Satchmo: My Life in New Orleans (Da Capo Paperback)

Book Description

"In all my whole career the Brick House was one of the toughest joints I ever played in. It was the honky-tonk where levee workers would congregate every Saturday night and trade with the gals who'd stroll up and down the floor and the bar. Those guys would drink and fight one another like circle saws. Bottles would come flying over the bandstand like crazy, and there was lost of just plain common shooting and cutting. But somehow all that jive didn't faze me at all, I was so happy to have some place to blow my horn." So says Louis Armstrong about just one of the places he grew up in, a tough kid who also happened to be a musical genius. This story of his early life, concluding with his departure to Chicago to play with his boyhood idol King Oliver, is a fascinating document. Contrary to popular belief, it turns out that life in New Orleans was an amazingly eventful and a basically happy experience for Louis Armstrong-and he ought to know-for in no other city in the world at the time could a boy discover and learn about the music that he loved, for this was New Orleans, and he was Louis Armstrong.

Customer Reviews:

Must read for New Orleans and/or Literature Fans.......2007-07-03

Bought and read it twice in a couple weeks. Terrific imagery into old New Orleans. Get it- you'll love it.

listen to the tune, not the words.......2005-12-30

This book is a quick and enjoyable read, but the reader needs to be ready for a very simple and unpretentious telling of Satchmo's early years. Some of his writing is charming in its simplicity, but some of it is pretty clunky.

For example, here is part of the dialog he documents between him and his mother, after he abruptly got married without her knowledge. Armstrong, defending his decision, says to his mother, "You must realize that I didn't go any further than fifth grade in school myself. But with my good sense and mother-wit (sic), and knowing how to treat and respect the feelings of other people, that's all I've needed in life. You taught me that, mother." A fine philosophy of life, put in humble and concise manner. But then he goes on to write, "Then she said, 'You must bring your wife to me; I want to meet her.' With a palpating heart I gave a big sigh of relief and said: 'Oh, thanks, mom.'" (page 160)

Adding some additional information, such as notations explaining some of the other characters and some of the background to the colorful scenes he describes, would make this a great book. As it is, it is a fun and quick read that fans of jazz shouldn't miss.

Like pulling up an armchair and jawin' with Louis.......2003-11-05

What shines through this recollection of Louis Armstrong's youth in New Orleans is the essential positive outlook this man seems to have been born with despite the hardship of his early years. This "life-force' for lack of a better term is what drove his musicianship to such heights that he is the most revered American musician of the 20th century. While this is no scholalry biography it is written with the feel of an oral history and reading it is much like having Satch relate these tales over a few drinks. Not only does it shed much light on the real person that Louis Armstrong was but it also reflects an era in old New Orleans that is absolutely fascinating to read about in the words of someone who lived there. This is a hugely enjoyable book on numerous levels and for fans of Armstrong it is indispensible.

Interesting, but incomplete..........2001-10-21

I have always believed that Louis Armstrong was one of the more animated and vibrant characters in 20th century culture. "Satchmo," Louis's semi-auto-biography, does nothing but reaffirm this belief. He goes into great detail about his childhood memories, recapping on the rough, New Orleans street life and the beginnings of his musicianship. Little else is covered however, which I thought to be rather dissapointing; after all, it was written later in his life. If a childhood expose is all you're after, pick up this book. The writting is fine for someone who only got through the 5th grade.

To Louis Armstrong And All Who contributed,THANKS!.......2001-08-02

You left you music to carry on so majestic, so elogant. Your music makes the song bird sing, while traveling in rainey and sunny New Orleans skies. Your music makes southern bees dance and fly. When I here your music, I just let my mind give over to your music. When I want to relax, your music, I choose it. It's jazzy, calm and cool. Your music makes me feel like I'm retiring on a raft in a pool. Your music is a real jewel.

