Essays explore the influence of art in twentieth-century American culture, including jazz, basketball, professional wrestling, magic, gambling, entrepreneurship, series television and automotive design.

“Make Air, Not War” is the personal motto of Dan Crane, the musician who decided to put his “there” guitar aside and reinvent himself as Björn Türoque: the take-no-prisoners future of competitive air guitar. Jeopardizing love and livelihood to join the ruthless international circuit of the World Air Guitar Championships, Björn Türoque (pronounced “b-yorn too-RAWK”) began a three-year odyssey to secure what was rightfully his (and America’s!)—the air guitar world crown. To Air is Human is the riotous tale of one man’s journey through a world of wheelchair-bound Christian air rockers, spandex-jumpsuit fittings, Finnish stunt wolves, catatonic ‘80s guitar heroes, air groupies, Aireoke™, Air Supply, dry-ice injuries, and ultimately, good vs. evil (in the form of Björn’s rival pretender to the air guitar throne). But it is also a sincere and penetrating account of the pursuit of an elusive, intangible, and perhaps nonexistent goal: to achieve “airness”—that is, when air guitar transcends the “real” art that it imitates and becomes an art form in and of itself. “Björn Türoque is so good that people with real guitars now have contests to see who can do the best imitation of his air guitar imitation.”—Malcolm Gladwell, author of Blink and The Tipping Point

You've encountered them at every concert: The Chatty Cathie, The Beer Whoo Crew, The Unauthorized T-Shirt Guy, The Other Lead Singer, and of course the dreaded Makeout Couple. As much a part of any concert as the band itself, these prototypical concert goers shape our concert experiences. Steve Weinberger, extreme concert goer and author of No Air Guitar Allowed, knows this better than anyone, having attended over 1,000 concerts and counting. He has been interviewed on countless radio stations across the country and on national television.

Forty beautiful Celtic melodies arranged for solo fingerstyle guitar. All the songs are arranged to be easily playable. Most of the songs are in standard tuning plus there is an additional section in DADGAD tuning. A CD is included featuring all the songs.

Whether it is a beautiful and classic model or an unglamorous and inexpensive starter instrument, a musician's first guitar can be the catalyst that motivates a lifelong passion. The pages of this book contain interviews with 70 of the world's most well-known guitarists across musical genres and playing styles to discover how their love of the instrument compelled them to pursue music as a career. These guitar icons reveal how they got their first instrument, the music they loved, and their heroes and inspirations. With an impressive list of subjectsincluding Dick Dale, Melissa Etheridge, Jimmy Page, Les Paul, and Carlos Santanaas well as childhood photos from such guitar legends as Alex Lifeson, Joe Satriani, and Jimmie Vaughan, this book has appeal for guitar heroes and nonmusicians alike.