Music Books

The music industry is a very harsh world that punished and still punishes the weak and the ones that make mistakes. You must keep your head high and your spirit high if you want to have any chance here, a world in which evolution is speeding and the weak are eliminated in a blink of an eye. Moses Avalon's title has good background information coupled with witty explanations and additional breaking information about some of the more recent success stories. A definite buy for people involved in the business or for someone who wants to enter this world.

Another brilliant traipse through the tangles of the music biz. And in this volume we get the added value of "lessons learned" from a wide spectrum of industry reps.

Moses has more know-how in his little finger than a roomful of music business teachers. Read and master his stuff, or die!

-Peter Spellman

A great man once told me "The only good mistake is one you learn something from, and you don't learn unless you admit the mistake in the first place." I'm glad to see a book like this that contains first class mistakes and ways to avoid them. No one explains the dirty ways of the music biz like Moses. So get it, read it, highlight it and use it to avoid the pitfalls and side tracks that are coming your way.

Whenever I feel like adding some gas to the tank, I read this book. It does a great job of capturing the dark ugly mess we call the music industry. This is a great book for anyone thinking of joining the industry and provides real life examples of pitfalls that other artists have endured over time.5 stars!

The book is an easy read as it is written very clearly. Any person who aspires to be in the music industry must pick up this book. This is their bible. People say that in order to succeed you got to be in it to win it but once the point if you don't even know how the game is played? Get this book, learn the system and play by your rules!

This is a wonderful little book. My children loved it and I still enjoy reading this to children when I get a chance. I like to volunteer to read at the schools, libraries, etc in our area.

I thought this book was a funny story.It was funny because a mouse learns to sing and the mouse is friends with a human. I thought the story waas interesting at times because when a human sees a mouse they scream but not Mrs. Honeybee she is nice to the mouse and gives them chocolate. I think you will enjoy this book because it was very interesting. I really enjoyed this book so you should to.

I thought this book was a good book because there is always going on. Like when Wolf was singing. I also thought some of the parts were funny. I thought it was funny becausethe only way Mrs.Honeybee could get Wolf to sing was if she gave him a piece of chocolate, and who would have thought, a singing mouse. This book is also weird because that there is a singing mouse and that is funny and very very wierd. It is als weird that Mrs. Honeybee wants to spend all of her extra time with Wolf and Mary (Wolfs mother).

Dick King-Smith writes another fabulous book. This wonderful story of friendship and heroes is an inspiration to people of all ages. It speaks about friendship, family and aspiring to do your best. As always the characters come to life and become the readers new best friend.

A Mouse Called Wolf comes from the inventive mind of Dick King-Smith who gave us Babe: The Gallant Pig.

After watching his friends race across piano keys, wee Wolfgang Amadeus Mouse throws back his head and sings. Eventually he uses his voice to rescue the lady of the house. Wolf's antics are ably illustrated by Jon Goodell.

"Murrow: His Life and Times" is a superb biography about Edward R. Murrow. No one had a greater impact in defining and shaping broadcast journalism than Murrow, and in highlighting the responsibility of journalists, broadcasters, government and citizens in a democracy. Television, he observed in 1954, "can teach, it can illuminate...but it can only do so to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends...otherwise it is merely lights and wires in a box." Whether his brilliant and breathtaking radio coverage from London of World War II, or his confrontation with red-baiting Senator Joe McCarthy, he was always principled, strong and courageous. Speaking of the anti-communist hysteria sweeping this country in the early fifties he would turn to Shakespeare, "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in the stars, but in ourselves." As mass media races onto the Internet and enters a new digital era, the experiences and issues raised during Murrow's life become even more relevant. In the mid-fifties he warned, "the frontiers of knowledge have been pushed back, and the more that comes to be known, the less is understood...looking ahead to a time when human destinies are to be determined by the uses or abuses of new sources of almost unlimited physical power, one may ask if democracy will be able to develop the competence to deal with these complexities." He concluded, "If so, it must be through a broadening of education and the use of communications not yet realized, or perhaps even conceived." Murrow is a man for all times.

