Book Description
Traditional tattooing designs are depicted from the exotic Pacific Polynesian cultures of Easter Island, Hawaii, the Marquesas, New Zealand, Samoa, Tahiti and Tonga. The actual process and ceremonies involved in tattooing are described and illustrated with over 250 drawings and color illustrations of native people. Included are actual 19th century photographs as well as early exploration art, paintings, drawings, engravings, and artifacts all relating to tattooing.
Customer Reviews:
Polynesian Historical Documentation.......2006-01-30
This is an excellent book as a historical reference for Polynesian Tattooing. It offers no new ideas or artwork but combines the historical information from previously published books. I recommend this book for anyone interested in Polynesian tattooing as not the definitive, but a good reference. It focuses a lot on Maori Tattooing and less on other cultures but that may be due to the fact that the Ta Moko had more documentation or illustrations that this author could use to fill his book. This is also a good reference into Polynesian culture because it documents that historically the Tatau was not a fad, or in anyway a negative, rebellious action in Polynesia. Ta Tatau was interwoven into the culture and life as a positive art form historically and today.
Needed Book.......2000-07-30
At a time when there is a cultural rage for "tribal tattooing," there is a scarcity of materials on Polynesian tattooing. This book finally addresses that need. The book contains many historical photographs of examples of 7 different polynesian culture's uses of tattoo. Brief summaries examine each area's history and methods for tattooing. The book is very attractively done. Recommended for anyone serious about tattooing.
Keeping tradition alive.......2000-06-20
It i great to know there are books like this that are out that can help the younger polynesian generation learn about their ansetries art and culture.
Book Description
Serious amateur watercolor artists will value books in this series, both for their quick and easy-to-follow practical advice, and for their handy size: they're small enough to carry along when painting at outdoor locations. Each book presents dozens of demonstrations in easy-to-follow steps. There are also tips on choosing a particular subject for its visual interest, mixing and applying colors, and mastering basic watercolor techniques, including washes, dry brush, scumbling, masking, and directional brushwork. This book instructs on using watercolor to catch mood and atmosphere in seascapes, shore and beach scenes, stormy skies, boats at anchor, boats at sea, and much more.
Average customer rating:
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Waterscape Painting
John Cooke
Manufacturer: B T Batsford Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 General
| Instructional & How-To
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
Watercolor Painting
| Instructional & How-To
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Painting
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
Watercolor
| Painting
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Arts & Photography
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ASIN: 0713453214 |
Average customer rating:
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Waterscapes in Acrylics (Leisure Arts Eries, No 33)
Ray C. Smith
Manufacturer: Arthur Schwartz & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Instructional & How-To
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
Watercolor Painting
| Instructional & How-To
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0855326247 |
Book Description
In the most eagerly awaited political memoir of the season, Mary Cheney presents a behind-the-scenes look at the high-intensity world of presidential politics and talks for the first time about her life, her family, her political views and her role in the campaigns of 2000 and 2004.
As a senior adviser to her father, the vice president, she was in the middle of every major event of the 2000 and 2004 presidential contests -- at the conventions, the debates, and on the trail. Both elections made history -- and so did Mary. And for the first time ever, she writes about what it was like to be at the center of her father's campaigns as his daughter, as a member of the senior staff, and, though she never intended it, as a political target for the other side.
In her frank, funny, and down-to-earth memoir, Mary Cheney describes life inside the bubble of a national campaign. She talks about her close relationship with her
parents, how it feels to be pursued by the press, and what it was like when John Edwards and John Kerry made her sexual orientation an issue in live debates televised to millions of Americans. As she describes it, life inside a presidential campaign can be uplifting,
frustrating, and heartbreaking, but no matter what else it may be, it's always entertaining.
Customer Reviews:
Misleading title sets readers up for disappointment.......2007-05-17
I'm the mother of a lesbian daughter, and an activist who works for equal rights. During the last presidential election, I wondered how Mary Cheney was able to reconcile her sexual orientation and her loving commitment to her partner with a leading role in the reelection campaign of a political party that would write second class status into the U.S. Constitution for Mary, her partner Heather, and all other lesbian and gay citizens.
