There’s brisk demand for Karl Malden’s 1997 memoir, When Do I Start?, following the sad news about his death yesterday at the age of 97. I think he was a truly memorable actor. On The Waterfront remains one of my favourite movies. Only a handful of signed copies remain.
Archive for the ‘life’ Category
Celebrating Woodstock’s 40th Anniversary - Top 8 Books
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009Forty years ago, nearly half a million people gathered in a celebration of love, music and peace - the historic Woodstock Festival. This legendary event is remembered in many ways, including on the printed page. Good Morning America has compiled a list of their Top 8 favorites:
- Woodstock Revisited edited by Susan Reynolds
This collection contains fifty stories written by people who attended the original Woodstock Festival in 1969. Since all the books that preceded it have focused on the musicians, promoters, and staff, this book will be the first one that chronicles the audience’s experience in an up close and personal way. This book documents the event itself, but also provides a mesmerizing portrait of America as that tumultuous decade came to a close. It is nostalgic, historical, and a fascinating read that will appeal to all Baby Boomers, their offspring, and anyone who wonders what it was really like—and what became of all those “hippies.” - The Woodstock Story Book by Linanne G. Sackett and Barry Z. Levine
a chronologically and anatomically correct pictorial account of the historic 1969 Festival. It includes over 240 full color photographs by Barry Z Levine, official photographer of the Academy Award winning Woodstock film, and text by Linanne Sackett that resonates with the charm and humor of Dr. Seuss. The book captures the performers, personalities, audience, excitement, mood, and action from the beginning. The Woodstock Story Book’s 154 pages include many exceptional, never-before-seen photographs of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jerry Garcia, the Who, Joe Cocker, Jefferson Airplane, Joan Baez, The Band, Sly and the Family Stone, John Sebastian, Ten Years After, The Incredible String Band, Tim Hardin, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and many more. - Back to the Garden: The Story of Woodstock by Pete Fornatale
On the fortieth anniversary of Woodstock, renowned New York City disc jockey Pete Fornatale brings the iconic rock concert to vivid life through original interviews with Roger Daltrey, Joan Baez, David Crosby, Richie Havens, Joe Cocker, and dozens of headliners, organizers, and fans. From Richie Havens’s legendary opening act to the Who’s violent performance, from the Grateful Dead’s jam to Jefferson Airplane’s wake-up call, culminating in Jimi Hendrix’s career-defining moment, Fornatale brings new stories to light and sets the record straight on some common misperceptions. Illustrated with black-and-white photographs, authoritative, and highly entertaining, Back to the Garden is the soon-to-be classic telling of three days of peace and music. - Woodstock Vision: The Spirit of a Generation by Elliott Landy, Intro. by Jerry Garcia
In the turbulent sixties, the Woodstock Festival and the Generation that came from that event were a manifestation of the desire to create a free, loving and just world. Elliot Landy has had his finger on the pulse of the Woodstock generation. He was there before the famous festival, hanging out with Dylan and The Band; he was the photographer of record at the Woodstock festival itself; and he still lives in Woodstock today. In this edition of Woodstock Vision, Landy captures and preserves the true vision and pure essence of the festival-what it was like to be part of the sixties, sharing the spirit of unlimited hope, optimism, and belief that the world can be made better through peace and love. The book affectionately chronicles what it was like to be at the Woodstock Festival and to be a part of the spirit of its generation - Girls Like Us by Shelia Weller
“Girls Like Us” is a groundbreaking and irresistible biography of three of America’s most important musical artists–Carly Simon, Carole King, and Joni Mitchell–and offers an epic treatment of these mid-century women who dared to break tradition. Filled with the voices of many dozens of these women’s intimates, who are speaking in these pages for the first time, this alternating biography reads like a novel — except it’s all true, and the heroines are famous and beloved. Sheila Weller captures the character of each woman and gives a balanced portrayal enriched by a wealth of new information. - The Road to Woodstock by Michael Lang with Holly George-Warren
