Bill Veeck was an inspired team builder, a consummate showman, and one of the greatest baseball men ever involved in the game. His classic autobiography, written with the talented sportswriter Ed Linn, is an uproarious book packed with information about the history of baseball and tales of players and owners, including some of the most entertaining stories in all of sports literature.
Eddie Long plans to be a country music star but he's stuck touring the college frat circuit. After his wife dies at the hands of a serial killer, Eddie writes the best song of his life. It goes straight to number one. And that's when all the trouble starts. Jimmy Rogers is a freelance writer covering the Mississippi music scene. He sets out to write the life story of Nashville's latest sensation but unearths some facts that could ruin Eddie's burgeoning career while making Jimmy a huge bestseller. Throw in a beautiful and opportunistic country radio DJ, a pair of wily record producers, and a naive young singer-songwriter, and the stage is set. Everybody plans to make a killing -- one way or another. It's murder on Music Row, where things don't always turn out as planned. Praise for Bill Fitzhugh's Books 'A strange and deadly amalgam of screenwriter and comic novelist... in league with Carl Hiaasen and Elmore Leonard.' New York Times Book Review 'A rip-roaring farce of a thriller.' Mirror 'Fitzhugh tightens his grip on a reputation for absurdist black comedy.' Bookpage
On May 20, 2015, Dave said, "Thank you and goodnight." The Foo Fighters sang "Everlong," and Late Show with David Letterman ended its run. The final six weeks of the series had guests like Julia Roberts, George Clooney, Oprah Winfrey, and the Obamas. All names you have heard many times. But it was the people behind the scenes who pulled off these twenty-eight unforgettable episodes of late-night television. Author Scott Ryan conducted over twenty interviews with the staffers of David Letterman. Most of the participants had never given interviews before. The writers, directors, producers, and stage managers offer a behind-the-scenes look at what it was like to work on these shows. Find out what it takes to write a Top Ten list, book a president for a guest spot, and what it was like working at the Ed Sullivan Theater. Long time Letterman writer Bill Scheft penned the foreword for the book. Included are over 100 color photos from staffers' personal collections, as well as publicity photos from the show. Get the first truly inside look at creating an episode of Late Show. Interviews with: Barbara Gaines - Executive Producer; Sheila Rogers - Supervising Producer/ Talent Executive; Randi Grossack - Associate Director; Kathy Mavrikakis, Supervising Producer; Rick Sheckman, Associate Producer; Brian Teta - Supervising Producer/Segment Producer; Sheryl Zelikson - Music Producer; Jay Johnson - Creative Director, Digital Media; Jerry Foley - Director; Michael Barrie - Writer; Lee Ellenberg - Writer; Jim Mulholland - Writer; Joe Grossman - Writer; Jeremy Weiner - Writer; Steve Young - Writer; Vincent Favale - Executive of Late Night Programing; Eddie Valk - Stage Manager; Bill Scheft - Writer; Janice Penino - Vice President, Human Resources; Jill Goodwin - Writer; and Mike Buczkiewicz - Senior Producer/Segment Producer; Rupert Jee - Hello Deli Owner.