The title, Now It's My Turn, implies some self-revelation of thoughts and emotions held back during the campaign for fear of jeopardizing her father's re-election. Instead (as other reader reviewers noted) the book's content is reflected accurately only by the subtitle: "a daughter's chronicle of political life." This day-by-day account of the vicissitudes of life on the campaign trail is competently, occasionally humorously, written, but not what I expected.
For me, in fact, the book raises more questions than it answers. It's obvious that Mary Cheney is devoted to her father -- her depiction of him comes across as near idolatry. But were there NEVER any strains in their household? According to her, she came out to her parents while a junior in high school. Her father immediately told her he loved her and just wanted her to be happy. Her mother worried about the difficulties she would face in her life ahead, but came to understand that as a "secondary issue," once Mary "explained that my life would actually be much harder if I had to lie about who I was."
From that point on, she describes both parents as totally supportive. Yet, from news sources other than Mary's memoir, it seems obvious that this support was at times strained in the Cheney family. Take Lynne Cheney's angry response, during the 2000 campaign, to an interview question about her daughter's lesbianism by ABC's Cokie Roberts. "She has declared no such thing," Lynne Cheney snapped. That hardly spells total support to me.
From volunteering for a number of years in a support group run by Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), I know that few parents indeed take an announcement by their child that they are gay or lesbian with complete equanimity. Even mothers and fathers like myself, who identify as "liberals," take one step forward and one step back toward complete acceptance. Doubtless, the Cheneys' journey to "total support" was not instantaneous. Describing more of their struggle would have been helpful to parents undergoing own "journey."
But Mary Cheney herself seems to take a step forward, a step back. Again from other news sources, I know that before taking a paid position with the Republican campaign, she worked in public relations for the Coors Brewing Company, doing outreach as a "liaison" to the gay and lesbian community. This is hardly a closeted position, and, indeed, she writes in Now It's My Turn that her sexual orientation was never a secret.
Yet, she declines to identify herself as a lesbian, preferring the more "politically neutral term," gay. And she seems angrier at Edward's and Kerry's mention of her orientation during the debates than by President Bush's support for the Federal Marriage Amendment, even though the amendment would not only bar same-sex marriage, but would also prevent both Federal and state governments from enacting any sort of domestic partnership or civil union law that would give unmarried couples any of the rights or responsibilities of marriage.
It's not till page 173 that she even mentions the Federal Marriage Amendment, and then addresses the problems it caused her in the most cursory terms. She decided (after seeing an advance copy of the speech) not to attend the 2004 State of the Union address where Bush voiced his support for the amendment, but made up her mind to stay on as director of vice-presidential operations for Bush-Cheney '04 because she had made a commitment. And, more importantly, because of her strong belief in her father.
Another reader reviewer, who describes herself as a lesbian from Colorado, commented that despite her (the reviewer's) support for equal rights, she was a Republican supporter because she believed that crushing terrorists was the most important issue, and that she saw this as Mary Cheney's position as well as her own. But though that may help explain Cheney's decision to stay part of the Republican campaign, it doesn't tell me why she was so upset by being called a lesbian during the political debates.
In fact, upset is a mild word. Mary Cheney describes herself as infuriated by both John Edward's and John Kerry's mention of her orientation during the vice-presidential and presidential debates, respectively. I didn't remember Edward's words that well, but Cheney's report of him saying, "I think the vice president and his wife love their daughter....very much," hardly seems a grievous insult, nor does his praise of them for embracing her. I do remember Cheney immediately thanking Edwards for his "kind words" about his family. But I never would have guessed, till reading it in his daughter's book, that Dick Cheney meant this as a kind of double-talk. That is, the Cheney family saw Edward's praise as a political ploy "that would remind everyone in the known universe, particularly those who might object, that I was gay." Cheney's thanks were intended solely to shut off any further discussion of this topic.
I do remember Kerry's statement in the presidential debate very well. In response to the question, "Do you believe homosexuality is a choice?" Kerry said, "I think if you were to talk to Dick Cheney's daughter, who is a lesbian, she would tell you that she's being who she was, she's being who she was born as."
I remember this so well because, as the mother of a lesbian daughter, I felt Kerry's answer was both good and sensitive. Perhaps he was "targeting" Mary Cheney -- as she claims -- and looking for any excuse to mention her orientation. It didn't come across that way to me. To me, Kerry was saying that lesbians and gays are ordinary people who are members of families, including families who are prominent members of the administration. By singling her out for mention, he was making the point that she had grown up in a loving, stable family, with mainstream values, and that nothing in her parents' way of life or child-rearing practices caused one of their two children to grow up gay.