Edward R. Murrow was elusive. He was a pioneer radio and television broadcaster. His career arc did not include print journalism. His success was modern. Murrow, b. 1908, had a golden natured man for a father and a shrewd and enterprising woman for a mother. He ws the youngest of three sons. Black moods dogged his whole life. In the 1930's Murrow worked for a committee placing European scholars in American academic posts. He had contacts at CBS. At college, Washington State, he had been a speech major. At CBS, 1935, he became the Director of Talks. Murrow was also responsible for education and religion.

Radio was changing the world of politics. Overseas radio was primarily a novelty act. NBC had Alistair Cooke and so its coverage of the abdication crisis was better. Murrow was asked to take a job in London as the European director for CBS. William Shirer was offered the job of continental representative of CBS. When Germans invaded Austria, Murrow traveled to Vienna. His immensely successful career as a radio reporter, commentator, had begun. Murrow and Shirer used stamina and imagination to cover the developing crisis in Prague and elsewhere on the continent. Listeners were taken to Nuremburg to hear Hitler. At the end of September NBC and CBS radio braodcasts reported on Munich. Murrow sat with Jan Masaryk.

War finally came over Poland. CBS staff positions in the European capitals were filled. Murrow put in time everywhere. In the spring, blitzkrieg tactics caused the occupation of Belgium, the Netherlands. Norway fell. The Dunkirk evacuation took place. Churchill assumed office as Prime Minister. Commentators crowded into London. As neutrals CBS staff faced endless delays and red tape. A stringer, Vincent Sheean, became Murrow's boon companion. The reader is immersed with Murrow and company in rather delightful fashion in the events leading up to America's entry into World War II. A reader is able to sense in the author's careful descriptions the immediacy of war as brought to the radio listeners. Broadcasting brought facts and analysis to the audience in real time.

London was under air attack. Janet Murrow busied herself with the evacuation of children to America. The BBC moved broadcasting underground. Murrow inhabited freely both the upper class and the London ghetto. Eventually daytime operations ceased. It was not known at the time, but it was an RAF victory. Night bombings continued. With the approval of the censors American audiences were permitted to hear the sounds of a raid. Murrow conveyed the impersonal nature of the new technology of killing. Home news editor at the BBC, R.T. Clark, became a mentor to Murrow. He was versed in the classics and military history. In the fall of 1940 Shirer left for home from Portugal. He and Murrow had built up radio news from nothing. Home leave, 1941, proved to be a case of culture shock for the Murrows. In America there were no shortages. Murrow was effective because he did more than his job. Through happenstance he met with FDR Pearl Harbor night. He sat on the scoop that the President was determined to go to war. In the spring of 1942 the Murrows returned to London.

Murrow, disappointingly, had to coordinate CBS staff reports at headquarters during the operation of Overlord, the Normandy Invasion. In the end he was cut up with rage seeing the camps, Buchenwald and others. The Nazis had done a more thorough job of brutalizing the people than he had deemed possible. After an eighteen months' stint as an executive, Murrow returned to broadcasting. He was bitter over the death of George Polk in Greece in 1948. Polk had modeled himself on Murrow. In 1950 he took an unequivocal stand against Joe McCarthy and lost his sponsor. Regional sponsorship was arranged. Owen Lattimore commended Murrow for keeping the record straight on his case.

Fred Friendly and Murrow were ready, in 1951, to convert I CAN HEAR IT NOW to television. ALCOA sponsored SEE IT NOW. It needed to brighten its image. At the beginning of 1953, after doing an historic piece, 'Christmas in Korea,' he was exhausted. His view of the US was changing. Murrow's attack on McCarthy on SEE IT NOW was considered an act of courage by most people. It resulted in FBI scrutiny, he became a watched man. After McCarthy's demise, employers and news broadcasters were still treading gently. By 1957 Murrow was a celebrity, but SEE IT NOW was cut and he and Friendly were given SMALL WORLD. After speaking in Chicago to an association of journalists about the need for independence in television news, Murrow lost clout at CBS. Informally he was demoted. Fred Friendly became the sole executive producer of CBS Reports. One of the programs in which Murrow participated notably was 'The Harvest of Shame.' Murrow was appointed to head USIA under Kennedy. He resigned in 1964 and died in 1965.

