Joey Graceffa Launches Children of Eden

YouTube star, actor and New York Times bestselling author Joey Graceffa launched his 2nd book, but first young adult novel, Children of Eden last night at Barnes & Noble at the Grove in Los Angeles. Hundreds of fans lined the sidewalk for several hours waiting to meet the star, pose for a quick photo and pick up their autographed copy of the book.

Joey was joined by his partner, Daniel Preda and actress Denise Richards brought her daughters out to meet the author.

A short film entitled Children of Eden: Chapter One was also released this week on YouTube.

Joey and Daniel are off on a book tour visiting San Francisco tonight, before heading to Houston, Boston, New York City, Uncasville, Chicago, Orlando and Miami. Details on how to take part in the meet & greets or to just buy Children Of Eden can be found on Joey’s website.

Have you had a chance to read Children of Eden yet? Have you participated in a meet & greet with the author? Tell us about it in the comments below. Share this article with friends so they don’t miss these upcoming events with Joey Graceffa. #JoeyGraceffa #ChildrenofEden

Joey will also take part in Entertainment Weekly’s Popfest in Los Angeles over Halloween weekend, October 29th and 30th where he will join a host of digital influencers in a panel discussion and participate in fun and games on stage. Tickets are available to purchase here

Billy Idol Launches Book Tour For Dancing With Myself

Billy Idol Dancing With Myself (Touchstone), Billy Idol performs live © 2011 Life on the Scene/Cindy Robinson

Singer Billy Idol has written his memoir, Dancing With Myself (Touchstone, available now!), recorded a new album called Kings & Queens of the Underground (out Oct. 21), and is set to tour the world with his band. Before he heads out on the road with his band, Idol has done a handful of book signings across the United States, starting in New York this week and he’ll make a stop at Hollywood’s favorite book store Book Soup, this Saturday, October 11th at 4:00 pm! You’ll need to buy a copy of the book from Book Soup and hang on to your receipt.

 

 

In an excerpt from his book, Idol writes:

*Recording with Keith Forsey was exciting for me, though Tony didn’t really get on too well with him. They would bicker all the time, and I could see the two of them might not want to continue together after the record was finished. I thought Keith was doing a great job. It was the best-sounding album we’d made so far. He didn’t let events rattle him, and he could shake himself from an unhappy to a happy mood easily.

When we finished the album, I was the only one to seek him out at his hotel on his last night in the UK. I had dinner with him and his wife, Karen. I told him I liked how he worked and hoped we might do more, if I was ever given the chance to make another record. After all, my future was certainly up in the air at that moment. Keith had really tried to make my concept for the record work, and I appreciated that a great deal. Most important, we had a finished version of “Dancing with Myself” in the can. Would it be my bridge to the future?

During the recording of the album, Perri and I had been on a non­stop, twenty-four-hour drug-and-sex binge without sleep. We made love in bed all day and night, high on heroin, grass, and hash. With that particular cocktail, as orgasm boiled over, we would pop an amyl nitrate (commonly known as poppers) and send our bodies to the sweet spot that intensifies the growing explosion of chemistry between two lovers entwined like vines, curling together, disappearing into each other . . . writhing, sighing, and groaning, soaring into heaven, only to slowly burn out and return to earth, spent but somehow wanting more.

Heroin is a dangerous and addictive drug. If you take it enough, it returns you to the place that is as comfortable and all-encompassing as your mother’s womb. After three days, you’re hooked. When you come off, you’re debilitated, to the point where you feel like your skeleton is trying to get out of your body; you’re dying for more. And unless you want to go on feeling bad, you need a continuous supply. If you take enough to not get sick, you can maintain a semi-regular life­style. Thanks to Bill Aucoin’s renegotiation with Chrysalis, I now had enough money to fund my habits . . . and he, unbeknownst to me at the time, had enough to fund his.

The Stony-Eyed Medusa and I lived in a twilight world of drugs, sex, and rock ‘n’ roll friends. We roamed the London night in a small tools minivan I bought from my dad, dubbed “Power Tool the People.” The slow-burning nights spun into a web that trapped me in its em­brace until unconsciousness delivered me back to a moment of en­forced sleep. Waking up on different floors and beds, I was surrounded by the ubiquitous reggae music, which we always played while we were “block up,” a phrase we used for getting stoned. There had to be guardian angels looking silently through the hash fumes just above our heads. Why else would I still be here today, alive and well, to tell the story?

