Rock The Books

Sometimes the truth is scarier than fiction. It amazes me what people around the world try to get away with under the guise of a democracy. Freedom of speech is essential in all democracies, and without it, you end up with nightmares like that detailed in The Rock. It just shows why those to try to fight injustice are labeled as crazy. With all the publicly paid for ammunition that they can throw at you, you have to be nuts to take on the powers that be. Kiwis should all be glad there are nuts like Vince Siemer (and his family) to stand up to this. And the "lawmakers" and judiciary exposed in this book should be ashamed!

I highly recommend this book. The decriptive account of what happened to this individual at this notorious prison is remarkable.

WOW UNBELIEVABLE! But I had to believe it I didn't want to however because the truth is so appalling. I could not put it down, the story grabbed hold and I felt as if I were in prison along with Vince, cold, hungry and helpless. Vince tells of his experience in prison without leaving anything out! If you ever wanted to imagine what prison is like for someone who didn't belong you will not need to use your imagination any longer.
Not to leave out the facts that corruption can exist on such a large scale by people whom above all should be honorable! The incriminating comments that Vince lets loose of should open the eyes of everyone who reads his story. I'm personally hoping that there is an Honorable Judge or Brave Journalist in New Zealand that will break the silence and speak out on the injustice that has happened here. That the author could be sent to prison in New Zealand for breaking a gag order after he had proven to the Court what he published was true. If information is true the court should want to hear it, but in this story the truth is not what the courts in New Zealand wanted to hear. What is the level of corruption when a business man can get New Zealand's Justice System to ignore the law and have his nemesis sent to jail? Yes I Believe, and I imagine that this is not a rare scenario in New Zealand. Wake Up Kiwi's!

The Rock is a fascinating and alarming read. Mr. Seimer tells his story and backs up his claims with facts and court submittals to a degree that I cannot imagine why judicial heads are not rolling. Kiwi's should be outraged. The reporting news groups should be ashamed. I will continue to monitor the web for follow-up stories on the outcome of this published story and the ongoing court case. Judge Judy Potter should be disbarred and thrown off the court and made serve time at The Rock herself. The world (not just New Zealand) should hail the likes of Vince Siemer for relentlessly fighting the fight for free speech and fair and public justice.

I recommend this book to anyone. I hope that it doesn't get banned so more people can learn about what happened.

A solid rock book! Great layout. Some of the soft out of focus images should have been edited out but Lynn probably overrode her book editor about that.

Bought this wonderful art-photo book as a gift for my rock-n-roll loving friend. Could barely give it up! Amazing range of artists and years of history. Definately recommend this to any music and photography lover.

Lynn Goldsmith has been the supreme chronicler of all things Rock in the last 40 years and some of her best photographs are in this book. You get goosebumps as you thumb through the more than 300 pages of images and immerse yourself in memories of the times.

No one captures the passion of an artist quite like Goldsmith, it is no wonder that Tom Petty calls her "the best Rock and Roll photographer."

This book, in a word, rocks.

The photos that make up "Rock and Roll" take me back to a time when music was allowed to dominate my life - before careers, mortgages, and family forced it to a role of mere coexistence; when the musical giants pictured within were more god than human. And this book does an amazing job of feeding that hero-worship - it's oversized pages make the stars seem bigger than life. However, "Rock and Roll" is more than just a nostalgia trip - Goldsmith's photos show their subjects in settings both familiar and unfamiliar, thereby both re-affirming and contributing to our impressions of them.

Bottom line, this is a very cool book filled with amazing photos that any fan of rock & roll will enjoy.

One of the many artist quotes found inside is from Sting: "It's fun to visit the past, as long as you don't go back permanently." I may not go back permanently, but with this book I will definitely go back frequently!

This new large sized coffee table book by the legendary photographer Lynn Goldsmith is beyond superb. From the slick vellum cover with its well-chosen scrawled "rock and roll" font, to the several legendary images within, the book is a true masterpiece and probably one of her best.