It seemed to me, further, that he was making the point that gay and lesbian people are not some strange species, but our children, or our siblings or our aunts and uncles. They are born with the inclination to find a loving relationship with someone of their own sex, just as some children are born with the inclination to use their left rather than right hands. It hardly seemed "a cheap and tawdry political trick," as Mary Cheney quotes her mother's response.
I once read an article on writing that said many writers write to find out what they think, rather than to express their already formed thoughts. So it is with this review. I had expected to simply reiterate my opening thoughts that the book revealed little about the private Mary Cheney. But I find myself reaching a different conclusion. I think she does reveal herself. Despite being out in her previous employment and her spousal relationship, Mary Cheney's views in Now It's My Turn seem to bear a close resemblance to don't-ask-don't-tell. It's all right to be out as long as no one mentions it too loudly, or broadcasts that information. Her inner mindset seems driven more by political expediency than by self-acceptance or pride.
It makes me sad.
Absolutely terrible.......2007-05-15
Anyone who rated this book above 2 stars has no idea what a good book is. Instead of taking the opportunity to write a compelling book all she seemed to do was churn out a boring, self-important piece of literature. It seemed more like she rushed it out just for the pay check more than to tell her story and her hardships of being a lesbian and a daughter of one of the most powerful conservative figures in the US. This book was just awful and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
Ms. Cheney's only talent is how to COMPLAIN!.......2007-01-13
It seems that if one were to grow up in a family of wealth and power that they would have a positive outlook on life. Not so with Ms. Cheney. She spends almost the entire book telling about how mean people were to her on the campaign trail and whines constantly about the toils of politics.
In addition, she missed a great opportunity to tell about the issues that confront an individual growing up gay in a conservative family. This along with the fact that the book must have been written by an 8th grader points to a poor read.
I would give it zero stars if possible.
Mary Cheney's Strength.......2007-01-05
A good read. Mary is real. Her energetic, insightful support of her Dad's political efforts and her description of that trail is entertaining. Her homosexuality is but a sad, sterile part of the person she is.
She Didn't Take Her Turn.......2006-12-27
I was raised in Republican country and currently live in the Democrat-heavy Midwest. I've struggled with every vote I've ever cast because certain issues are so party-specific. I picked up this book in hopes I'd get to see a lesbian's in-the-know perspective of the Republican Party. All I got was a lesbian's retelling of historical events during two Presidential election campaigns. The book would be good for a political history class, but I was very disappointed in Cheney's missed opportunity to give the American public a real perspective of how her sexuality impacted her father's campaign.
She spends time telling about things like how the Secret Service agents saw them in their pajamas, about how her mother carried a wooden box with her to use when she spoke at a podium, and how they had to change carpet in one of her father's hotel rooms because the air conditioner leaked. She spends very little time discussing her struggle with Republican stances, how Bush dealt with her orientation, and how her partner actually supported her. She missed the mark on telling how she reconciled the proposed marriage amendment with her personal life.
Bottom line... I wasn't expecting a retelling of the campaign and a personal description of Dick Cheney and George Bush. I heard enough of that on the news. I was hoping for a personal story about Mary Cheney. She didn't take a turn, she passed it on to the politicians.
Book Description
This Elibron Classics edition is a facsimile reprint of a 1848 edition by Henry G. Bohn, London.
Book Description
In 1889, Bill Tilghman joined the historic land rush that transformed a raw frontier into Oklahoma Territory. A lawman by trade, he set aside his badge to make his fortune in the boomtowns. Yet Tilghman was called into service once more, on a bold, relentless journey that would make his name a legend for all time-in an epic confrontation with outlaw Bill Doolin. AUTHORBIO: MATT BRAUN is a fourth generation Westerner, steeped in the tradition and lore of the frontier era. His books reflect a heritage rich with the truths of that bygone time. Raised among the Cherokee and Osage tribes, Braun learned their traditions and culture, and their philosophy became the foundation of his own beliefs. Like his ancestors, he has spent most of his life wandering the mountains and plains of the West. His heritage and his contribution to Western literature resulted in his appointment by the Governor of Oklahoma as a Territorial Marshal.Braun is the author of thirty-eight novels and four nonfiction works, including Black Fox, which was made into a CBS miniseries. Western Writers of America awarded Braun the prestigious Spur Award for his novel The Kincaids.
