Unscrambling Scrambled Eggs

I'm shocked that it's been nearly four months since I've shared a few paragraphs from my new book Scrambled Eggs. A lot has happened over the past few months. The author has stepped away and the editor has taken over. Oh Oh... lets hear his side of the process of writing.

Todd Moss The Golden Hour

Todd Moss, who was the chief U.S. diplomat for West Africa (overseeing 16 countries) under President George W. Bush, draws on his deep knowledge and his real-life experience confronting an actual coup in Africa when, in August 2008, he was dispatched by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Mauritania to negotiate with General Aziz just days after he overthrew a democratically-elected president. Now, Moss incorporates his extensive foreign policy experience into his new book, THE GOLDEN HOUR. It’s a political theory where there are vital hundred hours following a political coup d’état when there is still a chance that diplomacy, backchannels or military action might reverse a deadly chain of events. Already garnering remarkable praise, Todd Moss has both the perfect background and the natural storytelling skills to pull readers in from the first page, taking them deep inside the clandestine world of 21st century American national security, and the layers of mostly anonymous Washington staffers who actually operate the levers of national power.

Beverly Delich

Because radio disc jockeys hit the internet for the quick bits about artists. Listeners have never been able to get a full grip on who Michael Buble' is. Until now. From the I Heart Radio Studio I'm Unplugged and Totally Uncut with the woman that brought Michael to fame. Beverly Delich. Michael Bublé just kicked off his Summer 2014. How long a road was it to this status and who believed in him back in 1993 when he was an 18-year old performing at a Local Youth Talent Show in Vancouver? The answer is Beverly Delich - entrepreneur, talent agent extraordinaire, president of Silver Lining Management and author of just released, Come Fly With Me…Michael Bublé’s Rise to Stardom (A Memoir), published by Douglas & McIntyre. Come Fly With Me reveals Delich’s true behind-the-scenes story of the raw beginnings of Bublé’s struggles and the stepping-stones that led to his ascent to the top. “From the very beginning, deep inside his heart and soul, Michael wanted the brass ring and nothing less”, says Delich. “Even facing adversity, his desire for a major label and a major management company were the objectives.”

Author Bill Janovitz Rocks Off

December 3-4, 1969. Keith and Mick stood at the same microphone at Muscle Shoals, lights dimmed, splitting a fifth of bourbon, and simultaneously sang the melodies and harmonies on the three songs that they had recorded over three days: “Brown Sugar,” “You Got to Move,” and “Wild Horses.” That’s your rock ‘n’ roll fantasy right there, pal. A six-piece band working in a tiny converted coffin factory across from an Alabama graveyard, on an eight-track recorder, with no computer editing or Autotune, recorded three songs, representing 30 percent of one of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll records of all time. So tells Bill Janovitz of the making of the inimitable triple-platinum album, Sticky Fingers, which hit number one in the US and the UK in 1971, skyrocketing the band to superstardom. To Bill, all artists reveal themselves through their work and the Rolling Stones are no different: Each song exposes a little more of their soul. In Rocks Off, Janovitz reveals the forces at work behind the band's music by deconstructing their most representative tunes from their incredible fifty years of record making. Written by a Stones fanatic, this is a song-by-song chronicle that maps the landmarks of the band's career while expanding on their recording and personal history. Much like friends pouring over old records or having a barroom argument over the merits of certain songs, the book presents the musical leaps taken by Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, and the rest of the band and discusses how the lyrical content both reflected and influenced popular culture. The song choices are chronological and subjective; many of them are the classic hits; however, the book digs deeper into beloved album tracks and songs with unique stories behind them. Rocks Off is the ultimate listening guide and thinking man's companion that will spur you to dust off those old albums and listen in with a newfound perspective on one of the most famous and acclaimed rock 'n' roll bands of all time. ABOUT BILL JANOVITZ is a singer, guitarist, and songwriter in the band Buffalo Tom. He has also released four solo albums. He wrote Exile on Main Street about the iconic Stones album in the critically acclaimed 33 1/3 series. He has written extensively for the All Music Guide online site and has also contributed to Boston Magazine, the Boston Phoenix, and Post Road magazine. He lives in Massachusetts with his family.

Harvey Burgess Kiss Her Goodbye

If you love Perry Mason smarts combined with Matlock's finesse with a touch of Angela Lansbury. You need to hook up wtih Kiss Her Goodbye. From the I Heart Radio Studio I'm Unplugged and Totally Uncut with Harvey Burgess Remember Magnum P.I.? Spenser? Maybe Humphrey Bogart’s Sam Spade? Those time-honored private eyes that you’d love to hang out with, have a beer, talk about life, hear about their cases? Houston Cash is that kind of guy. An unassuming ex-cop with a laid-back manner, some interesting connections and a penchant for taking on cases that 1) piss off the local cop brass (he has a bone to pick with at least one of them) and 2) always lead to some kind of explosive situation that requires wit, skill and sheer bravery to overcome. In “Kiss Her Goodbye,” Houston takes on a case that starts out as what appears to be the simple stalking of a high-profile banker’s trophy wife but soon seems to have its own mob connection, then it suddenly plunges into a life-or-death kidnapping that takes off across the country, has a mysterious, diabolical villain and ultimately comes to an explosive climax on the cliffs of Malibu, California. You find pretty quickly that nothing is as it seems. Think ‘Body Heat’ with a slightly southern accent. Along the way you get to know Houston and delve into some pretty interesting characters that create twists and turns you’ll never figure out until the last page. And this is just his first case, so buckle up and enjoy the ride. Like Yogi Berra says, “it ain’t over ‘til it’s over,” and the adventures of Houston Cash are only just beginning!

Ben DeHaven

Revenge Is Sweet When It Means Exposing A Former Friend Who Betrayed You And Countless Others Chicago, IL, June 24, 2014 - Whether you're a prolific reader or have never read a book just for pleasure in your entire life, you don't want to miss Confessions of a Self-Help Writer (The Journal of Michael Enzo) by Benjamin W. DeHaven from Lagniappe Publishing. A ghost, a philanthropist, a con man, a devout Catholic, a gigolo, a savior, an heir, a common man, a writer, and an addict are just some of the words used to describe Michael Enzo. "He's defrauded an industry for almost 20 years by exploiting people's insecurities and profiting from them,” says DeHaven, former friend and collaborator. Some sources credit Enzo with ghost-writing more than 108 self-help books on behalf of celebrities, politicians and business leaders. "After failing to make what he considered to be a positive impact on society he began to destroy those closest to him,” DeHaven says, "including me.” More than likely these two friends contributed more to the field of self-help, while profiting from it, than they will ever know. Believing they could only understand people's problems by suffering along with them, they lived on the razor's edge. Their roller coaster friendship was eventually ruptured by their mutual involvement with an adult film star and entered a new chapter in a federal courthouse in Philadelphia last year. Enzo mysteriously disappeared before sentencing and is still wanted. "This journal was salvaged from Enzo's New Orleans estate after hurricane Katrina and was originally hidden by his wife,” says DeHaven. In an effort to clear his conscience, DeHaven has released the personal journal of his longtime friend Michael Enzo. It is DeHaven's hope that people will start helping themselves again after reading it. "To read it is to discover what turns someone from preaching salvation towards seeking its destruction. This is a true story.” A graduate of Columbia College in Chicago, Benjamin DeHaven earned an MBA from Tulane University in New Orleans. Currently residing in Las Vegas, DeHaven began his writing career with Stone United, a Chicago-based film company that works primarily in independent film. He has written for numerous magazines and media outlets and edited screenplays. Additionally, he was the editor-in-chief of the Nola Shopper, a free art newspaper and the second-largest monthly paper in the New Orleans MSA. For more, please visit the website: www://bdehaven.com

Author Luke Nichter Nixon Tapes

Is it a piece of history ever American should keep or is it just another form of invading a past Presidents life? From the I Heart Radio Studio I'm Unplugged and Totally Uncut with author Luke Nichter with Nixon Tapes. The famous -- and infamous -- Nixon White House tapes that reveal for the first time President Richard Nixon uncensored, unfiltered, and in his own words. President Nixon's voice-activated taping system captured every word spoken in the Oval Office, Cabinet Room, and other key locations in the White House, and at Camp David -- 3,700 hours of recordings between 1971 and 1973. Yet less than 5 percent of those conversations have ever been transcribed and published. Now, thanks to professor Luke Nichter's massive effort to digitize and transcribe the tapes, the world can finally read an unprecedented account of one of the most important and controversial presidencies in U.S. history. The Nixon Tapes offers a selection of fascinating scenes from the year Nixon opened relations with China, negotiated the SALT I arms agreement with the Soviet Union, and won a landslide reelection victory. All the while, the growing shadow of Watergate and Nixon's political downfall crept ever closer. The Nixon Tapes provides a never-before-seen glimpse into a flawed president's hubris, paranoia, and political genius.

Songwriter Brian Sullivan Platinum Road

What is songwriting? Some would call it poetry while the masters of modern day success have named it words-man-ship. The art of being alive is having the opportunity to document it. The scale wasn't designed for judgment but rather the weight of how much of our soul we allow ourselves to pour into the dreams that keep us awake late at night. I've done radio for 35 years. Not because I've got the passion to become a disc jockey. I write. Words. Words that need a place to be displayed. You think I'm alone? You're crazy. Julia Cameron says it best, "We were all born to write." Which is the reason why I love bumping into creative hearts connected to vividly energetic minds. It takes a lot of guts to take a calling and turn it into sight, sound and smell. Even if one person touches it... Job well done.

Marc Meyer - Taichi: The Story of a Chinese Master In America

Fleeing the Chinese Cultural Revolution to New York in the 1960's, Uncle Kuo, a T'ai Chi Master rumored to have once been the bodyguard of Madame Chiang Kai Sheck, finds himself in a vortex of adventures in the new novel by Marc Meyer, Taichi: The Story of a Chinese Master In America (Booklocker.com). Once Kuo is reunited with his Asian-American family, he opens a T'ai Chi school and teaches T'ai Chi principles and techniques. Surprised by the social unrest and violence he encounters, Kuo takes his nephews under his wing as students, teaching them life lessons through T'ai Chi principles. "We learn about Kuo and his journey through the eyes of his eldest nephew,” says author Marc Meyer. "He provides us a glimpse into the hidden world of yesteryear's martial arts, practiced only in small enclaves of America's Chinatowns.” Kuo captures the true essence of a Master in the quiet way he approaches life's challenges, as well as the colorful words used to inspire his students. His nephew recollects, "Remember!” my uncle would call out as we watched him lead a class. "Upper body like a butterfly's wings, legs like steel.” Author Marc Meyer's talents are many. He is a professional pianist and works with prominent jazz and pop musicians. In addition, he is a T'ai Chi instructor as well as a writer. Taichi: The Story of a Chinese Master In America is his first book. His experience in T'ai Chi provides a truth in his writing that is symbolic of a memoir.

