Other books that might interest you

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  All That Jazz - The Life and...

  Ethan Mordden

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  In 1975, the Broadway musical Chicago brought together a host of memes and myths—the gleefully subversive character of American musical comedy, the reckless glamour of the big-city newspaper, the mad decade of the 1920s, the work of Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon, and the Wild West gangsterville that was the city of Chicago itself. 
   
   
   
  The tale of a young woman who murders her departing lover and then tricks the jury into letting her off, Chicago seemed too blunt and cynical at first. Everyone agreed it was show biz at its brilliant best, yet the public still preferred A Chorus Line, with its cast of innocents and sentimental feeling. Nevertheless, the 1996 Chicago revival is now the longest-running American musical in history. 
   
   
   
  As author Ethan Mordden looks back at Chicago's various moving parts—including the original 1926 play that started it all, a sexy silent film directed by Cecil B. DeMille, a talkie remake with Ginger Rogers, the musical itself, and at last the movie of the musical—we see how the American theater serves as a kind of alternative news medium, a town crier warning the public about the racy, devious interior contradictions of American society. Opinionated, witty, and rich in backstage anecdotes, All That Jazz brings the American musical to life in all its artistry and excitement.

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  Domesticated Volume Two

  James Domestic

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  In the second Domesticated instalment, East Anglian punk poet, James Domestic, is once again taking potshots at work, so-called-punk-rock, outdoor and indoor pursuits, aging, right wing lunatics, politics, feet, and himself. As if that wasn’t enough, you’ll also find his trademark surrealism, sarcasm, and quintessentially British whimsy applied to animals, emails, food, and the power of music, alongside his idiosyncratic illustrations, and photographs from his murky past. A man in too many bands to count, a solo artist, a vocalist, a songwriter, a DJ, a poet, a painter, and a punk. James Domestic failed miserably at school through the distractions of music, alcohol, and girls, spent his early post-school life between the chemical factory and the dole, and somehow now has a PhD. A square peg in life’s round hole. A face that never fitted. He couldn’t care less. Come along for the ride. “A sardonic, sarcastic wit, a penchant for the surreal, and a dynamic pace” (Nathan Brown, Louder Than War) “Words that bite, belch, and bleed in their brilliance” (Mark Grist, multi-award-winning poet and battle rapper) “A unique collection of poetic ventures into the human condition, with humour, anger, and a canny use of language: inspired and inspiring!” (Dick Lucas, Subhumans, Culture Shock etc.) “Relentless” (Attila the Stockbroker, social surrealist poet and songwriter).

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  Mugglenetcom's Harry Potter...

  Emerson Spartz, Ben Schoen

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  New York Times–Bestselling Authors: Diehard fans share opinions and debate questions about the beloved series from the funny to the philosophical. 
   
  •Should we pity Voldemort or hate him? 
   
  •Is Severus Snape really a hero? 
   
  •Should J.K. Rowling have left Dumbledore’s sexual orientation a secret? 
   
  •Did Harry actually die in Deathly Hallows? 
   
  •Were the Slytherins too demonized, the Hufflepuffs too lame, and the Gryffindors too glorified? 
   
  •Should J.K.R. write more Harry Potter novels or go out on top? 
   
  After all the books and movies, Harry Potter fans still fiercely debate the many controversial issues left unresolved. Now, in this entertaining collection, the experts argue passionately about bests and worsts, what-ifs, what really happened, and what should have happened . . .

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  Pop Song Piracy - Disobedient...

  Barry Kernfeld

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  The music industry’s ongoing battle against digital piracy is just the latest skirmish in a long conflict over who has the right to distribute music. Starting with music publishers’ efforts to stamp out bootleg compilations of lyric sheets in 1929, Barry Kernfeld’s Pop Song Piracy details nearly a century of disobedient music distribution from song sheets to MP3s. In the 1940s and ’50s, Kernfeld reveals, song sheets were succeeded by fake books, unofficial volumes of melodies and lyrics for popular songs that were a key tool for musicians. Music publishers attempted to wipe out fake books, but after their efforts proved unsuccessful they published their own. Pop Song Piracy shows that this pattern of disobedience, prohibition, and assimilation recurred in each conflict over unauthorized music distribution, from European pirate radio stations to bootlegged live shows. Beneath this pattern, Kernfeld argues, there exists a complex give and take between distribution methods that merely copy existing songs (such as counterfeit CDs) and ones that transform songs into new products (such as file sharing). Ultimately, he contends, it was the music industry’s persistent lagging behind in creating innovative products that led to the very piracy it sought to eliminate.

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  Anthony Van Dyck

  Natalia Gritsai

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  17th-century Flemish painter Van Dyck’s career was as short as it was dazzling. A student of Rubens, he very quickly became the favourite painter of princes and kings and was the portraitist of English and Italian families of the high nobility. With his rigorous compositions, Van Dyck endowed his models with dignity, grandeur, and spirituality. Proud ladies and lords gambolling on their horses −  Van Dyck knew how to render the nonchalant elegance and the ennui of a refined society.
  
  A Baroque painter with a shimmering style, he played with a light and nuanced palette, and reproduced, with the greatest virtuosity, garments of velour, satin, and silk. Van Dyck is considered the founder of the English school of portraiture. He was an influence on Lely, Dobson, Kneller, and most notably Reynolds and Gainsborough, as well as French painters of the 18th century.

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  Mort Sahl's America

  Mort Sahl

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  Mort Sahl has been described as one of the greatest political and social satirists of the 20th century. In Mort Sahl's America, the sophisticated political satirist exposes the grand follies of the powers that be. Deflating celebrity pretensions, he skewers liberals and conservatives alike. From Bill Clinton to Bob Dole, from Al Gore to Jesse Jackson, no one is spared. He talks of his frustrated relationships with liberated women and shares his thoughts on gay marriage and Catholic priests. As an added bonus, Sahl shares the stage with Senator Eugene McCarthy, whose bid for the 1968 US presidency ran on a platform which opposed the Vietnam War. McCarthy offers wry reflections on Lyndon Johnson's eccentric behavior and shrewd commentary on Robert McNamara.

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