Christopher Janney is a musician who designs buildings, an architect who makes music, an artist whose works invite interaction and engagement as opposed to passive appreciation. His big idea is, in essence, absurdly simple, yet if taken up and widely applied could have profound and far-reaching effects on the environments where we live, work and play. As documented in this fascinating new book, his Urban Musical Instruments are public installations or constructions that double as instruments that can be played by people in the vicinity. In Touch My Building (1998) a giant bank garage in North Carolina gains coloured glass panels and neon fins that trigger sound and light. Sonic Forest is an array of 25 aluminium columns fitted with speakers, lights and sensors that are triggered by human interaction, the music continually changing and evolving in response. It can be set up differently as the site demands. These works are what public art should be - intriguing, colourful, exciting and sensitive and responsive to the environment they are located in. The book documents these and other similar projects, as well as houses designed by Janney, including his own, that make good use of coloured glass to give the properties ever-shifting light and shade. Each project is well-illustrated with detailed plans and photographs, not just of the buildings but of design details like the 'Sun-Moon Clock' which tells the time for the rising and setting of sun and moon. As with the 'Urban Musical Instruments', this illustrates that one of the most interesting aspects of Janney's work is the attempt to connect high technology with nature, to overcome the anomie too often induced by the digital. He demands a hearing.

Irena: My Story of Survival

Arts & Photography

Beth Dunlop

Christopher Janney

Ellen Lampert-Greaux

Individual Artists

LifeStories

The family was changed by a boy-a stubborn, relentless, infuriating-but ingenious and creative boy. He was the first in a family of six children, with parents who initially balked at his fantasies. Yet almost everything that captured the world's attention-double-decker bicycles, international hang gliding records, the drama of "flying" a motorcycle, a British championship won by landing on one foot-all these were part of young Bob Wills's singular vision. Prevailing against all the people who called him impractical, a dreamer, Bobby became a legend in the fledgling sport of hang gliding. Sports Illustrated wrote of him, "Like Paul Elvstrom, the great Danish sailor, he seems now to own a special part of the wind that not even he can see and no one else can find." In the end, Bobby not only profoundly changed his family and the pilots who flocked to emulate him,he did what he'd intended all along. He lived a life that had never been lived before.

Higher Than Eagles: The Tragedy and Triumph of an American Family

Sports & Outdoors

Wills, Maralys

Wills, Chris A.

Biographies

The eldest of three in an unconventional family making their way through The Great Depression, Betty narrates this humorous and poignant recollection. Although poor in possessions, Betty's family leads a life so rich in turmoil that it rivals today's sitcoms. Betty's young parents tie and untie the marital knot three times amidst a string of separations. When relatives become too weary to keep the children, Betty and her siblings are dropped off at The Home for the Friendless where they enjoy three meals a day, indoor plumbing, a grassy playground, and plenty of holiday parties. When the family reunites two years later, the roller coaster resumes as they move many times across two states, proving that love overcomes all and that normal isn't always better.

Home for the Friendless: Finding Hope, Love, and Family

Biographies & Memoirs

Auchard, Betty

Regional U.S.

Neon lights, high-rollers, and celebrities behaving badly are some of the images people see when they think of Las Vegas. But before Vegas became known as "Sin City," it was a small town in the desert where everyone knew each other. It was a place not unlike many communities across the country with its homes, churches, schools, and community events.Elaine McNamara's story is not a tell-all about the gangsters and Hollywood stars who have dominated the legends of Las Vegas, nor is it a commentary about the "good old days." Instead, Elaine shares memories and stories of a side of Las Vegas that most visitors never see and what a fabulous city Las Vegas was to grow-up in.

In the Midst of Cowboys, Crooners, and Gangsters: Recollections of the Las Vegas Glamour Era

Mcnamara, Elaine Cali

Arts & Literature

Telling a good story is a talent, and Stu Michaels was born with a silver tongue. A modern-day Will Rogers, Michaels has turned his experiences as a New York City detective and a Las Vegas casino security boss into a book full of rich and witty tales. From a cop's life on the streets of Brooklyn to hobnobbing with celebrities in the resorts of Las Vegas, Michaels delivers intriguing insights and nonstop laughs. He's seen it all, from tracking the Son of Sam serialkiller in New York to record shopping sprees with Michael Jackson in Las Vegas. Along the way, Michaels has met many of the world's most famous and interesting people, encounters that inevitably yielded a fascinating story.

You Can't Make This Up!: Cops, Crooks, and Celebrities from Brooklyn to Las Vegas

Michaels, Stu

Memoirs

In the golden age of the showgirl, dancers were treated like royalty. But Las Vegas legend Betty Bunch was no pampered princess. In her thirty years on the stage, screen, and television, she faced everything from a threatening tiger and menacing movie elephants to leering mob men and bait-in-switch producers.Betty impressed and worked with many of the day's best known stars. She danced in the movies South Pacific, Bells Are Ringing, Imitation of Life and others, as well as performing at nine Las Vegas resorts. Betty spent time on the road as a featured dancer with Tony Martin, Louis Prima and and the Witnesses, Jimmy Durante, and three television specials with Dean Martin. She was a featured performer in the original company of Bottoms Up at Caesars Palace.In recognition of Betty's talent, the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Nevada's largest daily newspaper named her as one of Las Vegas' best showgirls of all time.

High Heels and Headdresses: Memoirs of a Vintage Vegas Showgirl

Bunch, Betty

Humor & Entertainment

With his outlandish, machine-gun rapid-fire humor, Cork Proctor has been knockin' 'em dead for sixty years. . . literally. From his first attempt at stand-up comedy as a gravedigger entertaining his co-worker to lounges and showrooms around the world--on land and sea--this left-handed, dyslexic, two-time high school dropout has not only seen it all, he tells it all.

My Mind Is An Open Mouth: A Life Behind the Mic

Proctor, Cork

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the LifeStories publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by LifeStories