Thank Heaven that this book - long out of print, I had my copy nailed down - has now been re-issued, and thank Heaven for the current renaissance in interest in this magnificent journalist and iconic human being. Murrow's speech to camera at the end of the McCarthy expose ought, if there is any justice, to be committed to memory by every American in the same way that the Gettysburg address is now.

As for the book itself - well, I bought my first copy in the early 1980s, Murrow having been a childhood hero. It's bit, it's beautifully written, and is it enough to say that my original copy is falling apart? And that all my Christmas present problems are now solved?

There are other good biographies (I'm a Murrow fanatic, if this isn't clear already)and I wouldn't fault any of them; and the newly-reissued DVD set of the Murrow Years is also essential and full of the most wonderful surprises. I guess that Sperber wrote the ur-text, and so this is probably the place to start. But thank you to everyone who remembered that he should not be forgotten. Meet a true American hero.

By the time most of us baby boomers were old enough to watch more substantive television fare than Felix the Cat, Edward R. Murrow was an aging icon without portfolio. He did not have the regular exposure of a Douglas Edwards, Chet Huntley, or David Brinkley. He would on occasion do spectacular work-as elementary school students we would discuss his "Harvest of Shame" documentary on the sufferings of migrant farm workers. But it was from our parents and older relatives that we inherited something of a sense of his importance in an earlier time, in the same fashion that they might speak of a Bob Taft or an Adlai Stevenson.

What we could not know in 1959, what biographer A.M. Sperber makes abundantly clear, is that we were watching the shell of a driven man who had exhausted his incredible stores of emotional energy to international cooperation, then to radio coverage of the horrors of World War II, and on to shape the formation of the CBS new department during the explosion of the television era and the age of McCarthy. Sperber traces the rise and decline of this charismatic, almost manic, entrepreneur from the most unlikely of origins, that of a lumberjack named Egbert who quickly realized the liabilities of his given name in the male work camps of Washington State.

Egbert, now Edward, chopped wood only long enough to scratch and claw his way into Washington State College. A student with fingers in many campus pies, he joined an organization called the International Institute of Education in 1931. The IIE in the early 1930's was a form of college student exchange program, one of its sponsors being the not-quite-ready-for-prime-time Columbia Broadcast System. When Murrow spoke at a West Coast gathering of IIE representatives, he earned himself election to the national office of the IIE in New York, a paid position there, and free air time on CBS radio. Murrow produced Sunday afternoon radio lectures and round table discussions, demonstrating a flair for attracting international speakers. As Murrow learned more about the plight of Jews in Germany from reporter [and later close friend] William Shirer, he used the machinery of the IIE in the United States to rescue as many Jewish intellectuals as possible and place them in American colleges. It was a tactic not universally appreciated, nor would his close cooperation with the Russians be forgotten by J. Edgar Hoover.

By the beginning of the Battle of Britain, Murrow was assigned full time by CBS to provide radio coverage of Hitler's assaults and to coordinate the company's European reporting network. It is impossible to capsulize here the horrors of those eighteen months for Murrow and for England generally, when every night brought a terror at least as awful as the World Trade Center bombing. Murrow created a network of European radio correspondents-many of whom would become household names in their own rights. He overcame industry biases against putting reporters on the air and using taped reports from the fields. But most of all, he revolutionized the very style of radio news into "factual storytelling" by his nightly accounts of German bombings that by happenstance occurred during the East Coast's prime time 7 P.M. radio news hour. Later, as the theater of war shifted east, Murrow was among the first western reporters to see first hand an operating extermination camp. He could not bring himself to talk about it over the air for several days.

