Rock On Billy

Experience a day in the life of an eight-year old boy and his timeless adventure of true persistence. Billy will take it to the limit as he travels over the hills and far away to pursue his musical dreams. Adults and children of all ages are invited to walk this way and enjoy their unique connections to the characters and spirit of Rock on Billy.

Expanded for the occasion of ZZ Top’s 50th anniversary, Billy F Gibbons: Rock + Roll Gearhead throws wide Gibbons’ garage and studio doors for an exclusive look at his exquisite collection of cars and guitars. Love cars, guitars, and ZZ Top? This visually stunning tour through this Grade-A Texas gearhead's weird, wild life, vintage and way-out custom guitars, and influential hot rods and custom cars is mandatory education. From the near-mythical ’59 Les Paul sunburst known as “Pearly Gates” and the “Furry One” of MTV renown to cars like the Eliminator, CadZZilla, and Kopperhed, they’re all here—more than 60 guitars and 15 astounding vehicles, all expounded upon by BFG himself and shown in commissioned color and artistic black-and-white photography. Cars and guitars that have made their way to light since the book's first publication in 2005 are included: Cars: Mexican Blackbird 1958 Thunderbird Quintana ’50 Ford Custom El Camino Grocery-Getter custom Whiskey Runner '34 Ford Coupe ’51 Willys Wagon Guitars: Party Peelers John Bolin Customs Neiman Marcus BFG SG Nacho Telecaster John Bolin "Think Buck" T-style Mexican Blackbird solidbody Mojo Maker Tone Bender Zemaitis custom Marconi Lab Guitar 1929 Dixie Ukelele 1939 Rickenbacker Frying Pan …and more! While BFG’s cars ’n’ guitars are the stuff of legend, no less intriguing are the tales behind his incredible music career. From teenage Houston garage rocker to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the whole story is between these covers, told in the Good Reverend Willie G’s own words and illustrated with photos and memorabilia from his personal archive. As with many rockers, Billy F Gibbons' jones for hot rods and customs is the stuff of legend. But beyond this bona fide bluesman's mastery of the six-string and unrepentant love for internal combustion is a noted collector whose own designs have manifested themselves in hundreds of mind-bending cars and guitars. This is the definitive and official record of that genius.

The Other Side of Rock and War is Billy Terrell's struggle to save his life, his career, his country and the Vietnamese orphans he left behind. Imagine being penniless, and nearly homeless at the age of 16, forced to quit school and try to find a job with your four front teeth missing. This is Billy Terrell's inspiring story of how he overcame poverty, bullying and the horrors of Vietnam, before his near impossible climb to success as a songwriter, producer and later as a top stand-up comedian. It also reveals Terrell's deeply personal experiences at Mang Lang Orphanage near the village of Tuy Hoa in 1966 which as a soldier, he helped rebuild, and his determination to return to Vietnam and reunite with the nuns and former children of the orphanage. Along the way he has a juicy tale of traveling with Jimi Hendrix, The Doors and Cream in the summer of '68. As a writer/producer he has placed 63 records on the national and international charts. As a producer he rebooted Frankie Avalon's career and produced albums for Helen Reddy, Bobby Rydell and great jazz guitarist Larry Carlton, among many others. As a stand-up comedian he worked with several up and coming stars such as, Adam Sandler, Ray Romano, Drew Carey and Chris Rock during their early days on the circuit.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE PENDERYN MUSIC BOOK PRIZERoots, Radicals & Rockers: How Skiffle Changed the World is the first book to explore this phenomenon in depth - a meticulously researched and joyous account that explains how skiffle sparked a revolution that shaped pop music as we have come to know it. It's a story of jazz pilgrims and blues blowers, Teddy Boys and beatnik girls, coffee-bar bohemians and refugees from the McCarthyite witch-hunts. Billy traces how the guitar came to the forefront of music in the UK and led directly to the British Invasion of the US charts in the 1960s.Emerging from the trad-jazz clubs of the early '50s, skiffle was adopted by kids who growing up during the dreary, post-war rationing years. These were Britain's first teenagers, looking for a music of their own in a pop culture dominated by crooners and mediated by a stuffy BBC. Lonnie Donegan hit the charts in 1956 with a version of 'Rock Island Line' and soon sales of guitars rocketed from 5,000 to 250,000 a year. Like punk rock that would flourish two decades later, skiffle was a do-it-yourself music. All you needed were three guitar chords and you could form a group, with mates playing tea-chest bass and washboard as a rhythm section.

A Rolling Stone Top 10 Best Music Books of the Year “That’s what I’m talking about…Of all these memoirs, Dancing With Myself was the only one that stimulated my envy—made me want to be Billy Idol for five minutes….He’s a genuine romantic, writing in a kind of overheated journalese about his London punk rock roots…and then falling head over heels for America” (James Parker, The New York Times Book Review). An early architect of punk rock’s sound, style, and fury, whose lip-curling sneer and fist-pumping persona vaulted him into pop’s mainstream as one of MTV’s first megastars, Billy Idol remains, to this day, a true rock ‘n’ roll icon. Now, in his New York Times bestselling autobiography, Dancing with Myself, Idol delivers an electric, “refreshingly honest” (Daily News, New York) account of his journey to fame—from his early days as front man of the pioneering UK punk band Generation X to the decadent life atop the dance-rock kingdom he ruled—delivered with the same in-your-face attitude and fire his fans have embraced for decades. Beyond adding his uniquely qualified perspective to the story of the evolution of rock, Idol is a brash, lively chronicler of his own career. A survivor’s tale at its heart, this sometimes chilling and always riveting account of one man’s creative drive joining forces with unbridled human desire is unmistakably literary in its character and brave in its sheer willingness to tell. With it, Billy Idol is destined to emerge as one of the great writers among his musical peers. “I am hopelessly divided between the dark and the good, the rebel and the saint, the sex maniac and the monk, the poet and the priest, the demagogue and the populist. Pen to paper, I’ve put it all down, every bit from the heart. I’m going on out a limb here, so watch my back.” —Billy Idol

A sixteen-year-old from the Bronx, popular at school and "sort of" going steady, falls in love for the first time with another boy one exuberant summer.

The definitive biography of a pop giant! From the groundbreaking "Piano Man" to "Just the Way You Are" to "Allentown" to "Uptown Girl" and dozens of other chart toppers, Billy Joel’s music has provided the soundtrack to millions of lives. His songs are etched in our memories, and his live shows are breaking sales records everywhere. His albums have sold more than 100 million copies, his singles have sold millions more, and 33 Joel songs have appeared onBillboard’s Top 40 charts since 1974. Here at last is the definitive biography of the brilliant and volatile artist Billy Joel. Interviews with Irwin Mazur, Joel’s first manager, Artie Ripp, Joel’s first producer, plus many others from every part of the musician’s life offer revealing glimpses of a man known for his outsize personal struggles as well as his phenomenal gifts. With dramatic new information on Joel’s legal battles and his substance abuse, plus his live concerts and Broadway showMovin’ Out,Billy Joel: The Life and Times of an Angry Young Manis an exciting, up-to-the-minute look at one of the great musical geniuses of our times. •Everyoneknows Billy Joel's music • Recent tour sold out all over the country • The only bio of Billy Joel in print today • Hardcover ISBN 0-8230-8250-4 From the Trade Paperback edition.

...a great reference guide, detailing artists, chart activity, career milestones, tours and recent activity.