New Book Releases

Just as the dances of Beach Music have their twists and turns, so too do the stories behind the hits made popular in shag haunts from Atlantic Beach to Ocean Drive and the Myrtle Beach Pavilion. In Carolina Beach Music, local author and Beach Music enthusiast Rick Simmons draws on first-hand accounts from the legendary performers and people behind the music. Simmons reveals the true meaning behind "Oogum Boogum," uncovers just what sparked a fistfight between Ernie K. Doe and Benny Spellman at the recording session of "Te-Ta-Te-Te-Ta-Ta," and examines hundreds of other true events that shaped the sounds of Beach Music.

When Polish wigmaker and cosmetician Max Factor arrived in Los Angeles at the dawn of the motion picture industry, "make-up" had been associated only with stage performers and ladies of the oldest profession. Appalled by the garish paints worn by actors, Factor introduced the first "flexible" greasepaint for film in 1914. With a few careful brush strokes, a lot of innovation and the kind of luck that can happen only in Hollywood, Max Factor changed the meaning of glamour. His innovations can be experienced in every tube of lipstick, palette of eye shadow and bottle of nail lacquer used today. Join author Erika Thomas as she reveals the makeup guru's expert beauty tips and the story of how he created the most iconic golden-era looks that are as relevant today as they were nearly a century ago.

Pittsburgh Jazz documents the almost forgotten magic created in the city of Pittsburgh by a host of artists, uptown inner city streets, and jazz joints that served patrons from a menu packed full of delightful music. The magical improvised songs, compositions, and unique styles of hundreds of those who were born, raised, or influenced by what occurred in the smoke filled clubs, bars, restaurants, and theaters is difficult to comprehend. And yet, every jazz artist in the world was attracted here to "stand the test" waiting in the Steel City. This book is committed to connecting Pittsburghstyle jazz as the synthesis that resulted in the art form called bebop. This photographic presentation was captured by Pittsburgh Courier photographers between the 1930s and 1980s.

Charleston Jazz sets out to reveal the rich, untold story of the evolution of American jazz in one of its major cradles: Charleston, South Carolina. The text and images show that what happened on the Gullah coast of South Carolina in terms of history, culture, and entertainment had a huge impact on jazz as we know it today. By all accounts, jazz is America's classical music. It now stands at the dawn of its second century and is poised to take its place as one of the more meaningful cultural phenomena ever to come along. Since Charleston was the gateway for enslaved Africans into the United States, it is no wonder that this uniquely beautiful place produced key creators of what many believe to be this country's most important influence on world culture. An international Charleston diaspora of jazz musicians attests to the fact that the likes of Freddie Green, William "Cat" Anderson, and Edmund Thornton Jenkins spread the Charleston style everywhere. Charleston jazz is one of the last great unknown stories in American history.