Murrow returned to CBS in New York a conquering hero of sorts, the network's hottest property. Sperber does a good job in explaining why the postwar Murrow-CBS marriage was a stormy one. For one thing, the war years had reshaped Murrow into a cross between an Old Testament prophet and a posttraumatic stress sufferer. He would never be quite at home in an industry moving toward television, increased advertising dependence, and escapism. Secondly, Murrow was too much the prophet to claim objectivity. He would never be confused with, say, Bob Trout. Long before Woodward and Bernstein, Murrow crafted the art of investigative reporting for a presumably concerned nation, particularly through the medium of his weekly "See It Now" series, a rough and tumble forerunner of "60 Minutes." His most controversial television piece, his hour-long exposure of Joe McCarthy, was out and out editorializing, albeit accurate. In Murrow's mind, he was serving the common good. Others were not so sure. Thirdly, Murrow himself had a past that made him a potential network liability. When he produced his "Harvest of Shame" documentary, for example, hardly a paean for capitalism, those with long memories would recall his enthusiastic embrace of Russian intellectuals in the late 1930's with the IIE.

The great irony in the breakup of Murrow and CBS is that the deciding infidelity may possibly have been unintentional. In 1960, with quiz show scandals threatening the credibility of the television industry, CBS President Frank Stanton announced a policy to eliminate the appearance of deceit in any of his network's programming, not just quiz shows. When pressed as to the extent of this policy, the network cited other programming, including rather surprisingly Murrow's own "Person to Person" prime time home visits to celebrities. In one reading of this event, Stanton may have simply been protesting the pre-scripting of interview questions and the staged walk-through of the homes. Or, there may have been a subtler message. A young Harry Reasoner inquired of Murrow on air, in so many words, "why are you, the Jeremiah of the industry, wasting precious prime time with the innocuous drivel of fighters and starlets?"

Unlike Reasoner and Howard K. Smith, who felt no compunction about switching networks, Murrow lived and died CBS. Illness and ultimately death interrupted his stint as window dressing for the Kennedy administration in 1965. Perhaps his prodigious cigarette smoking had finally claimed him. More likely, it was the pressure of living so many lives in one frail human shell.

Since its publication in 1986, no other biography on Edward R. Murrow has been written that can depose A.M. Sperber's magnificent work. "Murrow: His Life and Times" is, by far, the best biography written to date on America's first, and possibly last, great broadcasting journalist.

Sperber's book captures the essence of Murrow's life from a young intellectual to his rise from college campuses to directorship of the "Institute of International Education" and to Murrow's début at CBS where he broadcasted the bombing of London during World War II. It was during this period that Murrow demonstrated, so clearly, his finesse with the American audience as they listened to his broadcast of the traumatic events as they unfolded in World War II Europe.

Sperber's methodical research, numerous interviews, attention to detail, and her writing give the reader a close and personal look at the extraordinary triumphs and tragedies that made up Murrow's life. Readers are able to follow Murrow's footsteps and virtually see into his world, as he became the voice of World War II and the voice for America. Murrow's denunciation of Senator Joseph McCarthy's treatment of Americans during the HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee) hearings set into motion the senator's decline and closed a dark chapter in American politics -- all with his rational, yet forceful manner of speaking.

Sperber writes of Murrow's journalistic integrity and his struggles for openness and frankness in the media -- ideals that brought Murrow into constant conflict with CBS. The author also illustrates Murrow's battle with tobacco addiction - an addiction that would have devastating affects on Murrow's health. An entire life flawlessly researched and written in 705 captivating pages that will embrace readers today as it did when the book was first published 1986. After reading Sperber's book the reader will understand why CBS headquarters in New York City still displays a plaque in their lobby which contains the image of Murrow and the inscription: "He set standards of excellence that remain unsurpassed."

"Murrow: His Life and Times" should be required reading for students of communications and those working in media. There is no better chronicle of America's greatest broadcasting journalist. Readers will find this book hard to put down once they begin reading it. It is superb in every respect and the very best biography on Edward R. Murrow.

The book showed up in a timely fashion and was brand new, just like it said online.

Terrance Hayes is a name you will see again. I promise you.

An earlier edition of this book came into my hands shortly after I worked with this wonderful poet at a seminar for younger poets. A wonderful first collection. So human it hurts. Get it now that it's back in print!

I just had the pleasure of seeing and hearing Terrance Hayes read at the University of Idaho. He was nervous, I think, and the room was big and strange, but this young man can write. He can really write. The new book--HIP LOGIC--is going to be terrific, and I'll bet each book that comes after will be better yet. A really splendid new talent.

