Akashic Books,U.S. – serie

The Spirit of Ani is a captivating journey of intimate reflections with Ani DiFranco, a pathbreaking, highly original artist of our time. In this powerful collaborative work, the legendary folk-rock star and feminist icon is in conversation with author, artist, and cultural anthropologist Lauren Coyle Rosen. In these exchanges, Ani is remarkably open about her creativity, spirituality, personal experiences, and evolving consciousness. She is vulnerable and unapologetic, offering an unprecedented window into her fiercely prolific journeys. Expanding on themes from her best-selling memoir, Ani also offers fascinating reflections on contemporary popular culture - ranging from gender and queer politics, to the music industry in the virtual age, to climate change. The book includes previously unpublished photographs and journal entries, song-birth sheets, paintings, and the lyrics for some of her most treasured songs. The coauthors explore how Ani's music and art are profoundly tied to her experiences of the interconnectedness of all consciousness and tuning in to receive creative inspiration. Ani's striking openness produces a book that is both meditative and activating. This is a must-read for anyone intrigued by the dedication, intuition, and vision that drive Ani's lifelong journey of creating art that not only reflects, but also empowers, transforms, and heals.

Rick Froberg was an accomplished artist and musician born in Southern California who spent most of his early creative years in San Diego before moving to New York, and then back to San Diego toward the end of his life. While juggling both of his creative outlets, he established a meaningful, urgent, vital, and powerful platform. Plenty for All: The Art of Rick Froberg represents the many chapters and layers of his visual art practice. All of the different bodies of work he made are examined in detail-presenting the viewer with a well-rounded survey of his life's work, mostly in chronological order. One of the most compelling and fascinating aspects of this volume is the physical progression of Froberg's line work and brushstroke, and his eventual adaptation to digital means. His artwork was often featured on the record covers of his own bands, as well as other groups he met on the road, and much of his early work also appeared on posters, flyers, ads, skateboard graphics, logos, and T-shirt designs, before eventually progressing to illustrations in magazines, books, and newspapers. Froberg's paintings, drawings, etchings, and prints were also shown at art exhibitions throughout his career. Plenty for All is the first look at his visual artwork in book form. It will be of great interest across the globe to his many fans (he played in a range of popular bands, including Pitchfork, Drive like Jehu, Hot Snakes, and Obits). Froberg's work has become very influential, and an inspiration to quite a large group of people in both the art and music worlds. He is sadly missed and mourned, but this volume will no doubt further his creative legacy. It includes short essays by curator Rich Jacobs and musician/ artist Sohrab Habibion.

BRAND-NEW STORIES BY: Al Baylac, Maite Bernard, Tanella Boni, Manu Causse, Gaspard Chauvelot, Pascal Dessaint, Francis Emourgeon, Sarah Grall, Adeline Grand-Clement, Nicolas Rouille, Hafid Saidi, and Benoit Severac. All stories translated from French by David and Nicole Ball. FROM THE INTRODUCTION BY CHARLES-HENRI LAVIELLE: 'If these stories are rooted in cities-Toulouse in this case-even reduced to their specificity, they also speak to our common humanity. 'Nothing human is foreign to me,' French anthropologist Alban Bensa said repeatedly. And that's probably enough of a reason to read this collection, even if you've never set foot here . . . Bensa also advocated for the necessity of always returning to the terrain to observe and listen. Describing before writing is the only way to give a credible account . . . That ability to observe is what guided my choice of authors for this collection. I tried to bring together a variety of people, of various ages, backgrounds, genders, with different life experiences, who all have a strong connection to Toulouse and to writing-in an attempt to attach the atmosphere of the city to your future steps. And if you never come, to make you feel what you would have found here.'

