Boys Keep Swinging

Boys Keep Swinging
Author: Jake Shears
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 5
Release: 2018-02-20
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1501140140

In this “exhilarating yet poignant account of one boy taking flight” (Shelf Awareness, starred review), one of rock music's most entrancing figures transforms the vividness of his musical world into an unforgettable literary account of overcoming the odds and finding his true voice. Long before hitting the stage as the lead singer of the iconic glam rock band Scissor Sisters, Jake Shears was Jason Sellards, a teenage boy living a fraught life, resulting in a difficult time in high school as his classmates bullied him and few teachers showed sympathy. It wasn’t until years later, while living and studying in New York City, that Jason would find his voice as an artist and, with a group of friends and musicians who were also thirsting for stardom and freedom, form the band Scissor Sisters. First performing in the smoky gay nightclubs of New York, then finding massive success in the United Kingdom, Scissor Sisters would become revered by the LGBTQ community, sell out venues worldwide, and win multiple accolades with hits like “Take Your Mama” and “I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’,” as well as their cult-favorite cover of Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb.” “Brutally honest” (Elton John), candid, and courageous, Shears’s writing sings with the same powerful, spirited presence that he brings to his live performances. Boys Keep Swinging is “a wild, sexy, emotional ride through underground New York at the millennium. From the fringes to the top, it's a tale that speaks to the outsider in all of us” (Andy Cohen).

David Bowie Is...

David Bowie Is...
Author: Camille Paglia
Publisher: Victoria & Albert Museum
Total Pages: 330
Release: 2013-04-16
Genre: Art
ISBN:

David Bowie's career as a pioneering artist spanned nearly 50 years and brought him international acclaim. He continues to be cited as a major influence on contemporary artists and designers working across the creative arts. This book, published to accompany the blockbuster international exhibition launched at London's Victoria and Albert Museum, is the only volume that grants access to Bowie's personal archive of performance costumes, ephemera, and original design artwork by the artist, bringing it together to present a completely new perspective on his creative work and collaborations. The book traces his career from its beginnings in London, through the breakthroughs of Space Oddity and The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, and on to his enormous impact on 20th-century avant-garde music and art. Essays by V&A curators on Bowie's London, image, and influence on the fashion world are complemented by Howard Goodall on musicology; Camille Paglia on gender and decadence, and Jon Savage on Bowie's relationship with William Burroughs and his fans. The more than 300 color illustrations include personal and performance photographs, album covers, costumes, original lyric sheets, and much more. Praise for David Bowie Is "Perusing David Bowie Is (V&A Publishing, distributed by Abrams), the exhibition's catalog, with its procession of poses and costumes and weighty essays tracking the cross-references to pop culture and high art, you get a sense of how much hard work it took to be Mr. Bowie." --The New York Times "The fans of 50 years or those making discoveries in retrospect will be intrigued by the accompanying book David Bowie Is that is far more than a fanzine."--The New York Times "Lends context and picks away at Bowie with such insight that it's a rare hagiography with soul." --Chicago Tribune "Combining top-notch articles on the singer/actor's life and work with official images and reproductions of his fashion and associated ephemera, the hefty, mango-colored book is nothing short of a treasure trove of all things Bowie; a one-stop smorgasbord for the eyes whose pictorials chronicle the groundbreaking star from Ziggy Stardust to Thin White Duke to Heathen and every personality in between." --Examiner.com

American Science Fiction Television and Space

American Science Fiction Television and Space
Author: Joel Hawkes
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 312
Release: 2023-03-05
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 3031105281

This collection reads the science fiction genre and television medium as examples of heterotopia (and television as science fiction technology), in which forms, processes, and productions of space and time collide – a multiplicity of spaces produced and (re)configured. The book looks to be a heterotopic production, with different chapters and “spaces” (of genre, production, mediums, technologies, homes, bodies, etc), reflecting, refracting, and colliding to offer insight into spatial relationships and the implications of these spaces for a society that increasingly inhabits the world through the space of the screen. A focus on American science fiction offers further spatial focus for this study – a question of geographical and cultural borders and influence not only in terms of American science fiction but American television and streaming services. The (contested) hegemonic nature of American science fiction television will be discussed alongside a nation that has significantly been understood, even produced, through the television screen. Essays will examine the various (re)configurations, or productions, of space as they collapse into the science fiction heterotopia of television since 1987, the year Star Trek: Next Generation began airing.

Just Boys Doing Business?

Just Boys Doing Business?
Author: Tim Newburn
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 303
Release: 2013-11-05
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1136143963

What is it about crime that makes it `men's work'? Can we imagine masculinity without crime? This is the first book of its kind to bring contributors from three continents together to examine the relationship between masculinity and crime. Covering such areas as policing, prisons, violence against women, homicide, white-collar crime, and male victimisation, this book will force us to rethink many aspects of masculinity and crime.

Music/Video

Music/Video
Author: Gina Arnold
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 329
Release: 2017-08-10
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1501313908

This book is a lively, comprehensive and timely reader on the music video, capitalising on cross-disciplinary research expertise, which represents a substantial academic engagement with the music video, a mediated form and practice that still remains relatively under-explored in a 21st century context. The music video has remained suspended between two distinct poles. On the one hand, the music video as the visual sheen of late capitalism, at the intersection of celebrity studies and postmodernism. On the other hand, the music video as art, looking to a prehistory of avant-garde film-making while perpetually pushing forward the digital frontier with a taste for anarchy, controversy, and the integration of special effects into a form designed to be disseminated across digital platforms. In this way, the music video virally re-engenders debates about high art and low culture. This collection presents a comprehensive account of the music video from a contemporary 21st century perspective. This entails revisiting key moments in the canonical history of the music video, exploring its articulations of sexuality and gender, examining its functioning as a form of artistic expression between music, film and video art, and following the music video's dissemination into the digital domain, considering how digital media and social media have come to re-invent the forms and functions of the music video, well beyond the limits of “music television”.

