January 21, 2008

Union Summer: What to Listen to on MLK Day

 

Mavis Staples So if you happened to be thinking about Martin Luther King day and how far we’ve Not come since his time, maybe you’ll want to be moved by Mavis Staples singing “We Shall Not be Moved” on her album We’ll never turn back. When Mavis sings she sings directly to you and she evokes the era in a way that makes you feel like you’re sitting on a hot summer southern porch (even if you’re stuck on the BQE in January), particularly in “My Own Eyes” when she does just that.



Ry Cooder Or, marginally related (at the least because the always excellent Ry Cooder also produced Staple’s album), you might like Ry Cooder’s story-telling album, My Name is Buddy, which is reminiscent of early labor movements or “dust bowl songs” as they’re described. I listened to both of these albums all summer long (my Union Summer, I suppose) and more recently,

altimage the Oxford American Magazine music issue CD, which has Reverend Charlie Jackson’s “Morning Train”, Teddy Grace’s “Hey Lawdy Papa” and the one I keep listening to, Amy LaVere’s “Killing Him.” So, through a loose connection of thoughts about civil rights, the South and story telling


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I just snaffled the Staples CD ahead of another customer at Christmas (last one in the store), and have quite a bit of Ry Cooder’s back catalogue on vinyl (a shame as we can’t play it no more).

Bud, you might enjoy Ralph McTell’s latest offering, given the flavour of the recordings you mention - Gates of Eden, where he pays tribute to Woody Guthrie. Lots of dustbowl songs on that one.
It’s really lovely, especially his version of Dylan’s Song for Woody, which made me tear up. He has a very expressive voice.

    – genevieve (01/26 02:17 AM)



I love that Staples CD. I saw he with her Band in Brooklyn last week. They were amazing. Will have to get the Ry Cooder CD you wrote about. The only thing I have heard by him is his work with Ali Farka Toure.

I enjoy reading your blog. Cheers

    – Parth (01/27 08:27 PM)


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"Union Summer: What to Listen to on MLK Day" was posted January 21, 2008 and written by Bud Parr.

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Recent Comments

Hi Bud,

This is so bittersweet to read. I wish U of Penn more than luck in tackling the collection and making an exhibit for the books. I can’t wait to see the store again. I used to work at Gotham (all too) briefly, from the summer of 2001 to the fall of 2002 when I was 19 and in school for illustration. The building, the books, and especially the people (I had amazing co-workers, plus some really lovely customers) have a special place in my heart. I’m was hoping the link would mention Andreas (Andy) Brown, the last owner of GBM, but no such luck.

I was going to venture a guess that if the old man you met at the store was a GBM employee it might have been Phillip Lyman, but my understanding was Mr. Lyman was notoriously well-read (and had substantial library himself) so I suppose he would not have been reading Dante for the first time when you met him. More likely it was one of our splendid customers. It happened more than once that one customer on the floor would ask me about an author or title and I would meet them with my perfectly hopeless stare ‘n stammer—until another customer that had overheard the plea would effortlessly proffer the desired answer or suggestion. I learned so much working there, from everyone, but was a pretty useless specimen while the learning percolated. One of the more useful employees (our resident poetry expert) recently got a shout-out over at the New Yorker’s book blog after being made famous at the splendiferous Kwik Meal #1 cart:

New Yorker Link

One more book nerdy bit before I cut off the nostalgia trip. The above-mentioned Marc was the first person to Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino in my hands; I read it up in the 2nd floor gallery on my lunch breaks (lunch from Kwik Meal #1, of course), surrounded by art books and Edward Gorey paraphernalia. That book took (and takes, I’ve re-read it many times) me so many places, but when I’m lucky it takes me back to Gotham’s gallery, by the 2nd floor window where the constant refrain of the gold and diamond sellers coming in through the window mingled with the dulcet tones of NPR from a radio bigger than a microwave and the smell of old paper—all unchanged almost more than a decade later. At least in my mind. It’s still one of my favorite books (and authors), ever. Marc also blessed me with recommendations of Wallace Stevens’ Palm At The End of the Mind, Moby Dick with the Rockwell Kent illustrations, and my first ever NYC apartment: a little studio over in Astoria, Queens. Everyone at that store was overflowing and generous with knowledge, stories and history.

Places like Gotham do more than provide fodder for sentimental blog comment drivel though; I hope the lessons learned from the ongoing troubles are shaping a new generation of booksellers and customers that can find ways to thrive. Bookstores don’t belong in museums. Wise men fish there.

– (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
on “Well That's That”


Best wishes for the holidays, Bud.

I used to work in the Pan Am/Met Life Building in Manhattan.  I would walk over to Gotham at lunch and browse, browse, browse.  Books were the only thing I ever bought on that stree.  It’s a shame it’s gone.  Thanks for the update for those of us no longer living in NYC.  Atlanta is not so much a book haven.

Best,
Jim H.

– Jim H.
on “Well That's That”


Yeah, for all of our technology - which is great - I mean you and I are talking about this from two ends of the country - but there’s nothing like being there.

– Bud Parr
on “Well That's That”