On one occasion, Perri and I took acid and went to see Apocalypse Now, then made love all night to George Faith’s Lee “Scratch” Perry– produced album, To Be a Lover. It was amazing I was able to get out of bed long enough to record our album, but I was.

I continued going to Perri’s gigs, where I ran into David Mallet, the director who shot Generation X’s ’77 Marquee performance. This meeting would prove fortuitous for the future.

Living twenty-four hours every day with Perri back then was quite the experience. We had a connection that was deeper than any I had ever known. It was a great trip for me to have a counterpart with whom I had so many interests in common, including fashion, music, movies, and the like. Perri had become my constant companion throughout this life of love, lust, and insanity. Only later did I realize that I had not paused to consider that my intense love affair with her, the heroin, hash, and other drugs were unraveling the constraints of my punk past and helping to further widen the gulf between me and Tony James.

Billy Idol, Steve Stevens and the band will hit the road in November for their European tour with newly unleashed plans for North America in January and February. Dates are listed below (with more dates to come so don’t fret if you don’t see your city listed just yet) with presales happening now, general public on sales happening October 10th in most markets with Idol and Stevens offering meet and greet packages for the shows! Let Life On The Scene know what you think of Billy Idol’s new book and what shows you’ll be attending in the comment section below.

North American Tour Dates:

January 21 (Wed)                                New Orleans, LA                             House Of Blues

January 22 (Thu)                                 Atlanta, GA                                      The Tabernacle

January 24 (Sat)                                  Philadelphia, PA                              Tower Theater

January 25 (Sun)                                 Washington, DC                             Lincoln Theater

January 28 (Wed)                                New York, NY                                 Beacon Theater

January 31 (Sat)                                  Boston, MA                                     Orpheum Theater

February 3 (Tue)                                 Montreal, QC, Canada                  Metropolis

February 4 (Wed)                                Toronto, ON, Canada                   Massey Hall

February 7 (Sat)                                  Chicago, IL                                      Riviera Theater

February 9 (Mon)                                Denver, CO                                    Paramount Theater

February 12 (Thu)                               Vancouver, BC, Canada               Queen Elizabeth Theater

February 13 (Fri)                                 Seattle, WA                                     Paramount

February 15 (Sun)                               Oakland, CA                                   Fox Theater

February 18 (Wed)                              Los Angeles, CA                           Wiltern Theater

*Book excerpt from DANCING WITH MYSELF, by Billy Idol. Copyright © 2014 by Billy Idol. Published Touchstone, a Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. 

Billy Idol Can’t Break Me Down

Singer Billy Idol has already had a busy 2014 as he finished up his first album in nearly a decade, “Kings and Queens of the Underground” and prepared his autobiography, “Dancing With Myself” for print. His book is scheduled for release from Touchstone books on October 7th, with the album to follow on his own BFI Records label on October 21st.

The first single, “Can’t Break me Down” is available now for your listening pleasure on Billy Idol’s website. You can also pre-order the album (or grab any IDOL tracks you may be missing) on iTunes and receive an instant download of the new single “Can’t Break Me Down”. What do you think of the new single? Share your thoughts in the comments below. I really like the sound of it and think it’s a modern twist on Billy Idol – a great way to keep moving his career forward.

“Dancing With Myself” can be pre-ordered now via Amazon in Kindle, Hard Cover and Audio CD (no word if it’s actually IDOL reading his book to us!)

