Miles and Miles, Genesis P. and gospel, The Beatles and Bushwick Bill, the Coop and conjunto — and plenty more. If Dad likes to rock and/or read, your Father’s Day shopping could begin and end right here, right now:
Two Steps Forward, One Step Back: My Life In The Music Business
By Miles A. Copeland III
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “My real story starts with a disaster, an unmitigated, pull-the-rug-from-under-you, clean-out-the-bank-account disaster. But had it not happened, The Police would never have risen to become the biggest rock band in the world; Jools Holland would not have ended up on TV; The Bangles, The Go-Go’s, R.E.M., and many other music stars might never have made it either. It’s strange how a fluke, a disaster, an unlikely event can lead to incredible results. But that is in essence what happened to me . . .” Two Steps Forward, One Step Back tells the extraordinary story of a maverick manager, promoter, label owner, and all-round legend of the music industry. It opens in the Middle East, where Miles grew up with his father, a CIA agent who was stationed in Syria, Egypt and Lebanon. It then shifts to London in the late ’60s and the beginnings of a career managing bands like Wishbone Ash and Curved Air — only for Miles’s life to be turned upside down by a disastrous European tour. From the ashes of near-bankruptcy, he entered the world of punk, sharing a building with Malcolm McLaren and Sniffin’ Glue before shifting gears again as manager of The Police, featuring his brother Stewart Copeland on drums. Then, after founding IRS Records, he launched the careers of some of the most potent acts of the new wave scene and beyond, from Squeeze and The Go-Go’s to The Bangles and R.E.M. The story comes full circle as Miles finds himself advising the Pentagon on how to win over hearts and minds in the Middle East — and introducing Arabic music to the U.S.”
Nonbinary: A Memoir
By Genesis P-Orridge
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “A revealing and beautifully open memoir from the late pioneering industrial music artist, visual artist, and transgender icon Genesis P-Orridge. In this groundbreaking book spanning decades of artistic risk-taking, the inventor of “industrial music,” founder of Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV, and world-renowned fine artist with the band COUM Transmissions, Genesis P-Orridge (1950–2020) takes us on a journey searching for identity and their true self. It is the story of a life of creation and destruction, in which Genesis P-Orridge was unwilling to be stuck — in one place, one genre or in one gender. Nonbinary is Genesis’s final work and is shared with hopes of being an inspiration to the newest generation of trailblazers and nonconformists. It covers growing up in the aftermath of the Second World War fallout in Britain, contributing to the explosion of new music and radical art in the 1960s, and destroying visual and artistic norms. A captivating memoir of a singular artist and musician, Nonbinary is also an inside look at one of our most remarkable cultural lives that will be an inspiration to fans of industrial music, performance art, the occult, and life in the arts.”
Run As One: My Story
By Errol Ranville
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Errol Ranville has been running all his life: From chronic poverty and racism in rural Manitoba; from a discriminatory music business; from alcohol and drug addiction and the responsibilities that come with being regarded as a role model. Though Errol has faced seemingly insurmountable barriers as an Indigenous performer in a predominately white music business, his band C-Weed & The Weeds released several No. 1 songs and went on to score Juno nominations in 1985 and 1986. He was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Indigenous Music Awards in 2011. In his memoir Run As One, Errol embraces the role of trailblazer for the countless musicians who follow his path.”
Miles on Miles: Interviews and Encounters with Miles Davis
By Paul Maher Jr. and Michael K. Dorr
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Miles Davis was not only a musical genius, but also an enigma, and nowhere else was he so compelling, exasperating, and entertaining as in his interviews, which vary from polite to outrageous, from straight-ahead to contrarian. Miles on Miles collects 30 of the most vital. Even his autobiography lacks the immediacy of the dialogues collected here. Many were conducted by leading journalists like Leonard Feather, Stephen Davis, Ben Sidran, Mike Zwerin, and Nat Hentoff. Other have never before seen print and are newly transcribed from radio and television shows. Until now, no book has brought back to life Miles’s inimitable voice — contemplative, defiant, elegant, uncompromising and humourous.”
