Bøger af Franz Douskey

After Elvis's death, his legions of fans were stunned. Elvis himself, however, had no problem moving on. Sure, he misses the music and the good times, but he'd had enough of the exploitation, isolation, and downright boredom of fame-not to mention all the Pepsis and Moon Pies. Here we get a vivid glimpse into Elvis's life on the road after the fake funeral, where we find the King splitting time between reminiscing about the music and madness of his wild past and staying a step ahead of a mysterious government conspiracy. Before he realizes the tape recorder's still on, Elvis sets the record straight about which Elvis sightings were real (hardly any), how he faked his death, and his favorite performers (hint: not Pat Boone). A fast-paced, freewheeling ride, Elvis Is Out There embraces the sources of Memphis music and originates from Franz Douskey's own experiences with the musicians and personalities from the legendary Sun Records, where Elvis's career famously began. There's a wealth of inside stories concerning the likes of Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, Little Richard, Bessie Smith, and Johnny Ace, plus an eerie cameo from Robert Johnson. To top it all off, there are even a few pop quizzes thrown in to test your rock 'n' roll knowledge. Somewhere, amidst the seas of impersonators, on a dusty, forgotten highway, or hunched over scrambled eggs and a side of home fries at a roadside diner, ELVIS IS OUT THERE.

An intimate look at the legendary Frank Sinatra by one of his closest friends.

A long overdue collection, WEST OF MIDNIGHT: NEW & SELECTED POEMS, by Franz Douskey, places new works alongside pieces drawn from a decades-spanning career to illustrate the breadth of an influential and singular voice in poetry. Franz Douskey's insights are uniquely his, his voice direct and his imagination meteoric. Douskey has lived long and large. His readings and travels with such notables as James Dickey, Allen Ginsberg, Ai, Charles Bukowski, and F. D. Reeve are legendary. The poems are rich in wit, irreverence and a furious honesty. Everything is autobiographical. From intimate relationships, political quagmires, baseball and eroticism, Douskey wields an acerbic wit and a delicate command of tone to dive into the contradictions that make us human. From the haunted urban alleys of a turbulent childhood to his rhapsodic journeys through the nocturnal deserts of the Southwest, Douskey revels both in the absurdity of modern civilization and the heart-stopping beauty of the natural world. --Robert Reinhardt