American Idol is gripping the nation yet again. But what does the recording industry really look like?

Jen Trynin knows.

It was 1994--post-Liz Phair, mid-Courtney Love, just shy of Alanis Morissette. After seven years of slogging it out in the Boston music scene, Jen Trynin took a hard look at herself and gave “making it” one last shot. It worked.

Suddenly Trynin became the object of one of the most heated bidding wars of the year. Major labels lobbed millions of dollars at her. Lawyers, managers and booking agents clamoured for her attention. Billboard put her on the cover. Everyone knew she was the Next Big Thing. But then she wasn’t.

Everything I’m Cracked Up to Be is a gritty insider’s look at the recording industry.

In other starlet news, Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Press Plunges into Hollywood. The latest bathroom reader concentrates on the trials, tribulations and trivia of Tinseltown. The mysteries, mayhem and majesty of the movies and their makers share the screen (or page) with the quotes, puzzles, quizzes and bits of lore that readers have come to expect from Uncle John’s.

“Hooray for Hollywood”