Joel Lane, you have amazed me. From the moment I began reading this rare tale of strange love, emotional corruption, and rock music, the prose seemed to find its way into my thoughts during my non-reading moments. This is one of those books that takes you fully through the gamut of every feeling and reaction the human psyche can conceive. The title serves as an excellent overview, those who have read may agree; from a blue sadness, to a black endlessness. I don't care whether you are gay, straight, goth, whatever: there is something in here that will find ways to pleasantly haunt you long after you finish the last page.

This book had me wrapped up from the very beginning. The characters were colorful and three dimensional, while still being realistic. The knowledge and factoids about the bands and music scene mentioned were impeccable and drew in an eerie sense of realism. Even when I wasn't reading this book I was thinking about it. The story is hauntingly beautiful without being over the top or garish. Throw in some tears and you've got a great relaxing read. I really enjoyed this book and recommend it to you to read.

Hayden Carruth, From Snow and Rock, from Chaos (New Directions, 1973)

Hayden Carruth has long been one of the finest poets America has to offer, and this slim volume offers a good number of reasons why. The fifty-eight pages of this collection (which can still be found for its extremely low cover price at Amazon thirty years later!) are far less intimidating to the Carruth novice than the eight hundred plus of Collected Shorter Poems 1946-1991, and while the book doesn't include anything of the magnitude of "Ray" or The Bloomingdale Papers, there is more than enough brilliance here to whet the reader's appetite for more of Carruth's soft, often witty poetry. Moving between structure and free verse with a sure hand in both, there is something in this collection for just about everyone. If you haven't yet discovered Carruth, this is an excellent starting point. **** ½

Many of these poems deal with the poet's perspectives of rural Vermont. Carruth's intensity clashes with a realistic American rural life, creating a very evocative contrast. "The Cows At Night" takes the reader from a lonely country road at night to a search for an understanding of the relationship between beauty, innocence, and sadness. This is an excellent selection from one of our finer poets.

This Get Real is the best of all. Ellerbee weaves together themes like popularity and intelligence with school elections and school violence and vandalism vs. safety vs. freedom. Perfect!

Once again, Linda Ellerbee did again! With another one coming out in a couple of months, she shown us that she is the underdog in the celebrity children book market! BRAVO!

Well written, straight forward biographies of some interesting naturalists. Not overly sentimental- the challenges of their lives are not glossed over, but they are not romanticized either.

As expected, our 2nd grader- the one who can identify half a dozen types of slug in our garden- *loved* this book. What surprised us, though, was that her frilly sister- the one who reckons that gardens are for tea parties- enjoyed the book as well. Don't limit yourself to giving this book to nature-loving girls!

Six women whose interest in nature began as young girls are profiled in short biographies that are interesting and easy to read. The biographies are accompanied by lovely charcoal drawings of each subject engaged in her area of interest as either a young girl or woman or both. The women: Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717), Anna Botsford Comstock (1854-1930), Frances Hamerstrom(1907-1998), Rachel Carson (1907-1964), Miriam Rothschild (1908-), and Jane Goodall (1934-) became noted scientists, teachers and authors but some were often discouraged from pursuing their interets. The book highlights each woman's fundamental understanding of the connections between all living things. This book would be an excellent additon to any middle school library .

Coming from an age group that barely remembers the days of Sun Studio's most talented performers and songwriters, this book drives home the importance and impact of the many talents that emerged from this Memphis-based shrine.

This is a must read for anone who loves rock-n-roll, blues, jazz, or just wants to learn more about the hardships, the triumphs and the many lessons learned in the music industry.

Many top idols are present, but what makes the book such a worthwhile reading are the writings on those less known. My hats off to a true tribute for the sounds and artists of the south!

Have you heard the news? Good Rockin' Tonight is the encyclopedia for all fans of Sam C. Phillips' groundbreaking Memphis Recording Service and Sun/Phillips International labels. Colin Escott and Martin Hawkins, whose expert commentaries appear in the liner notes of many Sun CD reissue packages, deliver thorough accounts of the players and events in the Sun story. Full chapters are devoted to Sun's best-known players (Sam Phillips, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, and Elvis Presley) and the landmark events (the recording of Rocket 88, the arrival of Howlin' Wolf, and the birth of Rockabilly), but the real highlight is the attention to the lesser-known players like Joe Hill Louis, Scotty Moore, Sonny Burgess, Billy Riley, and Roland Janes. They didn't top the charts, but were as important to the creation of the "Sun Sound" as Perkins, Lewis, Cash and Presley were to its export outside the Memphis city limits, and in Good Rockin' Tonight they receive the recognition they deserve. Escott and Hawkins round out the Sun story with a complete discography of all the Sun and Phillips International singles, EPs and LPs released while both labels were active.

