Addicted To Noise

Addicted to Noise collects the best interviews, profiles, and essays Michael Goldberg has written during his forty-plus years as a journalist. From combative interviews with Frank Zappa and Tom Waits to essays on how Jack Kerouac influenced Bob Dylan and the lasting importance of San Francisco’s first punk rock club, Goldberg, as novelist Dana Spiotta wrote, “shows us how consequential music can be.” Contained within these pages: interviews with Sleater-Kinney, Sonic Youth, Patti Smith, Lou Reed, Flipper, John Fogerty, Neil Young, and Rick James, along with profiles of Robbie Robertson, John Lee Hooker, James Brown, the Clash, Prince, Michael Jackson, the Flamin’ Groovies, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, X, Laurie Anderson, Stevie Wonder, George Clinton, Devo, San Francisco punks Crime, and more. Plus short takes on Muddy Waters, Townes Van Zandt, Captain Beefheart, Professor Longhair, and others. As Greil Marcus writes in the Foreword, “You can feel the atmosphere: someone has walked into a room with a pencil in his hand—as the words go in perhaps the first song about a music critic, not counting Chuck Berry’s aside about the writers at the rhythm reviews—and suddenly people are relaxed . . . He isn’t after your secrets. He doesn’t want to ruin your career to make his. He doesn’t care what you think you need to hide. He actually is interested in why and how you make your music and what you think of it. So people open up, very quickly, and, very quickly, as a reader, you’re not reading something you’ve read before.”

A narrative history of the birth of rock 'n' roll in Detroit

An "elegant and eloquent" (New York Times) exploration of the frontiers of noise and silence, and the growing war between them. Between iPods, music-blasting restaurants, earsplitting sports stadiums, and endless air and road traffic, the place for quiet in our lives grows smaller by the day. In Pursuit of Silence gives context to our increasingly desperate sense that noise pollution is, in a very real way, an environmental catastrophe. Traveling across the country and meeting and listening to a host of incredible characters, including doctors, neuroscientists, acoustical engineers, monks, activists, educators, marketers, and aggrieved citizens, George Prochnik examines why we began to be so loud as a society, and what it is that gets lost when we can no longer find quiet.

"Spanning three decades worth of astute, acerbic, and overall astounding music writing, Kick Out the Jams is the first large-scale anthology of the work of renowned critic Dave Marsh. Ranging from Elvis Presley to Kurt Cobain, from Nina Simone to Ani DiFranco, from the Beatles to Green Day, the book gives an opinionated, eye-opening overview of 20th century popular music--offering a portrait not just of an era but of a writer wrestling with the American empire"--

Is noise the most neglected green issue of our age? This book argues compellingly that it is, and tells you all you need to know about noise as a social, cultural, environmental and health issue. Across the world, more people are disturbed by noise in their day-today lives than by any other pollutant on Earth. From the shanty towns of Mumbai to the smart boulevards of Paris, noise is a problem. It is damaging people's health, costing billions, and threatening the world's natural sound systems in the same way that climate change is altering its eco-systems. Drawing on evidence from all over the world, this book showcases policies and strategies that have worked to decrease noise pollution, and offers lessons for policymakers and environmental health professionals, campaigners and any individual affected by noise. Written by a renowned noise campaigner and experts in law and health, this book tells you all you need to know about noise as a social, cultural and environmental issue and how we can act to build a more peaceful world.

Noise, an underground music made through an amalgam of feedback, distortion, and electronic effects, first emerged as a genre in the 1980s, circulating on cassette tapes traded between fans in Japan, Europe, and North America. With its cultivated obscurity, ear-shattering sound, and over-the-top performances, Noise has captured the imagination of a small but passionate transnational audience. For its scattered listeners, Noise always seems to be new and to come from somewhere else: in North America, it was called "Japanoise." But does Noise really belong to Japan? Is it even music at all? And why has Noise become such a compelling metaphor for the complexities of globalization and participatory media at the turn of the millennium? In Japanoise, David Novak draws on more than a decade of research in Japan and the United States to trace the "cultural feedback" that generates and sustains Noise. He provides a rich ethnographic account of live performances, the circulation of recordings, and the lives and creative practices of musicians and listeners. He explores the technologies of Noise and the productive distortions of its networks. Capturing the textures of feedback—its sonic and cultural layers and vibrations—Novak describes musical circulation through sound and listening, recording and performance, international exchange, and the social interpretations of media.

Chelsea Duvay is so many things. SheÍs an avid musical lover, sheÍs a gifted singer, and she has the most perfect, beautiful feet. But no one ever notices that. All they notice is ChelseaÍs weight. Daily, Chelsea endures endless comments about her appearance from well-meaning adults and cruel classmates. So she keeps to herself and just tries to make it through. DonÍt make waves. DonÍt draw attention. ThatÍs how life is for Chelsea„until a special class project pushes the energetic and incessantly social Melody into ChelseaÍs world. As their unlikely friendship grows, Chelsea emerges from her isolated existence, and she begins to find the confidence to enjoy life. But bullies are bullies, and they remain as vicious as ever. One terrible encounter threatens to destroy everything Chelsea has worked so hard to achieve. Readers will be captivated by ChelseaÍs journey as she discovers the courage to declare her own beauty and self-worth, no matter what others might think. A must-read for anyone who loves to explore the personal but powerful territory of everyday life.

You are a child of God. Christian counselor and author Marie Chapian takes you on a new adventure of self-discovery and spiritual empowerment in He Calls Me His Child. Its one hundred inspiring teaching meditations and over six hundred Christian affirmations are daily gifts to give to yourself. Read them again and again to ● embrace the power of speaking the truth aloud, ● build your faith to new heights, and ● live a transformed life as a child of God. Don’t doubt yourself or God any longer. Be strengthened with the power and assurance found in the promises of God.