The best popular music books

Tony Consiglio started the famous Sally’s Apizza Restaurant in 1938, made famous by Frank Sinatra, Tommy Dorsey, Johnny Mathis, Sammy Davis, Lyle Lovett, Andre Agassi.  In 1940, Tony and Frank Sinatra hit the road together, very close friends until Frank passed away. Tony was right there.  The stories come directly from Tony, who was Constantly by Frank’s side, on the road, in night clubs, all night gatherings that included Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Gene Kelly, Joe DiMaggio, Pierre Salinger, Buddy Rich, Tony Curtis, Janet Leigh, and these parties usually lasted beyond sunrise.  Tony poured the drinks. He never touched alcohol, but Tony said that he used to get stoned on the fumes.  

The Beermat Entrepreneur helps you convert your jotted notes about your business idea into a big and successful business. With wit and humour, this quick-to-read and simple-to-use book could turn your beermat inspiration into reality.

You’ve got a bright idea. An idea that you think maybe, just maybe, could become a brilliant business. But what next? The Beermat Entrepreneur is the answer. It takes you through all the crucial stages between those first notes on a beermat and a business that is sound, lasting, and profitable. It tells you what the other books don’t – the lessons that most people have to learn by bitter experience; the tricks that all entrepreneurs wish somebody had told them before they set out. From testing your idea and finding a mentor, through selecting and motivating the right people and securing your first customer, to deciding when to ‘go for growth’ – this is the guide to turning good ideas into real businesses.

My book on Ray Davies focuses on his life, his times, and, most significantly, his music. Not Like Everybody Else charts the evolution of one of the great artists of the rock era. I begin by considering how Davies’s working-class background shaped his character and infused his work. The book then studies Davies’s artistic growth from his early singles with the Kinks, through seminal Kinks albums like Village Green Preservation Society and Arthur, the daring rock operas and concept albums, his films, his innovative autobiography, his one-man show, and more.

Drawing on interviews, reviews, other writings, and a close study of Davies’s rich and complex work, Not Like Everybody Else creates a thorough picture of Davies the man and his artistic output.

Following the lives of the most powerful, charismatic, and independent female stars of Cairo’s early-twentieth-century nightlife, this book delves into stories that many historians ignore. Away from high parliamentary politics and elite circles, a group of women were defining what it meant to be Egyptian in the modern world. In smoke-filled nightclubs, a new world was being born and the singers, dancers, and cabaret owners of Egypt were its central protagonists.

Tony Consiglio started the famous Sally’s Apizza Restaurant in 1938, made famous by Frank Sinatra, Tommy Dorsey, Johnny Mathis, Sammy Davis, Lyle Lovett, Andre Agassi.  In 1940, Tony and Frank Sinatra hit the road together, very close friends until Frank passed away. Tony was right there.  The stories come directly from Tony, who was Constantly by Frank’s side, on the road, in night clubs, all night gatherings that included Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Gene Kelly, Joe DiMaggio, Pierre Salinger, Buddy Rich, Tony Curtis, Janet Leigh, and these parties usually lasted beyond sunrise.  Tony poured the drinks. He never touched alcohol, but Tony said that he used to get stoned on the fumes.  

When his parents tell him that he can’t have a drumkit, Frankie Lumlit builds one out of odds and ends he finds in the family recycling bin. Frankie’s excitement, however, is dimmed when his friend Alfonse laughs at his creation. But then Frankie’s favorite band overhears his drumming and asks if they can borrow his drums. As a token of appreciation, they invite him to that night’s concert where Frankie Lumlit’s janky drumkit takes center stage. 

From Aerosmith to Zappa, San Diego State has hosted a mind-boggling array of live rock ‘n’ roll shows, more than virtually any other college campus in the nation. State’s unrivaled legacy of pre-eminent live popular music is not limited to rock ‘n’ roll; Montezuma Mesa has hosted seminal folk acts, as well as top stars in jazz, R&B, country, reggae, rap, and many other genres. With over 3,400 bands playing more than 3,100 billed concerts from 1931 to 2015, the San Diego State campus has witnessed an unprecedented number of cutting-edge performances by some of the most influential and popular musicians of all time. This five-volume set chronicles them all and includes a bevy of concert posters, ticket stubs, setlists, anecdotes, and the occasional arrest warrant.

From Aerosmith to Zappa, San Diego State has hosted a mind-boggling array of live rock ‘n’ roll shows, more than virtually any other college campus in the nation. State’s unrivaled legacy of pre-eminent live popular music is not limited to rock ‘n’ roll; Montezuma Mesa has hosted seminal folk acts, as well as top stars in jazz, R&B, country, reggae, rap, and many other genres. With over 3,400 bands playing more than 3,100 billed concerts from 1931 to 2015, the San Diego State campus has witnessed an unprecedented number of cutting-edge performances by some of the most influential and popular musicians of all time. This five-volume set chronicles them all and includes a bevy of concert posters, ticket stubs, setlists, anecdotes, and the occasional arrest warrant.

No Cameras Allowed tells the story of how Julian David Stone entirely by sneaking his equipment into concerts, amassed an incredible archive of over ten thousand rock and roll photos. Starting by simply stashing a camera in his socks, then taping equipment all over his body, to finally customizing a jacket to hide equipment from security guards, he shot dozens of the 1980s greatest acts: Prince, U2, the Police, David Bowie, R.E.M., the Ramones, Elvis Costello, the Talking Heads, the Grateful Dead, Joan Jett, and many, many more. Culled from this incredible, never-before-seen archive, this book contains over 250 of his best photos, along with some of the craziest adventures he had as he evaded oversized roadies, aggressive security, and more than a few drunken fans.

At its core, this is a book about a quest. The story begins in the late 1950s in Truro, Nova Scotia, where a group of young, aspiring musicians want to play the new rock ‘n’ roll. At the time, their town was divided by race, religion, and class. One thing only brought people together: the new music. Over a span of ten years, The Lincolns, the local "kings of Friday night," played trademark rock 'n' roll, R&B, and soul at dances and campuses across Nova Scotia and into New Brunswick. Along the way, The Lincolns changed the lives of small-town kids clamoring for music to move their feet, their hips—and ultimately their hearts. It’s a touching, true-life, universal tale filled with personal recollections and nostalgic delight. The book features a foreword by former Lincoln John MacLachlan Gray and an afterword by the band’s singer, Frank MacKay.