Book Description
America's Songs tells the "stories behind" the most beloved popular songs of the last century. We all have songs that have a special meaning in our lives; hearing them evokes a special time or place. Little wonder that these special songs have become enduring classics. Nothing brings the roarin '20s to life like "Tea for Two" or "I'm just Wild About Harry"; the Great Depression is evoked in all of its pain and misery in songs like "Brother Can You Spare a Dime?; "God Bless America" revives the powerful hope that American democracy promised to the world during the dark days of World War II; "Young at Heart" evokes the postwar optimism of the '50s. And then there are the countless songs of love, new romance, and heartbreak: "As Time Goes By," "Always," "Am I Blue"...the list is endless.
Along with telling the stories behind these songs, America's Songs suggests, simply and succinctly, what makes a song great. The book illuminates the way each great song melds words and music - sentiment and melody - into a seamless whole. America's Songs also traces the fascinating but mysterious process of collaboration, the give-and-take between two craftsmen, a composer and a lyricist, as they combined their talents to create a song.
For anyone interested in the history of the songs that America loves, America's Songs will make for fascinating reading.
Customer Reviews:
Lots of fun info but some annoying errors.......2007-01-16
There was a lot of great info in this book, especially covering songs from the first half of the 20th century. But there were also some annoying errors and omissions. Among the errors: a photo of the original star of Cabaret (Jill Haworth) is labeled as Jan Clayton (who was the original star of Carousel several decades earlier). The authors write that Comden and Green only had three standards, and yet they include four in this book (New York New York, The Party's Over, Just in Time and Make Someone Happy). There are some odd choices, such as "It's Not Where You Start" (from Seesaw) that is not remotely a standard, but they omit "If He Walked Into My Life" (from Mame) and "The Way We Were." And much as we all love the musical Chicago, I don't think it merits a page-and-a-half (I'm not even sure "All That Jazz" qualifies as a standard) but there's no coverage of "Tomorrow" (from Annie) or "What I Did For Love" (A Chorus Line). The authors probably would have been smarter to just stop coverage in the 1950s or 1960s.
Great Details!.......2006-09-29
You really can read this book cover to cover...or the information on each song's background can stand alone. If you're interested in modern musical history, you won't want to miss this.
An invaluable book for those who love the standards........2006-08-31
America's Songs is a wonderful source of fascinating information on the lyricists and composers of the great standards. Anyone who loves those songs will find this book invaluable. Writers Furia and Lasser have produced a tour de force.
America's Songs.......2006-08-01
A delightful journey in melodic nostalgia. Philip Furia and Michael Lasser use their long experience with American popular music to tell us with insight and humor how more than 600 songs dating from 1910 to 1977 came to be written, how they were received, how they touched American culture. The surprise for the reader is the discovery of how many of the songs linger in one's memory, how many of the words one can recall, how many of the tunes one can still sing. Then the message of the place of the songs in American life comes home, how much they say about the way we lived.
Not a book to be read from cover to cover but rather one to be browsed for favorite parts, one to be returned to time and again.
The inside story about many great American Songs!.......2006-06-19
This delightful and informative book caught my eye when I noticed that the much-esteemed songwriter,Ray Evans, wrote a blurb on the back. The book is arranged chronologically, and gives fascinating glimpses into what lead to the creation of many fantastic songs, and also explains what makes these great songs great. To me, the star of the book is Irving Berlin, who really had an incredible genius for songwriting. The clever crafting of Berlin's lyrics hadn't been adequately appreciated by me, until that exciting book showed me the craft and the art which Berlin applied to his songs. Not that other greats are glossed over, Furia and Lasser really give a wonderfully expansive collection of (mostly) fellas, who made American music what is was, and influenced what it is. Highly recommended for those who love, theatre and music.
Book Description
There was a time when no one would have left Dick Haymes (1918-1980) out of the top class of his contemporaries such as Frank Sinatra and Perry Como. But now the Argentine-born baritone is known only to those ardent fans and music historians who still claim him as one of the most talented popular singers of the twentieth century.
