Barbara Kruger is a talking viewer with a hit-and-run attitude. Her vivid commentary on TV and film will galvanize even the most jaded with its social clarity and its savvy sense of cultural justice.

5 quirky nonconformists come together to make rock music in their small midwest town inhabited by sterotypes.

Vincent Spinetti is an archetypal tortured artist, a sensitive young writer who falls victim to alienation, parental neglect, poverty, depression, alcoholism, illness, nervous breakdowns, and unrequited love. He is painfully unaware that these torments are due to the secret manipulations of New Renaissance, an experimental organization that is testing the age-old idea that art results from suffering.

The authoritative, standard reference on artist management in the music industry expands its insights even further in this updated edition, formerly titled Successful Artist Management. Earning accolades for years, including ASCAP's prestigious Deems Taylor Award for books on the industry, this vital reference keeps pace in its third edition with the demands of the ever-changing musical entertainment field. Emphasizing that, despite the glamour of the industry, artist management is still subject to the solid rules that govern all good business practice, the authors include interviews with top record executives; coverage of new forms of business, such as the limited-liability company; and updates on the legal framework of the music industry. Professional and aspiring managers and career-minded performers will find guidance on topics like: -- establishing the artist-manager relationship and contract -- setting up the artist's career plan and image formation -- choosing attorneys, accountants, and business advisors -- forming development teams for various performance media -- handling success, money management, and moving toward stardom.

Great art comes from great pain. Or that's the impression left by these haunting profiles. Pieced together, they form a revealing mosaic of the creative mind. It's like viewing an exhibit from the therapist's couch as each entry delves into the mental anguish that afflicts the artist and affects their art. The scope of the artists covered is as varied as their afflictions. Inside, you will find not just the creators of the darkest of dark literature, music, and art. While it does reveal what everyday problem kept Poe's pen to paper and the childhood catastrophe that kept Picasso on edge, it also uncovers surprising secrets of more unexpectedly tormented artists. From Charles Schultz's unrequited love to J.K. Rowling's fear of death, it's amazing the deep-seeded troubles that lie just beneath the surface of our favorite art. As much an appreciation of artistic genius as an accessible study of the creative psyche, Tortured Artists illustrates the fact that inner turmoil fuels the finest work.