Who says a Gen X hipster can't solve old-school mysteries? Harley Jean's a failed college student. Her brief career in corporate banking went up in flames. She can't find Mr. Right and might settle for Mr. Wrong. She's twenty-six-years old--staring down the barrel at thirty--and now she works as a tour guide in the whacko land of Elvis. She's named after a motorcycle. Her dad's an Elvis impersonator. Her Mom talks to spirit guides. Someone kidnaps her family's dog--named King, in Elvis's honor. There's a ransom note. And then, things really get weird. Memphis tour guide Harley Jean Davidson is about to enjoy a rare day off when her parents call with news that King, their border collie, has been dognapped. Harley Jean's mom insists the culprit is Bruno Jett, their next door neighbor. Harley Jean would rather run over her own foot with a motorcycle than talk to him. He's drop-dead gorgeous--with a dangerous attitude she'd like to avoid. But King has to be rescued, so she sets off to find him. Harley Jean gets more than she bargains for when she finds a body, as well. Bruno Jett is definitely involved, but how? The Memphis P.D. wants to pin the murder on Harley Jean's dad. Now it's up to her to clear his name . . . and avoid becoming the killer's next victim. Leaving corporate banking for a job free of stress had been a matter of survival. So here she was, in her late twenties and burned out, but finally in a job she didn't have to take home with her at night. It was a good trade-off--most of the time. At least, when she didn't have to deal with a very sexy possible murderer . . . The basement door opened. Looking up, she saw Jett through the cracks in the wooden stairs. For a moment he just stood on the top step, the door propped open with his foot, then he let it close softly behind him but remained still and silent. He knew someone was here. The lights . . . she'd left the lights on. She barely breathed, just shallow breaths to keep from passing out, afraid he'd hear her. Bruno Magli shoes descended to the second riser. She briefly closed her eyes, thoughts of O.J. and his infamous shoes reverberating ominously in her brain. Surely, it was coincidence. The shoes descended another step, then another, and she held her breath until her ears rang and her lungs ached. The shoes stopped on the second from the bottom stair. She saw denim though the gaps, dark socks, long legs--she looked up and her gaze locked with dark blue eyes peering at her through the risers. Oh damn. He smiled, but it wasn't a very nice smile. "Well," he said, "I seem to have an uninvited visitor." "I . . . uh, was just looking for you." "And now you've found me." He reached the floor and turned to look at her where she'd edged out from beneath the stairs to feel for an escape route in the concrete block walls. "Why yes," she said, aware she spoke too brightly, "here you are. Now that you're home, I'll just be going." "No, I don't think so." He moved a few steps closer, near enough she could see the cold, dangerous gleam in his eyes. Uh oh. "Oh, I don't mind," she said, "really. I think I hear my mother calling me." "They're not home." She stared at him suspiciously. "And how do you know that?" "Because that obscene, puke green van is gone from the driveway." "Oh." That sounded logical. After all, it had been Bobby's first clue. So maybe Jett hadn't done anything to them or was responsible for them leaving. Maybe. He loomed over her. "I don't like you being here, and I don't like my privacy violated. Usually, I tend to get nasty about things like this." Uh oh. Not at all a promising conversation. Virginia Brown is the author of more than fifty novels, most recently the bestselling Dixie Diva Mysteries and the acclaimed mystery/drama, Dark River Road.

Musical Impressions was written to provide pianists with the experience of playing in a variety of styles. Capturing the essence of different styles is an important aspect of pianistic development. Jazz styles, romantic ballads, mysterious sounds, and more are found in this series, providing pianists of any age with pieces in many moods. Titles: * Armadillo Rag * Brazilian Maracas * Butterflies and Rainbows * Castle by the Sea * Chocolate Smoothie * Drum Beats * Hot Air Balloon Ride * Hound Dog Blues * Mariachi Band * What's That Noise? * Whistle-Stop Boogie

