanA shattering new biography of rock music’s most outrageous—and tragic—genius. Over fifty years after his death, Jimi Hendrix (1942–1970) is celebrated as the greatest rock guitarist of all time. But before he was setting guitars and the world aflame, James Marshall Hendrix was a shy kid in Seattle, plucking at a broken ukulele and in fear of a father who would hit him for playing left-handed. Bringing Jimi’s story to vivid life against the backdrop of midcentury rock, and with a wealth of new information, acclaimed music biographer Philip Norman delivers a captivating and definitive portrait of a musical legend. Drawing from unprecedented access to Jimi’s brother, Leon Hendrix, who provides disturbing details about their childhood, as well as Kathy Etchingham and Linda Keith, the two women who played vital roles in Jimi’s rise to stardom, Norman traces Jimi’s life from playing in clubs on the segregated Chitlin’ Circuit, where he encountered daily racism, to barely surviving in New York’s Greenwich Village, where was taken up by the Animals’ bass player Chas Chandler in 1966 and exported to Swinging London and international stardom. For four staggering years, from 1966 to 1970, Jimi totally rewrote the rules of rock stardom, notably at Monterey and Woodstock (where he played his protest-infused rendition of the “Star-Spangled Banner”), while becoming the highest-paid musician of his day. But it all abruptly ended in the shabby basement of a London hotel with Jimi’s too-early death. With remarkable detail, Wild Thing finally reveals the truth behind this long-shrouded tragedy. Norman’s exhaustive research reveals a young man who was as shy and polite in private as he was outrageous in public, whose insecurity about his singing voice could never be allayed by his instrumental genius, and whose unavailing efforts to please his father left him searching for the family he felt he never truly had. Filled with insights into the greatest moments in rock history, Wild Thing is a mesmerizing account of music’s most enduring and endearing figures.
Wildcat Spirit (High School Musical: Stories from East High #2)
by Catherine HapkaWho's got spirit? It's Spirit Week at East High, and everyone is psyched. There will be dress-up days, a pep rally, and finally, the the Crowning of the Spirit week King and Queen. But the best part of all is the Sadie Hawkins dance: the girls get to ask the boys! Troy is fending off invitations left and right,, and wondering why Gabriella hasn't asked him yet. He'll have to be patient, though; Gabriella has a lot on her mind. She overheard something her mom said on the phone, and is too devastated to even think about the dance. Could it be that they're moving again? Gabriella is so happy at East High. Would her mother really take her away from all her friends?
Wildcats Forever
by Lara BergenThe High School Musical phenomenon leaps onto the big screen with the much-anticipated; theatrical release of High School Musical 3, which finds high school seniors Troy and Gabriella facing the prospect of being separated from one another as they head off to different colleges.
Wilder Times
by Kevin LallyBilly Wilder is one of the last living members of the generation of important film directors active in Hollywood's Golden Era. His credits include such landmark films as Double Indemnity, Sunset Boulevard, Some Like it Hot, The Lost Weekend, The Apartment, and Witness for the Prosecution. Today, interest in Wilder films is at an all-time high, making his eventful life and substantial body of work an ideal subject for a full-scale biography. Filled with Hollywood's greatest stars, the book features new interviews with Billy Wilder himself and with such famed Wilder colleagues as Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Tony Curtis, Walter Matthau, and Kirk Douglas, among others.As the cowriter of all his films, Wilder is a true auteur. Nearly every film makes imaginative use of the Vienna native's life experiences, whether drawing from his early years as a journalist (Ace in the Hole) his initial struggle as a Hollywood screenwriter (Sunset Boulevard), or his ties to the Berlin he fled in 1933 (A Foreign Affair). His films' recurring elements of disguise and deception (who can forget Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis in Some Like it Hot?) reflect Wilder's own outsider status as an immigrant who hit it big in the land of celluloid illusion. A protean talent, he is equally at home with hard-edged dramas and bright, witty romances and comedies. Wilder Times is the long-overdue biography of one of film's finest directors.Kevin Lally is managing editor of the movie-industry magazine Film Journal International, where he has conducted interviews with more than 100 major filmmakers. During the 1980s, he was the film critic for the Gannett newspaper The Courier-News. A graduate of Fordham University, Mr. Lally has also worked in film exhibition, distribution, and publicity in New York City. He currently resides in Brooklyn, New York.Terrific ... Besides covering Wilder's life off the soundstages in snappy but biting detail, Lally's book Is also crammed with a lot of fascinating Wilderama.