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91-92 106-107 98-99 94-95

lots of picture pages are blank also.

I had to return the book for this reason. Otherwise this book was a good inside view of the music business and the experience.

As always, when dealing with books on legendary people like Hendrix, you're better off with something written by someone who was actually *there*. And Noel Redding certainly was there.

Certainly one of the best books I've read on Hendrix.

On the album covers, to the left of Jimi The Space Mystic was a cocky, brash, sneering John "Mitch" Mitchell. To his right was a seemingly chronically dour individual whose facial expression seemed to convey that life was just a bit too much to bear at times. He was/is the former bassist, co-guitarist,sometime songwriting collaborator of the Jimi Hendrix Experience, and now author, Noel Redding.

This book was farmed around since 1990 under the working title, "Standing Next To A Mountain", and was co-written by his late wife, Carol Appleby, from Noel's meticulously maintained diaries. As it turns out, this isn't a Hendrix book, per se -- just over half of the book is devoted to Hendrix, and then only from Noel's perspective; why he left the Electric Ladyland sessions, for instance. The rest of the book is about how Mr. Redding, a struggling young musician from Kent, England, responded to an ad in the music trades and accidentally stumbled headlong, a la Kilgore Trout, into fame, "fortune" and a three year Mother Of All Experiences as sideman to the legendary Jimi Hendrix. His departure from the group led to its ultimate disbanding, and was equally accidental and inauspicious, albeit inevitable.

The story really begins following Redding's departure from the Experience. Believing that his former association with Hendrix afforded him the cache and star power to strike out on his own as a musician, Redding undertook certain projects with varying degrees of failure. Then began The Big Slide. Redding details life after the Experience with sometimes startling frankness and introspection. Near destitute around the time of Hendrix' death in 1970, he set about legally challenging the estate for back royalties due to him. Since his death 29 years ago, according to Redding, the Hendrix estate has amassed some $200,000,000, yet contracts signed by him seem to have inured to the benefit of the intricate web of lawyers, handlers, producers and off-shore interests, and currently, the Hendrix family.

There are some interesting tidbits about Jimi that haven't already been covered by the numerous Hendrix bios in circulation. For example, Redding claims that the smash-up that landed Jimi in a Scandanavian jail in 1968 was a result of his rebuff of a sexual advance from Hendrix(?). Also, he seems to indicate that Hendrix was something of a heroin junkie, a charge that has been vehemently denied by others in his circle. He says there was no racial animous among the members of the Experience, but claims that drummer Mitch Mitchell treated him as though he were a low-class hick. Redding neglects to mention that he used to call Jimi "the coon from America".

Overall, a very compelling, disturbing story told with unflinching honesty. He speaks of Hendrix with equal measures of awe, disgust, anger, love, hate and reverence -- sometimes in the same sentence. Other than an annoying tendency to use "it's" instead of "its" where appropriate, a damned good read (although the business parts do tend to be a bit tedious). Recommended to Electric Man and Woman alike.

After watching and loving the movie, I absolutely had to read the book! I knew the book was written 20+ years ago, and is a true crime/memoir, so I had to know -- was everything in the movie true or were parts added to give it that Hollywood excitement? The tricks and scams pulled in the movie were so unbelieveable. So imagine my surprise...

Frank Abagnale, Jr. is most likely the smartest, most brilliant con man that ever lived. How he duped as many people as he did is beyond me. But he did it -- over and over and over again. It all begins when Frank's father gives him his first car at age 16 and all the female attention he receives as a result. Spending money on the ladies is his new hobby and forging checks and pulling scams is how he does it. And from that point on, the journey only gets more twisted and wild.

It is quite obvious throughout the pages of this book that Frank is rather pleased with himself and all he's gotten away with. Catch Me If You Can is truly a fun book to read, especially knowing that it is all true despite its high "unbelieveability" quotient. Frank Abagnale Jr. was one heck of a gutsy kid, and the ride on which readers are taken is full of surprises and mouth-gaping astonishment. A real whirlwind of a read.

He sure did. What starts off as an annoying, arrogant read quickly turns into the sort of real-life account that leaves you saying, "No way..." Abagnale conned his way into a pilot's uniform, a law practice, hospital rounds, and 6 months in a French prison, and he'll take you with him if you let him.