IDOL is expected to launch a full world tour to extend well into 2015 in support of the new album and autobiography. Have you already purchased tickets to one of the European dates? Let us know in the comments below. Life on the Scene may be interested in posting a reader’s review and/or photos of an upcoming show! An initial stream of European concert dates are already on sale and include stops in:

NOVEMBER 5 (WED), BIRMINGHAM, UK, O2 ACADEMY

NOVEMBER 9 (SUN), LONDON, UK,  EVENTIM APOLLO HAMMERSMITH

NOVEMBER 10 (MON), MANCHESTER, UK, O2 APOLLO

NOVEMBER 12 (WED), STUTTGART, DE, PORSCHE ARENA

NOVEMBER 13 (THU), FRANKFURT, DE, JAHRHUNDERTHALLE

NOVEMBER 16 (SUN), AMSTERDAM, NL, HEINEKEN MUSIC HALL

NOVEMBER 18 (TUE), DUSSELDORF, DE, MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC HALLE

NOVEMBER 19 (WED), BRUSSELS, BE, ROYAL CIRCUS

NOVEMBER 21 (FRI), NUREMBERG, DE, ARENA

NOVEMBER 22 (SAT), LUCERN, CH, MESSE LUCERNE

NOVEMBER 23 (SUN), MILAN, IT, FABRIQUE

Life on the Scene noted today that Billy Idol is mentioned in the lineup for the CBGB Music & Film Festival that takes place in New York, October 8-12, 2014. Billy will be the keynote speaker on Thursday, October 9th, discussing his autobiography, “Dancing With Myself” and later performing with longtime guitarist and musical collaborator, Steve Stevens. Look for US tour dates to come from Billy Idol soon! Also check with your local bookseller to see if he will be doing a book signing in your area later this year. Other artists in the lineup include Jane’s Addiction and Duff McKagan, Tickets are separate for each artist performing throughout the weekend and will go on sale soon.

 

John Taylor In the Pleasure Groove

Bass Player Live! 2012 hosted Duran Duran‘s John Taylor in an interview with journalist Tom Sykes followed by a reading, Q and A session and book signing in support of his just released autobiography, In the Pleasure Groove: Love, Death and Duran Duran at SIR Studios over the weekend in Hollywood, CA.

From Dutton, “With Duran Duran, John Taylor has created some of the greatest music of our time. From the disco dazzle of debut single ‘Planet Earth’ right up to their latest number one album, All You Need is Now, Duran Duran has always had the power to sweep the world onto its feet.

It’s been a ride – and for John in particular, the ride has been wild, thrilling… and dangerous. Now, for the first time, he tells his incredible story. A tale of dreams fulfilled, lessons learned and demons conquered.

A shy only child, Nigel John Taylor wasn’t an obvious candidate for pop stardom and frenzied girl panic. But when he ditched his first name and picked up a bass guitar, everything changed. John Formed Duran Duran with his friend Nick Rhodes in the summer of 1978, and they were soon joined by Roger Taylor, then Andy Taylor and finally Simon Le Bon. Together they were an immediate, massive global success story, their pictures on millions of walls, every single a worldwide hit.

In his frank, compelling autobiography, John recounts the highs –hanging out with icons like Bowie, Warhol and even James Bond; dating Vogue models and driving fast cars – all the while playing hard with the band he loved. But there were tough battles ahead – troubles that brought him to the brink of self-destruction – before turning his life around.

Told with humor, honesty and hard-won wisdom, and packed with exclusive pictures, In the Pleasure Groove is a fascinating, irresistible portrait of a man who danced into the fire… and came through the other side”

Below is a selection of images from the event.

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The book is available now via Amazon in hard cover, paperback and Kindle versions. Barnes & Noble also offers an e-book for Nook and of course Apple offers it for every “i” device known to Duran kind – iTunes, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch. Don’t forget the independent book sellers in your city either! I grabbed my copy from the historic Hollywood book seller, Book Soup. Why not pick a few copies for friends and start crossing items off the Christmas list?

John Taylor continues his promotional tour for the book this week in Los Angeles with additional stops listed below. Don’t miss your chance to have this tale of rock & roll signed by the author himself!

