Brown Eyed Handsome Man: The Life And Hard Times Of Chuck Berry

Book Description

Brown Eyed Handsome Man: The Life and Hard Times of Chuck Berry draws on dozens of interviews done by the author himself and voluminous public records to paint a complete picture of this complicated figure. This biography uncovers the real Berry and provides us with a stirring, unvarnished portrait of both the man and the artist.

Berry has long been one of pop music's most enigmatic personalities. Growing up in a middle-class, black neighborhood in St. Louis, his first major hit song, "Maybellene," was an adaptation of a white country song, wedded to a black-influenced beat. Thereafter came a string of brilliant songs celebrating teenage life in the '50s, including "School Day," "Johnny B. Goode," and "Sweet Little Sixteen." Berry's career rise was meteoric; but his fall came equally quickly, when his relations with an underage girl led to his conviction. It was not his first (nor his last) run in with the law. He scored his biggest hit in the early '70s with the comical (and some would saydecidedly lightweight) song "My Ding-a-Ling." The following decades brought hundreds of nights of tours, with little attention from the recording industry.

Bruce Pegg offers the definitive, though not always pretty, portrait of one of the greatest stars of rock and roll, a story that will appeal to all fans of American popular music.

Customer Reviews:

Hail, Hail, Chuck Berry!.......2004-09-14

I've been reading this book for the last few months (it's been my reading material on the train on the weekends hehe) and it's been an enertaining read of the life and hard times of Chuck Berry.
Previous to reading this book, I had only heard Chuck Berry's music and loved it, but did not know much about the man himself.
Bruce Pegg has done a good job of detailing Chuck's life, from the early days in The Ville, his begginings in music, Racism in the USA in the 50's, Chuck's relationship with Chess Records, concerts, all his court appearances (the Mann Act Trial, the Southern Aire Restuarant Video Tape Scandal (which I first heard about on E! News!) plus much more.
There are some great photos in the book which i'm not sure have been seen before.
Pegg also has also rounded up all the important people in Chuck's life and they all give interesting comments.
I haven't read Chuck Berry's offical Autobiography, but upon reading this, i'm sure this gives a much better view into his life.

Can't put this book down!.......2004-02-26

As a long time fan of Chuck Berry, I have tried to read everything I could find about him, from enclyclopedia's to Rolling Stone Magazine. Over the past 20 years, I have tried to piece together the various differing messages about him, from musical genius to "difficult to work with" entertainer. This book puts it all together in an extremely well written and well documented manner. Pegg ties together all of the pieces with a lot of information and insight otherwise unknown, with interviews of principle persons in Chuck's musical and professional life. He is obviously a fan of Chuck's, but the book is very honest with the facts and never sensational.

If you are a fan of Chuck Berry, please do yourself a favor and get this book. You will not be able to stop reading it! I think it also would be helpful for anyone interested in the social/historical milieu of this time period in relationship to black entertainers in general as well.

Chuck Berry Demystified.......2003-03-06

Great Book. Very informative. A thorough body of research was completed in order to have this book published. I thought I knew all about Chuck Berry until I read this book. I would recommend it to anyone who is a fan of Chuck's. The book is balanced and pulls no punches. No wonder the biography is unauthorized. It contains information that is both provoctive and endearing.

Brown Eyed Handsome Man the Life and Hard Times of Chuck Berry an Unauthorized Biography

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Brown Eyed Handsome Man the Life and Hard Times of Chuck Berry an Unauthorized Biography
Pegg Bruce
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000UFBEK0

Book Description

True stories about Acapulco's famous (and infamous) visitors.

If you are a celebrity and have ever visited Acapulco (and who hasn't?), then you have undoubtedly been interviewed by Mike Oliver. Mike got you going and coming. If you did not appear in the pages of the Acapulco News under his byline: "Mike Oliver's Acapulco," you surely appeared in a press release in every newspaper, world wide, serviced by United Press International...usually in both.

Oliver's stories in this book are offbeat. Mike not only paints a historical picture of an Acapulco that few people ever knew, but also sketches a personality side of the famous (and infamous) visitors to this world-famous resort that few fans may have suspected. Visitors such as Joan Crawford, Jimmy Stewart, Johnny "Tarzan" Weissmuller and Frank Sinatra. Sketches that are vivid, uninhibited and unknown, until now...

"Frank Sinatra had a knack for getting in trouble in Mexico. It's hard to understand why. He loved Mexico. He especially loved Acapulco; enough so that he purchased a two-bedroom home in the Las Brisas residential area. But Sinatra, who divorced Ava Gardner here, seemed to find himself in hot water quite often. For example..."