Customer Reviews:
A GREAT BOOK!!!!!!.......2001-08-05
This is a very, very good book by Matt Braun. It is a story of part of the life of Bill Tilghman, a lawman of the west. This book deals with his trying to capture outlaw Bill Doolin. The book is very well written. It has lot of action and will hold your interest. You can see the characters in your mind, Braun has done a good job. Tilghman is tough but also has a heart. Doolin led him a merry chase for a long time and as Tilghman is thinking back in the latter part of the book, his thought is, "Bill Doolin somehow seemed the last of the breed." If you like a good western based on fact, you will like this book.
Great historical western!.......1999-10-26
This one was sitting on my shelf for a couple of years while I kept reaching for other, more glamorous titles. Finally, I picked it up and, WOW, it turned out to be a great read. There is plenty of action, intrigue, and suspense despite it's historical characters. Most of the book deals with Bill Tilghman's chase of Bill Doolan, a notorius outlaw and leader of the Wild Bunch of Oklahoma Territory. There's even some romance and soft-heartedness thrown in. I confess this is my first book by Matt Braun but will not be my last!
Book Description
The New York Times bestselling memoir from one of the world's best-loved actresses
In this candid, insightful, and\ unconventional memoir, Goldie Hawn invites us to join her in an inspirational look back at the people, places, and events that have touched her. It is the spiritual journey of a heart in search of enlightenment.
With her trademark effervescence, Goldie delivers a personal look at private and powerful events that carried her through life: her father's spontaneity; her mother's courage; and the joy of being a daughter, a sister, a parent, and a lover. She writes about her childhood dreams of becoming a ballerina. She takes us on a tour of her go-go years in 1960s New York City, the phenomenon of TV's Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, her Oscar-winning debut in Cactus Flower and Hollywood stardom.
She writes intimately about the challenges of love, anger and fear, and the importance of compassion and integrity. She speaks openly about her family, her partner Kurt Russell, her children, her faith, her curiosity for that which she doesn't yet know, and her thirst for knowledge. Most of all, it is a trip back through a life well lived by a woman well loved.
Customer Reviews:
Wonderful Goldie!.......2007-09-30
I didn't know a lot about Goldie Hawn when I bought this book. I love biographies and since I had always had a great impression of her, thought it would be interesting. The pretty cover also helped!
This is a wonderful book about a wonderful person! It was very interesting to learn about Goldie Hawn's childhood and career path. I was happy to know there is such a great person who struggled yet achieved so much, simply for trying to live a happy life.
Goldie Hawn is a great example and role model of a person who truly appreciates life for what it is!
This is an emotional, funny and inspirational book. Easy to read, I felt this is a true story written from the bottom of her heart. This book shows a humble, strong yet normal person just like a lot of non-famous people like a lot of us.
It is great to know there are extraordinary people in the world, such as Goldie Hawn!
Good as Goldie!.......2007-08-31
Goldie's autobiography is a spiritual journey through her life - its touching and sincere accounts of life-changing events gives the reader a unique view into the life of a movie icon. What you realize is that Goldie is one of us - yes, an amazingly accomplished actress, but also a loyal friend, a loving mom, and a genuine, down-to-earth person.
Most noteworthy is the fact that Goldie did not find the need to disparage anyone from her past in order to accurately tell her story.
If possible, I'm more of a fan after reading her book.
Uplifting.......2007-08-08
This is undoubtedly one of the best books I have read and the best "biography" I've seen!
In a collection of "short stories," Goldie expresses to readers her joy for life and all that it has to offer! Through ups and downs in life, she tells those reading how to find the shiny side of any issue, though her own life journey!
DIVINE! A must read, especially for anyone down and out!
