Mark Zwonitzer with Charles Hirshberg -- 2002 The first biography of the Carter Family, who burst out of Maces Spring, Virginia in 1927 and became perhaps the most important musical artists in American history. An inspirational tale of three people from an isolated rural community who created music that shook the world, and still reverberates today. A. P., Sara, and Maybelle Carter are universally recognized as having created the genre of Country music. But the influence of their recordings, particularly Maybelle's innovative guitar technique, also profoundly affected the development of Blues, Pop and Rock and Roll; in essence, the entirety of American popular music. This is fabulous book with very affecting stories of real people, experiencing triumph and loss, sorrow and joy. Mark Zwonitzer wrote the book, in large part from interviews conducted by Charles Hirshberg with the family, friends, neighbors and colleagues of the principals. From the stories they to...
John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction A history of the early days of modern Science Fiction, centered about the lives of John W. Campbell Jr. and three of his proteges: Robert Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and Isaac Asimov. A sometimes interesting account of a crucial era in the history of Science Fiction, but mainly just biographies of the titular personalities. Most of the interactions among these characters occurred before World War II, long before the lifetimes of anyone likely to be reading. I'm a longtime SF reader who grew up reading Heinlein and Asimov, and started reading Analog intermittently from about the time of Campbell's death. As invested as I am in the SF of the second half of the 20th Century, the history of the first half didn't interest me that much. Really, if you want to know what was happening in SF way back when, just read the stories! (SPOILER: It mostly sucked, especially Hubbard an...
Jefferson Airplane -- 14 September 1970 Have You Seen the Saucers? -- 14 Sep 1970 Taken from a performance at the Fillmore West (the former Carousel Ballroom) in San Francisco, California. With a capacity of around 3000, this was Bill Graham's premier venue at the time. "Have You Seen the Saucers" was recorded in February 1970 and was released in May on a 45, backed with "Mexico". Neither cut was released on LP until the Early Flight compilation in 1974. "Saucers" was a better song than many of those on Volunteers and Bark , the LPs bookending its release. For me, the four Kantner / Slick collaborations ( Blows Against the Empire, Sunfighter, Manhole, Baron Von Tollbooth and the Chrome Nun ) are better than the last three Jefferson Airplane studio albums. But imagine if the band had released just one Jefferson Airplane LP per year, 1969-1973, with a selection of the best of all the Airplane, Kantner / Slick, and Hot Tuna records in those years. Th...
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