My roommate recommended this to me for fun, but warned me that she had quit reading it after the first 20 pages. I almost didn't even get that far. Abagnale's narrative voice is one of the most immediately annoying I've ever read; he comes across in the initial chapters as a chauvinistic (women are "delicious foxes"--did ANYBODY ever sound so dull?), arrogant, self-pitying (despite his wavering between denials and awareness of this) jerk from a bored suburban home.

Keep reading, though, and you won't be disappointed. What starts off as tentative bad-check-floating quickly becomes full-blown international larceny. More amusing, though, and more disturbing, are the ends to which Abagnale's capers force him. By the end of the story, feeling the heat, he abandons his pilot scam and ends up faking a Harvard Law degree and practicing law, and the pace picks up so quickly at this point that the last chapters rush by. Abagnale ends up in jail in France, and then in Sweden (and, apparently, there was a whole line-up of countries wanting to try him!), but the book's not over there; he's way too resourceful a con-artist to go quietly, and his post-arrest movements are even more exciting than anything before.

It's a fast-paced, fun read. The prose is at times appallingly bad, with metaphors that are both overdone and mixed ("I wanted to be one of the bulls in this Georgia peach orchard"), and, as Abagnale goes on and on about how much he likes women and how often he likes them, you'll start to see in him the high-school kid who talks such big talk because he never walks the walk and thinks you won't like him unless he does. This book could have been punchier and better (and about 100 pages shorter) without those digressions.

Still, by and large, I'd recommend it. I couldn't put it down for the last 150 pages, as it moves quickly and crazily, and Abagnale and his co-writer are careful to up the ante as the story progresses. All of which makes for a satisfying light read.

This book covers many things that the movie left out. For example, you learn why if you are going to commit crimes around the world, you might not want to commit any in France. (Their prison system is ROUGH.)

Perhaps if Mr. Abagnale hadn't compulsively committed crimes even when he had plenty of money, he wouldn't have nearly died in a French jail.

There is also a great interview at the end of the book where Mr. Abagnale discusses how to fight the war on terrorism among other things.

It was nice to hear the other side of Otis Redding's upcoming family and friends (something different) in this book.

However, it would have been really good to hear what Otis Redding's Stax family (1963 - 1967) really had to say about him in this book when they were working closely behind him in the studio and also to mention what do they think about him after 35yrs since his death...That part should have been added on to this book..Otis has a Stax's family too...

I dont think its fair to have that old little bits and bits statements that was pick up from another story from a book or magazine so long ago...that I what notice in this book called Otis!..

This book was clearly written on one side of the story. I am sure that there are many untold stories told about Otis Redding, in the studio that the stax family can really tell us today.

For example, of many...I would like to know from Issac Hayes side of the story, his memory of singing in the background song in Otis Redding's song and why it happened.. The song was called "Fa-Fa-Fa Sad Song"...stories like that should have been brought more.

No matter what is said, Otis Redding will live on forever.....

It was exciting to read about the Big "O".I was ... fed on his music,thanx to my mother.She was so in love with him that she received sympathy cards when he died.It was like a death in my family.......Reading about Otis's childhood was interesting..He is my favorite male vocalist of all time!!..No other male singer sings with as much emotion..Rugged and raw!!.An important fact mentioned was the racial tensions of the times,and how music and musicians were civil rights activists in their own way..I was most surprised to learn how "Satisfaction" was born..Otis sang this song like he loved it!!..And he had just learned it the day it was recorded!..A musical genius........Otis's music still gets played in regular rotation at my house......Rest In Peace "O".

I think that Scott Freeman did a Good Solid Job here with this Book.it captures many elements of Ottis Redding.it's a shame that a Major Film&Other things haven't been brought out to capture the Man fully.He did alot in His Short time on Earth.this Book Brings alot to life.The Man as a Artist was One of The Baddest Ever I have Heard.

... Eric and D'Eva Redding's Great Big Beautiful Doll exposes the dark side of the playmate, from her humble beginnings as Vickie Lynn Hogan of Mexia, Texas to Vickie Lynn Smith, to Anna Nicole Smith, the latter name she got from Guess? Jeans president Paul Marciano. From there, Redding details someone who vulgarly flaunted sex, who was under a cloud of booze and drugs, and who wasn't above having sex with other women in front of the authors and even her own son.