Derek Taylor: For Your Radioactive Children — Days In The Life of the Beatles’ Spin Doctor
By Andrew Darlington
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Derek Taylor lived a charmed life, which started on Saturday, May 7, 1932, in a Liverpool suburb. As a writer best known as the press agent for The Beatles, he became the band’s friend and intimate across 30 years. There’s no shortage of claimants to ‘honourary’ or ‘fifth Beatle‘ status, but Derek’s claim is more valid than most. His urbane charm, easy intelligence, and the value of his contribution to The Beatles’ collective story are beyond dispute. He put spin on stories decades before the term ‘spin doctor’ was concocted, with his droll, idiosyncratic way of speaking. It all began in 1964, when he co-wrote A Cellarful Of Noise, the best-selling autobiography of Brian Epstein. Soon after, he became Epstein’s personal assistant and The Beatles’ press agent. In 1965 he moved to Los Angeles, where he started his own public relations company, managing PR for bands like Paul Revere And The Raiders, The Byrds and The Beach Boys. Brian Wilson called him a ‘PR whiz’ and ‘a colourful, slick-talking Brit.’ Derek was co-creator and producer of the historic Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. He’s there in song when John rhymes Derek Taylor with Norman Mailer in Give Peace A Chance. He returned to England to work for The Beatles as the press officer for Apple Corps. The definitive biography of a man who was at the heart of the music world of the 1960s and 1970s, this book is essential reading for anyone with an interest in The Beatles, but also to anyone yearning for a deep dive into the colourful world of a man who helped define a era.”
The Beatles And Fandom: Sex, Death and Progressive Nostalgia
By Richard Mills
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Sex, death and nostalgia are among the impulses driving Beatles fandom. The metaphorical death of The Beatles as a band has fueled fan conventions for 48 years, and the actual deaths of John Lennon and George Harrison brought real pathos to the story. Beatles Monthly was predicated on The Beatles’ good looks and the letters page was a forum for euphemistically expressed sexuality. The Beatles And Fandom may be the first book to discuss these fan subcultures. It combines academic theory on fandom with compelling original research material to tell an alternative history of the Beatles phenomenon — a fans’ history of The Beatles that runs concurrently with the popular story we all know.”
Why Bushwick Bill Matters
By Charles L. Hughes
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “In 1989, The Geto Boys released a blistering track, Size Ain’t Shit, that paid tribute to group member Bushwick Bill. Born with dwarfism, Bill was one of the few visibly disabled musicians to achieve widespread fame and one of the even fewer to address disability in a direct, sustained manner. Initially hired as a dancer, he was central to The Geto Boys as the Houston crew became one of hip-hop’s most important groups. Why Bushwick Bill Matters explores what Bill reveals about the relationships among race, sex, and disability in pop music. And it examines Bill’s recordings and videos (both with The Geto Boys and solo), from the horror-comic persona of Chuckie to vulnerable verses in songs such as Mind Playing Tricks On Me to discuss his portrayals of dwarfism, addiction, and mental illness. A complex figure, Bill exposed the truths of a racist and ableist society even as his violent and provocative lyrics put him in the middle of debates over censorship and misogyny. Confrontational and controversial, Bushwick Bill left a massive legacy as he rhymed and swaggered through an often-inaccessible world.”
Alice Cooper in the 1970s: Decades
By Chris Sutton
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The 1970s was the decade that saw the arrival of Alice Cooper as a major force. A rollercoaster ride of classic albums and singles, the songs recorded in the 1970s still dominate his live sets to this day. The book features all-new interview material from key figures including Michael Bruce, Dennis Dunaway and Neal Smith from the original band and Prakash John from the solo years. Several other musicians, concert promoters and even the band’s first roadie also contributed their thoughts. All of the albums and singles from Don’t Blow Your Mind until From The Inside are examined in detail, along with related archive releases and songs that didn’t make the cut.”
Uriah Heep in the 1970s: Decades
By Steve Pilkington
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Uriah Heep have been active for a full 50 years, but few would argue that the period which best defines them, and during which they were at their most influential, was 1970-1980. During this decade they released an incredible 13 studio albums and a double live album, and had a regular turnaround of musicians in all but the guitar and keyboard roles. With the first three albums, the band sought to find a stable lineup, followed by the classic run begun by the Demons And Wizards album, featuring the definitive band.When charismatic frontman David Byron departed, there was a period of some uncertainty, but still some remarkable music was made. This book takes a year-by-year journey through that decade, looking at the albums, the often gruelling touring schedules and the ups and downs of the relationships within the band.”
