DESERT DREAMS: The Music, Style, and Allure of Coachella

DESERT DREAMS: The Music, Style, and Allure of Coachella
KATIE BAIN
Epic Ink (non-affiliate Bookshop.org link)
$24.99 all editions, available now

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: A celebration of one of the most successful music festivals in the world, Desert Dreams captures the groundbreaking performances, viral fashion moments, and impact of the Coachella phenomenon on music and culture. Immerse yourself in the music, the fashion, and the hype of one of the biggest music festivals in the world.

Coachella is considered one of the most profitable and widely attended music festivals, with an annual attendance of 250,000 people. Not only is it located in the middle of the desert, but to be there is to witness some of the best performances artists will ever put on. For them, playing at Coachella is a huge checkmark on the bucket list of their career. No matter how small their name appears on the billboards listing the year's lineups, the festival is known to be the starting point of artists on the way to superstardom. Chances are, if you saw them at Coachella, you'll be seeing them rise for the rest of the year and be able to say you knew them before they were big.

Discover the magic of one of the biggest festivals in the world, from the windy roads and mountain views on the way there, the hotspots on the polo field, and the art installations that create an epic landscape and dozens of photo ops that you see online. Desert Dreams will walk you through the biggest names that have performed on the mainstage, including those that started in a smaller tent. At Coachella, anything can and will happen. Relive the headlines that nobody could stop talking about for weeks after, such as who was there—from celebrities to special guest appearances onstage—what they were wearing—both the performers and audience members—and what to expect if you’re planning to experience it all yourself in an upcoming year. With 150+ iconic photographs and insights from music industry veterans, Coachella expert, Katie Bain brings you a comprehensive guide to this groundbreaking festival phenomenon.

This visually stunning book makes you feel as if you never missed a year in the desert, covering:

The origins of the festival from the Los Angeles music scene in the ’60s through the ’90s

The talent and most talked about performances including Guns N’ Roses, Beychella, and No Doubt

The epic fashion trends and viral looks that span from DIY to designer

The scintillating media stories such as the hard launch of Kristin Stewart and Robert Pattinson and when Shania Twain dazzled with Harry Styles

What happened when a Tupac Shakur hologram entered center stage

All the reunions, legacy acts, and makings of history each year

The cultural and musical impact of Coachella on US festivals and the American Music History

And so much more!

Learn about the extravagance (and not-so-extravagant moments) alongside a real account of what it takes to arrive on the site, all the key locations, and the most hyped about parties. By page one, you’ll feel like you’re on your way to the biggest event of your life—and for some, you’ll get the chance to relive it. A must-have volume for music lovers, pop culture enthusiasts, and fashionistas, Desert Dreams is the ultimate celebration of the iconic Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Make sure you have your water ready because we’re taking you to the desert.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: Privileged people being absurdly extravagant in luxurious ways is really nothing new is it? Marie Antoinette had her fantasy modest village where she pretended to be a milkmaid. Rich celebs spend outrageous money to DIY (I'll bet not) costumes, art installations, musical performances (those're real, kinda hafta be, but talk about publicity!) in the Cali desert.

Well, chacun à son goût. I myownself would spend that mountain of spondulix on books for kids, queer teens, and food pantries, but I'm notoriously no damn fun. Still, I'll bet you have at least one pop-culture vulture who would know every one of these pretty people, and find their doin's throughout the years right interesting.

It's a dream book for many. I'm fascinated by the astonishing excess.

All that...stuff...is single use. I don't know what other use it could be put to. Irrelevant...it's mostly too costly to ever reassemble the stuff even if there was a place to put it permanently; where ya gonna wear this...rig...after the show?

So maybe don't give it to me...but there are squads of fans of the music acts who'd enjoy this look at a venue they'll never see:

As a design-heavy book, though a very, very reasonably priced one, the first question I ask is, can I get the experience on my tablet? In this case, I'm not really sure...I wasn't troubled by seeming glitches when viewing it on my Galaxy S11 but well...I wouldn't be.

Up to you, but I'd give the tree book to my pop-culture obsessed nibling or the fashion lover or the fan of The Weeknd or...well, anyone not me.

Ye gawds.

CHAPPELL ROAN: A Vibrant Journey Through the Career and Influence of the Indie-Pop Superstar, heartening to know she's so popular

CHAPPELL ROAN: A Vibrant Journey Through the Career and Influence of the Indie-Pop Superstar
HARBERT DAY
Epic Ink (non-affiliate Bookshop.org link)
$19.99 all editions, available now

Rating: 5* of five

The Publisher Says: Explore the “femininomenon” and cultural impact of the Midwest pop princess, Chappell Roan, in this richly illustrated biography.

