In the 1970s, an incredibly popular new film genre emerged, one that would later be reborn on television. And yet there has never been a book on the subject...until now.Weirdumentary examines over 45 movies, positioned as documentaries, that began with Chariots of the Gods (1970) and ended with The Man Who Saw Tomorrow (1981). Relying on spurious experts, questionable evidence, and low-budget dramatizations, these pseudo-scientific documentaries examined subjects ranging from the Bermuda Triangle to Bigfoot, from the paranormal to speculative histories. And they made millions of dollars from Americans who repeatedly bought tickets to them at movie theaters. Weirdumentary features a fun and accessible history of these crazy films, individual entries on all of them, and a plethora of fantastic images. Weirdumentary is a must for fans of the cinema, of pop culture, of the 1970s, and of UFOlogy, the paranormal, cryptids, and all things weird!
A young, aspiring writer desperate for a break…and the legendary Andy Warhol superstar who gave him the story of a lifetime.By the mid-1980s, Holly Woodlawn, once lauded by George Cukor for her performance in the 1970 Warhol production and Paul Morrissey directed Trash, was washed up. Over. Kaput. She was living in a squalid Hollywood apartment with her dog and bottles of Chardonnay. A chance meeting with starry-eyed corn-fed Missouri-born Jeff Copeland, who moved to Hollywood with dreams of ‘making it’ as a television writer, changed the course of BOTH of their lives forever.Love You Madly, Holly Woodlawn is a story of how an unlikely friendship with a young gay writer and an, ahem, mature trans actress and performer created the bestselling autobiography of 1991, A Low Life in High Heels. This book about writing a book is a celebration of chutzpa and love as Holly, the embodiment of Auntie Mame, introduces Jeff to the glamorous (and sometimes larcenous) world of a Warhol Superstar. In turn, Jeff uses his writing (and typing) talent to give Holly the second chance at fame she craved.In turns hilarious and heartwarming, Love You Madly, Holly Woodlawn is a portrait of the real Holly who loved deeply, laughed loudly, and left mayhem in her wake. Foreword by queer icon and author, Simon Doonan.
"In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy."- William BlakeAl Ridenour, creator and host of the popular Bone & Sickle Podcast brings readers back to pagan Europe in A Season of Madness. The book follows the sun from the darkest winter nights to the promise of nature’s rebirth as symbolized by Spring. Ridenour explores the history and customs of the Old-World Carnival, focusing on European regions where celebrations have gone unchanged for centuries and reflect the brutal realities of the old, agricultural world.A Season of Madness takes readers to cultural hinterlands where Carnival is more strange, more marvelous, and even a bit frightening. Where Spring is welcomed by clowns carrying inflated pig bladders and sheepskin monsters walk the land with clubs covered in hedgehog spines and plows are dragged over cobblestone streets by villagers in masks painted with blood. Folk horror fans take heart as the old world beckons with the coming of Spring!Readers will learn about regional and local celebrations' origins, history, and quirkiness from ancient Rome to modern Bulgaria. Season of Madness explores the interconnectivity of pagan beliefs throughout Europe and how those beliefs and traditions evolved over time and through the Christian conquest.A Season of Madness is sumptuously illustrated with over one hundred historical and modern images and illustrations in this deluxe paperback edition. Ridenour’s first book, Krampus and the Old, Dark Christmas: Roots and Rebirth of the Folkloric Devil (2018) is considered by critics the definitive authority on pagan winter celebrations. Aside from his books and podcast, Ridenour is a sought-after expert and lecturer.