Customer Reviews:

Simply Stellar.......2003-02-14

"Mike Oliver's Acapulco" is the most captivating history I have ever read of a city. The celebrity, excitement and glamour will never been seen again. What heady times. I am glad you were there to capture them for us so brilliantly. Thank you Mr. Oliver!

Exciting.......2001-04-15

Having lived in Acapulco for over 40 years, the book "Mike Oliver's Acapulco" has certainly put the spotlight on this resort

with the stories about all the exciting and world renown visitors, as well as its marvelous events. As the owner of the glass bottom boat Dinka, I find myself talking to passengers about the true happenings related in this book. Once my wife and I started reading the book, we couldn't put it down.

Book Description

Finally, all the entertainment satisfaction you get from television...in a book!

TV Land, the network of America's television favorites, delivers opinionated, informed, and, most of all, humorous takes on everything television! Who are the fifteen grumpiest TV characters? What are the twenty-nine most important comic formulas? What were Chuck Woolery's six careers? Plus TV haiku, TV anagrams, the great literary works that were the progenitors of the sitcom genre, and behind-the-scenes facts and stories that are sure to enhance your television experience. In fact, you'll never watch TV the same way again. TV Land to Go will become as indispensable as your remote control!

Customer Reviews:

TV Land to Go: Big Book of TV lists, TV Lore and TV Bests.......2004-07-08

This is a terrible book for any TV buff over the age of 6.

Hit&Miss.......2004-05-03

I dig myself some TV Land but this Book picks different episodes&things that I feel are alright&some others that I prefer but there isn't a fair overall balance displayed within this book.

CLASSIC TV BUT NOT A CLASSIC BOOK.......2004-01-19

This book is a collection of lists. But many of the lists are nonsense lists that are just cute attempts at humor.

The highlight of the book was the 100 greatest sitcom episodes. Even if I could figure out their formula the list is at best controversial. As another reviewer indicated some of the episodes that made it made no sense to me. The number one episode in the list was not even, in my opinion, the number one show for the series. It was a good episode but ...

TV Land is a great network. "TV Land To Go" is not a great book.

Based in Opinion.......2003-08-09

The book seems to be grounded primarily in one person's personal opinion rather than a public opinion poll. You will cringe to see what episodes made it to this list, and you'll be disappointed that some shows never even made it. This book is only a moderately enjoyable bathroom read. Several inexcusable factual errors forced me to put the book to rest in a recycle bin.

A tongue-in-cheek look at TV from the TV Land perspective.......2003-03-29

Within the pages of Tom Hill's "TV Land to Go: The Big Book of TV Lists, TV Lore, and TV Bests" you will find a list of the Worst Possible Men's Softball Team (composed of classic TV stars). We are talking a battery comprised of pitcher Jack Benny and catcher Paul Lynde and a keystone combination of David Hyde Pierce (Niles Crane) and Howard McNear (Floyd the Barber). If that does not give you a clear picture of the level of insanity provided within the pages of this volume, then nothing is going to accomplish that task and you should just go back to watching the tube.

Tom Hill is the creative director and head writer at TV Land, where he claims responsibility for the network's trademark tongue-in-cheek on-air promotions. By no means is this a definitive look at television even though The Top 100 Sitcom Episodes of All Time are determined by using an actual scientific formula (patent pending) called The Big TV Satisfaction Ratio, which involves such factors as SyndicoDurability, Comic Valence, and Emotional Resonance along with more fun things like Celebrity, Gimmickry, Theme Song and Kitsch. But do you really need to go through all of that mathematical computation to put "Chuckles Bites the Dust" from "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" at the top of the list? Besides, as soon as you see there is nothing from "I Love Lucy" in the Top 10 you know there is a serious flaw here. Still, it is fun to recognize classic episodes and to hear about ones that you missed and you have to admire the idea that anything from "Hogan's Heroes" or "Family Affair" should be anywhere on this list.

Customer Reviews:

Laugh out loud FUNNY.......2005-01-10

This is one of the few books that I have laughed out loud until tears streamed down my face!!! When trying to share the funniest entries, I can't even read them without laughing again. From analyzing the famous "Yeti on the lou" Pertwee phrase to including a table of contents containing only the letters of the alphabet, this is humor and wit at its best. I have never found a funnier Doctor Who book and I am hard pressed to name a funnier novel in general. If you do not have this book you don't know what you're missing!!! A++++

Irreverent worship!.......2002-01-13

This book is an incredible collection of phrases and Whoisms that have appeared throughout Doctor Who's many years on the air. The authors have managed to poke fun at the good Doctor while assuring the reader that they're really on our side. It's a lot like making fun of your family - only another family memeber can get away with it. If you're not family, watch out! From "AAH" to "ZORG AND ORG," it's all there - every last tasty fun morsel that makes Doctor Who a worldwide institution.