Christina falcone is a thirteen-year-old eighth grader at Precious Blood Junior High. She is growing up pazza according to her Italian immigrant mother, Rita, who curses a country that poisons children with chocolate milk and singing mice on television. The nuns at Precious Blood are giving Christina nightmares and facial tics with their daily descriptions of torture and martyrdom. All she wanted as a fourth grader was to become a saint so she could be God's best friend and go straight to heaven and avoid burning in hell for all eternity. At thirteen, though, Christina's nightmares about eyeless martyrs have become dreams of escaping this place where she can see the entire trajectory of her life looming before her in a never-ending hamster loop that goes from Precious Blood Elementary School to La Sposa Bridal Shoppe and eventually across the street to Carmello's Funeral Home without ever leaving her neighborhood only seven miles from Boston. But Harvard Square beckons and Christina's window to the world cracks open, along with the entire American culture of the 1960s, as she grows from girl to woman. Christina the Astonishing is an endearing look at an irrepressible character that will ring true to all readers regardless of the time or place they happened to take the roller-coaster ride to adulthood.

David Duchovny's seventh published - and first poetic - work covers a range of intimate themes and topics, including love, the loss of love, parenting, Duchovny's own parents (in particular his father, who looms large throughout the work), alienation, and other emotional quandaries. Fans of Duchovny's fiction will recognize the insightful and clever play of words that, in this new form, distill to an emotionally impactful portrayal of what the author holds most dear. Duchovny's approach to poetry is beautifully (and, typically, humorously) encapsulated in his introduction to the work, in which he writes: Poetry is not useful. And that is exactly why we need it. It reminds us of two important things: our ultimate lack of agency (unpopular to say, I know) and our inability to say anything plain, our inability to capture what it means to be human with the imperfect tool of words; we come face-to-face with ourselves, for in the end we will all die and be forgotten, and come away with nothing, nothing in the way of utility anyway, no talking points, no bullet points, no propaganda, no resolutions, no policy, no knowledge. If anything, maybe we remember a few lines, take it to heart, the lustres or 'touchstones' Matthew Arnold called them, the greatest riffs, and they lie there modestly swaying in the seabed of our mind, barnacled and semi-ghostly; something like an adult nursery rhyme, something like a pop song from the collective unconscious, something like wisdom. You see, I wanted to say it plain, but out comes that torrent of modifiers and adjustments, denials, double negatives, shading, stabs at wit, backpedaling, playing at capturing the lightning. Maybe this time. Maybe that's what a poem is - maybe this time, that glorious feeling of maybe this time I'll get it right. If that's the case, that seems a worthy enterprise to me. You see, I got somewhere, but the way back is unclear - that's a good enough definition of poetry for now. No, it's not. Duchovny's efforts at achieving such clarity range in this collection from laser-sharp, single-sentence poems to emotionally sweeping song lyrics. With About Time - perhaps his most personal work to date - Duchovny continues his journey as one of the most prolific creators of his generation.

THE ROAD is an illuminating selection of photographs spanning iconic punk rock guitarist Brian Baker's many years of global touring with Bad Religion, Dag Nasty, and other bands. The images are intelligent and arresting, reflecting time spent both inside and outside the bubble of backstages and tour buses. While touring is easily glamorized, all traveling musicians know that twenty-two hours of every day lack the lights, glitter, and other rock-and-roll trappings. For Baker, some of that time is spent photographing what interests him most in his surroundings. As revealed in The Road, his fascinations range from bizarre highway signage; to unsettling figurines, mannequins, and statuettes; to religious iconography that carries extra weight when one considers the ethos of a band called Bad Religion; to steaming cups of espresso and classic diner meals; to guitars, guitars, and more guitars; and so much more. The Road is designed in collaboration with award-winning photographer and curator Jennifer Sakai. Music lovers across the globe will revel in a Brian Baker's-eye view of the landscapes he inhabits, and gain insight into the sometimes disquieting and always beautiful imagery that seizes his attention and engages his obsessions.

EVERETT AND KINCAID present a fictitious chronicle of the late South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond's desire to pen a history of African Americans-his and his aides' belief being that he has done as much, or more, than any American to shape that history. An epistolary novel, A History of the African-American People (Proposed) follows the letters of loose-cannon congressional office workers, insane interns at a large New York publishing house, and disturbed publishing executives, along with homicidal rival editors, kindly family friends, and an aspiring author named Septic. Strom Thurmond appears charming and open, mad and sure of his place in American history.