Really Interesting .......2007-08-02
I only bought the book actually because I found it at a bargain store and I enjoyed most of her movies.In fact when I came home with it, I was about to put it into my bookcase for a day when I had nothing to do (like that ever happens) LOL,but I had to wait for someone so I started to read. After returning home and going to bed instead of watching a little TV I picked up the book again. After reading the book, Goldie should add author to her already huge list of accomplishments.The book evokes all emotions,laughter,tears,anger,compassion and most of all love.She is a wonderful writer and you honestly feel this is a woman you would want as a friend.It is beautifully and honestly written. She states in the beginning that she was not going to give out intimate details of others that would cause them pain and embarrassment and she does not. If you are looking for a juicy who slept with who,what a louse Bill Hudson was etc...you will not find it in this book.While she is still (at least to me) one of the most powerful women in Hollywood,she is still thoughtful and humble. Her true hearts love is still her family. While she does not make her parents "Leave It To Beaver" kind of people, it is clear that they were loving,nurturing,loving parents who were there for their children with faults just like the rest of us. She presents herself in the same light. The book is an interesting and easy read no mumbo jumbo,she tells it as she sees it and does not force her views or opinions on anyone.I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes her or her movies and if you are a fan of hers, (you probably already have the book) if not after reading this book you might become one.
A lotus grows in the mud.......2007-07-24
I just recently started this book...its just amazing so far. And for those who don't seem to pay attention they apparently didn't read the part about the book not being some Hollywood tell all story of Goldie Hawn's existence but an uplifting and maybe even a little bit of a unconventional story of the life of a wonderful woman. I haven't gotten that far in the book but what I have read so far...is beautiful her linguistics and imagination and memories are beautiful and so far well worth the time. You read of some tragedy or just some negative memories she has and for a moment the book doesn't seem that great anymore but at the end of every chapter Goldie leaves you with this positive insight that just is so beautiful, the way this woman thinks and perceives the world is just amazing. Overall this book honestly is intoxicating and I recommend it to anyone that wants a uplifting and intriguing experience.
Product Description
LEATHER BOUND book accented in 22kt gold! Personally signed by Goldie Hawn.
Customer Reviews:
Really Well Written .......2007-08-02
I only bought the book actually because I found it at a bargain store and I enjoyed most of her movies.In fact when I came home with it, I was about to put it into my bookcase for a day when I had nothing to do (like that ever happens) LOL,but I had to wait for someone so I started to read. After returning home and going to bed instead of watching a little TV I picked up the book again. After reading the book, Goldie should add author to her already huge list of accomplishments.The book evokes all emotions,laughter,tears,anger,compassion and most of all love.She is a wonderful writer and you honestly feel this is a woman you would want as a friend.It is beautifully and honestly written. She states in the beginning that she was not going to give out intimate details of others that would cause them pain and embarrassment and she does not. If you are looking for a juicy who slept with who,what a louse Bill Hudson was etc...you will not find it in this book.While she is still (at least to me) one of the most powerful women in Hollywood,she is still thoughtful and humble. Her true hearts love is still her family. While she does not make her parents "Leave It To Beaver" kind of people, it is clear that they were loving,nurturing,loving parents who were there for their children with faults just like the rest of us. She presents herself in the same light. The book is an interesting and easy read no mumbo jumbo,she tells it as she sees it and does not force her views or opinions on anyone.I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes her or her movies and if you are a fan of hers, (you probably already have the book) if not after reading this book you might become one.
Amazon.com
Anyone who's ever perused the headbanger press can attest that, when writing about heavy metal, one should not attempt to emulate the music's crushing, extravagant, vehement brutality. No, the excess of metal is best conveyed in more subdued tones, and it would seem that Seb Hunter concurs. Thanks to the first-time London author's light touch, the part primer, part memoir works well. Chronicling his devotion to the genre from his first encounter with an AC/DC record as a 10 year old through stints as a guitarist for a progression of bands with names like Armageddon's Ring, Excalibur, Rag 'n' Bones, the Trash Can Junkies, Cool Hand Luke, Cat Ballou, and Love Knuckle (that last one signaling his split from metal in a post-Nirvana alternative universe), Hunter relies heavily on humor, peppered with pathos and stark realism. Hunter's sad sack telling of his own rags-to-leather story is interrupted periodically for lessons on the fundamentals of metal, like why keyboards suck and how to tell the difference between thrash metal and speed metal. Useful stuff, and, in Hunter's hands, deftly delivered. Metalheads will appreciate Hunter's keen understanding of their beloved music and its attendant folkways, but one needn't know the difference between Stryper and Slayer to get a rush from Hell Bent for Leather. --Steven Stolder
Book Description
Seb Hunter wasn't just a heavy metal fan. He was a blind devotee who threw away his education and future prospects to become a rock star. In
Hell Bent for Leather, he reaches into the most embarrassing depths of the family photo album to reveal his Wayne's World-esque teen years, taking readers on a (very loud) musical journey from his first guitar to his first gig and on, through groupies, girlfriends, too many drugs, spiraling egos, musical differences, and finally, the end of the dream -- and a much-needed haircut.In this nostalgic look at heavy metal culture,
Seb Hunter has given us a moving portrait of adolescence and chasing your dream, reminding us all that it's better to have lost in rock than never to have rocked at all.
