The Magnificent Dance of ‘The Swans of Harlem’
In her dance history book The Swans of Harlem, author Karen Valby structures a magnificent, wide-ranging, complex narrative that’s both engaging and emotional.
Fiona McQuarrie
Fiona McQuarrie has been writing about music for more than 30 years. She is a contributing writer for Shindig! magazine and pleasekillme.com . She is the author of 'Song Book: 21 Songs from 10 Years (1964-74)' from New Haven Publishing.
‘Trash Talk’ Doesn’t Get Down and Dirty Enough
Trash Talk is a fun read, but it doesn’t get down and dirty enough to take down racism, sexism, and homophobia in sports’ verbal one-upmanship.
The Evolving Archetype of the Crooner
Art critic Alex Coles demonstrates in his convention-challenging Crooner: Singing from the Heart From Sinatra to Nas that crooning is a vocal style and image encompassing theatrical exaggeration and heartfelt reality.
I Dream of Wires: Richard Evans’ ‘Listening to the Music the Machines Make’
Electropop history Listening to the Music the Machines Make comprehensively and at times humorously zeros in on five critical years in UK music.
Patrick Bringley’s Exquisitely Rendered ‘All the Beauty in the World’
As there is an art to memoir writing, there is an artfulness to describing the power of the visual arts. Patrick Bringley’s ‘All the Beauty in the World’ is exquisitely rendered.
‘The Wordhord’ Collects Fragments of the Oldest English
Medievalist Hana Videen’s The Wordhord relies on remaining fragments of documented Old English to conjure the daily life of Anglo-Saxons.
Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker Cleans Out His Closet with Memoir ‘Good Pop, Bad Pop’
Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker rummages through his cluttered closet to tell the story of his life via the objects he finds in his fascinating memoir, Good Pop, Bad Pop.
Broadway Musicals Composer Mary Rodgers’ Memoir ‘Shy’ Is Anything But
If you like brash, outspoken theatre people at your dinner parties, you’ll enjoy the Broadway musicals composer Mary Rodgers’ co-authored memoir, Shy.
Echo and the Bunnymen’s Will Sergeant Bio Takes You to the Edge
Will Sergeant’s (Echo and the Bunnymen) biography is as much a depiction of childhood in post-World War II Britain as it is a chronicle of his musical growth.
John Hiatt’s Random and Open Artistic Journey
John Hiatt is a legendary songwriter, a dynamic performer, and an inspiration. Michael Elliott’s biography, Have a Little Faith, carries the legend well.