I first became familiar with Mr. Hayes' work, when i saw his poem "Blackbird" in a 1995 double issue of ObsidianII: Black Literature In Review. It appeared opposite a poem I publshed in the journal. Every poem in Muscular Music, is a snapshot about African American life, and sings a song of america: "Late," "Goliath," "Something For Marvin," "Blackbird," "The Yummy Suite," " What I am..." The Black experience is all in here... I was laughing my ass off at " I want to be fat" and I'm a big guy.Expect Terrence Hayes to be a major poet in the literary canon.

Terrance Hayes has written a book where the poems have bite. These poems are hard-hitting, honest, sincere and yet suffused with "tenderness." "Yummy Suite" is one of the most powerful sequence of poems I have read anywhere that confront what is going on in our urban neighbourhoods today. I also loved "Late," "Goliath" and too many more to name. Here is a writer well worth getting to know. If I may riff on the Reuben Jackson quote that serves as an epilogue, Terrance Hayes' Muscular Music is a book that also "reveals itself" one splendid "black note at a time." Buy this book -- read it aloud and share it with a friend!

As an artifact documenting the group and their history, this most assuredly rates 5 full stars. The chances of there ever being something else even remotely close to this exhaustive about the group can pretty safely be put at slim to none.

Having said that, you should know what you're getting. This should be looked at as more of a rambling scrapbook than a strict "bio" type book. (Although lest that give the wrong impression, while there are many pictures, this is a *very* text heavy item! The majority of the book has additional info and annotations running down the side of each page.)

As a readable entity, though - as in, you start at the beginning and work your way to the end - it is in many ways a bit of a trainwreck (though a charming one, I hasten to add.) I found it easiest to digest by finding a certain section, reading that part, taking a break, then going back to find another. While the book does proceed in a chronological order, there is a tendency to sometimes veer off that path a bit. (Though again to be fair, sometimes this is noted in advance - but not always.) And in any case, if you're already a fan (which presumably anybody who would buy this is!), reading it in a precise chronological order is not necessarily such an important thing. (If you're like me, you know you'll want to go straight to your favorite bits/periods, anyway!)

The author (of whom there is no real info about given anywhere in the book) is quite obviously not a native English speaker. While by no means a sin, this does lead to some rather perplexing (and usually humorous) passages. Also, this reviewer found it a touch disturbing that, while the majority of the facts about the group, especially in their earliest days, were heretofore unknown to me, a few of the things that I *did* know about them and their activities were not mentioned accurately (or sometimes at all). This could suggest a lack of proper research, though again, with the wealth of information that is provided here, one can easily forgive the occasional error or omission.

So - don't go in expecting the most readable tome you've ever come across. But if the idea of a truly warts and all, minutiae-filled catalogue of the band's activities and history - and for that matter, a general impression of the times that surrounded them - sounds good to you, do not hesitate to grab this. You'll be most pleased in the end.

To hold in my hand this beautiful book is to hold Pandora's box. I lift the lid. I take a peek. And what I see inside this wonderfully designed object- bound as a book and yet radiating out with a strange collage-like power, are spokes to other times, other states of consciousness and people I have known. And loved. Worked with. And lost.

I was present and highly visible in the era when Tuxedomoon came into being. I ran parallel to them as a poet, as one of the Angels of Light and as one largely responsible for Victoria Lowe moving to California. In fact, she lived with me when she moved into San Francisco. I also got to see the strange confluence of talents drawn to each other as she met Steven Brown (also in the Angels) and Winston Tong. They performed in small shows the Angels did and, for a brief period, there was a sense that Tuxedomoon was growing out of the Angels of Light just as the Angels had been birthed from their own prior incarnation: the Cockettes, a glitter drag queen theater that perished in late 1972. Unlike many organic transformations, however, I don't recall any sense of breaking away but, rather, a 'metamorphosis into'. Perhaps this is because the fable-oriented and magical Angels, outrageous and fabulous as we were, fused many classical but familiar elements of theater: masks, puppets, stage sets, costumes, songs, mime and a diverse range of formal dance forms: Chinese, Indian, Balinese and Western jazz, tap, ballet, tango, etc.