When a team of army rangers makes a trip into Cambodia, looking for Americans believed to still be held prisoner, they are ambushed and half their team lost. They had safely made these trips a half dozen times without incident, so know they were set up. But who would do such a thing? Few people knew of their incursions into Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. After an attempt on their lives back in The States, they know someone, for some reason wants rid of them. It becomes a dangerous game of cat and mouse with their unknown pursuers. The remaining seven team members, all master sergeants, bring their commanding officer home to bury, then Mitch goes to see Colonel Eddie McCains sister in Southern Illinois. She has a packet of information for Mitch that her brother left with her, knowing Mitch would come to see her if anything happened to him. The information contained in the packet is a list of people thought to be trafficking in heroin from the Far East. Also, a Senators name, whom Eddie evidently trusted is in the packet. When Eddie goes to Indianapolis to see the senator, another attempt is made on his life. When the senator is killed, Mitch knows he is into something far-reaching and, evidently, involving far more than heroin traffic. After the senator is murdered, a CIA operative, who had worked with the senator, approaches Mitch and his team. Mitch tends to trust the man, but is wary of everyone. It seems everywhere they turn, someone tries to take them out. They have been given new identification cards by Walter Hixon, their CIA contact. It turns out the cards are miniature locator beacons, but Mitch believes Hixon when he tells him although someone at the agency has to be involved in the plot to kill them, he has no knowledge of who or why. The trail leads them to an army missile storage depot in Kentucky, where a number of cruise missiles are missing. People from an electronics firm located in Dallas had recently been to the depot to do modifications on the missiles. When Mitch and his team avoid the people laying in wait for them on the trip to Dallas, they find that a large number of the electronics firm employees are missing. They do make contact with two women employees who had been at the missile depot and who had survived whatever had happened to the other employees. Eventually, Mitch learns the electronics company is actually a CIA owned company. The story involves much more than he could have imagined. Crooked deals being made with Mexican officials, who soon mysteriously disappear a high level conference of European Industrialists a plot to use the missing cruise missiles against an array of targets but who is behind all of it, and most importantly, why do they need to kill Mitch and the remaining members of his team? What could they possibly know that would interfere with the plans of one of the worlds most powerful industrialists to take over control of the major portion of the worlds oil supply? FD Gialmo not only owns a dozen senators, but is involved in more crooked schemes than can be counted to become even wealthier. His father began FDs financial empire with one sailing vessel and a dogged determination to succeed at becoming a billionaire at any cost. FD is completely devoted not only to his old mans business acumen, but also to his ruthlessness in establishing the financial giant which FD inherited and enha But, that fucking, worthless son of his! What the hell could he do about that skirt chasing little prick? After all the troubles problems he had endured all his life to double and redouble the fortune the old man left him, why couldnt this stupid little bastard understand it would be up to him to continue building the company?
Drawing on a rich verbal tradition, jazz writer Bill Crow has culled stories and amusing quips as well as more detailed anecdotes from interviews, biographies and autobiographies, the remarkable collction of oral histories of the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University, and his own columns to paint these fascinating portraits of jazz musicians.
The must-have companion to Bill O'Reilly's historic series Legends and Lies: The Real West, a fascinating, eye-opening look at the truth behind the western legends we all think we know How did Davy Crockett save President Jackson's life only to end up dying at the Alamo? Was the Lone Ranger based on a real lawman-and was he an African American? What amazing detective work led to the capture of Black Bart, the "gentleman bandit" and one of the west's most famous stagecoach robbers? Did Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid really die in a hail of bullets in South America? Generations of Americans have grown up on TV shows, movies and books about these western icons. But what really happened in the Wild West? All the stories you think you know, and others that will astonish you, are here--some heroic, some brutal and bloody, all riveting. Included are the ten legends featured in Bill O'Reilly's Legends and Lies docuseries -from Kit Carson to Jesse James, Wild Bill Hickok to Doc Holliday-- accompanied by two bonus chapters on Daniel Boone and Buffalo Bill and Annie Oakley. Frontier America was a place where instinct mattered more than education, and courage was necessary for survival. It was a place where luck made a difference and legends were made. Heavily illustrated with spectacular artwork that further brings this history to life, and told in fast-paced, immersive narrative, Legends and Lies is an irresistible, adventure-packed ride back into one of the most storied era of our nation's rich history.
