50* My Baseball Odyssey is one fan’s perspective on Major League Baseball stadiums, beginning with Shibe Park in Philadelphia and ending with Marlins Park in Miami. It offers a limited history of selected venues and relates some of the accomplishments of the men who played the game during the last one hundred years. It moves the reader’s attention from the games to the total experience of interacting with fans and observing their responses to plays on the field or people sitting beside them.

Find out the truth about the sad demise of a popular mid-60s New York area garage-band once called "the greatest group on the east-coast". Learn how the ripe dreams of a coveted band died with its gifted guitarist leaving behind in L. A. an entangled web of intimate relationships among later legends. This story is told by eyes inside a circle of conflicted young singer-songwriters and musicians revealing what came before the fame of prominent music industry icons in the early 70’s. Journey back through the formative years of closeness, then despair and disconnection for the guitarist’s long-time girlfriend. It’s a heartwarming story of a first-love sadly lost to tragedy. Many look back on their years and wonder... what if? * * * Everyone remembers their first love... the one they always really wanted to have share in their dreams and plans for the life they hoped to lead and who they would become as they actualized their ambitions. The tragic 1969 death of the uniquely talented lead guitarist of the popular group The Myddle Class as a young co-ed remains a curiosity of a huge fan following of the band. This girlfriend knows first hand how and why it happened... and she is sharing.

In 1953, the same year that Elvis Presley cut his first demo, Cash Box magazine named the Hilltoppers the top vocal group of the year. Hits such as "Trying" and "P.S. I Love You" raced up the charts and kept the group in Billboard's Top 40. The four fresh-faced singers appeared on The Toast of the Town with Ed Sullivan, who introduced them to the nation. On weekends the Hilltoppers performed in cities across the country, but on Monday mornings they were better known as Western Kentucky State College students Jimmy Sacca, Seymour Spiegelman, Don McGuire, and Billy Vaughn. The Korean War, military drafts, and changing public tastes in music, however, cut short singing careers that should have lasted much longer. Sacca was drafted in 1953, mere months before the end of the war. Vaughn left the group shortly after that for a career at Dot Records and found fame elsewhere with his orchestra. McGuire and Spiegelman were drafted as well, and despite a set of temporary replacement members, the group eventually called it quits. Fifty years later, historian Carlton Jackson revisits the Kentucky college kids who made it big between classes. He follows the group from their first hit, recorded in Western's Van Meter Auditorium, to their brief 1970s reunion. Their story recalls the nature of celebrity and youth in the early days of rock 'n' roll.

When The Beatles arrived in postwar America, Beatlemania swept the nation as hysterical girls flocked to the band and young men grew out their hair. In this book Andrew Hunt explores this wildly enthusiastic fandom from the bottom-up. Showcasing oral histories, fan magazines, club newsletters, newspapers and personal memoirs, he uncovers The Beatles' fan culture from the perspective of Beatlemaniacs, Beatlephobes and ordinary Americans to understand the impact it had on society at large. Offering a cultural history from below, Beatlemania in America highlights previously neglected voices of fans, critics, parents, teachers and politicians. It contextualises the Beatles fandom against a wider, global perspective of changing cultures and shows how this band was part of a wider shift of social change. It delves into who Beatles fans were and shows how their collective voice gave them power. Exploring themes of gender and race in this turbulent and tumultuous era of American history, it highlights the social issues and debates provoked by this subculture which foreshadowed the arrival of an increasingly polarized society.

In this ultimate guide, true fans of Pittsburgh Steelers football will learn the origins of the team’s iconic logo, the best place to tailgate before kickoff, and how the legendary Steel Curtain defense got its nickname. Whether a die-hard booster from the days of Jack Ham or a new supporter of head coach Mike Tomlin, fans need to know these 100 essential pieces of Steelers knowledge and trivia, as well as must-do activities. This updated edition includes the Steelers’ 2010 AFC championship squad and key moments and personalities from the team’s past three seasons. From games at Heinz Field to highlights of a young Terry Bradshaw, this is a must-have resource for a true fan of the franchise.