Tuxedomoon, however, embarked on a mysterious journey of its own: something poetically yet radically different. In fact, it was this 'differentness' that was so captivating and alluring. It was essentially un-decorative and seductive, not sentimental in the least- austere and self-assured rather than deliberately pleasing. And in that strange moment of the mid-1970s when the hippie and glitter ages were passing into history with their referential nods to Old Broadway, Vaudeville, Burlesque and a bit of Guignol, Tuxedomoon surfaces as an enchanting alternative to the hard-edged and gritty Punk rock stance.

For we who lived in that time, it's almost impossible to recollect, let alone articulate, the multi-dimensional quality of existence. Life was aquatic. Free-form. There was a sense of listlessness and drift as the certainties of the counterculture forged in the Civil Rights and Anti-war movements of the 1960s hit the doldrums in the aftermath of Nixon's resignation; the end of America's tragic misadventure in Vietnam; the slow acknowledgment that San Francisco was not immune from the crippling economic effects of the Arab Oil embargo of 1973-1974 and that even Nixon's resignation under threat of imminent impeachment had not brought about a renaissance or cleansing for which we'd all hoped so desperately.

A certain oppositional certainty had been lost when the Angels hit our political, outrageous and socially pointed zenith in 1975 with 'Paris Sites Under the Bourgeois Sea," (a free show which I scripted, and which was staged at the SF Museum of Art) where the greatest illustration of totemic and imperious bearded drag queens used to symbolize Social Order and the ancienne regime fell to an invasion of giant rats and the Plague. No one could have known it at the time that we were not paying homage to Anotin Artuad, as we believed, but announcing the advent of the New Black Death which would lay waste to our shining city, and the culture of liberation that we had forged at such great personal and individual risk and, yet, with such pride and love.

It was out of this strangely unknowable, ill defined time that Tuxedomoon arose. Isabelle Corbisier captures it beautifully in her book, She writes magnificently in English (her second language), and in some miracle of cosmic osmosis or sympathetic magic, the fact that she was not here and not on the scene has given her just enough creative distance to observe brilliantly and capture what I wonder if anyone closer in towards the center could have pinned down so accurately. Not only is her prose clear, her thoughts are perfectly arranged- a tribute to the organization of a legal mind trained and disciplined to a fine polish. A mysterious order exists in this book, one complemented by the design itself, which is also her creation. The book is an object. Small side bars and inserts, the way photos are displayed, the collage like elements and, concurrently, the sense of a visible film-script caught on paper all contribute to a book that, itself, is a work of art even as it celebrates the vagabonds and slightly remote poetic souls who came together and created a unique and compelling group. I salute this book as one who, having been present at Tuxedomoon's inception and as part of the subculture from whence it sprang, knows what is real, or not real, honestly representative (or not) from that era.

This book is true to the time, true to the artists and, in its very presence, an accurate reflection of the aesthetic that avoided the too easy postures of Punk, circumvented the elaborate but subject-oriented dreamworld of the Angels of Light and vaulted into another dimension. I wish I could explain that world to the readers of this piece. The truth is: I can't. I perceived Tuxedomoon, and some of its members (especially Victoria Lowe, whom I loved very much, and the equally beautiful Steven Brown, whom I liked and respected) from my side of a smoky glass. We could not inhabit the same worlds and be true to both. Being true, each sphere was its own universe.

Fortunately, I don't have to struggle for the words or attempt to usher the uninitiated into Tuxedomoon. Isabelle Corbisier has done it all for the fortunate souls who go on the journey with her. As one from that era, and from that world, I can say that it is next-to-impossible for anyone to do what she has done: provide a compass and enough clear markers to serve as guideposts to illuminate a sphere that was mysterious yet compellingly binding. This book and the consciousness that informs it represents an amazing tour de force. My congratulations.

Adrian Brooks
(former Angel of Light and author of 'Flights of Angels')

This book is almost as thick as the Bible. Most questions and facts about anyone involved with Tuxedomoon from the early days until now are answered.
I felt the book to be honest in approach. Nothing seemed to be held back for the sake of vanity. A good read for any Tuxedomoon fan.