He worked with several great bandleaders, including Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey, before beginning a solo career that vaulted him to Hollywood stardom. In 1944, he worked with Twentieth Century Fox, headlining such hit musicals as Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe and State Fair. Popular recordings such as "Little White Lies," "The More I See You," "How Blue the Night," "For You, For Me, For Evermore," "Speak Low," and "Another Night Like This," made him a top draw at the box office.
In the 1950s, when television took over the media landscape and the appeal of musicals declined, Haymes's career suffered. Despite efforts in the 1970s, he never re-established success. In The Life of Dick Haymes: No More Little White Lies, Ruth Prigozy uses over forty personal interviews with singers, musicians, composers, arrangers, and Haymes's family members. She searches archival recordings of "The Dick Haymes Show," films, recordings, music studies, and histories to present a full portrait of this complicated man. Prigozy chronicles Haymes's childhood, his rise in the 1940s, his decline into alcoholism, his multiple marriages—to such leading stars as Rita Hayworth and Joanne Dru—and divorces, and the minor resurgence of his career in Europe during the last years of his life.
Customer Reviews:
A cautionary tale well worth reading.......2006-07-18
Ruth Prigozy has done an admirable job in bringing Dick Haymes life story to light. He is certainly someone who had been forgotten and whose story deserves to be told. I found this to be a well-researched biography that held my interest and which I enjoyed reading.
This book shows how a person can totally mess up his life by not addressing some basic problems -- for instance, the way he was raised clearly was responsible for his inability to foster healthy relationships. He kept repeating the same mistakes, drinking too much, etc. Certainly this was a man with a lot of troubles -- many self-inflicted. Interestingly enough, this book shows he never really did find stability and peace in his personal life. I agree with a previous reviewer who said high school students should read this book -- how NOT to live your life.
However, at times I think author Prigozy is too quick to excuse some of these faults and too willing to make allowances for Haymes' behavior. Here is an intelligent man who was handsome and talented, who nonetheless "blew it" in both his professional and personal life. He does not seem to be a very nice person -- cheating on his wives, mean or neglectful to his kids, a drunk, selfish, a deadbeat, at times arrogant, etc. He may not have been "Mr. Evil," as he has been dubbed, but he apparently wasn't "Mr. Nice Guy" either.
I think it would have been interesting for the author to explore more of his professional decline and the reasons for it. Why exactly did he fail to become an established movie star? Why did his popularity fade in the late 1940s and early 1950s? What happened to his radio career? His record contract was cancelled several years before the rock revolution -- was it his style of music that was passe, was the public tired of him, or did he exhibit a lack of range or an inability to adjust with changing tastes and times?
This book doesn't delve into that as much as I would have liked, but it's still an excellent read, and very worthwhile in bringing the story of this forgotten star to today's public.
High school requisite.......2006-07-12
Many better biographies have been written over the years, but none more urgent than this. High schoolers should read this book and discuss it with friends. Dick Haymes was a great talent, and intelligent. But he couldn't seem to make the right decisions in life, his values were screwed, and he suffered dearly because of it. The comedown was crushing.
"I Couldn't Put it Down".......2006-05-25
Ruth Prigozy has written a balanced account of the life of a man who was tipped for mega stardom in his formative professional years but who through bad judgement and sometimes fate was destined to struggle for the rest of his life.
Several marriages including to film beauties Joanne Dru and Rita Hayworth not to mention the sultry Fran Jeffries kept his name in the press but after a short term contract with Capitol Records in the middle 1950s failed to interest the public or music industry his career faltered. In the early 1960s after the failure of his marriage to Fran Jeffries he left the USA and headed for Europe, which was to be his home for almost a decade.
South African born BBC DJ and Record Producer Alan Dell rediscovered Haymes in 1969 and managed to get him into a recording studio for an album entitled "Then & Now" which was instrumental in getting him back to the USA and giving him another chance.
Ruth Prigozy unravels the story of a man who was a complicated gentleman almost from another age. Loved and respected by his peers Ruth delves into the insecurities that dominated his life.
A mix of facts, memories via interviews with family, friends and those associated with Haymes and even extracts from his own unfinished autobiography. Plenty of excellent pictures too. This is an "I couldn't put it down" book.