Cold Glitter: The Untold Story of Canadian Glam uncovers a forgotten yet fascinating chapter on glam rock music and culture…from Canada. Los Angeles-based multi-disciplinary artist Robert Dayton taps his Canadian roots to reveal mind-blowing stories of musicians fighting to be heard. It's a universal story of determined creators striving to make their voices heard. Dayton has spent years researching and interviewing these ground-breaking musicians trapped by geography, colonial mindsets, and the difficulties of penetrating the cultural behemoth that is the United States. There’s no denying that glam rock was marginalized in Canada. In fact, RCA almost didn’t release the 1973 Bowie-produced Lou Reed album “Transformer” in Canada because they didn’t see a market for it. Of course, they were wrong! Cold Glitter gets at the reasons why: nature vs. artifice, old world values vs. new freedoms, and how transgressive actions—including gender play, as well as intense stories from these top acts on how they were run out of town for appearing outrageous. Filled with stories from musicians about what they did to build a career and fight against the old guard controlling the airwaves and stages. Readers everywhere will find solidarity with the all-too-familiar story of artists who were attacked for appearing outrageous and daring to be different. Within the struggle to be fabulous are anecdotes of fun and mayhem. Readers will be taken back to the seventies as they meet the unknown and infamous musicians and artists who dared to be glamorous. Familiar names like magician Doug Henning, Vancouver band Sweeney Todd and their lead singer Nick Gilder, and his replacement, Bryan Adams, to underground heroes like The Dishes, to hundreds of musicians who put away their mascara and left their glamorous wild days behind.Cold Glitter is filled with rare (and sometimes outrageous) images throughout and additional chapters on glam fashion, film, and comedy in Canada. You'll be amazed to discover how many of their favorite artists were and are secretly Canadian.
Are there dinosaurs in the Bible? Are dragon legends basedon human encounters with fire-breathing dinosaurs? A vast and ever-growing body of literature proclaims thatthe answer to both these questions is yes. Dinosaurs & Dragons takes readers on a madcap journey through science, folklore, and anti-evolutionpropaganda to explore the origin and evolution of these ideas and how we knowthey’re wrong. The journey begins with the origin of the dragon in ancientmyth and continues through the astounding fossil discoveries of more recenttimes. Dr. Senter examines a plethora of bizarre claims about dinosaurs anduses knowledge from modern scholarship to set the record straight. He alsoexplores proposed mechanisms for fire-breathing in dinosaurs and tries them ina court of science. Along the way, readers are treated to explanations ofrocket fuel, nuclear power plants, carnival fire-eating, the electric eel’sshocking capabilities, and what’s up a crocodile’s nose.Written in a playful spirit of discovery, Dinosaurs &Dragons entertains as it promotes evidence-based reasoning and illustratesthe differences between science and anti-evolution hype.
"Seattle band, The Gits and their charismatic front person Mia Zapata were on the verge of international rock stardom but on July 7, 1993, days before their third US tour, Mia Zapata, The Gits 27-year-old singer-songwriter, was brutally assaulted and murdered by a stranger. Zapata's death sent chilling ripples through progressive communities throughout the United States. She became a cause-celebre for women's rights activists outraged by the brutal killing and lack of law enforcement support. This book reclaims Zapata's story to focus on the art she and The Gits created and not her tragic end. Much has been written and said about her murder, yet Zapata's life and work remain overshadowed by the circumstances of her death. Zapata's friend and bandmate, Steve Moriarty, tells her story--and the story of their band, The Gits--from their first meeting in 1985 to their last goodbye. Moriarity and Zapata met in 1985 as first-year students at Antioch College, where they discovered the power of punk rock and found an outlet for their progressive ideas through music. Zapata, Moriarity, and fellow students Matt Dresdner and Andy Kessler attended a show by San Francisco punk legends Dead Kennedys that inspired the friends to start a band fueled by Mia's provocative lyrics. They quickly gained critical praise and dedicated fans. Moriarty details their struggles as newcomers to the then-pre-tech outpost of the Seattle music scene. Interspersed are the tales Zapata told of her legendary ancestor, Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, to entertain the band as they spen't countless hours on the road crammed into a single un-air-conditioned van touring the US and Europe. They shared stages with Beck, Nirvana, Mudhoney, Joan Jett, Bikini Kill, L7, and more--all who expected Mia and The Gits to be the next "big thing.""--
The Apocalypse Omnibus collects the best of Adam Parfrey’s essays in a single volume. Adam Parfrey was, before starting iconoclastic publisher Feral House, a writer. His foresight in revealing extreme trends and societal angst long before mainstream media had any inkling of the darkness bubbling just under the surface of American culture earned him praise and derision. Apocalypse Culture (1987) was hailed by J.G. Ballard as the “terminal documents of the Twentieth Century.”Many of the included essays are eerily prescient as Parfrey warned about right-wing militias in the early nineties and documented the rise of conspiracy-dominated thinking decades before Republican government officials loudly declared political opponents were satanically inspired drinkers of baby blood. Yet Parfrey’s interests were wide-ranging and Apocalypse Omnibus includes profiles of outré characters, artists, and, yes, some crackpots. Parfrey loved tweaking American mythology by resurrecting lost texts highlighting outlaws and outsiders. He continually sought to expose the absurdity of American culture. His collective writings have become the ur-texts of the "Dirtbag Left.""Parfrey was fascinated by the contrast between America portrayed as wholesome freedom-loving peacekeepers and the reality of covert military operations, mass-drug experiments, and the obscured “wizards” hidden behind the curtain pulling the levers of power. His work has been lauded as groundbreaking and criticized as dangerous. In a time when truth has been stretched to the breaking point, Parfrey’s essays remind readers that there is always more to the story.Apocalypse Omnibus also contains material previously published in the out-of-print books, Apocalypse Culture 2 (2003) and Cult Rapture (1995), as well as new material culled from his extensive private archives. It also contains a selection of Parfrey’s essays and investigations, originally published in the San Diego Reader, Village Voice, Hustler Magazine, and on his own site, and inaccessible for years, are collected here in a single volume. Includes one full-color insert of Adam by Joe Coleman.