Satchmo My Life in New Orleans: My Life in New Orleans

Average customer rating:

A wonderful story about Satchmo growing up in "Storyville"
All With A Smile

Satchmo My Life in New Orleans: My Life in New Orleans
Louis Armstrong
Manufacturer: Amer Reprint Service Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 9997226488

Customer Reviews:

A wonderful story about Satchmo growing up in "Storyville".......2000-07-20

I read this book in 1959 when I was in High School. I have been wanting to read it again, because I found it so interesting. What wonderful exciting times those were in New Orleans. It was very funny, what a wild man! I had a difficult time relating the young man in the book, to the later very famous "Ambassador". A book I'd like in my "library".

All With A Smile.......2000-04-07

Love Loius Armstrong? How could you not? This is his childhood in New Orleans in Satchmo's own words. The reading is as colorful as his music, full of vitality and fun. Satchmo's take on life is clearly illustrated in this book. He greets life with a smile and takes troubles all with a smile. This book is an absolute joy to read. I can hear the music and feel the energy of those days in New Orleans by looking at the old photo on the cover. Young Louis Armstrong grew up dirt poor. But young Satchmo even as a young boy faced the world with a smile. His neighborhood nickname was, "Dipper" and at different times lived with his mother and her lovers (whom Louis called his, 'step-dads'), the Colored Waifs Home for Boys where he became the bugler and then leader of the band, and eventually, with his father. The passage where Louis describes how he became to play the cornet at the Colored Waifs Home for Boys is touching. I read as if I were sitting in a movie theater. Life in New Orleans was colorful and dangerous. Louis lived among the 'sportin' life -- pimps, prostitutes, honky-tonks, gambling, violence, and of course, music. Louis Satchmo Armstrong found his inspiration in this extraoridnary environment to become not only the most seminal figure in jazz in the twentieth century, but a most beloved man. Read this book slowly, you will want it to last.

Average customer rating:

Satchmo -- My Life in New Orleans

Manufacturer: Signet
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000EGZD8O

Average customer rating:

Satchmo My Life In New Orleans
Louis Armstrong
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000O02GQ2

Average customer rating:

SATCHMO. My Life In New Orleans.
Louis Armstrong
Manufacturer: Prentice-Hall
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000PYSPNA

Average customer rating:

Satchmo My Life in New Orleans
Louis Armstrong
Manufacturer: PRENTICE HALL INC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000UD8PL8

Average customer rating:

Satchmo: My LIfe in New Orleans

Manufacturer: Prentice-Hall, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000FQDLJQ

Product Description

A lively autobiography of the jazz pioneer's life from birth in 1900 until 1922, when he left New Orleans for Chicago.

Average customer rating:

sharp and ironic, a great story

NYC man

Explore the life of a "Gold Digger"

The Millennium Girl is fresh, funny, & original.

Fun, a little long and sometimes unfocused

The Millennium Girl
Coerte V. W. Felske , and Coerte V.W. Felski
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0312976976

Book Description

THE MILLENNIUM GIRL is a knockout.From her chestnut hair (color often subject to change) to her jade-green eyes to her deep-red lips to her stunner bod,she's got a package that stops limos.THE MILLENNIUM GIRL vacations in all the right places: Winter in St. Bart's and Palm Beach, Spring in French hot-spots like Paris and Cannes, Summer in the Hamptons, New Year's in Aspen.THE MILLENNIUM GIRL knows that to score big, you've got to land a Walletman-he has to be rich, generous and stylish.Sexy wouldn't hurt either. But love-that's not necessarily part of the equation.THE MILLENNIUM GIRL is running out of time.Her "Ten Year Window" is about to slam shut.She's got to find a guy to take care of her-and find him fast.But on her champagne-fueled quest, there's one person she forgot about- herself-and one thing she never counted on....falling in love.AUTHORBIO: COERTE V.W. FELSKE lives in SoHo and Montauk, Long Island.His first two novels, The Shallow Man and Word, are in production at New Line Cinema.You can visit his website at www.forwhat.com.