Through Lynn's eyes and Iggy Pop's well chosen introductory words, the reader gets a rare glimpse into Lynn's colorful, art filled world of hard rock, blues, punk, pop, rap, beauty, intelligence, blood, sweat and guts. Lynn is all over the place in this book, right there on stage with a sweaty 1978 Mick Jagger, underneath a bloody Sid Vicious, thoughtfully shooting icons like Tom Waits and a young Bruce Springsteen (in very personal moments), to capturing the sex appeal of the early Van Halen and exposing the cool iced grace of Lou Reed. Lynn's ability to try so many kinds of shots and evoke so much raw emotion from her subjects is part of her brilliance and charm. She can even get whimsy out of angry subjects like Roger Daltry and then create iconic, legendary pictures of Frank Zappa, Patti Smith, Grand Funk Railroad, and so many more. Her timing couldn't be better as she always seems to be in the right place at the right time. Whether it's getting a perfect snaggle toothed Johnny Rotten or being right there when Tina Turner is letting it all hang out, Lynn just has her pulse on not only the music, but the places to be when that music is going down.

Lynn, to me, is also far better than most in her league because she is able to work in so many different moods, styles and settings with ease. Her live shots are just incredible, filled with energy and emotion; just see her Bruce and The E Street band shots for a taste, or the fantastic James Brown images. The shows become alive right there on paper. Lynn's studio work is also brilliant. The books filled with noir lighting, bright colorful backdrops, natural light and well-chosen settings. I personally love the studio Dylan shots, you can see her deep admiration for the man in those pictures and the close up shots are just breath taking. I also really love the relationships the pictures have with one another. Shots were well chosen to live side by side in perfect harmony.

Last but not least, besides the great artist commentary towards the end of the book, included in several sections are Lynn's now famous multiple image fold outs where 1000's of images of the artist make up one full sized image...very cool indeed. BUY THIS BOOK!!!!

A must have book for all Versace fans.

Fantastic photography in another large book from Versace. This book captures the 'rock chic' glamourama which the late Versace excelled at creating. The association between 'Rock and Roll', and art is full indulged here creating a empirical illusion to the Versace dynasty. The glossy presentation of the images also adds to an overall feeling of luxury. The only reason I have not given this book the top rating is for its inclusion of Elton John - who makes me sick. So what if its expensive, luxuries like this don't come cheap. ciao,

Maureen Farquhar (maureenfarquhar@yahoo.com)

This book gives a look into the classic, Calabrian influenced, luxury of Versace. This volume serves as a record of the pure decadant genius of this mega Italian talent.

For all of you who loves Gianni Versace clothes and really admire what he had done to the world of fashion I recommend you to have this incredible book.

Gianni Versace was a designer who loved to push the envelope. His clothes were a mixture of extremes: sexy, sleazy, colorful, tacky, and elegant. One adjective you'd never find in a sentence with the word Versace is "boring." His clothes commanded--and often got--attention, which is why he was such a favorite among celebrities such as Madonna, Elton John, Liz Hurley, Courtney Love, Prince, Jon Bon Jovi and even Princess Diana. This book is a fabulous, eye-opening collection of vivid photographs of models and rock stars in Versace: from Prince to the members of British boy band Take That. Some outfits are more releaving than others, but they're all unmistakably Versace. Diana herself is also included in the book, along with a few words of praise for the designer. Tragically, Versace was murdered in the summer of 1997, but his spirit and influence live on. This book comes highly recommended. Drop it on your coffeetable, and your guests won't want to put it down.

Not only is Patterson's book the autobiography of a spunky New Mexico ranch girl who grew up with the romantic way of life that still exists in the West, it is a fascinating glimpse of Roswell, New Mexico, in the pre-alien era. A good read.

If you talk to anyone who grew up on a ranch, they always speak of the experience with awe. This fine book will help you understand why. Barbara Corn Patterson's vivid account of the joys and struggles of life on a southwest ranch will make you long to be a cowboy again, but for a different reason!