A compelling read full of highs and lows, surprises and sometimes despair. This long awaited biography addresses many of the stories that had been circulating around Hollywood about Haymes and presents the facts for the first time.
A must for any fan of the 1940s, musicals, crooners and film stars.
THE BEST OF HAYMES EVER.......2006-05-11
Ruth Prigozy writes a poignant biography of an otherwise neglected big band and beyond singer whose rich baritone rivaled Bing Crosby's. Ruth Prigozy is an accomplished author and English professor at Long Island's Hofstra University. She spent a number of years researching this story and presents it faithfully and validly engaging many in interviews to promote accuracy. She has covered all the bases in this very meritorious book that is a long time coming. It tells the truth. And makes it a very valid book.It places Dick Haymes in his rightful place in music and singing.
Average customer rating:
- A unique and strongly recommended contribution
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Hollywood Shack Job: Rock Music in Film and on Your Screen (Counterculture)
Harvey Kubernik
Manufacturer: University of New Mexico Press
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ASIN: 082633542X |
Book Description
"I thought a book needed to be written about the music, especially the rock 'n' roll, we hear on the screen and collect as soundtrack albums; the interaction of the music and the cinematography clicking together like a Motown rhythm section; the story of how the music gets inside the films, and how rock 'n' roll in particular has been utilized in television the last six decades."--from Hollywood Shack Job
For over thirty years Harvey Kubernik has been actively involved in the music scene in Los Angeles as a studio musician, record producer, and reporter. Here he shares insiders' accounts of the compromises and "deals" behind the fusion of creativity and commerce in the making of cultural commodities.
Kubernik begins in the 1950s when rock 'n' roll made its first appearance in movies with artists like Chuck Berry or Little Richard, moves through the 1960s with the Beatles' A Hard Day's Night, when people began to realize the commercial potential of soundtracks, to Easy Rider, which took individual singles, most already released, and created a new soundtrack. Over the course of thirty-one interviews he covers nearly six decades of music in movies and television, bringing the story up to 2006. "Harvey Kubernik is a cornucopia of American culture. . . . He's onto the most important development since bebop, that is, the absolute cultural primacy of rock 'n' roll. . . . His new book, Hollywood Shack Job is a totally original scan across this history, uncovering major and minor players, aficionados and accomplices of every stripe."--David E. James, professor, School of Cinema-Television, University of Southern California, and author of Power Misses
Insiders' accounts of the deals behind the fusion of creativity and commerce in film and television.
Customer Reviews:
A unique and strongly recommended contribution .......2007-03-06
An impressive body of work that includes a compilation of thirty-one interviews impressive, author Harvey Kubernik draws upon his years of experience and expertise as a former West Coast director of A&R for MCA Records and as a former TV music and talk show host in "Hollywood Shack Job: Rock Music In Film And On Your Screen" to chronicle the role rock and pop music have played in films and on television in terms of their esthetics and influence on commerce and culture. A kind of oral history spanning sixty years of film and television production, Kubernik includes observations by and on directors, music supervisors, musicians, historians, screenwriters and others. A unique and strongly recommended contribution to music fan, film buff, as well as professional and academic music history, in addition to film history reference collections and supplemental reading lists.
Average customer rating:
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Genre and Contemporary Hollywood
Manufacturer: British Film Institute
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Binding: Hardcover
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Genre and Hollywood (Sightlines (London, England).)
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Hollywood Genres: Formulas, Filmmaking, and The Studio System
ASIN: 0851708862 |
Book Description
This wide-ranging text is one of the first to look in detail at some of the principal genres, cycles, and trends in Hollywood's output during the last two decades. Adopting an array of approaches and frequently debating existing accounts of genre in new and old Hollywood alike--the collection of freshly commissioned contributions focuses on animated feature films, teenpics, biopics, comedies, Shakespeare adaptations, and female-oriented dramas, as well as on blockbusters, westerns, gangster films, horror films, war films, and neo-noirs. It includes analysis of The Quick and the Dead, Menace II Society, Sense and Sensibility, Set It Off, Grifters, The Mask, When Harry Met Sally, Basic Instinct, Coppola's Dracula, and other films.