For fans of Tuxedomoon and those with an interest in the group, this exhaustive biography is perfect. What Ms. Corbisier has done with this book is extraordinary. Over years of interviews she has compiled a unique history of one of music's unique voices. It is the best companion in music biography that I have yet to see. Even if the reader has just a passing curiosity in the band, I highly recommend getting this book. Ms. Corbisier's prose is easy to read, the pictures are lovely, the side comments are fantastic. Highly recommended.

Tuxedomoon is an hybrid of a band that persevered and triumphed against all odds. Their score for choreographer Maurice Bejart's Greta Garbo inspired ballet Divine, thrust the band into the international spotlight.
Prior to that they had long inhabited the dark corners of the continents through tireless navigation of the nightclubs and performance art venues of the US and then as expatriates in Europe. So to an early fan like myself it was sweet to bear witness to the arc of success of these prolific recording artists as they developed a huge following in Europe even before their work with Bejart.
Isabelle Corbisier's book charts this arc of success with élan and devotion. Through story telling interwoven with gritty oral interviews and music reviews, Corbisier adeptly deconstructs the convergences of the pertinent movements of the times; new wave, no wave, goth, dada, anarchist, etc.
This is a must read for anyone intrigued by the petri-dish that was punk and new wave in the 70's and 80's. That Tuxedomoon is still a poignant and working band today in 2008 which the book takes us through, is a testament to the old saying that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. - Daniel Nicoletta

This book is done right. All the chords are clearly shown and they seem correct too!
I've been practicing Hotel California for a few days and it's been a blast.

This is the greatest guitar book I have ever used. I liked it so much I bought another copy and mailed it to my buddy in Kansas. Yahoo it is SO worth the cost.

First class - ideal for those who want the rhythm sections to some great classics

I just received this book and I am very impressed. I have only been playing the guitar for just a short while and still taking lessons. I like the way this book is laid out and easy to follow. Anyone that knows the Eagles' songs and know the basic chords can play the songs in this book. I am glad that I bought this book and recommend this to any beginner or advanced guitarist. It is ia fun book.

Excellent for Beginner to intermediate guitarist. Good selection of Eagles favorite songs in easy to play chord progressions.

This is wonderful writing, full of vivid images and delicate, half-felt resonances, conjuring imagined memories, calling to mind treasured recollections of favorite spooky books from the dim past. I can't wait to settle into a sleeping compartment on the Orient Express and read the whole thing! Don't miss the Prologue the author has provided.

The book: "Music of the Mists" written by Leona Francombe pulls the reader in from the very beginning. The prologue sets the tone, one of foreboding and fright. The protagonist, a musician, lives in Cornwall and the house, its surroundings and the eerie wind blowing around the house make for a feeling of suspense, carefully crafted in beautiful prose by this author. The reader experiences a sense of urgency heightened by a letter the protagonist receives from her uncle in Brussels. The Prologue and the first two chapters entice the reader to wish for more.

Read the prologue first (see author's comments), then get pulled right into this intriguing mystery. Evocative descriptions of places and characters--I can't wait to read the rest of the novel!

Music of the Mists by Leona Francombe promises to be a must-read for all ages. The Prologue and first two chapters of this book are well-written, gripping and obviously thoroughly researched. It leaves the reader hoping for publication of the remainder in a timely fashion!

I was immediately swept into the atomosphere and mystery of the book. The prologue and two first chapters set up an intriguing and interesting scenario. I'm looking forward to the rest of the book!

As the synopsis says, the main character is obsessed with the movie The Sound of Music. I am also a big fan of the movie. I used to watch it all the time when I was little. Anyway, because of this, I thought the book would follow the movie's story in some fashion. Instead, it's a modern take on Pride and Prejudice (think a G-rated version of Bridget Jones--one of my favorite movies, by the way!).

I loved this book. It is a sweet and simple romantic story. It is also humoress with pop culture and literary references thrown in. I really liked this aspect because I am the dorky girl who loves musicals and things of that nature, so I got all the references to musicals and such. I also enjoyed the literary references being an English major myself (the main character has an English degree).