The story of the festival begins with Michael Lang, a kid out of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, who liked to smoke a joint and listen to jazz and who eventually found his way to Florida, where he opened a head shop and produced his first festival Miami Pop, featuring Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa, and others. In the late sixties, after settling in Woodstock, he began to envision a music and arts festival where folks could come and stay for a few days amid the rural beauty of upstate New York. The idea crystallized when Lang talked it over with Artie Kornfeld, a songwriter and A & R man, and with two other young men they formed Woodstock Ventures. They booked talent, from Janis Joplin and the Who to the virtually unknown Santana and Crosby, Stills and Nash; won over agents and promoters; brought in the Hog Farm commune to set up campgrounds; hired a peacekeeping force; took on fleets of volunteers; appeased the Yippies; and were run out of one town and found another site weeks before the festival. - Woodstock: Peace, Music & Memories by Brad Littleproud and Joanne Hague
Woodstock Peace, Music & Memories tells the story of what Time magazine called “the greatest peaceful event in history” in the words and pictures of some of the 500,000 people who lived it. With a natural look and scrapbook-of-memories character, this book celebrates the 40th anniversary of this legendary event with a mix of 350 color, sepia-tone and black and white photos; interviews with performers including Carlos Santana and Mountain, as well as attendees, a special section of Woodstock memorabilia with current values, and a foreword written by Woodstock co-organizer Artie Kornfedt. Whether you are a baby boomer or a musician who rocked and rolled – to the music and atmosphere of Woodstock, or are a fan, a collector or a historian who wish you were there, you will find this book to be an amazing tribute to the most famous three days of 1969. - Woodstock: Three Days That Rocked the World by Mike Evans & Paul Kingsbury. Foreword by Martin Scorsese
It defined a generation, exemplified an era: Woodstock was unlike anything that has ever happened before or since—and August 2009 marks the 40th anniversary of this seminal event. Relive the moment and “get back to the garden” with this day-by-day, act-by-act account of everything that went down on Yasgur’s Farm. With interviews and quotes from those who were there—the musicians, the fans, the organizers—and a wealth of photographs and graphic memorabilia, Woodstock is the ultimate celebration of a landmark in modern cultural history.
Litigious Quartet Sues ALA for Right to Burn Book (and more).
Thursday, June 11th, 2009
In West Bend, Wisconsin, four elderly folks got together to sue the American Library Association for $120,000 ($30,000 per plaintiff) and - get this - the right to publicly burn or by other means destroy a book they found so offensive they claim to have been personally harmed just by viewing it (Baby Be-Bop by Francesca Lia Block) in the West Bend Library.
Oh - the four litigious library victims’ lawsuit also called for the resignation of the mayor, as well as calling for a grand jury to studiously examine the book to see whether it could be called obscene and declared a hate crime.
But the good news is, for those of you who hadn’t heard from Righteous Indignation in a while and were worried it might be sick….nope, not to worry. It’s alive and well and currently living in Wisconsin.
Yann Martel’s Fascination with Stephen Harper
Thursday, June 11th, 2009
According to this article in the Globe and Mail, Yann Martel, author of the Booker Prize-winning fantastical novel Life of Pi has spent the last two years sending books to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Martel met Harper in March of 2007 for the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Canada Council for the Arts, and was struck by Harper’s coldness and perceived indifference to the Arts. Martel became curious about him, wondering what made him tick. He decided that every two weeks he would send the Prime Minister a book of his own choosing that he thought would benefit Harper.
You can see more at Martel’s web site whatisstephenharperreading.ca but the first book sent was The Death of Ivan Ilych by Leo Tolstoy. Some of the other choices have included Animal Farm by George Orwell, Candide by Voltaire, Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Drown by Junot Diaz, The Good Earthby Pearl S. Buck, and many, many more - 57 so far and counting.
What to say about all this? Firstly, Yann Martel and I appear to have very similar taste in books. Secondly, hey Yann Martel - I can be busy and enigmatic and indifferent…if I snub you, will you start sending me books? I promise to have my staff (read: one of my friends) respond.