Chappell Roan is a 2025 Grammy Award winner for Best New Artist. The queer queen’s meteoric rise from small-town girl to pop icon is a story of self-discovery, resilience, and triumph. With a back-and-forth journey that resulted in your favorite artists’ favorite artist and a TikTok sensation hit after hit, there is much to discuss about how this Midwesterner paved her own path and made her voice loud in Hollywood. Featuring over 40 vibrant photographs, Chappell Roan captures the star’s personal and professional journey, celebrating her talent, fierce creativity, and commitment to self-expression and LGBTQ+ representation. Find glimpses into her songwriting process as this book unveils how Roan stays true to her individuality in an industry often demanding conformity.

Learn about the life and career of the “HOT TO GO!” star, including:

Small-town roots: Hailing from Willard, Missouri, learn how Chappell credits her hometown for her unique perspective on life.

Self-taught visual artist: Discover how Chappell has used her self-taught painting and designing skills to create a deeply immersive musical experience.

Queer icon in the making: A representative in mainstream pop, Chappell identifies as queer and a drag queen, and has advocated for the LGBTQ+ community.

DIY ethos: After parting ways with Atlantic Records, Chappell is now an independent artist with more creative freedom in her music and image.

Theatrical live performances: Her live shows are famous for their high-energy, elaborate costumes, and cabaret-style approach.

From overcoming challenges as an emerging artist to crafting a distinct image and voice, Chappell Roan’s story of self-acceptance and resilience has inspired her fans to embrace their own identities without compromise. Filled with emotional depth, candid stories, and stunning visuals, this book is a celebration of how one artist is reshaping the pop world, and perfect for fans of Chappell Roan and music lovers alike.

The Fierce and Fearless series immerses fans and music lovers in the lives and careers of today’s most dazzling pop stars. Explore the fascinating stories behind their chart-topping songs, showstopping fashion moments, and outstanding achievements. In thought-provoking biographies that capture both the triumphs and challenges, discover what it takes to become a powerhouse in the music world. With stunning photos and inspiring quotes, these books offer an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the best singers and songwriters of our time.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: This performer is the definition of luck meeting hard, focused work. They have made a career in spite of being too much, of being too different, for the normies.

quite a resume for one so young

In this beautifully designed illustrated biography, there are lots of details a casual observer won't know, lots of images to please a true fan, and a message that really is the heart of the entire carefully designed persona and career:

Her fanbase seems to me to be underserved...so if you have one on your gifting list, now's the time to get this marvelous gift for them. The point being to entertain, I think the book does that well; the point being to inspire, I think the book does that well, too:

Pop princess and drag-queen-in-a-woman's-body never reached closer to the huge success Chappell Roan has. I am impressed and delighted by her, by the work ethic she models, and the fearless, fierce expression of self that powers the entire show. Brava to Chappell Roan, and long may her fans have her to kvell over.

FERNANDO: A Song by ABBA, a breath of fresh anticapitalism for Yuletide refreshment

FERNANDO: A Song by ABBA
KAY DICKINSON
Duke University Press (non-affiliate Bookshop.org link)
$22.95 paperback, available now

Rating: 4.5* of five

The Publisher Says: Kay Dickinson outlines how ABBA’s mega-hit song “Fernando” could express support with anti-capitalist and Third World liberation while simultaneously becoming an icon of global capital.

Since its release in 1976, ABBA’s song “Fernando” has been loved by fans around the globe both for its sing-along chorus and its revolutionary spirit. In Fernando, Kay Dickinson takes readers from Sweden and Chile to Australia and Poland, tracing the complicated ways the song could express support with anticapitalist and Third World liberation struggles while remaining an unrepentant commodity. A song about freedom fighters was unlikely to become a pop mega-hit, yet as Dickinson demonstrates, ABBA’s lucrative, longstanding appeal rests on their ability to bridge contradictions within everyday life.

Five decades later, “Fernando’s” rousing calls for freedom continue to resonate with gay liberation movements and other social struggles, demonstrating how a song can be both revolutionary and an envoy for global capital.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: We interrupt our dive into the shallow, luxuriantly populated waters of consumer capitalism to clamber, just briefly, onto the rock of social responsibility. Never fear, we're still dabbling our toeses into the lovely warm consumerist dreamworld! ABBA was hugely commercially successful, and never pretended that was not the point of "Fernando."

Gotta meet people where they are. If the people do not want to listen to you, your message is unheard. This is a profound insight I try not to forget but regularly do...just look at my blog's viewership numbers.