Film Maker John Waters Returns

Absolutely one of the best in sharing American adventures. Film Maker John Waters returned to the I Heart Radio Studio. Unplugged and Totally Uncut Returning to Unplugged and Totally Uncut is filmmaker, writer, director John Waters who unveils the scenes of the book as they were happening. He really did thumb his way across America! In an age of RV's and motorcycles blasting gas fumes through the atmosphere. The real story isn't on the asphalt unless you're willing to walk a few thousand miles in a pair of shoes that have no clue which city you'll be sleeping in tonight. John Waters is putting his life on the line. Armed with wit, a pencil-thin mustache, and a cardboard sign that reads “I’m Not Psycho,” he hitchhikes across America from Baltimore to San Francisco, braving lonely roads and treacherous drivers. But who should we be more worried about, the delicate film director with genteel manners or the unsuspecting travelers transporting the Pope of Trash? Before he leaves for this bizarre adventure, Waters fantasizes about the best and worst possible scenarios: a friendly drug dealer hands over piles of cash to finance films with no questions asked, a demolition-derby driver makes a filthy sexual request in the middle of a race, a gun-toting drunk terrorizes and holds him hostage, and a Kansas vice squad entraps and throws him in jail. So what really happens when this cult legend sticks out his thumb and faces the open road? His real-life rides include a gentle eighty-one-year-old farmer who is convinced Waters is a hobo, an indie band on tour, and the perverse filmmaker’s unexpected hero: a young, sandy-haired Republican in a Corvette. Laced with subversive humor and warm intelligence, Carsick is an unforgettable vacation with a wickedly funny companion—and a celebration of America’s weird, astonishing, and generous citizenry.

Beatriz Wiliams The Secret Life Of Violet Grant

In THE SECRET LIFE OF VIOLET GRANT, Williams deftly merges history, political intrigue, and dual romances that unfold decades apart. She cleverly alternates between the complex politics of Europe on the brink of the FIRST WORLD WAR and a modern woman’s daring choices in mid-sixties Manhattan, and it all begins with a fifty-year-old errant valise carrying a lifetime of secrets. Living in a ramshackle Greenwich Village walk-up, recent Bryn Mawr graduate Vivian Schuyler has defied her posh Park Avenue family to pursue a Mad Men-world career at Metropolitan magazine. But when a battered old suitcase arrives in the mail, it hands her a provocative mystery as it serendipitously introduces a man who seems to good to be true, a man who might just be the love of her life. With a reporter’s determination to trace the musty valise’s origins, Vivian learns that it once belonged to a great aunt she’s never heard of—Violet Schuyler Grant. Vivian has never heard the name because it has been virtually erased from her family history amid rumors of a crime of passion committed while Violet lived and worked abroad. Vivian hopes to solve the mystery and boost her career with a splashy Metropolitan article on the subject, but she gets more than she bargained for when she is inexorably drawn into her family’s past. Instead Vivian is stunned by the startling world of Violet Grant, specifically Violet’s brilliant career as a physicist, her unhappy marriage to a cruel and philandering mentor, her unwitting affair with a British soldier-turned-spy, and a perilous escape to Switzerland as Germany closed its borders. Branded a murderess and an adulteress, Violet dropped out of sight and was presumed dead in the Great War that ensued, but now the valise contents propel her great-niece on a mission with startling revelations. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: The daughter of a British national, author Beatriz Williams has always been fascinated by stories of England’s Great War and the intrepid soldiers who marched out of its trenches and into oblivion. In fact her affinity for the period’s heroic values sparked a manuscript idea that won awards even before it was published. Williams’s evocative 2012 debut Overseas paid homage to those values in an engrossing and unconventional love story. The following year she published another international bestseller, A Hundred Summers, an unforgettable novel of desire and betrayal set against the real-life 1938 hurricane that devastated the lives and landscape of southern New England. A Stanford University honors graduate with an MBA in finance from Columbia, Beatriz Williams lives in Greenwich, Connecticut, with her husband and children. She is the author of the international bestsellers Overseas and A Hundred Summers

Dance Coach Abby Lee Miller

Guess whose written a book? If your kids are in dance, martial arts, soccer or any other sport. They need this coach!!! From the I Heart Radio Studio I'm Unplugged and Totally Uncut with Abby Lee Miller "This book will be an inspirational, tough love book for people who want to succeed without getting in their own way. It’s for people who want to get to the next level in their own lives – whether you’re a 14-year-old budding ballerina, a serious soccer star, or the parent of one or both! Sure, there’s a lot of common sense involved, but I’ve found that most people are short on all the survival skills that go into building a successful career, from basic etiquette, to projecting confidence from the moment you enter a room, to pushing through fear to make things happen. I’ll help get you on track for the brightest possible future. Because I’m Abby Lee Miller And that’s what I do. I make stars." – ABBY LEE MILLER

Debbie Matenopoulos Its All Greek To Me

Is it Greek to you or just bad eating? From the I Heart Radio Studio I'm Unplugged and Totally Uncut with TV's Debbie Matenopoulos Debbie Matenopoulos grew up in a traditional Greek household, eating delicious, authentic Greek cooking that her family had passed down for generations. When Debbie started her television career in New York on The View, she began eating a standard American diet. Despite carefully limiting how much she ate, she found herself gaining weight and losing energy. Debbie moved on to anchor and special correspondent positions at E! News and TV Guide Channel, then to many other roles that had her on the go all the time. It was only when she returned to her traditional Greek diet that she found herself easily—and healthily—realizing her natural weight and regaining the stamina she had as a teenager. In It’s All Greek to Me: Transform Your Health the Mediterranean Way with My Family’s Century-Old Recipes, Debbie shares 120 of her family’s traditional Greek recipes and adds her own touch to make them even healthier and easier to prepare. After tasting Debbie’s dishes, such as her mouthwatering version of Spanakopita and her take on Fasolatha, you’ll be amazed that these delicious foods are good for you. Debbie even includes tips on how to adapt her recipes to meet any dietary needs, so all readers can enjoy her hearty meals. With a foreword by Dr. Michael Ozner, one of the nation’s leading cardiologists, the recipes in It’s All Greek to Me adhere to the healthiest diet on the planet: the traditional Mediterranean Diet. Modern science is catching up to what Greeks have known for millennia: health comes from eating natural, whole-food ingredients that haven’t been processed or pumped full of hormones, antibiotics, or preservatives. Let It’s All Greek to Me bring your friends and family together to share in the experience of a Greek meal and way of life. Opa!

Scribbles That Could Be Vocal Words

No matter what you do daily. You're probably going to put on a mask. You're hiding your true self from the world. I'm very shy! I hide behind a radio station microphone. I hide behind my writing instrument. I surround myself with people that understand my weird shy personality using them to help open conversations that I can participate with. And what do you do? Write on Twitter? Face Book? Drink?

Movie Director Paul Hagis

From the I Heart Radio studio. The Writer. The Director. The New York edge of a vibrant Hollywood driven movie. I'm Unplugged and Totally Uncut with Paul Hagis... Paul Haggis is the award-winning filmmaker who, in 2006, became the first screenwriter to write two Best Film Oscar winners back-to-back - Million Dollar Baby (2004) directed by Clint Eastwood, and Crash (2004) which he himself directed. For Crash (2004), he won Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay. The film also received an additional four nominations including one for Haggis' direction. Crash (2004) reaped numerous awards during its year of release from associations such as the IFP Spirit Awards, the Screen Actors Guild, and BAFTA. In 2006, Haggis' screenplays included the duo Clint Eastwood productions Flags of Our Fathers (2006) and Letters from Iwo Jima (2006), the latter earning him his third screenplay Oscar nomination. He also helped pen Casino Royale (2006), which garnered considerable acclaim for reinvigorating the James Bond spy franchise. In 2007, Haggis wrote, directed and produced In the Valley of Elah (2007) for Warner Independent Pictures, Samuels Media and Summit Entertainment. The film, which starred Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron, and Susan Sarandon, was a suspense drama of a father's search for his missing son, who is reported AWOL after returning from Iraq. Jones earned a Best Actor Oscar nomination for his performance in the film. Haggis' latest film, The Next Three Days (2010), stars Russell Crowe, Liam Neeson, and Elizabeth Banks. It was produced by Highway 61 and Lionsgate Films. Hwy 61 is the production company Haggis formed with his friend and producing partner Michael Nozik. This is their first feature. It was released in November 2010. Haggis was born in London, Ontario, Canada and moved to California in his early 20s. For over two decades he has written, directed and produced television shows such as thirtysomething (1987) and The Tracey Ullman Show (1987), Due South (1994), The Black Donnellys (2007) and also developed credits as a pup writer on many 'Norman Lear' sitcoms. He also created the acclaimed, if short-lived, CBS series EZ Streets (1996) which the New York Times cited as one of the most influential shows of all time, noting, that without it "there would be no Sopranos." Haggis is equally committed to his private and social concerns. He is the founder of Artists for Peace and Justice. Under this umbrella, many of his friends in the film business have come forward to build schools and medical clinics serving the children of the slums of Haiti.

Beau Phillips I Killed Pink Floyds Pig

If you love Boss Jock Radio and the days of Radio when the Jocks on the air had a seriously out of control connection to the music and its maker... then you will love this book. From the I Heart Radio Studio I'm Unplugged and Totally Uncut with the man that invented Pop Up Videos and Behind the Music. I KILLED PINK FLOYD's PIG is a collection of 35 funny, outrageous stories about Led Zeppelin, the Stones, Van Halen, Clapton, Pink Floyd, McCartney and other Gods of Rock. I take readers on a behind-the-scenes tour and give them an insider's perspective. I was a high-profile radio programmer in rock's heyday - also VH1’s head of marketing when Behind The Music and Pop-Up Videos were popular shows. We learned that rock fans loved to get closer to their favorite bands and feel like an insider. My book delivers just that. Over the years, I was invited inside band's dressing rooms, hotel suites, limos and private planes. As you might imagine, I KILLED PINK FLOYD’s PIG is packed with amazing stories - also a foreword written by Sammy Hagar. • Never-been-heard stories about the biggest bands in rock. • I KILLED PINK FLOYD’s PIG is loaded with stories that will get your listeners talking.