Hilarious and Perfect.......1999-02-22

This text is the funniest book I have ever read... Poking fun at not only Doctor Who, but the fandom of Doctor Who, this book is a laugh-riot from the introductory debate over stories' names, to the final index page which lists simply the letters of the alphabet and the Dedication to Godzilla. My favorite parts: the description of Season Eighteen as an "amusing omission from The Doctors: Thirty Years of Time Travel" and the description of Lazar's Disease as a syndrome whose main symptom is removing one's clothing... Lyons & Howarth are to be commended for such a devistatingly funny work.

Fanboy delight! If you're a true fan, you WILL laugh........1997-09-29

Hilarious & irreverent, the useless encyclopedia looks unflinchingly at the schitzophrenic british fan base, the shoddy "classic" episodes, the ludicrous "new adventures", and just about everything and anything "Who" and useless. Written by fans for fans.

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Predictably there are mistakes

TV Guide Book of Lists

Manufacturer: Running Press Book Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Television | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

Direction & Production | Television | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Performing Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
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The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present

ASIN: 0762430079

Book Description

Television fans are fascinated by the history of their favorite shows past and present. Now for the first time, TV's bible, TV Guide has authorized the The TV GuideBook of Lists 147 fascinating lists featuring characters, celebrities, top shows from daytime and nighttime and famous episodes. From the bizarre to the brilliant, this one-of-a-kind collection of TV lists will have you watching your shows and their stars ina whole new way. In these pages you'll discover:

How many movie stars got their first break on TVWho has stripped for PlayboyThe 50 greatest TV stars of all timeWhich child TV stars have a criminal recordThe 100 most memorable moments in TV historyRosie O'Donnell's favorite TV theme songsChris Carter's scariest X-Files creaturesWhich stars sang their own TV theme songsAnd so much more!

Customer Reviews:

Predictably there are mistakes.......2005-06-07

Like when she reviews Dark Shadows the 1960's-70's horror soap opera. She claims certain cast member were on the show for either a significantly longer or shorter time than they actually were.

The TV Tidbits Classic Television Book of Lists

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The TV Tidbits Classic Television Book of Lists
Michael Karol
Manufacturer: iUniverse, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Television | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

Guides & Reviews | Television | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

General | Performing Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0595453937

Book Description

Enjoy these unique lists, packed with TV trivia and tidbits on such topics as: TV Replacements All-Time Sitcom Episode Champs, Female Soap Suds: All My Children Daytime Soap Opera Home Towns The 100 Club (and Beyond) Longest-Running Shows And the Award for Most Regular Series Roles Goes To... Comic Superheroes: From Printed Page to Live-Action TV Stars Who've Played Superman and Lois Lane on TV Star Trek Memories: Where No Man Ever Went... Emmy Essentials Stars Who Got Their Name in the Title TV Characters Who Appeared on Shows Other Than Their Own It's All Relative A Song in Their Hearts: The Testosterone Version Did You Know...? Prime Time Series that Became Animated Statues of Limitations Supernatural Sitcoms Golden-Age Movie Stars on TV Catchphrases and Buzzwords It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time TV's Top Moments

Amazon.com

The command line isn't dead--far from it. Administrators of big Windows NT networks know that the best way to accomplish a difficult task frequently involves using the console interface rather than the graphical user interface. By writing batch routines, it's relatively easy to perform fancy tasks on local computers and distant ones. In Windows NT Shell Scripting, Tim Hill has done a service by explaining how to write and use scripts under Windows NT.

He begins at the beginning, explaining what scripting is and how command lines come to exist under Windows NT. The reader gets full information on virtual DOS machines and how programs started by scripts are instantiated. There's also some useful information on redirecting script output--handy when using batch files to create HTML documents, for example.

If you think the way batch files handle subroutines, variables, and pretty much everything else involves some weird syntax, you're right. Hill decrypts it all, explaining the mechanics of the Windows NT batch-scripting language very clearly. After he explains how to script academically, he provides some examples. There's a script that automates the creation of user accounts, another script that monitors print activity, another that keeps an eye on disk usage, and one that does backups. A few more scripts round out the selection. Many of the scripts refer to a library of functions that's also listed and explained. Unfortunately, there's no companion disk, so readers have to get the samples from the Macmillan Web site.

