Entertainment Books

This is an excellent arrangement. Michael Buble sings with a whole jazz band behind him and this music manages to capture the feel of trumpets etc with just the piano.

The arrangements in this book are excellent. They are definitely not for the beginning pianist, however. The rhythms are challenging, but spot on.

The vocal melodies are not integrated into the piano part, but are shown as an individual vocal part in the book. This means that if you were to play the songs purely instrumentally, you would not have the melody explicitly heard - the performer would have to combine the vocal line above the grand staff himself/herself.

But let's say you're listening to the CD while you play the arrangements in the book. They are practically exact to the pianist on the CD! It's such a joy to play along that it's as though you are accompanying Michael Buble himself!

I have in the past purchased the Piano/Vocal Books for the self titled Michael Buble album, and for the It's Time album, and each book is better than the one before. As a pianist, I am overjoyed to find every small detail of the songs written in the accompaniment, not to mention this book does not do what so many others do and write the melody in the piano part. I wish all Vocal/Piano books were written in this style!

This is a fascinating book. If you are interested in learning more on the characters of the A List celebrities, including Mick Jagger & Michael Jackson to name but a few, then buy this book. Walter Yetnikoff does not come across as a nice guy, but he does come across honestly. Beware, there are a few fairly explicit details in this book, & if you are comfortable with reading such details, then I recommend this book. This is real fast lane stuff !

This is a review of the Audio CD which is read by Walter himself.

I was compelled to buy this because we so seldom hear from the people at the top - and Walter Yetnikoff was certainly at the top of his game. He was one of the most visible label chiefs in the world, and not an "executive" in a suit as he decries today's industry figures.

What makes this compelling listening is the words come to life as Walter recalls anecdotes with Michael Jackson and Mick Jagger. Unlike most other biographies, he doesn't bore you too much with details of his childhood - and gets right into what readers want to know - what really happened at CBS records during his reign? Was MJ as squeaky clean as he seemed? Walter doesn't disappoint and tells us as much as he can without I suppose, destroying anyone's career. The moments of irony, dry humor and introspect make this ascent and descent of a record mogul story worth buying. Walter was there - he saw, he conquered, he fell. He's lived a few lifetimes, and he makes no apologies for it - remaining a realistic, candid observer of his own life.

It is fitting that this book is not written in "perfect", smooth flowing format - because this is an accounting of a man who was swept up in excess and excitement without giving himself the time to truly "know himself", and thus his life did not unravel in "perfect" smooth flowing format. This is a great book because it relates what hundreds of thousands of people have experienced in the latter 21st century, only it does so in an exagerated and romantic way: an unrelenting climb and push to business success that moved so rapidly and excitedly that spiritual self-fulfillment was often remiss. This is an honest and direct chronicle of a very "hip" life. And now, at last, Yetnikoff is attempting to come to terms with himself, and - to his credit - with no lack of humour and a respectable but not overly synthetic underlying amount of remorse. You may not agree with his excesses and some of the decisions he has made in his life, but you have to admire the journey. The tidbits of info on the major music personalities emphasize the fact that no matter how famous (or infamous) people become - they share many of the same problems, needs, and desires we all have. Thanks, Walter - you produced a good, entertaining and honest read.

Walter Yetnikoff's "Howling at the Moon" is a great read. The author is stone-cold honest about his history - morphing from a poor kid in Brooklyn to Columbia Law graduate to "Jimmy Olsen greenhorn" in the music business to master business builder to *the* out-of-control legendary wildman of the music business to abrupt sobriety to betrayal, fall, a period in the wilderness and redemption. What a tale.

Where else are you going to get insights on Michael Jackson, Billy Joel, Marvin Gaye and Mick Jagger mixed with equally eye-opening passages on Tom Wyman, Norio Ohga, Akio Morita and Bill Paley?

The Paley passages are especially enlightening - the controlling, secretive builder of the Tiffany network and the wildman of CBS/Columbia records were as unlikely a pairing as you could imagine, but Paley appreciated Yetnikoff's undeniable ability to make money and, as Paley says upon taking his leave from CBS, "in this office, that did not go unnoticed."