Sun was the first powerhouse independent record label of Rock & Roll music. It's catalogue, performed by rough-edged musicians who turned out consistently innovative material and a Top Ten hit here and there, has been exhaustively reissued over the past ten years, much to the delight of Sun connoisseurs. Sadly, the same can't be said of material written about Sun: most of the books (several also written by Escott and Hawkins) are now out of print. Good Rockin' Tonight stands alone as the most comprehensive work dedicated to Sam Phillips and the record label whose influence on popular culture deserves much more.

When I picked up "Gravesites", I expected to find a valuable but dry reference volume. Instead, I was delighted to find myself engrossed in this well-researched but amazingly readable narrative of the author's Graveyard Tour. Clearly, Amos has put a great deal of legwork into "unearthing" this trove of final resting places of the famous and not-so-famous of the Southern musical world. He describes in detail the locations of many graves so that any reader interested in duplicating the Tour could do so. For example, "To visit Furry [Lewis], take the rutted road into Hollywood and proceed to the second left. Just a few yards down, look to your left. His tombstone faces away from the office and is right on the road." Each description of a musician's grave is accompanied by a few lines about the personality residing below.
Amos expressly informs us in the introduction that it is not his intent to provide extensive biographical information about each musician. In fact, to do so would transform this nicely-sized volume into a potentially, very weighty tome. Nevertheless, most readers, I daresay, would not possess the extensive breadth of knowledge of some of the more obscure Blues musicians covered by Amos. Therefore, a bit more text on some of the singers might have been more enlightening. The foregoing is only a minor criticism of the work. The text that is presented is wonderfully informative, candid and, occasionally salty. Two examples of Amos' prose include, "While every two bit Confederate officer and military type gets a mention in the [Elmwood] cemetery brochure and map, the guide ignores [Jimmie Lunceford and Lillie Mae Glover]". Also, "Felton Jarvis, producer of some great Elvis records and a whole lot of [stuff], is also buried at Mt Hope".
Another nice offering by Amos is the appendix entitled, "Music to Hunt Graves By". It is an extensive complilation of some of the author's favorite works. Although, heavy on Blues and Zydeco, one also finds recordings by the B-52s and Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler, he of "Green Beret" fame! About the rcording, "Ballad of the Green Berets", Amos opines, "The whole record is just as good as the single. You can almost smell the napalm in the morning".
Do not be dissuaded by the niche-iness of this fantastic book. The author's love of this, admittedly, peculiar subject is infectious. This reviewer won't seek out all 300 graves but he'll check out, at least, a few of the tombstones.

Edward Amos's Gravesites of Southern Musicians is the perfect roadtrip companion for music fans, history buffs, and travelers with an odd sense of adventure. Amos's brief artist histories also serve as an excellent coffee table reference work, and provide valuable perspective on the importance of underservedly obscure artists.

As a road trip essential, Gravesites of Southern Musicians ranks right up there with jumper cables, a warm blanket, and directions to the best BBQ along the way. Highly recommended.

this (and its companion book for arches to the north) is an excellent guide to arches outside of arches national park. i will say, you really need not only a four-wheel drive vehicle to get to most of these arches but you need one with high clearance and a short wheelbase (i think that is the right way to say it). i have a toyota 4-runner and i wasn't really able to get to many of these either in or out of the park because my car was too long, and i probably needed knobbier tires. there are jeep rental places in moab--it would probably be a good idea to just rent one, as i will do next time, to get out to see these amazing works of nature. another thing to get is a really good map once you get there, because the ones reproduced are really difficult to read. in all other respects it is a great guide!

this (and its companion book for arches to the south) is an excellent guide to arches outside of arches national park. i will say, you really need not only a four-wheel drive vehicle to get to most of these arches but you need one with high clearance and a short wheelbase (i think that is the right way to say it). i have a toyota 4-runner and i wasn't really able to get to many of these either in or out of the park because my car was too long, and i probably needed knobbier tires. there are jeep rental places in moab--it would probably be a good idea to just rent one, as i will do next time, to get out to see these amazing works of nature. another thing to get is a really good map once you get there, because the ones reproduced are really difficult to read. in all other respects it is a great guide!

This book cuts through the clutter of previous rock art meanings and uses the wisdom of the native americans to describe these symbols. I enjoyed reviewing his descriptions of the sites I have already visited and learned the locations of many more. Complete directions, maps, and contacts for each site are included. This is an excellent resource for people who love rock art!

An excellent survey of rock art that fits the pictographs and petroglyphs into a social and psychological model based on native american interpretations of meaning. Detailed listings and directions to more familiar sites will no doubt increase visitation but the presence of people interested in preservation will hopefully deter those only motive is to deface places of beauty and wonder. Whitley's academic background enhances the book and it has appeal to informed readers and those just discovering rock art.

