Among My Souvenirs

Language is a Girl's Best Friend -- "Germany and Our Mutual Fascination"--Where the Boys Are 1960-61 -- "Where The Boys Are" 1985 -- "Where The Boys Are" 2009-10 -- No Oscars for Boys -- Nashville-My Home Away From Home -- "Connie at the Copa" -- "This Is Your Life" -- "Darin at the Copa" -- Blame It On My Youth, Francis Albert -- "Oi" (Way) Marie-My Two Maries -- My Aunt Marie and Me -- Follow The Boys - Do I Have To? -- My Dream Home -- Some Like It Not -- "Viva Las Vegas" -- He's A Nice Guy, That Rickles -- "Nice To Meet You, Too, Frank" -- The Sinatra I Knew -- Bobby Darin, Sandra Dee, Charlie Maffia and Me -- "Over the Rainbow" (With Garland) -- "How You Gonna Keep 'Em Down? Uncle Ray: "Cut the Shit, Princess!" -- Las Vegas, the Mob and a Little Girl from Jersey -- The Godfather and Me -- "A Rrrreally Big Shoo ..." -- "I'm Glad I Waited For You" -- Index

The Connie Francis Story is an American story. Born into a blue-collar Italian family at the end of the Great Depression, she went on to unimaginable heights of success. Along this extraordinary journey of her life she experienced the highest of peaks and the deepest of valleys--the stuff of both dreams and nightmares. Through her eyes, readers have a front row seat to many of the greatest public and private moments in American history and popular culture. Visiting American Bandstand, The Copacabana, Las Vegas and The Ed Sullivan Show, all at their respective heights, readers will experience the unparalleled achievements in her glorious career. Conquering wildly-enthusiastic audiences throughout the world, Connie's international celebrity is one unrivaled by any recording artist to this very day. She is, in fact, the best-selling female artist in history, recording in 12 different languages. She shares with unusual candor and rare insight the juxtaposition that existed in her personal life. While the love affair with her audience was exhilarating, truly gratifying and omnipresent, fulfilling romantic relationships in her personal life always eluded her...with the exception of her one true love, Bobby Darin--a love destroyed by her domineering father, with whom she had a complicated and often troubling relationship. Her willingness to expose the most private aspects of her life with extraordinary honesty and often painful reflection is both startling and courageous. She also experienced an endless series of life-altering tragedies. A horrifying rape, the murder of her beloved brother, Georgie, at the hands of the Mafia, four failed and despairing marriages... All are chronicled with unstinting candor, a deep sense of resentment, and even under the most terrifying and unimaginable set of circumstances, her very rare sense of humor shines through. Her celebrity allowed her to rub elbows with presidents, royalty, the top echelon of the Mob, and every iconic showbiz figure of the era. The stories she shares with an extraordinary cast of characters are, indeed, funnier, stranger and often far more shocking than fiction. Few stars have experienced the rollercoaster ride that marked the life of Connie Francis. Fewer still possess the willingness, wit, insight, intellect and disarming self-deprecation to write a book of such unflinching nature. It is truly a joyful, comedic and emotionally disturbing book to read. Far more horrifying than any best-selling writer of fiction would dare to contemplate.

In recent decades, the importance of sound for remembering the past and for creating a sense of belonging has been increasingly acknowledged. We keep "sound souvenirs" such as cassette tapes and long play albums in our attics because we want to be able to recreate the music and everyday sounds we once cherished. Artists and ordinary listeners deploy the newest digital audio technologies to recycle past sounds into present tunes. Sound and memory are inextricably intertwined, not just through the commercially exploited nostalgia on oldies radio stations, but through the exchange of valued songs by means of pristine recordings and cultural practices such as collecting, archiving and listing. This book explores several types of cultural practices involving the remembrance and restoration of past sounds. At the same time, it theorizes the cultural meaning of collecting, recycling, reciting, and remembering sound and music.

Picking up where her #1 New York Times bestseller, Liars, Leakers, and Liberals left off, Judge Jeanine Pirro exposes the latest chapter in the unfolding liberal attack on our most basic values. Donald Trump's presidency has been under siege by the Left and their Deep State fellow travelers who concocted an outrageous case of conspiracy with Russia to keep him from doing what he was elected to do: secure America's borders, revive its economy, drain the Washington DC swamp, and restore our constitutional republic. Overturning presidential elections, nationalizing private industries like healthcare and education, destroying America's borders, erasing its national identity, and effectively silencing conservative voices in the cybersphere and public square are a few examples of the lengths to which the far-left progressives and socialists will go to destroy the America we love. Radicals, Resistance, and Revenge features Judge Jeanine's keen analysis of explosive information about the anti-Trump conspirators, their corrupt methods and possible crimes, and the Left's subversive plot against the foundation of American liberty. Judge Jeanine is sounding the alarm and calling out those who despise our most cherished ideals and institutions to warn patriotic Americans before it's too late.