This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.
Customer Reviews:
A Lot Of Fun.......2007-06-15
I am currently half way through Seb's tale on Heavy Metal baby steps and enjoying every single page. It is amazing how the love for this sometimes controversal sometimes predictable musical genre can bring people together regardless their origins, age or sub-genre of choice.
I grew up here in Brazil and was a teenager in the 80's, but reading Seb's account on how he got hooked up in metal in Britain feels like I am reading my own life story.
Everyone who once worshiped Angus Young and Lemmy Kilminster will feel tremendous empathy for this book, and regardless of the turns one might have made in life (you may now be a respectable lawyer or a brain surgeon), if once you wore that ragged black t-shirt, long greasy hair and played air guitar in front of your mirror, after reading this book you'll feel metal pumping in your veins again. You might as weel go and buy all those Anthrax albums you sold years ago.
Former New Waver says, "It's Way Rad!".......2006-10-29
Fade back in time.... I'm at a party full of preppies, dancing to Depeche Mode 12 inches and having "good clean fun." (If you had short hair, a polo shirt, and good grades, you could party more than Peter O'Toole on his birthday -- and girls' parents were "pleased as punch" with you!) On the way home, I stop at a friend/musician's house. His bandmates sit around and drink Bud while watching heavy metal videos. "S'up, man!" we all say. "Man," they think, "We're almost at that level. We could be the next Skid Row!" (I quote what people think, just like Bob Woodward). "Boy," I think, "This stuff is ugly -- much darker than the pastel miniskirts at the party earlier." But I deconstruct the videos, and realize that behind the darkness it's all hairspray and fire, spandex and girls humping cars. The videos are like a confused TV commercial: Is the girl selling the car? Is the car selling the girl? Is the band selling the girl or vice versa? Is this band *really* "new and improved" Van Halen? And enough with the fire, already!
So I came to this book with a nostalgic interest in heavy metal - without ever having liked it... but respecting the people who did. The metal scene was in the air, so I'm familiar with most of Hunter's references. (How many festival seating lines did I wait in - for *new wave* concerts - while some yahoo 20 feet away cranked the Scorps on his boombox. Son of a bee sting!)
Hunter is an excellent writer. He's British and writes with nonchalance and self-effacing humor. Even when Hunter conveys his most trying struggles as a professional rocker -- homelessness, drugs, seedy characters -- he has a very charming "yeah, whatever" tone. The British are just cool. I like this guy. Hunter weaves three main subjects: 1) The history of heavy metal (groups, fashions, instruments, genres/subsets) 2) His critiques of heavy metal groups and albums 3) His life; from being electrified at age 10 by like-clad Angus Young, to the rest of his youth chasing a heavy metal career (through four or five bands, from small town to London).
Leaving home at 17 with stars in his eyes (or fire, hairspray, and girls in his eyes), Hunter exists on sixpence in his attempts to make it big. By the end of his journey, he's like a gypsy (but with more drugs) moving through the crazed London rock scene. Then he experiments with alternative music, and alienates the metal gang. He hears Kurt Cobain, and has an epiphany: Metal has become filled with pompous air [Or was it always? (me)].... And anyone who can't see the coming balloon poP is foolish. So Hunter steps away from his (increasingly crazed) heavy metal band life. The book's closing is very truncated. Maybe that's by design -- to show how hard Hunter slammed the door between the past he tells, and a more sober current life. (Like the affectless narrator in Less Than Zero, who returns to Beverly Hills from Serious East Coast College and plays tapes that he "used to like," part of Hunter's nonchalance toward metal is objective distance -- he's moved on).
In short, great writer, great nostalgia trips, great insight, great journey, great redemption. Great book.