Despite Yetnikoff's well-documented demons, his track record in the business is unassaible: when he left, CBS/Columbia was still pulling in $450 million a year in *net* profits. True, Yetnikoff's successors had to deal with a more vexing set of assaults on the recorded music business model, but you need to give the guy his due.

The least interesting thing about this book is the author. Unfortunately, this is an autobiography. Considering CBS Records' remarkable talent roster during Yetnikoff's tenure, including the Stones, Springsteen, Dylan and Michael Jackson, he recounts only a few rather uninteresting anecdotes about Wacko Jacko, and virtually nothing about the others, instead taking gratuitous potshots at former close associates. Even if you enjoy books about bitter, washed up, egotisical, former drunken cokehead lawyers, this book will put you to sleep. I'm sure there's a very interesting story somewhere in Walter Yetnikoff's experience with CBS. It's not in this book.

The book was great... arrived in time for Christmas giving. My girlfriend loved it. Thank you!

Dear Mr. Mann - Just finished a couple of weeks ago your bio of Katharine
Hepburn and was just floored by how much I loved it. I have read at least 5 other bios of Kate and all of your novels as well, but your amazing attention to detail and research blew the other Kate books out of the water - even her own! I think it is the best Hollywood biography/autobiography that I have ever read AND simply one of the best books period!! And I read 6-8 books a month. I've purchased 6 other copies for Christmas gifts and can't wait to spread my enthusiasm. I now look forward to any writing project that you choose to do.

Craig Whitaker

Overly wordy and far too long this bio is often too speculative to be considered really credible. It's more about the author and his agenda than it is an honest, clear-eyed look at Hepburn's life and work.

More often than not I wanted to abandon this book. Reading it through to the end was a project not a pleasure.

I often skim movie star bios, but I rarely read them. The stories are often predictable (poor beginnings, meteoric rise, and dramatic fall which sometimes leads to a big comeback) and the prose is often purple. Writers will speculate on little, and that becomes the new story for that particular star.

So, I was surprised when I began to read Mann's book about Hepburn and I found myself reading every word.

His idea that Hepburn was always "Jimmy," a male alter-ego explains a lot about Hepburn in her ninety plus years. I also agree with him that her best and most progressive work was in the 30's when she hadn't "Tracy Lorded" herself yet, having to be broken for her "sins."

He does have the unfortunate habit of using the nonstandard "due to the fact," and he makes a factual mistake when he writes that Hepburn's co-star in "Stage Door," Andrea Leeds, won the Acadamy Award. She was nominated, but no win.

But otherwise, I recommend this book highly.

And go watch "Bringing Up Baby," perhaps the greatest comedy in Hollywood history.

This book is better than most previous books on Katharine Hepburn as it does reveal more about her, than they have. Her relationship with Spencer and her affairs with women ect.

However the most annoying thing about this book is the author's view that Kate is "transgender" he constantly tries to push this view. Instead of just presenting the facts and leaving it up to the reader make their own mind up, there is too much amateur psychology.

He is great at writing about gay men, he clearly knows that subject, but seems to have a very poor understanding of gay women.

He seems to think only men can really be gay (if you have read his other book "Behind the Screen: How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood, 1910-1969" you'll know what I mean, he even calls Lilyan Tashman in to question, who is widely known to have been a lesbian). He believes every man is but doubts every woman. If you've read the interview he gave to advocate magazine you'll see what I mean, he says Spence is gay, but questions Kate just as he does in his previous book. Every man is, every woman isn't, there is something very odd or chauvinistic about this view.

Whilst she (Kate) may have or may not have slept with a bloke or two (most lesbians have) that doesn't necessarily mean she is bisexual. Gay women are generally more discrete than gay men anyway.

He seems to think that lesbian women don't have sex drives either and just sit down and talk of a night, even though later on in the book he says about how Kate asked Scotty (a friend of Cukors who is a male prostitute and a sort of male madam) to find her a "friend to go hiking", did he really think she just wanted to go "hiking" with this friend. It's just not consistent with his view that she wasn't really interested in sex, but just liked women as friends, same goes for the odd masseuse thing.