Customer Reviews:

sharp and ironic, a great story.......2007-02-24

There is a small group of women in the world, especially in fashionable big cities, who spend their 20's looking hot and finding generous, and wealthy men to take care of them. The Millennium Girl is about these women, who have a very short time period, or shelf life, to either make a ton of money off of their prey - I mean, men - or to find one who will marry them and keep them in their luxurious lifestyle forever.

It's ironic, it's poignant, and it talks about the fears that all of us have - women and men - about growing old alone, being taken care of, being able to take care of ourselves, standing on our own two feet, and in the end, finding out who we are, regardless of where we come from, and creating a life that reflects that.

I loved it. Well written, emotional, and it stayed with you. Definitely a really good read. If you were into this, you might want to check out Arthur Neresian's books too, for commentary on navigating life in NY.

NYC man.......2004-04-23

The very dapper Coerte V. W. Felske lives in New York City. He is the author of three novels: The Shallow Man, Word, and now, Millennium Girl. There has been no shortage of controversy surrounding the publication of his work, since Felske writes about subjects that are upsetting or morally objectionable. His first amusing novel, The Shallow Man, was about a man, Nick Laws, who was obsessed with models, and gave us the term "Modelizer." Right away, Felske's work seems destined to be filmed like authors like Nick Hornby and Chuck Palaniuk, who I think he somewhat resembles if any. His novels were a pleasant shock to me when I read them years ago. Felske was also good at coining terms and creating comic situations. He took his sharp observational skills and turned the focus on Hollywood and its hangers on, in his second novel, Word. Heyward Hoon is an unsuccessful screenwriter who gets hired by a producer to procure some women. Again, this wild and humorous look at what it takes to make it in movies is given the Felske touch. Both novels are now being made into films. His new novel, Millennium Girl, is mostly about gold diggers, and women who travel around the world in search of wealthy businessmen. Bodicea is a girl from a small town who is just about at the end of her window of opportunity, her twenties, and is desperate to marry a "walletman" before she turns thirty. Poignantly, Felske shows us a glimpse of this jetset world where people like to mix love and money. I talked to Coerte Felske recently in a cafe in Soho, where we talked about the entire buzz around his work.

AL: There is a certain sensationalism about your work. Are you ever worried that there isn't enough literary content?

CF: I think my books are, for the modern age, as literary as it gets. You can talk about the masters of old: I would guarantee that Doestoevsky or Fitzgerald, or anyone like that, wouldn't be writing like they did back then right now. It's much more of "sound bite-y" world. I don't think that I'm trying to adapt a style for that world, but I'm a product of it. There's so much more information being thrown at us. I wouldn't discount my books as being non-literary. If you look at today's writers, can you find someone who's delivering page for page the way I am? It's hard to find.

Explore the life of a "Gold Digger".......2003-07-02

The Rules meets The Happy Hooker is how I would describe this book.

The Millennium Girl offers insight into the underground world of Gold Diggers, how to meet and please a "Walletman", the cities needed to Tour to meet the rich and become a kept woman.

Bodecia aka Bo comes from meager beginnings in Cleveland, OH. The classic low self esteem issue resulting from an absent father and bad experiences with boys during her teenage years results in Bo becomming a "working girl" for survival. She goes to all the best parties, wears the best clothes and stays in the best hotels.

The Millenium Girl will explain the difference between a Hooker and a Gold Digger. The author, Coerte VW Felske (surprisingly is a male) investigated this phenomenom in depth which will shock you.

Bo decides that she wants to find love, but is uncertain if she can leave her past behind.