Designed to open up a topic that has all too often been ignored or misrepresented, Genre and Contemporary Hollywood will appeal to anyone interested not just in genre, but in the new Hollywood, its history, and its films.
Average customer rating:
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Hollywood Hybrids: Mixing Genres in Contemporary Films
Jaffe Ira
Manufacturer: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0742539504 |
Book Description
Through close readings of films by U.S. filmmakers such as Quentin Tarantino, David Lynch, Errol Morris, Todd Haynes, and Joel and Ethan Coen, Hollywood Hybrids studies provocative, disorienting strategies of genre mixing in contemporary cinema. The book also explores foreign parallels to U.S. hybrid cinema in films by such directors as Pedro Almodovar (Spain) and Stephen Chow (Hong Kong). Hollywood Hybrids regards genre mixing as a key creative interest motivating major filmmakers around the globe.
Customer Reviews:
save the planet.......2006-10-23
This book is a must read for every citizen of the United States. The United States is driving people to drink and cannabis would be a much better and safer alternative to alcohol. Jack Herer's book is highly entertaining and very informative and presented in an extremely interesting format. Read this book and pass it on. Spread the word. This book should be on the number one best seller list.
EVERYONE Needs to Read This Book.......2006-02-04
This book is filled with info that people have no clue about. Maybe if more people read this book and was more knowledgable about the GREAT effects of Hemp then maybe people would fight to make this planet and life on it a great deal better. Better health wise, environment would be 10 times better, economically and so on... The facts are in the book. One person may say how can you believe all the info he writes...etc...well there's tons of research to back him up and he tells you the sources if you want to look them up yourself. It's all about the money and power folks that's why it's not legal but if they were smart then this could be their way to help our lives, our planet, and have all the power and money to go with it but for some reason they'd rather kill us, our planet, and still have the money and power. All it takes is people knowing the truth to fight against them and this book tells it. I'll be passing it on to everyone I know.
The final word on marijuana and hemp ecology.......2004-12-03
Although some of the historical data can be called into question, the essential claims of this book remain unrefuted by the disinformation campaigns of the anti-marijuana lobby. Herer shatters cannabis myths; he shows, with hard data that: pot has absolutely no toxicity to human tissues; pot has anti-carcinogenic properties; the tar, although greater in proportion than tobacco, is completely water-soluble; smoking marijuana shortly after having a stroke prevents the swelling of the brain -- and consequently much of the brain damage and loss of function associated with strokes.
The Original........2004-01-22
This is the original marijuana expose book that started the revolution of obtaining knowledge and science to break the reigns of political pseudo-science. Not the latest book on the subject but the original and very important.
Great Legalization Pot Book.......2003-11-28
This is a very good legalization pot book and was one of the first to really break through the scene. There is lots of facts here to get through and lots of oddball type stories that you will enjoy. This is what makes the book unique. All these strange but true stories about hemp.
Some here are asking questions about the whole conclusions that Jack Herer draws. The truth is that he is confused about the difference between government modified Hemp, unmodified hemp and Drug based cannabis cultivars. If you really want to know more about those differences then you need a grow book. I recommend The Cannabis Grow Bible by Greg Green for that. It has an Issues section in the back that deals with these topics of question. But remember Jack Herer wrote this book in an era of information suppression and so it was hard to find out everything that he wanted to know.
This book has spawned countless other legalization books. Yes it does appear almost cartoonish or tabloidish but the facts are all here. In the end it is a very good book about pot laws and political corruption which asks all the right questions.
No one has ever died from using cannabis. That is not a bad fact to know at all.
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Second Book of Mathematical Bafflers
Manufacturer: Dover Publications
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0486243524 |
Book Description
Learn how to forecast the market with Elliott Wave Theory
In Applying Elliott Wave Theory Profitably author Steven Poser shows readers how to trade using Elliott Wave Theory-a powerful technical analysis tool used to forecast the stock market-through easy-to-follow trading strategies, while offering clear explanations on how to interpret this method's numerous patterns. Step-by-step guidance breaks down the Elliott Wave Theory and provides strategies that a trader can put into action along with a complete explanation of how and why the Elliott Wave Theory works. Applying Elliott Wave Theory Profitably shows readers where to look for external clues, and how to use these to improve their trading performance.