While many film fans may not be familiar with Bill Duke’s name, they most certainly recognize his face. Dating back to the 1970s, Duke has appeared in a number of popular films, including Car Wash, American Gigolo, Commando, Predator, and X-Men: The Last Stand. Fewer still might be aware of Duke’s extraordinary accomplishments off-screen—as a talented director, producer, entrepreneur, and humanitarian. Bill Duke: My 40-Year Career on Screen and behind the Camera is the memoir of a Hollywood original. In an industry that rarely embraces artists of color, Duke first achieved success as an actor then turned to directing. After helming episodes of ratings giants Dallas, Falcon Crest, Hill Street Blues, and Miami Vice, Duke progressed to feature films like A Rage in Harlem, Deep Cover, Hoodlum, and Sister Act 2. In this candid autobiography, Duke recalls the loving but stern presence of his mother and father, acting mentors like Olympia Dukakis, and the pitfalls that nearly derailed his career, notably an addiction to drugs. Along the way, readers will encounter familiar names like Danny Glover, Laurence Fishburne, Forest Whitaker, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Whoopi Goldberg. From his Broadway debut in 1971 to the establishment of the Duke Media Foundation, which trains and mentors young filmmakers, Duke has been breaking the rules of what it means to triumph in the entertainment industry. Recalling pivotal moments in his life, Bill Duke: My 40-Year Career on Screen and behind the Camera is the story only Bill Duke could tell.
When jazz musicians get together, they often delight one another with stories about the great, or merely remarkable, players and singers they've worked with. One good story leads to another until someone says, "Somebody ought to wrie these down!" With Jazz Anecdotes, somebody finally has. Drawing on a rich verbal tradition, bassist and jazz writer Bill Crow has culled stories from a wide variety of sources, including interviews, biographies and a remarkable oral history collection, which resides at the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University, to paint fascinating and very human portraits of jazz musicians. Organized around general topics--teaching and learning, life on the road, prejudice and discrimination, and the importance of a good nickname--Jazz Anecdotes shows the jazz world as it really is. In this fully updated edition, which contains over 150 new anecdotes and new topics like Hiring and Firing, Crow regales us with new stories of such jazz greats as Benny Goodman, Chet Baker, Ravi Coltrane, Buddy Rich and Paul Desmond. He offers extended sections on old favorites--Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young, and the fabulous Eddie Condon, who seems to have lived his entire life with the anecdotist in mind. With its unique blend of sparkling dialogue and historical and social insight, Jazz Anecdotes will delight anyone who loves a good story. It offers a fresh perspective on the joys and hardships of a musician's life as well as a rare glimpse of the personalities who created America's most distinctive music.
Chain-smoking Mickey Fists isn't sure if he's an "addict" or an "attic." The Freemont Avenue Social Club is on Elizabeth Street in Little Italy. So are the best wiretaps FBI money can buy. Skinny Al weighed 320 pounds and lived life to the fullest...until someone burned out his eardrums and shot his body full of holes. Hundreds of writers have tried to capture life inside the mob, but no one has ever had the inside access to write a book like this one. Drawing on the firsthand experience of former undercover FBI agent Joe Pistone-aka Donnie Brasco-as well as former Mafia prince Bill Bonanno, The Good Guys straddles both sides of the law, races relentlessly through the New York City underworld, and crackles with characters and moments so vivid they will never let you go. At Columbia University, a professor of Russian literature has gone missing. A few miles and light-years away, Little Eddie LaRocca and Bobby San Filippo are on the move-dealing in everything from hot-sheet hotels to bootleg Fuji film. When the hoods are sent to find the professor, they find out that someone else is looking, too. Beautiful FBI agent Laura Russo is making her preppy partner's head spin. She knows the missing man is important-and somehow connected to a recent mob hit. While Eddie and Bobby are fighting their way through ugly deeds and pretty coeds, these feds will cook up some business of their own, turning a little disagreement among criminals into an all-out war... Capturing the organized crime world of the go-go '80s, Pistone and Bonanno's one-of-a-kind collaboration is bad to the bone-and as marvelously authentic as it gets.