This tune burst onto the scene like a cannonade from the Crimean War. It was *everywhere* and it was not just Anglophone-famous. It's about regular fighters in the 1910 Mexican Revolution. It is hard to think of a more anti-oligarchic, anti-capitalist popular uprising than this one was. (It failed; let's save that discussion for another time.)

In ABBA's earworm-y tunefulness, they made the record industry (and themselves) quite a lot of money around the world...this tune's popularity in Hispanophone countries seems self-evident, but there are layers and levels to the popularity of the song that differ from market to market. Author Kay Dickinson explores some relevant examples of different reasons for a Swedish group's Anglophone product resonating in places you wouldn't expect.

It's worth noting that this is a popular history, not a musicological tome. I could read it for hours at a stretch without resorting to the dictionary. I was also that immersed and that invested in the subject matter. My car's radio sound is still the way I "hear" this song when earwormed by it...it's tat powerful...and that should say it all to a prospective buyer. Gifting or self-gifting, this is a book perfectly timed...fifty years ago is still alive to many of us...and perfectly aimed at the interests of those nostalgic, those curious, and those seeking some reminder that participating in and benefiting from capitalism does not require one to surrender one's soul. Speaking of which, some photos would've bounced this into five-starhood...

JAYNE MANSFIELD: The Girl Couldn't Help It, massive research, pretty pictures to sweeten the deal

JAYNE MANSFIELD: The Girl Couldn't Help It
EVE GOLDEN
University Press of Kentucky (non-affiliate Bookshop.org link)
$34.95 all editions, available now

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: Jayne Mansfield (1933–1967) was driven not just to be an actress but to be a star. One of the most influential sex symbols of her time, she was known for her platinum blonde hair, hourglass figure, outrageously low necklines, and flamboyant lifestyle.

Hardworking and ambitious, Mansfield proved early in her career that she was adept in both comic and dramatic roles, but her tenacious search for the spotlight and her risqué promotional stunts caused her to be increasingly snubbed in Hollywood.

In the first definitive biography of Mansfield, Eve Golden offers a joyful account of the star Andy Warhol called "the poet of publicity," revealing the smart, determined woman behind the persona. While she always had her sights set on the silver screen, Mansfield got her start as Rita Marlowe in the Broadway show Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?. She made her film debut in the low-budget drama Female Jungle (1955) before landing the starring role in The Girl Can't Help It (1956). Mansfield followed this success with a dramatic role in The Wayward Bus (1957), winning a Golden Globe for New Star of the Year, and starred alongside Cary Grant in Kiss Them for Me (1957). Despite her popularity, her appearance as the first celebrity in Playboy and her nude scene in Promises! Promises! (1963) cemented her reputation as an outsider.

By the 1960s, Mansfield's film career had declined, but she remained very popular with the public. She capitalized on that popularity through in-person and TV appearances, nightclub appearances, and stage productions. Her larger-than-life life ended sadly when she passed away at age thirty-four in a car accident.

Golden looks beyond Mansfield's flashy public image and tragic death to fully explore her life and legacy. She discusses Mansfield's childhood, her many loves—including her famous on-again, off-again relationship with Miklós "Mickey" Hargitay—her struggles with alcohol, and her sometimes tumultuous family relationships. She also considers Mansfield's enduring contributions to American popular culture and celebrity culture. This funny, engaging biography offers a nuanced portrait of a fascinating woman who loved every minute of life and lived each one to the fullest.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: I was a young boy when Jayne Mansfield died. It was stunning how insensitive the chatter around the tragedy was...my mother vocally disapproved of the demeaning way she was talked about as a "sex kitten" and bringing up her nude photos and scenes. I've been interested in her ever since, as my judgmental mother was *defending* her, so something had to be interesting about her.

the most famous photo...Sophia Loren disapproves

More interested in being a star than an actress, the lady was quite a handful as a person—ramping up the public persona that would've made her zillions in the Aughties, fighting, undressing, taking risqué to its apotheosis in the days when Marilyn Monroe, Diana Dors, and she were working the blonde bombshell vein in the publicity mine.

how she made her millions

Like those ladies, Jayne Mansfield was an intelligent, troubled person with a hot ambitious streak in her that her face and body were able to fuel. She never hesitated to use her sex appeal...and sex...to get her name in front of the public. It worked; she was famous.

Mickey and Jayne in mid-act

She was not respected, as no woman in that era was really respected; but certainly no frankly, openly sexual anyone, still less a woman, was going to be highly regarded in the film or television industry. Thus when fashions changed and gamines became The Next Thing, she had no baseline of support in the industry she'd made so much money for.