The Veins Of A Living Tree

How many times do you toss away chicken scratch? Words unevenly layered into the weaves of a napkin or sheet of paper. Can you count the number of times you've accused God of not talking to you?

Courtney Robertson

How real is Reality TV? How true to Ben was Courtney's love on ABC's The Bachelor? From the I Heart Radio studio. I'm Unplugged and Totally Uncut with a modern day villain. Two years ago, Courtney Robertson joined Season Sixteen of The Bachelor looking for love. A working model and newly single, Courtney fit the casting call: she was young, beautiful, and a natural in front of the cameras. While she may have been there for all the right reasons, as the season unfolded and sparks began to fly something else was clear: she was not there to make friends. Courtney quickly became one of the biggest villains in Bachelor franchise history. She unapologetically pursued her man, steamrolled her competition, and broke the rules—including partaking in an illicit skinny-dip that sealed her proposal. Now, after a very public breakup with her Bachelor, Ben Flajnik, Courtney opens up and tells her own story—from her first loves to her first moments in the infamous Malibu mansion—in I DIDN’T COME HERE TO MAKE FRIENDS: CONFESSIONS OF A REALITY SHOW VILLAIN (It Books; June 24, 2014; Hardcover; $24.99), by Courtney Robertson with Deb Baer. Opening up about life before, during, and after the Bachelor, including Ben’s romantic proposal to her on a Swiss mountain top and the tabloid frenzy that continued after the cameras stopped rolling, Robertson shares her story of love and heartbreak, and the reality of appearing on reality TV. With insights including: • Why Courtney never felt threatened by the other contestants when it came to “winning” Ben, and what it was really like to share a house and travel around the world with all of them • As a high school senior, the call from Abercrombie & Fitch that changed her life • How growing up in a household where she was taught to never trust men turned Courtney into a serial rebounder with a taste for bad boys • Courtney’s actual rejected greetings for Ben on their first night, as captured in her journal • The five questions Courtney would recommend any future contestants ask the Bachelor, and the most important one that she herself failed to ask • How, on the show, Courtney lived her very own version of the Bridesmaids’ bathroom blow out scene shortly before the group baseball date in Vieques, Puerto Rico • How Courtney was able to keep her engagement to Ben under wraps before the season finale aired • The real reason Courtney led the paparazzi to a bridal shop for an impromptu dress fitting after the show aired • What the real-life relationship between Courtney and Ben looked like after the cameras went away, and why it finally ended Filled with all the juicy details Courtney fans and foes alike want to know—including which actor begged her not to do the show in the first place, and all the details of her steamy post-relationship romp with another member of Bachelor nation—I DIDN’T COME HERE TO MAKE FRIENDS is part hilarious romp through Bachelor-land, and part no-holds-barred look at what happens when a very real relationship implodes as the world watches. I DIDN’T COME HERE TO MAKE FRIENDS features engaging “Keeping It Real” sidebars, complete with stories, tips, tricks, and advice your favorite Bachelor alumni, including advice from Kalon McMahon on how to “embrace your inner villain,” kissing tips from Arie Luyendyk Jr., Ashlee Frazier with tips for future contestants, and Chris Bukowski on his craziest fan encounter post-show. And, with a juicy epilogue that has the latest on Courtney, her cast mates and more, I DIDN’T COME HERE TO MAKE FRIENDS is a must-read for every member of Bachelor nation. ABOUT COURTNEY ROBERTSON A model and actress, Courtney Robertson has appeared in numerous print, runway, and television campaigns and in the pages of Vogue, Self, InStyle, and Fitness magazines. She lives in Los Angeles, California. Twitter: @bugrobertson | Instagram: @bugrobertson

Gareth Murphy Cowboys and Indies

The only way Radio DJ's could connect with listeners was by spending a ton of money on books about the musicians. And yet not one author sits in the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame for educating the Radio industry. From the I Heart Radio Studio I'm Unplugged and Totally Uncut with a man that lived the industry from the first guitar riff to the jock spinning it. Gareth Murphy... Cowboys and Indies is nothing less than the first definitive history of the recording industry on both sides of the Atlantic. From the invention of the earliest known sound-recording device in 1850s Paris to the CD crash and digital boom today, author and industry insider Gareth Murphy takes readers on an immensely entertaining and encyclopedic ride through the many cataclysmic musical, cultural, and technological changes that shaped a century and a half of the industry. This invaluable narrative focuses especially on the game changers---the label founders, talent scouts, and legendary A&R men. Murphy highlights: • Otto Heinemann’s pioneer label Okeh, which spread blues and jazz “race” records across America • How one man, Henry Speir, discovered nearly all the Delta blues legends (Robert Johnson, Charlie Patton, Son House, Tommy Johnson) • Sam Phillips’s seminal work with Chess and Sun Records • John Hammond’s discoveries (Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Bruce Springsteen) • The behind-the-scenes players of the British Invasion • Clive Davis, Ahmet Ertegun, David Geffen, and the corporate music machine • The Machiavellian moves of punk impresario Malcolm McLaren (Sex Pistols) • Chris Blackwell’s triumphs for Island Records (Bob Marley, U2) • Sylvia Robinson and Tom Silverman, the hip-hop explorers behind the Sugarhill Gang, Grandmaster Flash, and Afrika Bambaataa …and much, much more. Murphy also offers a provocative look at the future through the ruminations of such vanguard figures as Martin Mills (4AD, XL Recordings, Matador, Rough Trade) and genre-busting producer Rick Rubin (Run-D.M.C., Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica, Johnny Cash). Drawing from memoirs, archives, and more than one hundred exclusive interviews with the legends of the record industry, including the founders and CEOs of Atlantic, Chrysalis, Virgin, A&M, Sub Pop, and Sire, this book reveals the secret history behind the hit-making craft. Remarkable in scope and impressive in depth, Cowboys and Indies chronicles the pioneers who set the stylus on the most important labels and musical discoveries in history. GARETH MURPHY BIO (IN HIS OWN WODS) I was born in London in 1974, but before I could remember anything, we moved back to Dublin where my father became a promoter. In 1977, he organised Ireland's first outdoor stadium concert featuring Thin Lizzy and the Boomtown Rats. He ran gigs for Tom Waits, the Ramones, Ian Dury, Dr Feelgood, The Specials, the Clash and many others. He also managed arguably the most important ever traditional Irish group, the Bothy Band. Meanwhile, my mother had a vintage clothing stall at the Dandelion Market (where U2 played their very first gigs.) We lived down a dark, ivy-covered lane in a suburb called Shankill, which back then, was still mostly countryside. As a result, my sister and I didn't have many friends until we were teenagers. Our big old house was beside a crumbling mill and converted barn where my grandparents lived. We climbed trees in the surrounding fields, rode bikes through the long grass. We saw plenty of concerts, famous musicians, and ran around our mum's market. The little school we attended, St Ursuline's, was run by nuns. I always remember being into music. At the age of four, my first big discoveries were Electric Light Orchestra, War of the Worlds and other big-sound records. From the New Wave acts my dad was promoting, I got into 80s pop, then my first records, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, U2. Watching Live Aid in the summer of 1985, Dad got an idea for a stage and roof system that would enable faster tour scheduling. He presented his model to U2 who had just started recording what would become the Joshua Tree. They invested in a company which built three of these rigs. Within a year, we were standing in stadiums around Europe looking up at a real-life version of dad's matchstick model - now one thousand times bigger - as Bono sang "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" to 60,000 people. That windfall bought us an art deco house in the beautiful seaside village of Dalkey. Meanwhile on tour, my father's relations with the U2 manager soured. A long legal battle was settled on the steps of the Dublin High Court in 1990. Being a teenager isn't easy at the best of times, and those years were tense at home. It wasn't all bad, however. I was writing songs, studying the albums of Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, the Velvet Underground, the Doors. Friends, girlfriends, hanging out in record stores and cafés on Saturday afternoons, even busking on Grafton street... Dublin was a great place to grow up. I rarely watched TV and spent most of my evenings looking out to sea from our big bay window, playing guitar, listening to music or reading poetry: Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Garcia Lorca. Aged 15 and 16, I started writing experimental prose for my bemused English teacher. Aged 20, I graduated from University College Dublin with a degree in History and Philosophy. The night we all got our exam results, I had somehow drunk myself sober. On that windy walk home, I vowed to travel the world and yes, live for art! I travelled all over India twice: my second trip was five months long. Through a series of accidents, I ended up in the French city of Lyon, where I joined an indie fashion brand, MU:E, part of an emerging niche of young, dance-culture designers. Having grown up around my mother's vintage clothes store, I found I could design and create business. These were colorful times: watching the streets of Europe, zany trade fairs. I got an inside view of the electronic music scene bursting out of London, Paris, Vienna, Copenhagen, Berlin. In 2001, I moved to Paris to work for the Buddha Bar, a nightclub, record company, and world famous compilation series. Negotiating contracts and track hunting, I learned the mechanics of the music business, eventually learning how to produce. Here, I began exploring the similarities between traditional Irish and Moroccan music - how I met my wife. Once again, music brought had me to my next destination; fatherhood, quickly followed by my first book, Cowboys & Indies.

