Nobody sings like Melba, and nobody ever will, proclaimed the impresario Oscar Hammerstein in 1908. Like many others of his time, he considered her the world's greatest singer. The wild acclaim showered on her by American fans led to the coining of the word Melbamania. Year after year she toured America on the Melba train, bringing opera and concerts to out-of-the-way cities and towns; thanks to the new gramophone, she could also be heard in the remotest locales. Ann Blainey's beguiling life of Nellie Melba tells the story of a woman who-in an era when no woman was prime minister, chief justice, head of a church or financial firm, or a universal film star-became perhaps the most famous woman in the world. Ms. Blainey's Marvelous Melba punctures many of the myths surrounding Melba's life and career, and offers a new portrait of the great diva.

A MAVERICK MAKEOVER RUST CREEK RAMBLINGS Nick Pritchett, that hunky blond carpenter from Thunder Canyon, has been doing his share to put the town back together after the Great Flood. He's great with a hammer and popular with the ladies. Maybe a bit too popular, if you ask his best bud, Cecelia Clifton! Cecelia's come to town looking for L.O.V.E., but according to Nick, she's been going about it all wrong. He's convinced he can help Cecelia meet her match if she follows his instructions to a T. Trouble is, the only man he finds good enough for his childhood pal is…himself! Dear reader, I always knew romance was brewing underneath their outward bickering. The question is, can Nick convince sexy Cecelia 2.0 that he's the best man for her?

Assumed dead after a mysterious car accident, a father must keep a secret. His life insurance policy saved his family from bankruptcy. He decides the best thing he can do for his family is to let the world think that he is dead. The only time of the year David can safely see his young daughter is on Halloween, the day when spirits walk among the living. Will his daughter remember him? And if she does, will she keep his secret? A secret he must keep from a grieving wife, skeptical investigator, and a beautiful but unscrupulous woman.

Separated from his family, a father struggles to see his young daughter. Assumed dead after a horrifi c car accident, his life insurance policy helped to save his whole family from bankruptcy. He discovers that the only time that he can safely see his daughter is on Halloween. Will his daughter remember him? And if she does, will she keep his secret? His life and sanity all revolve around the one day a year when spirits walk among the living.

In the 1960s, as gentrification took hold of New York City, Jane Jacobs predicted that the city would become the true player in the global system. Indeed, in the 21st century more meaningful comparisons can be made between cities than between nations and states. Based on case studies of Melbourne, Austin and Berlin, this book is the first in-depth study to combine academic and industry analysis of the music cities phenomenon. Using four distinctly defined algorithms as benchmarks, it interrogates Richard Florida’s creative cities thesis and applies a much-needed synergy of urban sociology and musicology to the concept, mediated by a journalism lens. Building on seminal work by Robert Park, Lewis Mumford and Jane Jacobs, it argues that journalists are the cultural branders and street theorists whose ethnographic approach offers critical insights into the urban sociability of music activity.