BRAND-NEW STORIES BY: Tiphanie Yanique, Richard Georges, Johanna Gibson, Eugenia O'Neal, Celeste Rita Baker, Nisha Khiani Savara, Sophia Aubin, Cadwell Turnbull, Rea Vanterpool, Vincent Omni, Traci O'Dea, Tobias S. Buckell, Gillian Royes, Hadiya Sewer, and Raven Phillips. FROM THE INTRODUCTION BY TIPHANIE YANIQUE & RICHARD GEORGES: 'The writers here represent the greater Virgin Islands, made up of the territories separated, by colonialism, into the British Virgin Islands and the United States Virgin Islands. In sidestepping this political distinction, we honor both the everyday experiences of Virgin Islanders as well as the creative possibilities of fiction. Most Virgin Islanders who are native (in the US parlance) or belongers (in the British parlance) have family ties across these national borders anyway. Many Virgin Islanders are both natives and belongers. Some work in one territory and reside in another. Then there are those who live and work on the water that connects all the islands . . . The VI is made up of about a hundred islands, so we have always been home to both journeyers and newcomers . . . 'Virgin Islanders keep our secrets close-especially the darker ones. We want to ensure we make a good impression-especially if our livelihoods depend on it, which they often do in a tourism economy. For us, Virgin Islands Noir is a major anthology-one of the first to likely reach beyond the islands themselves. But the Virgin Islands is a place literally named for an innocence fearful of exploitation, so it was initially discomforting to many of the writers here that this vision of us would be in noir-a literary genre that highlights crime and bleakness. Over a number of years, the editors charged the storytellers here to write real. It's true that sometimes we are the innocent virgins of St. Ursula's pilgrimage, as Christopher Columbus named us. But one way to claim you exist as a fully complex humanity is to admit that you also have your dangerous sides. Sometimes, maybe, we will be the ones to devour you.'

THIS BOOK IS A COLLECTION OF INTERVIEWS with people who have made records with some of the biggest names in music. Along the way, they might be engineering the recordings, picking the songs, guiding the singers, picking the best takes of songs, balancing egos, fixing the lyrics, booking the studio time, buying lunch, playing instruments, pushing artists further, writing or cowriting the songs, selecting the musicians to use, overseeing the mixes, and many other tasks. Making records is always a combination of many skills and goals, and the producer needs to have what it takes to make the session productive and the music compelling. In this book, interviewees include people who have worked with the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Public Enemy, Taylor Swift, Doja Cat, Bob Dylan, P!nk, U2, Peter Gabriel, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, Wu-Tang Clan, David Bowie, T.Rex, Johnny Cash, the Moody Blues, Aretha Franklin, Amy Winehouse, Paul McCartney, Dolly Parton, Duran Duran, the Replacements, Christina Aguilera, Alicia Keys, Kendrick Lamar, Tom Petty, Thin Lizzy, and Sabrina Carpenter. And that's just the beginning of the credits these producers-Brian Eno, Finneas, Glyn Johns, Hank Shocklee, Jack Antonoff, Joe Boyd, Jon Brion, Lee Scratch Perry, Lynda Perry, Mark Ronson, RZA, Sasami, Steve Lillywhite, Susan Rogers, Sylvia Massy, T Bone Burnett, and many others-collectively hold. All of these interviews come from the pages of Tape Op magazine, founded in 1996 by editor Larry Crane. Over the last thirty years, along with publisher John Baccigaluppi, Tape Op has become the world's deepest archive of conversations about the art and science of recording music, and is still an active, print-based magazine with the highest circulation of any recording magazine in the world.

GROUNDED IN CONTEMPORARY LIFE AND INFUSED WITH TRADITIONS of Africa and the Caribbean, A Good Haunting: Stories spins myth, magic, and realism into heartrending tales of characters seeking love and connection. Death is the primary antagonist in each of these stories, sometimes appearing as death of self, other times as death of a loved one, and often as both. In the title story, 'A Good Haunting,' a widower in the midst of an unorthodox death ritual uses humour to deal with grief and guilt while coming to terms with unsavoury details about his spouse's sudden death. In 'The Way of the Volt,' an eighteenth-century African queen is made immortal, sold into slavery, and left to face a series of impossible choices that force her to struggle with what it means to be human. In 'The Sunset Toll,' members of the last community on earth disappear one by one until there are just three people left, trying to maintain hope even as they question the forces that keep them trapped on earth. The characters wrestle with foes, agonize at crossroads, and face painful truths, all while grappling with grief, love, betrayal, motherhood, and ideas of home. Some triumph, some do not-but they all emerge irrevocably changed by their experiences.