"The Funniest People in Sports: 250 Anecdotes About Sports" contains such anecdotes as the following: Umpire Beans Reardon once made a mistake. Richie Ashburn slid into second base and Billy Cox attempted to tag him. Beans yelled 'Safe," but at the same time he flung his arm in the 'Out" gesture. Mr. Ashburn asked, 'What the hell does that mean?" Mr. Reardon replied, 'Richie, you know you're safe. Billy, you know he's safe. But 30,000 fans see my arm. Richie, you're out." Figure skater Rosalynn Sumners has a tendency to put on weight. When she was skating for Disney, her contract required her to be weighed each week, and if she was three pounds over her desired weight, Disney fined her $10. After a while, Ms. Sumners began to stand on the scales each week with a $10 bill in her hand.

A collection of essays by some of the world's leading scholars analyzing and celebrating the novel's legacy in popular culture.

'I did a double take when I saw fourteen-year-old Drew Barrymore at the bar, drinking with the Bukowski crowd. She was adorable, spoke with a potty mouth and carried on as if she was in her twenties. I was straining to approach her but backed off. I’d been in enough trouble. The next time I looked she was gone. A couple nights later she reappeared and in the same spot at the middle of the bar, entertaining the bartender. I pulled the trigger this time, and whatever I had to say she bought.' "I'm eating your book! It's delicious!" Lia Mack - Portland, Oregon "Fervent shades of Jack Kerouac.” Terry Wells - Brigg, England “Lords of the Sunset Strip” is the brutally honest and hilarious memoir of actor and writer Blackie Dammett—AKA John Kiedis—who happens to be the father of Red Hot Chili Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis. Set mostly in Hollywood but with multiple national and worldwide excursions for film shoots, love affairs and drug deals, this tell-all provides an unexpectedly candid look at an actor’s transition from a wild man with a dream to a sensitive if unconventional parent with a dream. And of course, there were the women. New girls were always replenishing the scene. Dammett towed his young Red Hot Chili Pepper with him through a torrent of sex-fueled parties, auditions and business deals in Hollywood, New York and London. It’s an exhilarating, exhausting and romantic journey. It had a profound and ineffable influence on Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Anthony. “Lords of the Sunset Strip” will no doubt have a similar influence on its readers as well. It’s simply the biggest, baddest, boldest tale of Hollywood and Rock & Roll ever written.

Professional football is the most popular sport in the United States today. With so many famous players from the past and present, some of whom achieved notoriety because of a persona they created, there are fans who have also made a name for themselves by either their work and loyalty for their team, or by creating an "alter ego" with respect to how they cheer or support their team. Some have incredibly wild and outrageous outfits. On game days, some of these diehard fans take longer to get themselves ready for games than the players they cheer for! The face paint, the outrageous outfits, the chants and cheers, and the attention to detail are what make these fans unique. During football season, these diehard fans can be seen each weekend as they showcase themselves in support of their team in front of hundreds of thousands of viewers worldwide. In 1998, Visa sponsored a national contest to find the wildest, most loyal, and most intriguing fans for each team in the league. The award was entitled, "The Visa Hall of Fans" Award as fans were chosen from each team based on their submitted essays and photos. Contestants had to explain why they should represent their respective team in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. At the time, a special wing in the Hall was created to honor these diehard fans. Visa awarded plaques to the winners - originally at the Hall, and later in front of the hometown fans at each team's stadium. The Hall of Fame displayed the plaques for a year until the new class of fans was selected and their plaques were displayed. At that point, the prior year's winners had their names placed on a permanent wall plaque in the "Hall of Fans" wing of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

"This book presents the histories of the major North American shortwave clubs and reviews the professional and listener-generated shortwave literature of the era. It also covers the DX programs and other listening fare to which shortwave listeners were most attracted and the QSL-cards they sought as confirmation of their reception."--Provided by publisher.