More Than Illustrated Music

More Than Illustrated Music
Author: Kathrin Dreckmann
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 196
Release: 2023-02-23
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1501381245

The genre of the video clip has been established for more than thirty years, mainly served by the sub genres of video art and music video. This book explores processes of hybridization between music video, film, and video art by presenting current theoretical discourses and engaging them through interviews with well-known artists and directors, bringing to the surface the crucial questions of art practice. The collection discusses topics including postcolonialism, posthumanism, gender, race and class and addresses questions regarding the hybrid media structure of video, the diffusion between content and form, art and commerce as well as pop culture and counterculture. Through the diversity of the areas and interviews included, the book builds on and moves beyond earlier aesthetics-driven perspectives on music video.

Ashes to Ashes

Ashes to Ashes
Author: Chris O'Leary
Publisher: Watkins Media Limited
Total Pages: 597
Release: 2019-02-12
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1912248360

A comprehensive exploration of the final four decades of David Bowie’s musical career—covering every song he wrote, performed, or produced In Ashes to Ashes, the ultimate David Bowie expert offers a song-by-song retrospective of the legendary pop star's musical career from 1976 to 2016. Starting with Low, the first of Bowie's Berlin albums, and finishing with Blackstar—his final masterpiece released just days before his death in 2016—each song is annotated in depth and explored in essays that touch upon the song's creation, production, influences and impact.

The Complete David Bowie (Revised and Updated 2016 Edition)

The Complete David Bowie (Revised and Updated 2016 Edition)
Author: Nicholas Pegg
Publisher: Titan Books (US, CA)
Total Pages: 1305
Release: 2016-12-06
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1785655337

The biggest edition yet – expanded and updated with 35,000 words of new material Critically acclaimed in its previous editions, The Complete David Bowie is widely recognized as the foremost source of analysis and information on every facet of Bowie’s career. The A-Z of songs and the day-by-day dateline are the most complete ever published. From the 11-year-old’s skiffle performance at the 18th Bromley Scouts’ Summer Camp in 1958, to the emergence of the legendary lost album Toy in 2011, to his passing in January 2016, The Complete David Bowiediscusses and dissects every last development in rock’s most fascinating career. * The Albums – detailed production history and analysis of every album from 1967 to the present day. * The Songs – hundreds of individual entries reveal the facts and anecdotes behind not just the famous recordings, but also the most obscure of unreleased rarities – from ‘Absolute Beginners’ to ‘Ziggy Stardust’, from ‘Abdulmajid’ to ‘Zion’. * The Tours – set-lists and histories of every live show. * The Actor – a complete guide to Bowie’s career on stage and screen. * Plus – the videos, the BBC radio sessions, the paintings, the Internet and much more.

David Bowie: The Music and The Changes

David Bowie: The Music and The Changes
Author: David Buckley
Publisher: Omnibus Press
Total Pages: 184
Release: 2015-05-11
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1783236175

David Bowie: The Music and The Changes is the ultimate guide to the music of the genius, fashion icon and near-mythical rock god. Author, David Buckley, was awarded a PhD on David Bowie so is best placed to guide you through an album by album and track by track exploration of this incredible man's incredible music. The Music and The Changes kicks off with a timeline of Bowie's life, from his humble beginnings to his early albums to conquering the charts in the 1970s and 1980s and cementing his status as one of rock and pop music's most admired artists and icons. The real highlight for fans and those just getting into Bowie is the album by album and track by track analysis of every single one of his albums, up to and including his most recent release 'The Next Day'. Wonderfully engrossing and incredibly detailed, this is indisputably the most complete analysis of Bowie's music ever published. Boasting release information, biography, historical details, full track listings and fascinating comments on individual tracks, David Bowie: The Music and The Changes is an authoritative and comprehensive guide to one of rock's most intriguing figures.

One Last Question

One Last Question
Author: Mike Pattenden
Publisher: eBook Partnership
Total Pages: 191
Release: 2021-06-24
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1913062864

Some secrets are carried to the grave. Others don't make it as far. Every year the Boys plan a weekend away. A weekend of drinking, laughter and piss-taking by the sea - it's been a tradition of the six of them for as more years than they can remember. Now, suddenly, the six has become five. Will - clever, funny, dependable Will - has died. In the months leading up to his death, Will plans the next Boys weekend, knowing he will be unable to be there with them. As always he researches the place, books the accommodation, and prepares his brainmelter quiz - the quiz that slots neatly into the drinking, laughing and piss-taking and which is the centerpiece to the annual weekend away. Now, the remaining Boys assemble in the house by the sea in Dungeness that Will has booked for them. Already grappling with the grief of losing their friend, the Boys are dreading pressing play on the video, and when they do, their grief turns to horror as Will slowly reveals secrets about each of them in a series of increasingly provocative questions. During their stay the group has become entangled with a volatile local steroid dealer and his abused sister and when he challenges the group once more, just as they face the fallout from the quiz, there are dramatic and disastrous consequences.Peppered with barbed dialogue and pop cultural references, One Last Question is a blackly humorous story of friendship, loss and men ageing disgracefully.