Run your fingers over a clothbound spine with foil-stamped type, then compare it to a glue-only paperback: the weight, stiffness, and even the sound when you open it feel different. Those sensory differences—paper at 100 gsm versus 70, Smyth-sewn signatures that lie flat versus perfect-binding that cracks—are not superficial; they shape whether a volume is...
Superman starts all over in September with a clean slate of adventures to be published in “Action Comics No. 1.” The re-boot of America’s oldest superhero will be handled by artist Ralph Morales and writer Grant Morrison, who injected comics with a whole new level of metaphysical depth when he co-created Batman’s twisted game-changer Arkham Asylum. ...
Music journalist and MOJO magazine founding editor Paul Du Noyer first spoke with Paul McCartney at a press conference in 1979. At the time, McCartney was about to take what would be the final configuration of Wings on a 19-date UK tour. Du Noyer managed to get a question in, though he was just one...
Kenneth Womack has plenty of credibility as a Beatles scholar. Having previously authored several books about the band (among them The Beatles Encyclopedia: Everything Fab Four and Long and Winding Roads: The Evolving Artistry of the Beatles), Womack has most recently tackled a subject surprisingly shortchanged over the years. While always covered as part of...
The weekend of December 12-14, 2014 will find Seattle- and San Francisco-area Trekkers convening at Creation Entertainment’s Official Star Trek Convention. Among the celebrity guests appearing at the concurrent conventions is none other than Jonathan Frakes, aka Commander Riker on seven seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation and its four feature films (two of...
Now readily available in the United States, Paul McCartney Recording Sessions (1969-2013) was a labor of love for über McCartney fan and music journalist Luca Perasi. The book examines the recording of each McCartney song, in chronological order, from the year The Beatles ceased to exist as a working band right up to last year’s...
Essential reading for any serious Paul McCartney fan, Luca Perasi’s Paul McCartney: Recording Sessions (1969-2013) covers everything from the McCartney album (released in 1970) right through New (released in 2013). Perasi takes us from song to song, conveying tons of detailed information. The goal was to focus on factual information rather than critical analysis. While...
“What an extraordinary life you’ve led,” one attendee tells Mike McCartney at the conclusion of his new one-man show, a nostalgic look back on his colorful life. “What’s extraordinary about it,” McCartney answers, “Is that it’s all true.” One only need glance at Mike McCartney’s resume for a reminder of why it’s only natural that...
Sadly, unconscionably, Richard Pryor has been largely erased from the pop culture landscape in the eight years since his passing. His ardent fans remain, but it’s hard not to wonder what will become of Pryor’s legacy once that ever-shrinking demographic eventually slips away. Ask a random teenager, or even a 20something, if they know who...
“I only listen to certain people when it comes to criticizing,” Miles Davis explains in one of many quotes found in Insight Editions’ new coffee table book, Miles Davis: The Collected Artwork. “I don’t ask anyone who’s going to try and tell me how much they know about art. It’s like the same thing with...