Ari Goldman

It's never too late and you are never too old to play music. From the I Heart Radio studio I'm Unplugged and Totally Uncut with a NY Times reporter that lives by one rule: If you think you can play. Then you can. A few years ago, Ari Goldman felt the same nostalgia for the cello and chronicled his return to the instrument in an article for the New York Times. Ari is a former New York Times reporter and the author of The Search for God at Harvard, which was a New York Times Notable Book. In his new book, The Late Starters Orchestra (June 10, 2014), Ari picks up the cello again after 25 years and we follow him as he prepares for his musical coming out: his next birthday party. First he secures a seat in his 11-year old son’s youth orchestra and sits in on his private Suzuki lessons, and then he’s ready for the big time: the Late Starters Orchestra of New York City, whose motto is If you think you can play, you can. Delighting us from the very first line (“Standing in a crowded elevator in midtown Manhattan with a cello strapped to your back is no way to win a popularity contest.”), readers will enjoy this humorous and heartwarming story about finding passion and purpose later in the life, and about the power of music. The Late Starters Orchestra has received nice early author endorsements, including Letty Cottin Pogrebin, who calls it “a joy to read—moving, funny, and deeply true in its depiction of those aspirations we put aside until, one day, we realize it’s now or never . . . An inspiration for dreamers everywhere.” And it will have whimsical black-and-white illustrations by Eric Hanson throughout. Ari will discuss: • Never pack away your instrument. leave it out so you can get your hands on it when the spirit moves you. Play every day. • It’s impossible to keep up with kids. Instead, find like-minded adults who are just a tad better than you are to play with. • Consider every note a song. • Never perform. Only “rehearse,” sometimes in public. • Remember that practice makes the impossible possible. • Learn a favorite song and play it to death. That way, if someone hands you an instrument, you can play at least a few bars of something. • Go to concerts. Listen to your devices. surround yourself with the music you aspire to play. • Don’t spend a lot of money on your instrument. spend it on a teacher with an abundance of patience and a sense of humor. • Record yourself playing. don’t listen to it, even once, for at least a year. revel in how far you’ve come when you finally do listen to it. • When you play Mozart or Chopin or the Beatles or Elton John, remember that they played this too. You are connected. • Have fun! You will never be a soloist at Carnegie Hall. Accept that and play because you love it! About the author: Former New York Times reporter Ari L. Goldman is the author of three previous books, including the bestseller The Search for God at Harvard. He teaches at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Col Oliver North Counterfeit Lies

Oliver L. North serves as host of the FOX News Channel (FNC) documentary series "War Stories with Oliver North." North is a combat-decorated Marine, author, founder of a small business, inventor who holds three U.S. patents, syndicated columnist and former candidate for the United States Senate. Assigned to the National Security Council staff in the Reagan Administration, North was involved in planning the rescue of 804 medical students on the island of Grenada and played a major role in the daring capture of the hijackers of the cruise ship Achille Lauro. After helping plan the U.S. raid on Muammar Qaddafi's terrorist bases in Libya, North was targeted for assassination by Abu Nidal, the world's deadliest assassin. North also serves as the honorary chairman of Freedom Alliance, the conservative public policy organization he founded in 1990. Freedom Alliance provides tuition assistance to dependents of troops killed or permanently disabled in the line of duty. Freedom Alliance also provides support to members of the armed forces who have been wounded in the line of duty, are currently serving on the front lines, and their families. The organization is dedicated to the maintenance of a strong national defense, the protection of the rights and freedoms of individual citizens, and the adoption of policies that promote free enterprise. North graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, and served 22 years as a Marine. His awards for service in combat include the Silver Star, the Bronze Star for valor, and two Purple Hearts for wounds in combat. ABOUT OLIVER NORTH'S NEW BOOK COUNTERFEIT LIES The explosive new thriller from Oliver North, who stormed bestseller lists nationwide with his disarmingly authentic military novel Heroes Proved, is a gripping, non-stop tale that could only be written by someone who has "been there, done that." Veteran undercover FBI agent Jake Kruse is investigating a smuggling ring in southern California when his assignment is cut short. A prominent criminal defense attorney wants to hire Jake on another kind of mission: to kill the daughter of a local crime boss. What began as a "contract killing" soon captures the attention of the CIA, the U.S. Secret Service, and high-level officials in Washington. The undercover agent is plunged into a deadly underworld of North Korean espionage, Hezbollah terror and the sinister deception Iran uses to acquire nuclear weapons. Caught in a web of international intrigue that goes to the top of the U.S. government, Kruse is forced to confront the ultimate moral quandary: doing what’s right when everything seems wrong. His New York Times bestseller Heroes Proved was praised by Sean Hannity as "a heart-thumping ‘must-read’ for every American" and as "inspiring truth in the form of a novel" by U.S. Army Lieutenant General William "Jerry" Boykin, a founding member of Delta Force. Now, national security expert and decorated war hero Oliver North and former U.S. Marine and FBI undercover agent Bob Hamer bring their real-life experience to this pulse-pounding tale of international intrigue and down-to-the-wire suspense. They say it’s fiction. But it’s all too real.

Antsy McClain

Inside the I Heart Radio studio I'm Unplugged and Totally Uncut with one of this nations funniest! Antsy McClain performing June 23, 2014 McGlohon Theatre - Charlotte, NC Antsy McClain is about to embark on a 20-date tour that will launch June 12th in St. Louis, Missouri as the opening act for headliner Australian guitarist Tommy Emmanuel. This tour will include stops at landmark cities like New York, Indianapolis, Atlanta, and Charlotte, where Antsy McClain will perform unaccompanied for audiences across the country. Antsy McClain is an American humorist singer from Kentucky whose stories are told and performed through country music with jazz, swing and rock influences that have given Antsy his signature sound. Antsy, who has performed with his band The Trailer Park Troubadours for two decades, breaks away as a solo act during this tour. Given the name Antsy as a child because of his hyper activity (otherwise known as Ronnie Joe McClain), Antsy is a true artist in more ways than one. Art became a fascination to Antsy at the age of four, where he copied cartoon characters out of newspapers. As he grew older, his artistic direction took a mature turn when Antsy McClain graduated from simple drawings to pastel paintings and later become an award-winning illustrator for magazines and books. As a do-it-yourself guy, Antsy took control of his artistic ability and began playing the guitar where he would compose his own original music. In 1999, Antsy McClain became one of the first artists to independently release his own music after recording, mixing and producing the material himself. Antsy applied his artistic ability in his music by designing his own merchandising from CD covers to tour shirts. Antsy McClain has received critical acclaim from artists like Guy Clark, Lindsay Buckingham and even Willie Nelson, and that’s only just to name a few. Antsy's fans call themselves “Flamingoheads,” a term taken from the iconic pink birds that adorn many lawns in mobile home communities. Antsy McClain frequents the Flamingohead Family Facebook page where he engages with his fans about life, music and upcoming projects. Antsy McClain has released 12 studio albums with his band The Trailer Park Troubadours which had standouts like “Living the Dream,” the latest, and “New Good Old Days” a fan favorite. In these albums, Antsy McClain and the Troubadours have poked fun at pop culture with songs like “I Was Just Flipped Off by a Silver Haired Old Lady,” and frustration with modern day technology, as in “Upgrade,” all produced by Antsy McClain himself. In 2006 Antsy released the Christmas album “Merry Christmas From the Trailer Park” which featured the popular Holiday track “Christmas at the Trailer Park.” Songs by Antsy McClain feature a balance of humor and personal insight into the human condition. Turning a critical, yet winking eye to the foibles of modern society, Antsy gives audiences an escape from their own daily lives where they can enjoy upbeat music and positive energy by an artist who never takes himself – or life – too seriously. Antsy McClain Tour Dates: June 12, 2014 Sheldon Concert Hall - St. Louis, MO June 14, 2014 Egyptian Room - Indianapolis, IN June 16, 2014 B.B. King Blues Club - New York, NY June 17, 2014 Ram’s Head - Annapolis, MD June 19, 2014 B.B. King Blues Club - New York, NY June 20, 2014 B.B. King Blues Club - New York, NY June 21, 2014 Carpenter Theatre - Richmond, VA June 23, 2014 McGlohon Theatre - Charlotte, NC June 24, 2014 Newberry Opera House - Newberry, SC June 25, 2014 Newberry Opera House - Newberry, SC June 26, 2014 Variety Playhouse - Atlanta, GA June 27, 2014 Variety Playhouse - Atlanta, GA July 17, 2014 Orpheum Theater - Wichita, KS July 18, 2014 Holland Performing Arts Center - Omaha, NE July 19, 2014 Orpheum Theatre - Sioux Falls, SD July 21, 2014 Rusmore Plaza - Civic Center Rapid City, SD July 23, 2014 Wilma Theatre - Missoula, MT July 24, 2014 Bing Crosby Theater - Spokane, WA July 25, 2014 Tower Theater - Bend, OR July 26, 2014 Britt Pavilion - Jacksonville, OR http://www.antsy.net https://www.facebook.com/thetroubs https://twitter.com/AntsyMcClain https://soundcloud.com/thetroubs https://www.youtube.com/user/antsymcclain

I Don't Want To Write Anymore God

I call writing my sickness. I have accused my passion to write my addiction. I don't write because I want to. I write because the power is too overbearing and I have to release it through a writing instrument. But the judgment. Oh the harsh actions of others that fail to understand what has been written. The slaps. The punching. The verbal beatings from those that don't want to see the positive in the flow that comes from God through me and into a readers next decision becomes too tough to handle. So I asked God to take me off his list of writers.