This is the perfect book for people who enjoy sweet romance novels, especially the ones with a P&P feel to them. I feel that Must've Done Something Good is a book I'll keep as one of my comfort books to read when I'm feeling sad and need a good pick me up. :)

This may be tagged "chick-lit", but as a guy who greatly enjoyed this book I think anyone would enjoy it. There's so many situations that anybody can relate to. Go Sylvie!

I am a mother to 5 kids and one step son so, needless to say, I usually don't have time to read however for this book it was easy to make time because I enjoyed it so much!

Like the other reviewers on this site, I too found myself laughing out loud on so many occassions throughout the book. Everywhere I went with it, people would ask me what I was reading and I couldn't help but go on and on as to how much I loved this book! It was absolutely outstanding! (I actually broke out in a chorus of "My favorite things" the other day in front of my 8 yr old and he had the oddest expression on his face...priceless!)

I hope Cheryl Cory decides to write many more novels! If so, I may just turn out to be her biggest fan!

This is a great book, very funny and entertaining. To think of it solely as 'chick-lit' is a major disservice. Guys, like myself, will enjoy the characters and plot and irreverent humor as much as anyone. Sylvie's trials in the classroom are amusing, especially if one has any background in teaching, and it is nice to note her progress at adapting to this new situation as the school year progresses. This is really a neat book we can all like.

This is a great book. I loved it. My wife read it too and she loved it. It's a must buy!!

Great job product arrived on time. The book we ordered was in great condition. I would definately order from you again

The book was good. Cope takes you through the golden years of the Steelers and gives you a behind the scene look at the players, coaches, and the Rooneys. He's got some great stories as well and his honesty is clearly evident throughout the book. This is a must read for any Steelers fan especially one who lived through the Super Bowls of the 70's.

Myron is unquestionably the king of Pgh. Reading this book brought back a ton of fond memories from when I lived in the 'Burg. I highly recommend to anyone who has Pgh ties or is at all familiar with Myron.

To grow up in Pittsburgh during the 1970s a Steeler fan is to grow up loving Myron Cope and this book is a great example of why we love Myron. It is Cope at his most honest and revealing. He does not portray himself as something he is not, but as a flawed man who has worked hard and lived a great life. Of course there are the terrific tales of the Steelers' teams that Cope has covered from the broadcast booth and the characters that have populated them. Any Steelers fan will enjoy this book.

Double Yoi is the one of the best books that I have ever read. It is truely an entertaining read. It is a well written biographical look at Myron Cope's career in journalism and broadcasting as well as a combination of some of his favorite anecdotes. Any one who loves Myron Cope should read this book as well as those who hate him. I think that they will find a new appreciation for the Pittsburgh Icon. Cope also threw in some criticisms of things and people he doesn't really care for but he does this in a classy way. I am a huge Steeler fan but I don't think that one needs to be to enjoy this book.
Great Job Myron!!

Very happy with the product and service. If you communicate w the publisher you might tell them the cover art is hideous. Will order from you again

This book was cool and cool and awesome and i liked it...... no thats not right....i LOVED it. its REALLY good...You should read the first one first so it makes sense......ya.. so... end of review. *triumphant music*
PS. i'm 11 years old

My son read Detectives in Togas last year and loved it! This is part two. Not as good as D in T but still kept his attention.

This book was about a class that had to find out which one of their fathers would be murdured and why. Their teacher helps them solve it also. This was a good book.

My 9 year-old son had to do a book report on a historical fiction book about Rome. We read this together, as it was a little above his reading level in places. My 7 year-old listened as well. We read it in 3 days, if they had had their way, we would have finished in one. They loved this story. I stopped in several places and we recounted the logic of characters, trying to figure out the mystery ourselves. I also had a map of ancient Rome handy, to follow the various wanderings of the characters. Knowing your Greek/Roman myths is a plus, this book is a great application for those just finishing studying the ancient myths. For those concerned about violence and character issues, there are many situations that present themselves in the story for discussion. We had a few times where we stopped and asked, "What do you think about that decision?" A great book, WE highly recommend it!