If you talk to anyone who grew up on a ranch, they always speak of the experience with awe. This fine book will help you understand why. Barbara Corn Patterson's vivid account of the joys and struggles of life on a southwest ranch will make you long to be a cowboy again, but for a different reason!

Looking for your next read? Well, here it is!
Ranch life in the good olds days was full of cattle
round-ups, hard labor, neighbors helping neighbors, ect.
There's all that and more at the Rock House!
Check it out!

The good old days with hard reality and simplicity at the same time! Fascinating memoir!

Great book to curl up on the couch with!

I picked up this book at the library for a potential book report option. My teacher asked us to pick our books so I had to quickly choose between 4. I went to amazon and read the reviews and decided that it sounded okay. That night, I started reading at 9 p.m. I had to throw the book out into my hallway so that I got some sleep. You know when you find a good book, and you keep telling yourself that you'll stop at the next chapter. Well, I did that until I was halfway through the book. It had pulled me in! I always love to read a book with a strong female charecter that isn't completely freaked out by peer pressure or what everybody else thinks. Livy James is that charecter! She has a level head in a world that often people do not. Her dad was a druggie, he barely saw her grow up. But she turned out to be a music lover that had basically one rule. "Musician need not apply" Meaning don't waste your time because the answer is no. But then she meets Nick, the lead singer of The Wolves. The band that opens for her dad on their world tour. She falls hard for this guy and finds that things are not what they appear. Things in the world of rock, are not what they appear.

This book is not for the rock illiterate. I do believe it is only appropiate for those who fully appreciate music. Not Justin Timberlake or Pussycat Dolls, but real music. It reveals the true intimacy of true rock from The Who to The White Stripes. This book is full of passionate love of music and life. And unfortunately in a world where a synthesize drum beats and computer generated noise are concerned amazing music (e.i. "Yeah"- Usher), this book isn't for all audiences.

"Rock my World", had a really beleivable plot. You could almost feel that you were with the characters. You could even sympathize with the adult, seemingly unsympathetic characters, who, as you continued reading,became more and more human, and real.

Liv is going with her dad's band on the reunion tour as a writer for a magazine. She wants to find out what happened on the famous "night in paris" when greg tried to shoot her father and the group split up.
Also on the tour is the band the Wolves. Nick, the lead singer, asks her out and even though they have chemistry she doesn't want to break her no musician rule. She knows all about sex drugs and rock and roll growing up with her dad and she doesn't want to get into that. But Nick seems different somehow. So she decides to give him a chance.
In London Nick takes Liv to a pub where he gets drunk and then back to his hotel room where he tries to have sex with her. When she wasn't ready he got mad and she ran out in tears.
Will they ever make up or will she keep her no musician rule? Read to find out

At seventeen, Livy James realized long ago that her childhood was anything but normal. The only child of Paul James, lead singer of the band the Babydolls, and Anna James, one of the band's former backup singers, Livy spent most of her younger years surrounded by music, drugs, and alcohol. Now she's working for the magazine Rock On, following the Babydolls around the country and writing pieces for all the world to read.

The Babydolls are all older, but thanks to one of their songs being played in a hit movie, they're now on an International Tour along with The Wolves, their opening act. Everyone's there--dad Paul, who is currently drug-free and sober; her father's bodyguard/driver Toby Quinn, who has always been more of a father to Livy than Paul; lead guitar player Greg Essex, who still downs Jack Daniel's like it was water and who also happens to be her mother's ex-boyfriend; womanizer Steve Zane; and the band's drummer, Charlie, who is still in love with ex-wife number three.

Livy's mother is along for the ride, too, of course, along with Livy's own best friend, Cammie. As Cammie sets out to bed Steve Zane to complete Operation V, things become a little more complicated when the girls meet Nick and Kai, the lead members of The Wolves. Livy has always sworn to herself that she would never get involved with a musician of any type, but Nick is proving a worthy adversary to her self-made rule.