Also He seems to think that if women wear trousers, or are not typically "feminine" they are "transgender".
Many gay women as young girls dress up in "boys" clothes and do role play of a sort. I personally know many people who have done so, I myself have, and it doesn't make us "transgender".
Also many gay women dress in shirt and tie, it was more common in 20's - 50's (they're called butch). Look at Marlene Dietrich who used to sign photos of herself in top hat n tails as "Daddy Marlene" and other famous women who also dressed in this way are Vita Sackville West and Mercedes De Acosta.
I think it very curious that men (even a gay man like Mann) and straight women like Karen Swenson (in her biography of Garbo) like to think butch women are just transvestites or transgender, but not really actually gay.

At that time in history women were very much 2nd class citizens and so to escape many of the restrictions on girls at the time; of course a young girl who wants to be treated equally with her male siblings would try and claim to be a boy. After all most parents (particularly fathers, especially of that generation, say they prefer a boy child to a girl, just ask most expectant parents today, it hasn't changed much.)
So if she pretended to be a boy it doesn't necessarily make her "transgender", this seems to be difficult for most people to understand, maybe you can't unless you are a gay woman?

Surely as a gay man his heard of drag? Women can dress in drag too and not want to actually change their sex or be uncomfortable about their gender. There were many popular male impersonators in British music hall of the 1930's Hetty King and Ella Shields to name only a couple and many in Greenwich Village also. It seems this author is just towing the line to the prevailing culture that think butch women are transgender. It is dangerous to think this way when you look at Iran for example with the forced sex changes of gay people there, you can see this view taken to the extreme.

Of course she would like to play male roles, most butch women would (Garbo also wanted to and the great actress Sarah Bernhardt also played male roles in some of her plays), you could get away with interacting with female co stars without the script actually being overtly gay and also not have to batter your eye lashes at a man, like you would have if you played a woman's role. (Pantomime is a good example of where men play women's roles and women play men's roles.) Another point is male roles were generally more substantial; where as most of the women's roles were just as a love interest for the man.

I hope a gay woman will write a biography of Katharine Hepburn soon and hopefully they'll have more of an understanding of these subjects than this author.

I've given this book four stars as it reveals more about Kate than most other biographies.

This is a wonderful book. Mrs. Stolpe goes in-depth on her step-by-step process of crafting lyrics. This is by far the best part about this book. It is a system of working that I really enjoyed and am thankful that Mrs. Stolpe has shared. My only critique is that the book only really covers verse/chorus songs. I'd like to see how her process for other types of songs. Although, this is a minor criticism because the book is clearly about writing pop songs and most of them are definitely verse/chorus songs. Again, thank you for giving me a good system to use!

My son currently plays sax in his school band and has recently become interested in playing the guitar. He has used this book to teach himself to play the guitar and is doing very well.

I first learned about this book at a graduate level guitar pedigogy class. Many of the music teachers selected this as a favorite among the guitar method books. It has a solid and progressive approach to playing and music theory. There is a wide variety of music; classic rock, gospel, classical, jazz, etc. The quality recordings with which one can play make this fun for teacher and student alike.

I have taught from the Essential Elements Series for years. I have enjoyed the band method and I am currently using the strings method. I was excited to see the guitar method and I am awaiting guitar book two.

This book is good for students of professional teachers as well as those who are self-taught. BUY THIS BOOK.

Mi son is using this book for learn and is very please with it

This is an awesome book. It's got all the songs off the album and color pictures. It's even got lyrics for all the songs printed separately. This is a must buy if you're a Evanescence fan!!

excellent! it is easy to read, and whilst it doesn't sound 100% right, its still awesome to rock out to.

Upon purchase of Evanescence's "The Open Door" album,I was startled by the sheer heights of it's imaginative force. Particularly outstanding,I felt,were Amy Lee's arrangements on the piano. So,I knew then and there,that "hey. it'd be really cool to learn this stuff." And so,I did. =]] Well,with the aid of this book I did. It's so inexpensive,just get it! It's well worth more than what you pay for it! Also,hehe,in March,I got my copy signed by Amy Lee herself after their gig in Little Rock,Arkansas. Alright,that's all. It's an amazing book. Get it.

