Other books that might interest you

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  Fingers Crossed: How Music Saved...

  Miki Berenyi

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  Rough Trade Book of the YearResident Book of the YearA Rolling Stone Book of the YearA Mojo Book of the YearA Sunday Times Book of the YearFormed in 1988, Lush were part of the London gig scene during one of the most vibrant and creative periods in UK music. Now, Miki Berenyi tells all.From the bohemian ways of her father's social circle to the privileged glamour of her mother's acting career, Miki's young life was a blur of travel, celebrities and peripatetic schooling. But frequent relocation, parental neglect and the dark presence of her abusive grandmother resulted in crippling shyness, mental-health issues and a vulnerability to exploitation.The route out of this hole was music - a passion shared by schoolmate Emma Anderson. The teenagers began attending gigs together and would ultimately go on to form Lush. Talented and exuberant, the band became hot property, swiftly transitioning from shoegaze icons to Britpop darlings.Re-living the tours, recording sessions and music-industry madness they experienced along the way, this uncompromising memoir documents Lush's thrilling rise and untimely fall. Yet at the heart of the book are Miki's own battles: the conflict between her mouthy public persona and her thin-skinned private identity; the trials of being a woman in an infuriatingly male world; the struggle to find a middle ground between 'safe' indie obscurity and 'sell-out' international success. Miki also explores her complicated relationship with Emma - one that has fluctuated between camaraderie and rivalry over the years - and addresses the devastating tragedy that led to the band's split.Told through frank confession, wry humour and searing emotional honesty, this is the incredible tale of a trailblazing woman and a seminal band.

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  Colour Me Happy

  Brandi Hofer

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  Want to turn your ho-hum ordinary day into the best day simply through outlook and inspiration? Realistically, this doesn’t always happen. We get tired, worn out, sick, lonely, or scared. Life happens, we embrace it, we roll with it, but aren't you exhausted by it all? What would happen if instead you flipped your outlook upside down and see that ordinary day as a day filled with memories that you can hold on to for the rest of your life?The most common thing that people say to me is? "I don't know how you do it all?"Well, I can finally share with you just how I do! All my secrets and life lessons shared in one place!This book is honest, authentic, raw, and vulnerable. It will take you on a rollercoaster of emotions. This book will move you, motivate you, and give you the strength to greet each day with passion and love.You may not look around and see what you want to see, or be present in what is happening to you right now. If that is so, through appreciation for where you are, who you are, where you came from, what you’ve already done: through appreciation and acceptance of those life lessons, the building blocks and foundations of what you can become, know they were all for a reason."Know that every moment you live is a worthy moment, just as you are; your everyday life is extraordinary, just as you are equally extraordinary. You are abundantly beautiful, and you should share every part of your stunning self with the world."- BrandiJoin us for some for some laugh out loud, cry your eyes out moments in this beautiful book about motherhood, creativity in the author's journey through life and loss.Brandi is a mother, artist, muralist, author, podcaster, motivational speaker and educator. Hofer is most well known for being a successful and collected Canadian Artist, exhibiting internationally and across North America. In 2021 she was featured by Create Magazine in their article 28 Contemporary Artists You Need To Know About. Her podcast Colour Me Happy

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  Isokon and the Bauhaus in Britain

  Leyla Daybelge, Magnus Englund

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  In the mid-1930s, three giants of the international Modern movement, Bauhaus professors Walter Gropius, Marcel Breuer and László Moholy-Nagy, fled Nazi Germany and sought refuge in Hampstead in the most exciting new apartment block in Britain. The Lawn Road Flats, or Isokon building, was commissioned by the young visionary couple Jack and Molly Pritchard and designed by aspiring architect Wells Coates. Built in 1934 in response to the question 'How do we want to live now?' it was England's first modernist apartment building and was hugely influential in pioneering the concept of minimal living. During the mid-1930s and 1940s its flats, bar and dining club became an extraordinary creative nexus for international artists, writers and thinkers. Jack Pritchard employed Gropius, Breuer and Moholy-Nagy in his newly formed Isokon design company and the furniture, architecture and graphic art the three produced in pre-war England helped shape Modern Britain.
  This book tells the story of the Isokon, from its beginnings to the present day, and fully examines the work, artistic networks and legacy of the Bauhaus artists during their time in Britain. The tales are not just of design and architecture but war, sex, death, espionage and infamous dinner parties. Isokon resident Agatha Christie features in the book, as does Charlotte Perriand who Jack Pritchard commissioned for a pavilion design in 1930.
  The book is beautifully illustrated with largely unseen archive photography, and includes the work of photographer and Soviet spy Edith Tudor-Hart, as well as plans and sketches, menus, postcards and letters from the Pritchard family archive. In Spring 2018, the Isokon building and Breuer, Gropius and Moholy-Nagy were honoured with a Blue Plaque from English Heritage. 

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  American Legends: The Life of...

