This reference work details Frank Sinatra's extensive creative accomplishments and includes biographical information as it relates to his art. A valuable tool for researchers and fans, this book provides access to extensive data, collected from disparate sources, including the first published listing of Internet resources. The information is divided into three parts, each arranged alphabetically, and covers his music, film, radio, and television appearances, and his concerts and humanitarian contributions. A thorough bibliography provides important information on locating additional resources. The only American performer to span seven decades of recording (1930s-1990s), Sinatra is regarded as an American icon. The wealth of information in this reference attests to Sinatra's well-earned reputation as an American musical legend. This reference aptly includes information not only about his creative endeavors but about his humanitarian efforts as well. Because Sinatra is recognized and admired for his musical talent, a large portion of this reference is devoted to his songs and recordings. The alphabetical arrangements of song entries includes information on the songs, record labels, arrangers, and recording dates. Three appendices at the end of the volume provide additional information about the recordings. The encyclopedia concludes with the many awards and honors bestowed upon Sinatra.

As the turbulent 60's began to fade into the calmer 70's, a coterie of young singers, songwriters, musicians, artists, and poets began to congregate, musically on the stage of The New Bijou Theater - the Springfield, Missouri nightclub that would become the loose-knit group's home. What started as an informal weekly gathering, quickly morphed into a formal band. Dubbed the Family Tree, they became a favorite of the local counter-culture, as well as a continuation of the tradition-rich, Springfield music scene - which, until recently, included the Ozark Jubilee (the nation's first televised country music show). Though unprofitable at the time, they stuck to their guns and their original songs. When a rough tape of an early Bijou gig caught the ear of music mogul, John Hammond, it culminated in a 26-song studio demo, which caught the ear of A&M executive, David Anderle. The group signed with the label, changed their name to its present moniker, and whisked off to London to record their debut album under the tutelage of Glyn Johns. The album contained "If You Want to Get to Heaven." Their subsequent album, recorded in rural Missouri, contained "Jackie Blue." Both songs remain staples on 'classic rock' radio. By the early 80's, the Ozark Mountain Daredevils found themselves right where the Family Tree had stood a decade before - in Springfield with no record deal. They did, though, find themselves with legions of loyal fans around the world. Amidst personnel changes, personal turmoils and a cornucopia of tales from the rock-n-roll highway, the next twenty years were spent 'on the road'. Though continuing to write, they could garner little interest among the rapidly modernizing music industry - a situation many long-haired, long-named hippie bands of the 70's find themselves in. Their music, though, lives in the hearts of their fans.

In the early spring of 1959, six musicians went into the 30th Street Studio in New York. Nine hours later, they had recorded one of the finest albums of the twentieth century. Kind of Blue traces Miles Davis's development into an artist capable of making such a masterpiece, and explores the careers and struggles of the musicians who shaped him and played alongside him. Using interviews and pictures, studio dialogue and outtakes, the great jazz historian Ashley Kahn follows Miles and his group into the studio, to show precisely how the greatest jazz record of all time was made, how it was introduced to the world, and how it changed music forever.

For many, Kim Gordon, vocalist, bassist and founding member of Sonic Youth, has always been the epitome of cool.

Sonic Youth is one of the most influential and successful bands to emerge from the post-punk New York scene, and their legacy continues to loom large over the landscape of indie rock and American pop culture. Almost as celebrated as the band's defiantly dissonant sound was the marriage between Gordon and her husband, fellow Sonic Youth founder and lead guitarist Thurston Moore. So when Matador Records released a statement in the fall of 2011 announcing that—after twenty-seven years—the two were splitting, fans were devastated. In the middle of a crazy world, they'd seemed so solid.

What did this mean? What comes next? What came before?

In Girl in a Band, the famously reserved superstar speaks candidly about her past and the future. From her childhood in the sunbaked suburbs of Southern California, growing up with a mentally ill sibling who often sapped her family of emotional capital, to New York's downtown art and music scene in the eighties and nineties and the birth of a band that would pave the way for acts like Nirvana, as well as help inspire the Riot Grrl generation, here is an edgy and evocative portrait of a life in art.

Exploring the artists, musicians, and writers who influenced Gordon, and the relationship that defined her life for so long, Girl in a Band is filled with the sights and sounds of a pre-Internet world and is a deeply personal portrait of a woman who has become an icon.

Most girls grow up fantasizing about the type of man they are going to marry and how their wedding will be, and they imagine things like the house with the white picket fence, two kids, and maybe a dog.

No girl grows up dreaming about a man who will want to marry her, control her, and nearly kill her. However, the truth is that many girls end up doing just that.