Nothing makes author Peg Gould smile like seeing Duke, her iron hulk of a dog, bound into the enclosed fields of the dog park near home with true hound-dog swagger, tail held high and wagging wildly. His velvety black hair and droopy jowls often are noticed and appreciated by onlookers as though they were sighting Elvis himself. Hound Dog Blues follows much of her reflection about life and death after she learns Duke has a terminal disease. Over the next weeks and monthsin trying to serve Dukes needs for exercise, rest, stimulation, and purpose, but also for effective anxiety and pain managementthe author is reminded of the early death of her mother from heart disease decades before. Ultimately, she is persuaded that our pets, with their shorter life spans, show us the way and have much to teach us about love, acceptance, and graceful loss. This is especially so if you are willing to uncover the depth of an animals anchoring role in your lifeand mourn the passing of a true companion.

You ain't nothing but a "Hound Dog" ... with these words shouted into the microphone she will always be remembered: Big Mama Thornton. Who is this woman who sang the megahit "Hound Dog" before Elvis Presley and who wrote "Ball & Chain," the song that catapulted Janis Joplin to sudden fame? The story begins with her first musical attempts in the Hot Harlem Revue as a girl of 14. Then the book follows her journey into the Mecca of Texas Blues, Houston, where Big Mama Thornton met Johnny Otis, with whom she recorded her greatest success--"Hound Dog." With the slowdown of the blues in the early sixties this book follows Big Mama Thornton's way to California, discusses her struggle to survive and celebrates her impressive musical comeback in the course of the blues revival and the hippie movement. With the end of the sixties, facing a declining interest in the old school blues, the book shows how Big Mama Thornton found her niche in clubs and festivals in the U.S. and Europe. The book then follows Big Mama Thornton through the seventies and eighties until her untimely death.

It started with the searing sound of a slide careening up the neck of an electric guitar. In 1970, twenty-three-year-old Bruce Iglauer walked into Florence’s Lounge, in the heart of Chicago’s South Side, and was overwhelmed by the joyous, raw Chicago blues of Hound Dog Taylor and the HouseRockers. A year later, Iglauer produced Hound Dog’s debut album in eight hours and pressed a thousand copies, the most he could afford. From that one album grew Alligator Records, the largest independent blues record label in the world. Bitten by the Blues is Iglauer’s memoir of a life immersed in the blues—and the business of the blues. No one person was present at the creation of more great contemporary blues music than Iglauer: he produced albums by Koko Taylor, Albert Collins, Professor Longhair, Johnny Winter, Lonnie Mack, Son Seals, Roy Buchanan, Shemekia Copeland, and many other major figures. In this book, Iglauer takes us behind the scenes, offering unforgettable stories of those charismatic musicians and classic sessions, delivering an intimate and unvarnished look at what it’s like to work with the greats of the blues. It’s a vivid portrait of some of the extraordinary musicians and larger-than-life personalities who brought America’s music to life in the clubs of Chicago’s South and West Sides. Bitten by the Blues is also an expansive history of half a century of blues in Chicago and around the world, tracing the blues recording business through massive transitions, as a genre of music originally created by and for black southerners adapted to an influx of white fans and musicians and found a worldwide audience. Most of the smoky bars and packed clubs that fostered the Chicago blues scene have long since disappeared. But their soul lives on, and so does their sound. As real and audacious as the music that shaped it, Bitten by the Blues is a raucous journey through the world of Genuine Houserockin’ Music.

Many musical moods are reflected in this captivating collection of seven elementary piano solos written in the Romantic style. Lyrical melodies arching above rich harmonies encourage the shaping of expressive musical phrases. Carefully chosen dynamic markings help less experienced students develop finesse within the phrases. Grown-up titles and introspective melodies make this collection suitable for teenage and adult beginners too.

How the Beatles Destroyed Rock 'n' Roll is an alternative history of American music that, instead of recycling the familiar cliches of jazz and rock, looks at what people were playing, hearing and dancing to over the course of the 20th century, using a wealth of original research, curious quotations, and an irreverent fascination with the oft-despised commercial mainstream.