Yet there is an incident in which both sides of the story are told. It involves Maria Ceratto, a former Honduran housekeeper who claims Anna Nicole forced her to have sex with her and basically held her captive by changing the phone number and not telling her. Anna Nicole on the other hand claims it was Maria who was doing the harassing.

There's even an entire chapter dedicated to Jay Leno's punches on her in his monologue, mainly concerning her marriage to Marshall. Two of the funniest: "I don't want to say he's old, but yesterday she told him to act his age--and he died." "She said they're two peas in a pod. ... It's more like two cantaloupes and a prune." Ouch and double ouch!

There are photos in the book, pictures as a child, nude ones, and a not-so-flattering police mug shot for a DWI.

So is this book credible? Well, let's see, Redding took the Polaroids that led to Anna Nicole's jump to fame. Both he and his wife were around her during that time, plus Anna-Nicole hasn't sued the Reddings. And Reddings portray themselves as being simultaneously disillusioned and feeling sorry at what she's become. To quote from the intro: "It would be easy to make fun of Anna, but we can't. Maybe it's a case of 'we knew her when,' but we did--and we liked her then." Yet at the same time, the bio comes off as being sensationalistic and somewhat exploitative.

For Anna-Nicole Smith sycophants, this book truly trashes their idol, so don't bother. If you totally loathe Anna Nicole, this book is ammunition for you. If you're ambivalent about her, well, maybe it's worth a read.

Vicky Lynn Hogan from Mexia, Texas....

Written by Eric and D'eva Redding, who worked with Anna Nicole Smith in the past. They were intimate with Anna both personally and professionally. Their writings and observations have been widely corroborated.

The story begins with the buxom blonde waitress at a chicken diner in a small (proud as usual for no reason) Texas town. It ends with her having achieved a dream, albeit with a few bumps and turns along the way. Anna Nicole Smith did make it to the industry heights, modeling and being "Playmate of the Year" in Playboy magazine. She sponsored Guess Jeans before they dumped her. She also appeared in some film roles. She took the only thing she had (like the rest of us) and sold it: herself. She acted upon opportunities, and that is success in itself.

But what can turn a reader against her (who are we to judge another person in the first place?) was her treatment of Marshall II, the 91-year-old-near-death man she married, for one and only one reason: da money. Nothing wrong with wanting security, and he wanted to marry her. But on her end she provided him with damaging neglect, lies, humiliation, and abandonment. After their wedding vows were exchanged she immediately left for Greece that very same day with her body-guard/lover on the obtuse pretenses of having to do a "cover shoot." When Marshall II died 14 months later she hadn't even visited him in a month. Later she would sue in court to abscond with "half of what he was worth." She claimed in court Marshall II promised her "half of what he had." There was never anything in writing to this claim. While he was alive during their brief marriage, having spent unlimited amounts on Anna's monthly allowance, buying her homes, cars, trips, clothes and more, he made an irrevocable will cutting her out of his net worth.

For Anna, life in West Los Angeles in the media spotlight appealed to grandiose inclinations. She rented the Brentwood home where Marylin Monroe died on Helena Street in her futile attempt to parrot her--Anna should have gone all the way.

Some of the bad publicity for Anna came from:
Her Honduaran house-cleaner and nanny charged her with sexual assault and other abuses and received $800,000 dollars from a jury.

Public debauchery in the fast and furious LA nightlife scene. Pills, booze, and late-night drive-thru Taco Bell binges. Nothing wrong with debauchery, but with her endorsement of products and the paparazzi snapping away, she was on the road to being non-sponsor.

After her pseudo-hubby died, she tried to change the funeral plans and disposal Marshall's body, even though he had previously stipulated his wishes to be cremated in writing. By Anna claiming she converted to Catholicism (laugh), which opposes cremation, she muddled up the funeral 'ceremoney', forcing a court (yes, a court once again) to decide what should be done with Marshall's body. Even in his death, she offered insult to injury to the memory of Marshall II and his family.

Soon after, she sued for money he didn't want here to have. A federal judge (in LA of course) broke Marshall II's will and gave her 450 million dollars, even though he legally and specifically ommited her from his will. Is this America?

