Morton Martin Spell -- a once-brilliant, now-infirm seventy-five-year-old writer -- is sliding into delirium. He thinks Mount Sinai Hospital is an exclusive golf course and his catheter is a gym bag. His only link to reality is his thirty-five-year-old nephew, who makes his living as a hired gun for thirteen softball teams and still goes by the name College Boy. But College Boy's body has begun to betray him -- almost as much as his lack of ambition. (His only legitimate paycheck comes from a gig as a laugher on a morning radio show.) Not only that, the Dirt King, a small-time gangster who controls all the replacement soil in Central Park, is after College Boy. As their lives collide, College Boy takes refuge in the arms of Sheila -- his uncle's cleaning woman and a part-time call girl. And then it gets weird.

This text presents a comprehensive and up-to-date reference work on popular music, from the early 20th century to the present day.

This is an exhaustive reference volume to the thousands of songs, songwriters and performers in 1,460 American and British films (musical and nonmusical) since the advent of the talkie in 1928. Listed alphabetically by film title, each entry provides full production information on the movie, including the country of origin, year of release, running time, director, musical director, musical score, studio, producer, orchestra or bands featured, music backup, vocalist, (dubber who sang on the soundtrack), and performers. Each song title in the main entry is followed by the name of the performer, lyricist, composer, and, when appropriate, arranger.

The first book in a multi-volume set on American fads. Gives data on the entertainers, art, movies, literature, television programs, and music that have captured national attention and followers in the past 200 years. Each of the 120 entries examines the nature of the fad and its importance to the American scene, influencing our vocabularies, fashions, leisure time pursuits, expectations about life, marketing strategies, and spending habits. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Methods of Historical Analysis in Electronic Media provides a foundation for historical research in electronic media by addressing the literature and the methods--traditional and the eclectic methods of scholarship as applied to electronic media. It is about history--broadcast electronic media history and history that has been broadcast, and also about the historiography, research written, and the research yet to be written. Divided into five parts, this book: *addresses the challenges in the application of the historical methods to broadcast history; *reviews the various methods appropriate for electronic-media research based on the nature of the object under study; *suggests new approaches to popular historical topics; *takes a broad topical look at history in broadcasting; and *provides a broad overview of what has been accomplished, a historian's challenges, and future research. Intended for students and researchers in broadcast history, Methods of Historical Analysis in Electronic Media provides an understanding of the qualitative methodological tools necessary for the study of electronic media history, and illustrates how to find primary sources for electronic media research.

I have completed this manuscript Just Remember This, or as American Pop Singers 1900-1950+, about music before the 1950s in America. It perhaps offers knowledge and insights not previously found in other musical reference books. I have moreover been working on this book very meticulously over the past twelve-plus years. It started as a bit of fun and gradually became serious as I began to listen along with the vocalists of popular music, of the era before 1950, essentially just before the dawn of rock and roll. If you can call it that! Indeed genre and labeling of American music started here, and then from everywhere. While the old adage of always starting from somewhere could be noted in every century, the 1900s had produced the technology. Understanding the necessity, more so, finds a curiosity on the part of a general public hungry for entertainment, despite 6 day work weeks, World War I, the Great Depression, and World War II.

Investigates use of sweepstake promotions, their fairness to both contestants and small businesses, possibility of fraud (including mail fraud), and impact of promotional mailings on postal system. Includes results of evaluation of contests conducted, and examples of promotional materials, v.1; Includes responses to committee questionnaire on sweepstakes practices from companies using sweepstakes promotions, v.2.

For centuries, Arthurian legend has captured imaginations throughout Europe and the Americas with its tales of Camelot, romance, and chivalry. The ever-shifting, age-old tale of King Arthur and his world is one which depends on retellings for its endurance in the cultural imagination. Using adaptation theory as a framework, From Camelot to Spamalot foregrounds the role of music in selected Arthurian adaptations, examining six stage and film musicals. The book considers how musical versions in twentieth and twenty-first century popular culture interpret the legend of King Arthur, contending that music guides the audience to understand this well-known tale and its characters in new and unexpected ways. All of the productions considered include an overtly modern perspective on the legend, intruding and even commenting on the tale of King Arthur. Shifting from an idealistic utopia to a silly place, the myriad notions of Camelot offer a look at the importance of myth in American popular culture. Author Megan Woller's approach, rooted in the literary theory of scholars like Linda Hutcheon, highlights the intertextual connections between chosen works and Arthurian legend. In so doing, From Camelot to Spamalot intersects with and provides a timely contribution to several different fields of study, from adaptation studies and musical theater studies to film studies and Arthurian studies.

This series of biographical profiles shines a spotlight on that special place "Where the West meets the Guitar." From Gene Autry and Roy Rogers to contemporary artists like Michael Murphy, Red Steagall, Don Edwards and Riders in the Sky, many entertainers have performed music of the West, a genre separate from mainstream country music and yet an important part of the country music heritage. Once called "Country and Western," it is now described as "Country or Western." Though much has been written about "Country," very little has been written about "Western"--until now. Featured are a number of photos of the top stars in Western music, past and present. Also included is an extensive bibliography of works related to the Western music field.