(Amadeus). Born in Belgium as Clara Lardinois, the youngest of 17 children, Blanche Arral was destined for a life wilder than fiction. During her travels, Arral befriended such legendary figures as Sarah Bernhardt, Mata Hari, Harry Houdini, Victor Hugo, Franz Liszt, Camille Saint-Saens and Jack London, who based a character on her in his book Smoke Bellew . In Russia she met Rasputin, and in Turkey, the sultan Abdulhamid II. She describes her recording sessions with Thomas Edison and her run-ins with the difficult Nellie Melba. Writer and opera fan Ira Glackens discovered her living in a small New Jersey apartment and persuaded her to record her extraordinary stories. More than 60 years later, editor William R. Moran has confirmed the veracity of Arral's account and annotated this extraordinary memoir.

Pirouettes and Passions Growing up behind the Curtain By Mia Nadasi This memoir is for readers interested in ballet and theatre and life of the privileged artists behind the ex- Iron Curtain. It fills a gap about a period and Hungary's artistic life not much written about in English. My parents were both ballet dancers, my father rose to be the Artistic Director of the Hungarian State Ballet Company. I followed their footsteps and became a dancer and an actress. The journey of our family which starts in the 19th century is typically European as it encompasses locations of several countries: Germany, France, Russia, Switzerland, even South America and of course mainly Hungary. The history of their families could not have been more different. My father was an illegitimate child and had to overcome a poverty-stricken childhood to become a much awarded leading artist of his day, regarded today as one of the founding father of classical ballet in Hungary. He personally encountered great names in the ballet world; took classes with Cecchetti, where his fellow dancers included Nijinsky and Karsavina and watched Fokine creating his ballets. My mother hailed from a wealthy bourgeois family of French/German extraction yet the two of them ended up dancing together all over Europe before settling in Hungary. Having established their ballet studio in Budapest they became well-known and successful members of the glittering pre-war Budapest society. I was born during the war and after the communist take-over life has changed fundamentally. Initially my parents were regarded as capitalists, but soon their expertise was recognised and like so many other artists, they became privileged within theconstraints of the regime. From an early age I was groomed to become an artist. I describe my years as a ballet student in the State Ballet Institute, based on the system of the Russian school. As a child I started acting at one of the most distinguished theatre companies (Vigszinhaz) and later I joined as the youngest ever member. At the same time I made my debut in a successful film, as a result I became one of the well-known faces in the country. When I graduated from the State Ballet Institute my partner was Ivan Nagy. However, I turned my back on ballet and decided to become an actress. In the nineteen-fifties and sixties I got to know the most important 'players' in the ballet, theatre and film world. During that period I grew up and matured both as a performer and a young woman. My sentimental education, crushes, romances and heartbreaks were all informed by that milieu. I was a schoolgirl during the 1956 uprising and experienced the so-called soft dictatorship that followed. However, my perspective is always personal; the great historical events only feature as much as they touched my life. There is more emphasis on everyday life and the small human dramas that shaped my fate and those of my friends. It was also fate that made me to give up my homeland and take a flight to England.

Spoken Words of EboniSkye, is a poetry book full of life. Share the true experiences of EboniSkye from her teenage years to present day as she fought to find her way to salvation in a dark cold world. Love, Loss and Life Lessons, The Female Hustler and The Virtuous One are three profound poems exposing the desperate search of unconditional love, acceptance, knowledge and understanding. This book is full of all types of poems and poetry. The philosphy is to obtain salvation, one must need to be saved and she needed it Love, Loss and Life Lessons, EboniSkye reveals the inhibitions of first loves, the passion and the heartaches. It allows the reader to know they are not alone in whatever they may endure. The Female Hustler describes the life of a woman making it happen in today's world. She exposes the reader to a real world that many women may be destined to live, through some of her personal experiences and the experiences of others. The Virtuous One is an inspirational poem. EboniSkye shares messages of the love she found and the cost of her journey. She writes prayers of true love and stands boldly as an inspiration to many.

The series of biographical sketches published by "Brainard's Musical World" between 1877 and 1889 is notable for the diversity of the musicians profiled and for the entertaining personal information provided. This period witnessed the establishment of musical institutions and attitudes toward music that have shaped American music to the present day. The biographies present a cross-section of American musicians in the late 19th century, including singers, instrumentalists, writers, teachers, and composers. Among the musicians included are some of America's most prominent conductors, such as Theodore Thomas and Leopold Damrosch; composers, such as John Knowles Paine and George F. Root; writers, such as John S. Dwight and Amy Fay; teachers, such as William Mason and Erminia Rudersdorff; and performers, such as Emma Abbott and Maud Powell. Scores of less familiar musicians who were also instrumental in shaping America's music are included as well. Originally intended for general readers, the biographical sketches not only shed light on musical topics but also include personal information that is seldom found in a traditional dictionary and which speaks to the attitudes and concerns of the late 19th century society.

This work will be of value to scholars and researchers of 19th-century American music and to those interested in the development of popular song. Entries are alphabetically arranged and include select bibliographies. A general bibliography and index are also included.

