Book Review: Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway

When I mentioned to a self-proclaimed bibliophile friend of mine that I was reading Audrey, Wait! she immediately told me what a fun book it was and how much she had enjoyed reading it. So far, any book this friend of mine has thought was good, I have been inclined to agree with her, so before I even began this book, I was excited about it and the excitement lasted me right through the entire book.

Audrey, Wait! is a fun, fast-paced book that surprised me again and again just because I was ecstatic that the author, Robin Benway, was obviously into the same music as I am. You see, when you see your favorite bands’ lyrics featured in a book and used as the names of the chapters, which I thought was very clever, you get excited, especially when we’re talking the likes of The Sounds, Radiohead, Death Cab for Cutie, Belle & Sebastian, The Cure, Cowboy Junkies, Patti Smith, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Regina Spektor and many, many other fabulous musicians.

This is a story about Audrey, a normal teenage girl who broke up with her boyfriend. The story starts out simple enough; music-obsessed girl is dating musician boyfriend, girl breaks up with boyfriend, musician boyfriend writes an angry song about their breakup and plays it for pretty much the entire student body at a show that same night. But what happens next is very unlike any standard teen drama–Musician boyfriend’s band, The Do-Gooders, makes it big with the song Audrey’s now ex-boyfriend wrote about their breakup and pretty soon, Audrey is receiving hundreds of phone calls, IMs and emails a day and dodging reporters who are after all of the dirt on Audrey, Evan and their breakup. While appearing in tabloids, on message boards and in the minds of teens everywhere, Audrey enjoys her new-found fame a little bit, getting into the VIP section of a concert for one of her favorite bands and making out with the lead singer (Hello every teenage girl’s fantasy!) but as the tension Audrey feels because of her ex-boyfriend’s song rises, she realizes what she has to do–Go out there and tell everyone her side of the story, and that is exactly what Audrey, Wait! is doing.

The dialogue this book possesses is absolutely hilarious and unlike a lot of books out there, each and every character is interesting in their own way, you want to know more about every character as the story presses on. Even Audrey’s parents are great, and also very funny. This book is highly enjoyable for anyone of any age who ever wondered what it would really be like to be famous. You can read the first chapter of the book here and you can also check out Robin Benway’s blog here, which I highly recommend or add her as a friend on Last.fm, because really, who’s a music lover with internet access who doesn’t have a Last.fm account?

Rating:
Buy the Book!

PureSound Records Gives Independent Musicians a Platform

People worldwide are spending more and more time on social media and networking websites than anything else on the internet today. With websites such as MySpace, Last.FM and Pandora, specifically catering to music, independent musicians often lose the limelight and the chance to attract new audiences to their music to more well known musicians and bands. Social music sites also continuously become victims to conglomerate record companies and are forced to close shop due to lawsuits and also due to being bought (and ruined) by bigger, billion-dollar industries. It is for these reasons and also many others that independent music and musicians ultimately suffer and because of that, two independent musicians wanted to give the independent music scene a place to thrive and the chance for independent musicians to attain a concrete fan base.

PureSound Records is an organized, easy to use, social media and networking platform specifically for independent (unsigned) musicians and people who want to be introduced to new music.

PureSound Records not only gives independent musicians a chance to connect and interact with people from all over the world who have been exposed to their music through the website, but they can also connect with other musicians, venues, as well as labels shopping for new talent. This website has the ability to kick start your music career with a world-wide fan base and supportive platform with the potential that nearly no other website has.

The site is very simple to use and the best part is that whether you are signing up as a member who simply wants to be exposed to artists of all genres, an artist, venue, or even a record label, signing up and receiving everything PureSound Records has to offer is completely free.

As an artist, the website gives you a platform to upload your music and offer it for download or streaming, a gallery to upload your pictures or album art, a chart to show you exactly where your music stands on the site compared to other artists, a list of your fans, music from either yourself or other artists on the site that you have added as favorites, areas for video, comments, a guestbook, blog, a section to promote upcoming events, and a bio so fans, fellow artists, venues and labels can get to know a little more about you. As an artist, you also keep full rights over the music that is uploaded to PureSound Records, so you are able to offer your music to fans without losing any credit over the music you have created. This website also gives you a chance to save money, with a feature that is in the works for artists to be able to offer merchandise such as T-shirts without having to buy anything in bulk and potentially lose money. You have complete control over your music, merchandise, and also how much you charge for these items. PureSound Records gives you the control you need in order to further your exposure and your career.

PureSound Records is a dynamic community for independent music and musicians and will continue to strengthen the independent music scenes everywhere through the power of social media and networking.