Andrew Armacost Poor Mans Suicide

Norfolk, VA, May 13, 2014 – Being a prison guard is both stressful and dangerous, so it's not surprising that the suicide rate is 39% higher than any other occupation. The Poor Man's Guide to Suicide (Moonshine Cove Press), by Andrew H. Armacost, is a moving yet comical tale of an embittered prison guard, working at a correctional facility on the outskirts of Indianapolis, who decides the only meaningful thing left for him to do in life is die. Most prison guards work hard just to survive each day and Wesley Weimer is no exception. As Armacost's lead character peels back the layers of his life, he doesn't like what he sees. A twice-divorced father of two, he realizes his life has grown lifeless. With child support payments sucking him dry, and most of his free time spent either taking care of his crippled mother or struggling through painful visits with his children, Wesley can't help but wonder if there's any point in carrying on. With Christmas right around the corner, Wesley persuades a prisoner to strangle him for ten thousand dollars – this way, at least his kids can cash in on the life insurance. There's just one problem…he doesn't have ten thousand dollars! This noir 'why-done-it' offers a humanizing look at both inmates and guards as it propels readers into the guts of a bleak yet fascinating subculture - all while managing to throw a spiritual life-ring to a drowning demographic: non-custodial fathers. Passionate and persuasive, emotional and humorous, Armacost's latest book (his third published novel to date) is compelling storytelling at its best and makes for a powerful read, tough to put down. Andrew Armacost studied literature and writing in Scotland at the University of Edinburgh after serving in the U.S. Navy, during which time he worked at sea and overseas, with long-term assignments to both Afghanistan and Singapore. In addition, Mr. Armacost has lived in Illinois, Ohio, Georgia, Florida, Japan and California, and was formerly a Corrections Officer for the State of Indiana. The author now calls Virginia Beach home where he lives with his wife and children. http://www.amazon.com/Poor-Mans-Guide-Suicide/dp/1937327442 The Poor Man's Guide to Suicide Publisher: Moonshine Cove Press Paperback $12.95 Release Date: May 10 2014 ISBN #: 9781937327446

J.B. Bernstein Million Dollar Arm

I just had the million dollar conversation. Unplugged and Totally Uncut on I Heart Radio and WRFX.com. He lived the sport through a different set of eyes. A trip to India changed the game forever. India is a country with more than one billion people, a fanatical national cricket obsession, and exactly zero talent scouts. There, superstar sports agent J. B. Bernstein knew that he could find the Yao Ming of baseball— someone with a strong arm and enough raw talent to pitch in the major leagues. Almost no one in India is familiar with the game, but Bernstein had heard enough coaches swear that if you gave them a guy who throws a hundred miles an hour, they could teach him how to pitch. So in 2007, Bernstein flew to Mumbai with a radar gun and a plan to find his diamond in the rough. His idea was The Million Dollar Arm, a reality television competition with a huge cash prize and a chance to become the first native of India to sign a contract with an American major-league team. MILLION DOLLAR ARM by J.B. Bernstein (Gallery Books; on-sale April 1st; $16.00; Trade Paperback) is a humorous and inspiring story about three guys transformed: Bernstein, the consummate bachelor and shrewd businessman, and Dinesh and Rinku, the two young men from small farming villages whom he brought home to California. MILLION DOLLAR ARM is a timeless reflection on baseball and the American dream, as well as a tale of victory over incredible odds. But, above all, it’s about the limitless possibilities inside every one of us. MILLION DOLLAR ARM is now a major motion picture by Walt Disney Pictures starring Jon Hamm, Alan Arkin and Lake Bell.

Three Of The One Thousand Twenty One Thoughts

I didn't set out to write a book that still sits on the new age religion bookshelves. I was embarrassed when the publisher labeled my book religious. How dare you call me a Preacher! And yet in the way that I write. Its anything but heavenly or spiritual words of advise. Ask those that have been to the pages. They'll tell you what "They" pulled from the lyrics of my soul. And what they yanked on. Broke free from the origin of roots was their interpretation. I get in more trouble writing words of positive value than I did breaking the ten commandments. It's just not fair! So every once in a while I step back a few years and share the true story behind the emotion given to me by God. So that others may hopefully learn from it during the day you least expect.

Ted Galdi Elixir

Los Angeles, CA, May 27, 2014 – Ted Galdi has accomplished more in his 29 years than most do in a lifetime. At the age of 15 he wrote a screenplay which caught the interest of Hollywood. After graduating from Duke he started his own software company, and now is set to release his first novel, a cerebral thriller called Elixir, in August. Elixir’s plot brings a sense of familiarity to the recent NSA-whistleblower Edward Snowden citing that surveillance technology – intended for the purpose of monitoring national security threats – is being used on US citizens. Elixir reveals the innermost workings of the NSA and has readers on the edge of their seats from start to finish. “I think people will find the tie-in to the recent controversy around Edward Snowden and leaked NSA activities interesting,” says Galdi. “Since it happened, no thriller has really tried to pull the cover off the type of dealings that go on there, at least not on this level.” Elixir revolves around the life of 14-year-old Sean Malone. Sean is a genius in his own right. His IQ surpasses the 200 mark. He’s been offered a full-ride scholarship to a top university – not that he needs it, he’s also just won more than a million dollars from his long-term winning streak on Jeopardy! Sean captures the attention of the NSA when he writes an algorithm that solves the Traveling Salesman Problem – the biggest enigma in computer science. Soon, the NSA is manipulating him so they can control the code to track down a drug lord. Their path is tarnished with the deaths of innocent people and Sean can’t help but feel responsible. It’s soon evident that Sean needs protection, which he finds in Rome. Armed with a new life and a new name, he falls in love and feels that his life is finally somewhat normal. However, this feeling is short-lived when he learns that the love of his life is critically ill and it’s up to him to use his genius to find a cure. He’s forced to go on an unforgettable journey against a money-hungry pharmaceutical company and the demons of his past to save her before it’s too late. “Elixir is different than a typical thriller because it doesn’t just focus on suspense,” says Galdi. “My favorite part of writing it was coming up with characters that readers would care about. The thrills are that much better if the characters mean something to you.” About the Author Ted Galdi graduated from Duke University and co-founded StadiumRoar.com, a software company that streamlines event-management logistical data for sports teams. Now 29 years old, Galdi enters the literary world with a cerebral thriller, Elixir. Like the protagonist in Elixir, Galdi did amazing things at an early age. Galdi is the recipient of several academic awards and is also a member of the International High IQ Society and the One-in-a-Thousand Society. At the age of 15, he wrote his first screenplay. For more information, including the exciting book trailer, please visit www.elixirthebook.com. ### Elixir By Ted Galdi ISBN-13: 978-0989850735 Release Date: August 2014

Ira Judelson The Fixer

From New York’s foremost bail bondsman with “over $30 million on the street” comes the story of a modern-day “fixer” who walks a fine line between hustler and humanitarian with clients ranging from the rich and famous to the mafia and gangs of New York. With from-the-gut prose, Ira Judelson sheds light on the highs and lows of the bondsman life. But Judelson is no process server. He sees himself as a sort of modern day “macher”—using his juice as a bail bondsman to help friends old and new out of jams wherever he can. He is also a keenly observant and wildly charismatic insider who’s seen it all. Prepare to be shocked, but also informed in The Fixer as Judelson reveals the unwritten laws of the courtroom and even prison—not to mention the shameless activities of his unbelievable list of clients, including former New York Giants Plaxico Burress and Lawrence Taylor; rappers Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Ja Rule, Lil’ Wayne, and DMX; comedian Katt Williams; notorious Manhattan madam Kristin Davis; former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn and actress Lindsay Lohan. You’ll see why the New York Times describes Judelson as “an inevitable entry in the BlackBerrys of New York defense lawyers, an ATM for desperate rappers, actors, athletes, executives, and madams with pocketbooks much fatter than his.” The Fixer is a rollicking narrative that follows Judelson as he learns the ins and outs of the down-and-dirty world of bonds: which judge might let you slide, which ones have zero tolerance, which lawyers do pro bono for the right case, and the cops and DAs who believe in second chances. Judelson illuminates a world almost entirely opaque to the general public, but also entertains and informs with the inside scoop on the underbelly of the justice system. ADVANCED PRAISE FOR THE FIXER Judelson “pulls back the curtain to reveal the backroom machinations, last-minute deals, and occasional manhunts that go along with the job in this page-turner…a last glimpse at one of the country’s most unique professions.”—Publishers Weekly “Ira Judelson has gotten more guys out of jail than I have. This riveting account of a bail bondsman and his interaction with the criminal justice system is a must read. I thought I knew a lot about criminal law but I learned so much more from this bottom-up look at how the system actually operates.” —Alan Dershowitz, author of Taking the Stand: My Life in the Law “If you ever get in trouble, I mean real trouble, remember this guy, Ira Judelson. If you don’t believe me, read this book! It’s a must read.” —Regis Philbin ABOUT IRA JUDELSON Ira Judelson is one of New York’s most prominent bail bondsmen. For nearly twenty years, he has posted bail for some of the city’s most notorious defendant-celebrities, as well as thousands of common criminals. He is well known to those in the justice system for his no-nonsense demeanor, his charismatic charm, and his ability to “read” a prospective client. He lives in Westchester, New York with his wife and three children.

Waves Trickles and Rob Schneider

I host a spiritual station on I Heart Radio. While reading scripts and layouts. In walks a visitor... Often accused of being extremely disconnected from the modern world of business success. I still stand straight up knowing bosses and business owners aren't leaders. They rob from the hardest working generation in history. They steal not just the money you deserve but your energy and everything that could and will make you beyond brilliant. Then...in walks actor comedian Rob Schneider. You gotta love radio and how being in the moment turns a pond into a cool place for bugs to hang out.