Las Vegas was ready for her

Turbulent, addiction-haunted personal lives were, are, always have been back into pop-culture history all too common among the famous. Jayne Mansfield was no different than so many others with messy personal lives. She did seem to get married a lot and ended up with five children born between 1950 and 1965.

the family side

The terrible tragedy of a life cut so very short is that her potential, her development, her impact on the world is frozen at a moment; not a moment I suspect, reading about her in this book, she would have stayed in forever. Author Golden has come in for criticism in her supposed inaccurate information about what, when I poked into it a little bit, looked to me like pretty insignificant dates and details about trifles. Looking at the notes...all fiftyish pages of 'em!...Author Golden *lived* in newspaper archives for a good while. Where the issue seems to arise is in the slightly too-prominent tone of disapproval some have seen in the text. It did not feel moralizing to me. I was more interested in the trajectory of a proto-Kardashian sibling.

either of these could have Kim Kardashian in them and be the same publicity campaign

When Yule gifting is the point, the life and times of bygone stars make very instructive reading. We're in fame hyperdrive thanks to a level of mass communication unknown in Jayne Mansfield's life, but the exploitive outlines are still there. Your budding feminist film scholar might enjoy seeing how we got where we are; your brodawg cousin might just like seventy-plus pictures of Jayne Mansfield. The Fifties and Sixties exert fascination that will peak in the late 20s and early 30s as the TCM crowd starts watching the silly innocent farcically "naughty" work of the era. A book like this will please those audiences.

She might not have received the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval, but this family is very much a testament to the fact she did something right.

ALGOSPEAK: How Social Media Is Transforming the Future of Language, Adam Aleksic..."@etymology_nerd" at his most informative

ALGOSPEAK: How Social Media Is Transforming the Future of Language
ADAM ALEKSIC
Alfred A. Knopf (non-affiliate Bookshop.org link)
$14.99 ebook, available now

Author Aleksik speaks to Taylor Lorenz about ChatGPT.

Rating: 4.5* of five

The Publisher Says: From linguist Adam Aleksic, known as @etymologynerd on social media, comes a captivating exploration of how internet algorithms are transforming language and communication in unprecedented ways.

“Packed with fascinating facts, of-the-moment observations, and a sparkling voice, Algospeak is a gift to any word nerd. Deftly covering everything from emoji etymologies and trendbait to Taylor Swift fanilects… Adam Aleksic is the wise, yet accessible internet linguistics oracle we need.” —Amanda Montell, author of The Age of Magical Overthinking and Cultish

From “brainrot” memes and incel slang to the trend of adding “-core” to different influencer aesthetics, the internet has ushered in an unprecedented linguistic upheaval. We’re entering an entirely new era of etymology, heralded by the invisible forces driving social media algorithms. Thankfully, Algospeak is here to explain. As a professional linguist, Adam Aleksic understands the gravity of language and the way we use it: he knows the ways it has morphed and changed, how it reflects society, and how, in its everyday usage, we carry centuries of human history on our tongues. As a social media influencer, Aleksic is also intimately familiar with the internet’s reach and how social media impacts the way we engage with one another. New slang emerges and goes viral overnight. Accents are shaped or erased on YouTube. Grammatical rules, loopholes, and patterns surface and transform language as we know it. Our interactions, social norms, and habits—both online and in person—shift into something completely different.

As Aleksic uses original surveys, data, and internet archival research to usher us through this new linguistic landscape, he also illuminates how communication is changing in both familiar and unexpected ways. From our use of emojis to sentence structure to the ways younger generations talk about sex and death (see unalive in English and desvivirse in Spanish), we are in a brand-new world, one shaped by algorithms and technology. Algospeak is an energetic, astonishing journey into language, the internet, and what this intersection means for all of us.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: There's a really fine line between niches and ghettos. There is a very fine line between going mainstream and cultural appropriation, between mockery and normalization, between slang and neologism.

And each of these can be true of any language unit all at the same time. Because language is about *why* even more than *how* you use its units of meaning. The usual moral panics of every age are at work, making "rizz" and "-core" and the like horsebeings of the apocalypse that will utterly destroy critical thinking, education, and the fabric of society.

Prepare for Mad Max meets The Hunger Games, y'all. Uptalking girls and sigma males are going to displace us at the top of the tree no matter how long or how hard we cling to the power it's time we gave up. And yes, I hate uptalking as much as any other old man, plus the very idea of the alpha male let alone the incel spin that is a sigma make me queasy. Their use now has a context I'd never had before, the possession of which reassures ("sigma" is a humiliating appropriation of terrible peoples' slang) and concerns (uptalking is a worrisome signal of algorithmically reinforced misogyny by seeking approval in making questions of statements).