10/24- Los Angeles, CA @ Book Soup at Cinespace (Book Signing, Interview and Audience Q&A, with book co-author Tom Sykes)
10/25- San Francisco, CA @ San Francisco Art Institute (Book Signing, Interview and Audience Q&A)
10/26- Austin, TX @ The Scottish Rite Theater (Book Signing, Interview and Audience Q&A)
10/29- Toronto, ON, CAN @ Indigo Bookstore (Book Signing, Interview and Audience Q&A)
10/30- Chicago, IL @ City Winery Chicago (Book Signing, Interview and Audience Q&A)

Duran Duran Heats Up the Crowd at Pacific Amphitheatre

by Cindy Robinson

Fresh off their performance in London’s Hyde Park at the opening of the 2012 Summer Olympics, Duran Duran returned to the Pacific Amphitheatre over the weekend to close out the Orange County Fair’s summer concert series. The sold out show brought legions of fans in to see the band perform on the final leg of their All You Need Is Now tour.

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The hot August night only got hotter as the band launched into a tight set of their greatest hits including early tracks such as Girls on Film, Planet Earth and the only occasionally dusted off fan favorite, Careless Memories, which sent the crowd of hard-core Duranies into a frenzy. Duran Duran continued the journey through their 30 year career thrilling the audience with 90’s gems like Ordinary World, Come Undone and the Grandmaster Flash cover, White Lines.

The set was also heavily peppered with tracks from their latest album, All You Need Is Now including the title track, audience favorite, Girl Panic! and the Man Who Stole a Leopard.

The band continues across the United States throughout the month of August with the remaining dates listed below:

• August 15, 2012 Tulsa, OK, Duran Duran at The Joint inside Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tulsa, OK
•  August 17, 2012, Memphis, TN, Duran Duran at the Memphis Botanical Gardens in Memphis, TN
•  August 18, 2012, Biloxi, MS, Duran Duran in Biloxi, MS at Hard Rock Hotel and Casino
• August 19, 2012, Atlanta, GA, Duran Duran at Chastain Park in Atlanta, GA
• August 21, 2012, Durham, North Carolina, Duran Duran at DPAC in Durham, North Carolina
•  August 22, 2012, Portsmouth, VA, Duran Duran at Telos Wireless Pavilion in Portsmouth, VA
•  August 24, 2012, Mashantucket, CT, Duran Duran at MGM Grand at Foxwoods
•  August 25, 2012, Atlantic City, NJ, Duran Duran at Revel Ovation Hall in Atlantic City
•  August 26, 2012, Pittsburgh, PA, Duran Duran at Stage AE in Pittsburgh, PA
•  August 28, 2012, Kettering, OH, Duran Duran at the Fraze Pavilion in Kettering, OH
•  August 29, 2012, Highland Park, IL, Duran Duran at Ravinia Festival in Highland Park, IL
•  August 31, 2012, Orillia, ONTARIO, Canada, Duran Duran at Casino Rama Entertainment Centre
•  September 01, 2012, Orillia, ONTARIO, Canada, Duran Duran at Casino Rama Entertainment Centre

Check Ticketmaster to see if there are any tickets left for your city. They put on a great live show you don’t want to miss!

Duran Duran have also just released their latest concert movie, A Diamond in the Mind out now on Blu-ray/DVD chronicling the first part of their All You Need Is Now Tour.  The Blu-ray/DVD is available via Amazon.com and the live audio CD is out now on iTunes.

The band will take some well deserved time off after the tour wraps up at the end of the summer before heading back into the studio with producer Mark Ronson sometime next year.

In the meantime, fans can catch bassist John Taylor out on the road later this year promoting his auto-biography, In the Pleasure Groove: Love, Death, and Duran Duran which is scheduled to be released in the United Kingdom in late September followed by an October release in the United States. You can pre-order the book now online, watch the Duran Duran Facebook page or follow John on Twitter to see which cities he will be visiting to sign copies of his book.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – midnight screenings now on sale!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (part 1) doesn’t hit theaters until November 19th, but many theaters have already started selling tickets for midnight screenings. Fandango is offering them in some areas and most major cities should have them available shortly if they aren’t already listed. Enter your zip code to check your area!

The final two-part journey in the Harry Potter series is indeed a bittersweet one. For more than a decade Harry Potter has shaped the world, encouraged young readers to dive into books and live in the fantasy world of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry. As the movies have developed, we’ve watched the young actors, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson grow into young adults.

As much as I’m looking forward to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on the big screen in November, I dread the last movie in July 2011. Harry Potter will always live on in our home but we will miss not reading about new adventures in the lives of these fabulous characters.