Elegant People: A History of the Band Weather Report
By Curt Bianchi
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Founded in late 1970 by three stars of the jazz world — keyboardist Joe Zawinul, saxophonist Wayne Shorter and bassist Miroslav Vitouš — Weather Report went on to become the most unique and enduring jazz band of its era, with a style of music wholly its own. Now, on the 50th anniversary of Weather Report’s first album release, Elegant People tells the band’s story in detail. Based on years of research and dozens of interviews with musicians, engineers and support personnel, Elegant People is written from an insider’s perspective, describing Weather Report’s transformation from a freewheeling, avant-garde jazz band to a grooving juggernaut that combined elements of jazz, funk, Latin and rhythm-and-blues. Fueled by Zawinul’s hit tune Birdland and the charismatic stage presence of legendary electric bass player Jaco Pastorius, Weather Report took on the aura of rock stars. By the time Zawinul and Shorter mutually agreed to part ways in 1986, Weather Report had produced 16 albums, a body of work that ranks among the most significant in jazz and continues to resonate with musicians and fans today.”
Punks in Peoria: Making a Scene in the American Heartland
By Jonathan Wright and Dawson Barrett
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Synonymous with American mediocrity, Peoria was fertile ground for the boredom- and anger-fueled fury of punk rock. Jonathan Wright and Dawson Barrett explore the DIY scene built by Peoria punks, performers and scenesters in the 1980s and 1990s. From fanzines to indie record shops to renting the VFW hall for all-ages shows, Peoria’s punk culture reflected the movement elsewhere, but the city’s conservatism and industrial decline offered a richer-than-usual environment for rebellion. Eyewitness accounts take readers into hangouts and long-lost venues, while interviews with the people who were there trace the ever-changing scene and varied fortunes of local legends like Caustic Defiance, Dollface and Planes Mistaken for Stars. What emerges is a sympathetic portrait of a youth culture in search of entertainment but just as hungry for community. A raucous look at a small-city underground, Punks in Peoria takes readers off the beaten track to reveal the punk rock life as lived in Anytown, U.S.A.”
Between Norteño and Tejano Conjunto: Music, Tradition, and Culture at the U.S.-Mexico Border
By Luis Díaz-Santana Garza
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “An analysis of the origin, evolution, and dissemination of the Norteño and Tejano conjunto. This group represents a marginalized local identity that was transformed primarily into an identity of Mexico’s northeast. It then gave way to the whole of northern México and the American Southwest, and was later assimilated internationally as a mainstream genre. This book provides a long-term historic vision of conjunto and the various musical forms it uses, such as polka, corrido, or canción (song) and, more recently, bolero and cumbia, as well as its transformations and contributions to other musical cultures.”
Homer Rodeheaver & the Rise of the Gospel Music Industry
By Kevin Mungons and Douglas Yeo
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Homer Rodeheaver merged evangelical hymns and African-American spirituals with popular music to create a potent gospel style. The authors examine his enormous influence on gospel music against the backdrop of Christian music history and his impact as a cultural and business figure. Rodeheaver rose to fame as the trombone-playing song leader for evangelist Billy Sunday. As revivalism declined after the First World War, he leveraged his place in America’s newborn celebrity culture to start the first gospel record label and launch a nationwide radio program. His groundbreaking combination of hymnal publishing and recording technology helped define the early Christian music industry. In his later years, he influenced figures like Billy Graham and witnessed the music’s split into southern gospel and black gospel. Clear-eyed and revealing, this book is an overdue consideration of a pioneering figure in American music.”
FAME: Pride Activists Vol. 2 – Dolly Parton, Cher, RuPaul & Lady Gaga
By Michael Frizell & George Amaru
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “This unique 96-page graphic novel is a Pride-inspired tribute to the lives of icons Dolly Parton, Cher, RuPaul and Lady Gaga.”
