Thursday, December 27, 2007

Rockin' Through The Holidays


I just returned from a wonderful Christmas holiday with in-laws in Virginia to find a clutch of good reviews for The Rock and Roll Film Encyclopedia on my doorstep like presents from Santa Claus himself. What thoughtful stocking stuffers!

Here's some of the excerpts:

"this is one totally rockin’ A-to-Z reference book way too groovy to gather dust on a bookshelf."
—Neil Pond, American Profile

"Popular film critic Muir's latest volume is a comprehensive encyclopedia (231 entries) devoted to the pairing of rock music and film from 1956 to 2005...a good choice for popular film collections...Recommended." - Choice

"The Rock & Roll Film Encyclopedia is a perfect book, jam-packed full of pictures, reviews and descriptions of every rock'n'roll film ever made, and is a guaranteed parent's Netflix queue filler for up to a year." -azTeenMagazine. (This review lists the book as a holiday gift "for Dad" in the article called "Page Pleasures").

"The list of rock'n'roll movies includes landmarks such as "A Hard Day's Night" and "Woodstock," as well as a shelf of Elvis Presley flicks too forgettable to mention (OK, just one: "Clambake"). John Kenneth Muir's The Rock & Roll Film Encyclopedia (358 pages, Applause, $19.95) seems to cover them all, along with a number of feature films in which the music simply sounds really good. While Muir clearly loves his subject, he's not blind to its excesses. Witness his refreshingly arch entry for "circular logic" -- "Wherein a rocker / musician attempts to say something meaningful and deep, but only succeeds in confusing the audience, and usually himself." - "Wrapped up in words," The Richmond-Times Dispatch.

If you've got some cash on hand or some gift cards to redeem post-holiday, you can still find the Rock and Roll Film Encyclopedia at http://www.applausepub.com or here, at Amazon. But hurry: I checked with my publisher recently and the first edition is almost sold out!

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