In his first collection of short stories, author Bill Mooney presents a journey through the minds of complex characters seeking life change amid turmoil and shares a window into the foundation of what creates a simple life: love, commitment, and self-discovery. In Eddie Masters Down Under, Eddie Masters is stuck in Australia, living the life of a drifter and awaiting funds to get back to the States. But when he is offered a tempting proposition, Eddie is faced with a tough decision. Hunting the Kohinoor introduces Walt and Abbey St. George, an attractive married couple who once had lofty dreams and goals, but now live a humdrum life in a Philadelphia suburb. But when a renowned jewel goes missing, the St. Georges decide to go hunting for the diamond worth millions of dollars, sending them on an adventure halfway across the world. In Going Home, newspaper reporter Willie Cole, who has just finished writing the obituary for his friend and co-worker, has no idea his life is about to take a dramatic turn. Going Home is a poignant collection of engaging novellas and short tales that, through the unforgettable experiences of its diverse characters, share the important message that choices inevitably lead to destinies.
The Beachcomber (PB) Jack Mahan and Operation Yellow Jacket By: Bill D. Rose The Mahans were a close-knit, yet dysfunctional, family. Uncle Bud Mahan owned and operated the Swordfish Marina at the very tip of Texas on South Padre Island. He was the eldest brother and was obsessed with high-stakes gambling. Eddie Mahan, his brother, was what some people called an adrenaline junkie. The truth is that he would do almost anything for the rush of adrenaline, and he had the scars to prove it. Marge Mahan was Bud’s wife and the stabilizing rock for the whole family. Eddie was my father. My mother was a hippy and deserted us when I was four to protest the Vietnam War; she never returned. When I was nineteen my father gave me the deed to the beach house and left to sail around the world with his buddies. Working at the marina and beachcombing was what I did. It was there where I met Rex Sampson, a wealthy attorney, and Commander Brad McCormick of the US Coast Guard. They soon recruited my entire family and my best friend to join them in a quest to stop the narcotics trade coming in from the Gulf of Mexico and to attempt the takedown of a Columbian drug cartel. The results make for a thrilling con game, pitting the Mahan family against the dangerous drug lords. My name is Jack Mahan, and this is my story
Close your eyes and picture the Heisman Trophy. The form is easy to conjure, a graceful, fluid pose that is football past and football present in one dignified figure ... The story of the Heisman Trophy is an american epic. -- from the Preface No sport in America can match the pageantry, raw emotion, and thrilling tradition of college football. It is a world in which a twenty-year-old kid can become a national sensation overnight, in which coaches are deified and rivalries burn white-hot. And in this world, there is no individual award so revered as the Heisman Trophy. Every yearsince 1935, one player has run, thrown, or kicked his way into the pantheon of American sport. From Nile "The Cornbelt Comet" Kinnick in the '30s, West Point's legendary backfield of Doc Blanchard and Glenn Davis in the '40s, and Paul Hornung in the '50s to Ernie Davis, the Jackie Robinson of college football, miracle worker Doug Flutie, and modern-day Sunday warrior Eddie George, the history of the Heisman gives us insight into the heart of America through the lives of the heroes that entranced an entire nation for one brilliant season. Extraordinary in ways that transcend athletic ability, Heisman winners have gone on to become war heroes, Fortune 500 CEOs, and high-level politicians. As John Heisman himself once said, the Heisman Trophy "is meant to exemplify the grandeur of a thousand men." Here within these pages are intimate portraits of some of the winners who also exemplify the grit and glory of America's beloved game and of the coaching giants such as Bear Bryant, Woody Hayes, and Red Blaik, who inspired the winners to achieve.Told in the evocative words of Pulitzer Prize–nominated journalist Bill Pennington, their heart-stopping experiences on the field and off will have Americans enthralled until the final page is turned.