John Waters Carsick

Filmmaker, director and writer John Waters was born on April 22, 1946, in Baltimore, Maryland. Sometimes called the "King of Bad Taste" or the "Pope of Trash," Waters has built a reputation for shocking his audiences. Many of his films satirize suburban America as well as many social conventions and attitudes. He started out making short experimental films in the 1960s, often using friends as actors and holding small showings in offbeat locales. Roman Candle (1966), one of his early works, marked the first time Waters worked with Divine, an oversized, over-the-top transvestite. Turning to feature films, Waters made Mondo Trasho in 1969. Divine starred as a hit-and-run driver who looks after her dead victim. Waters went to create what is considered by many to be one of the grossest movies of all time. Pink Flamingos (1972) features Divine as Babs Johnson. Johnson is a mother who leads her family in a battle against the Marble family to determine which group is the filthiest. One legendarily disgusting scene from the film has Divine eating dog excrement. The film became a cult classic and a popular choice for many midnight showings. Moving toward the mainstream a bit, Waters made Polyester (1981) with Divine and Tab Hunter, a movie star from the 1950s. As with many Waters films, the storyline is an absurd take on suburbia, exaggerating the usual martial squabbles and family problems. Starring as a discontented housewife, Divine must contend with an unfaithful pornographer husband, a sexually promiscuous daughter and a glue-sniffing son who likes to stomp on people's feet. Still filled with unusual and offbeat characters, Water's 1988 film Hairspray was a much tamer effort for the legendary filmmaker. Instead of grossing out audiences, the movie centered on the struggle of Tracy Turnblad, an overweight teen, to join the cast of television dance show. Set in the early 1960s in Water's hometown of Baltimore, the film's heroine, played by Ricki Lake, also speaks out about a pressing issue of that era - integration. This story of an underdog overcoming obstacles struck a chord with many audience members and has become Waters' most popular and best-known work. The film was later turned into a successful Broadway musical and a film version of the musical was released in 2007. His next film, Cry-Baby (1990), took audiences back to the 1950s. Featuring Johnny Depp as the title character, a teen delinquent from the wrong side of the tracks, the movie is a send-up of the teenage exploitation films of the period. Cry-Baby falls for a "good" girl from a respectable home and there's a touch of Romeo and Juliet as the two struggle to be together. Waters went contemporary with his next work, Serial Mom (1994), which starred Kathleen Turner as a suburban mom gone homicidal. As with many of his films, Waters made some interesting casting choices. The legendary kidnapped heiress Patty Hearst appears as a member of the jury in Serial Mom and went on to handle roles in Pecker (1998) and Cecil B. Demented (2000). One of Waters' most recent directorial efforts, 2004's A Dirty Shame, starred Tracy Ullman as a mother who becomes oversexed after suffering a head injury. Although there is more talk than action in the film, it still earned an NC-17 rating for its sexual content. For his next project, Waters stepped in front of the camera for 2006's This Filthy World, in which he shares many stories from his long career. That same year, he hosted a film series on the Here! Channel, a pay-for-view cable network, called John Waters Presents Movies That Will Corrupt You. Known to take on occasional acting gigs, Waters made a guest appearance on the sitcom My Name Is Earl in early 2007. Besides his film and television work, Waters has authored several books, including Shock Value: A Tasteful Book about Bad Taste (1981) and Crackpot: The Obsessions of John Waters (1983). He also had a traveling exhibit of his photography called Change of Life, which featured still images from some of his early films. ABOUT JOHN WATERS' NEW BOOK CARSICK John Waters is putting his life on the line. Armed with wit, a pencil-thin mustache, and a cardboard sign that reads “I’m Not Psycho,” he hitchhikes across America from Baltimore to San Francisco, braving lonely roads and treacherous drivers. But who should we be more worried about, the delicate film director with genteel manners or the unsuspecting travelers transporting the Pope of Trash? Before he leaves for this bizarre adventure, Waters fantasizes about the best and worst possible scenarios: a friendly drug dealer hands over piles of cash to finance films with no questions asked, a demolition-derby driver makes a filthy sexual request in the middle of a race, a gun-toting drunk terrorizes and holds him hostage, and a Kansas vice squad entraps and throws him in jail. So what really happens when this cult legend sticks out his thumb and faces the open road? His real-life rides include a gentle eighty-one-year-old farmer who is convinced Waters is a hobo, an indie band on tour, and the perverse filmmaker’s unexpected hero: a young, sandy-haired Republican in a Corvette. Laced with subversive humor and warm intelligence, Carsick is an unforgettable vacation with a wickedly funny companion—and a celebration of America’s weird, astonishing, and generous citizenry.

Laurence Juber Guitar With Wings

Dalton Watson Fine Books is pleased to present Guitar With Wings: A Photographic Memoir by two time Grammy Award-winning artist Laurence Juber. Guitar With Wings is a lavishly produced book co-written by music historian Marshall Terrill and featuring a foreword by Denny Laine that tells the story of Juber’s five-decade career told through his own words, candid never-seen-before color and black & white photos, vintage advertising materials, guitars, equipment, memorabilia and the six-string legend’s encyclopedic musical memory. “In the thirty-something years since Wings folded I would look at the boxes of photographs and accumulated memorabilia, promising myself that one day I’d take the time to organize it all,” Juber said. “Contrary to my expectations that the Wings era would be absorbed into the general arc of Paul McCartney’s career, interest in the band itself has continued to flourish and I recognized that I had a unique perspective to offer. All the great moments were there as well as being an eyewitness to McCartney’s much-publicized marijuana bust in Tokyo, Japan in 1980.” “The photos triggered long-forgotten memories of my time in the band, underscoring how my studies at ‘McCartney University’ were a bridge from my early musical experiences to my later ‘solo flight’ and how much the couple-consciousness of Paul and Linda McCartney proved to be a template for my own romantic and creative relationship with my wife Hope,” Juber said. Containing 250 plus pages, this photo memoir documents the history of a young Londoner whose passion for the guitar leads him to play a crucial role in the ‘Indian Summer’ of Paul McCartney’s Wings, encompassing the era of the Grammy-winning Back to the Egg, the band’s final tour and their No. 1 swan song, “Coming Up.” Juber’s photographs and memories takes readers on a journey inside recording sessions for “Rockestra” and at McCartney’s Scottish farm, Abbey Road Studios, as well as onstage and backstage with Paul and Linda, Denny Laine at the “People of Kampuchea” benefit and on Wing’s 19-date concert tour of the United Kingdom in late 1979. In addition to the hardback ($49.00), Dalton Watson Fine Books will also release a 1,000 signed, limited slipcase edition ($85.00) that features an exclusive CD which includes “Maise,” an original Juber composition and Back to the Egg outtake by Wings. To purchase the book, please go to www.daltonwatson.com # # # LAURENCE JUBER In May 1978 Juber got an extraordinary, life-changing break when Paul McCartney selected him to become Wings’ lead guitarist. He spent three years recording and touring with the band. During that time he won a Best Rock Instrumental GRAMMY® for the track “Rockestra” from the Wings album Back To The Egg and was heard on the international hit singles “Goodnight Tonight” and “Coming Up”. After Wings folded in 1981, Juber relocated to the US and established himself as a studio musician. While raising a family in Los Angeles, he performed on the soundtracks to hundreds of TV shows and movies including "Home Improvement" and "Seventh Heaven.” He can be heard on the scores to such academy award-winning movies as Dirty Dancing, Pocahontas and Good Will Hunting, as well as many hit records. At the same time he embarked on a career as a solo recording artist, concert performer composer and arranger, soon developing a reputation as a world-class solo guitar virtuoso, being voted '#1' by Fingerstyle Guitar magazine. He has since released more than 20 acclaimed solo albums. LJ Plays The Beatles was voted one of the all-time top ten acoustic guitar albums. I've Got The World On 6 Strings, is a collection of solo guitar arrangements of tunes by Harold Arlen, composer of “Over The Rainbow”, and 'Stormy Weather', among many other classics. Pop Goes Guitar includes his performance of “Stand By Me” that was heard in a popular De Beers diamond commercial. His solo guitar arrangement of "The Pink Panther Theme" is featured on the Best Pop Instrumental GRAMMY®-winning album "Henry Mancini-Pink Guitar". His latest releases are the concert CD/DVD Catch LJ Live! and the jazz-tinged studio collection "Under An Indigo Sky." Laurence is also a respected composer, arranger and producer having written music for TV (A Very Brady Xmas, Tarzan) movies (World Gone Wild), documentaries (NBC's Children Of the Harvest). His music is featured in the Ken Burns documentary The Tenth Inning. He is also co-composer of the score to the award-winning video game 'Diablo 3'. With his wife Hope, he has composed the stage musicals Gilligan's Island: The Musical, A Very Brady Musical and It’s The Housewives! C.F. Martin & Company has produced an ‘LJ’ Signature model guitar and GHS Strings market Juber's Signature guitar strings. www.laurencejuber.com Photo Credit: Dalton Watson Fine Books, Laurence Juber

The Todd Glass Situation

"I don’t really like saying that I’ve ‘come out of the closet,’" says comedian Todd Glass in THE TODD GLASS SITUATION: A Bunch of Lies About My Personal Life and a Bunch of True Stories About My 30-Year Career in Stand-Up Comedy (June 3, 2014/$25.00 hardcover). "Why couldn’t it be something a little more manly, like ‘stepping out of the garage’ or ‘busting out of the toolshed?’" THE TODD GLASS SITUATION shares Todd’s unique perspective as a stand-up comedian who spent the first 47 years of his life living in the closet/garage/toolshed. He provides an inside look at a 30+ year career at the top of the comedy world, tracing its ups and downs as he shares the stage with everyone from Jay Leno to Sarah Silverman to Louis CK. It took a brush with death to cause him to rethink the way he was living his life, and a rash of suicides among gay teens to convince him that it was finally time for a change. Growing up outside Philadelphia in the 1970s was easy, as long as you weren’t dyslexic. Or someone who struggled with ADD. Or a Jew. Todd Glass wasn’t any one of these things—he was all three. So there was absolutely no way he was going to let anyone know that he was also gay. He vowed to keep his "situation" hidden from the world, no matter how comic, tragic, or comically tragic the results. This decision might have made Todd’s life easier, had his career path not placed him squarely in the public eye. By age eighteen, he was a professional stand-up comedian, opening for big musical acts like George Jones and Patti LaBelle. His career carried him through the Los Angeles comedy heyday in the 1980s, its decline in the 1990s, and its rebirth via the alternative comedy scene and the explosion in podcasting. He worked hard at his craft, but that was nothing compared to the effort it took to manage his situation. There were years of abstinence and half-hearted attempts to “cure” himself. Fake girlfriends so that he could tell relationship jokes onstage. Staged sexual encounters to burnish his reputation offstage. One night—onstage, during a performance—Todd suffered a serious heart attack. When the EMT asked if there was anyone they should notify, Todd hesitated to name his boyfriend. “Here I am, forty-five years old, possibly at death’s door, surrounded by friends—and I still can’t be honest about who I am,” he says. “How the f*** did I get here?” This was the beginning of the process that led to Todd’s decision to finally come clean about his sexuality. Peppered with anecdotes from his life among comedy’s greatest headliners and tales of the occasionally insane lengths Todd went through to keep a secret that—let’s face it—he probably didn’t have to keep for as long as he did, THE TODD GLASS SITUATION is a front-row seat to the last thirty-plus years of comedy history and a deeply personal story about one man’s search for acceptance. ABOUT TODD GLASS Todd Glass is a stand-up comedian who has performed on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Chelsea Lately, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and The Jimmy Kimmel Show, among many other programs. He’s also the host of The Todd Glass Show, a popular podcast on the Nerdist Network. Visit www.ToddGlass.com and follow Todd on Twitter at @toddglass.

