There he is, drumming on "Tutti Frutti," "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'," and thousands of other songs. As a studio player in New Orleans and Los Angeles from the 1940s through the 1970s, Earl Palmer co-created hundreds of hits and transformed the lope of rhythm and blues into full-tilt rock and roll. He was, as a result, one of the first session men to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Palmer's distinctive voice alternates with the insights of music journalist and historian Tony Scherman in an unforgettable trip through the social and musical cultures of mid-century New Orleans and the feverish world of early rock.

Pete's musical genius is his refuge when life with his bullying father and alcoholic mother gets too much. But his gift has a flipside that can send him crashing from euphoric highs to the darkest of depressions. Terry Barrow provides the lyrics to Pete's tunes. And he helps Pete fight the lows. After University, in Spain, they go from strength to strength in the recording studio and on tour. But tragedy's never far away in Pete's life. It brings them home again-unknown in their own country but rich enough to be able to do everything they ever wanted. Terry is content to take some time out and Pete seems to have found some peace at last. But when Pete sees the Old Camberwell House and learns about its odd history, his curiosity quickly turns to obsession, convinced that, finally, he will find his backbeat. And Terry wonders if, this time, he'll be able to save his best friend from the demon that's always been lurking in the shadows-that low too deep to escape.

This book provides hundreds of useful backbeats for the drumset. You will learn to play backbeat grooves with solid time and good feel. Beats are shown with essential variations and embellishment. Rock, blues, pop, funk, soul and many other styles are included. There are lessons on muscle memory, practice, ghost notes, open hi-hat, hi-hat with foot. This book is uniquely organized to develop coordination and confidence.

In this volume, author John Corcelli reveals Zappa's roots as a musician, from his diverse influences to his personal life. We also learn more about his former band members and the enormous musical legacy inherited by his son, Dweezil. The book features a juried examination of Zappa's recordings and his videos. It also features a complete discography and a recommended reading list. Each chapter has a special focus on Zappa's life, with sections covering his family, his home studio – known as the Utility Muffin Research Kitchen – his keen interest in the Synclavier (a device he first used in 1980), his guitars, and more. Special attention is paid to the Mothers of Invention. Frank Zappa FAQ is a must-have for fans new and old looking to delve into some of the best music ever made by one of the most innovative artists the world has known.

He is the Lizard King – well, the King of the Monsters – he can do anything. Since he first romped onto the silver screen in 1954, no other character in all of international cinema has been as beloved by American audiences as Godzilla. Despite the modern film industry's affinity for franchises and cinematic universes, he remains one of its most enduring and popular characters, with a total of twenty-eight motion pictures (not even including two American reboots!) under his massive belt. From his home base in Japan, where the legendary Toho Pictures first put him on the map, Godzilla has gone on to become an international phenomenon, a pop culture avatar, a movie monster unrivaled in both size and appeal. The latest installment in Applause Theatre and Cinema Books' FAQ series, Brian Soloman's Godzilla FAQ is a broad and varied exploration of the monumental, fire-breathing radioactive lizard that has roared his way into our hearts over a sixty-year reign of terror. By pairing a colloquial text with a wide array of illustrations and visual media, this 400-page survey encourages readers to drop in and out of the book, as every chapter serves as a self-supporting article on a given subject. Written by a lifelong Godzilla fan and pop culture critic, Godzilla FAQ offers a comprehensive rundown of every Godzilla film ever made, in-depth biographies of major players in the franchise's history, and enough raw information to rebuild a ravaged Tokyo. Don't miss out on this ideal gift for cinema fans, lizard lovers, and pop culture fiends of all ages!

Percussion is an attempt—in the author’s words—to make sense of "senseless beating," to grasp how rhythm makes sense in music and society. Both a scholar and a former professional drummer, John Mowitt forges a striking encounter between cultural studies and new musicology that seeks to lay out the "percussive field" through which beating—specifically the backbeat that defines early rock-and-roll—comes to matter for raced, urban subjects. For Mowitt, percussion is both an experience of embodiment—making contact in and on the skin—and a provocation for critical theory itself. In delimiting the percussive field, he plays drumming off against the musicological account of the beat, the sociological account of shock and the psychoanalytical account of fantasy. In the process he touches on such topics as the separation of slaves and drums in the era of the slave trade, the migration of rural blacks to urban centers of the North, the practice and politics of "rough music," the links between interpellation and possession, the general strike, beating fantasies, and the concept of the "skin ego." Percussion makes a fresh and provocative contribution to cultural studies, new musicology, the history of the body and critical race theory. It will be of interest to students of cultural studies and critical theory as well as readers with a serious interest in the history of music, rock-and-roll and drumming.

An essential work for rock fans and scholars, Before Elvis: The Prehistory of Rock 'n' Roll surveys the origins of rock 'n' roll from the minstrel era to the emergence of Bill Haley and Elvis Presley. Unlike other histories of rock, Before Elvis offers a far broader and deeper analysis of the influences on rock music. Dispelling common misconceptions, it examines rock's origins in hokum songs and big-band boogies as well as Delta blues, detailing the embrace by white artists of African-American styles long before rock 'n' roll appeared. This unique study ranges far and wide, highlighting not only the contributions of obscure but key precursors like Hardrock Gunter and Sam Theard but also the influence of celebrity performers like Gene Autry and Ella Fitzgerald. Too often, rock historians treat the genesis of rock 'n' roll as a bolt from the blue, an overnight revolution provoked by the bland pop music that immediately preceded it and created through the white appropriation of music till then played only by and for black audiences. In Before Elvis, Birnbaum daringly argues a more complicated history of rock's evolution from a heady mix of ragtime, boogie-woogie, swing, country music, mainstream pop, and rhythm-and-blues--a melange that influenced one another along the way, from the absorption of blues and boogies into jazz and pop to the integration of country and Caribbean music into rhythm-and-blues. Written in an easy style, Before Elvis presents a bold argument about rock's origins and required reading for fans and scholars of rock 'n' roll history.