Author: Lázaro Droznes
Publisher: Babelcube Inc.
ISBN: 1507111444
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 25
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Book Description
Book description: Elvis Presley’s lifespan is the tragic story of a star prisoner of his own success and the circumstances surrounding him. Teenagers dream about becoming rock stars and Elvis wonders, “What can rock stars dream about?” At 23, Elvis has achieved much more than what he has dreamed of in his wildest fantasies, just to end up trapped in his own image, feeling that his life no longer belongs to him. He is trapped inside the machinery he himself has created. This work of dramatic fiction recreates the most significant moments in the idol’s life through anecdotes and his songs, in order to show a chain of situations that lead an idol to pay the price of fame with his own life.
Author: Ray Connolly
Publisher: Liveright Publishing
ISBN: 1631492810
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 529
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Book Description
A “sympathetic and exceptionally well-written account” (USA Today), Ray Connolly’s biography of the King soars with “spontaneity and electricity” (Preston Lauterbach). Elvis Presley is a giant figure in American popular culture, a man whose talent and fame were matched only by his later excesses and tragic end. A godlike entity in the history of rock and roll, this twentieth-century icon with a dazzling voice blended gospel and traditionally black rhythm and blues with country to create a completely new kind of music and new way of expressing male sexuality, which simply blew the doors off a staid and repressed 1950s America. In Being Elvis veteran rock journalist Ray Connolly takes a fresh look at the career of the world’s most loved singer, placing him, forty years after his death, not exhaustively in the garish neon lights of Las Vegas but back in his mid-twentieth-century, distinctly southern world. For new and seasoned fans alike, Connolly, who interviewed Elvis in 1969, re-creates a man who sprang from poverty in Tupelo, Mississippi, to unprecedented overnight fame, eclipsing Frank Sinatra and then inspiring the Beatles along the way. Juxtaposing the music, the songs, and the incendiary live concerts with a personal life that would later careen wildly out of control, Connolly demonstrates that Elvis’s amphetamine use began as early as his touring days of hysteria in the late 1950s, and that the financial needs that drove him in the beginning would return to plague him at the very end. With a narrative informed by interviews over many years with John Lennon, Bob Dylan, B. B. King, Sam Phillips, and Roy Orbison, among many others, Connolly creates one of the most nuanced and mature portraits of this cultural phenomenon to date. What distinguishes Being Elvis beyond the narrative itself is Connolly’s more subtle examinations of white poverty, class aspirations, and the prison that is extreme fame. As we reach the end of this poignant account, Elvis’s death at forty-two takes on the hue of a profoundly American tragedy. The creator of an American sound that resonates today, Elvis remains frozen in time, an enduring American icon who could “seamlessly soar into a falsetto of pleading and yearning” and capture an inner emotion, perhaps of eternal yearning, to which all of us can still relate. Intimate and unsparing, Being Elvis explores the extravagance and irrationality inherent in the Elvis mythology, ultimately offering a thoughtful celebration of an immortal life.
Author: Mark Duffett
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 9780190094133
Category : Presley, Elvis
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
"When talking about Elvis Presley, no one asks "whose Elvis?," but the question might be worth exploring. As a tale of rags-to-riches, Elvis Presley should have epitomized the perfect American success story. And to countless numbers around the world, that exactly is what he represented. But this "Horatio Alger story in drawl" remains, to many in his own country, a pariah. A widely-read 1977 disapproving obituary written by syndicated columnist Mike Royko captured the ambivalence historically attached to Presley and the Southern white working-class culture that he personified. As the popular journalist surmised, "Elvis pulled off a marvelous con. There he was, a Depression-born, unread hillbilly, a marginally-talented pop singer" who "promoted a limited talent into a vast fortune...I think what Presley's success really proves is that the majority of Americans, while fine, decent people, have lousy taste in music." To many, Royko's inference that Elvis reigned as the "King of White Trash culture" merely stated the obvious. Once likened to a "jug of corn liquor at a champagne party," the hip-swiveling "Hillbilly Cat"-turned-B-movie star-turned-Las Vegas spectacle clearly never obtained the credentials necessary to rise above the caricatures and attain legitimacy. According to Simon Frith, Presley "was not just working class but, worse, Southern working class, [the object of] a class contempt which, among other things, assumed that someone like Elvis was incapable of artistry." The chapter will examine this quandary. In doing so, it will place Presley within a context that sheds light not only upon the singer's life and career, but also on the American South of his birth as it relates to the United States of which it is a part. Using Elvis as a means to explore issues of region, class, gender, and taste, the chapter aims to expand our understanding of prejudice and discrimination. In particular, it engages with the work of Linda Ray Pratt, whose 1979 discussion of Elvis and Southern identity is used to consider the nuances of more contemporary political maneuvers"--
Author: Kevin Crouch
Publisher: Bobcat Books
ISBN: 0857127586
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 272
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Book Description
The Gospel According To Elvis celebrates the life and legacy of popular music's most influential single artist with a rich mix of inspirational quotes, biographical anecdotes, facts and memorabilia drawn from his life and work. Covering every period from his humble beginnings in Tupelo, Mississippi through the glory years, to his sand end at Graceland, here is a wealth of revealing glimpses into the life, times and spirituality of Elvis Aaron Presley. This book is organized into 6 thematic sections, on Life, Love, Success, Family, Work and Friendship – The Gospel According To Elvis is an indispensable addition to the bookshelf of any true fan of the King. This unique memoir also contains a 'songography' listing of every recording that Elvis made, and an overview of his film acting career.