With its coffee table size "GUITAR: GREAT PLAYERS AND THEIR MUSIC" could easily be passed over as one of the many glitzy but trivial volumes fit for display cases in larger bookstore chains. However, this work by Richard Chapman is not only attractively produced but also extremely thorough in conveying exactly what its title describes.

Chapters are divided into various styles: classical, flamenco, blues, country, folk, jazz, rock & pop ( UK and USA ), Latin & "World". The sketches of the famous and influential players in each of the styles are nicely done, the author having an acutely accurate sense of just what qualities stand out as particularly noteworthy with each guitarist.

To give an idea of the depth of range, profiles are included on:

Andres Segovia, Julian Bream, Nino Ricardo, Paco de Lucia, Baden Powell, Robert Johnson, Freddie King, Lonnie Johnson, Chet Atkins, Tony Rice, Bert Jansch, Richard Thompson, Django Reinhardt, Charlie Christian, Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass, Chuck Berry, James Burton, John McLaughlin, Bill Frisell, Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Robert Fripp, Eddie Van Halen, Peter Tosh, King Sonny Ade and Frank Zappa.

Regarding the production aesthetics: Aside from the somewhat gauche cover ( typical of Dorling Kindersley publishers ), the book is tastefully laid out with numerous illustrations and photographs ( at least 50% in color ), some of which are stunningly beautiful.

The short forward by Eric Clapton will hopefully attract readers not normally interested in the "encyclopedic" approach. In the authors ( equally brief ) introduction he puts forth his reasons for writing the book, not the least of which is to inspire people and "point to some of the more obscure and overlooked areas for the benefit of the mainstream reader".

Kudos to Richard Chapman, whose vast knowledge of the guitar, its history and players is shown in quite telling fashion throughout this luxurious and learned volume.

"Guitar" comes on like a nice, well-designed coffee-table book, albeit on a rich topic: guitars and guitarists. Immediately, it becomes much more than that. Eric Clapton contributed the forward, and author Richard Chapman, an accomplished musician, offers a brief introduction. He has a heartbreaker of a story, told in around fifty words. As an English teenager living in a village in Kent in the '60's he loved the guitar, saved his money, and bought one. His parents disapproved. "When I was 14, all my music and instruments were destroyed and burned by my father (...)" You know you are reading a work of passion and love - and great optimism, for he continues, "but this only gave me a greater determination to succeed."

Chapman surveys the guitar's music, history, and many of its most significant players. There is a gorgeous painting of Segovia, and engravings and pages from medieval manuscripts that show guitars or guitar-like instruments. You read his paragraphs in awe of his ability to tell a lot, briefly. He analyzes the music - pleasingly. You get a little music theory, and I welcomed it. In addition Chapman seems to have a deep store of music-history tidbits. On the roots of slide guitar, we learn that W.C. Handy in around 1903 "passed through a southern railroad station and saw a singer playing slide guitar with a knife, producing what he termed 'the weirdest music I ever saw.' "

The book is divided into Classical, Flamenco, Blues, Country, Folk, Jazz, Rock and Pop of the UK and Europe, Rock and Pop of North America, Latin and World. Within those categories are many subcategories. Lots of great photos. The text is orderly and elegant. Influences and origins are given careful attention. There are color and black and white illustrations - historical documents, appropriate snippets of written music, paintings, and archival material. Famous electric and acoustic guitars - Gibsons, Resonators, Rickenbackers, Stratocasters, Martins, others - are in here. There's an enormous amount of material. The layout and art direction is continuously a pleasure, the captions are consistently informative, and the glossary and index are thorough.

Chapman lets you know at the outset that the vastness of the subject necessitated an enormous amount of culling, and then paring down. He loves the guitar, and can teach it, too - and has put that enthusiasm to great use. It's a first-rate documentary that is scholarly, lively, and greatly satisfying.

Metallica, in my mind is the best band to ever bless the world. That said, this is a great introduction to them. Of course, die hards like myself will not find anything new in the book.

I THINK IM THERE NUMBER ONE FAN BECUASE I BUY THOUSANDS OF METALLICA STUFF LIKE BOOKS AND THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST IVE EVER READ ABOUT THEM I MEAN I THOUGHT I NEW THEM PRETTY GOOD BEFORE I READ THIS BOOK BUT I WAS WAY WRONG THIS BOOK SHOWED ME SO MUCH MORE TO METALLICA THEN I REALLY KNEW SO IF THERES ANY OTHER BOOK YOU BUY I SUGGEST YOU PICK THIS ONE UP INSTEAD OF ANY OTHER BIOGRAPHY BOOKS,