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AUSTIN CITY LIMITS

Name: AUSTIN CITY LIMITS
Author: Tracey E.W. Laird
ISBN: 978-0-19-981241-7

A HISTORY

by Tracey E.W. Laird ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2014

A slim though impressive narrative history that will be a welcome addition to any audiophile’s bookshelf.

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The origin and history of the popular annual music festival, from local TV to nationally recognized brand.

Each September, throngs of music lovers flood Austin, Texas, to participate in Austin City Limits, which is renowned as an event that brings together an amalgam of different musical styles and genres, celebrating contemporary pop and rock acts as well as more traditional performers. In addition to small and local indie acts, ACL also books nationally recognized headliners like the Black Keys, Coldplay and Willie Nelson. The ACL TV show, which debuted in 1974 with a performance by Nelson, was conceived as a stand-alone concert series. Other national networks toyed with similar concert shows to varying success, but it was ACL that proved it had a substantial and lasting audience, outliving all of its early competitors. In the beginning, the show represented the burgeoning music scene in Austin that was described alternately as “hip hillbilly,” “redneck rock” and the more palatable “progressive country.” The scene itself was indebted to the city’s large campus community and represented the somewhat confounding intersection of cowboy and hippie culture. Within only a few seasons, however, Laird (Music/Agnes Scott Coll.; Louisiana Hayride: Radio and Roots Music Along the Red River, 2004, etc.) deftly points out that ACL had already begun evolving outside the confines of genre and would serve as the foundation for the development of the music festival’s reputation as a leading industry force. Tracing the history of ACL alongside the cultural changes that have helped shape Austin’s current scene, Laird presents an informed and lively discussion that legitimizes Austin’s claim as the “live music capital of the world.”

A slim though impressive narrative history that will be a welcome addition to any audiophile’s bookshelf.

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2014

ISBN: 978-0-19-981241-7

Page Count: 256

Publisher: Oxford Univ.

Review Posted Online: July 21, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2014

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.