Add to the mix the infamous "Night In Paris", a night several years ago when the band disintegrated after Greg pulled a gun on Paul, and the tour becomes a veritable circus. As Livy seeks to uncover the truth about what happened all those years ago, she learns a few things about herself along the way--namely, that love has no boundaries, that parents are tricky creatures with their own hurts, wants, and needs, and that truth is subjective.

I loved ROCK MY WORLD! At times funny, poignant, and downright sad, it's the story of learning to be your own person, that truth isn't black or white, and that love comes at the most unexpected times.

The best thing about the Rock On books is that they don't *just* cover the hits, like the BillBoard books --- which cost ridiculous amounts of money and don't properly represent alternative music influences in most of the '80s, '90s, and beyond. Only problem..... the data ends in '92 in the second edition and '89 in the first.

NORM, WHERE ARE YOU WHEN WE NEED YOU??????????????????

Norm N. Nite who is or was an employee at New York's FM radio station,WCBS,compiled so much useful information regarding the rock 'n roll era,which continues today. For instance,in July 1940,Billboard magazine began charting popular songs,and back in the era of swing! The first 33 1/3 long play album(microgroove) debuted in 1948,but then there was no stereo. Ten years later,the first stereophonic album debuted. Longtime pop music mogul Dick Clark also contributed to this book. The book begins its listings of hits debuting each month starting with January 1954(earlier years don't list months). This continues through May 1989(this book went to press immediately afterward). There are also lists of musical artists with their debut years and singles. However,some of the photos were taken long after some of the artists' debuts. For instance,the Bee Gees debuted in 1967 in the US,and the photo of the band was taken years later(late 70's or early 80's). This book was updated only once,containing monthly listings from June 1989 to July 1992. There are also lists of the top albums,hits,movies and television shows every year. Music and news highlights also.

An absolutely indispensible reference for anyone trying to build a collection of oldies or just settle trivia questions. My only regret is that the book was published in 1989, so no information on later songs and artists is available. Maybe someone will update it. Meanwhile, this book is a great asset to our library.

This an outstanding reference if you are a fan of rock and roll music. I frequently use it to orient me to popular culture for the period of the sixties and seventies as I do research for a book. It addresses not only music but other areas, such as movies, as well. If you can find a used copy, it is well worth your trouble.

The best reference book on the subject of Rock and Roll Music. The reader or researcher is informed about members of groups, time lines, and record labels without being served up up too much un-necessary knowledge.

Lisbeth tells an honest story that illuminates what it means to take care of another person, both the challenges and the beauty.

I loved this book. It is sad, funny and entertaining all rolled into one. I am looking forward to her next book. I liked it so much that I got several copies for my friends.

Lisbeth Thom has captured the complicated dynamics of the caretaker role for an elderly relative. It reflects the roller coaster ride of mixed emotions affecting all the parties involved. But most of all, it is a beautifully written and realistic portrayal of duty, guilt, compassion, hardship, forgiveness and memories relating to a loved one who is experiencing the trials of the final events of natural life.

Ms. Thom's characters are beautifully developed and you feel as though you know all of them in your own circle of friends - particularly the grandmother. I have been through the loss of my mother and the eccentricities of an aging parent are a challenge for anyone. Ms. Thom's thought processes and actions are a help to anyone who is trying to cope with these problems. We are not always sure of our decisions or our actions -- it's a daily juggle, and life goes on - as in daily meals and errands. Our friends and relatives can never truly see our path as we do -- and yet, if we are lucky as Carrie is -- our friends and relatives are our mainstay and support. It may take a village to raise a child -- but it also takes a village to help one let go of an elderly parent or grandparent.

For caregivers and all those with terminally ill loved ones this book is a must read. It provides a look at the day to day stress and difficulties of providing care; frustration with the medical world, and the far reaching impact on other relationships. The author writes from the heart.

