Yakety Yak I Fought Back

The story in this book is about a young man who left his home and family in Tyler, Texas at the age of twenty three and moved to Los Angeles to follow his dream of becoming a big band singer or to be another Nat King Cole or Billy Esktine. Like fate had it, instead, he became the lead singer and founder of the first vocal group to be inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, along with other members, Billy Guy, Will Jones and Cornell Gunter and has performed over five decades internationally before many large audiences. Today, due to poor health Carl has retired from show business but still controls the group he formed in 1955. Carl Gardner now resides with his wife Veta of nineteen years in Port St. Lucie, Florida.

The musical voice of Texas presents itself as vast and diverse as the Lone Star State’s landscape. According to Casey Monahan, “To travel Texas with music as your guide is a year-round opportunity to experience first-hand this amazing cultural force….Texas music offers a vibrant and enjoyable experience through which to understand and enjoy Texas culture.” Building on the work of The Handbook of Texas Music that was published in 2003 and in partnership with the Texas Music Office and the Center for Texas Music History (Texas State University-San Marcos), The Handbook of Texas Music, Second Edition, offers completely updated entries and features new and expanded coverage of the musicians, ensembles, dance halls, festivals, businesses, orchestras, organizations, and genres that have helped define the state’s musical legacy. · More than 850 articles, including almost 400 new entries· 255 images, including more than 170 new photos, sheet music art, and posters that lavishly illustrate the text· Appendix with a stage name listing for musicians Supported by an outstanding team of music advisors from across the state, The Handbook of Texas Music, Second Edition, furnishes new articles on the music festivals, museums, and halls of fame in Texas, as well as the many honky-tonks, concert halls, and clubs big and small, that invite readers to explore their own musical journeys. Scholarship on many of the state’s pioneering groups and the recording industry and professionals who helped produce and promote their music provides fresh insight into the history of Texas music and its influence far beyond the state’s borders. Celebrate the musical tapestry of Texas from A to Z!

Memories of You is a compilation of author Veta Gardners recollections of her marriage with The Coasters lead singer Carl Gardner. She tells of his early days struggling to be discovered as an artist, his successes, and their life together on the road with The Coasters. They had 17 wonderful years before tragedies began to complicate their lives. Last year Veta lost Carl to devastating illnesses and, in Memories of You, she shares that emotional journey.

Although in 2000 he became the first sideman inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, “King Curtis” Ousley never lived to accept his award. Tragically, he was murdered outside his New York City home in 1971. At that moment, thirty-seven-year-old King Curtis was widely regarded as the greatest R & B saxophone player of all time. He also may have been the most prolific, having recorded with well over two hundred artists during an eighteen-year span. Soul Serenade is the definitive biography of one of the most influential musicians of the 50s, 60s, and early 70s. Timothy R. Hoover chronicles King Curtis’s meteoric rise from a humble Texas farm to the recording studios of Memphis, Muscle Shoals, and New York City as well as to some of the world’s greatest music stages, including the Apollo Theatre, Fillmore West, and Montreux Jazz Festival. Curtis’s “chicken-scratch” solos on the Coasters’ Yakety Yak changed the role of the saxophone in rock & roll forever. His band opened for the Beatles at their famous Shea Stadium concert in 1965. He also backed his “little sister” and close friend Aretha Franklin on nearly all of her tours and Atlantic Records productions from 1967 until his death. Soul Serenade is the result of more than twenty years of interviews and research. It is the most comprehensive exploration of Curtis’s complex personality: his contagious sense of humor and endearing southern elegance as well as his love for gambling and his sometimes aggressive temperament. Hoover explores Curtis’s vibrant relationships and music-making with the likes of Buddy Holly, Sam Cooke, Isaac Hayes, Jimi Hendrix, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Sam Moore, Donny Hathaway, and Duane Allman, among many others.

As recommended by USA Today and excerpted on RollingStone.com! Still the Greatest is a love song to the songwriting and recording achievements of Paul, John, George, and Ringo after each struck out on his own. In this creative history, Jackson selects the best songs by each...

Yak drives everybody crazy with his incessant talking, until he drives his taxi right into a big hole.

When you hear the words yak or badger or bat, do you think of animals? Maybe you can imagine them while they are yakking, badgering, or batting! Duck into this book's playful pages to explore action words that sound like animal names and the dictionary definitions that help explain them.