The Avatar

The Avatar
Author: Ivar Tabrizi
Publisher: Trafford Publishing
Total Pages: 245
Release: 2004
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 141201865X

The story is based on the alleged discovery of Elvis Presley's reincarnation in Mangalam, a small village set amidst the backwaters of the Malabar Coast in India. The subsequent events when an Elvis-mad matron from Memphis, Tennessee comes to claim the child as her very own make for a very hilarious reading. The events start unfolding when the astrologer called into cast the child's birth horoscope declares the child to be an avatar, a great reincarnation. Everybody assumes the reincarnation to be that of Lord Krishna, the deity worshipped in the village. But the two precocious daughters of Sunita, the neighbour and a distant relation of the child's parents, create, without meaning to, a feeling that the child is actually a reincarnation of Elvis Presley. Neeli, the eldest of the two, editor of her college magazine and an aspiring journalist, manages to publish an article about the phenomenon in the "Memphis Tattler". Maggie Duckworth, a rich widow and fanatic in her devotion to Elvis, reads the article and lands in India to claim the child. She has Alonzo Bosworthy, a novice reporter from the tabloid, in tow to cover what she thinks will be a scoop. Besides, her ulterior motive is to chase out the present guardians of the Presley Foundation, with whom she had a long series of run-ins, and install the true heir to the throne of Graceland Mansions. The Mangalam villagers meanwhile have come to very different conclusions about the impending visit of the Americans. The village barber, a fanatic Maoist, is convinced that the Americans are actually CIA agents coming to take over what he imagines to be the oil wealth hidden under the village. He organizes the farm workers to protest against the visit. Meanwhile, a defrocked priest and his small coterie of Christian followers in the village maintain that the child is actually the second Christ come to redeem the world, and maintain a vigil outside the reincarnation's house. They are there to prevent the child being spirited away to the West. The barber's wild imagination had also infected the staid householders of the village and they want their cut of the oil wealth lying under their feet. Of course there is the village yokel suddenly transformed by a series of misunderstandings into a Greek scholar whose wild oratory is listened to by the villagers avidly but without understanding. By the time Maggie Duckworth arrives at the village she is met by all these forces, which she cannot fathom. Things are not helped by the avaricious nature of the reincarnation's father, Mr. Keshavan, who dreams of inheriting Presley's Graceland on behalf of his son. As if these things were not enough for Maggie Duckworth, Bosworthy manages to get himself arrested as a spy with designs on India's cultural heritage when he wanders into the village temple. The story goes on to its ultimate denouement as the Indian papers, slow on the uptake, now create a country- wide furor making the incident take on an international flavour with formal protests being lodged with the American Ambassador in India and nearly bringing the Indian Government down for kowtowing to the Americans. Sunita's two daughters though central to the theme are just onlookers and as bewildered as Maggie by the course of events they have unleashed. Babli, the younger one, is the agnostic with a healthy disrespect for the superstitions surrounding the village life. But she triggers off events leading to the acceptance of the child to be a reincarnation of Elvis.

Elvis in Hawaii

Elvis in Hawaii
Author: Jerry Hopkins
Publisher: Bess Press
Total Pages: 106
Release: 2002
Genre: Hawaii
ISBN: 9781573061421

It is well known that Elvis loved Hawai'i. Not only did he perform in the islands in three decades, making movies and performing concerts, this was the King of Rock and Roll's favourite vacation spot. Elvis in Hawai'i guides readers through the King's relationships with the islands in a fully-illustrated story, using over 100 photographs, many previously unpublished and memorabilia from personal collections.

Liar's Bench

Liar's Bench
Author: Kim Michele Richardson
Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corporation
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2021-11-30
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 149673422X

Includes recipes and a reading group guide (pages [254]-261).

Field Recordings from the Inside

Field Recordings from the Inside
Author: Joe Bonomo
Publisher: Catapult
Total Pages: 203
Release: 2017-03-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 159376670X

Using as its epigraph and unifying principle Luc Sante’s notion that “Every human being is an archeological site,” Field Recordings from the Inside provides a deep and personal examination at the impact of music on our lives. Bonomo effortlessly moves between the personal and the critical, investigating the ways in which music defines our personalities, tells histories, and offers mysterious, often unbidden access into the human condition. The book explores the vagaries and richness of music and music-making—from rock and roll, punk, and R&B to Frank Sinatra, Nashville country, and Delta blues—as well as the work of a diverse group of artists and figures—Charles Lamb, music writer Lester Bangs, painter and television personality Bob Ross, child country musician Troy Hess, and songwriter Greg Cartwright. Mining the often complex natures and shapes of the creative process, Field Recordings from the Inside is a singular work that blends music appreciation, criticism, and pop culture from one of the most critically acclaimed music writers of our time.

