An exploration and celebration of a controversial tradition that, contrary to popular opinion, is alive and active after more than 150 years. Yuval Taylor and Jake Austen investigate the complex history of black minstrelsy, adopted in the mid-nineteenth century by African American performers who played the grinning blackface fool to entertain black and white audiences. We now consider minstrelsy an embarrassing relic, but once blacks and whites alike saw it as a black art form―and embraced it as such. And, as the authors reveal, black minstrelsy remains deeply relevant to popular black entertainment, particularly in the work of contemporary artists like Dave Chappelle, Flavor Flav, Spike Lee, and Lil Wayne. Darkest America explores the origins, heyday, and present-day manifestations of this tradition, exploding the myth that it was a form of entertainment that whites foisted on blacks, and shining a sure-to-be controversial light on how these incendiary performances can be not only demeaning but also, paradoxically, liberating. 12 illustrations

Darkest America: Black Minstrelsy from Slavery to Hip-Hop

Arts & Photography

Taylor, Yuval

Austen, Jake

Music

W.W.Norton&Company

<ol>
<li>Fans of punk rock and New Wave music will be impressed by this collection of never-before-seen images</li>
<li>The first-time release of this private photo collection, Zone's photo memoir will give new insight into what some might see as a saturated field, proving that underground rock royalty will never grow old</li>
<li>This book is the chronicle of a 14-year-old boy through his teens; so he was invisible to the people he was photographing, giving him an extra boost in terms of taking candid photographs</li>
<li>Fans of Blondie will flock to this insider's guide to the era</li>
<li>Inspirational volume of D.I.Y. style that appeals to youth and adults around the world, even more culturally relevant in the face of an ever-changing New York</li>
</ol>
 While most teenagers daydreamed of summer break while playing rock 'n' roll in their bedrooms, fourteen-year-old Paul Zone danced away his youth in underground clubs with those very same rock stars, exploring the concrete playground with actors, drag queens, and drug addicts. The mid-1970s was a time when the death of glam and the birth of punk rock collided in a celebration of glitter and grunge, and Zone had a front-row seat to it all. In this incredible photo memoir, Zone shares personal images that have never been released to the public alongside memories of the era, all through the eyes of a youngster whose reverential regard to his subjects made him a regular fixture in the lives of these greats. Zone captures the joys and the fantasy of the New York underground with a genuine intimacy, making this volume a worthy tribute to the legends of underground rock royalty.

Playground: Growing Up in the New York Underground

Zone, Paul

Photography & Video

G Letters

TV-a-Go-Go: Rock on TV from American Bandstand to American Idol

From Elvis and a hound dog wearing matching tuxedos and the comic adventures of artificially produced bands to elaborate music videos and contrived reality-show contests, television—as this critical look brilliantly shows—has done a superb job of presenting the energy of rock in a fabulously entertaining but patently "fake" manner. The dichotomy of "fake" and "real" music as it is portrayed on television is presented in detail through many generations of rock music: the Monkees shared the charts with the Beatles, Tupac and Slayer fans voted for corny American Idols, and shows like Shindig! and Soul Train somehow captured the unhinged energy of rock far more effectively than most long-haired guitar-smashing acts. Also shown is how TV has often delighted in breaking the rules while still mostly playing by them: Bo Diddley defied Ed Sullivan and sang rock and roll after he had been told not to, the Chipmunks' subversive antics prepared kids for punk rock, and things got out of hand when Saturday Night Live invited punk kids to attend a taping of the band Fear. Every aspect of the idiosyncratic history of rock and TV and their peculiar relationship is covered, including cartoon rock, music programming for African American audiences, punk on television, Michael Jackson's life on TV, and the tortured history of MTV and its progeny.

Chicago Review Press

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Books by Austen, Jake