Books by Touré

This inspired collection of stories is cause for celebration. With stunning language and dazzling characters, Toure introduces Soul City -- a wholly imagined utopia where magic happens and black is beautiful. In a broad range of characterization and styles, The Portable Promised Land is filled with lighthearted humor and heavyhearted issues. Toure challenges form and what's considered politically correct in stories like The Sad, Sweet Story of Sugar Lips Shinehot and Afrolexicolgy: Today's Bi-Annual List of the Top 50 Words in African America. The Portable Promised Land marks the entrance of a new and wildly compelling voice to fiction.

Following in the footsteps of the late great Lester Bangs -- the most revered and irreverent of rock 'n' roll critics -- twenty-four celebrated writers have penned stories inspired by great songs. Just as Bangs cast new light on a Rod Stewart classic with his story "e;Maggie May,"e; about a wholly unexpected connection between an impressionable young man and an aging, alcoholic hooker, the diverse, electrifying stories here use songs as a springboard for a form dubbed the lit riff. Alongside Bangs's classic work, you'll find stories by J.T. LeRoy, who puts a recovering teenage drug abuser in a dentist's chair with nothing but the Foo Fighters's "e;Everlong"e; -- blaring through the P.A. -- to fight the pain; Jonathan Lethem, whose narrator looks back on his lost innocence just as an extramarital affair careens to an end -- this to the tune "e;Speeding Motorcycle"e; as recorded by Yo La Tengo; and Jennifer Belle, who envisions a prequel to Paul Simon's "e;Graceland"e; -- one that takes place at a children's birthday party replete with a real live kangaroo. With original contributions from Tom Perrotta, Nelson George, Amanda Davis, Lisa Tucker, Aimee Bender, Darin Strauss, and many more -- riffing on everyone from Tom Waits and Bruce Springsteen to the White Stripes, Cat Power, and Bob Marley -- this is both an astounding collection of short stories and an extraordinary experiment in words and music. Soundtrack available from Saturation Acres Music & Recording Co.

I bogen ”I Would Die 4 U” tegner den amerikanske musikjournalist og tv-vært Touré et indsigtsfuldt og utraditionelt portræt af en af popmusikkens mest gådefulde og fascinerende personligheder: Prince. I bogen inddrager Touré samtaler med både bandmedlemmer, venner, tidligere kærester, musikforskere og med Prince selv. Prince står som et ikon i popmusikken. Han har skrevet et utal af hits, der er blevet soundtracket til millioner af menneskers liv og ungdom. Med pladen ”Purple Rain” skrev han sig ind i musikhistorien med ikoniske hits som ”When Doves Cry”, ”Let’s Go Crazy”, ”I Would Die 4 U” samt ikke mindst titelnummeret ”Purple Rain”, og både før og siden har utallige andre sange mejslet sig ind i folk. Bogen har forord af Prince-kenderen Nikolaj Mangurten Rubin.