This is a guitar tab book. there are no words except for the lyrics. if you want to read about the band or the album this is not the book to buy. some of the reviews dont know what they're talking about. there is no cd and the book says nothing about the band. if youre looking to learn the guitar edition of the cd you should get this book because its great. but dont be mislead thats all it is.

This album rocks. Brilliant riffs and grooving jams. Limp Bizkit will be a legend sooner than most. Their mix of styles and ideas converge to form a really great album.

Dont listen to these [people]who are saying "I met Fred Durst and you will feel like you know him persanally once you read this book!" ... Its not funny, people look at these reviews to decide if they will purchase something. Anyways, this is a GUITAR TAB book for limp bizkit significant other CD. I myself DO HAVE this book, and its very good. If you wanna learn some of those sweet riffs wes cuts, get this book. If you are interested i a lot of cool guitar solos and prgressions, this isnt the book for you. If you wanna learn how to play exactly what on the cd, get this book! I hope this is helpfull.

You met Freddy D? Cool. I honestly haven't read this book, but if it's about Limp Bizkit, then it's prolly really good.

I met Fred Durst and you will feel like you know him persanally once you read this book!

Ruth Farley is a rock. She is stubborn. She is strong. She is self-centered. And she is as undeniably irresistible as the natural stone sculptures in Monument Valley.

Ruth ventures West, determined that she will not yield to society's limited expectations and dull conventions for women. She will live on her own in her beloved canyon. She will build her house where that huge boulder rests, the one two men have told her cannot be moved. She will have sex and enjoy it, thank you very much. She will do it all despite the cost to herself and her loved ones. And Ruth exhibits all this staunch feistiness in 1920s rural, tiny-town America.

In Ruth, novelist Susan Lang has created a character who arrests the reader's interest and refuses to free it. She is far more compelling and believable than another female character untypical of her time, Jane Smiley's Lidie of The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton. And she is as intriguing as Kate Horsley's Sara Franklin, another young woman who travels to the Southwest in Crazy Woman.

The novel's only flaw is that it seems a little rushed toward the end. But perhaps that is only because Ruth is so fascinating that we don't want to let her go.

A time, a place, a person, a community of settlers separated by miles of miles, a philosophy of spirit -- all flow forth in Susan Lang's quiet drama of survival in an untamed wilderness by an untamed woman.

Lang obviously knows her landscape of place and soul. She risks and sustains the characterization of a woman beyond her time, yet, within it, allowing her to make the mistakes such a woman could make in the era in which she makes them. The core standard of such a character is that she is better than she has to be while being no better than she needs to be, according to her own dictates.

The absolute strength of Lang's writing is her own intercourse with the mysterious and magnificent sensuality of comprehending a wilderness of land and being. She understands tiny things that, for her, and now for her readers, loom large.

The only thing I didn't love about this book is the fact that it kept me up late at night until I finished it. The writing just puts me right there, as if I'm watching it the way I would a movie, encountering bears and cowboys myself. I loved Ruth, too, the main character and enjoy her stubborn ways, even when she's finding out she has to change-which she does in some way, though not at her core. I like the way Lang has her trying to force her will on the land until she learns that the place has a spirit "stronger than that of a person." I only hope the author has another book around somewhere so I can find out what happens to Ruth next!

In 1929, barely 21 years old, Ruth Farley heads west and claims a homestead in an isolated canyon in Southern California, at that time still the land of rough-and-ready miners and cowboys. What is she looking for? She doesn't quite know, but she knows what she doesn't want - a conventional woman's life of settled domesticity. To her this means she must be totally self-sufficient and independent. Ruth is stubborn, brave, strong, and subject to fits of free-ranging lust that she is not always successful at keeping under control, although she makes weak attempts at it. With 21-year-old chutzpah, she has the delusion that she can spit in the eye of conventional norms for women without paying a high price for it, and she protects this delusion with a cavalier disregard for what people think of her.