Songs in the Key of Z

Songs in the Key of Z
Author: Irwin Chusid
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2000
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1556523726

Irwin Chusid profiles a number of "outsider" musicians - those who started as "outside" and eventually came "in" when the listening public caught up with their radical ideas. Included are The Shaggs, Tiny Tim, Syd Barrett, Joe Meek, Captain Beefheart, The Cherry Sisters, Daniel Johnston, Harry Partch, Wesley Wilis, and others.

Elvis The King

Elvis The King
Author: Laurent Poret
Publisher: Laurent Poret
Total Pages: 106
Release:
Genre: Fiction
ISBN:

Elvis Presley was born on January 8, 1935, in Tupelo, Mississippi, to Gladys Love Presley (born Smith) in the two-room house his father, Vernon Elvis Presley, built for the birth. Jesse Garon Presley, her identical twin brother, was delivered 35 minutes before him, stillborn. Presley became close to both his parents and formed a particularly close bond with his mother. The family attended an Assembly of God church, where he found his initial musical inspiration. On his mother’s side of the family, Presley’s ancestry was Scottish and Irish, with some French Normans. Gladys and the rest of the family apparently believed that her great-great-great-grandmother, Morning Dove White, was Cherokee; Elaine Dundy’s biography supports this idea, but at least one genealogical researcher has challenged it for several reasons. Vernon’s ancestors were of German or Scottish descent. Gladys was considered by relatives and friends to be the dominant member of the little family. Vernon moved from job to job with little ambition. The family often depended on help from neighbours and government food aid. In 1938, they lost their home after Vernon was convicted of altering a cheque issued by his landlord and employer at one point. He was imprisoned for eight months, while Gladys and Elvis moved in with relatives.

Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley
Author: Spencer Leigh
Publisher: McNidder & Grace
Total Pages: 631
Release: 2017-08-03
Genre: Music
ISBN: 0857161660

If you love Elvis you will love this book. Everything you wanted to know about Elvis in astonishing detail: his life, his love of music, his movies and his career. 'If you had just landed on this planet and had no idea who Elvis Presley was, you might listen to a song and say, 'That's good', but if you walked into an arena and watched him perform, it would be a different beast altogether. He had incredible stage presence. If you want to know what the 'X Factor' really is, watch Elvis Presley' from the Foreword by Russell Watson. On Tuesday 16 August 1977 Elvis Presley collapsed and died in the bathroom of his home in Memphis. He was 42 years old. The media went into overdrive. On the news, there were pictures of fans weeping and late-night vigils. There were special supplements in the newspapers and experts analysed his career – the good and the bad, but never the ugly. Once again, Elvis Presley was the biggest-selling record artist on the planet. Spencer Leigh, renowned biographer, has written a masterful account about Elvis. He delves into how music became an integral part of the America's Deep South - Elvis' birthplace. He discusses what separated Elvis from his contemporaries, just how old was Priscilla when they first met, his bizarre relationship with his manager Colonel Parker, how did he reinvent himself for Las Vegas and most importantly, why did he have to die so young?

Bootleg

Bootleg
Author: Clinton Heylin
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 454
Release: 1996-06-15
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780312142896

Heylin's secret history of the covert culture of "bootlegging" digs into many previously uncovered areas of this complex and completely underground music industry. "(An) unholy mix of consumerism, conspiracy, fetishism and felony" (David Dalton) that "methodically punctures each and every record industry argument against bootlegging, while acknowledging that bootleggers themselves are often without the purest motives". (Los Angeles Reader). Illustrations.

SPIN

SPIN
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 120
Release: 1988-12
Genre:
ISBN:

From the concert stage to the dressing room, from the recording studio to the digital realm, SPIN surveys the modern musical landscape and the culture around it with authoritative reporting, provocative interviews, and a discerning critical ear. With dynamic photography, bold graphic design, and informed irreverence, the pages of SPIN pulsate with the energy of today's most innovative sounds. Whether covering what's new or what's next, SPIN is your monthly VIP pass to all that rocks.