The Millennium Girl is fresh, funny, & original........2002-05-02

Golddigging Bodicea Lashley tells her story of living off of men's favors and shares her hard and fast rules for golddigging. She has defined an age window of between 20-30 years old to secure her future and land a man with big "bank."
Of particular fun are the Indian-American monikers Bodacia coins for the other golddiggers: Travels With Men; No Deposit, No Return; Operation: I Do; and Every Little Bit Helps. I enjoyed the smart relationship between Bodicea and her best friend Napoleon.
The tight plot for Millennium Girl gets an extra big thanks for not being predictable; Bodicea's ultimate fate is anybody's guess. Will she land her Walletman or overplay her hand? Felske does not tip us off.
Bodicea jumps off the page as one of the strongest and most sure-footed heroines I have seen in a long while. Felske creates a heroine with formidable savvy and wit. I was amazed at how well Felske channels the voice and perspective of a twenty-seven year old woman. Wow. I thought that the human interactions played out realistically...except for Bo's relationship with her sister and with Jasper at the end of the story.
I was going to give this story four stars: even though this book has a strong showing the ending is uneven and bumpy. But on reflection, Bodicea's luminescent hotel harangue puts this story over the top for me. There are moments of sheer brilliance in this story-- I look forward to reading Coerte Felske's backlist. I recently read Franzen's The Corrections. In comparison, The Millennium Girl came off as just more effortlessly brilliant to me and with better pacing.
This novel is similar to Jay McInerney's '80s timepiece Story of My Life. If you like one you'll enjoy the other.

Fun, a little long and sometimes unfocused.......2001-11-24

The narrator is well-developed, although some of her motivations, e.g. w.r.t. her niece and Brunei, were weak. Sometimes the characters lectured, seeming to show only the depth of research the author did on his subject, not anything necessary to further the plot. Also, although the story was told in the first person, it was like she was flesh and everyone else cardboard. Everyone spoke like a preacher, albeit an unorthodox one, and some dialogue went on forever. I do wish the story would have been shorter. And yes, it did seem like considering she had "grown up fast," she should have wised up more quickly. With these problems, you might think I would give it fewer stars, but I have to say this about this book - I got through it.

Average customer rating:

Poignant and Refreshing !
Go Girl !!!!
YAYAMANDAYAYAMANDAYAYAMANDA
Amazing writing for a 13 year old!

Millennium Girl
Amanda C. Thompson
Manufacturer: 1st Books Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Memoirs | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Death & Grief | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 141076446X

Customer Reviews:

Poignant and Refreshing !.......2003-10-08

This is a humorous and insightful look into the life of teen-age girls! The author is a teen-ager herself and captures the essence of school cliques bullies and teen-age crushes. It goes even further by delving into the emotions and worries of life and includes thoughts on finding your true self. A great book!

Go Girl !!!!.......2003-09-24

This book is definitly a reader for the young pre-teen to the older teenager. It was refreshing and touching all in one. If we could of all had friends like Carolyn. Your an inspiration, Amanda! Always remember, Reach For The Stars...
Love,
Aunt C.

YAYAMANDAYAYAMANDAYAYAMANDA.......2003-09-23

Amanda is my idol. She published a book before me! She's my friend! We were both writing stories and then we got busy with our own lives and then I see this thing in the paper that says AMANDA WROTE A BOOK! and I'm like YAY AMANDA! So I call! Obviously, I haven't finished the book yet, but... um.... When I'm done, I'll write a real review! YAY AMANDA!!!
- Chris, the Squirrel

Amazing writing for a 13 year old!.......2003-09-16

This is a great story with humor and insight into a preteen to teenagers life. I found it both funny and touching and it kept me interested throughout the whole story . I find it amazing that it was written by a 13 year old. A great inspiration to other writers of a young age! I hope to see more of Amanda C. Thompson.