When a rich person dies that's when the war begins. When it comes to money there are usually a lot of fingers in the pie. When it comes to money....

Marshall II's son came to the rescue. Pierce Marshall, son, and stellar attorney Rusty Hardin (he had Texan written all over him) took on Anna in a Houston courtroom. She was exposed for what she was. In the end another judge reduced her 450 million (LA court) judgment to a paltry 88 million dollars.

She got da money in the end and today in 2003, she has a T.V. show. But knowing her, she'll file for bankruptcy within 10 years, if she doesn't eat herself to death, O.D., or crash her car. Again, my question is: Vicky Lynn Hogan, a " great big beautiful doll?" Maybe an ever-expanding over-inflated one full of hot air, glazed eyes and bad breath.

i for one have to say i am a big anna nicole smith fan!! i love her to death so this book wouldnt change my mind no matter what! this book i read with in a day i cannot put it down. The one thing i can say is anna nicole smith has led a very fascinating life and as the one woman said she has had it real hard and this book is very sad to. I learned alot of facts although i am not saying its a lie you don't know what people are saying about you just to bad mouth you cause your famous. Although the whole black bodyguard was good they could have totally made her look bad and they didnt so i don't know how truthful it is probalby is mostly but i have to say its a very sad book and this woman has a had it ruff no matter what people say.

Walter Anderson was an extremely unique and interesting fellow. After hearing about him, I wanted to see some of his paintings and read more about him. The book has many color plates which will give you more than a feel for his style. The introductory chapter provides a nice biography and is in large measure an essay on his artistic style and philosophy, as viewed by Redding Sugg, jr. The bulk of the book, (pages 38 to 236)are transcribed log entries by the artist himself. I am glad that what was included was included, but after about the 100th page of "today I saw a duck. A boat went by. I drew a Pelican. The wind was blowing.....", it gets a bit boring. Still, I wanted to learn about this guy and I feel that, having read the book, I have done so.

I have been interested in Walter Inglis Anderson since I first saw some of his stunning watercolors and woodcuts. This book allows the reader to see the world through his eyes and to experience with him the wonders of nature. It records the time he spent living, sans shelter other than his overturned rowboat, on Horn Island, an island off the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Anyone who loves Anderson's work (and if you've not seen it, you should) will love this chance to delve into his philosophies and insights as he tries to capture the world around him perfectly through pen, ink, and watercolor.

The book is very informative and insightful. The book is full of new concepts and ideas. The book makes you use your mind to comprehend new ways of thinking and analyzing situations. It is soul food for the mind. It was very enjoyable and easy to read and understand. It is a book that can be read by people of different intellectual abilities. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in improving his or her life.

AT THE OTHER SIDE OF THE LENS

33 Female filmmakers portrayed and asked about their experiences in the film profession,which has been dominated by men for so long.

By Rob van Scheers

Towards the end of the film centennial women have managed to take up a position at the other side of the lens: no longer on screen only as actresses, but behind the camera, calling the shots. This generation in the post-feminist era is the subject of the book 'Film Fatales: Independent Women Directors'. Subdivided into four thematic sections (Documentary Film; Experimental Film; Narrative Film; Beyond the Director's Chair), the book has a pleasant, internationally oriented scope, also making it a crash course in 'female filmmakers from all corners of the world'.

Most people are more or less familiar with successful directors like Susan Seidelman (US), Mira Nair (India), Jane Campion (New Zealand), Marleen Gorris (the Netherlands) and Patricia Rozema (Canada). Other faces are introduced by Judith M. Redding and Victoria A. Brownworth for the first time to an audience which exceeds the specialised in-crowd. Because it is almost always interesting to listen to craftspeople talking passionately about their profession, the relative obscurity of a number of them is not necessarily a drawback in this volume.

PRAGMATIC

Because of the context of the book, the reader obviously starts looking for the female filmmakers'shared experiences, other than the perpetual budgetary problems that are generally applicable to the independent film scene. ('When does a documentary filmmaker know that she is in Hollywood?' the American filmmaker Jessica Lu asked rhetorically, when she was there in 1996 to pick up an Academy Award for her film 'Breathing Lessons: The Life and Work of Mark O'Brien'. The answer: 'When her dress is more expensive than her film.') But just as a book about female authors or female (pop) musicians would result in a pandemonium of opinions, the female directors, both thematically and stylistically, appear to aim for a wide diversity. A sign of maturity, I would say,because unlike in the seventies, the filmmakers are no longer judged by the politically correct content of their utterances (and fortunately they are not steered in that direction by the interviewers).

