First the high brow, then all the rest-
Believing in Opera, Tom Sutcliffe, (TPB, 1998, $2.50)
What do you think of the new production and design of opera staging? Apparently there is a controversy going on.
The Roaring Silence: John Cage, A Life, by David Revill (TPB, 1992, $2.50)
"John Cage has been described as the most important composer of our time. His work and ideas have influenced not only the world of music, but also dance, painting, printmaking, video art and poetry."
So that's who he is. I had seen him speak at the U. of R. and didn't know who he was, but everyone else looked at him in awe so I knew he must be someone special. Read about him here.
Gramophone's Jazz, Good CD Guide, edited by Keith Shadwick (TPB, 1995, $1) (**SOLD**)
The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock and Roll, the third edition (TPB, 2001, 1114 pages, $1. It is a bit beat up at the very beginning and end of the book, but otherwise is fine.)
The Da Capo Book of American Singing Groups: A History 1940-1990, by Jay Warner (TPB, 1992, 541 pages, $3)
"The story of more than 350 classic acts from the Ink Spots and the Modernaires of the 1940s to En Vogue and beyond, with extensive dicographies and rare photos." (OK, I'll admit my ignorance. What is a dicography? Does anyone know?) (PS, spell check didn't recognize it either.)
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The Unmaking of Elvis Presley: Careless Love, by Peter Guralnick (HC, 1999, 766 pages, $4)
Careless Love is Guralnick's second of his two volume biography on Elvis. "Beginning with Presley's army service in Germany in 1958 and ending with his death in Memphis in 1977, Careless Love chronicles the unraveling of the dream that once shone so brightly, homing in on the complex playing-out of Elvis' relationship with his Machiavellian manager, Colonel Tom Parker."
And finally, last, AND also least, but only in my own opinion of course,
Lounge: The Essential Album Guide to Martini Music, edited by Steve Knopper (TPB, 1998, 590 pages, $3, including the CD)
Newly added-
Holes in Our Soul: the Loss of Beauty and Meaning in American Popular Music, by Marth Bayles ( TPB, 1996, $2.50)
"Defending the vigor of jazz, blues, country, gospel, and early rock'n' roll, Bayles argues that recent styles like grunge, punk, and gansta rap have succumbed to a mindless cult of shock and sonic abuse." Well, maybe, but all that earlier music must have seemed like "a mindless cult of shock and sonic abuse" when they first burst from the womb. SOLD
American Bandstand: Dick Clark and the Making of a Rock 'n' Roll Empire, by John A . Jackson (TPB, 1997, $2.50)
"Few realized that behind Clark's unostentatious, "aw shucks" mask there lurked a cunning business impresario and tough negotiator." "I don't make culture, I sell it, " Dick Clark once said.
Mozart, the Golden Years: 1781-1791, by H.C. Robbins Landon (HC, 1989, $3.25)
There was his controversial creative side . There were his personal side, his marriage, and his financial debts. Landon presents the case that Mozart had a manic depressive disorder, which would explain both his creative genius, and his personal demons.
You can find these in the music section.