Bonkbusters busted?
Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009Bonkbusters aren’t as good as they used to be. I don’t know what to say.
Jeff Rubin interview
Monday, June 1st, 2009
The latest writer to be interviewed by AbeBooks is Jeff Rubin - author of Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller. Rubin, one of North America’s leading economists, explains how globalization is coming to an end as the world faces up to a dwindling and increasingly expensive supply of oil. He explains how the modern world has been built on cheap oil and how it’s going to change radically under high priced oil.
I initially feared this book would be very boring, but it’s extremely readable. Like most people, I equate the price of oil to the price I pay at the pump when I fill up my car. In reality, the price of almost everything in our global economy is influenced by oil and its price. We’ve spent three decades marvelling at global business and now, according to Rubin, it’s going to implode.
Narrated Video on the Hugeness of Chamblin Bookmine
Thursday, May 28th, 2009I liked the dreamy, awestruck quality of this narrated video demonstrating the vastness of Chamblin BookMine in Jacksonville, FL.
Drat. Another bookstore I might want to see as much as Powell’s. One day, I’m going to have to take a North American bookstore road trip.
….and I’m going to need a really big van for souvenirs.
Moby Dick Tweeted in its Entirety on Twitter
Thursday, May 14th, 2009
There’s….not much to say besides the headline, really… almost a year ago, a twitter user made a tongue-in-cheek comment that it would be cool if someone tweeted all of Moby Dick.
A light bulb went off for a twitter user named danco (Dan Coulter), and he endeavored to make it happen, under a separate Twitter account (complete with whale wallpaper, natch). 9 1/2 months and 12,849 updates later - that’s around 45 tweets a day, as twitter updates have a 140 character limit - the book’s last line: “It was the devious-cruising Rachel, that in her retracing search after her missing children, only found another orphan.” was tweeted yesterday, May 13th, at 7:08 a.m.
Danco is quick to assure audiences that it was a bot, not him, doing the day-in, day-out tweeting.
Andy Andrew’s The Noticer Gives Perspective
Thursday, May 14th, 2009
Convincing a homeless 19-year-old whose mother died of cancer and whose father was killed in a car accident, to have perspective and hope would be a daunting task, if not slightly unsympathetic. But the counsel of one old man did just that for Andy Andrews and it was just the thing he needed to turn his life around.
Jones explains to Andrews that he has a gift of noticing things that others miss. “Your time on this earth is a gift to be used wisely,” he says. “Don’t squander your words or your thoughts. Consider even the simplest action you take, for your lives matter beyond measure…and they matter forever.”
It’s all about perspective and our inborn desire to understand why things happen and what we can do about it.
Andy Andrews’ new book, The Noticer: Sometimes, All a Person Needs Is a Little Perspective, a semi-autobiographical account, teaches about the strength gained from perspective and how hope inspires positive change. Andrews is living proof - he’s gone from living under a pier to penning a book that is now on bestseller lists.
Earlier today, Andy Andrews spoke about his latest book and his amazing life, with Robin Roberts of ABC’s Good Morning America.
Tales for Tots Tuesday: Five Little Monkeys With Nothing to Do by Eileen Christelow
Tuesday, May 12th, 2009
Five little monkeys may be bored but Mama monkey has things for them to do!
Grandma is coming for a visit and the house needs cleaning. The little monkeys are asked to tidy their room, scrub the bathroom, beat the rugs and pick berries for dessert.
The poor little monkeys soon realize that all their hard work is easily undone when they run from picking berries to quickly get ready for Grandma’s arrival!
Five Little Monkeys With Nothing to Do is just one of the books in Eileen Christelow’s Five Little Monkeys series. The other titles include:
- Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed
- Five Little Monkeys Sitting in a Tree
- Five Little Monkeys Bake a Birthday Cake
- Five Little Monkeys Wash the Car
- Five Little Monkeys Play Hide-and-Seek
- Five Little Monkeys Go Shopping
Five Little Monkeys With Nothing to Do is a cute story that helps build in children an appreciation for the amount of work that goes into running a household. It’s a good catalyst for introducing chores and ways they can help out. The book can also be used to help them develop thought processes for when they do feel that there is “nothing to do”.