Author: Stephanie Watson
Publisher: ABDO
ISBN: 1614789762
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 114
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Book Description
This informative title covers the life Elvis Presley. Readers learn of his childhood in Tupelo, Mississippi and his family's relocation to Memphis, Tennessee. Presley's musical work is discussed, from his beginning singing Ole Shep at a state fair to his collaboration with Sam Phillips at Sun Studios in Memphis to his recording of That's All Right, and his introduction to Colonel Tom Parker to his signing with RCA and his first hits Heartbreak Hotel, Don't Be Cruel, and Hound Dog through his television appearances Ed Sullivan and live performances such as 68 Comeback Special and Aloha From Hawaii. Opposition to his controversial dance moves by parents, ministers and lawmakers is included, including his censorship on the Steve Allen Show and public banning of his music. Elvis's movie career is included with hits such as Love Me Tender, Viva Las Vegas, Jailhouse Rock, and Blue Hawaii as is his military service in the US Army. Presley's courtship with Priscilla Beaulieu is included, as is their marriage and the birth of their daughter Lisa Marie, their home Graceland, and their eventual divorce. Elvis's descent into drug use is included, leading to his death by heart failure at age 42. This book includes details of Elvis's life and covers the controversies surrounding his life and death. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. Essential Library is an imprint of Abdo Publishing, a division of ABDO.
Author: Billy Stanley
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
ISBN: 1400237025
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 254
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Book Description
Behind the glamour and the crowds. Beyond the movies and the records. Apart from all who knew him, wanted to know him, or just wanted to be near him. Billy Stanley knew Elvis Presley as a brother—and as a man of deep faith. From the day Billy Stanley arrived at Graceland and received a bear hug from the King of Rock and Roll to the last conversation they ever had, one thing stayed the same: Elvis’s passion for sharing God’s love with as many people he could. In The Faith of Elvis,Billy illuminates Elvis’s Christian journey—from the notes Elvis made in his beloved Bible to his struggles with sin as his fame increased to his remarkable generosity toward fans and movie stars alike. Through this first-hand account, you will find touching family stories of the Elvis that pop culture doesn’t know; a keen look into how Elvis intricately wove his faith into every part of his life; insights into the ups-and-downs the four brothers experienced while at home and on the road together; and examples of Elvis’s profound influence on others—from those closest to him to his cherished fans and, ultimately, the world at large. Here you will find your own faith strengthened and your heart turned more toward heaven—or as Elvis would say, toward the only true King. Includes a photo insert and discussion and reflection questions for group or individual use.
Author: Maxine Leeds Craig
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199845298
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 242
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Book Description
Explores the feminization, sexualization, and racialization of dance in America since the 1960s.
Author: Bill DeMain
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313026793
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 232
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Book Description
The interviews included in this fascinating collection of discussions with popular songwriters focus on the craft itself—and as such, they are of interest to both music fans and to budding songwriters. What inspires songwriters? Where do their songs come from? What is their process? What do they do when they get stuck? In this book, readers will hear from a vast range of well-known, successful songwriters, many of them performers as well, revealing the nuances of their skill: how they write their songs, from conception to finished work. The book discusses both song history and style. The songs discussed have defined eras and culture. Full of trivia, wisdom, and fascinating revelations from such figures as Tori Amos, Burt Bacharach, David Bowie, Sarah McLachlan, Billy Joel, and John Mayer, In Their Own Words shines a light on what is often and inherently lonely craft. It gives readers a glimpse into a mysterious process and offes rising songwriters a wealth of advice from those who have spent decades successfully sharing their work with the public.
Author: Ricardo Sanchez
Publisher: Carina Press
ISBN: 1426899076
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 196
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Book Description
I'm Floyd—no last name needed, thanks—and I'm a P.I. The only other thing you need to know about me is that I'm not an Elvis impersonator. I live my life fast and hard and yes, in sequined jumpsuits, but more importantly I live my life the way Elvis would have wanted me to. Honestly. With integrity. It was a tip that the King was still alive and living under an assumed name that brought me to Kresge, Wyoming. But there's something bigger than Elvis happening out here. I've been beaten bloody by an acrobatic bartender, roped into the search for a missing councilman, fallen for a bearded lady, and threatened by men in black who really don't want me poking my nose into the town's business. Half of my leads look like dead celebrities. The other half are either refugees from a broken-down circus or spear-holding Viking wannabes. I'm in Crazytown, USA, but I can't leave. Not yet. If I don't find the missing councilman soon, Kresge will be turned into a Danish-themed amusement park. I've never been so close to finding Elvis. And I need to know if my new self-appointed sidekick James Morrison is really who he claims to be… 81,000 words
Author: Malcolm Gladwell
Publisher: Little, Brown
ISBN: 0316535621
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 316
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Book Description
Malcolm Gladwell, host of the podcast Revisionist History and author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Outliers, offers a powerful examination of our interactions with strangers and why they often go wrong—now with a new afterword by the author. A Best Book of the Year: The Financial Times, Bloomberg, Chicago Tribune, and Detroit Free Press How did Fidel Castro fool the CIA for a generation? Why did Neville Chamberlain think he could trust Adolf Hitler? Why are campus sexual assaults on the rise? Do television sitcoms teach us something about the way we relate to one another that isn’t true? Talking to Strangers is a classically Gladwellian intellectual adventure, a challenging and controversial excursion through history, psychology, and scandals taken straight from the news. He revisits the deceptions of Bernie Madoff, the trial of Amanda Knox, the suicide of Sylvia Plath, the Jerry Sandusky pedophilia scandal at Penn State University, and the death of Sandra Bland—throwing our understanding of these and other stories into doubt. Something is very wrong, Gladwell argues, with the tools and strategies we use to make sense of people we don’t know. And because we don’t know how to talk to strangers, we are inviting conflict and misunderstanding in ways that have a profound effect on our lives and our world. In his first book since his #1 bestseller David and Goliath, Malcolm Gladwell has written a gripping guidebook for troubled times.