It would be nice if this book contained some coverage of the new Windows Scripting Host, which you can use to write scripts in VBScript, JavaScript, and (in the future) other languages like Perl and Python. But that's cutting-edge stuff that hasn't yet been fully figured out, and what this book contains is great. All harried sysadmins, particularly those who came on line after the age of DOS had begun to wane, will be grateful for the guidance Hill provides. --David Wall

Book Description

Windows NT Shell Scripting is a comprehensive reference for network professionals. It is the only book available on the practical use of the Windows NT shell scripting language. The book begins with a high-level introduction to the shell language itself, then describes the shell commands that are useful for controlling or managing different components of a network, i.e. file management, etc. The second part of the book is a comprehensive reference of all the commands, organized by function, for easy reference by the reader.

Customer Reviews:

Very Informative.......2007-05-27

I have a friend that recommended me this book and I have to agree with him that this was a very well written book. Don't let the fact that the title says "Windows NT" discourage you from getting this book. There is a lot of useful information in this book that is still standard practice for scripting in Server 2003. Probably one of the few and only outdated commands in the book is the AT command that was replaced by SCHTASK. Even then, the author goes into detail on how these different commands work and how to use them in your work environment to you benefit. I recommend this book as a learning tool and as a reference for my fellow scripting brethren.

Best overview of the Windows Command Shell available.......2006-04-30

Although this book was authored in 1998, it is still as relavent today with Windows Server 2003 as it was when Windows NT 4.0 was first released. The fact is that the Command Shell hasn't changed all that much over the years and Timothy Hill's book remains the best guide to using and writing command scripts that I could ever recommend. And with Windows Server 2003's push to be able to do everything from the command line that one can do from the GUI, it's even more important to fully understand how the Windows Command Shell works.

Windows NT Shell Scripting is less about Windows NT than it is about how to write shell scripts. It covers the details of using the Command Shell in interactive mode, its configuration and how the 32-bit Command Shell differs from the 16-bit DOS box. Then it delves into the structure and syntax of the Command Shell language, providing a clear understanding of how the program control features such as IF and FOR work. Finally, it shows you how to create sophisticated shell scripts using the internal commands and external command-line utilities included with Windows and their Resource Kits.

Not everything in this book has survived the test of time. The old task scheduler using the AT command, though still supported in current version of Windows, has been mostly replaced by more powerful Scheduled Tasks of Windows 2000 and later. And you will want to supplement this book with a modern reference of the utility programs available for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 (such as OReilly's "Windows Server 2003 In A Nutshell"). Yet this represents only a small part of the book and majority of material stands up very well. Certainly there is no better and more in-depth tutorial for building command scripts than Timothy Hill's book.

Excellent.......2003-04-12

Great book on NT shell commands that Microsoft doesn't even document. Not even "command /?" gives you any help.

Great for reference and to learn.

It doesn't get better than this. Now we need a 2nd edition........2002-04-08

If you have a bit of programming experience, this book together with access to the NT Resource Kit tools will provide you with the foundation for doing almost anything you could imagine within Windows NT Shell Scripting.

The book can be used both as a tutorial and a reference for Windows NT scripting and gives good examples of the commands, tools and concepts covered. For Windows NT, this book does the job as your Shell Scripting Bible in less than 400 pages.

Since Windows NT 4.0, a lot has happened in the Windows scripting field though. With the release of Windows 2000 and the subsequent Windows XP and .NET Server, shell scripting has become much more powerful. A second edition of this book covering the new commands and tools would be most welcome. Until one exists, you might also want to look at newer books covering shell scripting for operating systems based on the Windows NT kernel.

You might also want to look at other, often more powerful ways to script your Windows NT-based environment. For that matter I recommend looking at other books covering WSH (Windows Script Host), ADSI and WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation).

Invaluable.......2002-02-15

I like this book because unlike many technical books, the first three chapters aren't a pedestrian introduction to the basic fundamentals. This book spends chapter 1 with insight, similar to the way Applied Cryptography immediately gives you knowledge. I'm an experienced NT command shell user, and this book was valuable for me as well.
The DOS shell has become a requirement and skill relegated to the background by the direction of Microsoft curriculum, this book explains it and teaches it.

The authors instructions are easy to follow, without doting like the Teach Yourself "whatever" in 24 hour books, Tim Hill doesn't waste your time, or your money.

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Windows NT Shell Scripting
Macmillan Publishing , and MacMillan General Reference
Manufacturer: Macmillan Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Windows NT | Operating Systems | Microsoft | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
Windows NT Server | Operating Systems | Microsoft | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0028652983

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Windows NT Shell Scripting

Manufacturer: SAMS (PEAD)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Windows NT | Operating Systems | Microsoft | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000GTEB96

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