Average customer rating:

Millennium Girls
Sherrie A. Inness
Manufacturer: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Popular Culture | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Children's Studies | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Women's Studies | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Teenagers | Parenting | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books
Accessories:

ASIN: 0847691365

Book Description

Riding the wave of a booming girl culture worldwide, this collection of girls' voices across the globe invites us to learn more about their varied girlhoods. From coming-of-age rituals in South Africa to the impact of computers and popular magazines on gi

Superstars Of Womens Tennis (Women Athletes of the New Millennium)

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Superstars Of Womens Tennis (Women Athletes of the New Millennium)
Ellen Miles
Manufacturer: Aladdin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Girls in Sports | School & Sports | Teens | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0689839596

Average customer rating:

20th Century Masters-Millennium Colle
Mary Jane Girls Cd440 0143572
Manufacturer: UNIVERSAL RECORDS
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

General | Books on CD | Audiobooks | Formats | Books
ASIN: 6306475877

Average customer rating:

Girls of the Millennium
South Beach Productions
Manufacturer: South Beach Productions
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Calendar
ASIN: 0967011000

Book Description

The ultimate Millennium Calendar featuring 16 breathtaking models shot in exotic tropical locations throughout the world. Some of the hottest models including 6 Playboy Centerfolds hold you captive while posing in sexy colorful swimsuits.

Average customer rating:

The Millennium Girl
Coerte V. W. Felske
Manufacturer: St Martins Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000NJGRSW

The Princess: How Daddy's Little Girl Can Survive and Thrive in the Machiavellian New Millennium

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The Princess: How Daddy's Little Girl Can Survive and Thrive in the Machiavellian New Millennium
Robert Franklin
Manufacturer: Writers Club Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Self-Help | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Motivational | Self-Help | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Political | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0595127452

Book Description

The Princess is a hard-hitting New Millennium guide for women.

Book Description

In the 1930s, radio’s wide popularity created an important shared experience among Americans, from motorists and pedestrians on the city street to families on the living room couch after dinner. In Radio’s Intimate Public, Jason Loviglio shows how early network radio produced a new type of community marked by the contradictions and tensions between public and private, mass media and democracy, and nation and family.

Radio voices were thrilling, Loviglio argues, because they moved with impunity back and forth between private and public. As a result of this new intimacy, the dichotomy between the two realms was challenged, the idea of mass-mediated democracy arose, and the definition of “the public” was called into question. Examining a broad range of radio programs, including The Shadow, soap operas, Vox Pop, and FDR’s Fireside Chats, Radio’s Intimate Public illustrates how this new and contradictory media space promised listeners a fantasy of social mobility and access—even as it reminded them of the hierarchies that protected their own relative privilege.

Bringing theories of the public sphere to bear on American cultural history, Loviglio explores early network radio and the tension between intimacy (interpersonal communication) and publicity (mass communication). In doing so, he unearths the origins of today’s reality television where people are invited to participate vicariously in official transgressions of the boundary between public and private existence, even if only to help police it.

Jason Loviglio is assistant professor of American studies and director of the Certificate in Communications and Media Studies at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. He is the editor (with Michele Hilmes) of Radio Reader: Essays in the Cultural History of Radio.

Book Description

Although Web usability has received lots of hype, especially during the dot-com meltdown, the focus has been mostly on technical issues. Usability experts stress the pitfalls of frames and too many images on Web pages. They recommend editing out unnecessary words and writing in a non-linear style-all valuable advice, of course. But less frequently do they highlight the importance of the visual presentation of Web pages.

The Web is a communication medium that does most of its talking visually. What you see on a Web page tells you what you might find within the site, how to get there, and why it might interest you-not to mention the instinctive emotional response that shapes your Web experience. As a result, Web usability issues are communication issues. Easy-to-use sites are those that communicate quickly and effectively.

Site-Seeing takes a fresh approach to Web usability by applying visual communication principles and decision-making to Web design. Specifically, readers will learn the key concepts behind visual organization, look and feel, technical considerations, and clear planning that stem from audience awareness. Through numerous, full-color examples author Luke Wroblewski deconstructs "the good, the bad, and the ugly" of Web design.

The visual presentation of a site does more than merely making it pretty. It organizes information according to function. It creates distinct and appropriate personalities. It provides emotional impact and attachment. In short, it engages the audience-and keeps them coming back.

