What may come to mind first when we think about the music of the 1950s in the US are probably the styles of Rock’n’Roll, Doo Wop and Rhythm and Blues. Wierzbicki however, in his study points to the many other musical forms that evolved in that decade, since changes and developments in American politics, society, […]
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Author: Dr. A. Ebert
The Kinks: A Thoroughly English Phenomenon by Cary Fleiner (2017)
Apart from a few stylistic irritations (like some explorations in country rock in the early 1970s), the musical output of the Kinks always was famous for particularly one thing: it was English, very much so. And it enlarged on aspects of everyday life in Britain “…such as work play, buying a house, driving a car, […]
The Mythology of the Superhero by Andrew R. Bahlmann (2016)
Since by now the superhero has become an intrinsic part of the popular culture in Western civilization, a closer look at the reasons why this has happened makes sense. Although his appearance can be traced down exactly to the early and mid-1930s in the US, his mythological origins go way back. Bahlmann encounters the superhero […]
Into the Dark. The Hidden World of Film Noir, 1941-1950 by Mark A. Vieira (2016)
On more than 300 pages the reader of Into the Dark most of all acquires one thing: a very strong visual impression of what film noir looked like. For the high-quality prints selected by Mark Vieira hold a powerful, dark beauty and tell of the fascination with film noir. Here is a good balance of […]
75 Years of DC Comics. The Art of Modern Mythmaking by Paul Levitz (2017)
Any superhero comic book fan will know about the previous three huge books celebrating the Golden Age, the Silver Age and the Bronze Age of DC Comics. Those three volumes, big as they are, were merely a small part of what the current new edition of 75 Years of DC Comics The Art of Modern […]
Alice in Transmedia Wonderland: Curiouser and Curiouser … by Anna Kerchy (2016)
There are many, many texts, societies, journals and studies that deal with nothing but Lewis Carroll‘s Alice stories. This one, however, researches how the original story (or its texts) has transformed into many other forms of media, virtually designing various forms of a “Transmedia Wonderland.” Anna Kérchy follows adaptations of the tales “across a variety […]
Vaudeville Melodies: Popular Musicians and Mass Entertainment in American Culture… by Nicholas Gebha
While in the last part of the 19th century so-called “high art,” opera, theater, classical music and the like were deemed “too good” for the average working audience, these forms of entertainment ended up being controlled by the elite in the US. Controlled namely by those who wanted to solidify their own standing by attending […]
The Jan & Dean Record by Mark A. Moore (2016)
Jan Berry, one half of the mid-sixties pop duo “Jan and Dean” (Torrence) possessed a very precious and rich talent for arranging pop tunes and producing records, a fact that too often has been overlooked, as the band was known for its surf sound and maybe songs about teenage activities firstly. Their competitors in this […]
Bill Clifton: America’s Bluegrass Ambassador to the World by Bill C. Malone (2016)
The careers of most classical bluegrass musicians in the US more or less resemble each other, except for a few details. The typical biography finds them raised essentially in poverty, born into a family of four or five children, equipped only with the most basic schooling and after some amateur nights in between shifts in […]