The Frontman

Ron Bahar is an insecure, self-deprecating, seventeen-year-old Nebraskan striving to please his Israeli immigrant parents, Ophira and Ezekiel, while remaining true to his own dreams. During his senior year of high school, he begins to date longtime crush and non-Jewish girl Amy Andrews—a forbidden relationship he hides from his parents. But that’s not the only complicated part of Ron’s life: he’s also struggling to choose between his two passions, medicine and music. As time goes on, he becomes entangled in a compelling world of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Will he do the right thing? A fictionalized memoir of the author’s life as a young man in Lincoln, Nebraska, The Frontman is a coming-of-age tale of love and fidelity.

Celebrity philanthropy comes in many guises, but no single figure better encapsulates its delusions, pretensions and wrongheadedness than U2’s iconic frontman, Bono—a fact neither sunglasses nor leather pants can hide. More than a mere philanthropist—indeed, he lags behind many of his peers when it comes to parting with his own money—Bono is better described as an advocate, one who has become an unwitting symbol of a complacent wealthy Western elite. The Frontman reveals how Bono moved his investments to Amsterdam to evade Irish taxes; his paternalistic and often bullying advocacy of neoliberal solutions in Africa; his multinational business interests; and his hobnobbing with Paul Wolfowitz and shock-doctrine economist Jeffrey Sachs. Carefully dissecting the rhetoric and actions of Bono the political operator, The Frontman shows him to be an ambassador for imperial exploitation, a man who has turned his attention to a world of savage injustice, inequality and exploitation—and helped make it worse.

Celebrity philanthropy comes in many guises, but no single figure better encapsulates its delusions, pretensions and wrongheadedness than U2's iconic frontman, Bono-a fact neither sunglasses nor leather pants can hide. More than a mere philanthropist-indeed, he lags behind many of his peers when it comes to parting with his own money-Bono is better described as an advocate, one who has become an unwitting symbol of a complacent wealthy Western elite. The Frontman reveals how Bono moved his investments to Amsterdam to evade Irish taxes; his paternalistic and often bullying advocacy of neoliberal solutions in Africa; his multinational business interests; and his hobnobbing with Paul Wolfowitz and shock-doctrine economist Jeffrey Sachs. Carefully dissecting the rhetoric and actions of Bono the political operator, The Frontman shows him to be an ambassador for imperial exploitation, a man who has turned his attention to a world of savage injustice, inequality and exploitation-and helped make it worse.

Kerry Vance is a legend, a leather-lunged, Grammy-nominated, heavy metal madman. When he dies under mysterious circumstances at the start of his latest European tour, his fans are crushed. To the outside world it looks like just another rock-n-roll tragedy, another talented musician done in by excess. But there is much more at play than his family and friends realize. As they try to come to terms with their loss, a mysterious woman from Kerry’s past comes to them and tells them that his death was no accident. And if things are to be set right, they’ll have to be willing to put everything on the line.

"In Frontman, we are along for the ride as Barone recounts, in a frank and charmingly-funny style, the supernova express of New York City stardom and endless tours; parties; sexual politics, divas, disappointments, and drugs; his journey of self-discovery through music; and a lifetime's worth of hard-gained advice for anyone, interested in getting into the music business - or just surviving in it. Frontman is the story of a unique man who has outlived the myth."--BOOK JACKET.

"In Frontman, we are along for the ride as Barone recounts, in a frank and charmingly-funny style, the supernova express of New York City stardom and endless tours; parties; sexual politics, divas, disappointments, and drugs; his journey of self-discovery through music; and a lifetime's worth of hard-gained advice for anyone, interested in getting into the music business - or just surviving in it. Frontman is the story of a unique man who has outlived the myth."--BOOK JACKET.

With exclusive access to Strummer's friends, relatives, and fellow musicians, music journalist Chris Salewicz penetrates the soul of an rock 'n roll icon. The Clash was--and still is--one of the most important groups of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Indebted to rockabilly, reggae, Memphis soul, cowboy justice, and '60s protest, the overtly political band railed against war, racism, and a dead-end economy, and in the process imparted a conscience to punk. Their eponymous first record and London Calling still rank in Rolling Stone's top-ten best albums of all time, and in 2003 they were officially inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Joe Strummer was the Clash's front man, a rock-and-roll hero seen by many as the personification of outlaw integrity and street cool. The political heart of the Clash, Strummer synthesized gritty toughness and poetic sensitivity in a manner that still resonates with listeners, and his untimely death in December 2002 shook the world, further solidifying his iconic status. Salewicz was a friend to Strummer for close to three decades and has covered the Clash's career and the entire punk movement from its inception. He uses his vantage point to write Redemption Song, the definitive biography of Strummer, charting his enormous worldwide success, his bleak years in the wilderness after the Clash's bitter breakup, and his triumphant return to stardom at the end of his life. Salewicz argues for Strummer's place in a long line of protest singers that includes Woody Guthrie, John Lennon, and Bob Marley, and examines by turns Strummer's and punk's ongoing cultural influence.

Terry McCaleb, one of the most effective serial-killer investigators in the history of the FBI, hunts down his heart donor's killer.

The story, in his own words, of one of the most popular and influential British popstars of the past 30 years. Begins in the district of Springburn where Bobby Gillespie was born into a working-class Glaswegian family in the summer of 1961 and closes with the release of Screamadelica, the album often credited with 'starting the '90s'