Steven W. Poser (Upper Saddle River, NJ) is President and founder of Poser Global Market Strategies Inc., an international stock, bond, and currency markets trading advisory firm. Mr. Poser publishes a daily newsletter that covers these markets from a technical and fundamental perspective. He holds a post-MBA degree in finance, as well as an MBA in economics and a BA in mathematics and computer science.
Customer Reviews:
Outstanding Book on Elliott Wave Analysis.......2007-05-04
I am a CMT (Chartered Market Technician) -- for the exam process of the CMT, which is a professional exam for technical analysis that demands a significant amount of knowledge on Elliott Wave analysis, I had to read many books on this subject and it was difficult to ascertain a useful book on this subject; this book undeniably gives you a credible approach to Elliott Wave analysis. Indeed, in terms giving the reader an approach to any market (e.g. bonds, equities, commodities or currencies) this book is written in the most useful manner that I have read on this subject. In particular, it gives the reader a practicle methodology in approaching the markets so as to enable you, the practitioner, to break the market down within this type of analysis on a step by step basis, if you will, that is logical. I recommend this book without reservation!
Well Written.......2006-07-18
I recently completed the CMT (Chartered Market Technician) exam process- this is a professional exam for technical analysis, consists of three levels. The third level has a substantial section on Elliott Wave. I have read other books on Elliott, but this book was in my opinion the best written. Mr. Poser made a difficult subject much easier to digest. The real strength here is in discussing what NOT to do when using Elliott Wave- by keeping these tips in mind you will find you can readily apply the techniques to charts from various financial markets.
I highly recommend this book to anyone taking the CMT exam, especially those who don't use Elliott Wave in their trading and/or analysis.
Highly disorganized book without real value.......2006-07-04
The book is easy to read but there isn't much of a content in it. There is no definite EW analysis system step-by-step. Just some elaboration on the topic all the way through and some examples. It doesn't teach anything. And there is definitely no trading system. It was probably intended as a tool for general prediction only. The book is not for traders at all. Perhaps, it is for market analysts.
The author shows how others use or interpret Elliot Waves Theory improperly. But he doesn't tell how to use it properly instead.
I don't understand what other reviewers with positive feedbacks talk about. The don't seem to refer to the right book. There is something fishy going on.
No Practical Value........2006-05-26
I buy books that include trading strategies source code that you can apply and trade, books like this have no practical value. If the author have BS comouter science, he should be able to write the source code.
A REVELATION IN TRADING.......2006-01-18
I've traded off and on for years now (Forex) and though I've done moderately well, it wasn't worth the anxiety I suffered watching each tick play out.
I need to feel comfortable and confident with my trading. I also needed to know when to anticipate best entry/exit.
This book not only allowed me to do that but it GREATLY decreased the size of my losing trades. No matter what, you will have losers but with this book you will know when your trade has taken a turn for the worst and get out quickly.
Another huge advatage I gained by reading this book is that I no longer sit by my computer watching the ticks go by. I now enter a trade and forget about it. I check in every morning and evening to see if my limit or stop was hit and to review my charts a bit but that's about it.
Charting has become entertaining rather than a task. It's amazing when you start seeing these patterns jumping out at you.
Now I will also add here that Wave Theory alone is NOT enough. You've got to use indicators as well to determine whether your wave count is even accurate but do this and you will be on your way to profitable trading.
Bottom Line: This is definitely a GREAT book and well worth the money.
Books:
- American Screenwriters / the Insider's Look at the Art, the Craft, and the Business of Writing Movies
- Angel Sanctuary, Vol. 2: The Crying Game
- Animating Culture: Hollywood Cartoons from the Sound Era
- ART OF THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME, THE
- Arthur Penn's Bonnie and Clyde (Cambridge Film Handbooks)
- Billy Name: Stills from the Warhol Films
- Black Women Film and Video Artists (Afi Film Readers)
- Boulevard of Broken Dreams: The Life, Times, and Legend of James Dean
- Bridge of Light: Yiddish Film Between Two Worlds
- Bring on the Empty Horses (Coronet Books)
Books Index
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