Happy National Library Week! To celebrate, I asked some of my music friends how libraries have influenced their lives.
I
couldn't afford sheet music in high school. The public library was the
source of probably 75% of the music I learned to play during those
years. --Jessica Auck
Jessica Auck
Literature
is the single biggest influence in my life. There
really is such a thing as a time machine. It's called a book. Our band has incorporated
famous literary quotes and classic poetry into all our albums. One of our most popular songs is "I'm in Love with a Librarian."
--Doug Fredericksen
Doug Fredericksen
I
used to go to the University of Oregon library and copy old folk songs
out of a few books they had there. Old English ballads and whatnot. --Joel Swensen
I started playing guitar after I became a teacher some 25 years ago. I soon realized how many poems and stories I could bring to life
through song. I had a parent that suggested I play for a story night at
our public library. I did and it became a regular thing. It lead to a
radio show on public radio and a band I play in plays annually for the
library's Fall Festival. The library is a wonderful place for community
and the written, and spoken word. I love the way stories cater to all
ages.
--Kevin Barry
Kevin Barry
I know a lot about the history of Rock & Roll through reading, and it helps on my radio show. Go to WMFO.ORG Saturdays 1pm to 4pm.
--Brian Young
Brian Young
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance . . . It changed me.
Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven are my all-time favorite bands, of course, but I also really like Blues Traveler. John Popper is one of the best harmonica players in the whole world. He's a Connecticut boy, too.
Back in 1991 my friend Barbara Shepard (from The Fabulous Who Who's) and I were in a short film with him. It was called Mr. Personality and it was about a talk show host's nightmare. I promised the director Tom E. Brown that I'd never post Mr. Personality online. (However, Tom is very proud of his film Das Clown which also starred Popper and was screened at Sundance.) John Popper played one of the talk show guests on Mr. Personality. Barb and I sang the show's theme song "Simon Says" which was originally recorded by the 1910 Fruitgum Factory. We had some pretty slick dance moves, too.
Barbara Shepard started The Fabulous Who Who's back in 1989, and they are still going strong. Barb is an amazing singer, songwriter, guitar player, and she's also the funniest woman in New Haven. I sang back-up vocals with the Who Who's for a couple of years while I was going to grad school. The wildly talented Kriss Santala was/is also a Who Who. She also performs as a solo artist. In 2007 she released her own album Lost Souls Road which is absolutely beautiful. Visitwww.independisc.com/krisssantala.htm and listen to "One Good Thing."
My old friend Scott McDonald from Jellyshirts recently posted this newspaper ad from the beloved old New Haven venue, The Moon. If you look closely, you can see that The Fabulous Who Who's (and Scott's band Jellyshirts) are on the same page as Reverend Horton Heat, Smashing Pumpkins, Pearl Jam, and Miracle Legion.
Scott and I used to work at Cutler Records with Robin Andreoli, Dean Falcone and Al Lotto. Al now has his own record store called Exile On Main Street. It's the coolest place--he even sells 45's! Celebrate Record Store Day a month early and shop at Al's store online: exileonmain.com. You will really like his website . . . and his store.
ps. Robin was a deejay for the University of New Haven radio station. It was (is?) the coolest station. It's where townie kids like me learned about Madness, The English Beat, and The Specials long before there was any MTV.
pps. Kevin Day is another Connecticut musician I knew back in the good old days. (Actually, I knew his brother, but I'm sure we must have bumped into each other at some point.) Kevin Day is in the AWESOME band Gigglejuice. Gigglejuice are so great that they've even opened for Cracker! Check them out:
ppps. It was an old boyfriend and lifelong friend who first introduced me to Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven. We met when I waited on him at the record store.
pppps. As you probably guessed, the title of this post was inspired by