Bill Whitfield and Javon Beard Remember The Time

On June 25th, 2009 Michael Jackson was found dead in his California home at the age of 50. What followed was a media circus of epic proportions with tabloids dredging up every piece of gossip collected throughout the span of Michael’s prolific career. Fast-forward five years after his death and Michael Jackson is still making headlines. Yet, what do we really know about Michael Jackson the man or Michael Jackson the father? With Remember the Time (Weinstein Books, June 3, 2014, Trade Cloth, $26.00) Bill Whitfield and Javon Beard unmask the man behind the myth and reveal a side of Jackson that until now has only been known to a select few. To the outside world Michael Jackson appeared to have it all, but in reality his last years on earth were fraught with unimaginable stress and worry. However, in many ways Michael was a man like any other; he was a father who cared deeply for his children and a musician who was passionate about his craft. In this in-depth new book about Michael Jackson’s final years, first time authors Whitfield and Beard offer readers a rare insider’s glimpse at a man who was greatly misunderstood by most, and known only intimately by few. Shedding light on everything from Michael’s close relationship with his children, to his strained relationships with business associates and family members, Remember the Time is the one story that has yet to be told. Doting father, loyal friend, loving son; this is the Michael Jackson that Whitfield and Beard came to know during the years they worked for him and his family. Not only did they get to know Michael’s likes and dislikes, such as his obsession with Sharper Image gadgets and love of tabasco sauce, but they also got to learn about the troubled person who more than anything just wanted to be happy. For Michael, shielding his children from the media spotlight was more important than anything else, and despite being knee-deep in debt and besieged with a number of other worries, he did his best to safeguard their childhood. ABOUT BILL WHITFIELD & JEVON BEARD Bill Whitfield spent many years working as a law enforcement professional before going into private security in the mid-90s. By 2001 he was living in Las Vegas and was successfully establishing himself as one of the city’s top independent security contractors. By the time he went to work for Michael Jackson, Whitfield had worked with everyone from celebrities and athletes, to businessmen and politicians. Javon Beard was born in South Central Los Angeles and grew up with the hopes of becoming a professional athlete. However, his life took a much different turn when upon graduation he took a job doing private security. Through the years Beard worked his way up and ended up working as an overseer to a security staff of over 200. His first high profile security job was with Michael Jackson. REVIEW OF REMEMBER THE TIME FROM KIRKUS REVIEWS Whitfield and Beard witnessed firsthand how Michael Jackson (1958-2009) squandered his enormous wealth by trusting the wrong people, whose questionable business deals yielded more legal entanglements than profits. They steered clear of the infighting and conflicting agendas among those who oversaw Jackson's crumbling empire and observed how Jackson, deliberately disengaged from his own affairs, was "a billion-dollar enterprise, running 24/7, and there was nobody in charge.” The authors provide solid insight into Jackson's immature behavior—e.g., his ruinous habit of turning to wealthy, powerful figures to rescue him in times of crisis and his blithe dismissal of the harm his staff endured due to his refusal to manage his corrupt advisors. In one incredible story, Jackson asked Whitfield during one of the pop star's famed spending sprees at FAO Schwarz why Whitfield wasn't buying Christmas presents for his own daughter; when he informed Jackson he had not been paid in weeks, he replied "Oh" and did nothing to repair the situation. Jackson was renowned for his enormous compassion and generosity to people in need around the world, but he couldn't see the pain his actions caused the people closest to him. "[B]eing isolated from such a very young age,” write the authors, “he [never] developed the skills you need to cope with personal relationships." The authors also reflect on how Jackson missed out on more than just playtime and friendships: "Childhood isn't just about being a child; it's about becoming an adult,” says Whitfield. “Because eventually you will be an adult, whether you want to or not.” Illuminating and thoughtful, especially for those who can't help but hear Jackson's hit song when they read the book's title.

The Making Of The Music Of Scrambled Eggs

I have hated myself for becoming a writer and yet not a day goes by that I don't embrace the end result of what writing has done for me. I had been tortured badly by producers in 2010 and knew my music was finally over. Really? Do you honestly believe you can turn this crap off?

Harvey Kubernik Turn Up The Radio

Combining oral and illustrated history with a connective narrative, Turn Up the Radio! captures the zeitgeist of the Los Angeles rock and pop music world between the years of 1956 and 1972. Featuring hundreds of rare and previously unpublished photographs and images of memorabilia, this collection highlights dozens of iconic bands and musicians, including the Doors, the Beach Boys, Buffalo Springfield, the Byrds, CSN, the Monkees, the Rolling Stones, Ike and Tina Turner, Elvis Presley, Eddie Cochran, Ritchie Valens, Sam Cooke, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Frank Zappa, Thee Midniters, Barry White, Sonny and Cher, and many others. But recording artists heard on the AM and FM dial are only one part of the rich history of music in Los Angeles. Turn Up the Radio! digs deep to uncover the studio musicians, background vocalists, songwriters, producers, and engineers who helped propel the Los Angeles rock and pop music scene to such a legendary status. Bones Howe, Barney Kessel, Hal Blaine, B. J. Baker, Merry Clayton, Jack Nitzsche, Tommy Boyce, Bobby Hart, Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller, Jim Keltner, Bobby Womack, Kim Fowley, Bruce Botnick, Dave Gold, and Stan Ross are just a few of the names recognized for their crucial contributions to the music created and produced in the recording studios of Los Angeles. Finally, Turn Up the Radio! pays tribute to the DJs who brought the music of Los Angeles to fans throughout Southern California—and, ultimately, the world—including Art Laboe, Dave Hull, Robert W. Morgan, the Real Don Steele, Jim Ladd, Dave Diamond, Elliot Mintz, and Dick Clark. Their dedication to the music they played at such iconic radio stations as KHJ, KFWB, KRLA, KMET, and KLOS was critical to the development of popular music. Packed with exclusive interviews, this one-of-a-kind keepsake of rock, pop, and roll in the City of Angels is a must-have for any music fan. ABOUT HARVEY KUBERNIK Harvey Kubernik, a native of Los Angeles, California, has been a noted music journalist for over forty years. A former West Coast A&R director for MCA Records, Kubernik is the author of five books, including This Is Rebel Music, A Perfect Haze: The Illustrated History of the Monterey International Pop Festival (co-authored by Kenneth Kubernik), and Canyon of Dreams: The Magic and the Music of Laurel Canyon

Greg Iles Natchez Burning

#1 New York Times bestselling author Greg Iles has earned outstanding critical praise and a legion of fans for his novels including The Quiet Game, Turning Angel, and Devil’s Punchbowl. Iles has shown he has incredible range is his ability to craft exceptional suspense novels featuring compelling, multidimensional characterization. Now, in the literary publishing event of the summer, Iles presents his most ambitious and powerful work to date with NATCHEZ BURNING (William Morrow/An Imprint of Harper CollinsPublishers; Pub date: April 29, 2014, ISBN 978-0-06-231107-8; $27.99 US/$34.99 Canada), the auspicious first volume in a trilogy featuring Penn Cage. A spectacular and grand epic novel that spans 40 years and unflinchingly captures the political unrest of a nation dangling between a chaotic past and an unpredictable future. The historic town of Natchez, Mississippi, is the backdrop for this remarkable thriller, a place inextricably bound to our national identity. It is a place where fiercely held convictions about race have undergone enormous change at great cost to human life over the last decades. As a former prosecutor and writer living in the small town of Natchez, Mississippi, where he grew up, Penn Cage has always been a fighter. He’s never been one to see injustice and do nothing about it. He learned it from his father, Tom Cage, a beloved family doctor who spent decades taking care of folks no matter their origin or circumstance, rich or poor, black or white. Penn has always thought of his dad as a sort of Atticus Finch, a man who has guts and backbone even when his friends and neighbors don’t. And the old adage couldn’t be more true: ‘Like father, like son’. Or is it? In a place like rural Mississippi, when the issues are race and crime, the pressures are formidable and the risks no less life-threatening. So when Tom Cage finds himself on the verge of being charged with murder—of his long-time nurse assistant and friend Viola Turner—Penn knows he must find the truth. The catch: his father believes client privilege forbids him from talking about the night in question and so refuses to say anything to help himself or Penn. Penn soon learns that Viola’s death is only the tip of the iceberg—for it brings into question several horrific, unsolved murders in the 1960s, one of which was her brother’s. And it points to a group of secretive KKK members who call themselves the ‘Double Eagles’, a crew that has cut a swath across the area for decades and includes some of the wealthiest and most ruthless businessmen in the state, and brothers Frank and Snake Knox, men who have been born and bred to always get their way. Until now. About the author: Greg Iles was born in Germany in 1960, where his father ran the US Embassy Medical Clinic during the height of the Cold War. Iles spent his youth in Natchez, Mississippi, and graduated from the University of Mississippi in 1983. After several years playing in the band “Frankly Scarlet,” Iles wrote his first novel in 1993, Spandau Phoenix, which became the first of twelve New York Times bestsellers. With his third novel, Mortal Fear, Iles began setting his novels in Mississippi, and in The Quiet Game, his fourth, he created Penn Cage and placed him in Iles’s own hometown of Natchez, the oldest city on the Mississippi River. In 2011, Greg sustained life-threatening injuries in an automobile accident on Highway 61 near Natchez. He remained in a medically-induced coma for eight days and ultimately lost part of his right leg. Doctors declared his survival miraculous and predicted a long recovery, yet early in his rehabilitation, Greg found comfort and motivation by re-entering the world of the character, the town, and the secrets that his fans loved most. The road into these novels proved to be the road back to life. Iles is a member of the lit-rock group “The Rock Bottom Remainders” that includes authors Dave Barry, Ridley Pearson, Stephen King, Scott Turow, Amy Tan, Mitch Albom, Roy Blount, Jr., Matt Groening, Kathi Kamen Goldmark*, James McBride and Roger McGuinn. Iles lives in Natchez, Mississippi, and has two teenaged children. His novels have been made into films, translated into more than twenty languages, and published in more than thirty-five countries worldwide.

