The Birth of Loud

The Birth of Loud PDF Author: Ian S. Port
Publisher: Scribner
ISBN: 1501141732
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
“A hot-rod joy ride through mid-20th-century American history” (The New York Times Book Review), this one-of-a-kind narrative masterfully recreates the rivalry between the two men who innovated the electric guitar’s amplified sound—Leo Fender and Les Paul—and their intense competition to convince rock stars like the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, and Eric Clapton to play the instruments they built. In the years after World War II, music was evolving from big-band jazz into rock ’n’ roll—and these louder styles demanded revolutionary instruments. When Leo Fender’s tiny firm marketed the first solid-body electric guitar, the Esquire, musicians immediately saw its appeal. Not to be out-maneuvered, Gibson, the largest guitar manufacturer, raced to build a competitive product. The company designed an “axe” that would make Fender’s Esquire look cheap and convinced Les Paul—whose endorsement Leo Fender had sought—to put his name on it. Thus was born the guitar world’s most heated rivalry: Gibson versus Fender, Les versus Leo. While Fender was a quiet, half-blind, self-taught radio repairman, Paul was a brilliant but headstrong pop star and guitarist who spent years toying with new musical technologies. Their contest turned into an arms race as the most inventive musicians of the 1950s and 1960s—including bluesman Muddy Waters, rocker Buddy Holly, the Beatles, Bob Dylan, and Eric Clapton—adopted one maker’s guitar or another. By 1969 it was clear that these new electric instruments had launched music into a radical new age, empowering artists with a vibrancy and volume never before attainable. In “an excellent dual portrait” (The Wall Street Journal), Ian S. Port tells the full story in The Birth of Loud, offering “spot-on human characterizations, and erotic paeans to the bodies of guitars” (The Atlantic). “The story of these instruments is the story of America in the postwar era: loud, cocky, brash, aggressively new” (The Washington Post).

The Birth of Loud

The Birth of Loud PDF Author: Ian S. Port
Publisher: Scribner
ISBN: 1501141732
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 352

Get Book Here

Book Description
“A hot-rod joy ride through mid-20th-century American history” (The New York Times Book Review), this one-of-a-kind narrative masterfully recreates the rivalry between the two men who innovated the electric guitar’s amplified sound—Leo Fender and Les Paul—and their intense competition to convince rock stars like the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, and Eric Clapton to play the instruments they built. In the years after World War II, music was evolving from big-band jazz into rock ’n’ roll—and these louder styles demanded revolutionary instruments. When Leo Fender’s tiny firm marketed the first solid-body electric guitar, the Esquire, musicians immediately saw its appeal. Not to be out-maneuvered, Gibson, the largest guitar manufacturer, raced to build a competitive product. The company designed an “axe” that would make Fender’s Esquire look cheap and convinced Les Paul—whose endorsement Leo Fender had sought—to put his name on it. Thus was born the guitar world’s most heated rivalry: Gibson versus Fender, Les versus Leo. While Fender was a quiet, half-blind, self-taught radio repairman, Paul was a brilliant but headstrong pop star and guitarist who spent years toying with new musical technologies. Their contest turned into an arms race as the most inventive musicians of the 1950s and 1960s—including bluesman Muddy Waters, rocker Buddy Holly, the Beatles, Bob Dylan, and Eric Clapton—adopted one maker’s guitar or another. By 1969 it was clear that these new electric instruments had launched music into a radical new age, empowering artists with a vibrancy and volume never before attainable. In “an excellent dual portrait” (The Wall Street Journal), Ian S. Port tells the full story in The Birth of Loud, offering “spot-on human characterizations, and erotic paeans to the bodies of guitars” (The Atlantic). “The story of these instruments is the story of America in the postwar era: loud, cocky, brash, aggressively new” (The Washington Post).

Legacies of Great Men in World Soccer

Legacies of Great Men in World Soccer PDF Author: Kausik Bandyopadhyay
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317399668
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 359

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Book Description
Soccer, the world’s most popular mass spectator sport, gives birth to great achievers on the field of play all the time. While some of them become heroes and stars during their playing career, transforming themselves into national as well as global icons, very few come to be remembered as all-time greats. They leave an enduring legacy and thereby claim to be legends by their own rights. While the rise and achievements of these soccer greats have drawn considerable attention from scholars across the world, their legacies across time and space have mostly been overlooked. This volume intends to reconstruct the significance of the legacies of such great men of world soccer particularly in a globalized world. It will attempt to show that these luminous personalities not only represent their national identity at the global stage, but also highlight the proven role of the players or coaches in projecting a global image, cutting across affiliations of nation, region, class, community, religion, gender and so on. In other words, the true heroes, icons and legends of the world’s most popular sport have always floated at a transnational global space, transcending the limits of space, identity or culture of a nation. This book was published as a special issue of Soccer and Society.