This reference traces in fascinating detail the exceptionally long career of Helen Hayes, the "First Lady of the American Theatre." In addition to a biography of the actress, which charts the development of her unique talent and the successes and tragedies of her personal life, the book supplies a chronology which provides quick access to the major events which shaped both her character and her career. In sections devoted individually to Stage, Film, Television, and Radio, the actress' work in each of these media is charted. Cast lists, plot synopses, reviews, and commentary bring vivid immediacy to these records. Additional material in the Appendices provides information on her aural/video recordings as well as her stunning list of Awards and Honors. Included is the program from a gala salute to her 50th Anniversary on the stage. A detailed index concludes the work.

In this unprecedented volume, Professor Thomas Hagood brings together the voices of key dance educators to express their views on the legacy of dance education. The book examines the values and practices dance educators live with, and what values and practices they take forward to promote or even retool and reinvent in their professional work. The book also engages in discussions of the people who embody (or have embodied) the values and practices the dance education field takes ownership of. Through working with and being exposed to teachers in the dance field, the editor and his contributors express how their learning and professional development has been inspired and shaped by their interactions with their mentors. It follows that legacy is important territory for dancers to consider as educators and as people. Such deep discussion of legacy in educational dance is not widely evidenced in existing literature. Since it is not an easy nor simple task to inventory what dance educators have absorbed from mentors with an objective or analytically aware eye, this book will serve well to expand this discussion. Critical assessment in dance education is also challenged by the fact that the field itself is very young. In analyzing legacy, the book interestingly shows that the mentors discussed may well be about people who are still very much alive. The book also addresses how dance is so culturally challenged by archetypal notions of who practices it, as well as its educational value and worth. The book presents dance scholars with many opportunities to learn new dimensions of dance history, to reflect on practices both old and new, to appreciate the values that shape their work in danceeducation, to get to know people who may not appear in the historic record, to revisit the gifts of those whom they may consider giants in the field have left, to consider the landscape of dance education as it has been shaped over time. The inclusion of the voices and contributions of some of the fields most prominent dance educators in this book and the critical issues they discuss make this book a must for every dance collection.

Jeanne Carroll, has devoted over 18 years, to the telling of her many faceted, 80 years of life. From a childhood in stuffy, sedate, depression era, New Hampshire, as a 1637 descendant of the Hinds family, her shy, inhibited life, evolves into one that would encompass both heaven and hell. A life, incomparable, to most people, of her prim 'n proper era. Putting protocol aside, she has dared to tell of her life, openly uninhibited, as she really lived it. Events of true love when she becomes the wartime bride of a famous Big Band trombonist, Al Esposito, leading to a big band life in New York City, to life as a metropolitan mom and to eventually becoming a big band glamorous singer, performer and even a bandleader, herself. Headlining and appearing, in each and every city, town, hamlet and military base, nationwide and overseas. Her untold stories are intimate and personal, as if she were speaking to you personally, in your own living-room. Shows and stories, for and of the working class, to those for and of, the ultra-rich. shocking and risque, to feast or famine, to a problem-solving, personal letter, from the Honorable Ronald Reagan and so much more. After all, we're talking about 80 years. You could see your own name, club, or town, mentioned in this roller coaster life story. Her book includes, historical facts of the times, the famous Coconut Grove fire in Boston, which Jeannie personally witnessed, that chilly November night, where 400 lives were lost, the story of the famous Wasp naval ship being lost at sea, during World War II, stories of the presidents, the idol of the day, Franklin Roosevelt and Jack and Bobby Kennedy and escapades of famous personalities and stars of the mid Twentieth Century. Written in her own style, Jeannie has left practically nothing unsaid, of all that she lived and experienced.

Elizabeth Grant has stood at the helm of her beauty empire for more than sixty years, regaling admirers with personal stories, notably one event that nearly killed her. When a German rocket dropped soundlessly from the sky on a peaceful Sunday in wartime London, its impact and resultant bomb blast damage took her down, damaged her face and rendered her almost deaf in one ear. A young makeup artist at Ellstree Studios, she thought herself so repulsively scarred, she could no longer face acting luminaries like Vivien Leigh, Margaret Leighton, and Robert Taylor with any degree of confidence. "I honestly thought my life was over," Elizabeth says. But as readers will learn, she easily has more than nine lives. From that misfortune came salvation. With Elizabeth you will sense a wealth of wisdom and experience lurking beneath her self-deprecating wit. A more profound history - one that had lain hidden for decades - was waiting to be unearthed. Revealing the multiple sides of Elizabeth was a painstaking labour of love, and one of our most rewarding journeys. Little by little, she emerged from self-imposed shadows with shocking and disturbing accounts of her nightmarish childhood. Years of abuse and neglect had spawned crushing self-doubt, yet she soldiered on, nursing a remarkable will to survive at any cost - even daring to reach for the unreachable. The Elizabeth Grant story spins a cinematic voyage on three continents, through Heaven and Hell. Compelling, tragic, wistful and humourous, it charts a unique woman's determination to overcome every boulder in her path. Her survival is a raw and powerful testament to human perseverance and her ultimate success provides inspiration that transcends time.