Col Ray L'Heurex Inside Marine One

INSIDE MARINE ONE :Four U.S. Presidents, One Proud Marine, and the World’s Most Amazing Helicopter Col. Ray "Frenchy" L’Heureux, USMC (Ret.) was in love with flying since he was a little boy. He built model planes and spent idle time daydreaming about someday flying his own. When he was twelve he received the most amazing gift he could have ever hoped for: flying lessons in a Cessna at the local airfield. When he was allowed to take over the controls for a brief period of the training session he was hooked for life. From that first moment controlling a plane, L’Heureux never could have dreamed that one day he would be flying Presidents and world leaders. In his exhilarating and joyful memoir, INSIDE MARINE ONE: Four U.S. Presidents, One Proud Marine, and the World’s Most Amazing Helicopter (St. Martin’s Press, on sale 5/27/14), L’Heureux recounts his rise through the ranks of the Marines to control the most amazing helicopter there is. From Parris Island to Bravo Company, and then officer training, L’Heureux’s career was moving along a fine path in the Marines. One day it all changed when he was at an airfield as President Reagan landed on his way to a fundraiser. L’Heureux took one look at those incredible helicopters – a Sea King and a White Hawk – and he knew full-on what he wanted his career arc to be. L’Heureux studied and worked extremely hard to make it in HMX1 (Marine Helicopter Squadron One), the squadron that flies the president. All the arduous training paid off when he finally earned his place with this elite group and took command. INSIDE MARINE ONE recounts wonderful stories by L’Heureux of flying Presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama, and numerous other dignitaries and world leaders,including Pope John Paul II. From playing “wollyball” with President George H.W. Bush, hiking with the Pope, and mountain biking with President George W. Bush, L’Heureux saw a side of these great men and leaders few of us ever do. By piloting these world leaders L’Heureux also experienced history up close.+ INSIDE MARINE ONE is a personal guided tour of the world’s most famous helicopter by the one man who knows that flying machine better than anyone else. This is a great American success story of a young boy who dreamed big, worked hard and finally flew, taking 4 presidents of the United States along for the ride. Col. Ray “Frenchy” L’Heureux joined the U.S. Marine Corp in 1980. In 1991, he joined HMX1, flying Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. In 2006, he became Commanding Officer flying Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. He retired in 2011 and lives in Hawaii.

Damon Wayans

One of comedy's most funniest. One of televisions most daring. Now a digital genius whose total focus is still locked on entertaining. Flick DAT: https://www.facebook.com/FlickDatApp https://twitter.com/FlickDAT Short: Flick Dat allows you to create and access your business cards from anywhere on most Android and iOS devices. Create cool 30 seconds intro videos on your cards, company logos, and share with coworkers. Have your cool business cards at your fingertips. In the fast paced world of business, Flick Dat makes it easy to get work done and stay connected with your team while on the go. Long: Flick DAT is an exciting new way to create and share cool business cards and stay connected with business associates and friends. Send and receive amazing business cards from virtually any Android and iOS devise. With a simple “flick” gesture watch as your flicks magically fly off the screen of your device and slide into the receiver’s device.Send flicks over WiFi and Bluetooth. Via Flick Dat Online (to anyone in the world), by email, or even to your favorite social networks! Supporting Android and iOS devices, flicking is easy, fast, and fun.Get rid of that drawer full of business cards by scanning and importing the information into customized Flick Dat cards. With Flick Dat, all your contact information is just a flick away. With Flick Dat you can: • Be imaginative and create your own business card from a variety of templates and photo filters that can be fully customized with colors and a logo. • Create your own cool, friendly, gripping, 30 seconds intro video on your card. • See other Flick Dat users on your WiFi network or nearby using bluetooth visually with name and avatar so you can quickly pick who to flick to. • Flick multiple business cards to multiple users. No need to pick users over and over again! • Receive or import business cards and store an unlimited amount of cards that can quickly search though. • Flick via WiFi, Bluetooth, Email, or Social Networks • Save received flicks to your device • Share with most Android devises. • Create an optional Flick Dat Online account to connect with other users and send flicks to anyone in the world. • Create cool and imaginative biz cards and make flicking fast and fun.

Mike Boettcher The Hornets Nest

The Hornet’s Nest is a groundbreaking and immersive feature film, using unprecedented real footage to tell the story of an elite group of U.S. troops sent on a dangerous mission deep inside one of Afghanistan’s most hostile valleys. The film culminates with what was planned as a single day strike turning into nine intense days of harrowing combat against an invisible, hostile enemy in the country’s complex terrain where no foreign troops have ever dared to go before. Two embedded journalists, a father and son (Mike and Carlos Boettcher) bravely followed the troops through the fiercest and most blood-soaked battlegrounds of the conflict. What resulted is an intensely raw feature film experience that will give audiences a deeply emotional and authentic view of the heroism at the center of this gripping story. INTERVIEW WITH MIKE BOETTCHER FROM THE SAN ANTONIO CURRENT MAY 16th Award-winning veteran war correspondent Mike Boettcher has seen a lot during his more than 30 years working as a journalist. From being kidnapped by terrorists in El Salvador in 1985 to surviving an attack by a suicide bomber in Baghdad in the mid-Aughts, Boettcher has found himself in a number of extremely dangerous situations throughout his career. In the new documentary The Hornet’s Nest, Boettcher and his son Carlos, both working for ABC News, spend two years in Afghanistan capturing footage of U.S. soldiers at war. The Current sat down with Boettcher during a tour stop in San Antonio a couple weeks ago after a screening of the film. Q. Tell me about the first time you ever stepped foot in Afghanistan. A. The first time I stepped foot in Afghanistan was early 2002. The war began after 9/11 and I went there, and there actually weren’t many troops coming in. When I stepped foot in Afghanistan, there’s something about that country – that part of the world – that has so much history. You’re stepping foot into a place that has been the crossroads of history for millenniums. That was not lost on me. I knew anything we would undertake there was not going to be easy. Q. In The Hornet’s Nest, you go into Afghanistan with your son Carlos by your side, who is also a journalist. Was it difficult for you to be a journalist there doing a job and also be a father who obviously was worried about his son’s well-being? A. The story takes a whole different spin with [Carlos] there. I’m a dad, so I’m looking out for my son. I’m with my son in one of the most dangerous places on earth. The one thing I couldn’t let happen was I couldn’t let my son die. People always tell me they think it’s fascinating to see a film about a father and son in a war zone telling the stories of the war. We never wanted to tell a father-son story. But people thought Americans would want to see that part of the story. We acquiesced and went ahead and told those stories about the father-son relationship because it’s something everyone can relate to. Not everyone can relate to war. Through the father-son story, we wanted to tell the bigger story of the war with all these other fathers and sons and mothers and daughters who are over there. Q. Why don’t you think Americans relate to the war today? A. I think you can see a feature movie about a war or watch a news story, but you really don’t feel it. That’s why I wanted to make this film. I wanted the American public to feel the sacrifice of war. I wanted them to feel immersed in what really happens. People die. It’s not pretty. People have a hard time relating to that. We’re here [in the U.S.] and we are safe. We have two oceans on each side of our border. We don’t have to worry as much about the war and aren’t as attuned to our security as nations in Europe are. Q. During the Bush Administration, the American public was never allowed to see caskets of American soldiers. That, of course, has changed in the last few years. Do you feel like that is something we needed to see to understand the sacrifice you’re talking about? A. Absolutely. In the early parts of WWII, the War Department prohibited images of U.S. deaths being shown in American newspapers. People forget during WWII, there was a period around 1943 where support for WWII was flagging. President Roosevelt made a decision and it was filtered through the War Department that those images could be shown. The first time the American public saw the consequences of war was, I believe, after the Battle in Anzio (in 1944). Photographs were shown. It galvanized American public opinion to continue supporting the war. It’s a little known historical fact. So, hiding the consequences is not the way to go. We need to show what our people are doing out there day after day after day to connect U.S. citizens with the decision to go to war. Q. By the end of this year, the U.S. should have most of its troops finally out of Afghanistan. I know you’re going to be there with the military during that drawdown. How do you see that playing out? Q. We’ll see. I believe we’re still going to have about 5,000 troops stay [in Afghanistan]. Those will not be combat troops, but support troops. I think we have an obligation to see this through. Look, we pulled the ripcord and pulled everyone out of Iraq and Iraq is in total chaos right now. As Secretary Rumsfeld has said before: If you break it, you have to fix it. I think we have an obligation to support these changes that our involvement after 9/11 brought. We have to be able to help the Afghan army supply itself. We have to help with political processes and have Americans there to continue trying to movie Afghanistan toward democracy. We have to have people who can build a judicial system. We have to have people who can train police. We must continue our involvement for a period of years until Afghanistan can stand on its own. Q. You’ve been covering the war for so long, would you say you’ve become jaded by the things you’ve seen? A. I used to think I was jaded, but then as you grow older you realize these are experiences that someone is experiencing uniquely. You may have seen something like that before, but for them, they’re in the moment. I think I took my job for granted for a few years. I was really excited when I got into journalism, and I covered all these things early. What I did was something important. What I think we need to do as journalists is embrace every day. Every day is a new day. There’s a new story out there. That’s why I love this job. We never know what we’re doing the next day. As I’ve gotten older, I’m now more excited than I was when I was 21 years old. Q. When you look at the makeup of the young U.S. soldiers who are fighting these wars, what do you see? After 9/11, people were signing up for the military because they had a sense of patriotism. Is that still the case? Are 18 and 19-year-old kids signing up because they feel they have a sense of duty to their country or has that changed? A. I think a majority of them still join because they want to serve their country. There’s something in their upbringing that compelled them to serve. Of course, some get in because they don’t know what else to do. Q. Does that make a different type of soldier? A. Initially, yeah, but once they’re there, they all become the same. I think they become committed to their fellow soldiers. The fact that they’re somewhere doing something important resonates with them. Everyone [joins the military] for a lot of different reasons, but what goes through that training funnel and comes out the other end are people who really love their country and have a connection to what it means to sacrifice for this nation. I actually think there should be some form of required national service. You don’t have to serve in the military. You can work in our schools. You can work to rebuild our nation. I think that younger generations need to be connected to their country and what it means to serve it. We get very individually orientated and lose sight of the bigger picture. People take the freedoms of this nation for granted and they shouldn’t because it could all go away. Q. What does it feel like to put your life in someone else’s hands when you’re on the ground in a country as dangerous as Afghanistan? Again, I know you’re there to do a job, but I’m sure the soldiers you are with feel some sense of responsibility for you. A. I feel like my life is in my hands. I made the decision to go there. I don’t want the soldiers there next to me to feel like they have to protect me. Now, they do. I don’t have a weapon. But I’m a volunteer. No one put a gun to my head and told me I had to go to Afghanistan. Frankly, when it comes to warfare, there are few people in this country who are more experienced than I am. So, I know how to take care of myself.