Gift ideas for the Music Lover

Alright this list was inspired by Mark and Jack over at CJTT, who intervied author Jo-Ann Geffen this morning. Jo-Ann Geffen helped co-author the new Chicken Soup for the Soul book "The Story Behind the Song". Which will be out on November 10th.

So to go along with Mark and Jacks interview here is a list of great Christmas Gift ideas for "Music Lovers". And of course at the top list we have:


Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Story Behind the Song:The Exclusive Personal Stories Behind Your Favorite Songs
Jack Canfield Mark Victor Hansen Jo-Ann Geffen
Series: CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL
Published: November 10, 2009 Not Yet Released

Songs tell a story, and now popular singers and songwriters are sharing more of the story! These artists reveal the inspiration, influence, and background, and when and why they wrote their most famous songs, in Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Story Behind the Song. Book includes great photos of the songwriters and lyrics of many of the songs.

Songs, with personal stories behind them, many of which are being told for the first time, include:

Storyteller/Songwriter Song Title
Aaron Lewis, Staind Outside
Aaron Neville Yellow Moon
Aaron Tippin Kiss This
Amanda McBroom The Rose
Ang - lique Kidjo Batonga
And Lots more!!


About Jack Canfield

Chicken Soup for the Soul is a favorite publisher of books about family with many bestselling books about family and personal dynamics.

Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen are co-founders of Chicken Soup for the Soul.

Susan M. Heim is a long-time editor of parenting and family-oriented books.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One of my favourite Music Trivia books!

Hold Me Closer, Tony Danza: And Other Misheard Lyrics
Sasquatch Books

Book Description

We've all done it — misheard a song lyric and sung along with the wrong words for months or years before being corrected. Whether you heard "Even if you're Ted Danson in the dark," instead of "Even if we're just dancin' in the dark," or confused "Jamie's out of gum" with "Janie's got a gun," this book is an ode to faulty hearing and mumbled lyrics everywhere. The artists presented here vary from pop idols Britney Spears, Billy Joel, and the Backstreet Boys to hard rockers like Def Leppard to urban groups such as Destiny's Child and Black Eyed Peas. Including parodies, fantasy duets, potential commercial soundtracks, and humorous tidbits, this book is perfect for both trivia lovers and those in search of a laugh.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Next we have a new biography on Sir Paul McCartney.

Paul McCartney: A Life
Peter A Carlin

Book Description

More than a rock star, more than a celebrity, Paul McCartney is a cultural touchstone. As one half of the legendary Lennon-McCartney songwriting duo, he helped transform popular music, moving from the simplistic pop of "Love Me Do" to the avant-garde symphonics of "A Day in the Life" to generation-binding anthems such as "Hey, Jude" and "Let It Be." Along the way the Beatles ascended from the dank basements of working-class Liverpool to heights of fame and wealth no previous entertainer could ever have imagined.

McCartney's own ambitions fueled much of the group's progress. But even as he steered himself from childhood tragedy to his meeting with John Lennon to the gestation of the Beatles and their rise to international acclaim, the same appetites that drove the group to its greatest creative and commercial heights also served to tear the band members apart.

Still, McCartney's career didn't end with the Beatles' breakup. Nor, for that matter, did the bonds between the Beatles. And in this definitive biography, Peter Ames Carlin examines McCartney's entire life, casting new light not just on the Beatles era, but also on his years with Wings and his thirty-year relationship with his first wife, Linda McCartney. He takes us on a journey through a tumultuous couple of decades in which Paul struck out on his own as a solo artist, reached the top of the charts with a new band, and once again drew hundreds of thousands of screaming fans to his concerts. Carlin presents McCartney as a musical visionary, capable of crafting pop gems such as "Band on the Run" and "Maybe I'm Amazed." But he also reveals a layered and often conflicted figure, as haunted by his legacy -- and particularly his relationshipwith John Lennon -- as he was inspired by it.

Built on years of research and fresh, revealing interviews with friends, bandmates, and collaborators spanning McCartney's entire life, Carlin's lively biography captures the many facets of Paul McCartney and paints a vivid portrait of one of our era's living legends.

Review quotes

"The best thing about Peter Ames Carlin's book is the way he entangles the music and the life, so that we begin to understand them as what they are -- inextricable. This is the kind of book that Paul McCartney's solo work deserves -- enthusiastic but critical, a redemptive reevaluation of what's best about Paul's solo work without denying the worst, and a clear-eyed overview of the Beatles period as a part of a very active, creative, and personal life that endures." -- Dave Marsh, author of Bruce Springsteen on Tour: 1968-2005

About Peter A Carlin

Peter Ames Carlin was born in Syracuse, NY in 1963. The son of a psychologist and an arts administrator, he was a freelance writer in Portland for many years, then worked as a senior writer at People magazine in New York City. He has been the TV columnist for The Oregonian newspaper since 2000, and is the author of Catch A Wave: The Rise, Fall and Redemption of the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson. Published in 2006, Catch A Wave was acclaimed by Wilson collaborator Van Dyke Parks as "the essential Beach Boys saga." Peter lives with his wife and three children in Portland, Ore.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

With a foreword by Bruce Springsteen!


