Bøger udgivet af Barbara Brabec Productions

Harry J. Brabec (1927-2005) was a percussionist and virtuoso snare drummer greatly admired by his peers not only for his talents as a musician, but for his keen sense of humor and gutsy approach to life. His name became legend when, at the peak of his career as Principal Percussionist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1956, Fritz Reiner dismissed him for purely personal reasons, effectively destroying his career and leading to the failure of his first marriage. Barbara met and married Harry in 1961. Beat by beat in this autobiographic narrative and biography, she tells his comeback story as a freelance percussionist in Chicago in the sixties, then flashes back to his career before they met before going on to tell how her career path and their marriage changed when life forced Harry to move in new entrepreneurial directions in the seventies and beyond. THE DRUMMER DRIVES! offers a unique view of a colorful period of Chicago's musical entertainment history that is spiced with romance, drama, and Harry's wit and humor. The book revolves around the author's lifetime of journals and Harry's scrapbooks and nostalgic letters, which are filled with historical "music biz" stories and remembrances of the days when he was playing with the big bands and doing recordings in Chicago; his comments about many of the musicians, entertainers, and conductors he worked with; his thoughts on being Czech; his love of good food, fine books, record collecting, band music and the circus; and how he felt about getting old and being forced to lay down his sticks because of ill health. The book also includes colorful anecdotes shared by many musicians who knew and worked with Harry. There is much to enjoy in this informative and humor-laden memoir, but you may also find yourself tearing up at times as you read this honestly-told story of the author's unusual life journey with a man who was "no ordinary Joe," an individual so complex that she was still trying to figure him out after nearly 44 years of marriage and five years as his widow. Barbara Brabec is the author of several small business books. This is her first memoir.

Did you ever look at your parents and wonder what kind of romantic relationship they had when they first met? Ever learn something about your mother or father that was so surprising you couldn't believe the topic had never come up for discussion before?Sometimes it can take a lifetime for all the pieces of a puzzle to come together. It took Barbara Brabec more than twenty years to finally see the whole picture and decide to write this book about her mother's life and legacy for the family--and also to inspire others to write a memoir.Eight years before she died, Marcella--Barbara's mother--wrote the story of her life in a private memoir for her three daughters and brother. Typed on the manual Smith Corona typewriter Barbara had used in high school, it contained surprising historical facts and delightful never-told-before family tales, revealing Marcella as a gifted writer and storyteller. But what the memoir didn't mention were Marcella's unrealized secret dreams as a 16-year-old girl.Barbara would not learn about them until her mother was in the last four years of her life. On that life-changing day, she gave Barbara a bundle of papers and letters that made her jaw drop, put her head in a spin, and showed her a secret side of her mother that no one in the family had ever seen before. Marcella thought she was just an ordinary woman, wife, and mother, but in truth she was quite extraordinary for her times.Now Barbara has artfully woven together the memoirs of two authors--a book within a book--to tell a true-life story of three generations of a Midwestern farming family going back to the 1880s. The authentic dialogue, stories, and unusual collection of letters in this book offer a mixture of history, humor, drama, and pathos.In completing the story of Marcella's inspiring life and accomplishments with present-day reflections from her sisters, Barbara illustrates the importance of their mother's legacy to the family and challenges readers to think about the life story only they can tell--one that should be shared with their family and perhaps the world.