Customer Reviews:

Still a 'must have' book four years later........2006-04-05

This is the book to buy after you have two other basic books on web design. As your other books are thrown away or replaced you will still need 'Site-Seeing'. It covers both the history and progress of web design. Read this book in bed or on a plane trip, preferably not in front of a monitor. I also found it helpful not to take the chapters in any formal order. Delve in! You will be helped. To me, this book is so solid that an upgrade is still a couple of years away.

Visual & "wordy" is what makes this book great!.......2003-07-27

As a fan of Site-Seeing, I must respond to a few of the reviews asserting that the author should have condensed certain material in the book. For me, the many visual examples and the great, detailed explanations (one reviewer suggested "wordy") are exactly what makes this book so useful. Rather than just skimming over important design concepts, the author actually takes the time to properly explain these important principles and illustrate them with examples. In my opinion, many other web design books use only words, whereas in this book, you can actually see and understand what the author is talking about. This is very important to me, as a visual learner. That is just one reason why this book is still on my desk.

Not very usable........2003-07-19

For a web usability book, this one is suprisingly unusable. The book is overdesigned, making it sometimes hard to read because of all the visual clutter on the page. It's also over-wordy. If only the author had taken Steve Krug's advice (which he mis-quotes in the first chapter) to cut out half the words, and then cut out half of what's left, this might have been a great book. As it is, its only contributions are from the design standpoint, such as not breaking the model of the web, and not making the navigation so contrast-y as to visually distract from the content. Otherwise, just about everything he says is said more succinctly in Krug's book, "Don't Make Me Think."

Good info, could be condensed.......2003-03-22

This book lays a good foundation for web design by emphasizing planning, meeting clients' goals, and understanding the target audience. Wroblewski emphasizes usability when describing the core of the site- structure, navigation, content- and how it will affect the experience of the audience. He uses numerous examples to illustrate layout, visual heirarchy, color schemes, and how they work together (or don't!) to communicate quickly and effectively to the site visitor.

I got frustrated about the amount of fluff surrounding actual information. He makes plenty of good points and then buries them beneath a barrage of condescending, long-winded metaphors, like the way we can read a map and know that blue represents water. The analogy itself could be helpful, but three paragraphs to explain the analogy is just distracting.

I'm glad I read it... it opened my eyes to many challenges that web designers face, and inspired me to infuse life and personality into my own site. I'm also glad I highlighted the meaningful parts so I (or friends who borrow it) can skip past the fluff in the future.

Great Combination of Web and Design Knowledge.......2002-10-03

Luke Wroblewski, in his book Site-Seeing: A Visual Approach to Web Usability, offers an interesting and, in my view, much needed perspective on the topic of web design. In Section One, he starts at the very beginning, explaining what is basically the design process every designer learns in school. This includes such things as researching your client, documenting your process, generating a mission statement or goal for the website, organizing content and developing an effective navigation system---things that should be thought through before ever firing up the html editor. This information is invaluable for anyone approaching a web design project because it reduces the chance for major revisions further into a project and makes it easier for a designer to do his or her best creative work.

Section Two gets more focused, describing the peculiarities of communicating via the web. I found particularly gratifying the suggestion to not "break the web model"---the established idiom of the web including the back button, bookmarks, history, etc. This is not a follow your bliss kind of web design book. It is a carefully thought through guide for what works and what does not work for effective communication on the web. The author also focuses here on the importance of getting and maintaining quality content for your website and how to make content dominant through visual organization and establishing a hierarchy of information. The next chapter in this section provides a primer on the Principles of Visual Organization---an invaluable resource for anyone approaching this kind of project and something that is largely missing from other books in this genre.

The last section of this book gives more specific information about how to put all these pieces together, where to experiment and where to maintain the established web idiom and web conventions. Lastly the author addresses the issues of dynamic websites and dynamic content delivery---a potential solution to the problem of keeping content current. Throughout the book, the author develops an effective interplay between the general guiding principles of design and the more specific requirements of the web medium. For this reason I think it is an excellent and unique resource for web designers and developers that I would highly recommend.

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