First published in 1929, Cradle of the Deep was the bestselling book that became ascandal!In 1923, Joan Lowell was an aspiring writerand rising silent film star in Hollywood. Young, beautiful, and talented, shewas adored by all. Then she published her autobiography in 1929: a rip-roaringmemoir of a young girl growing up on a schooner with her hearty sea captainfather and a crew of salty sailors and the incredible and death-defyingadventures she had traveling the world.Except...none of it was true!Born in 1902 in Berkeley, California as HelenWagner to a middle-class family. Yes, her father was a Pacific Ocean merchantschooner captain. And yes, he took Joan-and her mother-on a 15-month sailingadventure when she was a girl. After knocking around odd jobs in San Francisco,young Helen moved to Los Angeles to take acting lessons and began her career.Her early notable roles were in pirate movies as either the intrepid heroine ordamsel in distress.She published her "autobiography" which becamea runaway best-seller in 1929. But a few months later, the truth was revealed.She had never left the shores of California! Amidst the scandal, Joan remaineddefiant, telling the Pittsburgh Press in 1930, "Eighty percent of it was true and the rest I coloredup. I made some changes to protect people and the rest to make it betterreading. That's an author's privilege."This edition features archival photos and press clippings and a short biography of Joan Lowell and her infamous book.
"Metal bands exploded during the 1980s. Influenced by the heavy sounds coming out of Britain via Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, young guitar shredders turned the amps up and played harder and faster. American record companies scooped up a few bands and signed them to major label recording deals (Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax) but that left hundreds of bands--and their fans--trying to get their songs heard."--
"At the beginning of the Coronavirus outbreak, what was supposed to be a long-awaited homecoming becomesa desperate adventure escaping border guards and surviving on candy bars, allthe while trying to avoid losing her cool with unwanted and unlikely travelingcompanions."--
"In this modern retelling of a beloved Hindu folktale, writer and illustrator Mahendra Singh brings a delightful story of a mother's unconditional love to sumptuous full-color pages. Young Krishna is bored with village life and amuses himself with pranks and games. His neighbors don't appreciate his self-absorbed frolics that wreak havoc on the village. As Krishna grows, he realizes that even a young god should listen to his parents."--
Apocalypse, maybe? No one wants to be the middle child of history. Thinking about surviving the apocalypse feels significant, like we’re part of the eternal cosmos, instead of just another organism passing along an infinite timeline. We all want to experience something remarkable in our lifetimes…even if that something results in our own demise.The End is at Hand is a collection of short essays about how people throughout history believe the world could end. The book explores how it has all ended before, when we mistakenly thought it would end again, and the many ways it could end in the future. Though organized chronologically, beginning with prehistoric extinctions and extending in the distant future when the universe may (or may not) collapse. Nothing lasts forever, including the worlds we inhabit – human society, our planet, or the entire universe.The End is at Hand entertains as much as it informs, striking a balance of wry humor with scientifically backed research. Author Darrell Perkins complements these cataclysmic tales with finely crafted linocut illustrations that beautifully evoke impending doom.Darrel Perkins is a printmaker, illustrator, and educator from Providence, Rhode Island, USA. He earned an MFA in illustration from Edinburgh College of Art in Scotland. His work has been exhibited and published throughout the US, Europe, and the Middle East over the past ten years. Perkins is currently a professor of Visual Communication at American University in Dubai.
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