The Magic Years

Scenes from a Rock-and-Roll Life

The Magic Years
Jonathan Taplin
RRP:
NZ$ 58.99
Our Price:
NZ$ 48.37
Hardback
h229 x 152mm - 344pg
20 May 2021 US
International import eta 7-19 days
9781597145251
Out Of Stock
Currently no stock in-store, stock is sourced to your order
Jonathan Taplin' s extraordinary journey has put him at the crest of every major cultural wave in the past half century: he was tour manager for Bob Dylan and the Band in the ' 60s, producer of major films in the ' 70s, an executive at Merrill Lynch in the ' 80s, creator of the Internet' s first video-on-demand service in the ' 90s, and a cultural critic and author writing about technology in the new millennium. His is a lifetime marked not only by good timing but by impeccable instincts-from the folk scene to Woodstock, Hollywood' s rebellious film movement, and beyond. Taplin is not just a witness but a lifelong producer, the right-hand man to some of the greatest talents of both pop culture and the underground. With cameos by Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Martin Scorsese, and countless other icons, The Magic Years is both a rock memoir and a work of cultural criticism from a key player who watched a nation turn from idealism to nihilism. Taplin offers a clear-eyed roadmap of how we got here and makes a convincing case for art' s power to deliver us from "passionless detachment" and rekindle our humanism.
"Jonathan Taplin has lived many lives and all of them have intersected with greatness. In this candid, insightful memoir, he chronicles his collaboration with seminal artists. This is a fascinating insider perspective of a time that forever changed music and film. "-Don Henley"The Magic Years remarkably shares how Jon Taplin was on the front lines of so many pivotal and historic events. He has a helluva story to tell. I wouldn' t believe it if I hadn' t seen a lot of it with my own eyes. "-Robbie Robertson"Jonathan Taplin and I had our share of conflicts and disagreements, but he was the one who made Mean Streets and The Last Waltz possible, for which I will always be grateful. We had quite a few adventures on both projects, and they' re all chronicled in this memoir of his colorful life in show business. "-Martin Scorsese"The Magic Years reads like a Magical Mystery Tour of music, loss, beauty, family, justice, and social upheaval. It contains true magic, and true inspiration, as do the years, the people, and the story Taplin recalls. "-Rosanne Cash"Jon Taplin has lived an extraordinary life during an extraordinary time. I have watched him land on his feet again and again after completing death-defying midair acrobatics. I don' t know if the things in this book actually happened, but I know all of it is true. "-T Bone Burnett"The Magic Years disproves Robin Williams' s famous line: Jon Taplin remembers the sixties (and seventies and beyond) and he was definitely there, as a maker and impresario. It' s an enviably rich life that he chronicles with unfailing charm and menschy generosity. "-Kurt Andersen, author of Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking of America"Taplin is a formidable writer whose wit, attention to detail, and gift for turning a phrase makes The Magic Years a book worthy of its legendary subjects. " -Danny Goldberg, author of Serving the Servant: Remembering Kurt Cobain"In 1968, when the Band' s Music from Big Pink was released, it felt like the incense and acid haze hanging over the music had been blown away by a cool mountain breeze. Jon Taplin was present for those days, and for everything that came afterwards. His memoir is as clear and strong as an Adirondack stream. Catch this cannonball. "-Charles P. Pierce, author of Idiot America: How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free"It' s uncanny to find someone closely involved in so many iconic events, and with such understanding. That' s why you have to read this vital book: despite losses, exhaustion, and compromise, the love and faith in it call us to make a new, glad day. "-Nigel Smith, William and Annie S. Paton Foundation Professor of Ancient and Modern Literature, Princeton University"Readers will ride shotgun as Taplin journeys through some of the great moments in late ' 60s and ' 70s popular culture, with a significant coda on the forces that drive today' s artistic output. There is much to savor here. "-Library Journal
Jonathan Taplin is an author and director emeritus of the USC Annenberg Innovation Lab. Taplin' s book Move Fast and Break Things: How Facebook, Google and Amazon Have Cornered Culture and Undermined Democracy, published by Little, Brown & Co. , was nominated by the Financial Times as one of the Best Business Books of 2017. Taplin has produced music and film for Bob Dylan and the Band, George Harrison, Martin Scorsese, Wim Wenders, Gus Van Sant and many others. He was the founder of Intertainer, the first streaming Video On Demand Platform in 1996. Mr. Taplin graduated from Princeton University. He was a professor at the USC Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism from 2003 to 2016. He is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He currently sits on the boards of The Authors Guild, Americana Music Association, and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti' s Council on Technology and Innovation. His commentary has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Time Magazine, the Huffington Post, the Guardian, Medium, the Washington Monthly, and the Wall Street Journal.
Status: No local stock, title imported to order
ISBN-13: 9781597145251
Published: 20 May 2021
Published In: United States
Imprint: Heyday Books
Publisher: Heyday Books
Format: Hardback
Height: 229mm
Width: 152mm
Pages: 344

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