An F. Scott Fitzgerald Encyclopedia

An F. Scott Fitzgerald Encyclopedia PDF Author: Robert L. Gale
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313001766
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 546

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Book Description
F. Scott Fitzgerald is one of the most challenging authors of American literature. He is known internationally as the author of The Great Gatsby (1925), a twentieth-century literary classic studied by high school students and scholars alike. But Fitzgerald was an amazingly productive writer despite numerous personal and professional difficulties. From the beginning of his literary career with the publication of This Side of Paradise in 1920 to his death in 1940, he wrote 5 novels, roughly 180 short stories, numerous essays and reviews, much poetry, several plays, and some film scripts. Even when he wrote hastily and perhaps bleary-eyed, his works almost always exhibit the flashes of his genius. He is celebrated as a symbol of the Jazz Age and the Roaring Twenties, but beneath all the glitter for which his prose is famous, he warns of the dangers of personal recklessness and praises the redemptive power of love. Through hundreds of alphabetically arranged entries, this reference book provides complete coverage of Fitzgerald's life and writings. The volume begins with a chronology that traces his rise from obscurity to fame, his struggles with alcoholism, and his eventual financial downfall. The entries that follow give a full and detailed picture of Fitzgerald and his work. They present the essential action in Fitzgerald's novels, short stories, plays, and poems; identify all named fictional characters and indicate their significance; and give brief biographical information for Fitzgerald's family members, friends, and professional associates. Many of the entries include bibliographies which emphasize criticism published after 1990, and the volume closes with a general bibliography of the most important broad studies of Fitzgerald and his works. A thorough index and extensive cross references provide additional access to the wealth of information in this reference book and help make it a useful tool for a wide range of users.

Motown Encyclopedia

Motown Encyclopedia PDF Author: Graham Betts
Publisher: AC Publishing
ISBN: 1311441549
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 811

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Book Description
Motown means different things to different people. The mere mention of perhaps the most iconic record label in history is often enough to invoke memories and mental images of Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, The Jackson 5, The Supremes and numerous others. With each group recalled, there is an accompanying piece of music of the mind, from Baby Love, My Girl, Signed Sealed Delivered, I Heard It Through The Grapevine, ABC and Tears Of A Clown and countless more. Quite often, you can ask people what kind of music they like and they will simply answer ‘Motown’, and both they, and you, know exactly what is meant. Or rather, what is implied. The Motown they are invariably thinking of is the label that dominated the charts in the mid 1960s with a succession of radio friendly, dance orientated hits, most of which were written and produced by the trio of Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Eddie Holland. This period is referred to, naturally enough, as the Golden Era, when Motown was not only the dominant force in its home city of Detroit but carried The Sound of Young America all around the world. The kind of music that had them Dancing In the Street from Los Angeles to London, Miami to Munich and San Francisco to Sydney. It was the kind of music that attracted scores of imitators; some good, some not so good. The kind of music that appealed to the public and presidents alike, and still does. It was that Motown that this book was intended to be about. However, when you start digging deeper into the Motown story, you realise that throughout its life (which, for the purposes of this book, is its formation in 1959 through to its sale in 1988) it was constantly trying other musical genres, looking to grab hits out of jazz, country, pop, rock, middle of the road and whatever else might be happening at the time. Of course it wasn’t particularly successful at some of the other genres, although those who claim Motown never did much in the rock market conveniently overlook the healthy sales figures achieved by Rare Earth, the group, and focus instead on the total sales achieved on Rare Earth, the label. This book, therefore, contains biographies of all 684 artists who had releases on Motown and their various imprints, as well as biographies of 16 musicians, 23 producers, 19 writers and 13 executives. There are also details of the 50 or so labels that Motown owned, licensed to or licensed from. All nine films and the 17 soundtracks are also featured. Every Motown single and album and EP that made the Top Ten of the pop charts in either the US or UK also have their own entries, with 222 singles, 84 albums and five EPs being featured. Finally, there are 36 other entries, covering such topics as the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Motortown Revues, Grammy Awards and the most played Motown songs on radio. The 1,178 entries cover every aspect of Motown and more – of the link between Granny in The Beverly Hillbillies and Wonder Woman, of the artists from Abbey Tavern Singers to Zulema, and the hits from ABC to You Really Got A Hold On Me. The Motown Encyclopedia is the story of Motown Records; Yesterday, Today, Forever.