It's their world now. Let them make their mistakes. They literally can not do worse than we did, what with keeping our snouts in the trough while the lowest scum imaginable piled up playmoney and choked the entire planet on deadly gases.

So what Author Aleksic does here, and on his YouTube channel, is offer a guide for the perplexed among the different truths of language change, and thus what to watch out for (spoiler: harmful uses of language are bad). His analysis of how the acceleration of language change got turbocharged by the greed of capitalism is directly congruent to my take on things (read: prejudice), and his more-reassuring-than-alarming example of "unalive" as the youth culture's work-around for algorithmic idiocy targeting "dead" and "death" as markers of "sensitive content" reminds me that people are always going to come up with ways around overzealous nonsense.

What made this book by a linguist (past president of the Harvard Undergraduate Linguistics Society) so absorbing and involving to me was that he has the formal, old-person-approved training and the business-model savvy of a content creator across multiple platforms. The distinctions he draws among normal language change, harmful appropriative theft, and highly concerning capitalist manipulations of identity for profit, are all backed up by actual research. Nothing's perfect...the notes are extensive but, in my DRC, not links so I had to type them into my browser to check them (oh, the pain! said in my best 1965-Lost-in-Space voice), and there were times I wasn't sure if I was reading a self-help for YouTubers book...but there was never a time I wanted to stop reading.

Anyone who's got grandkids ought to read it. Anyone who thinks the future will take care of itself, or is already doomed to failure and evil times, also ought to read this. Y'all're both right, and wrong, and here's why. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

KAIJU UNLEASHED: An Illustrated Guide to the World of Strange Beasts, ideal #Booksgiving gift for your otaku lover of kaiju

KAIJU UNLEASHED: An Illustrated Guide to the World of Strange Beasts
SHAWN PRYOR (foreword by Jason Barr)
Epic Ink/Quarto
$29.99 hardcover, available now

Rating: 4.5* of five

The Publisher Says: Kaiju Unleashed offers a general introduction to the exciting film genre, serves as a guidebook to its film highlights, and celebrates its practitioners, trends, and stories.

Celebrate the world of movie monsters and beasts with Kaiju Unleashed, a complete reference guide to strange creatures in film and how they came to be.

Kaiju (Japanese for “strange creature”) is a film genre that emerged in Japan in the early ’50s. The movies center on giant monsters battling humans, machines, or other beasts. First popular in the ’50s and ’60s, this film category has stomped its way back into mainstream culture.

This comprehensive guide features:

A foreword by Jason Barr, author of The Kaiju Film and The Kaiju Connection

A thorough discussion of monster movies (Gamera; Rodan; Destroy All Monsters)

Insight into how kaiju has impacted international films (Ant-Man; Attack of the 50-Foot Woman; Jurassic Park)

Stunning movie posters and film stills, plus fan-made tributes to some of the kaiju classics (Godzilla; King Kong; Mothra; Pacific Rim)

If you are a kaiju fan or are interested in kaiju’s cultural influence worldwide, this display-worthy volume provides the perfect general introduction to the genre, reference to its film highlights, and celebration of its practitioners, trends, and stories.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: Whatever you think of this film genre, you should at least admit it's got serious cultural staying power...seventy years and counting...and think of the millions of fans it's spawned who've gone on to make very successful careers out of this born-of-anxiety monster-laden universe in many fields. The author goes into manga, anime, and of course film, practitioners of all sorts of kaiju storytelling.

This heavy-on-the-graphics volume goes into the highlights of how, when, and to a limited extent, why the genre got its hooks into pop culture. The text is not the whole point; the illustrations and graphics are not the whole point; the gestalt is superior to any of its constituent elements.

It's never going to be obvious to non-fans (to which group I belong) why this genre appeals enough to be an organizing principle for one's life. It also doesn't matter a whit. Even if you can't reliably tell the difference between Godzilla and Rodan, you probably have someone close who can, does, and has dreams in kaiju-ese. Nibling, grand, or sibling...perish forbid, spouse...they'll love this celebratory festival of behind-the-scenes stories and images, faces to put with names the fan's heard before, and technical effects illustrations.

Never forget all the King Kong-verse films! They're kaiju, too.

You'll get really big points from your otaku giftee with this celebratory recounting of the development and impact of their doted-on genre. I predict a quiet hour or two as the flipping and dipping and kvelling start when the wrappings fall. Exactly the spirit of Jólabókaflóð/Booksgiving.