It was a magical romance... From the very moment these two souls united, a unique and radiant harmony was captured between them. Each and every enchanted day they shared with one another, ended in an array of beautiful memories, filled with song, laughter, and playful dreams. This love, so perfect and true, could have only been a gift from above. But with heaven comes hell... And when the demons of Capri Spectro's past refused to release their wicked grip from her life, it slowly suffocated this angelic love. Those dark shadows would ultimately consume the light in Gentry's eyes, casting Capri's angel away into a mysterious realm of uncertainty. He would escape with her heart in his hands, and leave behind only one hope...That he may one day return... What would become of Capri in the days that followed is where this twisted journey unfolds, for with this loss also came an unbearable reality. The burden of a painful past now weighed more heavily upon her than ever before. In a world where punishment looms in the dark storm clouds above and tears have a way of flooding the imagination, those who are sinking, may instead feel, like they are sailing. During this slow downward spiral into madness, Capri transformed into Eve, and believed wholeheartedly in her life or death pact with the Big Man upstairs. Fueled by her childhood dream of marrying John Lennon, and chasing after what appeared to be an impossible miracle, Capri began walking the tightrope of insanity, in pure certainty. Trapped in this bizarre and brokenhearted world of illusion, would the long and winding road to freedom ever reveal itself...or would Capri die trying to find it...

Since her first appearance on screen in Mary Poppins, Julie Andrews has played a series of memorable roles that have endeared her to generations. But she has never told the story of her life before fame. Until now. In Home: A Memoir of My Early Years, Julie takes her readers on a warm, moving, and often humorous journey from a difficult upbringing in war-torn Britain to the brink of international stardom in America. Her memoir begins in 1935, when Julie was born to an aspiring vaudevillian mother and a teacher father, and takes readers to 1962, when Walt Disney himself saw her on Broadway and cast her as the world's most famous nanny. Along the way, she weathered the London Blitz of World War II; her parents' painful divorce; her mother's turbulent second marriage to Canadian tenor Ted Andrews, and a childhood spent on radio, in music halls, and giving concert performances all over England. Julie's professional career began at the age of twelve, and in 1948 she became the youngest solo performer ever to participate in a Royal Command Performance before the Queen. When only eighteen, she left home for the United States to make her Broadway debut in The Boy Friend, and thus began her meteoric rise to stardom.Home is filled with numerous anecdotes, including stories of performing in My Fair Lady with Rex Harrison on Broadway and in the West End, and in Camelot with Richard Burton on Broadway; her first marriage to famed set and costume designer Tony Walton, culminating with the birth of their daughter, Emma; and the call from Hollywood and what lay beyond. Julie Andrews' career has flourished over seven decades. From her legendary Broadway performances, to her roles in such iconic films as The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Hawaii, 10, and The Princess Diaries, to her award-winning television appearances, multiple album releases, concert tours, international humanitarian work, best-selling children's books, and championship of literacy, Julie's influence spans generations. Today, she lives with her husband of thirty-eight years, the acclaimed writer/director Blake Edwards; they have five children and seven grandchildren. Featuring over fifty personal photos, many never before seen, this is the personal memoir Julie Andrews' audiences have been waiting for.

Cursum Perficio is the name of Marilyn Monroe's last home. "Cursum Perficio," the book, is author Gary Vitacco-Robles' exploration of Marilyn's last home as a touchstone to her brief and extraordinary life.

A definitive testament of Marilyn Monroe's modest nature, simple tastes and spirituality was her selection of a house in which to settle at age 35. The Spanish Colonial hacienda symbolizes Marilyn's unfulfilled dreams and unfinished life. The Latin inscription on the tiles adorning the front doorstep, Cursum Perficio (translating to "My journey ends"), prophesied the screen goddess' death in the home in 1962.

"Cursum Perficio" invites us inside Marilyn's private life through 120 illustrations and previously unpublished photos of her hacienda and its contents. See the interior, Marilyn's art and decorations purchased on a shopping spree in Mexico, and the furniture delivered days before her death. Vitacco-Robles reveals the events during Marilyn's last months, her daily routine, and her random acts of kindness.

"Cursum Perficio" is not a sensational exploitation of Marilyn Monroe but a celebration of the human being behind the legend. It is a rare and refreshing exploration for the most devout fan and an insightful introduction for those just discovering this enduring icon of the Twentieth Century. This expanded second edition contains added chapters and new images by Brandon Heidrick.