Many books were written about Jonh Ford.
All of them tell the story and the profile of the man.
But John Ford was more than that.
His life is the beginning, but the book doesn?t take it as a experience or example for his films.
The exploration is a long trip in this book.
The readers are going to find the artist who control
everything around and his mind to think faster than others.
He made no more than one take, sometimes to have completely control about the film, not suffering the torture of the film process and the editing.
It?s a strange story about the man who won four Academy Awards?
for Best Directing but he never won an Oscar for one of his western films.
The book explores how he created the images and how he felt involved in those stories so different from cowboys, horses and
shots: 'The grapes of Wrath', 'How green was my valley', 'The informer' and 'The quiet man'.
His camera was different in all these ones.
But finally you can see the horizon, the actor,
the music and the ending.
It is a film directed by John Ford.
Thanks to him, the movies were different in style.
He had the conception of an artist.

I've read other books on this great Hollywood director, and while I can't comment on their relative accuracy, I can say that Eyman's book is the most readable I've found. He writes with a wonderfully fluid style, finds exactly the right balance between enough detail and too much, and mixes in some penetrating observations about the films and their style. He really captures that curious paradox of how artistic genius and personality disturbance can coexist within the same mind.

Having read a fair number of biographies in my time, in subjects from Science to American and military history, this book is as fine a work as I've seen. It is quite probably the best work of its kind on John Ford and pulls few punches when presenting the dark side of this complex man's character.

Genius often goes hand-in-hand with madness, and the odd juxtapositions of cruelty and sensitivity, visciousness and generosity within in the same man leaves it difficult for the reader to like him, much less understand the deep love so many of his peers and actors had for him.

The vast limits of his brilliance as a film maker are far clearer to me now and the more so since reading other works on the man's work and times ("Tis Herself" by Maureen O'Hara and "John Ford, the Man and his Films" by Tag Gallagher, to name two).

I am a recent "student" of film after years in other pursuits, and I have always considered Ford's pictures to be the best of the best, among which are "The Grapes of Wrath", "The Quiet Man" and "The Searchers".

It is apparently popular for current budding directors to attempt to attempt to emulate the work of the current crops of popular directors (generally those of the preceding five years or so) without paying sufficient attention to the classics; perhaps even trying to ride their stylistic coattails to success.

I believe that in order to be successful in any discipline, it is imperative to study closely the great works of past generations, just as most successful musicians should have a background in classical music.

I can recommend this work unreservedly both to the casual film fan (it's a damned good read!) and to the serious film student.

Scott Eyman has written an outstanding book on John Ford! Ford
was the second generation son of an Irish bartender from Portland Maine who followed his brother Frank to Hollywood.
In over 130 films from such silent classics as Iron Horse to
his four Oscars for best director: The Informer; How Green Was My
Valley; the Grapes of Wrath and The Quiet Man Ford chronicles
the life of ordinary people living in extraordinary circumstances.
Ford made Westerns better than anyone as witness his classic
cavalry trilogy: Fort Apache, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon; Rio Grande and the peerless The Searchers.
John Ford was a bristling porcupine guy who could dish out insults, reduce strong actors to tears and cover his sensitive,
melancholic, brooding intellectual Irish soul with a veneer of
toughness and macho maleness.
Ford was a complex man isolated and in conflict with famly who made great films for over 50 years in the Hollywood jungle.
He was an admiral who loved the military serving with distinction in World War II.
You may not like Ford after reading this fine book but you will be in awe of one of Hollywood's giants.
Eyman gives a sketch of each of Ford's top films and charts the choppy waters of his long marriage to wife Mary and the difficult relationship he had with his daugher and son.
John Ford will always ride tall in the saddle of Film History
as we travel with him to Monument Valley, meet such Ford stars
as John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Maureen O'Hara and the other excellent actors in the Ford acting troupe.
Anyone claiming to be knowledgable about film who does not know about John Ford (1894-1973 should read this fine biograhy.
Readers may also wish to peruse Joseph McBride's lengthy biograpy of Ford "In Search of John Ford." Both books are well
done.