HOPING TO MAKE SENSE OF HIS GRANDFATHER'S UNSPOKEN TRAUMA, Malachi journeys to return a family heirloom to the land of its origin. He finds himself in a seaside town surrounded by rumours of war. He visits the priory, a place of welcome that quickly draws him in-and also a place of duty that refuses to let him go. The priory, its people, and its resident Angel have their own purpose in a far larger history of trauma and conflict. Malachi learns of ancient and modern atrocities and his grandfather's helplessness in the face of both. Past echoes become present concerns as a new battle approaches. Malachi repeatedly tries and fails to leave the escalating danger. This is not his land, nor is it his war. He did not inherit his grandfather's vocation, nor take his grandfather's vows. None of this is his fault, nor even his responsibility. And yet the Angel will not let him go until Their last judgment is complete.

COUNT DOWN TO CHRISTMAS with the Nine Mile Babies on their first snowy adventure! Learn the importance of thinking about others, and don't miss Grandma's surprise as she introduces them to the magical Mama Joy. You'll meet Frostbite, the little reindeer who's always sneezing with his bright blue nose! Together, the Nine Mile Babies set off on an exciting bobsled ride across the globe, from Kenya to St. Lucia-searching for the perfect gifts for each other. Full of laughter, kindness, and discovery, Grandma, What's That? Countdown to Christmas reminds us that the greatest gifts come from the heart. Experience the magic, love, and fun that make Christmas truly special. The picture book concludes with a simple 'book quiz' to help teachers and caregivers encourage engagement and comprehension in new readers.

OUR GREATEST WORK OPENS WITH A PANIC ATTACK, a celebrity cameo, and an antique gun: Joe, an actor, is traveling from Paris to Chicago for his ten-year high school reunion, where he plans to confront his twin brother Sam, a writer. In alternating chapters from each twin's point of view-Joe writing as Joe, Sam as Sam-we learn of the slights that started, then prolonged, their confounding estrangement. There's the fateful high school production of Rent. An illicit affair set to Death Cab for Cutie. A pathetic act of violence in a Florentine study-abroad apartment. All the while, a mysterious (if idiotic) childhood friend is pulling strings from behind the scenes, his motivations troublingly obscure. . . As the reunion draws near, a tragicomic series of events conspire to bring the brothers' artistic and romantic entanglements to the fore. In a Parent Trap-esque twist, Joe and Sam switch places, albeit to less-than-heartwarming results. When our protagonists finally collide at the reunion on the banks of Lake Michigan, they're forced to answer an inevitable question: Can either of us truly live while the other is still alive? Inspired as much by Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan Quartet as '90s sex comedies, the Eichners' novel is at once a moving portrait of brotherhood, an antic satire of the entertainment industry, and a profound exploration of what it means to be an original when your very existence threatens to make you redundant.

WE'VE GOT A BIGGER PROBLEM NOW is the next in the incredible series of Glen E. Friedman's books of photographs that he has released from his archives over the last five years. The subject this time is Dead Kennedys, the infamous punk band that has inspired and politicized generations since they released their first record in 1979. Dead Kennedys's debut was the first punk album to top the music charts after the 1977 punk explosion in the UK, and stateside the name alone threw them into the forefront of controversy. Their outspoken lead singer Jello Biafra's unique voice, political satirizing, and animated performances made them a must-see. From 1980-1982, Friedman photographed the band in Los Angeles, which had the largest punk scene in the country. Dead Kennedys were one of the earliest bands he photographed, while he was still making photos for SkateBoarder magazine. Friedman was using colour film almost exclusively at this point, not yet realizing that there were no publications that covered punk music that printed in colour; the underground periodicals of the time, which were few and far between, were only able to print in black-and-white. We've Got a Bigger Problem Now offers many never-before-seen photographs, along with iconic classics of Dead Kennedys previously published over the years. The book includes text from artist Shepard Fairey, musician Zack de la Rocha, and Jello Biafra himself!