Laura Davis-Chanin's Books

The Girl in the Back

A Female Drummer's Life with Bowie, Blondie, and the '70s Rock Scene

By: Laura Davis-Chanin

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The Girl in the Back

A Female Drummer's Life with Bowie, Blondie, and the '70s Rock Scene

By: Laura Davis-Chanin

ASCAP Deems Taylor Award Winner and named one of 2018 Top Ten Music Books by Billboard! Nineteen seventy-seven. New York City. Dark. Dangerous. Thrilling. Punk Rock. Blondie. David Bowie. Drinking. Drugs. Happening at the speed of light. Seventeen-year old Laura, quaking within her skin while the bursting punk rock revolution explodes around her, starts a band with her teenage friends called the Student Teachers. She's the drummer. They play legendary clubs – CBGB, Max's Kansas City, Hurrah – they rehearse madly, write songs, and tour the East Coast. All between final exams at school. In comes Jimmy Destri from Blondie. He thinks the Student Teachers are terrific! And then – he falls in love with Laura. He pulls her into the glamorous life of Blondie and introduces her to David Bowie. Bowie takes an interest in Laura's band, attends their rehearsals, and sets them up to open for Iggy Pop at the Palladium on Halloween 1979. It's exhilarating! It's the beginning of amazing success in rock 'n' roll! Until it all comes to a stunning stop. After playing a show at Town Hall in 1980, Laura is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Does it all fall apart? Later, at a dinner with Bowie, he whispers something to Laura. And it helps her save her life. In prose that flows like music, Laura Davis-Chanin presents a rich work of narrative nonfiction that is not only deeply personal but also revealing of the punk rock heyday in New York City. Infused with rare photographs, this book is a journey through a unique, ephemeral life experience.

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Page Count

321

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield

Published Date

ISBN 10

1617137367

ISBN 13

9781617137365

The Girl in the Back

A Female Drummer's Life with Bowie, Blondie, and the '70s Rock Scene

By: Laura Davis-Chanin

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The Girl in the Back

A Female Drummer's Life with Bowie, Blondie, and the '70s Rock Scene

By: Laura Davis-Chanin

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Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

321

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield

Published Date

ISBN 10

1617137367

ISBN 13

9781617137365

I Am Michael Alago

Breathing Music. Signing Metallica. Beating Death.

By: Michael Alago,Laura Davis-Chanin

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I Am Michael Alago

Breathing Music. Signing Metallica. Beating Death.

By: Michael Alago,Laura Davis-Chanin

Record label executive, photographer, and author, Michael Alago takes readers through this amazing journey that is his life. Alago grew up in Brooklyn, New York, in a large, spirited, and devoted Puerto Rican family. Through his early passion for music, art, theater, and photography, he soon found himself rubbing elbows with many downtown NYC scene makers, from Stiv Bators to Jean Michel Basquiat, Cherry Vanilla and Wayne County to Deborah Harry and Robert Mapplethorpe. As an underage teenager going to Max's Kansas City, CBGB, and various art galleries, Alago also began running The Dead Boys fan club. A few years later, he became the assistant music director for legendary nightclubs the Ritz and the Red Parrot. At age twenty-four, he began a storied career as an A&R executive at Elektra Records that started with signing Metallica in the summer of 1984, changing the entire landscape of rock 'n' roll and heavy metal. Alago continued to work in A&R for both Palm Pictures and Geffen Records. He was thrilled to executive-produce albums by Cyndi Lauper, Public Image Ltd, White Zombie, and Nina Simone. In the late 1980s, he was diagnosed with HIV, which manifested into full-blown AIDS ten years later. He survived to continue his music career, but in 2005, he left music to pursue his other love: photography. Alago went on to publish three bestselling books: Rough Gods, Brutal Truth, and Beautiful Imperfections with German-based publisher Bruno Gmünder. He has since overcome his longtime addiction to drugs and alcohol. In his clean and sober life, he has reconnected with his family, continues to be a working photographer as well as record producer, and only through the grace of his 12-Step program is he able to live this big, beautiful life. In 2017, a documentary directed by Drew Stone and produced by Michael Alex on Alago's wildly successful career in music was released in theaters and on Netflix, entitled Who the Fuck Is That Guy? The Fabulous Journey of Michael Alago.

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Page Count

305

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield

Published Date

ISBN 10

1493050672

ISBN 13

9781493050673

Infinite Dreams

The Life of Alan Vega

By: Liz Lamere,Laura Davis-Chanin

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Infinite Dreams

The Life of Alan Vega

By: Liz Lamere,Laura Davis-Chanin

Best known for co-founding the early punk duo Suicide, Alan Vega lived a complex and labyrinthine life, driven by a desire to express himself uncompromisingly through art. From his first sketch in art class at Brooklyn College to the 2021 release of the album Mutator five years after his death, Vega continues to shock and inspire. This first-ever biography of Vega tells the story of the man’s life and art, beginning with his early attempts to live a “normal” life and his epiphanic encounter with Iggy Pop in 1969. Although becoming a performer on stage had been at the bottom of Vega’s list of lifetime ambitions, Iggy changed his mind: he needed music to truly express his vision. Infinite Dreams goes on to describe Vega’s many experiments across a variety of media, including the partnership with Marty Rev that became Suicide, which challenged audiences to look deep inside themselves and to not settle for distractions. A raw but engaging exploration of a man whose artwork, music, and philosophy inspired thousands, written by award-winning author Laura Davis-Chanin together with Liz Lamere, Alan Vega’s wife and long-term creative collaborator.

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Page Count

393

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield

Published Date

ISBN 10

1493072498

ISBN 13

9781493072491

Book's by Laura Davis-Chanin

The Girl in the Back

The Girl in the Back

The Girl in the Back

The Girl in the Back

I Am Michael Alago

I Am Michael Alago

Infinite Dreams

Infinite Dreams

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