Big Man: Real Life & Tall Tales

Book Description

For the first time ever comes the inside story of Clarence "Big Man" Clemons--his life before, during and beyond the E-Street Band, including unbelievable, never-before-told adventures with Bruce Springsteen, the band, and an incredible cast of other famous characters recounted by himself and his best friend, television writer/ producer Don Reo.

Here are just a few things you'll get from reading it:

* The truth behind the final hours of making Born To Run
* The real story of how the E-Street Band got its name
* What happened when Clarence and Ringo Starr were sitting in a hotel room and Clarence got the call that Bruce was breaking up the band
* How Bruce and Clarence met that dark, stormy night at the Student Prince
* The E-Street band's show at Sing-Sing prison where all of their equipment blows out right as they take the stage
* The secret that Robert De Niro told Clarence and Bruce they had to keep for 25 years

But that's merely a glimpse. This is not your average rock book. It is something creative, something unique, something new. It is the story of E-Street. It is the story of stories. It is the story of the Big Man.

Review quotes

"Big Man is too funny, soulful, outrageous and wise to have been written by two people. I suspect Don Reo is an invented character. A mystical book, an oddly beautiful book, a wonderful book."

--Kinky Friedman

About the Author

Clarence Clemons lives in Florida.

Don Reo is the writer/producer of many award-winning television series. He lives in Santa Barbara California with his wife Judith D. Allison.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bowie: A Biography
Marc Spitz

Book Description

Finally an expansive biography of one of the twentieth century’s greatest music and cultural icons

From noted author and rock ’n’ roll journalist Marc Spitz comes a major David Bowie biography to rival any other. Following Bowie’s life from his start as David Jones, an R & B—loving kid from Bromley, England, to his rise to rock ’n’ roll aristocracy as David Bowie, Bowie recounts his career but also reveals how much his music has influenced other musicians and forever changed the landscape of the modern era. Along the way, Spitz reflects on how growing up with Bowie as his soundtrack and how writing this definitive book on Bowie influenced him in ways he never expected, adding a personal dimension that Bowie fans and those passionate about art and culture will connect with and that no other bio on the artist offers.

Bowie takes an in-depth look at the culture of postwar England in which Bowie grew up, the mod and hippie scenes of swinging London in the sixties, the sex and drug-fueled glitter scene of the early seventies when Bowie’s alter-ego Ziggy Stardust was born, his rise to global stardom in the eighties and his subsequent status as an elder statesman of alternative culture. Spitz puts each incarnation of Bowie into the context of its era, creating a cultural time line that is intriguing both for its historical significance as well as for its delineation of this rock ’n’ roll legend, the first musician to evolve a coherent vision after the death of the sixties dream.

Amid the sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll mayhem, a deeper portrait of the artist emerges. Bowie’s early struggles to go from follower to leader, his tricky relationship with art and commerce and Buddhism and the occult, his complicated family life, his open romantic relationship and, finally, his perceived disavowal of all that made him a touchstone for outcasts are all thoughtfully explored. A fresh evaluation of his recorded work, as well as his film, stage and video performances, is included as well.

Based on a hundred original interviews with those who knew him best and those familiar with his work, including ex-wife Angie Bowie, former Bowie manager Kenneth Pitt, Siouxsie Sioux, Camille Paglia, Dick Cavett, Todd Haynes, Ricky Gervais and Peter Frampton, Bowie gives us not only a portrait of one of the most important artists in the last century, but also an honest examination of a truly revolutionary artist and the unique impact he’s had across generations.

Review quotes

“BOWIE is inspired, edge-worn, loud, quiet, observant, humble, gorgeous, and humane. If the record business loved music as much as Marc Spitz does, there would still be a record business.”

—Dan Kennedy, author of Rock On: An Office Power Ballad

“A breezy, well-lit portrait of the ever-enigmatic rocker . . . Spitz’s encyclopedic knowledge and obvious appreciation for Bowie’s work separate this book from countless cookie-cutter rock stories.”

—Kirkus Reviews

“Spitz concentrates on the complex evolution of Bowie’s music to deliver an evenhanded, critically thorough, while still reverential, life of the Thin White Duke.”

—Publishers Weekly

About the Author

MARC SPITZ’s writing on rock ’n’ roll and popular culture has appeared in Spin, the New York Times, Maxim, Nylon, Blender and Uncut (UK). He is the author of How Soon Is Never?; Too Much, Too Late; and Nobody Likes You: Inside the Turbulent Life, Times, and Music of Green Day and coauthor with Brendan Mullen of We Got the Neutron Bomb: The Untold Story of L.A. Punk.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Finally new this year for Chat Noir Books, we are carring the board game BANDthology



About BANDthology® Music Games

BANDthology Music Games is a Canadian company that develops top quality, highly entertaining board and travel games with a focus on music. Our products include the BANDthology® board game, the BANDthology® Touring Edition travel game and the BANDthology® Ultimate Canadian Edition booster pack.

BANDthology entertainment products include the BANDthology Live! Show for special and corporate events and our newly launched Digital Music Games for Mobile DJ's.

Music is the ultimate connector and BANDthology® is the ultimate game for music lovers of all ages and different music interests.

If you love music you'll LOVE BANDthology.