-Robert OsborneFast-paced, entertaining biography ... Wilder Times Is especially valuable for illuminating the latter phase of its subject's career.-The Washington PostMagical yet even-handed critical biography ... Wilder's aphoristic wit provides many laugh-out-loud moments ... A tremendous birthday cake for Billy, all candles burning.-The Hollywood ReporterAn enormously entertaining portrait of Hollywood's most beloved and perhaps wittiest iconoclast.-Houston ChronicleFirst-rate, four-star salute to The Great Man ... This thoughtful tome fills a Carlsbad Caverns kind of hole in the movie buff's bookshelf.-Newark Star Ledger
Wilde's Women: How Oscar Wilde Was Shaped by the Women He Knew
by Eleanor FitzsimonsA fresh, revealing, and entertaining account of the most notorious figure of his age and the women who inspired him. Oscar Wilde famously insisted that "there should be no law for anybody," and his devotion to personal liberty made him a staunch defender of gender equality. Women were central to his life and career. Wilde's Women is the first book to tell the story of the female family members, friends, and colleagues who traded witticisms with Wilde, who gave him access to vital publicity, and to whose ideas he gave expression through his social comedies. In this essential new work, Eleanor Fitzsimons reframes Wilde's story and his legacy through the women in his life, including such scintillating figures as Florence Balcombe; actress Lillie Langtry; and his tragic and witty niece, Dolly, who, like Wilde, loved fast cars, cocaine, and foreign women. Fresh revealing, and entertaining, full of fascinating detail and anecdotes, Wilde's Women relates the untold story of how a beloved writer and libertine played a vitally sympathetic role on behalf of many women, and how they supported him in the midst of a Victorian society in the process of changing forever.
Wildflower
by Drew BarrymoreAward-winning actress Drew Barrymore shares funny, insightful, and profound stories from her past and present told from the place of happiness she's achieved today. Wildflower is a portrait of Drew's life in stories as she looks back on the adventures, challenges, and incredible experiences of her earlier years. It includes tales of living on her own at 14 (and how laundry may have saved her life), getting stuck in a gas station overhang on a cross country road trip, saying goodbye to her father in a way only he could have understood, and many more adventures and lessons that have led her to the successful, happy, and healthy place she is today. It is the first book Drew has written about her life since the age of 14.
Wildflower
by Alecia WhitakerThe best songs come from broken hearts.Bird Barrett has grown up on the road, singing backup in her family's bluegrass band and playing everywhere from Nashville, Tennessee, to Nowhere, Oklahoma. But one fateful night, when Bird fills in for her dad by singing lead, a scout in the audience offers her a spotlight all her own.Soon Bird is caught up in a whirlwind of songwriting meetings, recording sessions, and music-video shoots. Her first single hits the top twenty, and suddenly fans and paparazzi are around every corner. She's even caught the eye of her longtime crush, fellow roving musician Adam Dean. With Bird's star on the rise, though, the rest of her life falls into chaos as tradition and ambition collide. Can Bird break out while staying true to her roots?In a world of glamour and gold records, a young country music star finds her voice.
Wildman of Rhythm: The Life and Music of Benny Moré
by John RadanovichBenny More (1919-1963) was one of the giants at the center of the golden age of Cuban music. Arguably the greatest singer ever to come from the island, his name is still spoken with reverence and nostalgia by Cubans and Cuban exiles alike.Unable to read music, he nevertheless wrote more than a dozen Cuban standards. His band helped shape what came to be known as the Afro-Cuban sound and, later, salsa. More epitomized the Cuban big-band era and was one of the most important precursors to the music later featured in the Buena Vista Social Club. Even now, to hear his recordings for the first time, it is impossible not to be thrilled and amazed.Journalist John Radanovich has spent years tracking down the musicians who knew More and More family members, seeking out rare recordings and little-known photographs. Radanovich provides the definitive biography of the man and his music, whose legacy was forgotten in the larger scheme of political difficulties between the United States and Cuba. Even the exact spelling of More's first name was unknown until now. The author also examines the milieu of Cuban music in the 1950s, when Havana was the playground of Hollywood stars and the Mafia ran the nightclubs and casinos.