The life and songs of singer-songwriter Momus during his time at Creation records and beyond. Momus - the stage name of musician Nicholas Currie - is one of the most prolific and talented indie songwriters of the last forty years. His work is controversial, influential and highly regarded. From aspiring indie pop star of the 1980s to Japanese chart success in the 1990s through many experimental works to the present day, he has been a constant in the search for intelligent, thinking person's pop. Jarvis Cocker asked him to produce his band Pulp, the NME memorably awarded his album "Hippopotamomus" 0/10, Creation Records dropped him when he proved too dangerous for them, and his more controversial work led to astounding legal tussles. His personal life has involved scandal and heartbreak and he lost an eye following an infection, resulting in his distinctive eye-patch. His songs including "The Hairstyle of the Devil", "The Guitar Lesson" and "I Want You but I Don't Need You" are acclaimed and have been covered by artists including Amanda Palmer and Steven Wilson.

One of Andy Warhol’s superstars recalls the birth of an art movement—and the death of an icon In this audacious tell-all memoir, Ultra Violet, born Isabelle Collin Dufresne, relives her years with Andy Warhol at the Factory and all of the madness that accompanied the sometimes-violent delivery of pop art. Starting with her botched seduction of the “shy, near-blind, bald, gay albino” from Pittsburgh, Ultra Violet installs herself in Warhol’s world, becoming his muse for years to come. But she does more than just inspire; she also watches, listens, and remembers, revealing herself to be an ideal tour guide to the “assembly line for art, sex, drugs, and film” that is the Factory. Famous for 15 Minutes drips with juicy details about celebrities and cultural figures in vignettes filled with surreptitious cocaine spoons, shameless sex, and insights into perhaps the most recognizable but least intimately known artist in the world. Beyond the legendary artist himself are the throngs of Factory “regulars”—Billy Name, Baby Jane Holzer, Brigid Polk—and the more transient celebrities who make appearances—Bob Dylan, Jane Fonda, Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon. Delightfully bizarre and always entertaining, filled with colorful scenes and larger-than-life personalities, this dishy page-turner is shot through with the author’s vivid imagery and piercing observations of a cultural idol and his eclectic, voyeuristic, altogether riveting world.

In day-to-day speech we use words and phrases without a passing thought as to why we use them or where they come from. Max Cryer changes all that by showing how fascinating the English language really is. Did you know that the former host of Today, Jane Pauley, claims to have coined the term “bad hair day,” or that a CBS engineer named Charley Douglass invented the name and use of “canned laughter” for television, or that “cold turkey” as a term for quitting something immediately was popularized by the novel and movie (starring Frank Sinatra), The Man with the Golden Arm? Here you’ll learn the origins of “credibility gap,” “my lips are sealed,” “the opera’s not over until the fat lady sings,” “supermarket,” “supermodel,” “there’s no accounting for taste,” “thick as thieves,” and hundreds more. For anyone who loves language, this new book will “take the cake.”

From $10,000 tweets to making money in the afterlife, a recovering gossip columnist explores the business lessons that power the Hollywood Industrial Complex Why do celebrities get paid so much more than regular people to do a job that seems to afford them the same amount of leisure time as most retirees? What do Bush-era economics have to do with the rise of Kim Kardashian? How do the laws of supply and demand explain why the stars of Teen Mom are on the cover of Us Weekly? And how was the sale of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s baby pictures a little like a street drug deal? After a decade spent toiling as an entertainment journalist and gossip columnist, Jo Piazza asks the hard questions about the business behind celebrity. Make no mistake: Celebrity is an industry. Never in the course of human history has the market for celebrities been as saturated as it is today. Nearly every day most Americans will consume something a celebrity is selling—a fragrance, a sneaker, a song, a movie, a show, a tweet, or a photo in a magazine. With the benefits of Piazza’s unique access to the celebrity market, Celebrity, Inc. explains in detail what generates cash for the industry and what drains value faster than a starlet downs champagne—in twelve fascinating case studies that tackle celebrities the way industry analysts would dissect any consumer brand.

The inspirational bestseller that ignited a movement and asked us to find our WHY Discover the book that is captivating millions on TikTok and that served as the basis for one of the most popular TED Talks of all time—with more than 56 million views and counting. Over a decade ago, Simon Sinek started a movement that inspired millions to demand purpose at work, to ask what was the WHY of their organization. Since then, millions have been touched by the power of his ideas, and these ideas remain as relevant and timely as ever. START WITH WHY asks (and answers) the questions: why are some people and organizations more innovative, more influential, and more profitable than others? Why do some command greater loyalty from customers and employees alike? Even among the successful, why are so few able to repeat their success over and over? People like Martin Luther King Jr., Steve Jobs, and the Wright Brothers had little in common, but they all started with WHY. They realized that people won't truly buy into a product, service, movement, or idea until they understand the WHY behind it. START WITH WHY shows that the leaders who have had the greatest influence in the world all think, act and communicate the same way—and it's the opposite of what everyone else does. Sinek calls this powerful idea The Golden Circle, and it provides a framework upon which organizations can be built, movements can be led, and people can be inspired. And it all starts with WHY.

Two journalists describe their whirlwind efforts to become famous in two weeks by getting their names and faces in magazines, newspapers, and on television.