An excellent read whether you're a fan or not........2006-06-02
"Hellbent for Leather: Confessions of a Heavy Metal Addict" by Seb Hunter is quite possibly one of the most enjoyable books I've ever read. Part autobiography and part heavy metal primer, the book would be funny for anyone, but is especially meaningful for those of us who love heavy metal. At times, the author looks back at himself and certain aspects of metal fandom with a roll of the eyes (after all, who doesn't have a picture of themselves from their teens with a somewhat ridiculous haircut and ripped jeans?) but overall he treats the subject with the respect one would expect from a life-long fan.
Hunter's life story parallels that of most metal fans. The book spans the author's history from the first time he heard ACDC's "Let's Get it Up" as a 10 year old, his introductions to all the various styles of metal as a teen, through various bands he played with, and eventually the crash when the realization that the career of Rock God has passed him by. Personally, I recall most of the same events in my own life, including the first time hearing Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" as a child, being mesmerized by it, expanding to Iron Maiden, Scorpions and Metallica in high school and then eventually joining a metal band in college, which ultimately went nowhere. For any of us with similar stories, this book is especially funny and interesting. However, Hunter's wry observations and dry English wit make this an entertaining read for just about anyone.
If you don't know anything about the metal subculture, you will by the end of this book, however, if you do, he really nails most aspects of what it means to be a fan of this type of music. When his band forced a keyboard player on Seb, over his protest, he points out the following: "Motorhead don't use keyboards. If Lemmy saw a keyboard, he'd vomit. Slayer couldn't even pronounce the word, let along plug one in." He discusses the long hair, of course, in detail, as well as how to dress metal. If a fan of a particular band were to bump into another fan of that particular band, "what you want to be wearing is the limited edition tour t-shirt, the faded one and, most importantly, the one with the tour dates on the back...preferably for a gigantic world tour with tons of dates in Germany and places you've never heard of in America". Metal guitars, the best live album of all time (need you even ask, "Live After Death" of course) and which bands he would have thrown a two-liter bottle of piss at during the various Castle Donnington concerts (Meat Loaf, Bon Jovi, Thunder, Extreme and Warrior Soul amongst others).
The author's father wanted him to get rid his first Venom album, and he argued "but it says they're At War With Satan....Dad!". I went through the same thing with mom and "Kill `em All". I was reading this book while traveling through Europe, usually on a train. People would often look at me strangely as I was laughing out loud like a loon, but it's impossible not to with some of the lines Hunter throws out there. Discussing the big Four of thrash, "Slayer couldn't do a ballad if you sprinkled their breakfast cereal with ecstasy and sleeping pills and locked them in a room with just harps". On Metallica's downward spiral post Master of Puppets (if you only ever buy one thrash album ever then buy this one), "They not only recorded a ballad...produced by Bob Rock no less, Bon Jovi's producer. It wasn't long before they'd cut their hair, recorded a live album with an orchestra, dressed in suits and....tried to sue their fans for downloading their music from Napster too....I would certainly call that a demise". Give this book a read, it goes by fast, has great pictures illustrating the author's points and will absolutely make you laugh out loud over and over.
fun read.......2006-04-26
This could have me or any one of my friends. Really fun to read, brought back a lot of memories!
Heavy Metal Parking Lot.......2005-12-20
Seb Hunter does just a brilliant job paying Metal it's long due respect, concurrently embdedding just the right bit of wry Brittish humor and colloquialism, so that we don't take any of it too seriously. The important take-a-way, is that for anyone...I mean anyone who felt the goosebumps up their back when they first really FELT metal, those feelings and that energy and affectation were real. Anyone can make fun of it now, but if you were there, you know who you are and you will be underlining passages in nearly every page of this book. Without necessarily cognating it at the time, Metal was a first glimpse for many to grab onto something to really feel passionate about. And now, as an older, "wiser" person, I realize those experiences are just too hard to come by.
Average customer rating:
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Psychoanalysis and Sovereignty in Popular Vampire Fictions (Studies in Popular Culture (Lewiston, N.Y.), V. 1.)
Anna Powell
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World Radio TV Handbook 1998 (World Radio TV Handbook)
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One of the most comprehensive book about the short wave.......1998-09-14
You can find from WHERE the station broadcast,WHAT frecuency are in use,WHEN you can hear it,and HOW obtain the QSL card,and a lot of DX tips...
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