Activities guides for Five Little Monkeys With Nothing to Do are available online to help you get the most out of the book.
Anxiety Propels Old Book to Bestseller Status
Tuesday, May 12th, 2009
Americans concerned about the direction their country is going, are turning to a book written 28 years ago. Seeking greater understanding of the constitutional basics of natural law, freedom and limited government, they’re studying W. Cleon Skousen’s The 5000 Year Leap which espouses these factors as the foundation for America’s success.
In the last five months, The 5000 Year Leap, which is now in its 16th reprinting, has sold more than 250,000 copies - more than have sold since the initial publication in 1981. At the time of this post, it was sitting at the 17th spot in Amazon’s bestseller list where it has been in the top 100 for 83 days.
W. Cleon Skousen
Skousen’s “leap” is the surge of achievements experienced in the U.S.A. rooted in Americans living by the principles of the Constitution. Skousen theorizes that the settlers had tools and methods available to them that had been accessible to pioneers for thousands of years but it wasn’t until the concepts of natural law, freedom and limited government were institutionalized by the Constitution that America achieved true success.
The 5000 Year Leap is said to be a clear guide to the 28 principles that shaped the American Constitution and that reading it clarifies why the United States functioned so well for so long and how stepping away from life funded by credit is the only way to turn things around.
According to Zeldon Nelson, the director of The National Center for Constitutional Studies, there are thousands of study groups throughout the United States that are reading the book. On a quest to achieve the change that would bring America to recovery, Nelson’s mission is to have 10 million copies of The 5000 Year Leap in readers’ hands over the next year.
More about the book:
The 5000 Year Leap: A Miracle That Changed the World. For many years in the United States there has been a gradual drifting away from the Founding Fathers original success formula. This has resulted in some of their most unique contributions for a free and prosperous society becoming lost or misunderstood. Therefore, there has been a need to review the history and development of the making of America in order to recapture the brilliant precepts which made Americans the first free people in modern times.
In this book, discover the 28 Principles of Freedom our Founding Fathers said must be understood and perpetuated by every people who desire peace, prosperity, and freedom. Learn how adherence to these beliefs during the past 200 years has brought about more progress than was made in the previous 5000 years. Published by National Center for Constitutional Studies, a non-profit organization.
GLENN BECK, award-winning radio and Cable TV host has been encouraging people to read THE 5000 YEAR LEAP !
The End of Overeating by David Kessler, and Society’s Relationship with Food
Friday, May 8th, 2009
I had a bad day yesterday. It started badly, I worked late, and by the time I was driving home at 6:30, the idea of thinking of something to cook, going to the grocery store, wandering around with a cart, waiting in line, going home, cooking, and washing dishes was enough to make me want to cry.
Usually in this situation I would buy sandwich material, or pick up some sushi, or something, but last night I thought “when’s the last time I had a fast food hamburger?” So I went through the Drive-through (I’m sorry, I mean “drive-thru”) and ordered a chicken burger, a medium french fries, and a Sprite. When I got home, I ate what I had bought. The fries were so salty they leeched all the moisture from my tongue and made it feel like a dessicated starfish washed up on the beach. The bun was flaccid, spongy and flat, with no memory of a grain left in its bleached facade. The chicken patty tasted good, actually, but was lukewarm, overly salted and completely unlike chicken. I’m not complaining - it was seven bucks, it was easy, it was fast, and I was full. But the thing is, I didn’t love it. I didn’t even like it. I spent the rest of the evening in mild discomfort, aware that my body was attempting to process an already over-processed, rock-heavy ball of saltfatsugar. It had been at least a year - probably two - since I’d patronized the golden arches, and I now know I have completely lost my taste for it, and with it, any pleasure I ever took in it.