The Westerners Brandbook

The Westerners Brandbook PDF Author: Westerners. Chicago Corral
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : West (U.S.)
Languages : en
Pages : 642

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Book Description


Legends of Hall

Legends of Hall PDF Author: Kristine Setting Clark
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 9780738561691
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 132

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Book Description
Legends of the Hall: 1950s captures a period of time when playing professional football was for tough, honest men who played solely for the love of the game. The 1950s was an era of crew cuts and nicknames like Crazylegs, Hopalong, and Night Train. The decade began with Sammy Baugh throwing his last passes and ended with the death of Bert Bell. This era also produced some of the greatest quarterbacks ever to play the game. They were known as the glamour boys of the league--Otto Graham, Bob Waterfield, Bobby Layne, Y. A. Tittle, and Bart Starr, to name a few. The incomparable, individual brilliance and unique team chemistry that marked this era have transcended this specific time and place to make Legends of the Hall: 1950s an unforgettable part of the magic and myth of professional football.

Latino Baseball Legends

Latino Baseball Legends PDF Author: Lew Freedman
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313378681
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 386

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Book Description
Told through profiles of the men who have made it a reality, this is the complex story of the triumphs achieved by—and challenges faced by—Latinos who have risen to the heights of Major League Baseball. Latino Baseball Legends: An Encyclopedia offers the most comprehensive, go-to source for everything relating to Latin American baseball stars, tracing the history of Latinos in baseball through the stories of those who have excelled at the game. Colorfully written 3,000-word entries explore the lives and careers of 25 dominant players, from legends such as Roberto Clemente to deserving, but comparatively unknown superstars such as Martin Dihigo. Shorter listings note another 75 Latinos who have figured prominently in the sport. The entries document the importance of baseball in Latin American culture and the way it has evolved in the players' home countries, but the encyclopedia does more than that. Its profiles also expose the difficulties faced by Latino players who are forced to overcome both a language barrier and the discrimination they face because of their skin color. And they demonstrate how proficiency with a bat and ball has become a great engine that can lift families out of poverty and provide hope for indigent youths.

Jewish Sports Legends

Jewish Sports Legends PDF Author: Joseph Siegman
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 1496222121
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 353

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Book Description
Following the 1972 Olympics one sportswriter referred to Mark Spitz, winner of seven gold medals, as “the first great Jewish athlete.” He couldn’t have been more wrong. As Jewish Sports Legends shows, Jews have excelled at athletics for centuries. This engaging volume illuminates the lives and unforgettable accomplishments of Jews in virtually every major sport played worldwide. Baseball stars Sandy Koufax and Hank Greenberg, basketball’s Red Auerbach and Dolph Schayes, and football’s Sid Luckman and Marv Levy are only a few notable examples. With photographs accompanying almost every sports personality, this fifth edition introduces some famous and some not-so-famous Jewish sports greats throughout history. More than eighty new entries have been added to the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame since 2005, among them Lyle Alzado, Max Baer, Ira Berkow, Kenny Bernstein, Sasha Cohen, Shawn Green, Donna Geils Orender, Aly Raisman, and Bud Selig. While most of those profiled are professional sport champions and Olympic gold medalists, the book also features great coaches, officials, journalists, and other significant contributors in every major sport.

Legends of Rock Guitar

Legends of Rock Guitar PDF Author: Pete Prown
Publisher: Hal Leonard
ISBN: 1476850933
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 707

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Book Description
(Book). This book is a virtual encyclopedia of great electric guitar players, with 35 chapters examining the major players in each important era of rock. The book begins with rock's birth from the blues, covering masters like Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters. It proceeds to cover rockabilly greats like Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Buddy Holly; through the mop tops and matching suits of the British Invasion; to the psychedelia of the Dead and Hendrix; glam rock's dresses and distortion; fusion virtuosos like Metheny, Gambale, and Henderson; metal masters; shred stars; grunge gods; grindcore; and much more. Legends of Rock Guitar is not only a great resource for guitar fans, but an interesting and well-researched chronology of the rock idiom.

Legends of Pro Wrestling

Legends of Pro Wrestling PDF Author: Tim Hornbaker
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 161321314X
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 1097

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Book Description
Legends of Pro Wrestling offers the first comprehensive look at the entire world of wrestling. With detailed biographies and neverbefore- seen statistics of some of the greatest athletes in the sport, you will be able to read about hundreds of wrestlers, dating back to the mid-1800s. As the first of its kind, this centralized reference allows wrestling enthusiasts a range of information at their fingertips and stands alone as the “ultimate wrestling resource.” This book offers readers a link between what happened a century ago to what is currently happening today. A fan of Bruno Sammartino or “Nature Boy” Buddy Rogers can enjoy this book as much as someone who follows John Cena or The Undertaker today. This collection is a never-ending source of facts, figures, and other entertaining data. Professional wrestling is a world of accomplishment and legacy. Through injuries, sickness, and family tribulations, many wrestlers have given everything there is to give in the ring and true fans of the sport love every second of it. No matter your age, if you’re a fan of professional wrestling, Legends of Pro Wrestling is the book for you to own and cherish.