Bill Elder's memoir, "The Bucyrus That Was," is a story about growing up in Small Town, America, during the Golden Age of the 1950s. The book begins with the Elder family moving from their home in Alabama to Ohio shortly after the end of World War II in search of the American Dream, i.e., improving their lot financially. After a short stay in Marion, Ohio, the Elders moved to Bucyrus where they took up residence in the notorious Railroad Street area. Needless to say, a young Bill Elder encountered many adventures and made a host of colorful friends during his stay in the tumultuous neighborhood. Elder describes in colorful detail some of his childhood escapades and the ups and downs of his teenage years, including the profound effect that his conservative Christian upbringing had on his life. He explores the importance of sports in the 1950s culture and reviews the hangouts that were popular with the local young people. Finally, he gives a general overview of what Bucyrus was like during this era, including an honest look at the darker side of the decade. Elder's engaging, humorous, tell-it-like-it-is style makes "The Bucyrus That Was" a memoir that will refresh a reader's perspective on the 1950s and prove well worth reading.
When Bill James published his original Historical Baseball Abstract in 1985, he produced an immediate classic, hailed by the Chicago Tribune as the “holy book of baseball.” Now, baseball's beloved “Sultan of Stats” (The Boston Globe) is back with a fully revised and updated edition for the new millennium. Like the original, The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract is really several books in one. The Game provides a century's worth of American baseball history, told one decade at a time, with energetic facts and figures about How, Where, and by Whom the game was played. In The Players, you'll find listings of the top 100 players at each position in the major leagues, along with James's signature stats-based ratings method called “Win Shares,” a way of quantifying individual performance and calculating the offensive and defensive contributions of catchers, pitchers, infielders, and outfielders. And there's more: the Reference section covers Win Shares for each season and each player, and even offers a Win Share team comparison. A must-have for baseball fans and historians alike, The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract is as essential, entertaining, and enlightening as the sport itself.
With a Foreword by Coach K himself, the full history of Duke Blue Devils basketball from Dick Groat and Art Heyman to Grant Hill and J.J. Redick. No college in America has dominated the basketball scene the way Duke has. From the first game in 1906 to the modern ears, no team has generated more thrills and excitement to NCAA basketball than the Duke Blue Devils. Chapters included: The Players Gerard, Groat, and Bradley Return to Glory Spell it K Starting a Dynasty And much more! Through the NCAA National Championship following the 2009–10 season, 100 Seasons of Duke Basketball provides fans with an insider’s look at Duke basketball and the people who have made it a national legend—Vic Bubas, Eddie Cameron, Art Heyman, Mike Krzyzewski, and many others.
Babe Ruth, in his first season with the Yankees in 1920, was on pace to break the single-season home run record. In August Indians shortstop Ray Chapman was beaned by a pitch thrown by the Yankees? Carl Mays during a game in New York and died the next day. In September a grand jury convened in Chicago, and four White Sox players were called to testify about fixing the 1919 World Series. ø Focusing on the Cleveland Indians, the Chicago White Sox, and the New York Yankees, this book takes us back to a pivotal season when baseball was shaken by tragedy and scandal and when power shifted irretrievably from the teams? owners to a single commissioner. The struggle for the soul of baseball, both on the field and off, is the story of how the entire American League structure changed. Following the fortunes of baseball?s stars of 1920, Under Pallor, Under Shadow shows us how a unique opportunity for reform was squandered and how the result was the transfer of authority from one powerful dictator (Ban Johnson) to another (Judge K. M. Landis). The first book to tie together the disparate elements of the 1920 pennant race, Under Pallor, Under Shadow shows us America?s pastime at a critical moment in the nation?s cultural history.
The Law of the Paiute and Other Stories is about interesting people and events which are exciting, adventurous, real, life-changing, and original. It was written by an author who had lived much of what he wrote about during his 97 years.
Through Townsend's easy reminiscences, the guitarist Lonnie Johnson, the pianists Walter Davis and Roosevelt Sykes, and the promoter Jessie Johnson come vividly to life, along with scores of other individuals both remembered and forgotten who left their mark on a key musical genre."--BOOK JACKET.
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