LIBRARY
ENG 498: Senior Seminar: Rock in Fiction
Ebooks
Bookclub-In-a-Box Discusses a Visit from the Goon Squad, by Jennifer Egan by ISBN: 1927121094Publication Date: 2012-01-01In the 1970s, Bennie Salazar was the bassist in a San Francisco punk band, the Flaming Dildos. Decades later, he finds his career as a record executive and his relevance in the industry are slowly fading? while his tastes remain the same, the music scene and the technology that creates it change rapidly around him. Sasha is his younger assistant, loyally keeping an increasingly forgetful Bennie on track, but struggling with her own aimlessness and a bad pick-pocketing impulse. Each chapter of the book is its own brilliantly crafted story, offering perspective on peripheral characters from Sasha?s college friend Rob, to Bennie?s destitute former band mate Scotty, to an entire chapter laid out as a PowerPoint presentation by Sasha?s daughter, Alison. Moving from the 1970s to the 2020s and several places in between, A Visit From The Goon Squad shows how every encounter has the potential to change a life?s direction, but no matter what you do, time is the one goon you can never avoid. The Bookclub-in-a-Box guide for Egan?s book will spark discussion around the following topics: Egan?s innovative structure and narrative techniques, the passing of time and its relationship to memory, characters in past and future, technology and a quick glimpse into the music industry then and now. Every Bookclub-in-a-Box discussion guide includes complete coverage of the themes and symbols, writing style and interesting background information on the novel and the author.
Print Reference
The Oxford Companion to the American Musical by Call Number: REF ML102 .M88 H93 2008ISBN: 9780195335330Publication Date: 2008-06-02From the silver screen to the Great White Way, small community theatres to television sets, the musical has long held a special place in America's heart and history. Now, in The Oxford Companion to the American Musical, readers who flocked to the movies to see An American in Paris or Chicago, lined up for tickets to West Side Story or Rent, or crowded around their TVs to watch Cinderella or High School Musical can finally turn to a single book for details about them all. For the first time, this popular subject has an engaging and authoritative book as thrilling as the performances themselves. With more than two thousand entries, this illustrated guide offers a wealth of information on musicals, performers, composers, lyricists, producers, choreographers, and much more. Biographical entries range from early stars Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby, Mary Martin, and Mae West to contemporary show-stoppers Nathan Lane, Savion Glover, and Kristin Chenoweth, while composers Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, and Andrew Lloyd Webber all have articles, and the choreography of Bob Fosse, Tommy Tune, and Debbie Allen receives due examination. The plays and films covered range from modern hits like Mamma Mia! and Moulin Rouge! to timeless classics such as Yankee Doodle Dandy and Show Boat. Also, numerous musicals written specifically for television appear throughout, and many entries follow a work-Babes in Toyland for example-as it moves across genres, from stage, to film, to television. The Companion also includes cross references, a comprehensive listing of recommended recordings and further reading, a useful chronology of all the musicals described in the book, plus a complete index of Tony Award and Academy Award winners. Whether you are curious about Singin' in the Rain or Spamalot, or simply adore The Wizard of Oz or Grease, this well-researched and entertaining resource is the first place to turn for reliable information on virtually every aspect of the American musical.
Ebooks
Contemporary Youth Culture by ISBN: 9780313337291Publication Date: 2005-12-01This two-volume set chronicles how technology, economics, the media and society created the modern concept of youth. Topics explored include hip hop culture, punk culture, social justice movements, video games, political activism, post-feminism, television, race and ethnicity, visual art, sports, drugs, and much more.
Music in the USA by ISBN: 019803203XPublication Date: 2008-01-01Music in the USA: A Documentary Companion charts a path through American music and musical life using as guides the words of composers, performers, writers and the rest of us ordinary folks who sing, dance, and listen. The anthology of primary sources contains about 160 selections from 1540 to 2000. Sometimes the sources are classics in the literature around American music, for example, the Preface to the Bay Psalm Book, excerpts from Slave Songs of the United States, and Charles Ives extolling Emerson. But many other selections offer uncommon sources, including a satirical story about a Yankee music teacher; various columns from 19th-century German American newspapers; the memoirs of a 19th-century diva; Lottie Joplin remembering her husband Scott; a little-known reflection of Copland about Stravinsky; an interview with Muddy Waters from the Chicago Defender; a letter from Woody Guthrie on the spunkfire attitude of a folk song; a press release from the Country Music Association; and the Congressional testimony around Napster. Sidebar entries occasionally bring a topic or an idea into the present, acknowledging the extent to which revivals of many kinds of music play a role in American contemporary culture. This book focuses on the connections between theory and practice to enrich our understanding of the diversity of American musical experiences. Designed especially to accompany college courses which survey American music as a whole, the book is also relevant to courses in American history and American Studies.