Unless you are old like me and remember many John Ford movies from their original 50's release dates, or you have a semi-professional interest in film directing, this book offers more than one needs to know about a complex, often unlikeable, sometimes generous, routinely selfish genius. It isn't just a bio of John Ford, respected director with a 40-year career...it also functions as a partial history of movie-making itself, since Ford began before 1920, when films were silent, and ended up in the mid-60's, when wide screens, technicolor, blatant sex and violence and changes in how movies were financed stranded him in a very different professional atmosphere. To a person with a more casual interest in Ford and his films, like me, the book had many surprises. Ford was cruel on the set to many actors whom he befriended away from the cameras, John Wayne and Hank Fonda included. Ford was a binge drinker, and kept his sprees separate from his duties until the mid-1950's, rather late in his progressive alcoholism. Ford was capable of great kindness, generosity and loyalty, but also held grudges for decades. He was not only personally brave in World War II while filming the real battle of Midway, he was tuned in enough to have joined the Navy and prepared for documenting the war on film a full year before Pearl Harbor. He also showed courage in standing up to the Communist witch-hunts in the early 50's. He was sometimes a liberal Democrat, sometimes a conservative Republican. His final decade was full of illness and idleness and loneliness and undoubtedly some bitterness. If you are a lover of "American" movies, John Ford's story will be essential for you. I'm glad I read it, but I don't think I'll ever need to read it a second time, or keep the book in my personal collection.

The mid-sixties were about many things: Peace, riots, love, war . . . but mostly the period has to be remembered for music.

The Beatles, The Stones, even Rod Stewart are still staples today and their music is everywhere: So is the music of The Monkees.

Micky Dolenz wrote a "no apologies" bio of the group that at one point in time was laughed off as being nothing but a manufactured copy of the Beatles. But their music and artistry remains with us 40 years later.

Micky takes us on a brief introduction to his early years, how the Monkees were created and the impact the group (its music and the style) had on audiences. Not only does the reader learn about the group, you get an encapsulated image of what America was like during the Summer of Love.

Micky Dolenz writes in a straight-forward way - no frills and very little hype. He states his opinions for the reader to accept or reject and it is quite refreshing that we are left to make up our own minds.

It takes a lot to still be remembered fondly by millions decades later and the Monkees are. Read Mr. Dolenz's book and you'll find out why.

What a fun book to read! Micky Dolenz has a very conversational writing style that makes it easy to read. It would be hard for anyone to put into words every detail of what happened in those chaotic times. But, Micky gives us the high level view of how it affected his life. The most memorable part of the book for me is Micky's perception of Davy, Peter, and Mike whenever the four of them would get together. A book you will truly enjoy.

Dolenz, whose distinctive voice dominated the airwaves during the Summer of Love, writes an entertaining but slight account of his days with the Monkees and beyond. He is frank about his womanizing and drug use without being overtly scandalous; when you stop to think about the names he COULD name, and the lurid stories he COULD tell ...

The best of the Monkee autobiographies, so far.

As a Monkees' fan from way back in the hey-day, my nostalgia has been getting the better of me lately. And that is why I purchased Micky Dolenz' "I'm A Believer." This is the kind of book about the Monkees, their show and their recordings that I wanted to read. Micky writes a fast-paced, information-filled journal that doesn't stint on fun. Micky's sense of humor is present throughout as are fascinating facts about the whole Monkees era. Micky has happily chosen not to dish nasty dirt, and that is a welcome relief these days. I found the book to be a good read and highly recommend it to any Monkees' fan.

I recently purchased Micky's memoir and couldn't be more pleased with what he came up with! I laughed out loud in many places within it's pages, particularly when he re-enacted particular meetings between the Monkee Members assigning dialogue to each that seem to capture what they must have been like at the time. Micky captures the good and the bad (mostly good!)with his splendid sense of humor much in evidence throughout... There were also a number of interesting items that I was not aware of as being part of his story such as Frank Zappa asking Micky at one point to be the drummer for the Mothers of Invention! Lastly, I always thought that besides his other talents, Micky never truly got the credit that was his due as a pop singer on some great 60's records. He made them sound all the better and if you are not convinced, listen to Neil Diamond's own version of the song he wrote for the Monkees which Micky sang (I'm a Beleiver) and you will see what many of us have known for years....

This book is great read for any Micky/Monkees fan as well as anyone interested in the sixties pop culture in general.

Good info, although somewhat confusing at times regarding setlist info.

And some of the commentary reads like a teen magazine..Fenton is kinda gushy about rediculous things.... Jorma's version of Rock Me Baby?...snooooze.......

Maybe too many interviews on bit players and too much info on minor years.

