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Popular Culture March 2010

"A celebrity is a person who works hard all his life to become well known, then wears dark glasses to avoid being recognized."
~ Fred Allen (1894-1956), American comedian

New and Recently Released!


Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour - by David Bianculli
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 12/01/2009
ISBN-13: 9781439101162
ISBN-10: 1439101167
Those too young to remember the Smothers Brothers on television probably think of them as old-fashioned, and may be surprised to learn that their variety show was provocative for its time. Pushing boundaries (while their network, CBS, tried to rein them in), Tom and Dick Smothers were subversive comics who slipped in drug references, invited controversial guests, and took political stands. Despite the show's popularity, CBS canceled it in 1969 after only three years; the brothers continued to work in the entertainment industry and still tour together today. Readers interested in similar collisions between comedy and the establishment might also want to read George Carlin's posthumous autobiography, Last Words.

Willie Mays: The Life, the Legend - by James S. Hirsch
Publisher: Scribner
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 02/09/2010
ISBN-13: 9781416547907
ISBN-10: 1416547908
In this authorized biography of baseball great Willie Mays, author James S. Hirsch offers a gripping portrait of the man whom many feel is the greatest baseball player of all time. Based not only on interviews with friends, former teammates, and family members but also on conversations with Mays himself, this biography shares some information on the Say Hey Kid's personal life, but is at its best when analyzing Mays' time on the baseball field. If you're curious about the man whose athleticism and feats of base running, fielding, and hitting mesmerized baseball fans for more than 20 years, don't miss Willie Mays: The Life, the Legend.

I Slept with Joey Ramone: A Family Memoir - by Mickey Leigh with Legs McNeil
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 12/01/2009
ISBN-13: 9780743252164
ISBN-10: 0743252160
If you're not familiar with punk rock legend Joey Ramone and his family, you could be forgiven for thinking that this is a dishy tell-all memoir by a groupie, but in actuality, the author, Mickey Leigh, is Joey's brother. As with many siblings, their relationship was often tumultuous--indeed, it wasn't until Joey was dying from cancer that the brothers reconciled their differences. Nevertheless, this behind-the-scenes portrait of the awkward and sometimes violent kid who grew up to be a rockstar details his childhood in Queens, his efforts to combat mental illness through music, and the infighting and tragedies that ended the band's frenetic successes.

I Am Ozzy - by Ozzy Osbourne with Chris Ayers
Publisher: Grand Central
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 01/25/2010
ISBN-13: 9780446569897
ISBN-10: 0446569895
Famous as the former lead singer for heavy metal band Black Sabbath, for a successful solo career, and for his reality TV show, Ozzy Osbourne began life in a depressing British factory town and was in jail (for burglary--he wasn't very good at it) by 18. As befits the legendary rocker, Ozzy's memoir discusses his working-class upbringing, career, and relationships in an in-your-face style--and he doesn't forget to include the bat-biting incident and the alcohol- and drug-fueled excesses that helped build his reputation. In reading this memoir, you'll no doubt wonder how he managed to survive for so long, but fans will enjoy his slangy, expletive-ridden take on his exploits and long-running career.
Shtick Lit
Technically, "shtick lit" refers to people who engage in an experience just so they can write about it. Some of the authors below fall into that category (A.J. Jacobs, for one); others started blogs that turned into books. Still others just fell into the writing process after embarking on their travels. But it's a crowd-pleasing form that was popularized by sportswriter George Plimpton's Paper Lion in 1966, and has most recently been embodied in Robyn Okrant's Living Oprah.

Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing - by Ted Conover
Publisher: Vintage Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 06/01/2001
ISBN-13: 9780375726620
ISBN-10: 0375726624
Having been refused entry to New York's Sing Sing prison as a journalist, Ted Conover attended a corrections-officer training academy and worked there as a prison guard for nearly a year. There, he was faced with the rigors of the prison system, which included a perpetually tense atmosphere in which the threat of violence was very real. Just as difficult to deal with were the frustration, the monotony, the psychological games, and the eventual dehumanization of both prisoner and prison guard. "Riveting," says Publishers Weekly.

The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible - by A.J. Jacobs
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 10/09/2007
ISBN-13: 9780743291477
ISBN-10: 0743291476
Avoid mixed-fiber clothing. Stone blasphemers. Pray three times daily. Grow a beard. Kill magicians and destroy idols. These are just some of the more than 800 instructions found in the Hebrew Bible that author A.J. Jacobs attempted to follow for one year. The result is both edifying and entertaining, as Jacobs stops shaving, consults with his spiritual board, explores biblical literalism, and tries to understand why these rules were written. Though by the end he isn't necessarily a convert, he certainly isn't unaffected by his journey, for if nothing else he's found solace in prayer. Jacobs has made something of a career out of shtick lit--you can read about the time he spent reading the encyclopedia in The Know-It-All, or try his memoir, The Guinea Pig Diaries.

Dishwasher: One Man's Quest to Wash Dishes in All Fifty States - by Pete Jordan
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 05/01/2007
ISBN-13: 9780060896423
ISBN-10: 0060896426
Perhaps we can all agree that it's good to have goals: Pete Jordan's was to wash dishes in all 50 U.S. states. Inspiration struck in a fish cannery in Alaska and took him to a dinner train in Rhode Island and an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, with numerous stops in between. Along the way, he wrote 15 issues of a cult 'zine, was invited to appear on The David Letterman Show, and ate a ton of leftovers (courtesy of the "bus tub buffet"). Of course, it took 12 years, but Dishwasher Pete enjoyed the itinerant lifestyle and even became something of a celebrity. His enjoyable memoir of his time as a suds buster is chock full of dishwashing lingo, history, and, of course, his own adventures. Don't miss it.

Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously - by Julie Powell
Publisher: Back Bay Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 07/01/2009
ISBN-13: 9780316044271
ISBN-10: 031604427X
Oppressed by a going-nowhere secretarial job and a lackluster Queens apartment, Julie Powell needed a change. The challenge that this ambitious foodie settled on: preparing each and every one of the 536 recipes in Julia Child's 1961 classic Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Whew! This memoir is her account of the year-long endeavor, which not only taught her the proper way to kill a lobster and prepare Mayonnaise Collee but also transformed her marriage, career, and direction in life. Plus, her efforts (which started as a blog) resulted not only in a book deal, but a movie starring Amy Adams and Meryl Streep. For more food-related challenges, try Cathy Erway's The Art of Eating In.

Don't Eat this Book: Fast Food and the Supersizing of America - by Morgan Spurlock, Morgan
Publisher: Berkley Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 05/02/2006
ISBN-13: 9780425210239
ISBN-10: 0425210235
With the goal of documenting just how detrimental a diet of fast food is to the human body, Morgan Spurlock took it upon himself to eat three meals a day at McDonalds for 30 days. He filmed this experiment, which became the basis of the Oscar-nominated documentary Super Size Me. Here, he continues his assault on fast food. While Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation covers similar ground, Don't Eat this Book has the benefit of Spurlock's first-hand experiment, for he documents the weight he gained (25 pounds), his deteriorating health, and his mood swings. It'll have you thinking twice about fast food, that's for sure.
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