Which I suppose is good. I don’t eat fast food for a couple of years, and then when I do, my body and tongue go “ick, stop it.” I imagine it’s a similar phenomenon to the one at work when I now have a puff of a cigarette, after quitting 2.5 years ago. I smoked and loved it for years, but now, one puff, and my mouth tastes like a carpet across which a small dog has scootched its rear end. No, thanks.
Former FDA (Food and Drug Administration*) Commissioner David Kessler has written a book called The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite, in which he talks about what’s happening to the appetites, the food habits, the waistlines of the American (though I certainly think it applies equally to Canadian) public. Not new territory, perhaps, but still interesting.
Kessler’s claims throughout the book are that the ingredients that the vast majority of restaurant foods are heavily laden with (fat, sugar, salt) are not intended to be in such long supply, nor intended to be put into the human body in the quantity and frequency with which we consume it. Processing has become so efficient that restaurants and chemists can simulate and achieve any texture, flavour, consistency, product possible, relatively cheaply and in quantity, and as a result, our brains and tastebuds are being constantly stimulated. I haven’t read the book yet (thought I want to), but I wonder whether he gets into 1) the ways in which food’s roles have changed for us societally; 2) the addiction of food; and 3) the correlation between poverty and obesity.
There’s a line from the movie When Harry Met Sally that goes something like “Restaurants are to people in the eighties what theater was to people in the sixties” and now, a year away from 2010, the trend has only grown. Food has become a form of entertainment, of art. It’s a status symbol, a cultural experience, and above all, food is social. We seldom view food as fuel, anymore. And while the pleasure of eating is certainly a good thing, an important thing, a thing not to be missed, we have gone to excess. Where’s the balance?
Recent years have shown trends toward more healthful practices, with people incorporating words like organic, sustainable, free-range, green, and antioxidant into both their vocabularies and their diets. Butour society is backwards. We talk about the obesity epidemic, we talk about the drain on the healthcare system, we talk about heart disease, cancer, diabetes and other health complications associated with obesity, poor diet, poor nutrition and overeating.
But in 2007, 12.5% of all people in the United States lived below the povery level. I imagine that number is higher now. In a world where people struggle to make ends meet, at a time when the recession is forcing people to work harder, work longer hours to pay their bills, how is it right that I can spend $7.00 to be fed right now, but a single free-range chicken breast - raw - is going to cost me the same?
Fast food, if it is as damaging to our bodies as studies show and nutritionists claim, should not be available at the price it is. We need to make healthy food more readily available, easier, and more affordable and accessible to all. Fast food should be taxed, should be expensive, should not be available more easily and more readily than its saner counterparts. I know people need to take responsibility for their own actions, for their own consumption. But that to me sounds like it’s coming from a place of privilege, from people who have the time, the education and most of all the money. The education to know the benefits of healthy food and nutrition and the drawbacks of fast food, the money to afford to buy healthy, fresh groceries, and the time - find that when you have 2-3 jobs and children - to prepare it every day. We put a McDonald’s, KFC, Taco Bell, Wendy’s, Burger King (on, and on) on every corner, then judge people who eat there.
It seems to me that the specialty, out-of-the-way, expensive stores and restaurants shouldn’t be the ones that carry the organic foods, but the ones that carry the cola and deep-fried saltsticks.
More books about food, consumption and health in today’s climate:
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- Plenty: Eating Locally on the 100-Mile Diet by Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon
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- Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
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- Chew On This: Everything You Don't Want to Know About Fast Food by Eric Schlosser and Charles Wilson
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- Don't Eat This Book: Fast Food and the Supersizing of America by Morgan Spurlock
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- Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser
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- The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
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- The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite by David Kessler
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- Quit Digging Your Grave with a Knife and Fork by Mike Huckabee
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- Mindful Eating - A Guide to Rediscovering a Healthy and Joyful Relationship with Food by Jan Chozen Bays
*Am I the only one that thinks there should be a Food Administration, and a Drug Administration, and that having them lumped together is a bit scaryweird? No wonder our meat has antibiotics in it.