This book is SO thoroughly written and researched, it may not appeal to the casual fan. But if you want details, Craig has 'em. I didn't intend to read this word-for-word; I bought it for a research tool. However, I ended up reading it from cover to cover, and its great to encounter someone who respects his subject matter as much as Craig does. He so obviously came prepared for each of his dozens of interviews, and frequently knew as much or more as his interview subject. Yet he never made them feel less than deeply respected and even reveered.

I especially enjoyed his opinions on the JA reunion tour of 1989. This tour was so much better than we fans had a right to expect. If only there could be ONE MORE TOUR before its too late, as Paul Kantner implied in his interview.

Over all, a good read of a GREAT (almost overlooked) band. I highly recommend this book to all fans of the mighty Airplane and the Airplane Family.

This book is an excellent companion piece for Tamakin's "Got a Revolution." "Circus Tent" provides a lot of interesting info, but is not a history of the band per se. Tamarkin's book is in narrative form, while Fenton writes in a fashion which makes me think of Tommy Hall's liner notes on the back of the first 13th Floor Elevators lp. Fenton kind of writes sideways in a sense. Don't look for a straight forward chronology here, so the book takes some effort on the reader's part to comprehend, but it's worth it. I'm a fan of the Signe era band and this sure cleared up a few questions I had about some of the performances I have on tape and cd from that era...especially the 9/30/66 show and the early "Other Side of This Life" and "Embryonic Journey" from "Then and Now." Thank you. Also thank you for the Signe interview, finding her in thwe written documentation of the band as a primary source is rare. Fenton gives Signe equal treatment with Grace, which SHE DESERVES. Also, there is nothing wrong with wishing her well. I don't agree that the interview questions anr inane. Most are quite relevant, considering the MYTHOLOGY which surrounds the Airplane. They are my second favorite band of all time and I trulyu am thankful for this book. Good job! By the way, my favorite band is the Byrds. In fact parts of "Cicus Tent" remind me of Johnny Rogan's "Timeless Flight."

I agree with Mr Makin's review, except for his conclusion that the disjointed nature of the text leads to unreadability. Free association was typically the way many young people both thought and talked. I still do. Mr Makin's ability to focus seems too restricted by the classical guidelines on how to write good English. These guidelines clearly improve readability of books on science and probably architecture. Fenton's history of a part of San Francisco culture seems improved by using vernacular styles of thought and means of expressions. Fenton did a lot of work on a subject I wanted to read about. I would give the book a five star rating, except for the following:

This is a book on music, especially live music---with no music included. Why couldn't Fenton have stuck a CD copy of a bootleg Airplane concert or demos inside the book? A number of other books include otherwise unavailable music, and I think this should be a standard. A cd is something more which is related. peanut butter on the bread, chocolate on the cake. The book is like those cd booklet blurbs that mention songs not on the cd. Why not make it easier to connect the text to some of the music? Fenton is clearly a man of persistance, a quality which could be used to get the copyright owners' consent.

I notice that Fenton reads these reviews and writes in the forum below. Maybe he can arrange the cd in the reissue.

Lately I've been compelled to go back to where I once belonged and rediscover all things Jefferson. Maybe it's the eerie parallel to the late '60's - illegal and immoral war, lying despotic presidency, the Haves & Have More approach to the economy. But I've dusted off the vinyl, bought the recent surplus of live CDs, been cruising A-Deck regularly. I often looked at this book, and finally bought it. It's the size of the telephone book. I first used it to find all the Airplane concerts I attended - from Hunter College & Fillmore East shows to the 1972 topless Grace Slick finale at Gaelic Park, and the 1989 reunion gig at Jones Beach. I needed all of Craig Fenton's research to determine what I heard at these historic shows. My mind was probably altered at the time, and frankly, even if it wasn't, aging alone has done a number on my brain cells. This book is the perfect grazing companion. Reading through the set lists inspire rampant jealousy of the "I wish I'd been there THAT night!" or "Does anybody have a decent tape of THAT?" varieties. But it doesn't stop with set lists, it goes on with annotated notes on concerts, discographies, interviews, FAQ, previously unreleased photos, etc. It is impossible to digest all at once ala "Got To Revolution" but it is the perfect companion piece to that tome. How did he get this stuff? Hat's off to Craig Fenton, and for keeping the lamps trimmed and burning! Well done!