Part of her delusion is that she can carve out an independent life for herself in an isolated mountain region without the help and support of neighbors, and a major early story line of the book is her stubborn insistence on moving, entirely alone, a boulder that must be removed before she can lay the foundation for her cabin. The boulder could be easily moved with the help of neighbors, or by using a couple of horses and rope to drag it to a new location, but Ruth is determined to do it herself. The story of her struggles with the boulder, and her eventual triumph over it, becomes a metaphor for Everywoman's struggle to achieve independence against overwhelming odds, and any woman who has learned from hard experience that "what doesn't kill us makes us strong" will identify deeply and emotionally with this element of the story.

Unfortunately, succeeding at moving the boulder by herself reinforces Ruth's delusion that she doesn't need anybody. The rest of the book is a harrowing account of what she pays for this delusion, coming close to death at the hands of violent men and again at the hands of Nature, and seeing the first true love of her life killed because she is a white woman who has taken an Indian lover. Ultimately, of course, she has to learn to see life, Nature, and people as they really are - complicated, unpredictable, sometimes violent, and sometimes unexplainably compassionate.

If the book has a weakness, it is that even though Ruth is complex and multifaceted, some of the other characters are rather flat - her Indian lover Jim, for example, is unbelievably flawless. But in the context of this compelling story, I wasn't bothered much by that. I was much more impressed by Lang's tackling of reality themes I seldom see novelists deal with: a woman struggling with the paybacks of unrestrained lust, for example.

True "literary" writing expresses the universal through the particular, and in my view this book may well become a classic parable of what we pay, men as well as women, for defying cultural norms, and what we must do to come to terms with those norms without losing our truest Selves in the process.

Susan Lang does the impossible in her book, Small Rocks Rising. The story is as big, bulky, and unwieldy as the boulder her main character, Ruth Farely, encounters in Chapter One, while the writing is frequently as polished as any gemstone.
Amid fast action and female lust, there is the slow revealing of Ruth's background. The complex composition of Ruth's character comes from her half-breed mother, a strong-willed aunt, two years of finishing school, training to be a nurse---and the will to be free of it all.
This novel rings with the authenticity of place, and of a woman's unambiguous sexual longings. In Ruth's insightful self-talk and dreaming, there hangs the reality of a woman alone. She is impatient with life and all the people she encounters in her struggle to forge a place for herself in the wilderness. Ruth is an unconventional woman whose thoughts and actions are well ahead of her time. Her courage is matched only by her desires.
As the novel reveals Ruth's story, it also reveals a parallel to the male myth of passage, initiation into adulthood. Ruth experiences the trials of being alone in the extremes of nature, life-sapping heat to freezing snowstorms. She also encounters the extremes of the nature of men---violent to tender. She loses her way in the wilderness of the mountains and her own desires to discover she has the resources not only to survive, but to overcome all that nature, and man, has to throw at her.
Overall, the novel is a great read. Let's hope there is more.

This is a great book for SP rookie fans. Loaded with info. Become a bigger fan than me. :) (the cd is great too.)

This book Rocked ! This book answered all of my misterious questions of the band. This book was really worth the money. I respect the pumpkins way more than what I did before. They are my favorite band.( beacuse of the book !) If You're a pumpkins fan, and you didn't read this book. YOU SHOULD, YOU WILL LOVE THEM, ALSO YOU WILL RESPECT THEM AS WELL AS i DO ! ROCK ON MY FELLOW PUMPKIN FANS - - - -

I loved this book it told in detail everything to the lives of the samshing pumpkins provign they are a very well organized band and work very hard

I think this is a great interview with the Pumpkins (well, only half of them) and the book is pretty rocking, too. Two thumbs up.. :)~

great Cd and book! It covers all the things that you want to know about the smashing pumpkins. listen up, want to know more about the smashing pumpkins? buy this cd/book. ;-)