The pioneer work is largely behind them. 'It's a good thing I was as naive as I was when I started,' Susan Seidelman (maker of films like 'Smithereens', 'Desperately Seeking Susan' and 'She-Devil') says looking back. 'I didn't realize how few women directors there were, how hard it was for women to do what men had been doing for years. (-) The good thing for me about the women's movement was I just thought I could do it, just go out and direct.' This is how pragmatic most of the filmmakers in this book turn out to be, an approach which has led to many a priceless piece of work in the past two decades.

FEMALE LENS?

Therefore, when reading this book, it is not easy to answer the question whether there is something like 'the female lens'. In her commercially not very successful film 'Grace of My Heart' (1996), highly appreciated by music lovers, Allison Anders told the dramatised life story of songwriter Carole King. It is not a 'women's film' by definition: it recounts an episode from the history of popular culture, with an extraordinarily talented woman as the main character. That female directors would like to approach eroticism on the screen differently from their male counterparts is neither a conclusion that can be drawn on the basis of this book: Lizzie Borden (of films like 'Born In Flames', 'Working Girls' and 'Let's Talk About Sex') perceives a 'very anti-sexual time' in our juncture, that goes beyond the fear of AIDS, and that has monopolised Hollywood. Her ambition: 'What I really want to do is show an erection on screen - to actually show a man getting an erection. That is something you never see, even in pornography. An erection has been used as an instrument of brutality toward women in movies - I'd like to turn that around - show it as sexual desire.' Other female directors (Mira Nair, Lourdes Portillo or Julie Dash) rather present ethnicity as their main theme, taking for granted relationships between men and men, women and women and women and men.

THE FIRST ACADEMY AWARD

Seen in this light, the fact that Dutch Marleen Gorris managed to acquire an Academy Award in 1996 as the first female director with 'Antonia' (American title: 'Antonia's Line', awarded in the category 'Best Foreign Language Film') must have been both encouraging and alarming. In many ways, 'Antonia' was pervaded with a typical 'seventies-women's-film' atmosphere, which is precisely the tone most younger female directors want to abandon. But it is true: to win the prize was a milestone. Because: of all the male film bastions ever to be demolished, Hollywood, long after the documentary world and the independent film, is the final headquarters that has to 'come round'. Judging from the extent of passion exposed in 'Film Fatales', this can only be a matter of time.

Rob van Scheers is author of 'PAUL VERHOEVEN' - the biography on the Dutch filmmaker, published by Faber&Faber in november 1997

It would be hard to find a more comfortable and comforting set of prayer-poetry in a single small volume. The kind of book that makes you smile inside whenever you happen upon it again in your stacks. My mother has the only volume I've seen, and gave one other to a dying sister. If anyone knows where copies for purchase can be found, please post it here. If Strawberry Press is listening, please replenish your stock of this precious little gem. M.Frazier, Houston

So I bought this without even bothering to read any of the chapters. Boy, was THAT a mistake, but I read it because I didn't have anything else at the time. If you're real desperate for supernatural stories, and I mean REAL desperate, than I guess you could get this book. If you're into stories like "Aperitif" (by Susan Raffo): the story about the woman who relates having her glass eye [filled] with sex or the story about a guy who gets trapped on a sheet of film-yes CAMERA FILM - ("Newtime Cowboy" by Joyce Wagner)then this is the book for you. Unfortuately, as you can see, this WASN'T the book for me but everyone has their own tastes.

Excellent Book! Very entertaining. Hard to put down. A bunch of very talented women.

Where else can you spice up your love interests reading this book for ideas and plumming the depth of your soul to achieve everything you can possibly drain from your mind to THINK you've achieved it! Goth forever!

Finally, a useful book for the layman.I was very disappointed in the layout (editing) of the book. The reader must fumble through the book to find tables for medications to treat various conditions. The medical advice is sound and very useful. Revamp the book with an index that is usable.