  Editors Charles River

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  In the early 20th century, Westerns were one of the most popular genres in Hollywood, and one of the young stars at the forefront was Roy Rogers, who had come from an Ohio farm to transform himself into a cowboy. Regardless of his background, Rogers certainly looked the part of the quintessential cowboy, along with his wife Dale Evans and his horse Trigger. His versatile singing and acting abilities made him successful both on radio and on the screen. 
  Rogers came of age at a time when the “singing cowboy” was at the apex of his popularity, and that was favorable because he actually got his start in show business as a singer. In the early ‘30s, he bounced around several groups as a country music singer before earning national attention as a member of the Sons of the Pioneers, who were signed to Decca and had a couple of hits. As a result, when he first appeared in movies in 1935, it was usually in bit roles that required singing, but when Gene Autry threatened to quit acting in 1938, Rogers was viewed as a suitable replacement for lead roles. As it turned out, he became the premiere “singing cowboy” in Autry’s stead, and from 1939-1954, he was one of the Top 10 Western stars in Hollywood, and a Top 10 movie star overall during some of those years. 
  As Rogers evolved into the “King of the Cowboys”, he became a pop culture icon, and he was shrewd enough to capitalize on his image. All sorts of Roy Rogers merchandise hit stores, from action figures to comic strips, and Rogers even banked on the popularity of his horse Trigger by featuring him enough to make the horse a household name as well. Even today, people can find the name Roy Rogers all over the place, if only because he eventually had his name lent to a popular fast food chain in later years.

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  Summer of Hamn

  Chuck D

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  The tragedy of gun violence is depicted in annotated illustrations that illuminate a society gone hamn; from legendary hip-hop artist Chuck D (Public Enemy, Prophets of Rage, etc.)—Selected for the In the Margins Book Awards 2024 Nonfiction Recommendation List"With his latest work of graphic nonfiction, Chuck D uses his art and hip-hop rhymes to show how the US has been held hostage by gun violence and a growing sense of hopelessness . . . A focused, fresh, urgent text filled with pictures worth 1,000 words and rhymes worth thousands more." —Kirkus Reviews, Starred ReviewIN SUMMER OF HAMN, legendary hip-hop artist Chuck D takes on gun violence with rhythmic, inventive writing and passionately raw art. He has long spoken out against gun violence, including how it intersects with rap and hip-hop culture. Summer of Hamn is the bound journal Chuck D carried with him in the summer of 2022—a summer marked by a particularly high rate of gun death.In these pages, victims are memorialized, politicians are skewered, and vehement pleas to eradicate gun violence are made. Jaw-dropping statistics (40% of all personal guns in the world are owned by US citizens; there are 100 million more guns in the US than there are citizens) intersect with poetic reflections ("Another mall shooting seems normalized in Columbus / Raining outside in Ohio / Raining inside folks panic / Inside hearing shots bust"), all written in Chuck's hand over vibrant, utterly original, neoexpressionist ink and watercolor art.This book is the follow-up to STEWdio the debut trilogy on Chuck D's Enemy Books imprint, in which he invented a new medium—the "naphic grovel"—a bound journal brimming with his observations and reflections of current events in both art and prose. Summer of Hamn is the second release on the imprint.

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  This Was Toscanini - The Maestro...

  Samuel Antek, Lucy Antek Johnson

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  This audio edition includes excerpts from NBC Symphony performances conducted by Maestro Toscanini!  
  “Music lovers will find this book irresistible ... the writing is gorgeous, the characters are well-sculpted, the scenes are focused, and the author brings to life moments that music aficionados will savor for a long time. The book itself is a symphony that arrests the edges of the hearts of readers.” —The Book Commentary 
  Explore with renewed wonder the thorough, touching, and inspiring firsthand account of performing with and learning from Arturo Toscanini. In this expanded second edition of This Was Toscanini, original author Samuel Antek's reflections on The Maestro gain new insights as his daughter Lucy Antek Johnson enlightens readers of what her father himself was like, and shares her fond and intimate reflections on a musical partnership. 
  Arturo Toscanini is widely considered the greatest conductor of the modern age and remains a towering figure in the world of classical music. His explosive passions, dynamic music making, and legendary leadership continue to inspire and influence today's musicians while still captivating new generations of enthusiastic fans as well. This Was Toscanini is an intimate, firsthand, behind-the-scenes musical portrait of the Maestro, told from the unique perspective of first violinist Samuel Antek, who was fortunate to play under Toscanini's baton for seventeen years in the famed NBC Symphony Orchestra. In this expanded second edition of This Was Toscanini: The Maestro, My Father, and Me, Samuel Antek's reflections on playing with the Maestro gain sparkling new facets of insight from his daughter, Lucy Antek Johnson, as she enlightens readers with vivid recollections about her father and his most memorable musical partnership. With a foreword from acclaimed author and music historian Harvey Sachs. This audio edition features over 20 minutes of music.

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